Branches of Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Branches of ism EssayIn gear up to narrow the aims of discussion philosophy was broken into branches. Traditionally philosophy has been broken into four main branches save we would like to add a fifth branch in our text -Epistemology Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and boy (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the spirit, origin, and scope of knowledge and love. -Metaphysics Metaphysics (derived from the Greek words ta meta ta physika biblia) cerebrateing the word of honor that follows the physics book. It was the way students referred to a specific book in the work of Aristotle, and it was a book on First Philosophy. (The assumption that the word means beyond physics is misleading) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the discover of first principles and being (ontology). In other words, Metaphysics is the force field of the most general aspects of reality, such as substance, identity, the nature of the min d, and free will. In other way is a study of nature and the nature of the world in which man lives -Logic Logic (from guilelessal Greek (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, except coming to mean thought or reason) is most often express to be the study of arguments, although the exact definition of logical system is a matter of controversy amongst philosophers (see below). However the subject is grounded, the task of the logician is the aforementioned(prenominal) to advance an accounting of valid and fallacious inference to allow one to distinguish favourable from bad arguments. -Ethics Ethics is a general term for what is often described as the science (study) of morality. In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is good or right. The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy. Other Branches Philosophy of Education somewhat self-explanatory. A minor branch, mainly concerned with what is the correct way to educate a person. Class ic works include Platos Republic, Lockes Thoughts Concerning Education, and Rousseaus Emile. Philosophy of HistoryFairly minor branch (not as minor as education), although super important to Hegel and those who followed him, most notably Marx. It is the philosophical study of history, particularly concerned with the question whether history (i. e.the human race and/or humankind) is progressing towards a specific end? Hegel argued that it was, as did Marx.Classic works include Vicos New Science, and Hegel and Marxs works. Philosophy of Language Ancient branch of philosophy which gained prominence in the last century under Wittgenstein. basically concerned with how our languages affect our thought. Wittgenstein famously asserted that the limits of our languages mark the limits of our thought. Classic works include Platos Cratylus, Lockes Essay, and Wittgensteins Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Philosophy of righteousness also called Jurisprudence.Study of law attempting to discer n what the best laws might be, how laws came into being in the first place, attempting to demarcate human laws from natural laws, whether we should always obey the law, and so on. Law isnt often directly dealt with by philosophers, but much of political philosophy obviously has a bearing on it. Philosophy of Mathematics concerned with issues such as, the nature of the axioms and symbols (numbers, triangle, operands) of mathematics that we use to understand the world, do perfect mathematical forms exist in the real world, and so on.Principia Mathematica is almost certainly the most important work in this field. Philosophy of take heed Study of the mind, attempting to ascertain exactly what the mind is, how it interacts with our body, do other minds exist, how does it work, and so on. Probably the most pop branch of philosophy right now, it has expanded to include issues of AI. Classic works include Platos Republic and Wittgensteins philosophic Investigations, although any major philosopher has had some opinion at least on what the mind is and how it works. Philosophy of governance Closely related to ethics, this is a study of government and nations, particularlyhow they came round, what makes good governments, what obligations citizens have towards their government, and so on. Classic works include Platos Republic, Hobbes Leviathan, Lockes Two Treatises, and J. S. Mills On Liberty. Philosophy of Religion Theology is concerned with the study of God, recommending the best religious practises, how our religion should shape our life, and so on. Philosophy of religion is concerned with much the same issues, but where Theology uses religious works, like the Bible, as its authority, philosophy likes to use reason as the crowning(prenominal) authority.Philosophy of Science Study of science concerned with whether scientific knowledge can be said to be certain, how we obtain it, can science really explain everything, does causation really exist, can every event in the universe be described in terms of physics and so on. Also popular in recent times, classic works include Humes Treatise on Human Nature, Kripkes Naming and Necessity, Kuhns organize of Scientific Revolutions. Empiricism is a philosophical idea based on the idea that all current knowledge about the world is gained in the process of experience.Famous empiricists were Hume, Locke and Berkley, basing themselves on ideas already postulated by Aristotle, that we argon born with the Tabula Rasa which receives throughout our lives information on which it can base all thinking and knowing. The movement of sensualism was in part a countermovement to what Descartes and Spinoza had proposed as rationalism. Knowledge derived from experience is called a posteriori. - Doing Philosophy galore(postnominal) fields can be studied and learned without ever actually working with the tools in the field.For instance, chemical science can be learned in depth without ever picking up a seek tube o r mixing ionic compounds. Philosophy, however, is more about the methodology behind deriving answers than it is about the answers themselves. As such, students studying philosophy must use the methodology of philosophy on the philosophy they are learning as they are learning it. Doing philosophy involves asking the right questions, critically examining the work of preliminary philosophers, truly understanding the works and the reasoning behind the works, and possibly building on the works of previous philosophers by expanding or testing this methodology.