PSEB SS Philosophy cheat sheet

Philosophy (PSEB Senior Secondary / Class XII)

• Philosophy is defined as the rational, critical and systematic inquiry into fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, values and meaning; it differs from religion (faith-based) and science (empirical-experimental) chiefly in method and scope.

• The main branches: Metaphysics (nature of reality/being), Epistemology (nature, sources and limits of knowledge), Ethics (moral values and conduct), Logic (valid reasoning), Aesthetics (beauty and art), and Political philosophy (state, justice, liberty).

• The Greek origin is philosophia - philein (to love) + sophia (wisdom) - hence 'love of wisdom'; Pythagoras is traditionally credited with coining the term.

• Socrates' method is dialectic/elenchus: question a claim, expose contradiction (aporia), and pursue definitions of virtues such as courage and justice; his dictum 'the unexamined life is not worth living' appears in Plato's Apology.

• Plato's theory of Forms holds that sensible objects are imperfect copies of eternal, unchanging Forms, with the Form of the Good at the summit; the Allegory of the Cave illustrates ascent from illusion (shadows) to knowledge (sun).

• Aristotle rejects separate Forms: form is immanent in matter (hylomorphism); he distinguishes four causes - material, efficient, formal and final - and defines virtue as a mean between extremes (doctrine of the mean).

• Indian philosophical schools divide into āstika (Vedic, accepting Veda authority: Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta) and nāstika (Cārvāka, Buddhist, Jain), and philosophy is pursued as darśana, a 'seeing' aimed at liberation (mokṣa/nirvāṇa).

• Philosophical method requires conceptual clarification, argument construction (premises leading to conclusion), identification of fallacies, and examination of counter-arguments; a claim becomes philosophical when reasons are demanded for it.