Raihan Alisha Nabila

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THE SUMMARY OF PHILOSOPHY

By Dr. Fristian Hadinata

Source(s): MPKTA Book. printed in Depok.Universitas Indonesia

Etymologically, Philosophy comes from two Greek words; which are Philo and Sophia.
Philo and Sophia mean love and wisdom respectively. Other words, Philosophia can be love
towards wisdom and Philosopher can be defined as wisdom lover. According to Socrates the
teacher of Plato, wisdom is defined as the ability to understand the true nature/ reality from the
universe and human existence. Philosophy is sometimes misinterpreted by people that philosophy
has nothing to do with our daily activities. In fact, if we take a little closer of what philosophy
means, it is relevant to how we live our lives according to certain philosophical beliefs.

Take an example of one of the philosophical beliefs, we usually do something because

we believe in it and we had several experiences of it in the past so we keep doing that until now.
Religion belief is also the common topic in the philosophy. Many people have different thoughts
of it. There are several philosophical beliefs that are embraced. Many people have their opinions
about what are things considered to be right to do or not right to do. People tend to have their
preferences subjectively. People can observe things objectively and subjectively; it is all based on
what they reference or believe. In a broader context, we also can see the philosophical aspects are
related to morality or political issues, such as abortion, dead sentence, freedom of speech, justice
et cetera. Philosophy can be analogized as to be curious over things. Children like to ask everything
continuously especially fundamental questions and the answers can lead to build their trust or
belief over certain things. As linked to the art of questioning, philosopher will try to give reasons
over claims and consider some justifications. Philosophers should be critical to deal and assume
certain things. Philosophy can be both stressful and excited when things got different views.

When we deepen our knowledge about philosophy, fundamental things can be discussed.
As a result, philosophy is used as a tool to solve certain problems. The advantages of learning
philosophy are it trains us to give arguments logically and have a dialogue through exchanging
rational ideas, philosophy helps us to produce some analysis critically, radically and reflectively.
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It can prevent us to conclude things carelessly, push people to be open-minded over feedback and
other possible perspectives, train us to act ethically to decide things so that any unexpected
consequences can be reduced. Philosophy is often defined as the mother of science, as its existence
appears before knowledge. Knowledge is a further development of philosophy. In Philosophy,
every question has answer based on the concept and its meaning. So, as a philosopher, they will
clarify the meaning and concept centrally. Philosophy has its systematics and characteristics. Just
below philosophy, the branches are Ontology, Epistemology, and axiology. Ontology is related to
metaphysics. Ontology can be defined as philosophical study about basic categories of existence,
reality, and relationship. Ontology is presented in physical from and unlike ontology, metaphysics
represents reality in fully conceptual.

Epistemology leads us to find knowledge systematically through some methods logically.

Axiology is defined as a study about values. In axiology, there are values to be discussed that are
related to ethics and aesthetics. Ethics will teach us to behave rationally that there are certain things
to do and not to do. Philosophy is also a reflection about a decision whether it is good or not in the
context of reality and perception. Critical, radical, systematic and rational are the characteristics
of philosophy. Being critical is an effort to understand and evaluate information to be accepted,
declined or not yet decided. When evaluating things, we need to know what creates it, that is why
we need to be radical to know every detail of things and its roots. Problems will be solved easier
when it is evaluated systematically with the help of adequate arguments and reasoning in a
rationally manner. Speaking of arguments, philosophy is a way for being creative and critical to
solve things. Philosopher must prove things based on the adequate arguments, they have to make
certain reasons to conclude things. In this case, every people have their own arguments and it can
be right or wrong based on the how strong the reasons show for it and against it.

Evaluating arguments is a way to practice the reasoning process, by giving arguments we

can demonstrate that certain things are true and the explanations are the effort to show how it is
true. To get a closer explanation about philosophy, we practice it by drawing a scenery and a duck
in a piece of paper. First of all, the common scenery people will draw is a scenery at a beach,
mountains with the trees and the sun is shining in the morning with so many birds in the sky.
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Why it becomes the commo thing to draw when everyone is told to draw a scenery. It is
also considered a theory that they believe for a long time a scenery is always related with
something relaxing like being in the nature surrounded by beaches and mountains with a beautiful
weather like in a sunny day. In fact, if we think a little deeper what kind of scenery in metropolitan
cities that we can enjoy that it is really far away from seas and others, the construction itself is also
not clear nor specific. Scenery is not always about beaches, rice fields and mountains, we can also
see a scenery of tall buildings in certain areas especially in the capital cities. It is all about people
perspectives and concepts, they have their own thoughts and arguments. We also can conclude
several things for people who draw scenery of beaches and other nature beauties, they might have
a perspective of scenery is always something that calms their mind and free from the crowdedness
and being close to the nature. People who draw buildings or monuments might have an opinion of
scenery of what they have always seen their entire life/ current surroundings or it could be they
have changed their mindset to draw anything else. Every argument should be evaluated in order to
know the reason what and why people draw what they are constructed to do. The next example is
drawing a duck. When I was told to draw a duck, I have already imagined in my mind that it would
be a duck facing a left side instead of right side, it is because I felt easier to draw the upper part of
the duck especially the mouth then it will end to its feet and fur. The way I drew the duck it is
because of what I believe to be easier to draw it, it is the belief that I create to be automatically set.
Besides since I was a little girl I started to write from the left side and I am really used to it, it can
be the reason that leads me to draw the duck starting from the left side. From that way I can
conclude that drawing the mouth of the duck to face the right side would be far harder than drawing
on the left side first or is it because I am not used to it or reluctant to change simple things.

In conclusion when starting to talk about philosophy, it is about any individuals curiosity.
They will first try to understand everything critically, radically, systematically and rationally. Our
belief will come immediately but just not stop there, it is also about proving every possibility to
strengthen our opinions towards things, we need to evaluate every detail of things, because little
things we do have meanings that will be discussed in the arguments of people with some rational
proofs.
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