What is philosophy?

Question

If someone says they're studying philosophy...what is it they actually study?

Answer 1

Trying to discover the meaning of life...or to prove there is no meaning to life. It helps you to stop asking questions and "continue;" it's purpose is to save yourself time.

P.s., there's no need to go to class or read a book in order to study philosophy...just observe life for what it is, make logical connections with experiences of your past present and future and after you start reading up on certain philosophers, you'll understand that what you've figured out through simple observation is on par with what many established thinkers have come up with over time.

Answer 2

The most apt definition is one you won't understand if you don't know philosophy, but here it is anyway:

"the epistemological identification of metaphysical existents, and the hierarchical ordering of those existents."

What that means is that epistemology is the natural action of the mind to identify what "things" are and, prove that they are indeed what you conclude they are. "Things" are existents, because they exist.

"Metaphysical existents" are the concepts that tie one "thing" to another "thing," such as all the variations in "table."

Physically a table has legs and you put things on it. But what makes a "coffee" table similar to a "dining" table, and different from a "water" table? Those similarities and differences are "metaphysical."

Those similarities and differences can be classified into "genera," and "differentia." The differentia of a coffee table is its short legs. Take a dining table and cut off the legs to a height of about 15 inches and you have a coffee table.

Anything that IS classified in terms of "genera" and "differentia" is metaphysical. And in fact, every word in every language except for personal proper nouns is metaphysical.

So the first two branches of philosophy are Metaphysics and Epistemology.

Physicists hate traditional metaphysics! They don't like the idea of trying to classify anything that cannot be scientifically put into "genera" and "differentia," things like "love" and "spirit," "selfishness" and "altruism." They have their own "metaphysicians" called "cosmologists."

If you like astronomy or physics or math, you might want to become a "cosmologist."

Only after identifying metaphysics and epistemology, can you move on. The next branch is Ethics. Without the first two branches you don't have a basis for Ethics, because you must understand the metaphsycis of "rights." Are they "unalienable"? Are they god-given? Are they granted by the state? The answers come from your definition of "man," and of the needs of man to achicve being "man."

Only after Ethics can you determine the genera and differentia found in Political Science, the 4th branch.

The last branch is Aesthetics, which deals with the nature of how and how well a piece of art--any art--deals with reality.

Logic is sometimes listed as a branch, but it is more like algebra is to trig. Logic is literally the "rules" of the mind, like there are rules for arithmetic, not "man-made" but discovered. Logic is what the mind uses to create tables of "genera" and "differentia."

Ontology, cosmology, and many other "ologies" are branches of one or another of the 5 major branches.

So philosophy is very much the study of knowledge itself, and every professional can become a better professional if he/she understands at least the basics of these subjects. Most professions, for example, have Ethicists, who proscribe for their industry the moral way to handle a client or a patient or a transaction.

For example, the Hippocratic Oath taken by every doctor is a statement of Ethics, but it involves the other branches of philosophy as well.

You asked what we study? Here is a link

http://www.word-gems.com/index.html

Click on a subject in the list and read the essay--either the one that shows up, or the "One Minute Essay."

These are taken from the most famous anthology of philosophy, called the Syntopicon. The essays are only the thoughts of the man who created the anthology. In the actual anthology you will find what all the great philosophers wrote on 103 subjects.

Answer 3

1. examination of basic concepts: the branch of knowledge or academic study devoted to the systematic examination of basic concepts such as truth, existence, reality, causality, and freedom



2. school of thought: a particular system of thought or doctrine



3. guiding or underlying principles: a set of basic principles or concepts underlying a particular sphere of knowledge



4. set of beliefs or aims: a precept, or set of precepts, beliefs, principles, or aims, underlying somebody's practice or conduct



5. calm resignation: restraint, resignation, or calmness and rationality in somebody's behavior or response to events

Answer 4

The fine art of asking questions.

Ludwig Wittgenstein tried to answer the question, "how do I know that I know?" in his last book "On Certainty."

Now I know how he knows what he knows but am not sure if I know what I know.

Answer 5

The love of wisdom.