What do the word philosophy means

Philosophy (from Greek: φιλοσοφία, philosophia, ‘love of wisdom’)^[1][2] is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Some sources claim the term was coined by Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BCE),^[8][9] although this theory is disputed by some.^[10][11][12] Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.^[13][14][i]

Historically, philosophy encompassed all bodies of knowledge and a practitioner was known as a philosopher.^[15] «Natural philosophy», which began as a discipline in ancient India and Ancient Greece, encompasses astronomy, medicine, and physics.^[16][17] For example, Isaac Newton’s 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics. In the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize.^[18][19] Since then, various areas of investigation that were traditionally part of philosophy have become separate academic disciplines, and namely the social sciences such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics.

Today, major subfields of academic philosophy include metaphysics, which is concerned with the fundamental nature of existence and reality; epistemology, which studies the nature of knowledge and belief; ethics, which is concerned with moral value; and logic, which studies the rules of inference that allow one to derive conclusions from true premises.^[20][21] Other notable subfields include philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, political philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind.

Definitions

There is wide agreement that philosophy (from the ancient Greek φίλος, phílos: «love»; and σοφία, sophía: «wisdom»)^[22] is characterized by various general features: it is a form of rational inquiry, it aims to be systematic, and it tends to critically reflect on its own methods and presuppositions.^[23][24][25] But approaches that go beyond such vague characterizations to give a more interesting or profound definition are usually controversial.^[24][25] Often, they are only accepted by theorists belonging to a certain philosophical movement and are revisionistic in that many presumed parts of philosophy would not deserve the title «philosophy» if they were true.^[26][27] Before the modern age, the term was used in a very wide sense, which included the individual sciences, like physics or mathematics, as its sub-disciplines, but the contemporary usage is more narrow.^[25][28][29]

Some approaches argue that there is a set of essential features shared by all parts of philosophy while others see only weaker family resemblances or contend that it is merely an empty blanket term.^[30][27][31] Some definitions characterize philosophy in relation to its method, like pure reasoning. Others focus more on its topic, for example, as the study of the biggest patterns of the world as a whole or as the attempt to answer the big questions.^[27][32][33] Both approaches have the problem that they are usually either too wide, by including non-philosophical disciplines, or too narrow, by excluding some philosophical sub-disciplines.^[27] Many definitions of philosophy emphasize its intimate relation to science.^[25] In this sense, philosophy is sometimes understood as a proper science in its own right. Some naturalist approaches, for example, see philosophy as an empirical yet very abstract science that is concerned with very wide-ranging empirical patterns instead of particular observations.^[27][34] Some phenomenologists, on the other hand, characterize philosophy as the science of essences.^[26][35][36] Science-based definitions usually face the problem of explaining why philosophy in its long history has not made the type of progress as seen in other sciences.^[27][37][38] This problem is avoided by seeing philosophy as an immature or provisional science whose subdisciplines cease to be philosophy once they have fully developed.^[25][30][35] In this sense, philosophy is the midwife of the sciences.^[25]

Other definitions focus more on the contrast between science and philosophy. A common theme among many such definitions is that philosophy is concerned with meaning, understanding, or the clarification of language.^[32][27] According to one view, philosophy is conceptual analysis, which involves finding the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of concepts.^[33][27][39] Another defines philosophy as a linguistic therapy that aims at dispelling misunderstandings to which humans are susceptible due to the confusing structure of natural language.^[26][25][40] One more approach holds that the main task of philosophy is to articulate the pre-ontological understanding of the world, which acts as a condition of possibility of experience.^[27][41][42]

Many other definitions of philosophy do not clearly fall into any of the aforementioned categories. An early approach already found in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy is that philosophy is the spiritual practice of developing one’s reasoning ability.^[43][44] This practice is an expression of the philosopher’s love of wisdom and has the aim of improving one’s well-being by leading a reflective life.^[45] A closely related approach identifies the development and articulation of worldviews as the principal task of philosophy, i.e. to express how things on the grand scale hang together and which practical stance we should take towards them.^[27][23][46] Another definition characterizes philosophy as thinking about thinking in order to emphasize its reflective nature.^[27][33]

Historical overview

In one general sense, philosophy is associated with wisdom, intellectual culture, and a search for knowledge. In this sense, all cultures and literate societies ask philosophical questions, such as «how are we to live» and «what is the nature of reality». A broad and impartial conception of philosophy, then, finds a reasoned inquiry into such matters as reality, morality, and life in all world civilizations.^[47]

Western philosophy

Western philosophy is the philosophical tradition of the Western world, dating back to pre-Socratic thinkers who were active in 6th-century Greece (BCE), such as Thales (c. 624 – c. 545 BCE) and Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BCE) who practiced a «love of wisdom» (Latin: philosophia)^[48] and were also termed «students of nature» (physiologoi).

Western philosophy can be divided into three eras:

1. Ancient (Greco-Roman).
2. Medieval philosophy (referring to Christian European thought).
3. Modern philosophy (beginning in the 17th century).

Ancient era

While our knowledge of the ancient era begins with Thales in the 6th century BCE, little is known about the philosophers who came before Socrates (commonly known as the pre-Socratics). The ancient era was dominated by Greek philosophical schools. Most notable among the schools influenced by Socrates’ teachings were Plato, who founded the Platonic Academy, and his student Aristotle, who founded the Peripatetic school.^[49] Other ancient philosophical traditions influenced by Socrates included Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Stoicism, and Academic Skepticism. Two other traditions were influenced by Socrates’ contemporary, Democritus: Pyrrhonism and Epicureanism. Important topics covered by the Greeks included metaphysics (with competing theories such as atomism and monism), cosmology, the nature of the well-lived life (eudaimonia), the possibility of knowledge, and the nature of reason (logos). With the rise of the Roman empire, Greek philosophy was increasingly discussed in Latin by Romans such as Cicero and Seneca (see Roman philosophy).^[50]

Medieval era

Medieval philosophy (5th–16th centuries) took place during the period following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and was dominated by the rise of Christianity; it hence reflects Judeo-Christian theological concerns while also retaining a continuity with Greco-Roman thought. Problems such as the existence and nature of God, the nature of faith and reason, metaphysics, and the problem of evil were discussed in this period. Some key medieval thinkers include Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Boethius, Anselm and Roger Bacon. Philosophy for these thinkers was viewed as an aid to theology (ancilla theologiae), and hence they sought to align their philosophy with their interpretation of sacred scripture. This period saw the development of scholasticism, a text critical method developed in medieval universities based on close reading and disputation on key texts. The Renaissance period saw increasing focus on classic Greco-Roman thought and on a robust humanism.^[51]

Modern era

Early modern philosophy in the Western world begins with thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes (1596–1650).^[52] Following the rise of natural science, modern philosophy was concerned with developing a secular and rational foundation for knowledge and moved away from traditional structures of authority such as religion, scholastic thought and the Church. Major modern philosophers include Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.

19th-century philosophy (sometimes called late modern philosophy) was influenced by the wider 18th-century movement termed «the Enlightenment», and includes figures such as Hegel, a key figure in German idealism; Kierkegaard, who developed the foundations for existentialism; Thomas Carlyle, representative of the great man theory; Nietzsche, a famed anti-Christian; John Stuart Mill, who promoted utilitarianism; Karl Marx, who developed the foundations for communism; and the American William James. The 20th century saw the split between analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, as well as philosophical trends such as phenomenology, existentialism, logical positivism, pragmatism and the linguistic turn (see Contemporary philosophy).^[53]

Middle Eastern philosophy

Pre-Islamic philosophy

The regions of the Fertile Crescent, Iran and Arabia are home to the earliest known philosophical wisdom literature.^{[citation needed]}

According to the assyriologist Marc Van de Mieroop, Babylonian philosophy was a highly developed system of thought with a unique approach to knowledge and a focus on writing, lexicography, divination, and law.^[54] It was also a bilingual intellectual culture, based on Sumerian and Akkadian.^[55]

Early Wisdom literature from the Fertile Crescent was a genre that sought to instruct people on ethical action, practical living, and virtue through stories and proverbs. In Ancient Egypt, these texts were known as sebayt (‘teachings’), and they are central to our understandings of Ancient Egyptian philosophy. The most well known of these texts is The Maxims of Ptahhotep.^[56] Theology and cosmology were central concerns in Egyptian thought. Perhaps the earliest form of a monotheistic theology also emerged in Egypt, with the rise of the Amarna theology (or Atenism) of Akhenaten (14th century BCE), which held that the solar creation deity Aten was the only god. This has been described as a «monotheistic revolution» by egyptologist Jan Assmann, though it also drew on previous developments in Egyptian thought, particularly the «New Solar Theology» based around Amun-Ra.^[57][58] These theological developments also influenced the post-Amarna Ramesside theology, which retained a focus on a single creative solar deity (though without outright rejection of other gods, which are now seen as manifestations of the main solar deity). This period also saw the development of the concept of the ba (soul) and its relation to god.^[58]

Jewish philosophy and Christian philosophy are religious-philosophical traditions that developed both in the Middle East and in Europe, which both share certain early Judaic texts (mainly the Tanakh) and monotheistic beliefs. Jewish thinkers such as the Geonim of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia and Maimonides engaged with Greek and Islamic philosophy. Later Jewish philosophy came under strong Western intellectual influences and includes the works of Moses Mendelssohn who ushered in the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment), Jewish existentialism, and Reform Judaism.^[59][60]

The various traditions of Gnosticism, which were influenced by both Greek and Abrahamic currents, originated around the first century and emphasized spiritual knowledge (gnosis).^[61]

Pre-Islamic Iranian philosophy begins with the work of Zoroaster, one of the first promoters of monotheism and of the dualism between good and evil.^[62] This dualistic cosmogony influenced later Iranian developments such as Manichaeism, Mazdakism, and Zurvanism.^[63][64]

Islamic philosophy

Islamic philosophy is the philosophical work originating in the Islamic tradition and is mostly done in Arabic. It draws from the religion of Islam as well as from Greco-Roman philosophy. After the Muslim conquests, the translation movement (mid-eighth to the late tenth century) resulted in the works of Greek philosophy becoming available in Arabic.^[65]

Early Islamic philosophy developed the Greek philosophical traditions in new innovative directions. This intellectual work inaugurated what is known as the Islamic Golden Age. The two main currents of early Islamic thought are Kalam, which focuses on Islamic theology, and Falsafa, which was based on Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. The work of Aristotle was very influential among philosophers such as Al-Kindi (9th century), Avicenna (980 – June 1037), and Averroes (12th century). Others such as Al-Ghazali were highly critical of the methods of the Islamic Aristotelians and saw their metaphysical ideas as heretical. Islamic thinkers like Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Biruni also developed a scientific method, experimental medicine, a theory of optics, and a legal philosophy. Ibn Khaldun was an influential thinker in philosophy of history.

Islamic thought also deeply influenced European intellectual developments, especially through the commentaries of Averroes on Aristotle. The Mongol invasions and the destruction of Baghdad in 1258 are often seen as marking the end of the Golden Age.^[66] Several schools of Islamic philosophy continued to flourish after the Golden Age, however, and include currents such as Illuminationist philosophy, Sufi philosophy, and Transcendent theosophy.

The 19th- and 20th-century Arab world saw the Nahda movement (literally meaning ‘The Awakening’; also known as the ‘Arab Renaissance’), which had a considerable influence on contemporary Islamic philosophy.

Eastern philosophy

Indian philosophy

Indian philosophy (Sanskrit: darśana, lit. ‘point of view’, ‘perspective’)^[69] refers to the diverse philosophical traditions that emerged since the ancient times on the Indian subcontinent. Indian philosophy chiefly considers epistemology, theories of consciousness and theories of mind, and the physical properties of reality. ^{[70] [71] [72]} Indian philosophical traditions share various key concepts and ideas, which are defined in different ways and accepted or rejected by the different traditions. These include concepts such as dhárma, karma, pramāṇa, duḥkha, saṃsāra and mokṣa.^[73][74]

Some of the earliest surviving Indian philosophical texts are the Upanishads of the later Vedic period (1000–500 BCE), which are considered to preserve the ideas of Brahmanism. Indian philosophical traditions are commonly grouped according to their relationship to the Vedas and the ideas contained in them. Jainism and Buddhism originated at the end of the Vedic period, while the various traditions grouped under Hinduism mostly emerged after the Vedic period as independent traditions. Hindus generally classify Indian philosophical traditions as either orthodox (āstika) or heterodox (nāstika) depending on whether they accept the authority of the Vedas and the theories of brahman and ātman found therein.^[75][76]

The schools which align themselves with the thought of the Upanishads, the so-called «orthodox» or «Hindu» traditions, are often classified into six darśanas or philosophies:Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimāmsā and Vedānta.^[77]

The doctrines of the Vedas and Upanishads were interpreted differently by these six schools of Hindu philosophy, with varying degrees of overlap. They represent a «collection of philosophical views that share a textual connection», according to Chadha (2015).^[78] They also reflect a tolerance for a diversity of philosophical interpretations within Hinduism while sharing the same foundation.^[ii]

Hindu philosophers of the six orthodox schools developed systems of epistemology (pramana) and investigated topics such as metaphysics, ethics, psychology (guṇa), hermeneutics, and soteriology within the framework of the Vedic knowledge, while presenting a diverse collection of interpretations.^{[79][80][81][82]} The commonly named six orthodox schools were the competing philosophical traditions of what has been called the «Hindu synthesis» of classical Hinduism.^{[83][84]
[85]}

There are also other schools of thought which are often seen as «Hindu», though not necessarily orthodox (since they may accept different scriptures as normative, such as the Shaiva Agamas and Tantras), these include different schools of Shavism such as Pashupata, Shaiva Siddhanta, non-dual tantric Shavism (i.e. Trika, Kaula, etc.).^[86]

The «Hindu» and «Orthodox» traditions are often contrasted with the «unorthodox» traditions (nāstika, literally «those who reject»), though this is a label that is not used by the «unorthodox» schools themselves. These traditions reject the Vedas as authoritative and often reject major concepts and ideas that are widely accepted by the orthodox schools (such as Ātman, Brahman, and Īśvara).^[87] These unorthodox schools include Jainism (accepts ātman but rejects Īśvara, Vedas and Brahman), Buddhism (rejects all orthodox concepts except rebirth and karma), Cārvāka (materialists who reject even rebirth and karma) and Ājīvika (known for their doctrine of fate).^[87][88][89]<^{[90][91][iii][92][93]}

Jain philosophy is one of the only two surviving «unorthodox» traditions (along with Buddhism). It generally accepts the concept of a permanent soul (jiva) as one of the five astikayas (eternal, infinite categories that make up the substance of existence). The other four being dhárma, adharma, ākāśa (‘space’), and pudgala (‘matter’). Jain thought holds that all existence is cyclic, eternal and uncreated.^[94][95]

Some of the most important elements of Jain philosophy are the Jain theory of karma, the doctrine of nonviolence (ahiṃsā) and the theory of «many-sidedness» or Anēkāntavāda. The Tattvartha Sutra is the earliest known, most comprehensive and authoritative compilation of Jain philosophy.^[96][97]

Major European Quantum Physicists, including Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, & Niels Bohr credit the Vedas with giving them the ideas for their experiments. ^[98]

Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy begins with the thought of Gautama Buddha (fl. between 6th and 4th century BCE) and is preserved in the early Buddhist texts. It originated in the Indian region of Magadha and later spread to the rest of the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Tibet, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. In these regions, Buddhist thought developed into different philosophical traditions which used various languages (like Tibetan, Chinese and Pali). As such, Buddhist philosophy is a trans-cultural and international phenomenon.

The dominant Buddhist philosophical traditions in East Asian nations are mainly based on Indian Mahayana Buddhism. The philosophy of the Theravada school is dominant in Southeast Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand.

Because ignorance to the true nature of things is considered one of the roots of suffering (dukkha), Buddhist philosophy is concerned with epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and psychology. Buddhist philosophical texts must also be understood within the context of meditative practices which are supposed to bring about certain cognitive shifts.^[100] Key innovative concepts include the Four Noble Truths as an analysis of dukkha, anicca (impermanence), and anatta (non-self).^[iv][101]

After the death of the Buddha, various groups began to systematize his main teachings, eventually developing comprehensive philosophical systems termed Abhidharma.^[102] Following the Abhidharma schools, Indian Mahayana philosophers such as Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu developed the theories of śūnyatā (’emptiness of all phenomena’) and vijñapti-matra (‘appearance only’), a form of phenomenology or transcendental idealism. The Dignāga school of pramāṇa (‘means of knowledge’) promoted a sophisticated form of Buddhist epistemology.

There were numerous schools, sub-schools, and traditions of Buddhist philosophy in ancient and medieval India. According to Oxford professor of Buddhist philosophy Jan Westerhoff, the major Indian schools from 300 BCE to 1000 CE were:^[103] the Mahāsāṃghika tradition (now extinct), the Sthavira schools (such as Sarvāstivāda, Vibhajyavāda and Pudgalavāda) and the Mahayana schools. Many of these traditions were also studied in other regions, like Central Asia and China, having been brought there by Buddhist missionaries.

After the disappearance of Buddhism from India, some of these philosophical traditions continued to develop in the Tibetan Buddhist, East Asian Buddhist and Theravada Buddhist traditions.^[104][105]

East Asian philosophy

East Asian philosophical thought began in Ancient China, and Chinese philosophy begins during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the following periods after its fall when the «Hundred Schools of Thought» flourished (6th century to 221 BCE).^[106][107] This period was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments and saw the rise of the major philosophical schools of China such as Confucianism (also known as Ruism), Legalism, and Taoism as well as numerous other less influential schools like Mohism and Naturalism. These philosophical traditions developed metaphysical, political and ethical theories such Tao, Yin and yang, Ren and Li.

These schools of thought further developed during the Han (206 BCE – 220 CE) and Tang (618–907 CE) eras, forming new philosophical movements like Xuanxue (also called Neo-Taoism), and Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was a syncretic philosophy, which incorporated the ideas of different Chinese philosophical traditions, including Buddhism and Taoism. Neo-Confucianism came to dominate the education system during the Song dynasty (960–1297), and its ideas served as the philosophical basis of the imperial exams for the scholar official class. Some of the most important Neo-Confucian thinkers are the Tang scholars Han Yu and Li Ao as well as the Song thinkers Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073) and Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Zhu Xi compiled the Confucian canon, which consists of the Four Books (the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius). The Ming scholar Wang Yangming (1472–1529) is a later but important philosopher of this tradition as well.

Buddhism began arriving in China during the Han Dynasty, through a gradual Silk road transmission,^[108] and through native influences developed distinct Chinese forms (such as Chan/Zen) which spread throughout the East Asian cultural sphere.

Chinese culture was highly influential on the traditions of other East Asian states, and its philosophy directly influenced Korean philosophy, Vietnamese philosophy and Japanese philosophy.^[109] During later Chinese dynasties like the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), as well as in the Korean Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), a resurgent Neo-Confucianism led by thinkers such as Wang Yangming (1472–1529) became the dominant school of thought and was promoted by the imperial state. In Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867) was also strongly influenced by Confucian philosophy.^[110] Confucianism continues to influence the ideas and worldview of the nations of the Chinese cultural sphere today.

In the Modern era, Chinese thinkers incorporated ideas from Western philosophy. Chinese Marxist philosophy developed under the influence of Mao Zedong, while a Chinese pragmatism developed under Hu Shih. The old traditional philosophies also began to reassert themselves in the 20th century. For example, New Confucianism, led by figures such as Xiong Shili, has become quite influential. Likewise, Humanistic Buddhism is a recent modernist Buddhist movement.

Modern Japanese thought meanwhile developed under strong Western influences such as the study of Western Sciences (Rangaku) and the modernist Meirokusha intellectual society, which drew from European enlightenment thought and promoted liberal reforms as well as Western philosophies like Liberalism and Utilitarianism. Another trend in modern Japanese philosophy was the «National Studies» (Kokugaku) tradition. This intellectual trend sought to study and promote ancient Japanese thought and culture. Kokugaku thinkers such as Motoori Norinaga sought to return to a pure Japanese tradition which they called Shinto that they saw as untainted by foreign elements.

During the 20th century, the Kyoto School, an influential and unique Japanese philosophical school, developed from Western phenomenology and Medieval Japanese Buddhist philosophy such as that of Dogen.

African philosophy

African philosophy is philosophy produced by African people, philosophy that presents African worldviews, ideas and themes, or philosophy that uses distinct African philosophical methods. Modern African thought has been occupied with Ethnophilosophy, that is, defining the very meaning of African philosophy and its unique characteristics and what it means to be African.^[111]

During the 17th century, Ethiopian philosophy developed a robust literary tradition as exemplified by Zera Yacob. Another early African philosopher was Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1703–1759) who became a respected philosopher in Germany. Distinct African philosophical ideas include Ujamaa, the Bantu idea of ‘Force’, Négritude, Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu. Contemporary African thought has also seen the development of Professional philosophy and of Africana philosophy, the philosophical literature of the African diaspora which includes currents such as black existentialism by African-Americans. Some modern African thinkers have been influenced by Marxism, African-American literature, Critical theory, Critical race theory, Postcolonialism and Feminism.

Indigenous American philosophy

Indigenous-American philosophical thought consists of a wide variety of beliefs and traditions among different American cultures. Among some of U.S. Native American communities, there is a belief in a metaphysical principle called the ‘Great Spirit’ (Siouan: wakȟáŋ tȟáŋka; Algonquian: gitche manitou). Another widely shared concept was that of orenda (‘spiritual power’). According to Whiteley (1998), for the Native Americans, «mind is critically informed by transcendental experience (dreams, visions and so on) as well as by reason.»^[112] The practices to access these transcendental experiences are termed shamanism. Another feature of the indigenous American worldviews was their extension of ethics to non-human animals and plants.^[112][113]
In Mesoamerica, Nahua philosophy was an intellectual tradition developed by individuals called tlamatini (‘those who know something’)^[114] and its ideas are preserved in various Aztec codices and fragmentary texts. Some of these philosophers are known by name, such as Nezahualcoyotl, Aquiauhtzin, Xayacamach, Tochihuitzin coyolchiuhqui and Cuauhtencoztli.^[115][116] These authors were also poets and some of their work has survived in the original Nahuatl.^[115][116]

Aztec philosophers developed theories of metaphysics, epistemology, values, and aesthetics. Aztec ethics was focused on seeking tlamatiliztli (‘knowledge’, ‘wisdom’) which was based on moderation and balance in all actions as in the Nahua proverb «the middle good is necessary».^[117] The Nahua worldview posited the concept of an ultimate universal energy or force called Ōmeteōtl (‘Dual Cosmic Energy’) which sought a way to live in balance with a constantly changing, «slippery» world. The theory of Teotl can be seen as a form of Pantheism.^[117] According to James Maffie, Nahua metaphysics posited that teotl is «a single, vital, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-conceiving as well as self-regenerating and self-reconceiving sacred energy or force».^[116] This force was seen as the all-encompassing life force of the universe and as the universe itself.^[116]

The Inca civilization also had an elite class of philosopher-scholars termed the amawtakuna or amautas who were important in the Inca education system as teachers of philosophy, theology, astronomy, poetry, law, music, morality and history.^[118][119] Young Inca nobles were educated in these disciplines at the state college of Yacha-huasi in Cuzco, where they also learned the art of the quipu.^[118] Incan philosophy (as well as the broader category of Andean thought) held that the universe is animated by a single dynamic life force (sometimes termed camaquen or camac, as well as upani and amaya).^[120] This singular force also arises as a set of dual complementary yet opposite forces.^[120] These «complementary opposites» are called yanantin and masintin. They are expressed as various polarities or dualities (such as male–female, dark–light, life and death, above and below) which interdependently contribute to the harmonious whole that is the universe through the process of reciprocity and mutual exchange called ayni.^[121][120] The Inca worldview also included the belief in a creator God (Viracocha) and reincarnation.^[119]

Branches of philosophy

Philosophical questions can be grouped into various branches. These groupings allow philosophers to focus on a set of similar topics and interact with other thinkers who are interested in the same questions.

These divisions are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. (A philosopher might specialize in Kantian epistemology, or Platonic aesthetics, or modern political philosophy). Furthermore, these philosophical inquiries sometimes overlap with each other and with other inquiries such as science, religion or mathematics.^[122]

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is the «critical reflection on art, culture and nature».^[123][124] It addresses the nature of art, beauty and taste, enjoyment, emotional values, perception and the creation and appreciation of beauty.^[125] It is more precisely defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste.^[126] Its major divisions are art theory, literary theory, film theory and music theory. An example from art theory is to discern the set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement such as the Cubist aesthetic.^[127]

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, studies what constitutes good and bad conduct, right and wrong values, and good and evil. Its primary investigations include exploring how to live a good life and identifying standards of morality. It also includes investigating whether there is a best way to live or a universal moral standard, and if so, how we come to learn about it. The main branches of ethics are normative ethics, meta-ethics and applied ethics.^[129]

The three main views in ethics about what constitute moral actions are:^[129]

• Consequentialism, which judges actions based on their consequences.^[130] One such view is utilitarianism, which judges actions based on the net happiness (or pleasure) and/or lack of suffering (or pain) that they produce.
• Deontology, which judges actions based on whether they are in accordance with one’s moral duty.^[130] In the standard form defended by Immanuel Kant, deontology is concerned with whether a choice respects the moral agency of other people, regardless of its consequences.^[130]
• Virtue ethics, which judges actions based on the moral character of the agent who performs them and whether they conform to what an ideally virtuous agent would do.^[130]

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge.^[131] Epistemologists examine putative sources of knowledge, including perceptual experience, reason, memory, and testimony. They also investigate questions about the nature of truth, belief, justification, and rationality.^[132]

Philosophical skepticism, which raises doubts about some or all claims to knowledge, has been a topic of interest throughout the history of philosophy. It arose early in Pre-Socratic philosophy and became formalized with Pyrrho, the founder of the earliest Western school of philosophical skepticism. It features prominently in the works of modern philosophers René Descartes and David Hume and has remained a central topic in contemporary epistemological debates.^[132]

One of the most notable epistemological debates is between empiricism and rationalism.^[133] Empiricism places emphasis on observational evidence via sensory experience as the source of knowledge.^[133] Empiricism is associated with a posteriori knowledge, which is obtained through experience (such as scientific knowledge).^[133] Rationalism places emphasis on reason as a source of knowledge.^[133] Rationalism is associated with a priori knowledge, which is independent of experience (such as logic and mathematics).

One central debate in contemporary epistemology is about the conditions required for a belief to constitute knowledge, which might include truth and justification. This debate was largely the result of attempts to solve the Gettier problem.^[132] Another common subject of contemporary debates is the regress problem, which occurs when trying to offer proof or justification for any belief, statement, or proposition. The problem is that whatever the source of justification may be, that source must either be without justification (in which case it must be treated as an arbitrary foundation for belief), or it must have some further justification (in which case justification must either be the result of circular reasoning, as in coherentism, or the result of an infinite regress, as in infinitism).^[132]

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, objects and their properties, wholes and their parts, events, processes and causation and the relationship between mind and body.^[134] Metaphysics includes cosmology, the study of the world in its entirety and ontology, the study of being, along with the philosophy of space and time.

A major point of debate is between realism, which holds that there are entities that exist independently of their mental perception, and idealism, which holds that reality is mentally constructed or otherwise immaterial. Metaphysics deals with the topic of identity. Essence is the set of attributes that make an object what it fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity, while accident is a property that the object has, without which the object can still retain its identity. Particulars are objects that are said to exist in space and time, as opposed to abstract objects, such as numbers, and universals, which are properties held by multiple particulars, such as redness or a gender. The type of existence, if any, of universals and abstract objects is an issue of debate.

Logic

Logic is the study of reasoning and argument.

Deductive reasoning is when, given certain premises, conclusions are unavoidably implied.^[135] Rules of inference are used to infer conclusions such as, modus ponens, where given «A» and «If A then B», then «B» must be concluded.

Because sound reasoning is an essential element of all sciences,^[136] social sciences and humanities disciplines, logic became a formal science. Sub-fields include mathematical logic, philosophical logic, modal logic, computational logic and non-classical logics. A major question in the philosophy of mathematics is whether mathematical entities are objective and discovered, called mathematical realism, or invented, called mathematical antirealism.

Mind and language

Philosophy of language explores the nature, origins, and use of language. Philosophy of mind explores the nature of the mind and its relationship to the body, as typified by disputes between materialism and dualism. In recent years, this branch has become related to cognitive science.

Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science explores the foundations, methods, history, implications and purpose of science. Many of its subdivisions correspond to specific branches of science. For example, philosophy of biology deals specifically with the metaphysical, epistemological and ethical issues in the biomedical and life sciences.

Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals (or families and clans) to communities including the state. It includes questions about justice, law, property and the rights and obligations of the citizen. Political philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics are traditionally linked subjects, under the general heading of value theory as they involve a normative or evaluative aspect.^[137]

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of religion deals with questions that involve religion and religious ideas from a philosophically neutral perspective (as opposed to theology which begins from religious convictions).^[138] Traditionally, religious questions were not seen as a separate field from philosophy proper, and the idea of a separate field only arose in the 19th century.^[v]

Issues include the existence of God, the relationship between reason and faith, questions of religious epistemology, the relationship between religion and science, how to interpret religious experiences, questions about the possibility of an afterlife, the problem of religious language and the existence of souls and responses to religious pluralism and diversity.

Metaphilosophy

Metaphilosophy explores the aims, boundaries and methods of philosophy. It is debated as to whether metaphilosophy is a subject that comes prior to philosophy^[139] or whether it is inherently part of philosophy.^[140]

Other subdivisions

In section thirteen of his Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, the oldest surviving history of philosophy (3rd century), Diogenes Laërtius presents a three-part division of ancient Greek philosophical inquiry:^[141]

• Natural philosophy (i.e. physics, from Greek: ta physika, lit. ‘things having to do with physis [nature]’) was the study of the constitution and processes of transformation in the physical world.^[142]
• Moral philosophy (i.e. ethics, from êthika, ‘having to do with character, disposition, manners’) was the study of goodness, right and wrong, justice and virtue.^[143]
• Metaphysical philosophy (i.e. logic, from logikós, ‘of or pertaining to reason or speech’) was the study of existence, causation, God, logic, forms, and other abstract objects. (meta ta physika, ‘after the Physics‘)

In Against the Logicians the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus detailed the variety of ways in which the ancient Greek philosophers had divided philosophy, noting that this three-part division was agreed to by Plato, Aristotle, Xenocrates, and the Stoics.^[144] The Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero also followed this three-part division.^[145]

This division is not obsolete, but has changed: natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, especially physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, and cosmology; moral philosophy has birthed the social sciences, while still including value theory (e.g. ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, etc.); and metaphysical philosophy has given way to formal sciences such as logic, mathematics and philosophy of science, while still including epistemology, cosmology, etc. For example, Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), since classified as a book of physics, uses the term natural philosophy as it was understood at the time, encompassing disciplines such as astronomy, medicine and physics that later became associated with the sciences.^[16]

Methods of philosophy

Methods of philosophy are ways of conducting philosophical inquiry. They include techniques for arriving at philosophical knowledge and justifying philosophical claims as well as principles used for choosing between competing theories.^{[146][147][148]} A great variety of methods has been employed throughout the history of philosophy. Many of them differ significantly from the methods used in the natural sciences in that they do not use experimental data obtained through measuring equipment.^{[149][150][151]} The choice of one’s method usually has important implications both for how philosophical theories are constructed and for the arguments cited for or against them.^{[147][152][153]} This choice is often guided by epistemological considerations about what constitutes philosophical evidence, how much support it offers, and how to acquire it.^{[149][147][154]} Various disagreements on the level of philosophical theories have their source in methodological disagreements and the discovery of new methods has often had important consequences both for how philosophers conduct their research and for what claims they defend.^{[155][148][147]} Some philosophers engage in most of their theorizing using one particular method while others employ a wider range of methods based on which one fits the specific problem investigated best.^[150][156]

Methodological skepticism is a prominent method of philosophy. It aims to arrive at absolutely certain first principles by using systematic doubt to determine which principles of philosophy are indubitable.^[157] The geometrical method tries to build a comprehensive philosophical system based on a small set of such axioms. It does so with the help of deductive reasoning to expand the certainty of its axioms to the system as a whole.^[158][159] Phenomenologists seek certain knowledge about the realm of appearances. They do so by suspending their judgments about the external world in order to focus on how things appear independent of their underlying reality, a technique known as epoché.^[160][148] Conceptual analysis is a well-known method in analytic philosophy. It aims to clarify the meaning of concepts by analyzing them into their fundamental constituents.^{[161][39][23]} Another method often employed in analytic philosophy is based on common sense. It starts with commonly accepted beliefs and tries to draw interesting conclusions from them, which it often employs in a negative sense to criticize philosophical theories that are too far removed from how the average person sees the issue.^{[151][162][163]} It is very similar to how ordinary language philosophy tackles philosophical questions by investigating how ordinary language is used.^{[148][164][165]}

Various methods in philosophy give particular importance to intuitions, i.e. non-inferential impressions about the correctness of specific claims or general principles.^[155][166] For example, they play an important role in thought experiments, which employ counterfactual thinking to evaluate the possible consequences of an imagined situation. These anticipated consequences can then be used to confirm or refute philosophical theories.^{[167][168][161]} The method of reflective equilibrium also employs intuitions. It seeks to form a coherent position on a certain issue by examining all the relevant beliefs and intuitions, some of which often have to be deemphasized or reformulated in order to arrive at a coherent perspective.^{[155][169][170]} Pragmatists stress the significance of concrete practical consequences for assessing whether a philosophical theory is true or false.^[171][172] Experimental philosophy is of rather recent origin. Its methods differ from most other methods of philosophy in that it tries to answer philosophical questions by gathering empirical data in ways similar to social psychology and the cognitive sciences.^[173][174]

Philosophical progress

Many philosophical debates that began in ancient times are still debated today. British philosopher Colin McGinn claims that no philosophical progress has occurred during that interval.^[175] Australian philosopher David Chalmers, by contrast, sees progress in philosophy similar to that in science.^[176] Meanwhile, Talbot Brewer, professor of philosophy at University of Virginia, argues that «progress» is the wrong standard by which to judge philosophical activity.^[177]

Applied and professional philosophy

Some of those who study philosophy become professional philosophers, typically by working as professors who teach, research and write in academic institutions.^[178] However, most students of academic philosophy later contribute to law, journalism, religion, sciences, politics, business, or various arts.^[179][180] For example, public figures who have degrees in philosophy include comedians Steve Martin and Ricky Gervais, filmmaker Terrence Malick, Pope John Paul II, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, and US vice presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.^[181][182] Curtis White has argued that philosophical tools are essential to humanities, sciences and social sciences.^[183]

Recent efforts to avail the general public to the work and relevance of philosophers include the million-dollar Berggruen Prize, first awarded to Charles Taylor in 2016.^[184] Some philosophers argue that this professionalization has negatively affected the discipline.^[185]

Women in philosophy

Although men have generally dominated philosophical discourse, women philosophers have engaged in the discipline throughout history. The list of female philosophers throughout history is vast. Ancient examples include Hipparchia of Maroneia (active c. 325 BCE) and Arete of Cyrene (active 5th–4th centuries BCE). Some women philosophers were accepted during the medieval and modern eras, but none became part of the Western canon until the 20th and 21st century, when many suggest that G.E.M. Anscombe, Hannah Arendt, bell hooks, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Weil and Susanne Langer entered the canon.^{[186][187][188]}

In the early 1800s, some colleges and universities in the UK and the US began admitting women, producing more female academics. Nevertheless, U.S. Department of Education reports from the 1990s indicate that few women ended up in philosophy and that philosophy is one of the least gender-proportionate fields in the humanities, with women making up somewhere between 17% and 30% of philosophy faculty according to some studies.^[189]

Prominent 21st century philosophers include: Judith Butler, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Martha Nussbaum, Onora O’Neill, and Nancy Fraser.^{[190] [191]}

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

General introduction

Topical introductions

Historical introductions

Reference works

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project
• PhilPapers – a comprehensive directory of online philosophical articles and books by academic philosophers
• Philosophy at Curlie
• Philosophy (review)
• Philosophy Documentation Center
• Popular Philosophy

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about philosophy as a proper field of study. It is not about ‘personal philosophy’ or pseudo-philosophy.

Philosophy is the study of underlying things. It tries to understand the reasons or basis for things. It also tries to understand how things should be. «Philosophia» is the Ancient Greek word for the «love of wisdom».^[1] A person who works in the field of philosophy is called a philosopher. A philosopher is a kind of thinker and researcher. A «philosophy» can also mean a group of ideas or way of living suggested by philosophers.^[2] Philosophy is a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. In the past, natural sciences were a part of philosophy.

Ideas[change | change source]

The ideas in philosophy are often general and abstract. However, this does not mean that philosophy is not about the real world. For example, Ethics talks about how to be good in our day-to-day lives. Metaphysics questions how the world works and what it is made of. Sometimes, people talk about how they have a ‘personal philosophy’, which means the way a person thinks about the world. This article is not about people’s ’personal philosophies’. This article is about the ideas that have been discussed by philosophers (people who think and write about ways of thinking) for a long time.

Questions[change | change source]

Questions related to philosophy are called philosophical questions. Most philosophical questions can never be answered with certainty. They focus on important topics, such as the meaning of life, death, and morality. An example of a philosophical question is this: «Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?».^[3] Other questions asked by philosophers are:

• What should we do in our lives?
• What happens to a soul after death, how does a soul enter into the body before death?
• Why are we born?
• Why should we live?
• Why are there so many hurdles in life?
• How do we overcome suffering?
• What is the importance of the material life?
• Will the universe exist forever?
• What is beauty?
• Do we have free will?
• Does God exist?
• Does the world around us exist?
• What is truth?
• What is evil?
• What is the relationship between mind and body?
• What is the meaning of life?

History[change | change source]

The word ‘Philosophy’ directly translates to ‘love of wisdom’. It comes from the Greek word ‘Philosophia’, with ‘Philo’ meaning ‘lover’ and ‘Sophia‘ meaning ‘wisdom’.^[4]

There are different types of philosophy from different times and places. Some philosophers came from Ancient Greece, such as Plato and Aristotle. Others came from Asia, such as Confucius, Buddha, Adi Shankara, and Laozi. Some philosophers were from the Middle Ages in Europe, such as William of Ockham or Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Influential philosophers from the 1600s and 1700s include Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, John Locke, Gottfried Leibniz, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Some major philosophers from the 1800s are Georg Hegel, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche, whereas the 1900s gave us Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Areas of inquiry[change | change source]

Philosophy seeks to understand truths about the world and how we view it. It tries to answer important questions by making conclusions based on observations of human nature and the real world.

Sometimes, philosophy tries to answer the same questions as religion and science. Philosophers give different answers to the same question. Many types of philosophy criticize or even attack the beliefs of religion.

In his work Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant asks the following questions:^[5]

1. What can I say?
2. What shall I do?
3. What dare I hope?
4. What is man?

The answers to these questions give the different categories of philosophy.

Categories in philosophy[change | change source]

Philosophy can be divided into different groups based on the types of questions asked. Below is a list of the questions split into groups. One possible list of answers to these questions can be called a ‘philosophy’. There are many different philosophies, because all of these questions have different answers according to different people. Not all philosophies ask the same questions. These are the questions that are usually asked by philosophers from the Western world:

Metaphysics:

Metaphysics is sometimes split up into ontology (the philosophy of real life and living things), the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of religion; but these sub-branches are very close together.

Ontology:

• What is the world that we see around us? (What is reality?)
  • Is there more to the world than what we see and hear?
  • If nobody sees something happen, does that mean that it did not happen?
  • What does it mean to say that something is possible? Do other worlds exist?
• Is there anything very special about being a human being, or being alive at all?
  • If not, why do some people think that there is?
• What is space? What is time?

The philosophy of mind:

• What is a mind?
• What is a body?
• What is consciousness?
• Do people make choices, or can they only choose to do one thing? (Do people have free will?)
• What makes words or ideas meaningful? (What is the relation between meaningful words or ideas and the things that they mean?)

The philosophy of religion:

• Do people have souls?
• Is there a God who created the Universe?

In epistemology:

• What is knowledge?
• How can we know anything?
• What is science?
• What is truth?

In ethics:

• What are right and wrong, good and bad?
• Should people do some things and not others?
• What is justice?

In aesthetics:

• What is beauty? What if one person thinks a painting is beautiful, but another person thinks the painting is ugly? Can the painting be beautiful and ugly at the same time?
• Are true things beautiful?
• Are good things beautiful?
• What is art? We commonly think that a sculpture in a museum is art. If a sculptor sculpts a sculpture of a rock from clay, and puts it in a museum, many would call it art. But what if a person picks up a rock from the ground — is the rock a piece of art?

In logic:

• What do the words we use mean?
• How can we say things (especially ideas) in a way that only has one meaning?
• Can all ideas be expressed using language?
• How does the truth of an argument’s premise affect the truth of its conclusion?
• How can we reason correctly?

In axiology:

• What has value?
• Is time really money? or have we made it so?
• Does love, beauty, or justice hold any value?

Other divisions include eschatology, teleology and theology. In past centuries, natural science were included in philosophy, and called «natural philosophy».

Is philosophy good or bad?[change | change source]

It is easy to argue that philosophy is a good thing because it helps people understand the world better. Philosophy helps people learn how to act and think. Philosophers believe that asking philosophical questions is useful because it helps people learn about themselves, the world, and others. It can be argued that «Is philosophy good or bad?» is a philosophical question itself.

However, some people think philosophy is harmful because it encourages free-thinking and questions the beliefs that others hold. Some philosophies also clash with religion, and oppose religious beliefs. For example, philosophies such as some existentialist views say that there is no meaning to life or human existence, except the meaning that we make up or invent. Most religions disagree with this belief.

Many major sciences, including physics, biology, psychology, and chemistry, were once considered a part of philosophy. As facts about nature became more understood, these subjects separated into their own fields. In modern times, subjects such as consciousness, decision theory, and applied ethics have found independence from philosophy. It can be argued that philosophy helped promote the development of these sciences, and that it has historically been an important field of study.

Purpose[change | change source]

Philosophers ask questions about ideas, and tries to find answers to those questions. A philosopher also analyzes concepts, arguments, and problems in philosophy.

Some are academics that work for universities or colleges. These philosophers may write books and articles about philosophy and teach classes about the subject to university or college students.

Some are also monks, artists, or scientists. They also think about philosophical ideas and questions.

Philosophers often use both real and imaginary examples to make a point. For example, they may write about a real or fictional person in order to show what they think a good person or a bad person is like.

Some philosophers look for the simplest way to answer a question and say that is probably the right answer. This is a process called Occam’s razor. Others believe that complicated answers to questions can also be right. For an example of a philosophical problem, see the God paradox.

Philosophers use logic to solve problems and answer questions. Logical consistency is a cornerstone of any acceptable theory. Philosophers who disagree with a theory will often try to find a logical contradiction in a theory. If they find a contradiction, this gives them a reason to reject that theory. If they do not find an inconsistency, the philosopher might show that the theory leads to a conclusion which is either unacceptable or ridiculous. This second approach is called reductio ad absurdum.

Famous philosophers[change | change source]

People listed here should be genuine philosophers, rather than social or political campaigners. The lists are not meant to be complete.

[change | change source]

• Fallacy
• Truth

General sources[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

Other websites[change | change source]

• The School of Life on YouTube
• Einzelgänger (In search of) on YouTube

Quite literally, the term «philosophy» means, «love of wisdom.» In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. As an academic discipline philosophy is much the same. Those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic questions. To make such a pursuit more systematic academic philosophy is traditionally divided into major areas of study.

Metaphysics

At its core the study of metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, of what exists in the world, what it is like, and how it is ordered. In metaphysics philosophers wrestle with such questions as:

• Is there a God?
• What is truth?
• What is a person? What makes a person the same through time?
• Is the world strictly composed of matter?
• Do people have minds? If so, how is the mind related to the body?
• Do people have free wills?
• What is it for one event to cause another?

Epistemology

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It is primarily concerned with what we can know about the world and how we can know it. Typical questions of concern in epistemology are:

• What is knowledge?
• Do we know anything at all?
• How do we know what we know?
• Can we be justified in claiming to know certain things?

Ethics

The study of ethics often concerns what we ought to do and what it would be best to do. In struggling with this issue, larger questions about what is good and right arise. So, the ethicist attempts to answer such questions as:

• What is good? What makes actions or people good?
• What is right? What makes actions right?
• Is morality objective or subjective?
• How should I treat others?

Logic

Another important aspect of the study of philosophy is the arguments or reasons given for people’s answers to these questions. To this end philosophers employ logic to study the nature and structure of arguments. Logicians ask such questions as:

• What constitutes «good» or «bad» reasoning?
• How do we determine whether a given piece of reasoning is good or bad?

History of Philosophy

The study of philosophy involves not only forming one’s own answers to such questions, but also seeking to understand the way in which people have answered such questions in the past. So, a significant part of philosophy is its history, a history of answers and arguments about these very questions. In studying the history of philosophy one explores the ideas of such historical figures as:

Plato	Locke	Marx
Aristotle	Hume	Mill
Aquinas	Kant	Wittgenstein
Descartes	Nietzsche	Sartre

What often motivates the study of philosophy is not merely the answers or arguments themselves but whether or not the arguments are good and the answers are true. Moreover, many of the questions and issues in the various areas of philosophy overlap and in some cases even converge. Thus, philosophical questions arise in almost every discipline. This is why philosophy also encompasses such areas as:

Philosophy of Law	Philosophy of Feminism
Philosophy of Religion	Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Mind	Philosophy of Literature
Political Philosophy	Philosophy of the Arts
Philosophy of History	Philosophy of Language

What does it mean if someone has a philosophy about something? What does it mean if someone is studying philosophy? This article will cover the meaning of the word philosophy, the origin of the word philosophy, and other topics and examples related to the various meanings of philosophy. Keep reading to learn all about philosophy!

What Does the Word Philosophy Mean?

According to Dictionary, philosophy is a noun that refers to the study of the principles and truths of existence, conduct, and knowledge. This field is typically classified into three branches: metaphysical philosophy, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy. 

Metaphysical philosophy studies the origin of the universe and the nature of existence. As the name implies, moral philosophy focuses on studying ethics and morality. Finally, natural philosophy is concerned with studying the natural world and the existence of nature.

Philosophy can also refer to the academic discipline of studying the nature of human beings. The study of philosophy is related to epistemology, which studies knowledge. If someone studies philosophy, they likely research what famous philosophers believed and try to devise their system of beliefs. 

The noun philosophy can also refer to a specific system of beliefs or principles that people look to as guidance. An individual might have a philosophy, a group of people might have a philosophy, or a business might have a philosophy. 

Philosophy can also refer to a calm, composed attitude despite troubles,

What Is the Etymology of Philosophy?

The word philosophy has been in the English language since the 13th century as the Middle English philosophie. This word comes from the Latin philosophia and Ancient Greek philosophía.

How Can Philosophy Be Used in a Sentence?

Philosophy is a common word that we can use in many circumstances. We can use this word generally to refer to beliefs or values or a specific philosopher’s beliefs. When you read the example sentences of the word philosophy listed below, see if you can determine how the word philosophy is used. 

Example #1: A Philosophical Debate

The two people debated their philosophy of religion versus the other’s philosophy of science. Russell, who was watching the debate, believed that each belief system could coexist alongside the other.

Example #2: A Class on Philosophy

In my analytic philosophy class, we studied many different schools of thought, including utilitarianism, Buddhism, Stoicism, pragmatism, existentialism, empiricism, and more.

Example #3: Comparing Different Philosophies

He sought to compare the moral philosophy and belief in God of many famous philosophers, including Plato, Descartes, Aristotle, Kant, Aquinas, Nietzsche, Socrates, Confucius, and more. 

Example #4: The Candidate’s Philosophy

He had an Aristotelian political philosophy, making him a divisive candidate in the New York City election. 

Example #5: A Personal Philosophy

Her philosophy of mind was that humans deserve free will and the right to a good life no matter their particular system of beliefs. She pondered the meaning of life and other philosophical questions often.

Example #6: An Educational Philosophy

The new teacher was shocked by the brutal philosophy of education at her new school. They taught children, not for the love of wisdom, but to pass a test.

What Are Translations of Philosophy?

Knowing how to use the word philosophy in English is very useful, but if you are discussing philosophies with people who do not speak English, you can use this list of translations of philosophy from Nice Translator. 

It can be very interesting to explore different philosophies on things like education, religion, justice, and more worldwide. People from different parts of the world may have different philosophies or perspectives due to their country of origin and their beliefs systems. Learning 

how to say philosophy in other languages is a great first step to connecting with people around the world!

• Serbian: филозофија
• Filipino: pilosopiya
• Urdu: فلسفہ
• Marathi: तत्त्वज्ञान
• Arabic: فلسفة
• Italian: filosofia
• Chinese (PRC): 哲学
• Malayalam: തതശാസ്തം
• Slovenian: Filozofija
• Dutch: filosofie
• Icelandic: heimspeki
• Gujarati: ફિલસૂફી
• Hindi: दर्शन
• German: Philosophie
• Malay: falsafah.
• Croatian: filozofija
• Hebrew: פִילוֹסוֹפִיָה
• Portuguese (Brazil): filosofia
• Latvian: filozofija
• Danish: filosofi
• Swedish: filosofi
• Japanese: 哲学
• Finnish: filosofia
• Slovak: filozofia
• Telugu: తత్వశాస్త్రము
• Turkish: Felsefe
• Spanish: filosofía
• Bengali: দর্শনশাস্ত্র
• Basque: filosofia
• Estonian: filosoofia
• Swahili: Falsafa
• Kannada: ತತ್ವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ
• Chinese (Taiwan): 哲學
• Amharic: ፍልስፍና
• Polish: filozofia
• Greek: φιλοσοφία
• Catalan: filosofia
• Norwegian: filosofi
• Lithuanian: Filosofija
• Indonesian: filsafat
• Russian: философия
• Korean: 철학
• Welsh: athroniaeth
• Romanian: filozofie
• Thai: ปรัชญา
• Vietnamese: triết học
• Ukrainian: філософія
• Bulgarian: философия
• Hungarian: filozófia
• Tamil: தத்துவம்
• Czech: filozofie
• Portuguese (Portugal): filosofia
• French: philosophie

What Are Synonyms of the Word Philosophy?

To learn different words that one can use in place of philosophy, you can reference this list of philosophy synonyms from Power Thesaurus. 

Sometimes, the word philosophy might not be a specific term or have the right connotation for the type of ideology you mean to reference. In these cases, you can use synonyms of philosophy, like the ones below:

• aesthetics
• approach
• attitude
• axiom
• belief
• beliefs
• classics
• concept
• conception
• conviction
• convictions
• credo
• creed
• culture
• doctrine
• dogma
• ethics
• faith
• fine arts
• gospel
• humanities
• idea
• ideas
• ideology
• ism
• knowledge
• languages
• liberal arts
• line of thought
• logic
• metaphysics
• notion
• ontology
• opinion
• outlook
• personal belief
• persuasion
• philosophical system
• point of view
• position
• principle
• principles
• rationale
• rationalism
• reason
• reasoning
• school of thought
• stance
• standpoint
• system
• system of beliefs
• teaching
• tenet
• tenets
• testament
• theory
• thinking
• thought
• truth
• values
• view
• viewpoint
• weltanschauung
• wisdom
• world view

Conclusion

The definition of philosophy is a belief or ideology on a specific subject. The word philosophy can also reference the study of said belief system. The word philosophy comes from Latin and Ancient Greek words. 

Do you have specific philosophies on different topics or agree with a particular philosopher in history? 

Sources:

1. Philosophy synonyms – 963 Words and Phrases for Philosophy | Power Thesaurus 
2. Philosophy Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com 
3. Philosophy antonyms – 51 Opposites of Philosophy | Power Thesaurus 
4. Philosophy | Nice Translator 

Asked by: Dr. Royal Leffler

Score: 4.1/5
(31 votes)

The word philosophy is not much help. Philosophy is a combination of two Greek words, philein sophia, meaning lover of wisdom. In ancient times a lover of wisdom could be related to any area where intelligence was expressed.

Who came up with the word philosophy?

The separation of philosophy and science from theology began in Greece during the 6th century BC. Thales, an astronomer and mathematician, was considered by Aristotle to be the first philosopher of the Greek tradition. While Pythagoras coined the word, the first known elaboration on the topic was conducted by Plato.

What does the word philosophy literally mean?

Quite literally, the term «philosophy» means, «love of wisdom.» In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other.

What Is philosophy Latin word?

philosophy, (from Greek, by way of Latin, philosophia, “love of wisdom”) the rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a whole or of fundamental dimensions of human existence and experience. Philosophical inquiry is a central element in the intellectual history of many civilizations.

How did philosophy come about?

Philosophy in the West begins in the Ionian Greek colonies of Asia Minor with Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) who inspired the later writers known as the Pre-Socratic philosophers whose ideas would then inform and influence the iconic works of Plato (l. 428/427-348/347 BCE) and his student Aristotle of Stagira (l.

41 related questions found

Philosophy is the systematic study of the foundations of human knowledge with an emphasis on the conditions of its validity and finding answers to ultimate questions. While every other science aims at investigating a specific area of knowledge, such as physics or psychology, philosophy has been defined as “thinking about thinking.” At the same time, as expressed by its Greek etymology, philosophy is the love of wisdom.

Traditionally at least, it is not the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but rather the attempt to discover the meaning and purpose of existence, including through intellectual means, but including also self-reflection, discipline, and religious practice and inquiry. Though the term philosophy is of Western origin and implies a kind of investigation typical of western culture, it has its equivalents in the various other cultures of the world, notably India, China and the Middle East.

The Nature of Philosophy

Methods and definitions

Philosophy has almost as many definitions as there have been philosophers, both as a subject matter and an activity. The word is derived from the ancient Greek word «Φιλοσοφία» (philo-sophia), which means «love of wisdom.» Though no single definition of philosophy is uncontroversial, and the field has historically expanded and changed depending upon what kinds of questions were interesting or relevant in a given era, it is generally agreed that philosophy is a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions, or theories. Its investigations are based upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions and no leaps based on faith or pure analogy. Different philosophers have had varied ideas about the nature of reason, and there is also disagreement about the subject matter of philosophy. Some think that philosophy examines the process of inquiry itself. Others, that there are essentially philosophical propositions which it is the task of philosophy to prove. The issue of the definition of philosophy is nowadays tackled by Metaphilosophy (or the philosophy of philosophy). Modern usage of the term is extremely broad, covering reflection on every aspect of human knowledge and the means by which such knowledge can be acquired. In the contemporary English-speaking academic world, the term is often used implicitly to refer to analytic philosophy and, in non-English speaking countries, it often refers implicitly to a different, European strain, continental philosophy.

Until the Renaissance, ‘philosophy’ and ‘science’ were considered the same discipline. This earlier tradition remains today in the expression PhD, or “Philosophiae Doctor” (doctor of philosophy), which is by no means limited to graduates of philosophy proper, as one can have a PhD in biology, music, or nursing to name but a few areas of expertise. Similarly, German-speaking academia still knows the division between “Philosophy I” (philosophy and the humanities) and “Philosophy II” (the natural sciences).

Many ancient Greek philosophers distinguished the desire for wisdom from desires for material things, vices, and the satisfaction of bodily desires. The definition of wisdom for many ancient Greeks would have been about virtue and the desire for knowledge as opposed to false opinions. However, the term is notoriously difficult to define because of the diverse range of ideas that have been labeled as philosophy. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy defines it as the study of «the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action, and reality.» The Penguin Encyclopedia says that philosophy differs from science in that philosophy’s questions cannot be answered empirically, and from religion in that philosophy allows no place for faith or revelation. However, these points are called into question by the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, which states: «the late 20th-century… prefers to see philosophical reflection as continuous with the best practice of any field of intellectual enquiry.» Indeed, many of the speculations of early philosophers in the field of natural philosophy eventually formed the basis for modern scientific explanations on a variety of subjects.

Philosophy as a Worldview

A «philosophy» may also refer to a general worldview or to a specific ethic or belief that can be utterly unrelated to academic philosophical considerations. This meaning of the term is perhaps as important as the classical definition, because it affects each human being. Virtually everyone, knowingly or unknowingly, lives and operates based upon a set of values and beliefs that are often unexpressed and even unconscious. As a result, they may easily be incompatible and contradictory, leaving those who maintain them with a sense of uneasiness. If a man professes that “only money counts in life,” this is a philosophical stance. However, it is most likely to be at odds with other convictions held by that same individual, such as a secret passion for art or love for his family.

Philosophy once competed with theology and mathematics for the title of “queen of the sciences.” Today, it is often considered empty and useless speculation, finding no place along practical and technical concerns and religious or ideological beliefs. However, efforts are being made to remove philosophy from its crumbling ivory tower and make it into a discipline, academic or other, that can lead to a clarification of one’s personal opinions and goals, as well as an informed evaluation of the many issues in public life.

Branches, schools and doctrines

Branches

The ancient Greeks organized the subject into five basic categories: metaphysics, epistemology and logic, ethics, politics and aesthetics. This organization of the subject is still partly in use in Western philosophy today, but the notion of philosophy has become more restricted to the key issues of being, knowledge, and ethics. At the same time, there has been an explosion of “philosophies of,” meaning a philosophical inquiry into just about any field, including politics and art, but also science (philosophy of science), religion (philosophy of religion) and many others. There are many places where these subjects overlap, and there are many philosophical ideas that cannot be placed neatly into only one of these categories.

Thus, philosophy involves asking questions such as whether God exists, what is the nature of reality, whether knowledge is possible, and what makes actions right or wrong. More specifically, each branch has its own particular questions. Logic asks: How do we distinguish arguments from premises to conclusions as valid or invalid? How can we know that a statement is true or false? Epistemology asks: Is knowledge possible? How do we know what we know? What kinds of questions can we answer? Ethics asks: Is there a difference between morally right and wrong actions, values, or institutions? Which actions are right and which are wrong? Are values absolute or relative? What is justice? What are natural laws? How is it best to live? What is happiness? Is there a normative value on which all other values depend? Are values ‘in’ the world (like tables and chairs) and if not, how should we understand their ontological status? Aesthetics asks: What is beauty? What is art? And metaphysics asks: What is reality? What exists? Do things exist independently of perception?

Schools and doctrines

Schools, with each their specific set of doctrines, have originated, evolved, and sometimes disappeared centered on specific areas of interest. Thus, early (pre-Socratic Greek philosophy centered on the issue of cosmology, ontology, and generally questions on the origin and nature of reality, while Socrates redirected the focus of philosophy on ethics and epistemology. Generally, each era of human history and each area of the world has concentrated its attention on those fields and topics that were of greatest interest to its particular culture and society. Few systems, such as those of Plato and Aristotle, cover the majority of all possible philosophical endeavors.

The interaction between philosophical worldviews can be considered both vertically and horizontally. Horizontally, all thought originating in a particular period and area of the world will share common traits, even though individual thinkers may oppose each other vehemently. Thus, the middle ages was a time of interest in God and religious questions, while the modern era emphasized issues related to epistemology. African thought has a natural interest in spiritual issues and spiritualism, while Eastern philosophy emphasizes the harmony and complementarity of humans and nature.

Vertically, certain trends, largely associates with specifics areas of interest (e.g., ethics or epistemology), have evolved over the centuries, with early thinkers directly and indirectly influencing much later thinkers through a complex web of interaction. This has given rise to doctrines like idealism and realism, the first insisting on the spiritual or ideal essence of reality, the second generally insisting on the practical and often material nature of things. But such overall doctrinal characterizations can be very misleading: Plato, the foremost idealist, was a realist when it cam to his belief in the “reality” of ideas. Thus, there have been an immense variety of forms and combinations of these two major trends, resulting in a complexity that defies any attempt at a fixed classification.

More specific trends or doctrines, within a certain area of philosophy, such as deontology in ethics, can be followed with somewhat greater ease and accuracy. Nevertheless, a clear-cut and generally accepted articulation can hardly ever emerge.

History of Philosophy

Western philosophy

The history of Western philosophy is traditionally divided into three eras: Ancient philosophy, Medieval philosophy, Modern philosophy and, more vaguely, Contemporary philosophy, covering twentieth century developments and what is often referred to as the «post-modern» period or post-modernism.

Greco-Roman philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy may be divided into the pre-Socratic period, the Socratic period, and the post-Aristotelian period. The pre-Socratic period was characterized by metaphysical speculation, often preserved in the form of grand, sweeping statements, such as «All is fire,» or «All changes.» Important pre-Socratic philosophers include Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Democritus, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Empedocles. The Socratic period is named in honor of the most recognizable figure in Western philosophy, Socrates, who, along with his pupil Plato, revolutionized philosophy through the use of the Socratic method, which developed the very general philosophical methods of definition, analysis, and synthesis. While no writings of Socrates survive, his influence as a «skeptic» is transmitted through Plato’s works. Plato’s writings are often considered basic texts in philosophy as they defined the fundamental issues of philosophy for future generations. These issues and others were taken up by Aristotle, who studied at Plato’s school, the Academy, and who often disagreed with what Plato had written. The subsequent period ushered in such philosophers as Euclid, Epicurus, Chrysippus, Pyrrho, and Sextus Empiricus. A woman philosopher of the Ancient period is Hipparchia the Cynic, who flourished around 300 B.C.E.

Though many of these philosophers may seem irrelevant given current scientific knowledge – some, for example, believed that all movement was illusion – their systems of thought continue to influence both philosophy and science today. The tradition started by Socrates and Plato, which was to remain as the most important overall tradition in Western philosophy, had a strong idealistic bent in that it emphasized the importance of ideas and the spirit over material existence, as well as the human ability to reach absolute truth. Combined with the beliefs of theism, particularly Christianity, it would in the following centuries take on many different shapes but remain as the fundamental tradition in western thought. This current of thought was nevertheless increasingly challenged by forms of thought emphasizing skepticism, materialism, and pragmatism, culminating in movements such as positivism and scientism.

Medieval philosophy

Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during what is now known as the medieval era or the Middle Ages, roughly extending from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance period. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the process of rediscovering the ancient culture developed by Greeks and Romans in the classical period, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine (in Christianity and Judaism) and secular learning.

Many of the early Christian philosophers took as their starting point the theories of Plato and later Aristotle. Others, however, such as Tertullian, rejected Greek philosophy as antithetical to revelation and faith (“Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem”). Augustine of Hippo remains as the greatest representative of early Christian thought. The medieval period brought Christian scholastic philosophy, with writers such as Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. The philosophers in the scholastic Christian tradition and philosophers in the other major Abrahamic religions, such as the Jewish philosopher Maimonides and the Muslim philosophers Avicenna, Al-Ghazali, and Averroes, were intercommunicative. A female Christian philosopher of the period was a student of Abelard named Heloise. Another was Hildegard von Bingen who, besides her accomplishments in music, healing, and spirituality was also an important religious thinker and leader.

Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence and unity of God, the object of theology and metaphysics, the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.

An important debate was that of Realism vs. Nominalism. Classically, realism is the doctrine that abstract entities corresponding to universal terms like ‘man’ have a real existence. It is opposed to nominalism, the view that abstract or universal terms are words only, or denote mental states such as ideas, beliefs, or intentions. The latter position, famously held by William of Ockham, is called ‘conceptualism’.

Early modern philosophy (c. 1600 — c. 1800)

Medieval philosophy had been concerned primarily with argument from authority and the analysis of ancient texts using Aristotelian logic. The Renaissance saw an outpouring of new ideas that questioned authority. Roger Bacon (1214-1294?) was one of the first writers to advocate putting authority to the test of experiment and reason. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) challenged conventional ideas about morality. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) wrote in favor of the methods of science in philosophical discovery.

Modern philosophy is usually considered to begin with the revival of skepticism and the genesis of modern physical science. Canonical figures include Montaigne, Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Chronologically, this era spans the 17th and 18th centuries, and is generally considered to end with Kant’s systematic attempt to reconcile Leibniz and Hume. If Descartes has marked the beginning of modern philosophy, Kant’s revolution marked the beginning of late modern philosophy and led directly to contemporary developments. It meant a clear-cut break with traditional dogmatism and empiricism, the philosophical justification of scientific certainty on the level of phenomena, and a degree of agnosticism as far as ultimate matters (God, eternal life) were concerned.

Later modern philosophy (c. 1800 — c. 1960)

Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the 19th-century. German idealists, Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling, expanded on the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is rational. Unlike Kant, they believed that the Absolute Reality was knowable and they produced elaborate speculative systems.

Rejecting idealism, other philosophers, many working from outside the university, initiated lines of thought that would occupy academic philosophy in the early and mid-twentieth century:

• Arthur Schopenhauer created a pessimistic system based on Kant’ thought
• Peirce and William James initiated the school of pragmatism
• Husserl initiated the school of phenomenology
• Kierkegaard and Nietzsche laid the groundwork for existentialism
• Frege’s work in logic and Sidgwick’s work in ethics provided the tools for early analytic philosophy

Contemporary philosophy (c. 1960 — present)

In the last hundred years, philosophy has increasingly become an activity practiced within the modern research university, and accordingly it has grown more specialized and more distinct from the natural sciences. Much philosophy in this period concerns itself with explaining the relation between the theories of the natural sciences and the ideas of the humanities or common sense.

It is arguable that later modern philosophy ended with contemporary philosophy’s shift of focus from nineteenth century philosophers to twentieth century philosophers. Philosophers such as Heidegger, the later Wittgenstein, and Dewey, opened a type of philosophical discourse that would usher in post-modernism and its rejection of all foundationalism (the belief that it is possible to reach an ultimate foundation of knowledge), as exemplified by thinkers such as Derrida, Quine, Michel Foucault, and Rorty.

The Analytic and Continental divide

The late modern period in philosophy, beginning in the late nineteenth century and lasting into the 1950s, was marked by a developing schism between the «Continental» (European) tradition and the «Analytic» tradition associated with English-speaking countries. The split between these two currents can be seen as the continuation of the division between continental rationalism and British Empiricism.

The two traditions appear radically different, yet they have a common root. Both reject the Cartesian and empiricist traditions that had dominated philosophy since the early modern period, and both also reject the «obsession with psychological explanation» that pervaded the logic and method of idealist philosophy.

What underlies the Analytic tradition (culminating with thinkers such as Bertrand Russell), is the view (originally defended by Ockham) that philosophical error arises from misunderstandings generated by language. According to analytic philosophers, the true meaning of ordinary sentences is «concealed by their grammatical form,» and we must translate them into their true form (understood as their logical form) in order to clarify them. «Continental» philosophy, in the hands of the thinkers such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, took a different turn in its preoccupation with consciousness.

Both traditions tend to strongly reject any claim to certain knowledge about a given reality. Their dominance on the contemporary philosophical scene creates an atmosphere that is contrary to any affirmation of dogmatic belief or even the attempt to elaborate a worldview claiming to give definitive answers to fundamental questions. Ironically, the main actors on the contemporary philosophical arena have often been challenged for their dogmatic affirmation that certainty is impossible and they have sometimes been accused of promoting personal views under the cover of an overall criticism of established views.

Eastern philosophy

Although the word «philosophy» originates in the Western tradition, many figures in the history of other cultures have addressed similar topics in similar ways. The philosophers of the Far East are discussed in Eastern philosophy, while the philosophers of North Africa and the Near East, because of their strong interactions with Europe, are usually considered part of Western Philosophy.

Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other’s works. Eastern and Middle Eastern philosophical traditions have influenced Western philosophers. Russian, Jewish, Islamic and recently Latin American philosophical traditions have contributed to, or been influenced by, Western philosophy, yet each has retained a distinctive identity.

The differences between traditions are often well captured by consideration of their favored historical philosophers, and varying stress on ideas, procedural styles, or written language. The subject matter and dialogues of each can be studied using methods derived from the others, and there are significant commonalities and exchanges between them.

«Eastern philosophy» refers to the broad traditions that originated or were popular in India, Persia, China, Japan, Korea and, to an extent, the Middle East (which overlaps with Western philosophy due to being the origin of the Abrahamic religions).

Indian philosophy

In the history of the Indian subcontinent, following the establishment of an Aryan–Vedic culture, the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of astika, or orthodox, Indian or Hindu philosophy. These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of Hinduism. The origins of Hindu philosophy are to be traced in Vedic speculations (circa 1500 B.C.E.) about the universe and Rta — universal order. Other major texts with philosophical implications include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutra, from circa 1000 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E.

Hindu philosophy constitutes an integral part of the culture of Southern Asia, and is the first of the Dharmic philosophies which were influential throughout the Far East. The great diversity in thought and practice of Hinduism is nurtured by its liberal universalism.

Centuries before the western (notably Greek) tradition developed its own forms of philosophical speculation, India already had well-developed schools of philosophy. Most followed spiritual and idealistic lines involving speculation about the unity in diversity, giving Hindu polytheism a clear theistic bent. In these forms of speculation, Brahman was often seen as the underlying, unitary and universal Being of which the various divinities were mere expressions. At the same time, Brahman was often seen as being ultimately one with Atman, the equivalent of the human soul. Nevertheless, atheistic and materialistic philosophy also existed in the same environment.

The extent of the direct link between this philosophical speculation and the later Greek philosophy is a matter of dispute. An influence of Indian thought on Middle Eastern, including Hebrew, thought has also been suggested. What is certain is that, to one degree or another, the Ancient Hindu tradition and the Ancient (though less ancient) Greek tradition, being both part of the Indo-European civilization have interacted, with India being the source. Plato in particular is often said to have been under the influence of the Hindu wisdom tradition.

Persian philosophy

Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts, with their ancient Indo-Iranian roots. These were considerably influenced by Zarathustra’s teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the Macedonian, the Arab, and the Mongol invasions of Persia, a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose. These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions, extending from Old Iranian and mainly Zoroastrianism-influenced traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, such as Manicheism and Mazdakism, as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the Old Iranian philosophy, the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy. The Illumination School and the Transcendent Philosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia.

Chinese philosophy

Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on Chinese civilization, and East Asia as a whole. Many of the great philosophical schools were formulated during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and came to be known as the Hundred Schools of Thought. The four most influential of these were Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Later on, during the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism from India also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline. (It should be noted that Eastern thought, unlike Western philosophy, did not express a clear distinction between philosophy and religion.) Like Western philosophy, Chinese philosophy covers a broad and complex range of thought, possessing a multitude of schools that address every branch and subject area of philosophy.

In China, the Dao De Jing of Lao-Tzu and the Analects of Confucius both appeared around 600 B.C.E., about the same time that the Greek pre-Socratics were writing.

Of all the Chinese philosophies, however, it is quite safe to say Confucianism has had the greatest impact on East Asia. Confucianism is collective teachings of the Chinese sage K’ung-fu-Tzu (Confucius or Master Kong) who lived from 551 – 479 B.C.E. His philosophy focused in the fields of ethics and politics; emphasizing greatly on personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, traditionalism, and sincerity. Confucianism, along with Legalism, is responsible for creating the world’s first meritocracy, which is the system/belief that a person’s status should be determined by one’s ability instead of ancestry, wealth, and/or friendships. It could be debatably said that Confucianism is most responsible for shaping the Chinese culture and state (during Imperial China). Throughout history, Chinese philosophy has been molded to fit the prevailing school of thought in China. The Chinese schools of philosophy, with the exception of the period during the Qin dynasty, have been relatively tolerant of one another. Instead of competition with one another, they generally have cooperated and shared ideas, which they would usually incorporate into their own. For example, Neo-Confucianism was a revived version of old Confucianism principles that appeared around the Ming Dynasty with Buddhist, Taoist, and Legalist aspects. During the Industrial and Modern Ages, Chinese philosophy has also began to integrate concepts of Western philosophy as steps for modernization. Democracy, republicanism, and industrialism attempted to be incorporated into the Chinese philosophy by Sun Yat-sen at the beginning of the twentieth century. Mao Zedong added Marxism. Like Japan, Chinese philosophy has become somewhat of a melting pot of ideas. It accepts new concepts, while holding on to old beliefs.

See also: Yin-Yang, Tao, I ChingConfucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Legalism, Hundred Schools of Thought.

Related Topics: Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, Bushido, Zen

African philosophy

Other philosophical traditions, such as African philosophy, are rarely considered by foreign academia. Since emphasis is mainly placed on Western philosophy as a reference point, the study, preservation and dissemination of valuable, but lesser known, non-Western philosophical works face many obstacles. Key African philosophers include the Fulani Usman Dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Caliphate of Northern Nigeria and Umar Tall of Senegal; both were prolific Islamic scholars. In the post-colonial period, different images of what could be argued as «African» Philosophy from the level of epistemology have risen. These could include the thoughts and enquiries of such individuals as Cheik Anta Diop, Francis Ohanyido, C.L. Momoh, and Chinweizu.

The philosophy of the modern and contemporary African world, including the diaspora, is often known as Africana Philosophy. Key philosophers include Frantz Fanon, Kwesi Wiredu, Paget Henry, Lewis Gordon, Mabogo Percy More and many others.

Key themes and doctrines in Western Philosophy

Metaphysics and epistemology

Rationalism and empiricism

Rationalism is any view emphasizing the role or importance of human reason. Extreme rationalism tries to base all knowledge on reason alone. Rationalism typically starts from premises that cannot coherently be denied, then attempts by logical steps to deduce every possible object of knowledge.

The first rationalist, in this broad sense, is often held to be Parmenides (fl. 480 B.C.E.), who argued that it is impossible to doubt that thinking actually occurs. But thinking must have an object, therefore something beyond thinking really exists. Parmenides deduced that what really exists must have certain properties – for example, that it cannot come into existence or cease to exist, that it is a coherent whole, that it remains the same eternally (in fact, exists altogether outside time). Zeno of Elea (born c. 489 B.C.E.) was a disciple of Parmenides, and argued that motion is impossible, since the assertion that it exists implies a contradiction.

Plato (427–347 B.C.E.) was also influenced by Parmenides, but combined idealistic rationalism with a form of realism. The philosopher’s work is to consider being, and the essence of things. But the characteristic of essences is that they are universal. The nature of a man, a triangle, a tree, applies to all men, all triangles, all trees. Plato argued that these essences are mind-independent “forms,” that humans (but particularly philosophers) can come to know by reason, and by ignoring the distractions of sense-perception.

Modern rationalism begins with Descartes. Reflection on the nature of perceptual experience, as well as scientific discoveries in physiology and optics, led Descartes (and also Locke) to the view that we are directly aware of ideas, rather than objects. This view gave rise to three questions:

1. Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents?
2. How can physical objects such as chairs and tables, or even physiological processes in the brain, give rise to mental items such as ideas? This is part of what became known as the mind-body problem.
3. If all we are aware of our ideas, how can we know that anything else exists apart from ideas?

René Descartes, who is often called the father of modern philosophy, proposed that philosophy should begin with a radical skepticism about the possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge. In 1641, in Meditations on First Philosophy, he used this method of doubt in an attempt to establish what knowledge is most certain. He chose as the foundation of his philosophy the famous statement Cogito ergo sum («I think, therefore I am»). He then attempted to rebuild a system of knowledge based on this single supposedly indubitable fact. This involves proving the existence of God, using, among other means, a version of the ontological argument). Descartes’ approach became known as rationalism; it attracted such philosophers as Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Christian Wolff.

Empiricism, in contrast to rationalism, downplays or dismisses the ability of reason alone to yield knowledge of the world, preferring to base any knowledge we have on our senses. John Locke propounded the classic empiricist view in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, developing a form of naturalism and empiricism on roughly scientific (and Newtonian) principles. Hume’s work A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740) combined empiricism with a spirit of skepticism. Other philosophers who made major contributions to empiricism include Thomas Hobbes and George Berkeley (Bishop Berkeley).

During this era, religious ideas played a mixed role in the struggles that preoccupied secular philosophy. Bishop Berkeley’s famous idealist refutation of key tenets of Isaac Newton is a case of an Enlightenment philosopher who drew substantially from religious ideas. Other influential religious thinkers of the time include Blaise Pascal, Joseph Butler, and Jonathan Edwards. Other major writers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Edmund Burke, took a rather different path. The restricted interests of many of the philosophers of the time foreshadow the separation and specialization of different areas of philosophy that would occur in the twentieth century.

Kantian philosophy and the rise of idealism

Immanuel Kant wrote his Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787) in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting approaches of rationalism and empiricism and establish a new groundwork for studying metaphysics. Kant’s intention with this work was to look at what we know and then consider what must be true about the way we know it. One major theme was that there are fundamental features of reality that escape our direct knowledge because of the natural limits of the human faculties. Kant’s work was continued in the work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer.

Kant’s philosophy, known as transcendental idealism, would later be made more abstract and more general, in the movement known as German idealism, a type of absolute idealism. German idealism rose to popularity with G. W. F. Hegel’s publication in 1807 of Phenomenology of Spirit. In that work, Hegel asserts that the aim of philosophy is to spot the contradictions apparent in human experience (which arise, for instance, out of the recognition of the self as both an active, subjective witness and a passive object in the world) and to get rid of these contradictions by making them compatible. Hegel believed that every thesis creates its own antithesis, and that out of the two arises a synthesis, a process known as the «Hegelian dialectic.» Philosophers in the Hegelian tradition include Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach and Karl Marx.

Pragmatism

The late nineteenth century brought about the rise of a new philosophy in the New World. Charles Peirce and William James are considered to be the co-founders of loosely allied schools of pragmatism, which holds that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality, but in their usefulness and efficacy. It led to what would later be called instrumentalism, the idea that what is important for a good theory is how useful it is, not how well it represents reality. Since the usefulness of any belief at any time might be contingent on circumstance, Peirce and James conceptualized final truth as that which would be established only by the future, final settlement of all opinion. Thinkers in this tradition included John Dewey, George Santayana, and C. I. Lewis. Though not widely recognized under the term «pragmatist,» philosophers like Henri Bergson and G. E. Moore shared many of the same foundational assumptions with the pragmatists. Pragmatism has recently been taken in new directions by Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. Critics have accused pragmatism of falling victim to a simple fallacy: because something that is true proves useful, that usefulness is the basis for its truth.

The prominence of logic

With the publication of Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead’s Principia Mathematica in 1910-1913, mathematical logic attracted the interest of many philosophers. With this increased interest in mathematical logic came the rise in popularity for the view known as logical positivism and related theories, all of which shared a commitment to the reliability of empirical tests. Philosophers such as Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach considered only confirmable or falsifiable claims to be genuine philosophy; anything that could not be deduced from testable claims was considered mere superstition or dogma.

Phenomenology

At the same time that logic was coming to prominence in America and Britain, a separate movement occurred in continental Europe. Under the influence of Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl developed a new method to study human problems in his Logical Investigations (1900-1901) and Ideas (1913). The method, known as phenomenology, was used to examine the details of human experience and consciousness in order to observe the most basic facts of human existence; the examination included not just observations of the way the world appears but observations of one’s own thoughts, and when and how they occur. An important part of Husserl’s phenomenological project was to show that all conscious acts are directed at or about objective content, a feature that Husserl called intentionality.

Husserl’s work was immediately influential in Germany, with the foundation of phenomenological schools in Munich and Göttingen. Phenomenology later achieved international fame through the work of such philosophers as Martin Heidegger (formerly Husserl’s research assistant), Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Indeed, through the work of Heidegger and Sartre, Husserl’s focus on subjective experience influenced aspects of existentialism.

Heidegger expanded the study of phenomenology to elaborate a philosophical hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is a method of interpreting texts by drawing out the meaning of the text in the context it was written in. Heidegger stressed two new elements of philosophical hermeneutics: that the reader brings out the meaning of the text in the present, and that the tools of hermeneutics can be used to interpret more than just texts (e.g., «social text»). Elaborations of philosophical hermeneutics later came from Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur.

Existentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that rejects any predetermined role for human beings. Unlike tools, which are designed in order to fill some preconceived role (for example, a knife’s preconceived role, or essence, is to cut), human beings are capable, to some extent at least, of deciding for themselves what constitutes their own essence. Although they didn’t use the term, the nineteenth-century philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are widely regarded as the fathers of existentialism. Their influence, however, has extended beyond existentialist thought. Religious thinkers were among those influenced by Kierkegaard. Christian existentialists include Gabriel Marcel, Nicholas Berdyaev, Miguel de Unamuno, and Karl Jaspers. The Jewish philosophers Martin Buber and Lev Shestov have also been associated with existentialism.

Two of the targets of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche’s writings were the philosophical systems of Hegel and Schopenhauer respectively, which they had each admired in their youths. Kierkegaard thought Hegel ignored or excluded the inner subjective life of living human beings, while Nietzsche thought Schopenhauer’s pessimism led people to live an ascetic, or self-hating, life. Kierkegaard suggested that “truth is subjectivity,” arguing that what is most important to a living individual are questions dealing with one’s inner relationship to life. Nietzsche proposed perspectivism, which is the view that truth depends on individual perspectives.

Influence by Kierkegaard, the German philosopher Martin Heidegger is generally considered an existentialist thinker and one of the key figures in twentieth century thought. In Being and Time (1927), he presented a method of rooting philosophical explanations in human existence (Dasein) to be analyzed in terms of existential categories. In The Letter on Humanism, however, Heidegger explicitly rejected the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. Karl Jaspers is another important German existentialist philosopher.

Sartre became the best-known proponent of existentialism, exploring it not only in theoretical works such as Being and Nothingness, but also in plays and novels. Sartre, along with Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Simone de Beauvoir, all represented an avowedly atheistic branch of existentialism, which is now more closely associated with the ideas in the novel Nausea, contingency, bad faith, and the absurd than with Kierkegaard’s spiritual angst. Nevertheless, the focus on the individual human being, responsible before the universe for the authenticity of his or her existence, is common to all these thinkers.

The analytic tradition

The term analytic philosophy roughly designates a group of philosophical methods that stress clarity of meaning above all other criteria. The philosophy developed as a critique of Hegel and his followers in particular, and of speculative philosophy in general. Some schools in the group include 20th-century realism, logical atomism, logical positivism, and ordinary language. The motivation is to have philosophical studies go beyond personal opinion and begin to have the cogency of mathematical proofs.

In 1921, Ludwig Wittgenstein published his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which gave a rigidly «logical» account of linguistic and philosophical issues. At the time, he understood most of the problems of philosophy as mere puzzles of language, which could be solved by clear thought. Years later he would reverse a number of the positions he had set out in the Tractatus, notably in his second major work, Philosophical Investigations (1953). Investigations encouraged the development of «ordinary language philosophy,» which was promoted by Gilbert Ryle, J.L. Austin, and a few others. The «ordinary language philosophy» thinkers shared a common outlook with many older philosophers (Jeremy Bentham, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Stuart Mill), and it was this style of philosophical inquiry that characterized English-language philosophy for the second half of the twentieth century.

The implied outlook for «ordinary language philosophy» is that philosophy is thus not a unified whole but a set of unrelated problems. Great thinkers whose work indicates an acceptance of this general outlook include Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, P. F. Strawson, Donald Davidson, Hilary Putnam, John Rawls, Noam Chomsky, and the continental thinker Mikhail Bakhtin.

Analytic philosophy in general considers that a good approach to philosophy must itself be based on a careful examination of the meaning of language.

See also Transcendentalism

Ethics and political philosophy

Consequentialism, deontology, and the aretaic turn

One debate that has dominated the attention of ethicists in the history of the modern era has been between consequentialism (the idea that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action) and deontology (that decisions should be made solely or primarily by considering one’s duties and the rights of others).

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are famous for propagating utilitarianism, which is the idea that the fundamental moral rule is to strive toward the «greatest happiness for the greatest number.» However, in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader doctrine of consequentialism: that is to say, the idea that the morally right thing to do in any situation is determined by the consequences of the actions under consideration.

In contrast to consequentialism, Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason. Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake, since it would deny the necessity of practical maxims to the working of the will. According to Kant, reason requires that we conform our actions to the categorical imperative, which is an absolute duty unrelated to possible consequences. An important 20th-century deontologist, W.D. Ross, argued for weaker forms of duties called prima facie duties.

More recent works have emphasized the role of character in ethics, a movement known as the aretaic turn (that is, the turn towards virtues). One strain of this movement followed the work of Bernard Williams. Williams noted that rigid forms of both consequentialism and deontology demanded that people behave impartially. This, Williams argued, requires that people abandon their personal projects, and hence their personal integrity, in order to be considered moral. G.E.M. Anscombe, in an influential paper, «Modern Moral Philosophy» (1958), revived virtue ethics, inspired by Aristotle’s ethics, as an alternative to what was seen as the entrenched positions of Kantianism and consequentialism. Virtue ethics has since gained some adherence and has been defended by such philosophers as Philippa Foot, Alasdair MacIntyre and Rosalind Hursthouse.

Based on a consideration of their approaches, these three currents in ethical thought can be seen as concurring, rather than conflicting with each other, at least on a very general level. While deontology focuses on the motivation, utilitarianism focuses on the results, and virtue ethics on the moral qualities required to achieve these results through proper motivation.

Human nature and political legitimacy

From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. Plato declared that the ideal society would be run by an oligarchy of philosopher-kings, since those best at philosophy are best able to realize the good. Even Plato, however, required philosophers to make their way in the world for many years before beginning their rule at the age of fifty. For Aristotle, humans are social animals, and governments are set up in order to pursue good for the community. Aristotle reasoned that, since the state (polis) was the highest form of community, it has the purpose of pursuing the highest good. Aristotle understood political power to be the result of natural inequalities in skill and virtue. Because of these differences, he favored an aristocracy of the able and virtuous (meritocracy). For Aristotle, the person cannot be complete unless he or she lives in a community.

Nicolas of Cusa rekindled Platonic thought in the early 15th century. He promoted democracy in Medieval Europe, both in his writings and in his organization of the Council of Florence. Unlike Aristotle and the Hobbesian tradition to follow, Cusa saw human beings as equal and divine (that is, made in God’s image), so democracy would be the only just form of government. Cusa’s views are credited by some as sparking the Italian Renaissance, which gave rise to the notion of «Nation-States.»

Later, Niccolò Machiavelli rejected the views of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as unrealistic. The ideal sovereign is not the embodiment of the moral virtues; rather the sovereign does whatever is successful and necessary, not what is morally praiseworthy. Thomas Hobbes also contested many elements of Aristotle’s views. For Hobbes, human nature is anti-social: people are essentially egoistic, and this egoism makes life difficult in the natural state of things. Moreover, Hobbes argued, though people may have natural inequalities, these are trivial, since no particular talents or virtues that people may have will make them safe from harm inflicted by others. For these reasons, Hobbes concluded that the state arises from a common agreement to raise the community out of the state of nature. This can only be done by the establishment of a sovereign, in which (or whom) is vested complete control over the community, and which is able to inspire awe and terror in its subjects.

Many in the Enlightenment were unsatisfied with existing doctrines in political philosophy, which seemed to marginalize or neglect the possibility of a democratic state. One attempt to overturn these doctrines was that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who responded to Hobbes by claiming that a human is by nature a kind of «noble savage,» and that society and social contracts corrupt this nature. In his Second Treatise on Government John Locke agreed with Hobbes that the nation-state was an efficient tool for raising humanity out of a deplorable state, but argued that the sovereign may become an abominable institution compared to the relatively benign state of nature.

Following the doctrine of the fact-value distinction, due in part to the influence of David Hume and his student Adam Smith, appeals to human nature for political justification were weakened. Nevertheless, many political philosophers, especially moral realists, still make use of some essential human nature as a basis for their arguments.

Applied philosophy

Though often seen as a wholly abstract field, philosophy is not without practical applications. The most obvious applications are those in ethics – applied ethics in particular – and in political philosophy. The political philosophies of Confucius, Kautilya, Sun Zi, Ibn Rushd, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Niccolò Machiavelli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Nozick, Ayn Rand and John Rawls have shaped and been used to justify the existence of governments and their actions.

In the field of the philosophy of education, progressive education as championed by John Dewey has had a profound impact on educational practices in the United States in the twentieth century. Carl von Clausewitz’s political philosophy of war has had a profound effect on statecraft, international politics and military strategy in the twentieth century, especially in the years around World War II.

Other important applications can be found in epistemology, which aid in understanding the notions of what knowledge, evidence, and justified belief are. The philosophy of science discusses the underpinnings of the scientific method. Aesthetics can help to interpret discussions of art. Ontology, even within the artificial intelligence definition, has had important consequences for logic and computer science. Deep ecology and animal rights examine the moral situation of humans as occupants of a world that has non-human occupants to consider also. Aesthetics can help to interpret discussions of music, literature, the plastic arts, and the whole artistic dimension of life.

In general, the various «philosophies of…» such as the philosophy of law, can provide workers in their respective fields with a deeper understanding of the theoretical or conceptual underpinnings of their fields.

Often philosophy is seen as an investigation into an area not understood well enough to be its own branch of knowledge. What were once philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics (among others).

Confines of Philosophy

What should, and what should not, be counted as philosophy, has been heavily debated by many philosophers through the ages. See also pseudophilosophy.

Relativists may claim that any statement can be counted as a philosophical statement, as there is no objective way to disqualify it of being so. Also, the very open-minded nature of philosophy makes many people skeptical when it comes to limiting the concept of philosophy to something tangible and not something open-ended. However, several philosophers or philosophical directions have had ideas about what philosophy is and what it shouldn’t be.

Plato, or the protagonist in his dialogues, Socrates, who arguably coined the term, held up a number of virtues for anyone who wanted to call themselves a philosopher. Amongst other things, he rejected the idea that rhetoric had a place in philosophy, most famously in Gorgias.

The logical positivists denied the soundness of metaphysics and traditional philosophy, and affirmed that statements about metaphysics, religion, and ethics are devoid of cognitive meaning and thus nothing but expressions of feelings or desires.

What constitutes sound philosophical work is sometimes summed up by the term Philosophical method. Also, it is often agreed upon that arguments should try to avoid vague, non-defined, or ill-defined concepts; avoid mixing together different concepts that share the same term; avoid heavy use of concepts with strong connotations; and being logically sound. It has also been argued that the scientific method should be followed as closely as the subject matter allows. When a branch of philosophy fully follows the norms of the scientific method, it is no longer termed philosophy, but science.

Philosophers on Philosophy

What is philosophy? Some would respond by listing its major subfields such as logic, ethics, and epistemology; on the other hand, it has also been said that «philosophy is the study of its own history» (i.e., its own literature). However, some noted philosophers have attempted to address these issues central to philosophy’s subject matter and how it is treated:

… [philosophy] is the acquisition of knowledge.

Plato, Euthydemus, 288d.

… [that] philosophy only is the true one which reproduces most faithfully the statements of nature, and is written down, as it were, from nature’s dictation, so that it is nothing but a copy and a reflection of nature, and adds nothing of its own, but is merely a repetition and echo.

Francis Bacon, The Enlargement of Science, 1. 2, ch. 3

To repeat abstractly, universally, and distinctly in concepts the whole inner nature of the world, and thus to deposit it as a reflected image in permanent concepts always ready for the faculty of reason, this and nothing else is philosophy.

Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I, §68

Philosophy is the science by which the natural light of reason studies the first causes or highest principles of all things — is, in other words, the science of things in their first causes, in so far as these belong to the natural order.

Jacques Maritain, An Introduction to Philosophy, 69

The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. The result of philosophy is not a number of ‘philosophical propositions’, but to make propositions clear. Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 4.112

… [philosophers] are not honest enough in their work, although they make a lot of virtuous noise when the problem of truthfulness is touched even remotely. They all pose as if they had discovered and reached their real opinions through the self-development of a cold, pure, divinely unconcerned dialectic… ; while at bottom it is an assumption, a hunch, indeed a kind of “inspiration”—most often a desire of the heart that has been filtered and made abstract—that they defend with reasons they have sought after the fact.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Part One: On the Prejudices of Philosophers, §5

In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is – i.e., he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts – i.e., he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance.

Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs it, Chapter One: Philosophy: Who Needs it

«The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.»

Bertrand Russell, (From The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, Lecture II)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Crystal, David. The Penguin Encyclopedia. Penguin Books, 2004. ISBN 0140515437
• Curley, Edwin. A Spinoza Reader. Princeton, 1994. ISBN 0691000670
• Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Fourth Edition, Hacket Publishing Company, 1998. ISBN 0872204219
• Dolan, John P. The Essential Erasmus. Meridian, 1964. ISBN 0452009723
• Ducasse, Curt, Philosophy as a Science, 1941. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
• Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers. Pocket, 1991. ISBN 978-0671739164.
• Durant, Will and Ariel Durant. Rousseau and Revolution: A History of Civilization in France, England, and Germany from 1756, and in the Remainder of Europe from 1715, to 1789. (Story of Civilization, 10), MJF Books, 1997. ISBN 1567310214
• Heidegger, Martin. Basic Writings: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0060637633
• Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Penguin Classics, 1985.
• Husserl, Edmund and Welton, Donn. The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology. Indiana University Press, 1999. ISBN 0253212731
• Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Prometheus Books, 1990. ISBN 0879755962
• Kierkegaard, Søren. Fear and Trembling. Penguin Classics, 1986. ISBN 0140444491
• Kierkegaard, Søren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Princeton University Press, 1992. ISBN 0691020817
• Kung Fu Tze (Confucius), D. C. Lau (Translator). The Analects. Penguin Classics, 1998. ISBN 0140443487
• Lao Tze (Laozi), Stephen Hodge (Translator). Tao Te Ching. Barron’s Educational Series, 2002. ISBN 0764121685
• Leibniz, G. W. Philosophical Essays. Hackett Publishing Company, 1989. ISBN 0872200639
• Mauter, Thomas (ed.). The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy. Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN 0140512500
• McGaughey, William. Rhythm and Self-Consciousness: New Ideals for an Electronic Civilization. Thistlerose Publications, 2001. ISBN 0960563040.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Penguin Books, 1961. ISBN 0140441182
• Popper, Karl R. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415278449
• Putnam, Hilary. Pragmatism: An Open Question. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.
• Sigmund, Paul E. The Selected Political Writings of John Locke. Norton, 2005. ISBN 0393964515

Further reading

Introductions

• Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Thinking it Through — An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy. 2003. ISBN 0195134583
• Blumenau, Ralph. Philosophy and Living. ISBN 0907845339
• Craig, Edward. Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. ISBN 0192854216
• Curley, Edwin. A Spinoza Reader. Princeton, 1994. ISBN 0691000670
• Durant, Will. Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers. Pocket, 1991. ISBN 0671739166
• Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World. ISBN 0425152251
• Higgins, Kathleen M., and Robert C. Solomon. A Short History of Philosophy. ISBN 0195101960
• Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. ISBN 019511552X
• Sober, E. Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. ISBN 0131898698
• Solomon, Robert C. Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy. ISBN 053416708X
• Warburton, Nigel. Philosophy: The Basics. ISBN 0415146941

Topical introductions

Anthologies

Reference works

• The Oxford Companion to Philosophy edited by Ted Honderich
• The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy by Robert Audi
• The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (10 vols.) edited by Edward Craig, Luciano Floridi (also available online by subscription); or
• The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Edward Craig (an abridgement)
• Encyclopedia of Philosophy (8 vols.) edited by Paul Edwards; in 1996, a ninth supplemental volume appeared which updated the classic 1967 encyclopedia.
• Routledge History of Philosophy (10 vols.) edited by John Marenbon
• History of Philosophy (9 vols.) by Frederick Copleston
• A History of Western Philosophy (5 vols.) by W. T. Jones
• Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies (8 vols.), edited by Karl H. Potter et al (first 6 volumes out of print)
• Indian Philosophy (2 vols.) by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• A History of Indian Philosophy (5 vols.) by Surendranath Dasgupta
• History of Chinese Philosophy (2 vols.) by Fung Yu-lan, Derk Bodde
• Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy edited by Antonio S. Cua
• Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion by Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Kurt Friedrichs
• Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy by Brian Carr, Indira Mahalingam
• A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English by John A. Grimes
• History of Islamic Philosophy edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman
• History of Jewish Philosophy edited by Daniel H. Frank, Oliver Leaman
• A History of Russian Philosophy: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Centuries by Valerii Aleksandrovich Kuvakin
• Angeles, P. A., (ed.) The Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy. New York, Harper Perennial, 1992.
• Ayer, A. J. et al. (ed.) A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations. Blackwell Reference Oxford. Oxford, Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1994.
• Blackburn, S., (ed.) The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Bunnin, N. et. al., (ed.) The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1996.
• Mauter, T., (ed.) The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy. London, Penguin Books.
• Popkin, R. H. The Columbia History of Western Philosophy. New York, Columbia University Press, 1999.

External links

All links retrieved November 23, 2022.

• Epistemology Research Guide.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Annotated Bibliography on Analysis.
• Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: An Annotated Bibliography.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Paideia Project Online.
• Project Gutenberg.
• Dictionary of Philosophy.
• The Principles of Friesian Philosophy.
• What Philosophy Is, Philosophical Society.com.
• Philosophy Now, a philosophy magazine.
• What Can I Do With A Master’s Degree In Philosophy?
• What is an Event? Probing the Ordinary/Extraordinary Distinction in Recent European Philosophy by Wolfhart Totschnig

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