Philosophy

From The UCSC Wikipedia Trust Project

Philosophy concerns itself with what is the best way to live (ethics), what sorts of things really exist and what are their true natures (metaphysics), what is to count as genuine knowledge (epistemology), and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic). ^[1]

The word itself is derived from the Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophía: love of wisdom), compounded from φίλος (phílos: friend, or lover) and σοφία (sophía: wisdom). ^{[2] [3]}

Any definition of philosophy will be controversial. This is because the definition of philosophy is itself a philosophical subject. It is generally agreed to be a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions or theories. A majority view is that "As well as being general and abstract, philosophy is rational and rigorous. Its enquiries are, unlike those of astrology, religion, "critical theory", etc., wedded to reason, making no unexamined assumptions, no leaps based purely on analogy, revelation, authority, etc." However, some philosophers have questioned the priority of reason in philosophy. There is also disagreement about the subject matter of philosophy. Some think that philosophy examines the process of enquiry itself. Others, that there are essentially philosophical propositions which it is the task of philosophy to prove. Still others argue that philosophy is continuous with the best practices in every intellectual field. ^[4] The situation is made more complicated because contemporary Western philosophy is divided into continental and analytic traditions.

Although the word "philosophy" originates in the Western tradition, many figures in the history of other cultures have addressed similar topics in similar ways. ^[5] The philosophers of the Far East are discussed in Eastern philosophy, while the philosophers of North Africa and the Near East, because of their strong interactions with Europe, are usually considered part of Western Philosophy.

Contents 1 Western Philosophy 1.1 Main Branches of Western Philosophy 1.2 The Identity of Philosophy 1.3 History of Western philosophy 1.3.1 Greco-Roman philosophy 1.3.2 Medieval philosophy 1.3.3 Modern Western philosophy 2 Eastern philosophy 2.1 Indian philosophy 2.2 Persian philosophy 2.3 Chinese philosophy 3 African philosophy 4 Metaphysics and epistemology (Western Philosophy) 4.1 Skepticism 4.2 Rationalism and empiricism 4.3 Kantian philosophy and the rise of idealism 4.4 American Pragmatism 4.5 The prominence of logic 4.6 Phenomenology and hermeneutics 4.7 Existentialism 4.8 The Analytic tradition 5 Ethics and political philosophy (Western Philosophy) 5.1 Human nature and political legitimacy 5.2 Consequentialism, deontology, and the aretaic turn 6 Applied philosophy 7 References 8 Further reading 8.1 Introductions 8.2 Topical introductions 8.3 Anthologies 8.4 Reference works 8.5 Bibliographies 9 See also 10 External links

Western Philosophy

Main Branches of Western Philosophy

There is no consensus concerning which subjects form the main branches of philosophy. There is wide agreement that philosophy includes the disciplines of metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, and logic. However, while some would place all other subfields of philosophy in one of those categories (e.g., political philosophy may be considered an application of ethics), others disagree. In The Story of Philosophy, Will Durant lists logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and metaphysics as the major divisions of the field. ^[6] There are places where these subjects overlap (as, for example, in metaphysics and epistemology, where reality and our knowledge of reality are sometimes difficult to separate), and there are philosophical ideas that cannot be placed neatly into exactly one of these categories (such as value, which may pertain to ethics, aesthetics, or logic).

Each branch has its own particular questions. Logic asks: How do we distinguish arguments from premises to conclusions as valid or invalid? How can we know that a statement is true or false? What kinds of questions can we answer? Aesthetics asks: What is beauty? What is art? Ethics asks: What are values? Why do people need them? Are values absolute or relative? Is there a difference between morally right and wrong actions, values, or institutions? Which actions are right and which are wrong? What is happiness? Is there a normative value on which all other values depend? Are values 'in' the world (like tables and chairs) and if not, how should we understand their ontological status? Political philosophy asks: How should people interact in society? What is law? What is government? Do people need law and government? What is justice? What is freedom in the political context? What is the nature of production and trade? How do they function within the various forms of government? Metaphysics asks: What is reality? What exists? Do things exist independently of perception? (See Solipsism, the idea that only perception exists.) Epistemology asks: How do we know what we know? What can we know?

Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Mind are particularly popular topics in philosophy today. More and more the study of the history of philosophy is considered an important area of philosophy itself. Outside these broad categories are there other areas of inquiry that could be construed as philosophy.

The Identity of Philosophy

:See also Definitions of philosophy.

What should, and what should not, be counted as philosophy – and who counts as a philosopher – has been heavily debated in the Western tradition. Historically, philosophy has been associated with certain subjects (mentioned above). Still, the search continues for a pattern which unites the disparate philosophical activities and interests of those who study those subjects. A handful of candidate explanations can nevertheless be assembled. ^[7] Several philosophers or philosophical directions have had ideas about what philosophy is and what it should not be.

The very open-minded nature of philosophy makes many people skeptical when it comes to limiting the concept of philosophy to something tangible. Accordingly, metaphilosophical relativists may claim that any statement can be counted as a philosophical statement, as there is no objective way to disqualify it of being so.

Some theorists adopt the stance that any given philosophy is merely a reflection of the way that a person is socially embedded in a certain culture. To put it in Hegel's terms, "Philosophy is that which grasps its own era in thought." ^[8]

Plato, or the protagonist in his dialogues, Socrates, held up a number of virtues for philosophers. One such virtue was the feeling of wonder at the world. ^[9] Amongst other things, Plato rejected that rhetorics had a place in philosophy (most famously in Gorgias). Along similar lines, Berkeley claimed that philosophy was nothing other than the study of wisdom and truth.^[10] And still other virtues can be culled from the literature. Those inspired by Karl Marx's famous critique of philosophers in Theses on Feuerbach have made a virtue of the critical nature of philosophical thought, as a means toward healthy social criticism and praxis.

"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."

Bertrand Russell (quoted by John D. Barrow, Pi in the Sky, 1992, p. 188)

Many views have tried to deflate what goes on in one or another part of philosophy. The logical positivists denied the soundness of metaphysics and traditional philosophy, and affirmed that statements about metaphysics, religion and ethics are devoid of cognitive meaning and thus nothing but expression of feelings or desires. Another example is that of Nietzsche, who argued that philosophers "are not honest enough in their work, although they make a lot of virtuous noise when the problem of truthfulness is touched even remotely. They all pose as if they had discovered and reached their real opinions through the self-development of a cold, pure, divinely unconcerned dialectic...; while at bottom it is an assumption, a hunch, indeed a kind of “inspiration”—most often a desire of the heart that has been filtered and made abstract—that they defend with reasons they have sought after the fact. ^[11] Others, like Francis Bacon, have argued that philosophy contributes nothing, but is merely an echo of nature. ^[12]

Still, positive conceptions of philosophy are not hard to find. What constitutes sound philosophical work is sometimes summed up by the term Philosophical method. Some philosophers have explained that philosophy is the pursuit and demarcation of the limits and powers of human reasoning. Also, it is often agreed upon that arguments should try to follow the rules of logic and avoid fallacies. It has also been argued that the scientific method should be followed as closely as the subject-matter allows. If a branch of philosophy at some point fully can start following the norms of the scientific method, it is no longer termed philosophy, but science. ^{[citation needed]}

Disparaging terms have been created in order to provide examples of non-philosophers and non-philosophy. "Pseudophilosophy" is used to describe those activities which are not associated with a sensible kind of inquiry, and "philosophaster" is a term used to describe those who engage in pseudophilosophy.

History of Western philosophy

Main article: History of Western philosophy

The history of philosophy is often divided into three periods: Ancient philosophy, Medieval philosophy, and Modern philosophy. Some philosophers have argued that human civilization has passed into a new, "post-modern" period. (^{[citation needed]}) Others believe that there is a distinction between "Modern" philosophy and Contemporary philosophy, but there is great disagreement about the content of this difference. (^{[citation needed]}) It is important to note that ancient Greek and Roman philosophers never thought of themselves as "Western" philosophers, and it would be historically inaccurate to claim this. (^{[citation needed]}) Many classical Greek texts were actually preserved in the Middle East, and forgotten and lost in the specific areas of Italy and Greece until the Renaissance. In this way, an alternative understanding of the history of philosophy is in terms of such trans-periodic traditions as Aristotelianism.

Greco-Roman philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy may be divided into the pre-Socratic period, the Socratic period, and the post-Aristotelian period. The pre-Socratic period was characterized by metaphysical speculation, often preserved in the form of grand, sweeping statements, such as "All is fire", or "All changes". Important pre-Socratic philosophers include Pythagoras, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Democritus, Parmenides, and Heraclitus. The Socratic period is named in honor of the most recognizable figure in Western philosophy, Socrates, who, along with his pupil Plato, revolutionized philosophy through the use of the Socratic method, which developed the very general philosophical methods of definition, analysis, and synthesis. While Socrates wrote nothing himself, his influence as a "skeptic" survives through Plato's works. Plato's writings are often considered basic texts in philosophy as they defined the fundamental issues of philosophy for future generations. These issues and others were taken up by Aristotle, who studied at Plato's school, the Academy, and who often disagreed with what Plato had written. The subsequent period ushered in such philosophers as Euclid, Epicurus, Chrysippus, Hipparchia the Cynic, Pyrrho, and Sextus Empiricus.

Medieval philosophy

The medieval period of philosophy came with the collapse of Roman civilization and the dawn of Christianity, Islam, and rabbinic Judaism. The medieval period brought Christian scholastic philosophy, with writers such as Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Robert Grosseteste, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Nicholas of Cusa, and Francisco Suárez. A female Christian philosopher of the period was a student of Abelard named Heloïse. The philosophers in the scholastic Christian tradition and philosophers in the other major Abrahamic religions (such as the Jewish philosophers Saadia Gaon and Maimonides, and the Muslim philosophers Avicenna, Al-Ghazali, and Averroes) were each aware of the others' works. These religious traditions took on questions about the relation of man to God. The philosophy of this period is characterized by analysis of the nature and properties of God; the metaphysics involving substance, essences and accidents (that is, qualities that are respectively essential to substances possessing them or merely happening to be possessed by them), form, and divisibility; and logic and the philosophy of language.

Many of these philosophers took as their starting point the theories of Plato or Aristotle. Others, however, such as Tertullian, rejected Greek philosophy as antithetical to revelation and faith.

Modern Western philosophy

Modern philosophy is said to begin with René Descartes. His work was greatly influenced by questioning from his correspondences with other philosophers. For example, the prodding of Pierre Gassendi and Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia obliged Descartes to try to formulate more cogent replies to the mind-body problem. ^[13]

Medieval philosophy had been concerned primarily with argument from authority, and the analysis of ancient texts using Aristotelian logic. The Renaissance saw an outpouring of new ideas that questioned authority. Roger Bacon (1214–1294?) was one of the first writers to advocate putting authority to the test of experiment and reason. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) challenged conventional ideas about morality. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) wrote in favor of the methods of science in philosophical discovery.

Eastern philosophy

Main article: Eastern philosophy

Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other's works. Eastern and Middle Eastern philosophical traditions have influenced Western philosophers. Russian, Jewish, Islamic and recently Latin American philosophical traditions have contributed to, or been influenced by, Western philosophy, yet each has retained a distinctive identity.

The differences between traditions are often based on their favored historical philosophers, and varying stress on ideas, procedural styles, or written language. The subject matter and dialogues of each can be studied using methods derived from the others, and there are significant commonalities and exchanges between them.

Eastern philosophy refers to the broad traditions that originated or were popular in India, Persia, China, Japan, and to an extent, the Middle East (which overlaps with Western philosophy due to being the origin of the Abrahamic religions and the intellectual commerce between the these societies and the Greeks and Romans).

Indian philosophy

Main article: Indian philosophy

Further information: Hindu philosophy ,  Buddhist philosophy, and Jainism

Hindu philosophy constitutes an integral part of the culture of Southern Asia, and is the first of the Dharmic philosophies which were influential throughout the Far East. The great diversity in thought and practice of Hinduism is nurtured by its liberal universalism.

The origins of Hindu philosophy are to be traced in Vedic deliberations about the universe and Rta ("universal order"), the first of which was the Rig-Veda, composed in the 2nd millennium BC. Other major texts with philosophical implications include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutra, from circa 1000 BCE to 500 BCE.^[14] The Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana also cover Indian philosophy in much depth. At about the same time, the shramana schools, including Jainism and Buddhism, also developed. It is notable that the Vedanta schools of Hindu philosophy are still living traditions today. Hinduism has no known founder or single, authoritative text ^[15].

Hindu philosophy is traditionally seen through the prism of six different systems (called darshanas in Sanskrit). The six major Astika schools of thought are the Samkhya (enumeration), Yoga (union), Nyaya (logic), Vaisheshika (atomism), Mimamsa (investigation), and Vedanta (culmination of the Vedas) schools. The Vedanta school is further divided into six sub-schools: Advaita (monism/nondualism), VisishtAdvaita (monism of the qualified whole), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism-nondualism), Suddhadvaita, and Achintya Bheda Abheda schools.

Buddhist philosophy is a system of beliefs based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, a Nepalese prince later known as the Buddha, derived from the Sanskrit 'bud', 'to awaken'. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, one whose tenets are not especially concerned with the existence or nonexistence of a God or gods. The Buddha himself expressly disavowed any special divine status or inspiration, and said that anyone, anywhere could achieve all the insight that he had. The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, though some sects (notably Tibetan Buddhism) do venerate a number of gods drawn in from local indigenous belief systems.

From its inception, Buddhism has had a strong philosophical component. Buddhism is founded on the rejection of certain orthodox Hindu philosophical concepts, in which the Buddha had been instructed by various teachers. Buddhism rejects atheism, theism, monism, and dualism alike. The Buddha criticized all concepts of metaphysical being and non-being, and this critique is inextricable from the founding of Buddhism.

Most Buddhist sects believe in karma, a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done. Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events. One effect of karma is rebirth. At death, the karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life's existence. The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate karma (both good and bad), end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, and attain Nirvana, usually translated as awakening or enlightenment.

Jaina philosophy, founded by Mahavira (599-527 BCE), is based upon eternal, universal truths, according to its followers. Over a period of time, these truths may lapse among humanity and then reappear through the teachings of enlightened humans, those who have reached enlightenment or total knowledge (Keval Gyan).

Anekantavada is a basic principle of Jainism positing that reality is perceived differently from different points of view, and that no single point of view is completely true. Jain doctrine states that only Kevalis, those who have infinite knowledge, can know the true answer, and that all others would only know a part of the answer. Anekantavada is related to the Western philosophical doctrine of Subjectivism.

Persian philosophy

Main article: Iranian philosophy

Further information: Zoroastrianism and Islamic philosophy

The teachings of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) appeared in Persia at some point during the period between 1000-588 BCE. ^[16] His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism, and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy. Zarathushtra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical terms. ^[16] He is also believed to be one of the oldest monotheists in the history of religion. He espoused an ethical philosophy based on the primacy of good thoughts (humata), good words (hukhata), and good deeds (hvarshatra).

Zarathushtra was known as a sage, magician and miracle-worker in post-Classical Western culture, though almost nothing was known of his ideas until the late eighteenth century. By this time his name was associated with lost ancient wisdom and was appropriated by Freemasons and other groups who claimed access to such knowledge. He appears in Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflöte" under the variant name "Sarastro", who represents moral order in opposition to the "Queen of the Night". Enlightenment writers such as Voltaire promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that it was a form of rational Deism, preferable to Christianity.

In 2005, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy ranked Zarathushtra number two in the chronology of philosophical events. Zarathushtra's impact lingers today due in part to the system of rational ethics he founded called Mazda-Yasna. The word Mazda-Yasna is avestan and is translated as "Worship of Wisdom" in English. The Greeks later used a similar word to the Iranian one – the word "philosophy" in Greek literally means "love of wisdom".