What is the course philosophy all about???

Answer 1

It depends a lot on what kind of course you take.

A lot of philosophy involves thinking in a manner that many people are not accustomed to doing and asking questions that many people do not normally ask. So many philosophy courses deal with this in one way or another.

Logic, for example, is a very standard philosophy course. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to observe that there aren't really a lot of logical people out there. You're more likely to see ethics and metaphysics in a starting course, however, because these branches are closer to the kinds of things the more people have encountered on a regular basis.

Ethics deals with what is right and good, as opposed to what is just legal. Which in itself makes a good discussion - which laws are ethical and which are not.

Metaphysics is pretty much anything involved with the nature of the universe that physics can't yet touch. God. The nature of thought. What it means to exist. And invoking theology is considered out of bounds, unless you are willing to defend it without most of the tools that theologists rely on.

Another way of thinking of philosophy is as a field that talks about science without any science. All sciences were once part of philosophy, and though they've wandered off on their own now they are still resting on their philosophical roots. So you'll see the same kind of reasoned argumentation that you'll see between the lines of a good scientific journal.

It can be quite fun, once you get your cap on straight!

Answer 2

There are many things that philosophy can be about. Philosophy itself means love of wisdom and thus pertains to all ventures a person may be pursuing. Specifically, however, philosophy courses usually have one or a mixture of three topics as their focus. Those topics are ontology, epistemology, and axiology. Ontology is the nature of being and asks such questions as, do objects exist, do ideas exist, what is "human," are the body and mind separate, if they are, do they interact with each other? Epistemology is the study of how we know what we know. Some questions epistemologically motivated people may ask are how do we know that a chair is a chair? Is it defined by its function? Is reason a sufficient way to judge the world by? Axiology is essentially the study of ethics. Usually Axiology tries to apply ontologies and epistemologies to practical purposes. For example, is abortion ethical? Does man have the right to use pesticides? Should a person save a baby or a group of adults if the could only save one or the other?

In other words, philosophy courses can be very broad, however, they can be specific too. Bio-Ethics is a very interesting and specific philosophy cousre. However, if a general overview is more what you are looking for, taking class on the modern philosophers like Descartes, Hume, Kant and the like is a good course.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Philosophy is about the meaning of things.

Answer 4

Philosophy is a very broad subject (less so today than in times past). It covers the source of all knowledge to include trying to answer questions such as free-will/determinism; is there a God; ethics; and the list goes on

Answer 5

Im no expert but typically a philosophy course is all about philosophy.


dumbass

Answer 6

If you want to divide up into the basic categories there is

1) metaphysics- what is real. what is the most real. what is it to be real. are there 'types' of things? if so, which one is most basic? - those kinds of questions also see, 'ontology'. what is it to be? what is being?

2)epistemology is focused on how we know things, what knowledge is, what it's of, and so on and so forh

3) ethics and political and aesthetic philosophy. what ought one to do? what is the good life? what is art? how ought people to live together? on what grounds do we judge governments?

4) logic

in addition, there are more microdivisions like

philosophy of language
philosophy of mind
philosophy of perception
philosophy of science (closer to epistemology)
philosophy of religion (kinda metaphysics)

so, you kinda explore a bit of all of these. Generally, it means calling into question all of your assumptions about what you think you know and don't know. to benefit from a philosophy class you have to be willing to question those sacred truths you never questioned before. otherwise, there's no point in taking one.