Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

3. Fallacies of relevance: Appeal or support to factors that have little or nothing to do with the argument being offered. • Appeal to authority/tradition/bandwagon: Appeal to opinions outside of oneself to justify conclusions rather than basing conclusions on critical analysis. • Appeal to authority: We should agree with a point of view simply because it is endorsed by an authority. • Appeal to tradition: A practice or way of thinking is better or right simply because it is traditional and it has always been done that way. 4. Appeal to emotion: Appeals to various emotions to encourage or manipulate others into agreeing with you (includes pity, fear, and flattery). 5. Appeal to personal attack: This involves ignoring the issues of the argument and focusing instead on the personal qualities of the person making the opposing argument (includes ad hominem- attributes of the man are judged rather than attributes of the issues. This is also thought of as poisoning the well-any water drawn from the opponents well will be treated as undrinkable). 6. Red herring: Also known as the smoke screen and wild goose chase. It involves diverting the audience from the topic by introducing other irrelevant topics as a form of distraction. Branches of Philosophy There are many different branches of and focus of philosophy. Traditionally, there are five main branches of philosophy. The newest branch is political and social philosophy, which has created a sixth area of focus. The branches include: • Metaphysics: The study of the ultimate characteristics of reality or existence. This branch explores issues beyond our physical world, for example, what is the meaning of life beyond death (What is the nature of reality? Does God really exist?). More specifically, it is the study of reality that is beyond the scientific or mathematical realms. The term “metaphysics” itself literally means “beyond the physical.” The metaphysical issues most discussed are the existence of God, the soul, and the afterlife. • Epistemology: the study of the construction of knowledge. Its ultimate goal being to establish a framework that allows us to arrive at an honest and truthful understanding Epistemology deals with the process by which we can know that something is true. Within epistemology, there are two important categories: empiricism and rationalism. Rationalism stresses that the most import element in knowing something is reason. It holds that knowledge is gained primarily through the mind. Rationalism also asserts that we are born with innate ideas that precede any experiences we may have with our physical senses. Empiricism, on the other hand, asserts that all our knowledge comes from our five senses. To use the terminology of the empiricist, John Locke, our minds are a “blank slate” at birth. Thus, knowledge comes from our experiences. This branch involves identifying and developing criteria and methodologies for determining what we know and why we know it (What is truth? Can we ever really know anything?).

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