Hello everyone, welcome to PhiloNotes. This is our daily whiteboard where we will be discussing relevant topics in philosophy every single day. And for our very first edition, I will present the definition of philosophy and briefly discuss its major branches. But specifically, I will address the question, what is philosophy?
Now, I would like to start off with its etymological definition. So, philosophy, particularly western philosophy, comes from the two Greek words philia, which means love, and sophia, which means wisdom. Thus, etymologically speaking, philosophy means the love of wisdom. As is well known, love is a love of wisdom. in this context is understood as a strong desire for a particular object, while wisdom is understood as a correct application of knowledge.
Thus, philosophy as the love of wisdom, at least in this context, could refer to the strong desire of the human person to possess knowledge and apply it correctly. See you in the next video. It's not a coincidence, therefore, that most philosophers in the ancient world, particularly in Greece, India, and China, were sages or wise men. Think, for example, of Socrates, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tzu. Traditionally, however, philosophy is defined as a science that's studies beings in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through the aid of human reason alone.
And when we speak of being or beings in philosophy in this context, we mean all things that exist, material or immaterial. An example of beings are stones, trees, persons, cars, air, water, and the notions of God. soul and or spirits.
All of these are beings and philosophy studies their ultimate causes, reason and principles through the aid of human reason alone. In other words, philosophy is concerned with a reason and principles that account for everything that exists. Thus, some of the basic questions in philosophy are What is the origin of the world? Of everything that exists? Why do these things exist, rather than not exist at all?
And is there God? If so, how can we justify the goodness of God in the face of evil? And what is the meaning and purpose of life? Why do we have to suffer?
And if one is suffering from an unbearable pain such as cancer, is it morally right to resort to euthanasia or assisted suicide? These are just some of the questions that philosophy attempted to address. And in doing so, philosophy uses reason as a tool, which can be expressed in many forms, such as the ability to reflect, question, articulate one's thoughts and analyze certain phenomenon or events.
In short, philosophy attempts to understand things in a critical and logical manner. It is important to note, however, that philosophers do not agree on a single definition of philosophy. In fact, philosophers... differ in their basic understanding of philosophy. For example, Karl Jaspers, a famous German existential philosopher, understands philosophy as a discipline in which questions are more important than answers, because answers themselves will in turn become questions.
After addressing the question, what is philosophy? I will now proceed and discuss as its major branches. So basically, philosophy is divided into four major branches, namely metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics. Metaphysics comes from the two Greek words meta, which means beyond or after.
and physica which means physical or nature. Hence, etymologically speaking, metaphysics means the study of things beyond the physical, that is, concepts or things that cannot be experienced, such as the concepts of God, freedom, and soul. Metaphysics is commonly understood as the foundation of philosophy. In fact, Aristotle calls it the first philosophy. Originally, the Greek word metaphysica, which literally means after physics, actually designated that part of Aristotle's works, which came after those chapters that dealt with physics.
However, it was misappropriated later by the medieval commentators on classical texts as to that which is beyond the physical. Thus, over time, metaphysics has been understood as the study of which exists beyond the physical. Now, metaphysics is further subdivided into two, namely general metaphysics and special metaphysics. General metaphysics is also referred to as ontology and under special metaphysics we have cosmology, psychology or anthropology and natural theology or theodicy.
As mentioned earlier, general metaphysics is also known as ontology. Ontology is derived from the two Greek words onto. which means being or that which is, that is everything that exists, and logos which means knowledge or study.
Note however that the term logos in ancient greek scholarship have different connotations. For example, Heraclitus, a greek philosopher of the late 16th century BCE, understands logos as reason. or the underlying principle of all that is.
But going back, however, ontology, therefore, is the specific branch of philosophy that studies beings in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through the aid of reason alone. In other words, ontology studies the first principles or the essence of all things. So some of the basic questions in ontology are What is being? And why do things exist rather than not exist at all?
And what is the meaning and nature of reality? Also, what is the underlying principle of all that exists? And is there nothing? Although these philosophical questions are mentioned in this edition, please note that our concern here is just to describe very schematically the four major branches of philosophy. And if you want to know more about the nature and dynamics of ontology per se, you may check out this resource.
On the other hand, we have special metaphysics, which includes cosmology, psychology or anthropology, and natural theology or theodicy. And I will also briefly discuss each of these subcategories. Cosmology, from the ancient Greek words kosmos, which means the world, and logos, which means study, is the specific sub-branch of philosophy that studies the world.
or the universe, including its origin, dynamics, and characteristics, as well as the laws that govern its order. And some of the basic questions in cosmology are what is the origin of the world? What is the basic material of which the world is formed?
How do things arise? And in what consists its fundamental form or principle of order? And... Is the world or universe infinite? Next we have psychology.
Psychology comes from the two Greek words psyche which means soul, but this is loosely understood as mind, and logos meaning study. Thus, psychology is the specific sub-branch of philosophy that studies the soul or mind. Broadly construed though, psychology is the study of the nature and the dynamics of the human person as a whole, with emphasis on the way the person's mind functions and the way she behaves. Some of the questions in psychology are, what is the nature of the human person? Is there such thing as human nature?
And what is the meaning in... purpose, if any, of life. Then is there life after death?
Now how do we account for the existence of sufferings in the world? Lastly, we have theodicy or natural theology. Theodicy is derived from the Greek word theos, which means God.
The word theodicy was coined by the famous 18th century German philosopher named Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in his 1970 work titled Theodicy. Broadly construed, theodicy is the study of God, but specifically, theodicy is concerned with the justification of the goodness of God in the face of the existence of evil in the world. Some of the basic questions in theology are, Is there God? What and who is God, if He exists at all?
How do we prove the existence of God? And if God exists, how do we justify the existence of evil and suffering in the world? And, does a belief in God really necessary?
But then again, these are just brief descriptions of the subcategories of the special metaphysics. And for a detailed discussion on special metaphysics, you may refer to this material. Alright, I think I already have briefly described the first branch of philosophy called metaphysics. Now, let's move on to the second branch of philosophy.
that is epistemology. Epistemology comes from the two Greek words episteme which means knowledge and logos which means study. Thus it is formally defined as the study of the nature and scope of knowledge and justified belief.
Specifically it analyzes the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions, such as truth, belief, and justification. Here are some of the basic questions in epistemology. What is knowledge? What do we know? How is knowledge acquired?
What are the structures and limits of knowledge? And what makes justified beliefs justified? For an in-depth discussion of epistemology, you can also check out this resource.
The third major branch of philosophy is logic. Logic comes from the Greek word logos, which, as I already mentioned, has different meanings. However, I would stick to the definition that logic is the science of correct thinking. or the study of the principles and criteria of valid argument.
More specifically, logic attempts to distinguish sound or good reasoning from unsound and bad reasoning. The basic questions in logic includes the following. What distinguishes a good argument from a bad one?
How can we detect a fallacy in an argument? What are the criteria in determining the validity of an argument? And what are the types of logic? Now lastly in the fourth major branch of philosophy, that is ethics.
Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means custom or habit. Broadly construed, ethics is the morality of human actions. Ethics, therefore, is concerned with questions of how human persons ought to act and the search for a definition of a right conduct and a good life. It is important to note that ethics is not the same with morality.
This is because ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good, while morality indicates practice, that is, the rightness or wrongness of a human action. And here are some of the common questions in ethics. What is a right conduct as that which causes the realization of the greatest good? How do we determine a right conduct?
In other words, What makes a right conduct right? And what is a good life and can we attain it? What is the difference between human act and actions that are based on instinct? And what do people think is right?
Alright, that's it for today. Keep looking forward to our series of daily whiteboard additions. as we try to make the learning and understanding of philosophy incredibly easy. Thanks for joining us today on this edition of our daily whiteboard here at PhiloNotes. I hope you find this material helpful, and if you do, don't forget to subscribe.
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