Bust of Socrates. Roman copy of an original thought to be carved by Lysippos.
Philosophy
is the
study
of wisdom.
In fact,
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.
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
.
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:
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
,
Rene 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
.
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]
- What can I say?
- What shall I do?
- What dare I hope?
- What is man?
The answers to these questions give the different categories of philosophy.
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
:
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".
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.
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
.
People listed here should be genuine philosophers, rather than social or
political
campaigners. The lists are not meant to be complete.
- Blumenau, Ralph.
Philosophy and living
.
ISBN
978-0-907845-33-1
- Craig, Edward.
Philosophy: a very short introduction
.
ISBN
978-0-19-285421-6
- Harrison-Barbet, Anthony.
Mastering philosophy
.
ISBN
978-0-333-69343-8
- Russell, Bertrand
.
The problems of philosophy
.
ISBN
978-0-19-511552-9
- Sinclair, Alistair J. 2008.
What is philosophy? An introduction
.
ISBN
978-1-903765-94-4
- Sober, Elliott 2001.
Core questions in philosophy: a text with readings
. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall.
ISBN
978-0-13-189869-1
- Solomon, Robert C.
Big questions: a short introduction to philosophy
.
ISBN
978-0-534-16708-0
- Warburton, Nigel.
Philosophy: the basics
.
ISBN
978-0-415-14694-4
- Nagel, Thomas.
What does it all mean? A very short introduction to philosophy
.
ISBN
978-0-19-505292-3
- Pojman, Louis P.
Classics of Philosophy (vols. 1, 2, & 3)
- Arthur, Edwin
The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill
- Beardsley, Monroe
European Philosophers from Descartes to Nietzsche
- Cottingham, John 2008.
Western philosophy: an anthology
. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., .
- Tarnas, Richard.
The passion of the Western mind: understanding the ideas that have shaped our world view
.
ISBN
978-0-345-36809-6