TidbitsonThoughtfulThinking Philosophy is often a general and abstract way of thinking about the world, the universe, ourself and society. It works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, our existence, self awareness and the connections between them. The original meaning of the word philosophy comes from the Greeks, with the roots philo- meaning "love" and -sophos, or "wisdom." ... In other words, they wanted to know the meaning of life. This tells us something about the nature of philosophy, but not all, because many other disciplines seek wisdom as well. How does philosophy differ from these other disciplines? A brief look at the historical development of the field. A standard way of telling the story is this: Humanity’s first systematic inquiries took place within a mythological or religious framework. From the time that first person asked "why am I here" and got a satisfactory answer, wisdom was at least acknowledged. It then derived from sacred traditions and from individuals who were thought to possess privileged access to a supernatural (and, presumably, honest and error-proof) realm. The legitimacy of these traditions or access of these individuals to this devine'd wisdom generally was not questioned. However, starting in the sixth century BCE, there appeared in ancient Greece a series of thinkers whose inquiries were comparatively secular (earthly, non spiritual, of this world). You’ve heard some of these ancient names. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Phythagoras, Protagoras, Archimedes and there were many more. Supposedly, these thinkers conducted their inquiries through reason and observation instead of relying on tradition or supposed revelation. For this reason, they are considered the first philosophers. Although this picture is simplistic, the basic distinction has stuck: philosophy in its most primeval form is nothing less than secular inquiry itself. To say that philosophy is secular does not mean that it is anti-religious, but only that it is independent of religion. If one needed to be anti-religious or even nonreligious to do philosophy, the history of philosophy would be very slim indeed. To say that philosophy is secular also is not to deny that there are many thinkers, even the ancient ones, for whom it was or is not always clear even today as to whether they were doing philosophy or theology: philosophy, like any other discipline, has gray boundaries. There are many forms of secular inquiry, so what distinguishes philosophy from them? In the beginning, there was no distinction, but, as civilization advanced, two parts of philosophy became so powerful in their own right that they separated off, claiming the status of independent disciplines. Mathematics was the first, and split off very early in the game; science (or natural philosophy, was the second, splitting off much later. Todays modern philosophy is left with whatever questions these two disciplines cannot solve (at least at a given time). Philosophy, of course, is best known for these first 2 classes of questions, which includes some of the most difficult and important inquiries there are: questions such as whether or not there is a God, how one can know anything at all, and how a person ought to live. The character of Philosophy comes as much by its methods as by its subject matter, speculating on issues that generally cannot be investigated by experimental test; therefore, it is a more conceptual than scientific study. Nevertheless, philosophy properly done is not mere speculation. Just like scientists, philosophers formulate hypotheses which ultimately must answer to reason and evidence. Despite it not being a science this is one of the things that differentiates philosophy from poetry and mysticism. The four main branches of philosophy are logic, epistemology, metaphysics, and axiology:
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