Business

LECTURE 1

PHILOSOPHY In this lesson I am going to introduce you to philosophy by inviting you to think - to wonder, to reason, to question, to figure out, to speculate, and even to doubt - while seeking to understand our universe and yourself as part of it. There is no universally accepted definition of philosophy. This is partly because philosophy does not have any content that students can merely read, memorize, accept and believe. Instead, as Christian (1973) observes, philosophy is a "do-it-yourself enterprise". It is a way of doing things - a way of thinking that is systematic, disciplined skillful, responsible and flexible. The best way to understand what philosophy is, therefore, is to participate in it. However, for the sake of giving you at least some idea of the subject, let us try to define and characterize it

2.2 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

· Define philosophy

· Debate the extent to which philosophy is beneficial to society

· Formulate and discuss philosophical questions.

2.3.1.0 Defining Philosophy

The term "philosophy" has various senses and uses. Wambari (1992) distinguishes the following: ideological, stoical and technical or professional usage.

2.3.1.1 Ideological usage

This is the sense in which we talk about "philosophy of life." Philosophy, in this sense, is an attitude or approach to life, a guide to action or a set of beliefs concerning morality, politics or life in general. Ideological philosophies are helpful in religion, business and politics in terms of mobilizing people psychologically towards some desired goal. This is a narrow conceptualization of philosophy. Properly understood, philosophy involves criticizing and evaluating such ideologies in order to determine their meaning, underlying assumptions, implications, justification and value.

2.3.1.2 Stoical usage

Stoicism was a philosophical school of thought which had its origin in Athens in the third century B.C. stoicism taught the following:

- The...