Essay 3-Beginning of a Philosophical System

Foundation and Justification of the System

As dictated by essay 1 and essay 2, we have obtained a foundation and justification to form the new philosophical system. In order to refresh our minds, I shall summarize the foundations and justifications. In essay 1, we have established the requirement of a new ethical theory for the happiness of all mankind. In essay 2, the ethical theory is connected with the philosophical system, and a reflection of extant philosophical systems shows that they have more or less failed. As such we are justified in forming a new philosophical system, replacing the old, to achieve the new ethical theory.

Limits of Philosophy

The first step in the philosophical system is the establishment of clear boundaries of the system. We recognize that the system is made up of statements related to a particular topic. For the achievement of the purpose of this system, that topic must be bounded. It is true that it has been hinted on what those limits are, but I believe it is still good that we clarify and establish fully what those limits are.

The limits of the philosophical system are in the limits of philosophy itself, as a philosophical system is a system of philosophy. The limits of philosophy are contained again within the definition of philosophy itself. We know that philosophy is the study of the foundations of reality, though it can also be seen as the study of the foundations of human reality or experience. As such philosophy is limited to such topic, and the statements which builds philosophy are statements on the foundations of reality or human reality.

Therefore, the philosophical system is a system of statements on the foundations of reality or human reality. Then the limits of the philosophical system are the foundations of reality. If any statement is not about the foundation of reality and is instead about a more local or specific part of reality then it might not be part of the philosophical system, rather another scientific system.

Methodology of Philosophy

Next, we have to establish a general methodology of philosophy, that is the answer to the question of how we are going to obtain the philosophical statements. While in the future this methodology will be part of the philosophical system itself, it is still good to establish a general framework. That way we can have a general guide on how to formulate the philosophical system from the beginning.

The most common answer to this question is “experience”. Most philosophical systems would agree that experience is the source or the method of obtaining philosophical statements. However, some may disagree on what kind of “experience” is the correct source of philosophical statements. It is common to divide the differing systems into 2 categories, the empirical systems and the rationalist systems.

Empirical systems dictate that the source of statements is only the sensory experience. Rationalist systems dictate that it is only the mental or rational experience, or pure logical reasoning. In truth none of these beliefs are true and both mental and sensory experience are equal sources of philosophical statements. In order to fully understand why such is that, we must have a brief philosophical investigation.

It is rather clear on how sensory experiences can be a source of truth. After all the dominant philosophical system of the world is the empirical one. However, what is more important is understanding how mental experience can be a source of truth. Let us say that we feel an emotion, or we are thinking of something. In objective terms, such experience is an objective truth which is true regardless of whether it can be proven or not. Therefore, surely that mental experience can be a source of truth and thus of philosophical statements.

As such the correct source of philosophical statements is the totality of experience which consists of both mental and sensory experience but also possibly other kinds of experience which cannot fit into either the mental or sensory category. I then call this type of philosophical methodology not empirical or rationalist, but phenomenological. As it is related to the phenomena, or the conscious experience.

The phenomenological method dictates that all philosophical statements can either be traced to a previous statement or to the conscious experience. In the philosophical system it shall be determined further how each category of experience supplies the statements. Unfortunately, this methodology only serves to be a general idea or framework and not as an actual grounded truth. While in general the methodology of philosophy is phenomenological, the starting methods shall be a bit different.

Scepticism and Intuition

In the beginning of the philosophical system we discard the old systems to build the new. This has interesting consequences however. The philosophical system, either the old or the one we are constructing right now, contains within it a definition of truth. Therefore, it is critical in the support and justification of all other truths and statements, even if they seem trivial. Now if we throw away all of the basic support and justification, then everything else would fall apart. To discard one is to discard everything else.

As such the attitude that we take in the beginning is scepticism. Because we deny the old philosophical systems, we deny everything that we take to be true. No truth can escape as all truth which exists right now must be supported by an older philosophical system. Even if a truth is said to be true by mere feeling, that is still a philosophical statement. In consequence, we do not have any truths, not even the methodology we described can be accepted as truth. We start out with nothing in terms of truth.

This is where the role of intuition comes from. While we have no truth, we accept that we have ideas and thoughts of the world. Not only ideas and thoughts, but beliefs and feelings of what is true in this world. These things are what we call intuition and they are our starting tools for the construction of the philosophical system. Of course, the usage of the intuition is rather interesting as it shall be illustrated in the next analogy.

Imagine that the old philosophical systems are a city levelled to the ground. Not only the city is levelled but the construction vehicles, materials, and tools, are all gone. As such we only have rubble, and we must construct a new city from the old rubble. We must choose which rubble to be used as a tool and use that newly declared tool to construct the new city from the rubble of the old.

If we translate that to terms of intuition, the intuitions that we have are actually the rubble of the old philosophical systems. For they have an origin and do not spontaneously emerge. We then must select which intuition to be used as a first tool or truth and then use that intuition to determine the truth from amongst the rubble. It is when we have a proper truth, or building, that we can use the new truth to discern the tool we once used and then perfect it into an actual tool. By that time, we have sufficient truth to not have to rely on the intuitions.

It is true that with such model of construction, we would inevitably mimic the old systems in a way. That is alright, as long as we can justify parts of the old system, for we eventually accept that the old systems are not wholly false but only partially false. Then we would inevitably have an implicit system to create the new system. This is the best that we can attempt right now, and as such faith is important to the creation of the new system. Otherwise, we would have no truth and remain in no man’s land.

This essay corresponds to the Indonesian version.