User:Dark Sunshine~enwikiversity

Welcome to the page of Dark Sunshine

This is an Introduction to Philosophy course designed by the students of Mesa State College. It is constructed from a historical/topical view point. Please click the above link to access our project.

Thanks and remember to have fun!

According to Cicero (Tusculan Disputations V, III, 8), when Pythagoras was once asked who philosophers were, he replied that life seemed to him to resemble the games in the Olympic festival: some men sought glory, others to buy and sell at the games, and some men had come neither for gain nor applause, but for the sake of the spectacle and to understand what was done and how it was done. In the same way, in life, some are slaves of ambition or money, but others are interested in understanding life itself. These give themselves the name of philosophers (lovers of wisdom), and they value the contemplation and discovery of nature beyond all other pursuits.

News [edit] Divisions Added [edit]November 23, 2006: Continental Philosophy. See Philosophy message board. February 21, 2007: Ethics.

Divisions and Departments [edit]Divisions and Departments of the School exist on pages in "topic" namespace. Start the name of departments with the "Topic:" prefix; departments reside in the Topic: namespace. Departments and divisions link to learning materials and learning projects. Divisions can link subdivisions or to departments. For more information on schools, divisions and departments look at the Naming Conventions. Note: there are additional philosophy pages that need to be imported from Wikibooks.

Introduction to Philosophy - convert to a "Topic:" page? Undergraduate Student Philosophy Journals Initial Questions Analytic Philosophy Logic Epistemology Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Mind Cognition Philosophy of Religion Philosophy of Art Metaphilosophy Metaphysics Ethics Meta-Ethics Normative Ethics Ethical Theory Applied Ethics Environmental Ethics Bioethics Business Ethics Moral and Political Philosophy Moral Psychology Philosophy of Mathematics The History of Western Philosophy Ancient Greek Philosophy Eastern Philosophy African Philosophy Ethiopian Philosophy Modern African Philosophy Continental Philosophy Hegel Nietzsche - "I regard profound problems as I do a cold bath - quick in, quick out." Psychoanalysis Phenomenology Existentialism Marxism and Marxist Philosophy Critical Theory Structuralism Post-structuralism French feminism

Active participants [edit]The histories of Wikiversity pages indicate who the active participants are. If you are an active participant in this school, you can list your name here (this can help small schools grow and the participants communicate better; for large schools it is not needed).

emc executivezen bobbydigits scribe Jaime Richmac Steven Wang comrade_flash Juan Maiz Kylie Pedmands | talk Beautifulmisfit Mystictim Keops Alex beta Loop Claudia liftyrfists CmdrRamon | talk Markc 10:56, 16 February 2007 (UTC) Nannus Dionysios spitfireatme johnkecops Laleena Anderswohin 16.08.07 jjlearner Chocoman xTHExONEx1 Girisha --Adrift 20:49, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Where to start [edit] The choice here is greatIf you're new to philosophy, or just new to Wikiversity's School of Philosophy, this place may seem like a bit of a tangle. That's okay! Most of our editors are students or past students, who are also beginning their journey in the philosophical conversation. This doesn't mean what they have written is rubbish, but that it will be about the same technicality as what you would want. (Bonus)

The best place to start is by asking yourself why you came here...

Current Philosophy Students If you are a current student, looking for information on a philosophy or a philosopher then have a browse. If we don't have what you are looking for, then please tell us. We're naturally all volunteers, but there's more chance of finding what you're searching for if you talk about it.

Brand New If you are brand new to philosophy, then take it slow and easy! Political philosophy is probably what you've encountered in your own life, so that's always a nice start. Logic will help you understand arguments, and will give you new tools to evaluate them.

Academia If you are an academic, then we welcome you to edit, add and evolve the site. Your knowledge and expertise will add greatly to the integrity and morale of the School, as well as adding confidence to end users. It's also quite fun.

To All The most important thing, is that if you have some information you can share - then share it! We welcome all contributions.

Reading list [edit]General

Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology, by Edmund Husserl Being and Time, by Martin Heidegger Philosophical analysis in the 20th century, volumes I and II by Scott Soames. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder The Gospel According to Larry, by Janet Tashjian Are You a Machine, by Eliezer Sternberg Concept of Mind, by Gilbert Ryle Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, by David Hume Five Dialogues - Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, by Plato An Introduction to Metaphysics, Henri Bergson Symposium, Plato Republic, Plato De Anima, Aristotle Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, George Berkeley On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life, Friedrich Nietzsche Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume Freedom Evolves, Daniel Dennett Skeptical Essays, Bertrand Russell Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre Philosophy: Who needs it, Ayn Rand The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell A History of Philosophy, Copleston, Frederick, (1946-1975). Great Britain: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-6948-5. The Problems of Philosophy, Betrand Russell

Projects: [edit]What is The Question?

Departmental Message Board [edit]Philosophy Department message board Who is who in the Philosophy Department

Library [edit]The Library This is the gateway for information about the courses and philosophy in general. We hope that its size and scope will increase dramatically as participation in the School increases. We welcome input from all philosophies and philosophers.

Kant's Categorical Imperative Retrieved from "http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/School:Philosophy"

The Philosophical Method

"Those who are eager to learn because they wonder at things are lovers of wisdom." - Alexander of Aphrodisias

1. Doubting and Questioning

Philosophy begins with wonder, but goes further than that. It is an attempt to formulate, understand, and answer fundamental questions in life. Socrates is famous for his Skeptisicm. He would approach popular people who were considered wise, and ask them to justify their beliefs. They would provide him with various attempts at justification, but Socrates would not accept their words without further probing for reasonable justification. In Metaphysics, Aristotle described how wonder fit into the philosophical method: “For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize; they wondered originally at the obvious difficulties, then advanced little by little and stated difficulties about the greater matters, e.g. about the phenomena of the moon and those of the sun and of the stars, and about the genesis of the universe” (Metaphysics, Book I). Philosophers clarify their questions and claims to remove ambiguity. As part of the great conversation of philosophy, a question must be understood in terms people can agree on. To pose a proper philosophical question, one must be able to make distinctions between conceptual questions and those that can be answered with empirical evidence.

"Somehow it fills my head with ideas, only I don't know exactly what they are." - Alice in Wonderland

2. Reading Philosophy

In order to participate in the great conversation of philosophy, and to apply the philosophical method in a meaningful way, one must become familiar with the conversation. Reading philosophy is often a challenge, but it has the intrinsicly motivating factor of revealing thoughts on things that matter. In approaching primary sources in philosophy, a method can help one to extract meaning from the words: Read and re-read the material. Analyze the works, separating them by their distinguishing features and essential elements. Criticize the works, applying reason to your evaluation of the authors' arguments.

3. Argument

Argument is essential to philosophical inquiry. Logic is the study of correct argumentation. Aristotle is generally credited as being the first to formalize logic. He devised ways to analyze and evaluate arguments. His main work was in what is called syllogistic logic, in which the primary constituents of arguments are terms, which are judged to be better or worse depending on the way in which they are arranged. His works On Sophistical Refutations and Prior Analytics address this.

4. Definition

The method of definition involves seeking out the meanings of words, and figuring out how meanings can be identified. Socrates and Plato brought a new method into philosophy with a search for definitions. By seeking to clarify the meaning behind grand words like "holy" and "just" (in Plato's Euthyphro and Republic, respectively,) they introduced a new way of investigating the fundamental questions in life.