PHILOSOPHY 12: Branches of Philosophy

Philosophy

It is the translation of words into action or application of theory into practice.

Philosopher

A lover of wisdom.

Metaphysics

• A term derived from the Greek words ‘Meta’, meaning beyond or after, and ‘Physika’, meaning physics.

• The branch of philosophy that asks what is real. It goes beyond the realms of science and attempts to explain what we call “unreal” in terms of what we call “real.”

Ontology

It is a branch of metaphysics that deals with the study of being or existence.

Natural Theology

It is a branch of metaphysics that deals with the study of God and creation.

Universal Science

It is a branch of metaphysics that deals with the study of the first principles, such as the law of identity.

Thales

A Greek philosopher identified by Aristotle as the first known metaphysician. He claimed that water is the essence of all matter and that everything we experience is water.

Ethics

It is the branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral virtue, evaluates human actions, and studies the nature of moral judgments. It insists that obedience to moral law (right or wrong conduct) be given a rational foundation.

Virtue

• According to Socrates, practical knowledge means not only knowing the rules of right living but also living by them. Therefore, true knowledge is the meaning of this term.

• According to Aristotle, it is an awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lie dormant in the mind and heart of a person, which can be achieved through self-knowledge.

Epistemology

It deals with nature, sources, limitations, and

validity of knowledge. It explains:

• how we know what we claim to know;

• how we can find out what we wish to know; and

• how we can differentiate truth from falsehood.

Knowledge

The intersection of belief, truth, and justification.

Belief

An acceptance that something is true, and something exists.

Truth

The idea that one’s beliefs are in accordance with reality or objective facts.

Justification

Why does one have a good reason for holding that belief?

Induction

A source of knowledge that gives importance to particular things seen, heard, and touched. It forms general ideas through the examination of particular facts.

Empiricism

A source of knowledge where it is the view that knowledge can be attained only through sense experience.

Empiricist

Advocates of the induction method.

Deduction

A source of knowledge that gives importance to general law from which particular facts are understood or judged.

Rationalism

A source of knowledge that states that knowledge is based on reason or logic.

Rationalist

Advocates of the deduction method. For them, real knowledge is based on logic, the laws, and the methods that reason develops.

Logic

• It comes from the Greek word logike,

  coined by Zeno, the Stoic (c.340–265 BC),

  which means a treatise (formal) on

  matters pertaining to human thought.

• The branch of philosophy concerned with reasoning. It is concerned with whether arguments are truthful or valid rather than directly providing knowledge about the world.

Aesthetics

It is the branch of philosophy concerned with the beautiful in its various manifestations, including the sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly.

It is important because of the following:

• It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful.

• It helps us to live more deeply and richly. A work of art helps us to rise from purely physical existence into the realm of intellect and the spirit.

• It brings us in touch with our culture. The answers of great minds in the past to the great problems of human life are part of our culture.

Hans-Georg Gadamer

• A German philosopher who argues that our tastes and judgments regarding beauty work in connection with one’s own personal experience and culture.

• Our culture consists of the values and beliefs of our time and our society.

Mankind

The human species, described as a highly complex creation whose body consists of interconnected systems that work together.