1. What is Philosophy? Ronald F. White, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy

2. Human Inquiry Human Inquiry as questioning and answering – State of Belief – State of Doubt Individual Inquiry Collective Inquiry – Familial – Cultural – Socio-Political – Generational – Intergenerational

3. Two Forms of Human Inquiry Descriptive Inquiry (Facts) – Discerns Truth from Falsity (is) Prescriptive Inquiry (Values) – Discerns Good from Bad

4. Descriptive Philosophy Metaphysics – Epistemology – Ontology – Cosmology Philosophy of – Science (general or particular) – Religion – Mind – Physics – Medicine

5. Prescriptive Philosophy Axiology: Study of value (good) – Aesthetics – Political Philosophy – Logic – Ethics Deontology Teleology virtue

6. Metaphysical Inquiry Epistemological Inquiry Ontological Inquiry

7. Epistemological Inquiry What is Epistemology? Foundationalism (knowledge) – Realism Rational foundation Empirical Foundation Pragmatic Foundation – Objectivity Anti-Foundationalism (power) – Social Construction – Subjectivity

8. Ontological Inquiry What is Ontology? Entity-Based Ontology (stability) – Materialism (material entities) – Idealism (mental entities) Subjective idealism Transcendental idealism – Mind-Body Problem (pluralism) – Nature v. Nurture Controversy Process-Based Ontology (change) Systems-Based Ontology

9. What is a system? Closed v. Open Systems Simple v. Complex Systems Macro v. Micro Systems Evolutionary (adaptive) v. Non-Evolutionary (non-adaptive) Systems Living v. Non-Living Systems