From Myth to Logos: Origins and Characteristics of Philosophy
From Myth to Logos: The Dawn of Reason
The myth is a sacred and symbolic narrative recounting significant social events and natural phenomena. The primary objective of myths is to provide a comprehensive explanation of the universe and the individual’s place within it. In Greece, around the 6th century BC, mythological narratives gradually ceased to serve as the sole explanatory model. They depended on whimsical, capricious, unpredictable, arbitrary, and contingent forces. The pre-Socratics gradually introduced the idea of necessity, giving rise to the desire to explain natural reality through reason (logos), seeking rational and immanent explanations. Human reason is presented as a means to understand things as they are (essence) and what produces them (cause). The concept of something permanent and constant (substance) emerges. This possibility is the method called pre-rational, an explanation that does not provide any way to get from a natural phenomenon to another supernatural, so the explanation turns out to be arbitrary.
Characteristics of Philosophy
Philosophy:
- Asks about the totality of reality, making it the most universal discipline. It questions everything humans can think and reason about and is interested in all human explanations. This distinguishes it from specialized sciences, which focus on specific and partial aspects of reality.
- Is radical (transcendental), reaching for the ultimate explanatory principles. Does the evolution of life have a direction, or is it by chance? Scientific questions ask what are the principles from which emerges the reality? It is a radical question asks nothing more and nothing less than the origin, the last principle, the requirement of universality, given that questions what the cause of all reality.
- Is knowledge that must be argued, justified, coherent, objective, and free of contradiction.
- Is critical, leading to a rethinking of traditional knowledge. It confronts dogmatic positions that hold fixed truths that cannot be argued. Criticism, in this context, means analysis.
The Role of Philosophy
Philosophy aims for the most universal knowledge, going beyond the limits of individual scientific expertise. In dialogue with other sciences, it attempts to define what is perfectly honest. As a critical endeavor, it steers us away from dogmatism, teaching us to reason and think beyond what we immediately perceive (giving us eyes of abstraction). In practice, it guides humans both in the private sphere of morality and in the socio-political realm. The defining function of philosophy concerns itself with the ultimate principles beyond the scope of science.
Greco-Medieval Science
Greco-Medieval science was the first to employ reason. Aristotle was a key figure in this early stage, investigating the universe. For Aristotle, the universe is a finite, limited reality. Space has an order, remains stable, and is full of stuff. Key points of explanation include:
- The final method
- The essential method
- The geocentric method
- Heterogeneous deterministic causality principles
- Principles of conservation
The Presocratics and Their Arjé
Key Presocratic philosophers and their proposed Arjé (fundamental principle):
- Thales: Water
- Anaximander: The Apeiron
- Anaximenes: Air
- Pythagoras: Numbers
- Democritus: Atoms
The Scientific Method
To obtain knowledge, scientists have developed a method supported by the entire community, consisting of rules and procedures that guide scientific research.
Deductive Method
Consists of moving from the general to the particular, where the particular is a necessary consequence of the general. This is characteristic of formal sciences, which are purely theoretical.
Inductive Method
Formulates a general conclusion from particular observations. This method is common in empirical science and has been widely discussed due to its hypothetical-deductive nature.
Steps of the Scientific Method
- Observations: Observations that cannot be explained by existing theory or even contradict some of the tenets of that theory.
- Hypothesis Formulation: Formulating a hypothesis to explain the observed phenomenon.
- Deduction of Consequences: Predicting what would happen if the explanation is accurate.
- Contrastation: Testing whether the consequences drawn from the hypothesis hold true.
- Confirmation of Hypotheses: If the result is successful, this confirmation may lead to a new law.