PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY
1. Philosophy is a set of views or beliefs about life and the
universe, which are often held uncritically.
Metaphysics comes from the two Greek words meta, which means
“beyond” or “after” and physika, “physical” or “nature”. Hence,
etymologically speaking, metaphysics means the study of things
beyond the physical, that is, concepts or things that cannot be
experienced, such as the concepts of God, freedom, and soul.
Ontology is derived from the two Greek words onto, which means
“being” or “that which is”, that is, everything that exists; and
logos, which means “knowledge” or “study”. (Note, however, that
the term logos in ancient Greek scholarship have different
connotations. For example, Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of the
late 6th century BCE, understands Logos as reason or the
underlying principle of all that is.) Ontology, therefore, is the
specific branch of philosophy that studies beings in their ultimate
causes, reasons, and principles through the aid of reason alone. In
other words, Ontology studies the first principles or the essence of
all things.
What is being?
Is there nothing?
Cosmology, from the Ancient Greek words kosmos, which means the
“world” and logos, meaning “study”, is the specific sub-branch of
philosophy that studies the world (or universe), including its origin,
dynamics, and characteristics, as well as the laws that govern its
order.
Psychology comes from the two Greek words psyche, which means
“soul” (but loosely understood as mind) and logos, study. Thus,
psychology is the specific sub-branch of philosophy that studies the
soul or mind. Broadly construed, though, psychology is the study of
the nature and dynamics of the human person as a whole, with
emphasis on the way the person’s mind functions and the way she
behaves.
Is there God?
What is knowledge?
What do we know?
Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which originally means
custom or habit. Broadly construed, ethics is the morality of
human actions. Ethics, therefore, is concerned with questions of
how human persons ought to act, and the search for a definition
of a right conduct and the good life.
It is important to note that ethics is not the same with morality.
This is because ethics denotes the theory of right action and the
greater good, while morality indicates practice, that is, the
rightness or wrongness of a human action.