What is social philosophy?
...onstrations and reduced to a comprehensive rational system. Philosophy is a valid science that leads us to valid reality. Philosophy is a body of knowledge acquired and ordered in order to give the fundamental explanation of all things. Philosophy is a reflective technique applied to man's lived experience. This is much simpler. The method of philosophy is reflection. It is a reflection upon lived experience of any person who lives life fully and humanly. A person who naturally asks questions. The basic character of a philosopher is that of wonder. Wonder is the origin of philosophy and this experience is the experience of knowledge. If we try to analyze man today, we find that he is alienated. Technological society has enslaved modern man. Radio, television, commercial ads, and the like make men slaves of themselves. There is something in man that moves him to ask question. Man is basically a questioner. Man has that insatiable thirst for knowledge. The object of man's knowledge is lived experience, and if we live experience fully, we discover that man's life has two dimensions: human and animal level of existence. This means that if we take man and analyze him, we are always led towards his animal nature. Man, as an animal, has life to worry about, food, health, pleasure, riches, convenient shelter, and clothing. It might be said that many men today are preoccupied only with the animal level of human existence. On the human level, man is rational, free, loving, thinking, understanding, creative, inventive, political, religious, and social. Man must cultivate the inner dimensions of his existence. Philosophy includes these questions because it is distinctively reflective. The Basic Tasks of Social Philosophy The first task of social philosophy is the formulation of a comprehensive human ideal which is the achievement of universal personal community. The second task of social philosophy is criticism not only of common sense beliefs but also of philosophy itself. 4 The test of the validity of social philosophy is its contribution to the wholeness, coherence, reasonableness, and satisfactoriness of human life. In this sense, social philosophy is understood as a practical philosophy whose aim is the achievement of human development. This is what they call ontological pragmatism. Ontological pragmatism is not simply to think about, to interpret, or explain reality but it deals or does something to transform reality. Thus, to know justice is to be just, to know freedom is to be free, and to know love is to love. The only philosophy that is practical is one that enriches human life immensely. Practical philosophy then is human reflection on human experience in the service of human growth. Methods of Socio-philosophical Inquiry The method of socio-philosophical inquiry is both phenomenological and metaphysical. Phenomenology can be taken both as an attitude: "Just look and see what is there" or as a method of accurate description of what is directly given in experience (phenomena). Metaphysics is reflection on the data of human experience to discover its human meaning. Metaphysics and phenomenology are two basic approaches to understand social philosophy. Both are to be considered as complimentary. What is philosophy? Philosophy is a word invented by the founder of the Italic school. Cicero describes how Leontius, King of Phliasi, asked Pythagoras (580-497 BC) to state the art that gave value to his life. The reply was simple: he knew no art; he was a philosopher. From that moment, people who engaged in the investigation of the most important truths were no longer called 'wise,' but 'philosophers,' that is lovers and seekers of wisdom. This remark of Pythagoras was extremely noble, moral, and has a far-reaching effect. Andronicus of Rhodes, who put Aristotle's works in order, placed the books dealing with ens after those on physics. This seems to have been the origin of the word 'metaphysics.' Metaphysics, like 'philosophy,' was pressed into use without indicating any matter for the mind to work on. It did nothing more than show the place assigned to the ontological works in the Aristotelian corpus. 5 Philosophy is the knowledge of things by their ultimate causes or reasons. This has been the stand of Aristotle ever since and it has been adopted by the Scholastics. Philosophy has been described as anthropocentric. Its problems are drawn from human experience. Its method is critical reflection on the data of human experience. Philosophy is a critical reflection on human life and experience in order to discover its total human meaning and the possibilities of putting experience in the service of total human growth. Philosophy is the search for the total human meaning of man's existence and experience. It is an inquiry into the total context, which makes a human experience meaningful and enables man to integrate his life and experience as a whole. Philosophy does not begin with a pre-conceived world-view; rather, it continues to look at life from an evolving totality. An example would clarify this. An old parable tells of three blind men and an elephant. Each one of them varied in his interpretation of the elephant. The first thought the elephant was a rope; the second, a wall; and the third, a snake. Philosophy is an ongoing dialogue with other philosophies with the past as well as with the future of man's shared experience with his fellowmen. Philosophy is eminently practical. It is in this sense that it is a critical reflection of man's experience and life that gives them their meaning. Philosophical reflection is not merely describing and interpreting reality but changing and transforming it. Paulo Freire, a noted world educator, noted: "men are not built in silence, but in word, in work, in action-reflection." To really know what it is to be fully human is to live as full a human life as is humanly possible. To know really what is good is to do good. To do justice is to know justice. The only philosophy that is practical is one that integrates and makes meaningful man's life and experience as a whole. In Chinese philosophy, the superior man is one who acts before speaking and who speaks only after he has acted. Indeed, one is measured by his deeds and not so much by his words. Philosophy is critical. Its task is to discern all the aspects of reality, to discover all human meanings and possibilities to which man is open; to criticize other philosophies. 6 Finally, philosophy is reflection of human experience. It also relies on all the other sciences about man since they too speak of truth about human experience. Philosophy in Our Everyday Life Philosophy and our daily lives are closely linked to each other. At home and in school, we are bombarded with questions that affect our way of thinking and our moral beliefs. In the community, we are subjected to things that become integrated into our lives where we are left with the agony of trying to figure out for the right answer. As individuals, we sub-consciously ask ourselves questions that eventually philosophize our life. Philosophy is life. Philosophy enables us to ask questions about life and about God. It has been said that philosophy does not have a right or wrong answer. The search for the truth largely depends on each one’s initiative. The Philosophical Attitudes Life is never constant. Situations that highly influence life vary fast. This is where philosophic inquiry becomes needed. Philosophy has existed since the beginning of time and it has since then begun to open our minds to new and different perspectives. Whether or not we find the right answer to the meaning of life, questions about man’s existence still continue to come across our mind no matter how adequately the question to the meaning of life is answered. What philosophical attitude is required in order for us to survive in the world of unending questions? We must first be open-minded and willing to accept the changes that come across the journey called philosophical thinking. Some Contributions of Philosophizing: 1. Philosophizing guides us how we live our life; Li...