Philosophy (from Greek: φιλοσοφία, philosophia, 'love of wisdom')[1][2][3] is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.[4][5] Such questions are often posed as problems[6][7] to be studied or resolved. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BCE). Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.[8][9][i]
Classic philosophical questions include, "Is it possible to know anything?", and if so, "Can we prove it?"[10][11][12] However, more practical and concrete questions may be posed, such as: "Is there a best way to live?", "Is it better to be just, even if one could get away with being unjust?",[13] and "Do humans have free will?"[14]
Historically, philosophy encompassed all bodies of knowledge and a practitioner was known as a philosopher.[15] From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural philosophy" encompassed astronomy, medicine, and physics.[16] For example, Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics.
In the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize.[17][18] In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics. Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of philosophy. For example, is beauty objective or subjective?[19][20] Does the scientific method reflect how science is actually practiced?[21] What criteria separate science from pseudoscience? Is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy?[22][23][24]
Major subfields of academic philosophy include metaphysics, which is concerned with the fundamental nature of existence and reality; epistemology, which studies the nature of knowledge and belief; ethics, which is concerned with moral value; and logic, which studies the rules of inference that allow one to deduce conclusions from true premises.[25][26] Other notable subfields include philosophy of science, political philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind.
Introduction
Knowledge
Initially, the term 'philosophy' referred to any body of knowledge.[15] In this sense, philosophy is closely related to religion, mathematics, natural science, education, and politics. Though as of the 2000s it has been classified as a book of physics, Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) uses the term natural philosophy as it was understood at the time to encompass disciplines, such as astronomy, medicine and physics, that later became associated with sciences.[16]
In the first part of his Academica 1, Cicero introduced the division of philosophy into logic, physics, and ethics, emulating Epicurus' division of his doctrine into canon, physics, and ethics.
In section thirteen of his Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers 1, Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century), the first historian of philosophy, established the traditional division of philosophical inquiry into three parts:[27]
- Natural philosophy (i.e. physics, from Greek: ta physika, lit. 'things having to do with physis [nature]') was the study of the constitution and processes of transformation in the physical world;
- Moral philosophy (i.e. ethics, from êthika, 'having to do with character, disposition, manners') was the study of goodness, right and wrong, justice and virtue; and
- Metaphysical philosophy (i.e. logic, from logikós, 'of or pertaining to reason or speech') was the study of existence, causation, God, logic, forms, and other abstract objects (meta ta physika, 'after the Physics').
This division is not obsolete but has changed: natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, especially physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, and cosmology; moral philosophy has birthed the social sciences, while still including value theory (e.g. ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, etc.); and metaphysical philosophy has given way to formal sciences such as logic, mathematics and philosophy of science, while still including epistemology, cosmology, etc.
Philosophical progress
Many philosophical debates that began in ancient times are still debated today. McGinn (1993) and others claim that no philosophical progress has occurred during that interval.[28] Chalmers (2013) and others, by contrast, see progress in philosophy similar to that in science,[29] while Brewer (2011) argued that "progress" is the wrong standard by which to judge philosophical activity.[30]
Historical overview
In one general sense, philosophy is associated with wisdom, intellectual culture, and a search for knowledge. In this sense, all cultures and literate societies ask philosophical questions, such as "how are we to live" and "what is the nature of reality." A broad and impartial conception of philosophy, then, finds a reasoned inquiry into such matters as reality, morality, and life in all world civilizations.[31]
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