Assignment: No 1

Module Code: HM4001

Module Title: Humanities I
Name of the Lecturer: Prof.Premakumara
Date of Submission: 01.04.2016

ASSIGNMENT:01

Name: K.A.L.P.Abeykoon
Student ID No. 2014093CL1
Advanced Diploma Level Stage II
Introduction of Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as the
nature knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, mind and language. Philosophy is the root of all
knowledge. It is considered as mother of all sciences. Philosophy helps to coordinate the various
activities of the individual and the society. It helps us to understand the significance of all human
experience. Philosophy critically evaluates and analyses the variety of human experiences. It
develops a comprehensive system of thoughts about the universe and the life as a whole.

Philosophy is part of the activity of human growth and thus an integral and very valuable part of
the life. Philosophy and education have a common goal of developing of the total intellect of a
person, the realization of the human potential. Thus this magical word has a very dramatic
history which is widely discussed among the philosophers who has given their thoughts to the
society in order to understand the concept of philosophy.The word Philosophy is of ancient
Greek origin meaning Love of Knowledge or Love of Wisdom.

Concept of philosophy

As mentioned earlier philosophy has an ancient history from very early part of the humanization.
According to the philosopher Socrates, the only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.
These statements suggest that philosophy can be interpreted in many ways and it differs from
person to person. This implies that philosophy has a very larger view than someone could
imagine.

The word philosophy came from the language Greek. Philia term refers to the term love and the
term Sophia refers to the term wisdom. So altogether in English it means love for wisdom.
Accordingly the word implies and it generates a very lovely word with a very soft meaning
saying to love each other with passion. Wisdom is interpreted as combination of knowledge and
action. When considering the truth about the word philosophy, it directly impacts to the human
day to day life in many ways. Conceptual thinking ability and improvement of the knowledge of
a person will add some good behind a living human being. This can create a huge benefit to the

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society by acting peacefully with generosity. Thus this can lead the society to a point where they
have developed and improve their knowledge and they are living a wonderful world with open
minded.

For the further understanding of philosophy, it is divided into few categories and these can be
identified as the main branches of philosophy. Following are the main branches of philosophy.

Science

Aesthetics

Politics

Ethics

Religion

Epistemology

Logic

Metaphysics

Science

Philosophy of Science is the study of the assumptions, foundations, and implications of natural
science, which is biology, chemistry, physics, earth science and astronomy, as opposed to social
science which deals with human behaviour and society). With this concept it asks questions such
as what is science, what is nature, etc These questions lead the world further thinking of
science. History of the science is also important in order to understand the concept behind
science. According to Karl Popper (1902 - 1994), recognized that a theory might well be
meaningful without being scientific, and that the central feature of science was that it aims at
falsifiable claims (i.e. claims that can be proven false, at least in theory), which he called

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Falsifications. The American Thomas Kuhn (1922 - 1996) pointed out that most science was
what he called normal science. Likewise science progresses not just by gradually building on the
works of the past as had always been assumed, but by a series of revolutions in which the ways
of thinking in the scientific community are changed completely. Kuhn's 1962 book "The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions became popular among the communities, and remains as one
of philosophy's most cited works. It has been called by some "the most influential work of
philosophy in the latter hald of the 20th Century".

Metaphysics

This is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence, being and the world.
logically, metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy: Aristotle calls it "first philosophy" , and
says it is the subject that deals with "first causes and the principles of things". In here it asks
questions like:, "What is the nature of reality?", "How does the world exist, and what is its origin
or source of creation?", "How can the incorporeal mind affect the physical body?", "If things
exist, what is their objective nature?", etc Originally, the Greek word "metaphysika" turned
into metaphysics later on. Gradually metaphysics has effectively become the study of that which
transcends physics.

Politics

This topic is mainly concentrated on the relationship between the government and citizen. This
involves the Study of the fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty,
justice and the enforcement of a legal code by authority. It is Ethics applied to a group of people,
and discusses how a society should be set up and how one should act within a society. Individual
rights (such as the right to life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, free speech, self-
defence, etc.) state explicitly the requirements for a person to benefit rather than suffer from
living in a society.

Ethics

Ethics is concerned with questions of how people ought to act, and the search for a definition of
right conduct and the good life which is a life worth living or a life that is satisfying or happy.

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The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek "ethos", meaning "custom" or "habit". Ethics differs
from morals and morality in that ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good,
while morals indicate their practice. Ethics is not limited to specific acts and defined moral
codes, but encompasses the whole of moral ideals and behaviours.

Religion

In the sense of religion it mostly concern about the nature and existence of God, theology,
examination of religious language and texts. Another important factor in religion is the
relationship with science. It asks such questions as "Are there sound reasons to think that God
does exist?", "If there is a God, then what is he like?", "What, if anything, would give us good
reason to believe that a miracle has occurred?", "What is the relationship between faith and
reason.

CONCLUTION

Finally with all the factors considered above philosophy refers to mean something extravagant.
Lots of questions have been answered and with this it asked questions like wonder, when, how,
etc With these it developed the human society with science, religion, technology. Philosophy
is not a picking and choosing what body of thought one would like to call one's own or would
like to believe in a choice based upon personal preferences or feelings. Philosophy is a pursuit.
One can choose to be philosophical. One can choose to be a philosopher. One cannot choose a
Philosophy. Philosophy, insofar as it may be correlated at all to a "way of Life", is a form of
thinking meant to guide action or to prescribe a way of life. The philosophic way of life , if there
is one, is displayed in a life in which action is held to be best directed when philosophical
reflection has provided that direction. For an example,

Socrates the paradigm of a philosopher

Philosophy also includes dispelling ignorance, enriching understanding, broadening experience,

expanding horizons, developing imagination , controlling emotion, exploring values, fixing

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beliefs by rational inquiry, establishing habits of acting, widening considerations, synthesizing
knowledge and questing for wisdom.

The problem solving, analytical, and synthesizing capacities philosophy develops are
unrestricted in their scope and unlimited in their usefulness. This makes philosophy especially
good preparation for positions of leadership, responsibility, or management. A major or minor in
philosophy can easily be integrated with requirements for almost any entry level job. But
philosophical training, particularly in its development of many transferable skills, is very
important in carrier development and in advancing towards any of your dreams.

REFERENCES

http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_political.html
http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_philosophy_of_religion.html
http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_ethics.html