How is a philosophy different from a doctrine?

Answer 1

A philosophy seeks to learn. A doctrine needs to teach.

I picture a doctrine being more aggressive, laying down the law whether in government or religion. Whereas philosophy presents ideas, investigates truth, asks questions about existence & presents theories, with less concrete answers.

Well, that's my guess anyhow! What do I know?

:)

Answer 2

Let's start with the more definite term: "doctrine." A doctrine is something that is taught, or laid down, by an authority. Thus, "promulgating a doctrine" is a common phrase. Whether doctrines are set forth in response to a new sistuation, or whether they have been around so long that they are accepted in a culture as "the way things are" and the original authority is either forgotten or goes back so long as not really known, authority and doctrne are the key relationships.

A philosophy is an inquiry, or the results of an inquirty. The problem is that philosophies may take as assumptions various doctrines, or may produce (as one of the effects of the inquiry), conclusions that are enshrined as doctrine. Thus, Aquinas engaged in an enquiry or series of enquires using the methods of philosophy (given the tools available to him in his era, and the preceding philosopnical debates). Some or all of his conclusions then provided a basis for doctrines or rationalization of doctrines pronounced by the Catholic church which, in the late 19th and the 20th centuries, were comprehensively endorsed as the official philosophy of that Church.

A related distinction is between philosophy and ideology. Marx and Engels, at various times, considered philosophical questions (e.g., the nature of reality; consciousness and alienation). Some of these entered into a doctrinal system (or systems) — the varioius Communist ideologies.

Answer 3

That depends how you use the word "philosophy". The way it is used in your question, it isn't different from a doctrine at all.

When people say "a philosophy", as in "a philosophy of life", they actually mean something similar to doctrine, but are saying philosophy because that is a common, though incorrect, use of the word.

Philosophy is a discipline that covers areas such as ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, and their implications in particular other areas (like political philosophy, aesthetic philosophy, philosophy of religion, etc.). Within the discipline of philosophy are philosophical theories, but these are not doctrines. A doctrine is a single tenet or belief belonging to a given belief system. Doctrines are sometimes developed in philosophical ways (using a process of reasoning and tested by the rules of logic for coherence and soundness), and sometimes they're not, but this doesn't make them "philosophies".

Answer 4

Doctrine--Whether you call it an axiom, a belief, a canon, a dogma or a tenet, it is a generally accepted principal concerning an compilation of related ideas on a subject.
Philosophy is the thought that formed and structured the doctrine and was somehow agreed upon by a group, or at least, by the majority within the group.

Answer 5

the only difference is u will never find an answer for Philosophy questions

Answer 6

Philosophy is an idea and its explanation while
doctrine is a belief.