Why is Philosophy included in Arts and Humanities not Science?

Question

University degrees in Philosophy are usually Arts or Science degrees, BAs or BScs.
What are the chances of Yahoo Questions putting a Philosophy Section in Science, so rigorous Philosophy questions are not mixed with questions about why people are unhappy with their age or why can't we all just get along?
Would appreciate an answer that uses clear reasoning, poetically.

Answer 1

The same reason why my brother got a BS in Theatre. Nobody says any of this has to make any clear rational sense.

On a more serious note, one could consider that philosophy is a collection of questions followed, mostly, by answers. Science attempts to draw conclusions based upon observations, but philosophy is not entirely about observations. Sure, it is partly based upon observations, but mostly it utilizes a logical approach to solving problems which is probably more in line with the arts and humanities since there can be little proof derived from actual experimentation.

Anyway, thats my guess.

Answer 2

Traditionally philosophy has been part of the humanities which equates to the arts. This is because it is not a science. To be a science there must be an experimental basis and use scientific methodology to resolve questions. Philosophy (should) resolve through structured argument. It is not subjective as it is based on a priori evidence.

Once an area of study becomes able to be researched scientifically it breaks away to become science. This happened in the late 19c when psychology became scientific because of the use of methodology.

The reason why you can get a BA or BSc is because of taking it as a joint subject. If your joint is a science then philosophy takes a BSc. There is also a lot of snobbery around BScs, when doing my two degrees i was constantly told by science and technology majors that it wasn't a 'real' degree and any one could get one. However I did notice that when i was 'burning the midnight oil' trying to resolve a very tricky argument, my science friends were all down the pub.

A perfectly valid aspect is of course the philosophy or science.

However I do share your frustration with the nonsense which is dumped under philosophy. All sorts of agony aunt stuff and religious nonsense.

I think there needs to be a self help and agony aunt section.

As for the religious - well unless its a serious discussion on the existence of god or religious language or religious experience - it should be under religion.

By the way psychology also suffers from this - it also gets dumped with all sorts of dream interpretation stuff.

Answer 3

In the strict sense of the word, Philosophy is a science in as much as it comprises a body of knowledge. As a science, it involves using some methods in arriving at a particular conclusion or any dominant position of a particular system of thought. The systems and methods we find in philosophy thus make philosophy a discipline that is in one way or another scientific, not in the sense of the technical understanding of the word 'scientific.' Among the categories of the different intellectual disciplines, philosophy falls under the category of "arts". This is because that as a body of knowledge, it uses the arts or technique of rational demonstration in arriving at a certainty and validity of a particular reality. It does not strictly fall under the category of "sciences" because it is also differentiated from positive sciences such as biology, chemistry, etc... which are strictly speaking empirical sciences. It is with these sciences that we mean or we speak of the technical use of the term "scientific"...Positive sciences or empirical sciences make use of sensible data. They focus on the elements or substances of their respective subject matters while philosophy focuses on the principles that underly on a particular subject such as the nature and ultimate causes of things, life, etc. That is why the course or formal study of philosophy is called liberal arts or bachelor of arts while those of biology, chemistry, physics and the likes is called bachelor of science. Arts and science, however, could be a friendly category for philosophy in some respect.

Answer 4

University degrees are based on the level of mathematics or language training. Bachelor of Science = more math training, Bachelor of Arts = more language training. There are exceptions to this, but that is the general principal. I see your point about not getting stupid questions, but there are children on here, and "trolls". That, and philosophy is very much a "humanities" activity, is not a science (unless you attach it to the behavior of the brain), and being as subjective as it can be, probably should not be considered as a "science".

Answer 5

Philosophy does prescribe innovations that could desire to stay with to society, yet so as to be a technology the assumption ought to be testable. Philosophical innovations can in basic terms be debated subjectively regardless from the place they stem. thinking is an paintings till this is utilized to create something. Philosophy in basic terms has concept and concept. A technology on the different hand starts with an knowledgeable guess (hypothesis), then sorting out, and ultimately info. Social artwork is a social technology because of the fact it makes use of innovations from diverse modern theories and applies them to create replace in human beings. consequently, Philosophy has the status of an paintings because of the fact there are no longer any purpose assessments. Nor do any assessments that are tried on philosophical suggestions supply any concrete info.

Answer 6

Philosophy is not a humanity, because, unlike literature, history, etc., it does not restrict its study to human creations and activities. For a similar reason, it is not a social science. Philosophy, ultimately, tries to understand the whole of reality, and is (as lamp_679 explains below) a science--in fact, the original idea of what science is came from philosophy.

Because we now restrict science, at least for the most part, to what can be captured by mathematical formulae and empirically verified, and because the bachelor of science degree is a modern innovation in academia--mid-19th century, as far as I can tell--the study of disciplines which fit into this modern understanding of science tends to lead to bachelor of science degrees. The study of philosophy leads to a bachelor of science degree because it is a liberal art.

The liberal arts traditionally and originally included grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, which were studied not for practical reasons, but as disciplines worth knowing for their own sake, and as preparatory for philosophy.

Answer 7

Philosophy is a discipline that I see more like an opinion than a science..

Answer 8

You don't do experiments in philosophy.
Thought experiments don't count.