Issues in Philosophy

The central difference between the speculative, analytic and existential conceptions of philosophy is the way in which one comes to "know" and to "understand." In speculative philosophical inquiry, the philosopher literally poses questions and answers, problems and solutions; in other words, what is taking place is an attempt to identify the nexus between the mind and the external order of nature. Speculative philosophy is often idealistic in its orientation; it knows no egocentric predicament as is the case in existentialism, and recognizes no ego alone with its states or standing apart from the order of nature and from a society of minds. Speculative philosophy dismisses those problems that are sometimes called epistemological as to how the mind can know reality as such.

Conversely, analytic philosophy requires an understanding of the parts in order to achieve an understanding of the whole. A more personalistic method of philosophical inquiry, the analytic approach also includes the synoptic method. Together, these two methods analyze out the parts of experience and then relates these parts to the whole to which they belong. The "arrow of intelligibility" thus eventually flies back to the total person or experience from the parts. The method appeals to empirical coherence as its primary criterion.

The existentialist approach to philosophy focuses on the centrality of freedom and the ways in which one knows that one exists or "is

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c, idealistic, and dogmatic, but simultaneously irreligious. James' categories must therefore be recognized as broad emphases rather than as a definitive listing (p. 22). Question 7 Induction and deduction are two different types of philosophical argument. An inductive argument presents a generalization based on a certain number of specific observations. For example, if a person encounters a large number of people who cry easily when viewing certain kinds of movies, one might create a profile of these individuals and characterize them as highly emotional human beings. Another example of induction can be based on the observation of animals. If one observes a large number of animals with fur and concludes, based on observation, that all animals with fur give birth to live young rather than laying eggs, one is creating an inductive argument. In contrast, a deductive argument begins with particular premises and then moves logically to a conclusion which follows from those premises. An example can be stated as follows: All birds are animals, and all parrots are birds, and therefore all parrots are animals. Deductive arguments can be called truth-preserving because if their premises are true, their conclusions must be true.

Category: Philosophy - I