An Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy, An Introduction, What is Philosophy?

The reason why I want to talk about the history of Western philosophy is that I have already talked about it in my previous article "The Origin of My Reading philosophy", and I have not read many philosophical monographs, because I have always regarded philosophy as a very difficult subject. A friend of mine told me that to understand something, you must first understand its history. This is also a very important reason why I started reading the history of philosophy.

When I read the history of philosophy, it helped me reshape my worldview, values, and outlook on life. It taught me my own perspective on the world, and it also taught me how the sages saw the world, how they were overthrown and reshaped. It allows us to understand how they understand the world and how they think about it. This is very important for us.

What is philosophy?

When we talk about the history of Western philosophy, we need to first understand what philosophy is. This is a big problem, first of all, the word philosophy does not exist in our cultural context, it is translated, so when we talk about philosophy, we still have to talk about the history of Western philosophy, and in Western philosophy, so far, there is still no definition that can satisfy everyone.

Since we are talking about the topic of philosophy from the context of Chinese, I think we can first Chinese the understanding of philosophy, since modern times, the chinese research and narration of philosophy on the market are more famous for "Hu Shizhi" and "Feng Youlan", but in the general dimension, "Hu Shizhi" does not belong to philosophers, nor has he written a systematic philosophical system. Those who are interested can go and see for themselves.

Mr. Feng Youlan is the author of two more famous histories of philosophy, the History of Chinese Philosophy and A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy. We can use this as a starting point.

Feng Youlan did not explain what kind of definition philosophy is in the "History of Chinese Philosophy", but Mr. Feng Youlan believes that if you want to know what philosophy is, as long as you know the content of philosophy, you can know what philosophy is. Knowing his contents, then the definition of philosophy does not need to give a definite definition.

Mr. Feng Youlan divides philosophical research into three parts according to Greek philosophy

One: Cosmology: The purpose is to understand the truth of the world. Cosmology can be divided into "ontology" and "cosmology"

"Ontology": it is the study of the truth or non-existence of ontological "existence", that is, what we now call "phenomenon" and "essence"

"Cosmology": The study of the origin, course, and destination of the occurrence of the world. This is cosmology in the narrow sense.

Second: The theory of life: the purpose is: the truth of life.

The theory of life can also be divided into two parts, studying what man really is and how he should live. Studying what exactly people are, Feng Youlan believes that psychology should study the problem. We now know that the study of what man really is is still in the category of biology. But psychology exists as a scientific discipline and has not been recognized by scholars from all walks of life so far. So I have reservations on this issue.

The study of how man should live is what ethics, political philosophy, social philosophy, etc. are to be studied.

Three: Epistemology: The Truth of Knowledge. The theory of knowledge can also be divided into two parts:

Part of it is studying what knowledge is? This is what philosophy calls epistemology now.

Part of it is that the study of how knowledge is obtained is certain, that is, the theory of theory, which is what we now call logic.

Mr. Feng Youlan believes that cosmology is closely related to the theory of life, and all theories of life are based on cosmology. For example, the Liezi Yang zhu believes that the universe is material, blind, and mechanical, so man has no other hopes and theorems, and only pursues the present happiness, which is similar to the hedonism of the Western Epicurean school. Berkeley and Kant argue the theory of the world with the "theory of knowledge", and Locke and Hume use the theory of life with the theory of knowledge. Every part of philosophy is interconnected

Feng Youlan's explanation of hedonism has a position, and we will talk about the so-called hedonism of the Epicurean school and the Liezi Yangzhu Later, which is not what we usually think of as hedonism, so we will not talk about it here.

Russell believed that philosophy is something between science and theology, and that what it has in common with theology is that it contains human thinking about the unknown, and that its commonality with science is that it is rational in looking at things. He also believed that all knowledge that could be known with certainty belonged to science, and all knowledge that could not be confirmed belonged to theology. And between theology and science is philosophy, and neither theology nor science recognizes it, but attacks it. And the questions that philosophers study, science can not give an answer, and the answer given by theology is increasingly implausible.

Nor did Russell directly say what philosophy is? It only says what philosophy is not, but also describes the tragic fate of philosophy, and the love and killing of philosophy, theology, and science.

Of course, I do not fully agree with Russell's statement, at least in my opinion, science itself is developed through continuous confirmation and falsification, and science itself has a spirit of exploration of the unknown. Science, on the other hand, acquires a relatively certain truth, or knowledge, under its system. He itself has the possibility of falsifiability, and the certainty of science lies in the fact that a certain description within a particular space-time range is certain. Science has preconditions, it is not completely certain, and science that does not allow falsification is not true science, and science has no development, and there is no science to speak of.

For example, Newton's three laws are correct within a particular space-time range. It is the truth. Few question it, but his utility is limited if he goes beyond this particular space-time range. For example, later quantum mechanics and relativity. It is not ruled by Newtonian physics.

Russell also pointed out that when a historian studies people's outlook on life, the worldview, and the influence of values on their behavior, on the major events of human development, then they are studying the philosophy of their time, and when we try to do this, we have the shadow of a philosopher in us.

As a small person in the vast universe, in the face of the truth of the universe, the truth of life, the truth of value, theology can not give us convincing answers, in the face of these philosophical questions, how we should not avoid the situation, in the face of these problems, at ease, do not be bothered, this is what philosophy can do for those who study philosophy.

Frank Tilly argues in The History of Western Philosophy that science and philosophy can be said to have originated in religion, or rather, science, philosophy and religion were originally the same thing, while myth was the first attempt made by people to understand the world. Human beings interpret phenomena according to their crude daily experience, and these phenomena attract people's attention for various reasons, mainly practical reasons. And the thinking person explores the basic problems of existence.

This can also be said to be the origin of philosophy, of course, Tilly also pointed out that not all peoples have produced real ideological systems, and only a few national speculations have a history. Many peoples did not transcend the mythological stage, and even the theories of the Eastern peoples, the theories of India, Egypt, and China were mainly composed of myths and ethics, and their theories were not a complete system of thought.

This passage of Tilly's words will cause us some disagreements, and I know that there are many people who judge the existence of a philosophical system to judge whether this nation, or whether this country has philosophical standards. I don't agree, you can say that a philosophical system is a philosophy, but you can't say that philosophy is a philosophical system.

With all that said above, so what exactly is philosophy? When we go to college, the teachers who teach Ma Zhe will tell us that philosophy is a theoretical, systematic worldview and methodology, an understanding of the most general laws of nature, human society and human thinking. Those who go to Ma Zhe to listen to the lectures well, or hang up the subjects, should have an impression.

Is this definition correct? On the face of it, of course, this is true. But if you understand this sentence carefully, you will find that he didn't actually say anything. There is nothing specific about it, but an all-encompassing science. Under this definition, then, philosophy can solve all problems, it is a panacea, it is very amazing, it is very frightening, but it is actually empty.

Feng Youlan said in "A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy": Philosophy is the reflection of reflection.

Professor Zhao Lin, a professor of philosophy at Wuhan University, said in the History of Western Philosophy: Philosophy is a spirit of skepticism and critical consciousness that grows and develops in an endless process of self-denial.

So according to the synthesis of our above contents, the content of philosophy' research, the origin of philosophy, I have tried to summarize a philosophical definition: philosophy is the spirit of skepticism and critical consciousness that people constantly grow and develop in the process of self-denial through continuous reflection on the interpretation of the universe, life, and knowledge.

This is my own combined definition, but this formulation is not necessarily correct. For in this sense it is difficult to express in an affirmative way what philosophy is. As Russell said: Every step he takes is a critique of his previous claims.

In fact, when I follow the trail of the history of Western philosophy to understand philosophy, it feels more like a life, it has a stage of development, like our human infancy, adolescence, adolescence, adulthood, old age. And its growth process unfolds in the environment of thought. What is philosophy about? We can only really know what philosophy is if we grasp the history of thought, the history of philosophy.

Why study philosophy

What is the use of studying philosophy? Quinard, a Norwegian professor of the history of philosophy, said: "We study philosophy because philosophy is already included in the spiritual clothing we carry with us.

To take a paradox as an example, most people should believe that we should not take the lives of others. But at the same time we believe we should defend our country. So if war breaks out, should we go to the army? Joining the army means taking the lives of others. Then this means that we are violating the rule that we believe in "we should not take the lives of others." "Defend the country" and "take the lives of others", the two rules have clashed, what should we do? Is there an answer? Of course, this question is actually very simple, and reality and history have given many answers. In view of this fact, we ask another question, which is more basic, the rule of "defending the country" or the rule of "not taking the lives of others"? Why? So to what extent would military action save lives in a given context? We have to put this rule to the test thoroughly. In the face of these problems, the deeper we investigate, the more philosophical ours will be.

And in this process of thinking, there is a certain personal nature involved, and something universal, and we are trying to seek some insight that can be called truth. In this way we can see something essential in what others have already thought about, what we have done, and thus make ourselves better. This is what it means for us to study philosophy.

What is the use of studying philosophy?

Studying philosophy teaches us to analyze different perspectives that we are familiar with when confronted with a specific problem, and it helps us to not know a certain overall view. It can help us better analyze problems, foresee problems, and solve problems. This analysis of different perspectives is called philosophical reflection.

For example, to build a hydropower station, for example, can be analyzed from an economic point of view, an ecological point of view, a technical point of view, and even a sociological point of view, including an analysis of different groups. This kind of multi-angle problem analysis illuminates different research directions, so a single angle cannot tell us the whole truth about that problem. We need to understand the whole situation from as many angles as possible.

The introduction to the history of Western philosophy is written here, originally I wanted to write an argument on "Whether There is Philosophy in China in the End", but I have not yet sorted out the material, leave it for the next pit, and fill it in later.

In the next lecture, we will start to formally talk about the "History of Western Philosophy", and we will remember to pay attention to it with interest.