Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
学术英语 Humanities
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Unit Contents
• • • • • • • • Lead-in Text A Text B Text C Academic Language and Discourse Listening Speaking Writing
What is Philosophy?
Summarize Text A base on your answers to Task 1 / Critical Reading and Thinking / Text A. P154
Suggested answer:
(To be continued)
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Text A
Supplementary information
What is Philosophy?
Work in pairs to compare your answers to the questions in Task 2 / Critical Reading and Thinking / Text A. P154
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Lead-in
Supplementary information
What do philosophers argue about?
Philosophers are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life‟s most basic questions. There are usually no definite answers to these questions, because once we have sorted out definite solutions to them, they will belong to a certain branch of science. To make such a pursuit more systematic academic philosophy is traditionally divided into major areas of study. They are metaphysics (the study of reality and existence), epistemology (the study of knowledge), ethics (the study of what we ought to do and what it would be best to do), and logics (the study of good reasoning methods).
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Text A
Supplementary information
What is Philosophy?
Work in pairs to compare your answers to the questions in Task 2 / Critical Reading and Thinking / Text A. P154
Suggested answer for Q3:
Conceptual analysis is arguably the most prominent method employed by philosophers. Its main purpose is to gain a better understanding of a particular philosophical issue involving a particular concept by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts. Many paradoxes or puzzles in philosophy stem from the imprecision of the concepts. When we come across a puzzling proposition, it might be helpful to analyze the concepts involved in the proposition in order to iron out
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Lead-in
Supplementary information
What is philosophy?
Literally, the term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." It is a uniquely Western concept or discipline that is usually associated with distinctive ways of thinking and systems of thought originating in ancient Greece. The Chinese term “哲学”, literally “the study of wisdom” was coined by Nishi Amane, a Japanese philosopher, in the 19th century when he set out to introduce and popularize Western philosophy in Japan. Huang Zunxian, a late Qing writer and diplomat was said to be the first Chinese to make use of the new Japanese term. As a result, it was only the first decade of the 20th century that the term 哲学 started to be used by Chinese academic and intellectual circles.
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Text A
Supplementary information
What is Philosophy?
Work in pairs to compare your answers to the questions in Task 2 / Critical Reading and Thinking / Text A. P154
Suggested answer for Q4:
In philosophy, an argument is connected series of statements or propositions that can be categorized as premises and conclusions. It is not the same thing as a quarrel as its main purpose is to offer good reasons in support of your conclusion instead of attacking your opponent. In an argument, the premises are usually theses that you take for granted, which will be taken to provide the support or evidence for your claim, or your conclusion.
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
• Lead-in
– Lead-in activities
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Lead-in
Activities
What is philosophy?
Work in pairs to discuss the following question: 1. What is philosophy all about? 2. What kind of things do philosophers argue about?
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
• Text A
What is Philosophy?
– Classroom activities – Supplementary information
Unit 8 Understanding Philosophy
Text A
Classroom activities
Suggested answer for Q2:
First of all, they differ in scope. Philosophy aims to offer a systematic world view, whereas other disciplines only study particular kinds of things. Secondly, philosophy aims primarily at knowledge that can serve as the foundation for other disciplines. Most of the philosophical questions don’t have definite answers. As Bertrand Russell famously said, “as soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to be called philosophy, and