If you’ve ever wondered whether God exists,
whether life has purpose, whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what makes actions
right or wrong, or whether a law is fair or just, then you’ve thought about philosophy. And
these are just a few philosophical topics. But what is philosophy? The
question is itself a philosophical question. This essay surveys some answers.
- Defining Philosophy The most general definition of philosophy
is that it is the pursuit of wisdom, truth, and knowledge. Indeed, the word
itself means ‘love of wisdom’ in Greek. Whenever people think about
deep, fundamental questions concerning the nature of the universe and
ourselves, the limits of human knowledge, their values and the meaning of life,
they are thinking about philosophy. Philosophical thinking is found in all
parts of the world, present, and past. In the academic world, philosophy distinguishes
a certain area of study from all other areas, such as the sciences and other humanities. Philosophers typically consider questions
that are, in some sense, broader and/or more fundamental than other inquirers’ questions:
e.g., physicists ask what caused some event; philosophers ask whether causation even exists;
historians study figures who fought for justice; philosophers ask what justice is or whether
their causes were in fact just; economists study the allocation of capital; philosophers
debate the ethical merits of capitalism. When a topic becomes amenable to rigorous,
empirical study, it tends to be “outsourced” to its own field, and not described in
the present day as “philosophy” anymore: e.g., the natural sciences were once
called “natural philosophy,” but we don’t now just think about whether matter is
composed of atoms or infinitely divisible: we use scientific experiments. And most of
the different doctoral degrees are called “Doctor of Philosophy” even when
they’re in sociology or chemistry. Philosophical questions can’t be straightforwardly
investigated through purely empirical means: e.g., try to imagine a lab experiment
testing whether societies should privilege equality over freedom—not
whether people believe we should, but whether we actually should. What does
moral importance look like in a microscope? The main method of academic philosophy is
to construct and evaluate arguments (i.e., reasons intended to justify some conclusion).
Such conclusions might be that some theory is true or false or might be about the
correct analysis or definition of some concept. These arguments generally have
at least some conceptual, intellectual, or a priori, i.e., non-empirical,
content. And philosophers often incorporate relevant scientific
knowledge as premises in arguments. 2. Branches of Philosophy
Philosophy deals with fundamental questions. But which questions, specifically, is philosophy
about? Here’s a standard categorization: Logic: Logicians study good and bad arguments
and reasoning, and they study formal, symbolic languages intended to express
propositions, sentences, or arguments. Metaphysics: Metaphysicians study what sorts
of entities exist, what the world and its constituents are made of, and how objects
or events might cause or explain each other. Epistemology: Epistemologists study knowledge,
evidence, and justified belief. An epistemologist might study whether we can trust our
senses and whether science is trustworthy. Values: In value theory, philosophers
study morality, politics, and art, among other topics. For example: What
makes wrong actions wrong? How do we identify good people and good lives?
What makes a society just or unjust? There are many sub-branches within these
fields. Many other fields— the sciences, art, literature, and religion—have
a “philosophy of” attached to them: e.g., philosophers of science might
help interpret quantum mechanics; philosophers of religion often consider
arguments about the existence of God. There are also unique and important philosophical
discussions about certain populations or communities, such as feminist philosophy and
Africana philosophy. People from all cultures contribute to philosophy, more than are typically
discussed in Western philosophy courses. Western academic philosophy has often neglected voices
from non-Western cultures, and women’s voices. Philosophers sometimes import tools,
knowledge, and language from other fields, such as using the formal tools of statistics
in epistemology and the insights from special relativity in the philosophy of time. When your
project is understanding all of existence in the broadest and most fundamental way,
you need all the help you can get. 3. The Points of Philosophy
Academic philosophy doesn’t present a body of consensus knowledge
the way chemistry and physics do. Do philosophical questions have correct
answers? Does philosophical progress exist? Does philosophy get closer to the
truth over time? These are all matters of philosophical debate. And philosophical
debates are rarely resolved with certainty. So what’s the point? Here are some answers: To discover truth, wherever and whatever it is.
To learn how to better live our lives. To understand our own views, including
their strengths and weaknesses. To examine our own lives and be more conscious
of our choices and their implications. To learn how to better think and
reason. Recall: The main method of philosophy is to present and examine arguments.
And arguably, all of us are already naturally interested in at least some philosophical
questions. Many people find that philosophy is a lot of fun. And it’s difficult to dispute
that it is very important to find the answers to philosophical questions, if the answers
exist. It’s important to know, for instance, that slavery is wrong and whether scientific
consensus is generally trustworthy. So as long as it’s at least possible to find the
answers to these questions, we should try. Also, there are strong correlations
between studying philosophy and high achievement in other academic areas, such as
GRE scores and professional-school admission. 4. Conclusion
We’ve contrasted philosophy with other fields. We’ve looked at
the branches of philosophy. And we’ve looked at the purposes or benefits of philosophy. But
what is philosophy, really? Given everything we’ve said so far, we can provide at least a
partial definition of ‘philosophy’ as follows: A largely (but not exclusively) non-empirical
inquiry that attempts to identify and answer fundamental questions about the world,
including about what’s valuable and disvaluable. Is this a good definition? That’s
a philosophical question too.