Inquiry and reasoning, conceptual viewpoints, logical opinions, analysis and evaluation, rationalized outlook, and justified attitudes. This is the activity of thinking about things. A relationship between mind and reality. It is sometimes referred to as the queen of sciences. Philosophy is the first academic field and the original discipline.
Derived from the Greek words philos, meaning love or friendship, and sophia, meaning wisdom; philosophy is, love of wisdom.
In ancient Greece philosophers weren’t seen as having distinct fields of expertise, but more as individuals who sought wisdom and understanding in all areas of knowledge. Most of, if not all of the major fields that have come into their own because of science, were once subjects that philosophy had already touched upon. Some of these disciplines include mathematics, physics, biology, ethics, and politics. The goals of philosophers were to understand the world and human experience in a holistic, comprehensive way. Processes involved examining the underlying principles and causes of things. Their desires were to understand the ultimate nature of reality and the meaning of existence. There was also an emphasis on reason and logical argument, through rational inquiry and critical examination.
It’s important to note, that while the description of ancient philosophy’s approach sounds a lot like the scientific method, those were the early days of thinking like this. Points to be made. They weren’t using experiments to any great extent. They were using mathematics in impressive ways, but that too has come a long way, and they just were not using it in the expanded and detailed ways that it is now being applied. Probably the most important part of the scientific process, and thing they weren’t doing to any known extent, is the rigorous repeating of testing over and over again, to sort out false data in search of the truth. Their evidence was acquired mostly through reasoning and was not empirical. This being said, they are the first known individuals who sought out wisdom and understanding in ways other than the tradition of deities, and authoritative figures. These are the people who deserve credit for laying down the ground work that influenced the rest of the world with a way of thinking that would eventually become the scientific method.
In honor of the original meaning of philosophy, some colleges use Ph.D: A Doctor of Philosophy, for the title of their highest degree’s.
Since the divergence of fields from philosophy, thousands of scientific fields have been created, and modern philosophy applies to all of them. Besides the thousands of philosophies for all of the scientific fields, there are also many different independent sub-field as well. Some examples are, political and social philosophy, and the philosophy of education, history, language, law, mathematics, religion, and science.
Modern philosophy can be described through five main sub-fields; Metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and aesthetics. Without all of these fields, a philosophers tool kit is incomplete. Epistemology was already talked about in the introduction of this book, as well as ethics and aesthetics, through axiology, which is also known as value theory.
Derived from the Greek words meta, meaning beyond or after, and physics, meaning nature; metaphysics is, what lies beyond or after the physical word.
In metaphysics philosophers are concerned with the fundamental nature of reality. They want to understanding the most basic and general features of the universe and our place in it. Some of the topics and questions include, the relation between mind and body, cause and effect, matter and energy, and the nature of space and time. The main branches of metaphysics are ontology, cosmology, and the philosophy of mind.
Ontology deals with the nature of existence. Considerations and concerns ask questions like, what types of entities can be said to exist, how can they be categorized, and what are the relationships between them? Other issues that are addressed include, the relationship between mind and matter, substance and properties, physical and non-physical entities, and how entities come into existence and how they cease to exist.
The philosophy of cosmology deals with questions that pertain to the fundamental nature of the universe, its structure and organization, origin and fate, and the relationship of the entities within it. It draws from the science of cosmology, and other disciplines such as physics, and mathematics. It also includes views from theology and atheism. One main debate between these two beliefs are over whether or not the universe was created by a god or gods, or not.
The philosophy of mind is concerned with understanding the nature of mind and its relationship with mental state processes, such as perception, thought, emotion, and consciousness, and how they relate to the physical world. One of the main debates is over the mind-body problem, which is whether consciousness is a dualism (mind and body being separate entities) or monism (mind and body being fundamentally the same thing).
The word logic has a multifaceted history that is a study in itself. It’s worth mentioning a little bit of this because it provides insight into the evolving human mentality. The oldest know origin has connections to the Proto-Indo-European root “leg-“, which dates to approximately 4000-2500 BC. Some examples are Latin legere: to gather or select. Old High German leken: to read. Old English leichen: to learn. Greek logos: word, speech, or meaning. The earliest known uses of logos are believed to come from the word legwo: I say or I speak. This was during the Mycenaean period from around 1600–1100 BC.
For pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, logos was the key to understanding the world and the natural laws that govern it. Plato believed that the logos was the source of all knowledge and the only way to truly understand the world. In ancient Greek culture, logos was used to refer to a person’s inner voice or conscience. In ancient Greek literature, logos was used to refer to persuasive speech or rhetoric. In a religious context the Greeks believed that the gods communicated with humanity through logos. Aristotle used logos to refer to the process of reasoning and argumentation, and the study of this process became known as logike.
The term logic is believed to have been first used in the 13th century, where it was used to describe the study of reasoning and argumentation. The word logic comes from the Latin word logica, which was derived from the Greek word logikos: pertaining to speech or discourse. During the Middle Ages, logic was primarily a tool for understanding religious texts, and its use was closely tied to the study of theology. During the Renaissance, the study of logic began to be seen as an independent discipline in its own right, and it became associated with the study of philosophy, and eventually science.
When people are in the process of reasoning, they are using logic in one form or another. In the modern era logic in philosophy is concerned with the principles of valid reasoning and the rules of correct inference. This is to study the methods of reasoning in any field of knowledge, and to establish the criteria for evaluating how valid an argument might be. It examines the structure of reasoning and the principles that govern the relationships between concepts, propositions, and arguments. In contrast to logic in science, where logical principles are used to formulate hypotheses, design experiments, and draw conclusions based on empirical evidence, logic in philosophy focuses on evaluating the validity of arguments through the use of formal systems and rules.
Logic in philosophy is an integrated process that accompanies reasoning and argumentation when addressing philosophical questions. Philosophy of logic on the other hand, is a branch that studies the nature and foundation of logic itself, and the deepest principles that govern reasoning and argumentation. This examines the abstract nature of logic and the theoretical implications of logical principles. Investigations include the relationship between language and thought, the principles of valid reasoning, how to account for the reliability of logic, and whether or not it’s possible for logic to be a reflection of the structure of reality. While logic in philosophy deals with concrete arguments and reasoning processes, the philosophy of logic deals with the principles that underlie those processes. Research also includes the study of how the fundamentals of logic relate to the different fields and areas of inquiry.
Numerous philosophies should be present at every point of doing science. When scientists start forming a hypothesis to answer a question, philosophers start thinking about how they are going to approach the question. Philosophers might even take another step back to think about their thought process while they’re thinking about figuring out a logical start. It might even be possible to keep stepping back to analyze thought processes, and maybe another way to do (RH). Epistemology should be applied to any existing information pertaining to the topic, and to the new thoughts that are being generated, to better understand why people think they know what they know. Ethics should be applied and analyzed, in as many ways as possible, along with aesthetics. The question at hand should also be looked at from a metaphysical point of view, in order to identify with it at its most fundamental level.
While scientists continue their process, all of these philosophies and more should be following each step of the way. Every time the scientific process ends, philosophy should play a role with interpreting and understanding the out come, and when belief systems start to take form, philosophy should be a key player.
When science became the champion of how people understand the world, as philosophy moved into this new era, there became a growing awareness for the importance of identifying with how language, culture, and history shape a persons beliefs and values. Concerned philosophers point out that these things have such a deep effect on how people understand the world, that scientists need to be aware of these influences during the development of scientific models. There has been enough arguments made on this issue, that the on going debates as to how accurate science really is, has become another topic in modern philosophy.
As an academic discipline, modern philosophy looks for the best way to think about things. Philosophy can and should be applied to literally every last bit of anything that can be thought of. It is the study of the fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, and our place in the universe. It’s the rational investigation of the truths and principles of mind and body, being, ethics and aesthetics. Methods include questioning everything, conducting critical discussion, using rational arguments, and being systematic with collecting and presenting information. These processes require being relentless. It helps to have grit and sometimes it even calls for being a maverick. With over two thousand years of development backing it up, philosophy has become an essential companion for every body of knowledge, and it is the foundational study that underpins all fields.