PHILOSOPHY

The aim of this site is to provide a growing resource to inform and engage interest in philosophy

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Understanding Philosophy (  Greek derivation meaning the love of wisdom)

Insights from Philosophy provide an excellent basis and structured approach for personal development

The discipline of philosophy has traditionally been broken into five main branches or areas of study:

1.Metaphysics (or ontology) is the study of reality. Some of the questions that Metaphysics deals with are: (1) What is ultimate reality? (2) Is it one thing or is it many different things? (3) Can reality be grasped by the senses or is it transcendent? (3) What is the mind and what is its relation to the body?

2. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Among the questions that Epistemology deals with are: (1) What is knowledge? (2) Is knowledge acquired exclusively through the senses or by some other means? (3) How do we know that what we perceive through our senses is correct?

3. Ethics is the study of right and wrong in human action. Some of the questions treated by the field of Ethics are: (1) What is right? (2) Are there any objective standards of right and wrong? (3) Are moral values absolute or relative?

4.Aesthetics is the study of beauty. Among the questions Aesthetics deals with are: (1) What makes a thing beautiful? (2) Are there any objective standards of beauty?

5. Logic is the study of the principles of right reasoning. Logic is the basic tool that philosophers use to investigate reality. Among the questions raised by Logic are: (1) What makes an argument valid or invalid (2) What is a sound argument?

These are the main branches of philosophy. Throughout its history, however, the discipline of philosophy has also been used as a tool to investigate other domains of life. For example:

• philosophy of God
• philosophy of religion
• political philosophy
• social philosophy
• philosophy of science
• philosophy of law