Philosophy and Philosophical Inquiry

Logical questions deal fundamentally on the correct procedure in thinking things out, that is, human reasoning. Logic sets up standards to be used in correct thinking. We are after the action of reasoning. We emphasize on the need of consistency in our thinking process and how this consistency reflects on what we say and do.

Ethical questions mainly deal with the nature of human actions. It is the question of right and wrong, and of duty in man’s conscious and deliberate activity. The principal questions are, What should I do? What kind of person should I be? How should we as a society organize ourselves? It is the pursuit of good judgment about action.

Philosophical inquiry is created not only to seek knowledge but most of all to find wisdom.

Significance of Philosophical Inquiry

Philosophical Inquiry guides not only the self in relation to oneself as he searches for his meaning and wisdom but it also directs human relationships and activities. Through such inquiry, we form and re-form our constitution of how we perceive our reality as a whole and our society specifically. It develops a community that is not mediocre for it is a society that not only preserves the status quo, or maintain their practices and traditions, rather it encourages and leads men to be able to critique themselves and all their actions for the improvement of the quality of life of all. Philosophical Inquiry enriches human civilizations.

Truth is one, but subject to interpretations. And man is to find what truth is and what it consists. All forms of inquiry have truth as its object. But it is philosophical inquiry that dares to find its essence to establish its being objective and therefore finds the certitude of its meaning. We want to know what is is. We inquire for the causes, principles, and reasons, to search the truth.

Once a philosophical inquiry has found an answer that which convinces reason itself, the inquiring mind is satisfied. This mental satisfaction leads the intellect to inquire further truths.

Philosophical Inquiry transforms community into a community of inquiry when (1) practices and institutions are questioned and evaluated, (2) social collaboration and cooperation are enriched, (3) community becomes reasonable to the ideas of the members, (4) questions the basic structure, challenges authority and tradition, through appeal to reason, facts, and evidence, and (5) triggers its members to participate actively in building their community and doing their share for such community.

Philosophical Inquiry and Education

If we want to have a community of philosophical inquiry, we need to transform first our education. Philosophical Inquiry cannot achieve its aims without education. It is through education that this inquiry can bring about a change of emotional and intellectual dispositions to prepare the next generations to think and act differently in their daily lives in the light of new, broader, and more satisfying conceptions of existence. If we want to transform our community into a community of inquiry through the training of philosophical inquiry, we need to reform education. In effect, we also reconstruct philosophy and philosophical inquiry. We need to change our view of education. The best way to start this is to design or redesign an educational program for elementary and secondary education. It should be designed in such a way that a culture of inquiry be created, nourished, and maintained.

II   Philosophical Discussion

What makes a discussion philosophical?

From Philosophical Inquiry to Philosophical Discussion

Philosophical Inquiry is a form of thinking that finds its origins in what is uncertain in experience. It aims to locate the nature of perplexity, and to generate ideas for a solution. It aims not only to solve common problems. The process of inquiry itself is one that cultivates attitudes, dispositions, and habits. Philosophical inquiry deals with uncertainties found in social conditions and social aims, and translates these into conflicts of organized interests and institutional claims. The aim of philosophical inquiry is to criticize existing practices and institutions. It evaluates whether these practices and institutions effect changes to the quality of life. It tries to identify values which are obsolete and then construct new values, new institutions, and new relationships that would render people a better and more flourishing quality of life.

We need to bring this form of inquiry into a higher level that which creates philosophical discussion. Philosophical Discussion paves the way for the aims of philosophical inquiry to realize. Such discussion primarily involves critical thinking and reflection that lead to critical questioning and inventive reflection. It should clarify meanings, uncover assumptions and presuppositions, analyze concepts, consider the validity of reasoning processes, and investigate the implications of the ideas and the consequences in human life of holding certain ideas rather than others. This discussion becomes fertile source of new ideas. Philosophical discussion should focus on reasoning, inquiry, concept-formation, and communal dialogue.

There are two persons in the history of philosophy that gave us some tradition in philosophizing. They are Socrates of the ancients and Gadamer of the present. Both of them emphasized on the role of dialectic or dialogue in fostering human relationships, in building communal relations, and forming communities of inquiry.

Socrates was the first person in the West to advance philosophical inquiry into philosophical discussion through some philosophical arguments. As his student Plato portrays him, Socrates puts forward no theories of his own but uses philosophical discussions to clarify, investigate, and refute the views of others. This is his Socratic Method. Socratic Method is the best way to illustrate a philosophical discussion. Socrates asks what piety, or courage, or friendship, or justice is. Someone answers. Socrates analyzes the proposed definition and begins asking questions, leading the parties to the conversation to see the definition cannot be right. Sometimes, the definition is clear; sometimes, it includes too much; sometimes, it does not include enough. Someone then proposes another definition, and the process continues. Socrates himself takes no position. In fact, he maintains that he knows only that he knows nothing, sapientissimus est qui scit suam ignorantiam.

The Socratic Method is a form of philosophical discussion. It is skeptical, conversational, conceptual, and inductive-deductive in approaches.

The method is skeptical. It begins with Socrates' real or professed ignorance of the truth of the matter under discussion. This is the Socratic irony which seemed to some of his listeners an insincere pretense, but which was undoubtedly an expression of Socrates' genuine intellectual humility. This skepticism Socrates shared with the Sophists and, in his adoption of it, he may very well have been influenced by them. But whereas the Sophistic skepticism was definitive and final, the Socratic is tentative and provisional; Socrates' doubt and assumed ignorance is an indispensable first step in the pursuit of knowledge.

It is conversational. It employs the dialogue not only as a didactic device, but as a technique for the actual discovery of opinions amongst men, there are truths upon which all men can agree, Socrates proceeds to unfold such truths by discussion or by question and answer. Beginning with a popular or hastily formed conception proposed by one of the members of the company or taken from the poets or some other traditional source, Socrates subjects this notion to severe criticism, as a result of which a more adequate conception emerges. His method, in this aspect, is often described as the maieutic method. It is the art of intellectual midwifery, which brings other men's ideas to birth. It is also known as the dialectical method or the method of elenchus.

 It is conceptual or definitional in that it sets as the goal of knowledge the acquisition of concepts, such as the ethical concepts of justice, piety, wisdom, courage and the like. Socrates tacitly assumes that truth is embodied in correct definition. Precise definition of terms is held to be the first step in the problem solving process.

The Socratic Method is empirical or inductive in that the proposed definitions are criticized by reference to particular instances. Socrates always tested definitions by recourse to common experience and to general usages.

The method is deductive in that a given definition is tested by drawing out its implications, by deducing its consequences. The definitional method of Socrates is a real contribution to the logic of philosophical inquiry. It inspired the dialectical method of Plato and exerted a not inconsiderable influence on the logic of Aristotle.

This method of Socrates encourages men to engage in philosophical inquiry and therefore discuss philosophically with others in order for us to discover truths, find wisdom, and lead a good life. As Socrates would put it, “an unexamined life is not a human life”, ho de anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropos.

There is another person who anchors on the power of philosophical discussion to transform our society. Hans-Georg Gadamer, a contemporary philosopher in the field of hermeneutics, believes in the philosophical dialogue as a means to understand ourselves and others as we build and share our existences. His analogy circulates on his notion of horizontverschmelzung, the fusion of horizons. We need to understand the other as we enter into dialogue. The other should also understand as he enters into such a dialogue. The two parties should continuously project themselves as they try to understand their language game until they arrive at a consensus. This consensus is the fusion of horizons.  During the process, the parties as they engage into a philosophical reflection, clarify the rules of the game. They define, clarify, review, and even revise their concepts. They recognize philosophical arguments and focus on reasoning, inquiry, concept-formation, and on the dialogue itself. This process of dialogue and fusion of horizons created out of such dialogue should always be mutable in character and revisable in nature due to its exposure to other horizons. In this aspect, the possibility of horizontverschmelzung cannot only take place between two parties. It can happen in a society through a communal dialogue. When there is a fusion among the fusions of horizons, we can see a communal dialogue transforming society into a community of inquiry and dialogue. Gadamer's argument that dialogue is an essential element of understanding is that articulation is necessary for understanding and articulation never occurs outside of dialogue. We always need to articulate our ideas as we understand others. Such articulations are the process of philosophical discussions.

Socrates’ and Gadamer’s contributions to philosophical inquiry and philosophical discussion show us how we should facilitate our community to transform itself into a community of inquiry. This goal should start from education; the way we should educate our children. If we are serious in building a community of leaders and the righteous, we need to remodel our system of educating people. To educate our children in this way of philosophy is to build a better world for all of us, encouraging better citizens, better constituency, and better governance.

What makes a discussion philosophical?  Based on our discussion above, we can say that there are mainly three points that make discussion philosophical. These are: reasoning and inquiry (application of, reflection on, and evaluation of the processes of reasoning and inquiry), concept formation (reference to general concepts which help our understanding and are regarded as contestable), and meaning making (questions and statements which reveal a search for the connections that make for meaning).

Reasoning and Inquiry:

1. Philosophical discussions develop the skills of giving reasons and formulating criteria and that these reasons and criteria are good ones.
2. Philosophical discussions are reflective and evaluative. People engaged in such endeavor cannot but to be self-conscious. The discussion itself focused members participating in the process of inquiry to be aware of the concepts used and weigh up the criteria used in arguing and reasoning.
3. The people involved in this type of discussion do not only look for reasons and criteria but rather they determine what counts as reasonable generalization or an appropriate analogy in a given context.
4. The participants in this discussion generate an appreciation that questions raised during the process of inquiry and reasoning prompts for reasons, predictions, and viewpoints which can be evaluated as good or bad, better or worse, reasonable or unreasonable.
5. Philosophical discussions requires an understanding of philosophical concepts such as reason and good reason which is best manifested by the competent use of such words as reason and good.

Concept Formation:

1. Through philosophical discussions, the nature and meaning of the concepts that we use (especially in philosophy) become clearer in our experience.
2. The mere fact that concepts are differently interpreted by different people and how these different interpretations matter in living one’s life, there is a need to analyze and understand concepts as we form them.
3. We form concepts not only to have a deeper understanding of ourselves but to have a fuller and richer understanding of others
4. Concepts are created, formed, used, and analyzed as can be identified and located within the dialogue

Meaning-Making:

1. This includes all those strategies which the community of inquiry employs in the ongoing quest to make sense of that which is puzzling, confusing, vague, or problematic.
2. Strategies for reasoning and inquiry are meaning-making strategies
3. Construction of meaning threads out our thoughts, ideas, and experiences. This presents o us a holistic view of meaning as we are set to construct it.

Significance of Philosophical Discussion

The way to fit into place and transform a people of mediocrity to a community of inquiry is to engage in philosophical inquiry and in philosophical discussion. For people to see themselves, and in effect reflectively and evaluatively gauge themselves, there should be a culture of inquiring and dialoguing. Such culture would initiate, motivate, and pursue a good community characterized by self-awareness and other-orientedness. This would lead to building a community that is responsive, participatory, liberating, and transformative especially in terms of defining the goals of the community of inquiry. Philosophical discussions are the catalysts for communal change.

Philosophical Discussion for Children

The society through education in the context of philosophical discussion should encourage children to think for themselves and to think with others. The system of education should be designed in such a way that children are not trained to focus on answers, rather on the questions. Such education should be concerned with the art of questioning. Absolutism is replaced by a commitment to fallibilism, and teachers find themselves co-inquirers into the meaning of the most central and controversial concepts of all disciplines, rather than sources of knowledge and authority.

Some questions that would elicit philosophical discussions among children:

        

1. What reasons do you have for saying that?
2. Why do you agree or disagree on that point?
3. How are you defining the term you just used?
4. What do you mean by that expression?
5. Is what you are saying now consistent with what you said before?
6. Can you clarify that remark?
7. What follows from what you just said?
8. Are you sure you are not contradicting yourself?
9. What alternatives are there to such a formulation?

These questions would push children to express their insights and opinions, clarify and restate their points, explicate and interpret their views, search for assumptions, look for criteria for their claims, indicate fallacies to their statements, search and examine alternatives, and reason reasonably and rationally. As children try to explore ideas as they raise questions on metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics, they become responsible of all their thinking and doing. In this process, children are trained to think philosophically, speak philosophically, and act philosophically.

III   CLASSROOM COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY

How do we create a community of inquiry, or a classroom

converted into a community of inquiry ?

Man is basically an inquirer. He is not satisfied of what he perceives. Because of his natural desire to know things, he sets himself to look for causes, reasons, and principles of things. He harnesses his sense of wonder and awe to find and investigate on the ultimate questions of things. His art of inquiry pushes him to look for more meaning and more valuable interpretations. Man cannot but to philosophize. His philosophical eye leads him to engage in inquiry and in philosophical discussions. His inquiry is shared (with others). He needs to reflect and be able to assess the processes of his reasoning and inquiry. He wants to understand the concepts formed and as used in his environment. He searches for connections that construct meaning. These are possible if shared with other inquirers. Conversations turned into dialogues focus on a shared concern and problem. It is in the process of dialogue that community of inquiry, community of dialogue, and community of thinkers are made. Dialogue lies at the heart of all inquiry. Philosophical inquiries and discussions are best done and practiced through education (and other forms of community of inquiry). Since education has the task of improving the thinking of all concerned, there would be a high level of scrutiny and examination on the raised issues. A community that promotes dialogue transforms itself into a community of inquiry; a community that is reasonable (to all viewpoints) and servicing (to all members). The best way to inculcate values of such community is through schools. Since schools are seen as haven of knowledge and learning, they are good avenues for building communities of inquiry. Classrooms would be the most powerful tool for having such communities. Classroom community of inquiry will be the microcosm of ‘societal’ community of inquiry.

How can a classroom be converted into a community of inquiry? When children are encouraged to think philosophically, the classroom is converted into a community of inquiry. To think philosophically would mean committing to the procedures of inquiry, expressing openness to evidence and reason, and thinking cooperatively and collaboratively with the rest of those participating in inquiry, reasoning, and dialogue. It is assumed that philosophical thinking and learning occur primarily through the interaction between students and their environment (physical classroom, other students, parents, relatives, friends, people in the community, media, and other teacher(s) ). All members of a community have their respective shares in creating their community into a community of inquiry and specifically encouraging and developing schools to epistemic clusters of inquiry. But it is the role of the teacher that is most crucial since it is s/he who has the direct hand in managing the classroom and guiding the students to philosophical inquiry and discussions. A healthful teacher-student relationship acquires trust and respect which are seeds of good dialogue.

The proper role of the teacher is to encourage intellectual creativity as well as intellectual rigor and to help students master the rules of logical inference and etiquette of classroom discussion. He is to maintain relevance of points and issues inside the class by sustaining the art of questioning and beauty of answering. Giving some weight on the virtue of listening to ponder more on the lofty ideas and depth of issues as they participate in the process of inquiry and discussion is a big matter. Putting more weight on the non-verbal and gesticular communications of students is a big help to measure the level of class performance. It is the teacher who can manipulate the environment in such a way as to enhance the possibility of students continually growing and following philosophical discussions and awareness. The teacher may help a philosophical discussion evolve out of great demands for the construction of meaning of an idea. He is challenged to explore, know, utilize opportunities and conditions that provide clues and entries into philosophical explorations. He should ensure that students can express their minds and avoid to be trapped by peer pressure or simply even plain indifference. The teacher should be continuously committed to philosophical inquiry and avoid indoctrinating the students; there should be respect for students’ opinions and s/he should earn students’ trust. Once students perceive and become sensitive to their teacher, which means that they feel the trust and care given to them, converting classroom into a community of inquiry will be less difficult. S/he should see to it that the proper procedures are followed and at the same time consider more emphasis on the content. The teacher is a co-inquirer; and that the classroom community of inquiry becomes the real teacher in the process.

The students, in turn, should know their part/role as they share and contribute to the classroom community of inquiry. They should be committed to inquiry and be socially disposed to reason with the whole class. They should be prepared to take into account issues of significance and consciously allowing their viewpoints to be changed by others. They should value listening and dialogue. As they participate in communal inquiry, they should develop attraction to ideas of many kinds and from many sources for them to continuously look and search for answers and solutions. With proper motivation, students find themselves desiring to think better and harder, to explain themselves more carefully, and to proffer and explore alternative points of view more thoroughly. With such characterizations, they arrive at decisions and judgments upon which they are prepared to act. In the process, there comes a more holistic picture of education, since there is a focus on relationships among reasoners as well as relationships among reasons. This implies collaborative and cooperative thinking at work, seen in and through dialogue. This dialogue is driven by a desire to get at the truth of things and embody solutions and insights which remain open to question.

The interactive nature of the roles of both the teacher and the students plus the intervention of the general community become the presuppositions of claiming classroom as community of inquiry.

What would we see then in a classroom community of inquiry? Splitter and Sharp present to us some characterizations:

1. a physical configuration which maximizes opportunities for participants to communicate with, and behave democratically with one another
2. parents and other members of the general community take up the role as ’outside expert’
3. participants building on, shaping, modifying one another’s ideas bound by their interest in the subject matter to keep a unified focus and to follow inquiry wherever it may lead
4. hear from students and teachers the kinds of questions, answers, hypotheses, ponderings, and explanations which reflect the nature of philosophical inquiry as open-ended yet shaped by logic which has features both general and specific to each discipline or subject
5. there is a persistence to get to the bottom of things

There are virtues developed within a community of inquiry. Persistence and courage among the members in terms of putting a certain viewpoint and defending it in the face of unreasoned opposition or peer pressure. But they express humility, tolerance, and fairmindedness even they feel most certain of the truth.

There is no precise description or even definition of the concept community of inquiry. What we can say is that the nature and quality of inquiry depend on the classroom community’s level of growth and development as a community of inquiry. In this sense, the idea of classroom community of inquiry is a process of creating and realizing itself, and this is inevitable. Philosophical thinking, philosophical inquiry, philosophical discussion create community of inquiry and lead to the conversion and transformation of classroom into community of inquiry.

IV   BETTER JUDGMENTS

Why reasoned criteria crucial for better judgments?

Man as rational is a natural reasoner. He has the capacity to think, and to think reflexibly. He is endowed to form and abstract ideas and concepts and establish the relation of these ideas. Through this act of the mind that humankind is able to establish language and grammar, form systems and processes, sustain cultures, and build civilizations.

He uses his ideas to form judgments. Judgments are the bases of understanding and intercalation of ideas. People come to judgment to decipher, discern, and form judicious reasoning and insight. Judgment is involved whenever we choose among conflicting courses of action, or reflect on someone’s opinion or viewpoint. Judgments lead to other thoughts or actions. They are based on reasons and criteria that we have selected as relevant, sound, and compelling. Correct judgments are the causes of good management and human wisdom. Errors in judgment results into difficulties, problems, and tragedies of individual activities and social organizations. The kind of judgment that we have and do affect human events. It even holds the fate of things of importance. Attitudes presuppose judgments. To understand human actions is to know the attitudes that are formed behind them, which explain to us the nature of judgments and reason for the actualization of these judgments.

People should be taught to have good judgments and how to strengthen their judgments. Strengthening their capacity to make good judgments should be seen as a major concern of society. Education through schools is a good medium to teach people to think reflectively and collaboratively, and hence to form sound judgments.

There is a need, in a wider sense, to strengthen judgment as we inquire and discuss philosophically within a community of inquiry. Educators should treat this concern as vital especially in designing the educational programming and curricula for students.

To make good judgments we must possess the ability, the inclination, and the sensitivity to learn from what we experience. We register what we have learned by formulating and using criteria. Sound judgments are those which are based on good criteria. The cultivation of good judgment requires each person to examine our own attitudes, values, and behavior. Such examination, in turn, involves reflecting and deliberating on experience and altering one’s thinking when necessary. Judgments involve thinking rationally and logically. But we also need to question our own judgments, and hence our criteria. We should recognize and accept (and appreciate) that there are other judgments and criteria. To arrive at better judgments, we should look for better criteria. Better criteria sometimes, if not most of the times, are found in others’ judgments and criteria. A person should be reasonable in this respect. It is in his being reasonable that he is able to compare, contrast, test, and evaluate his own judgments. It is only after some judicious examination (which involves of being sensitive to other ideas) that we can have better judgments. Better judgments posit better criteria.  The criteria that would define, determine, and describe better judgments should be reasoned criteria. By reasoned criteria we mean the criteria that are more objective and are mutually acceptable among a reasonable group of persons. In this sense, reasoned criteria are crucial for better judgments. Reasoned criteria transcend bases for good decisions; they assume universality. Hence, people cannot but to submit to them.  

V   THINKING AND CITIZENSHIP

How can the improvement of thinking lead to better citizens?

When we speak of citizenship, we mean membership. People come together and become members of a political community to provide for themselves their welfare and security. Membership is important because of communal provision. As a political community, we reach decisions together what goods are necessary to our common life, and to provide those goods for one another. Men come together because they cannot live apart. They can live together in many different ways. Their survival and their well being require a common effort. So, mutual provision breeds mutuality. To become a member, and hence to be a citizen, in a political community there requires and effects social (and political) responsibility. The state demands to all members to do their shares and fulfill their obligations to the State. As the State guarantees and protects rights, provide needs, and promote goods, the members are called upon to preserve the State and the status quo for stability, to give allegiance to it, and to honor the inherent power of the State. As members, we have political responsibility. Each member is asked to be reasonable with the rest of the members in order to fully identify and decide on the range of goods that ought to be shared. In this way also that a citizen is tolerant of the comprehensive doctrines of all members and groups. As they come to define their roles, sign the contract, and reiterate such social pact, that social arrangements and agreements are enforced, empowered, and strengthened. They come together and agree with one another on the basic principles that guide governance. They arrive at a certain level of consensus. All members as citizens actively participate on public deliberations in designing and assigning public policies and rules that would govern the entire polity. The success of public reason and triumph of consensus depend entirely on the ability of the members to assert their rights and fight for their goods as their needs determine the factors of communal provision. The sovereignty of the State which resides on the people (the members) is guided and defended. Hence, a citizen should not be passive or mediocre. He should be participatory in all social and political affairs. He should take cognizance the social reasons and social principles. He should explicate and exemplify on the truths and meanings upheld in the social contract. Constitutional essentials and matters of basic justice should be decided and agreed upon by the collective. Issues of power and authority should be defined.

All essential concerns in constituting a political community require a deeper level of intellectual masturbation. Deep thinking is a requirement. The kind and level of thinking, in a general sense, affect the complexities of human life, from simple human relationships to intricate communal activities. Reasonableness, consensus, and public reason posit thinking. Thinking, and not just thinking but good thinking, or even better thinking, is highly demanded in the three elements.

The way we respond to our social values and social responsibility reflect the kind of thinking that we have. Thinking defines our attitudes on certain things. We are called upon to have good and better judgments and therefore good and better actions. We look for good and better reasons for what we do. We dare and call for good and better criteria; the more objective the criteria, the more mutually acceptable they become.

There is a great need then to improve the thinking of people to become more responsive to the challenges the duties of membership and citizenship entail. They should engage themselves in inquiry and philosophical discussions and take into consideration topics of significance that have implications on socio-cultural, socio-economic, socio-political spheres. When they are able to create a culture of communal dialogue where political opinions and civil concerns are debated that people become more aware and reflective on the relevance of the spheres to their common life and thus their significance and roles to the basic structure of society. Through this, they do not only ascertain what truth really is, but that social goals and social aims that direct and regulate state of affairs are understood and assimilated. Hence, they become sensitive, and not only to become sensitive but more of to become sensible, to social conditions that immediately ask for attention and in a certain sense require for social and political changes. These things are done during the process of social construction natural in a community of inquiry. People then are able to develop among themselves the ability to consider and agree on good and better decisions, good and better criteria, and good and better actions in the context of social construction. These extrapolations enhance or enrich, and strengthen people’s social and political roles as members of their political community. They then can assess properly and measure fairly social conditions which can lead to development proposals and reforms.

The discussion above explains the logical triangular relation of thinking, saying and doing. The main issue is consistency. The coherence on what we think and say, on what we say and do, and on what we think and do pronounces the rational connection of thinking and action. And it fundamentally occurs in thinking.

The best way to improve the thinking of our citizens is through the school. Schools are the training grounds on which people are taught to think, and to think properly and correctly. If we have good education programming, students will be facilitated to think and to think well. If we have good curricula (i.e. philosophy for children curriculum), then at an early age or stage, they are trained to intellectual creativity and are disciplined through intellectual rigor, which equips for philosophical thinking. If our citizens have the best education, we would expect to have best thinkers and therefore best citizens.