Understanding Philosophy: Origins, Questions, and Branches
Understanding Philosophy
Philosophy is an activity that involves thinking and reasoning about concepts and philosophers’ ideas. Philosophers analyze and reflect on issues such as knowledge, truth, and justice.
The Origin of Philosophy
The word “philosophy” comes from Greek and means “love of wisdom.” Philosophy is an attitude that starts from a recognition of ignorance.
Aristotle argues that the philosophical attitude stems from the admiration of the world around us. The recognition of ignorance is what leads us to question things, and ultimately seek true knowledge.
Key Questions in Philosophy
Philosophy can be broadly divided into two groups. The first, theoretical philosophy, focuses on reality and the knowledge of the world. The second, practical philosophy, focuses on human action and moral behavior. These two branches of philosophy summarize the fundamental problems that have prompted humans since the beginning of philosophy. They represent two paths that explore the same reality: the human being in its two dimensions of thought and action.
The Mythic Story
A myth is a narrative starring extraordinary beings that explains the creation of some element of nature. Myths originated from the surprise produced by natural phenomena whose causes were unknown. These imaginative and fantastic stories were born out of curiosity and fear of nature.
Literal Sense (of Myth)
When myths are taken as true and valid explanations of reality. In societies where myths are still alive, they provide role models and create links to unite members of the tribe, allowing them to be distinguished from others.
Allegorical Sense (of Myth)
The majority of myths also have a metaphorical or allegorical meaning. In this case, the myth is viewed as a literary work. Myths are no longer accepted as true, but they are interpreted.
The Scientific Explanation
Like myths, scientific explanations are responses arising from nature. Any phenomenon of nature can become a scientific question. But unlike myths, science attempts to describe the real reasons that cause these phenomena. The scientific questions are specific and are aimed at solving a problem of nature.
Scientific progress is based on the application of the hypothetical-deductive method, which consists of the following steps:
- Determining the problem you want solved.
- Forming a hypothesis to explain the causes of this phenomenon.
- Designing experiments to contrast this hypothesis and determine if it is correct.
- In case of need, if the hypothesis is not correct, reject it and propose a new alternative.
If a hypothesis cannot be derived from experiments, it is not a scientific hypothesis.
Today, science is highly specialized and uses a language based on very specific concepts, and also uses the language of mathematics in sciences like physics and biology.
Branches of Philosophy
- Epistemology: Deals with the possibility, origin, and limits of knowledge.
- Logic: Is the part of philosophy that studies valid reasoning.
- Metaphysics: The reflection of all that exists and also the more general discipline. General metaphysics is also known as ontology.
- Aesthetics: Deals with the problem of art and tries to answer the question of what beauty is.
- Ethics: Deals with individual behavior.
- Political philosophy: Is about community, what is the best way to live, and the state organization.