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Philosophy One Thousand Years B.C.

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Philosophy means “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.”

The Apostle Paul cautioned us to "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ..." (Colossians 2:8), nonetheless, every major philosophy known to man can be found in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, one thousand years before Jesus Christ was born. 

This article will present both the philosophical name and definition, exhibiting the corresponding biblical verses.

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Phenomenology: Is commonly understood in either of two ways: as a disciplinary field in philosophy, or as a movement in the history of philosophy.

The discipline of phenomenology may be defined initially as the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. Literally, phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view. This field of philosophy is then to be distinguished from, and related to, the other main fields of philosophy: ontology (the study of being or what is), epistemology (the study of knowledge), logic (the study of valid reasoning), ethics (the study of right and wrong action), etc.

“I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-8)

Nihilism: 1. The rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless. 2. Extreme skepticism, according to which nothing in the world has a real existence.

“Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.” (Ecclesiastes 2:17-18)

Agnosticism: A religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God "agnosticism holds that you can neither prove nor disprove God's existence."

“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Humanism: an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters.

“Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?” (Ecclesiastes 3:22)

Stoicism: The endurance of pain or hardship without a display of feelings and without complaint.

“It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2, 4)

Deism: Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe.

“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

Hedonism: 1. The pursuit of pleasure. 2. The ethical theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life.

“And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.” (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

Skepticism: Refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts.

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

Naturalism: Commonly refers to the philosophical viewpoint that the natural universe and its natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe that we know.

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Fatalism: The belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.

“If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” (Ecclesiastes 11:3)

“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)

Pragmatism: An approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application.

“For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?” (Ecclesiastes 2:25)

Empiricism: 1. The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. 2. Practice based on experiment and observation.

“I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness….” (Ecclesiastes 7:25)

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Every sinner on earth will be personally accountable to God for good and evil deeds AFTER he dies. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. (I Kings 3:1)

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