Phil1001

Lecture 1
 Questions
• What is philosophy?
• What is logic?
• What is the connection between
philosophy and logic?
• Why study philosophy and logic?
 What is philosophy?

Roughly speaking, philosophy is the study

of fundamental questions.
 Perhaps the most fundamental
questions:
• What is the nature of reality? What sorts of
things exist and how do they relate to each
other? (Metaphysical)
• What do we know, what can we know and
how do we know it? (Epistemological)
• What matters? How should I live my life?
(Value theory)
 Example: Political philosophy

• Main question: what is justice and what does

society have to be like in order for it to be just?
• Sub-question: is it just for the state to redistribute
wealth (ie. is it okay for the state to take money
away from rich people and use that money to
help poor people)?
• Sub-question: Is it just for individual persons to
own large business or large-scale natural
resources?
 Example: Philosophy of science
• Main question: what is this thing called science
and what makes it special?
• Sub-question: is there a scientific method (ie.
some set way of doing an investigation that is a
scientific way of doing the investigation)? If so,
what is it?
• Other questions: what do we mean by a “law of
nature”? What is the relationship between
natural science and mathematics? How does
progress occur in science? Should we
understand scientific theories as telling us about
the nature of the world or merely as useful tools
for prediction?
 Example: Philosophy of morality
(ethics)
• Main question: How ought the
world be?
• Sub-question: what do all right
actions have in common?
The method of analytic philosophy:
1) Identify an interesting and fundamental
question.
2) Consider all (somewhat plausible) answers to
that question.
3) Consider the arguments that might be given in
support of each answer.
4) Consider the arguments that might be given in
favour of rejecting each answer.
5) Analyse and evaluate the arguments given for
and against each answer using logical methods.
6) (Hopefully) come to a conclusion as to which
answer has the most support.
 Logic
• Logic is the study of the
distinction between good (correct)
reasoning and bad (incorrect)
reasoning.
OR
• Logic is the study of
argumentation.
 A good argument?
Mary thinks:
• My car doesn’t start. When my friend’s car
didn’t start, the trouble was a wet
distributor. What’s more, cars like mine
have this as a common problem and it’s
very damp today. Therefore, the fault of
my car is a wet distributor.
 A good argument?
Smith thinks:
• My good friend, the late Mr Jones, went to
the doctor recently. If Jones died of natural
causes and he had been sent to the doctor
recently, then the doctor he saw was
negligent. As it happens, that same doctor
was found guilty of negligence. Therefore,
Jones died of natural causes.
 Why study philosophy and
logic?
• By their nature, fundamental questions
(and their answers) are crucially important.
• Logic provides one with reasoning skills
that find general use, whether it be in aid
of scientific, mathematical or everyday
thinking.
• Philosophy develops logical skills by
applying logical methods to difficult
conceptual problems.