Philosophy
Philosophy (literally 'love of wisdom', from the Ancient Greek word φιλοσοφία (philosophía), which comes from φίλος (phílos) and σοφία (sophía), meaning friend/lover and wisdom respectively) is an academic discipline concerned with the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action, and reality. Philosophy progresses according to various methods of rational inquiry.
Philosophy is accurately described as both the first science and the "Queen of the Sciences". Until the late 19th century, what is now called "science" was subsumed under Natural Philosophy.
Philosophy in the West has its origins in Ancient Greece, ca. 600 B.C. After the fall of the Roman Empire, much of Greek philosophy was lost to the West, preserved only in the Arab world until the time of the Crusades and the Moorish conquest of Spain. Contact with Arab philosophers (especially al-Ghazali, who developed a version of the Cosmological argument, ibn Rushd, and ibn Sina) kick-started the largely dormant philosophical tradition in Europe, beginning the "Academic period", which ended with Descartes and the beginning of the Enlightenment. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a major split between Analytic philosophy (or Anglophone philosophy) and Continental philosophy. This divide can be traced back to the late 19th century and a split in focus between Gottlob Frege and the intellectual descendants of Friedrich Hegel.
The main branches of philosophy are Metaphysics, which is (broadly speaking) the study of what-is; Ethics, the study of correct action; Logic, the rules (both formal and informal) of reason; Epistemology, the study of knowledge, and Aesthetics, the study of the nature of beauty and the artistic criteria of judgment. Notable sub-branches include Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of language, Philosophy of Religion, Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of mind.
Branches of Analytic Philosophy
Broadly speaking, there are a number of topics one would expect to fall under the title Philosophy:
- Logic: The analysis of terms, propositions and the principles of reasoning
- Metaphysics: The analysis of concepts which transcend physical science, including the Philosophy of mind.
- Epistemology: The analysis of the nature of knowledge, how we know, and what we can and cannot know.
- Ethics: The analysis of the nature of morality and morals, how and why we determine right from wrong.
- Political Philosophy: The analysis of the nature of the human public sphere, which one may consider the ethics of the way society is arranged.
- Philosophy of Science: The analysis of scientific concepts and methodology, which concerns itself mostly with the foundations of science, and interdisciplinary areas.
- Aesthetics: The analysis of the nature and experience of art and beauty.
History of Philosophy
Conventionally the History of Western Philosophy is divided into four eras: Ancient, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary.
The Ancient era starts with the Presocratic philosophers and goes until the fall of the Roman empire; The Medieval goes until the end of the Middle Ages; The Modern up to the 20th century, and The Contemporary up to present.
Greek Philosophy
Philosophy in the West begins with Thales of Miletus, who was the first astronomer in recorded history to accurately predict a solar eclipse. The Milesian School founded by Thales included Anaxagoras, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Closely related is the work of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Around the time of Heraclitus, Parmenides of Elea, with his pupil Zeno, raised some serious objections to the project of Milesian philosophy. These objections laid the groundwork for Socrates and his pupil Plato, as well as the Atomists, Democritus and Leucippus.
The Twentieth Century
This century has offered a wide diversity of orientations. The best known are the French school of Existentialism, the German study of Phenomenology, the Positivists of the Vienna Circle, and the post-Positivist Analytic movement.
Existentialists
Henri Bergsson(1859 – 1941) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980) are probably the best-known examples of this school.
Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
Edmund Husserl (1859 – 1938) founder of phenomenology, Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976), and Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) are the core writers here.
Positivists
The Vienna Circle philosophers, most notably Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Herbert Feigl, Kurt Godel, and Otto Neurath were the first positivists, but this tradition, unlike Existentialism and Phenomenology is no longer an active research program.
Others
The Frankfurt School , a group of researchers associated with the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute of Social Research), founded in 1923 as an autonomous division of the University of Frankfurt; Structuralism, theory that uses culturally interconnected signs to reconstruct systems of relationships rather than studying isolated, material things in themselves. [1]
American Philosophy
Some scholars have said that American philosophers’ focus on the interconnections of theory and practice, on experience and community, but different concerns and themes have waxed or waned at different times. Through the middle of the 20th century, at least, American philosophers were actively engaged in shaping and reflecting the development of American culture.[2]
Pragmatism
Main figures are: Charles Peirce (1839-1914), William James (1842-1910), John Dewey (1859-1952), and Richard Rorty (1931-2007).
Philosophy of Religion
The best-known American philosopher of religion is without a doubt Alvin Plantinga (1932- ) at the University of Notre Dame; also well-known are John Hick (1922- ), who, though born in England, did much of his work at Claremont University in southern California, and William Alston (1921- ).
Analytic Philosophers
America has produced a great many philosophers in the Analytic tradition. A brief list of notables:
- W.V.O. Quine
- Saul Kripke
- Kit Fine
- Ted Sider
- Robert Stalnaker
- Daniel Dennett
- John Searle
- Richard Montague
- Paul Grice
Especially well-known to non-philosophers is John Rawls (1921 - 2002) (political and moral philosophy) author of A Theory of Justice (1971), Political Liberalism (1993), The Law of Peoples (1999), and Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001).
See also
External links
- History of Philosophy
- History of Philosophy - Resources
- A History of American Philosophy Book by Herbert W. Schneider.