What is Philosophy?
Introduction
The word “philosophy” is derived from the Greek meaning “love of wisdom”. Professor Walter says, “Though many philosophers would dispute what I say, I will give you one model of philosophy. For me, Philosophy is defined by a goal and a method”. He continues by saying that philosophy’s goal is nothing less than systematic worlds view.
Philosophy is the pursue of gaining a complete understanding of the human existence. The purpose of philosophy is to consider the rational validation of logical inferences, human values, and enlightenment of the nature of reality and definitely the criteria for ascertaining the claims of knowledge. In a way, we can say that is like a guide for living, mainly because the issues it addresses are pervasive and basic, deciding the course we take in life and how we treat other people.
From the macro point of view, philosophy is an activity people assume when they seek to realize primary truths about themselves, their relationships to the humanity and to each other, and the world that they exist in. People who study philosophy are mostly engaged in answering, asking, and arguing for their answers on the most fundamental questions in life. The varied insights of important philosophers from historic times to the present contribute resources to encourage modern-day philosophical thinking in many fields.
Although Philosophy originated from the Ancient Greece, many distinguished figures in the history of diverse cultures have addressed similar topics in a corresponding manner. The philosophers of East and South Asia are discussed in Eastern philosophy, while the philosophers of North Africa and the Middle East, because of their strong connections with Europe, they are usually considered part of Western philosophy.
Branches of Philosophy
If we try and look at everything under philosophy, it will be too long, mainly because various topics have been studied by philosophers at different times. Only a few are stated below:
- Metaphysics: It was first studied systematically by Aristotle. The recent meaning of this term is any inquiry dealing with the ultimate nature of what really exists. It is the study of the nature of reality, of what exists in this world, what is like and how it is ordered. Below are a few questions that philosophers struggle with in Metaphysics:
o Is there a God?
o What is the true meaning of truth?
o Can people be free of everything?
- Epistemology: It is concerned with the nature and scale of knowledge, and whether knowledge is achievable. It is mainly concerned about what we can know about the world and how we can get to know of it. Below are a few questions under Epistemology:
o What is knowledge?
o How do we really know about whatever we know?
o Do we actually know anything?
- Ethics: Another name for ethics is ‘Moral philosophy’. It is mainly concerned with how we are ought to act and what would be the best thing to do in a certain context. Below are some questions that fall under ethics:
o What is right?
o How should I treat others?
o What is good?
- Logic: This mainly has two broad divisions: philosophical logic (the logic of language) and mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic). Logic is the study of philosophy is mainly related to the arguments or reasons given for people’s responses to different questions. Philosophers utilize logic to study the nature and structure of arguments. Below are some questions asked within the study of logic:
o How do we constitute ‘good’ or ‘bad’ reasoning?
o How can we determine whether a given piece of reasoning is good or bad?
History of Philosophy
Apart from finding your answers in the present, the study of philosophy also seeks to understand the way in which people have answered such questions in the past. Therefore, a major part of philosophy is its own history, which is a history of arguments and answers about various questions asked. Below are some of the historical figure who have contributed various ideologies in the field of philosophy:
|
· Plato |
· Kant |
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· Aristotle |
· Nietzsche |
|
· Aquinas |
· Marx |
|
· Descartes |
· Mill |
|
· Locke |
· Wittgenstein |
|
· Hume |
· Sartre |
The history of philosophy is usually divided into three periods: Ancient philosophy, Medieval philosophy, and Modern philosophy.
Ancient Philosophy
The Ancient Greek Philosophy may be divided into the pre-Socratic period, and the Socratic period. The pre-Socratic period was characterized by metaphysical speculation, frequently preserved in the form of grand, sweeping statements, such as “all is fire”. The Socratic period is mainly named in the honor of Socrates himself, alongside his pupil Plato. They revolutionized philosophy with the use of Socratic method which developed the general philosophical methods of definition, synthesis, and analysis.
Medieval Philosophy
This era mainly covers the philosophy in Western Europe and the Middle East during what is commonly known today as the Middle ages. This roughly extended from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance period. It is partially defined from the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek Philosophy and the Hellenistic philosophy. Some of the philosophers from the Middle Ages include Alfarabi, Algazel, Averroes, Abubacer, Thomas Aquinas, and Jean Buridan.
Modern Philosophy
The modern philosophy is then divided into three stages: Early modern philosophy (c.1600 – c.1800), Later modern philosophy (c. 1800 – 1960), and Contemporary philosophy (c. 1960 – present).
In the past hundred years, philosophy has progressively become an activity practiced within the modern research universities, and therefore it has grown to become more specialized and more distinct from the natural sciences. Most of the philosophy during this period, concerns itself with the explaining of the relation between the theories of the natural sciences and the ideas of the humanities or common sense.
References
1. http://www.onu.edu/a+s/philosophy/philos.html#Introduction
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy
3. http://objectivistcenter.org/cth-32-409-FAQ_Philosophy.aspx
4. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~phil/whatis/wsa.html
5. http://www.fsu.edu/~philo/new%20site/sub_category/whatisphilo.htm
This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under Essays and Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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