what is philosophy?

Question

what are the field areas of philosophy

Answer 1

You'll never know what philosophy is from a dictionary definition or encyclopedia article. Philosophy is a process, and to know it you have to take part in it. That is, for a start, you have to ask questions to find out what sorts of questions are and are not philosophical questions. You've started well: - the question "What is philosophy?" is itself a philosophical question. Here's my answer (it's a bit abstract, but that's the nature of the subject):

Philosophy is the pursuit of the optimization of human life. That is, it's the pursuit of, mainly, three things:

1. Identity - which is clarity and distinctness (the absence of confusion).
2. Harmony - which is coherence and compatibility (the absence of conflict).
3. Precision - completeness and simplicity (the absence of imprecision).

Philosophers pursue these three ideals using three main methods:

1. Analysis - taking concepts apart to see how they work - or don't work, and in order to clarify them and make their meanings distinct.
2. Synthesis - joining concepts together in order to ask questions, provide answers, criticize answers, revise answers and/or revise questions.
3. Synopsis - Taking worldviews apart and reassembling them in their most complete but precise form - with non-necessities removed.

There are three main subject areas of philosophy:

1. Metaphilosophy - the philosophical investigation of philosophy itself. (The question you have asked and my answer are metaphilosophy).

2. Pure philosophy - the investigation of fundamental concepts and principles.

3. Applied philosophy - the application of philosophical methods to all other things (e.g. to religion, to science, to politics, to art, to what have you).

Answer 2

Philosophy is simply the process and study of asking those questions which provide answers to the meaning of life. The only field area is in writing books on the subject. Good luck with THAT!

Answer 3

Philosophy is a field of study that includes diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, in which people ask questions such as whether God exists, what is the nature of reality, whether knowledge is possible, and what makes actions right or wrong. The fundamental method of philosophy is the use of reasoning to evaluate arguments concerning these questions. However, the exact scope and methodology of philosophy is not rigid. What counts as philosophy is itself debated, and it varies across philosophical traditions.
The term philosophy comes from the Greek word "Φιλοσοφία" (philo-sophia), which means "love of wisdom" or less commonly "friend of wisdom". Many ancient Greek philosophers made the distinction between the desire for wisdom, as opposed to the desire 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 and not false opinions. However, the term is notoriously difficult to define today (see definition of philosophy) 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.

Informally, a "philosophy" may refer to a general world view or to a specific ethic or belief.
areas of philosophy:-
Art
Education
History
Language
Law
Logic
Mathematics
Mind
Nature
Future
Everything
Perception
Philosophy
Politics
Religion
Science
Physics
Biology
Chemistry
Social science
Space and time
Technology
hope this helps!

Answer 4

Philosophy is the study of the truth. That is the objective definiton. However there is a personal use as well. Whatever a perosn deems to be the good is the persons philosophy. Say one says the good is to gain knowledge, his philosophy is the good in the pursuit of knowledge. Or say a person was foolish enough to say the physical pleasures are the good, his philosophy is the value of pursuing physical pleasures. Even is someone were to say their philo. was not to have a philo., they would in actuality have a philosophy!

Answer 5

It really isn't that hard, mates ;)

The Creek word "philosophia" means "love of wisdom". And, at least to me, that's it. No more, no less. The ideas and objects of philosophical thinking maybe difficult to define, but the thing itself is not. It is a keen interest in knowing, in thinking for yourself, in knowing and understanding other ways of seeing things, in debating and rhetoric, in discovering new ways of understanding and the ultimate realisation that you never really know anything, that you're never done, ready and that when ever you reach a goal, it is merely a new start with new questions of which you previously new nothing.

Anything can be an object of philosophical thinking. Ethics, morals, politics, love, war, art, beauty, ugliness, food, sciences,religion, relationships, feelings, education, travel, working, not working, washing our hair and why couldn't there be a blue Ferrari. There are many schools of philosophy with different ideas and principles, but the big secret is that none of them it the right one. Ideally philosophy is not about being right about something, it is about thinking about things and expressing your view about in a certain manner. Thus you could say that the object of philosophy is life and not just human life.

Answer 6

Russell has a strong quote in this: We would observe one staggering characteristic of philosophy. If someone asks the question what's arithmetic, we can provide him a dictionary definition, enable us say the technological expertise of style, for the sake of argument. so a procedures because it is going that is an uncontroversial actuality... Definitions would take delivery of in this way of any container the position a body of certain expertise exists. yet philosophy can't be so defined. Any definition is controversial and already embodies a philosophic concepts-set. the purely thanks to ascertain what philosophy is, is to do philosophy. —Bertrand Russell, The information of the West

Answer 7

All fields got their own philosophy, its the meaning or definition of how things are or how things should be..

Answer 8

Many things to different Philosophers.

If you read an University Handbook you will also have the field areas defined further..

Answer 9

The definition of philosophy is famously a difficult matter, and indeed many definitions of philosophy begin by stating that it is famously difficult. Nonetheless, a review of standard reference works suggests that there is a broad agreement among the philosophers who write these reference works, as to what the definition actually is. This article lists the main points of agreement, and points of disagreement where notable.

1. Philosophy is difficult to define. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy ([1]) says that most interesting definitions of philosophy are controversial. Philosophy: The Basics ([2]) says it is "notoriously difficult". Mastering Philosophy [3] says there is "no straightforward definition".
2. Method: The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy ([4]) says the method of philosophy is rational enquiry, or enquiry guided by the canons of rationality. OCP says it is explicitly rationally critical thinking 'of a more or less systematic kind'. The Collins English Dictionary ([citation needed]) mentions the use of 'rational argument'. Modern Thomistic Philosophy ([citation needed]) says 'natural light of reason'. PTB says that the most distinctive feature of philosophy is its use of logical argument. There is some agreement, therefore, that the philosophical method is rational, systematic and critical, or characterised by logical argument.
3. Intrinsic Character:
* Philosophy can be distinguished from empirical science and religion. The Penguin Encyclopedia ([citation needed]) says that philosophy differs from science in that its questions cannot be answered empirically, i.e. by observation or experiment, and from religion, in that its purpose is entirely intellectual, and allows no place for faith or revelation. MTP says philosophy does not try to answer questions by appeal to revelation, myth or religious knowledge of any kind, but uses reason, "without reference to sensible observation and experiments". By contrast, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy states that "the late 20th-century... prefers to see philosophical reflection as continuous with the best practice of any field of intellectual enquiry."
* 'Second-order' nature: PDP says it is a "common view" that philosophy enquiry is second order, having concepts, theories and presupposition as its subject matter. OCP says it is "thinking about thinking", and that philosophy has a "generally second-order character", being reflective thought about particular kinds of thinking. ODP says that in philosophy we study rather than use the concepts that structure our thinking, and that this is second-order reflection. The ODP admits that philosophy has a second-order character, but also warns that "the borderline between such 'second-order' reflection, and ways of practising the first-order discipline itself, is not always clear: philosophical problems may be tamed by the advance of a discipline, and the conduct of a discipline may be swayed by philosophical reflection". TYP also uses the expression 'second-order'.
* Misleading etymology: Only PE gives "Love of wisdom" as a possible meaning. PTB says the etymology is "not much help". Other works mention the etymology without saying that it exhausts the meaning of the term.
* Critical nature: OCP says philosophy is critical thinking. PTB says that philosophy examines the beliefs we take for granted. ERHP says "in English-speaking philosophy (and much European philosophy too) you are taught not to take anything on trust, particularly if it seems obvious and undeniable".
* What it is not: PTB says philosophy is NOT mysticism or about outlook on life.
4. Subject matter: PDP says the subject matter of philosophy is "the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action and reality". PE says "the most general questions about our universe and our place in it". MTP: The "absolutely fundamental reason of everything it investigates" or "the fundamental reasons or causes of all things". CED lists the branches of p (see below). ODP says it is the investigation of the most general and abstract features of the world and the categories with which we think, in order to "lay bare their foundations and presuppositions". MP says it is the study of ultimate reality. TYP says that philosophy is about 'the big questions'.
5. Branches: These are metaphysics (PE, OCP, MTP, CED, IP) epistemology (CED, MTP, OCP, IP), ethics (OCP, MTP, IP, CED), logic or semantics (PE, CED), cosmology (MTP), theory of mind (MTP), political philosophy (IP), aesthetics (IP). Hence there is a broad agreement that metaphysics, epistemology and ethics and possibly logic are the main branches of philosophy.
6. Goals: PDP says the goals of philosophy are "the disinterested pursuit of knowledge for its own sake". MTP says "to discover the absolutely fundamental reason of everything it investigates". CED says "making explicit the nature and significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs". MP says the purpose of philosophy is to unify and transcend the insights given by science and religion.

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References

The names of authors are given only where the book is not a reference work.

* An Editor Recalls Some Hopeless Papers, by Wilfrid Hodges (from The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic Volume 4, Number 1, March 1998 (ERHP)
* Collins English Dictionary (CED)
* Introducing Philosophy (IP)

1. ^ Oxford Companion to Philosophy
2. ^ Philosophy: The Basics, by Nigel Warburton
3. ^ Mastering Philosophy, by Anthony Harrison-Birket
4. ^ Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy

* Modern Thomistic Philosophy R. Phillips (MTP)
* Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (ODP)
* Penguin Encyclopedia (PE),
* Philosophy Made Simple (PMS)
* Teach Yourself Philosophy (TYP)

Answer 10

its a form of art