On this board so often I have seen topics take horrible turns such as “What is your favourite way to kill yourself” and such that I simply do not think have anything to do with philosophy. Equally debated has been, “what is philosophy” this topic will attempt to uncover what that is.
Philosophy is not a person’s opinion. Going back to Aristotle and Plato both were willing to admit this much. Plato and Aristotle both differentiated between “doxa” and “episteme.” Doxa are those things that are opinionated such as qualitative items like beauty. Episteme fall into an exact category of “knowledge.” Episteme means that there is only one right answer for each problem.
So thus far philosophy is episteme, or knowledge. This is to say that episteme is philosophy is necessarily true, for there is another break that much form. It occured roughly in the 1600s. Rene Descartes believed that all philosophy could be described in exact answers with inductive (particulars to universals) logic. They both developed what has further developed into the scientific method (they being both Descartes and earlier Sir Francis Bacon).
What they were describing though was not philosophy. What they did was create a distinction between two things, philosophy that can be solved inductively and philosophy that can be resolved deductively. For one we call it “science” and for the other we call it “philosophy.”
Throughout studies these two fields will clash together because there are things people think is philosophy but is actually science and vice-versa. One for example cannot say that science can determine ethics. Ethics is a non-naturalistic concept while gravity is naturalistic.
Therefore science is dedicated to absolving all of the physical things in our world (contradiction: political science). Sciences analyze facts and contribute them to a concept.
English philosophers like Bertrand Russell, G.E. Mooore and to a lesser extent Austria-Hungarian Ludwig Wittgenstein all believed philosophy went beyond this classical dichotomy. They felt that philosophy was the study of concepts and their validity. The job of philosophy on their account was to clean up the language we use by analysis of concepts. This is not science. This is not taking particulars and forming a universal. Merely what philosophy for them is taking our current language with its concepts and analyzing what we mean by things.
American high school teacher John Dewey started this revolution with his “Popular Science” article “How to make our ideas clearer.” What we are attempting to do here is create yet another division in what philosophy is. Philosophy is not simply the study of non-naturalistic concepts. Philosophy is a method of how we confirm all concepts. Mathematical ones are self-evident (A=A).
Philosophy is not interested in finding tautologies though. Not everything can be A=A, philosophy needs to find meaningful things. Like if I was to say “esse is episteme” which means “what is, is knowledge.” This is not meaningful because when broken into a mathematical form it simply states (what is knowledge)=(what is knowledge)
So for these analytic philosophers what we need to do is analyze concepts such as these and correct them. Philosophy is not looking for new ideas and new concepts, this is the job of science. Philosophy’s purpose is to clean up our language so that people do not think esse is episteme is true. Philosophy is not looking to find what is true, that is science. Philosophy is a method of confirming what is true from what is not true.
This is where modern philosophy leads off. While Heiddegar attempted to show philosophy as a study of metaphysical elements, the conceptual analysis has prevailed as what philosophy is.
Philosophy requires logical functions and method. Philosophy does not mean a person’s underlying dogmas. If a dogmas is proven to have an unresolvable contradiction then it is not necessarily false, but it is meaningless. Take for example if I was to say nothing exists. That in itself forms a contradiction. This contradiction does not mean that it is not true nor false, it means that it has no meaning. Meaning in this sense is to say that it has no reference or sign.
This IS what philosophy is. If you wish to crtique on this and try to resolve your dogmas on what you think philosophy is, you are willing to try and challenge mine.
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Comprehensive Understanding33% Voted for by d-w-r, nansie, Jackymania, shan700.
Philosophy is the method by which we attempt to understand reality. Philosophy may utilize the findings of science, the conclusions of logic, the creativity of artists, the declarations of religion, even the everyday experiences we each experience. Philosophy may build a meaning towards an end, or tear apart an end to find the meaning. Regardless of method, material incorporated, or direction taken, philosophy is the human attempt at understanding existence.
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To me..16% Voted for by WintersRemorse, Jackymania.
Philosophy is understanding through reason of the mind. Also, I agree that philosophy is not an opinion. However, philosophy is not proven fact either, so what does that make it? Does that just make philosophy a grey area in between fact and opinion?
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Philosophy Is16% Voted for by wbiro, 5th position Gb.
A non-scientific approach to our existence. A lot of fun. Usually occurs when there is a dull chore to avoid, or when life is passing one by.
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Logical deconstructionVoted for by ennoia.
Philosophy is the deconstruction, through logic, of the popular fallacies that occupy apparent reality.
Philosophy is a logical program run by the human faculties of reasoning and judgement, to explain, clarify and justify fact, to obtain knowledge, and to realise universal truths that exist indipendent of subjectivism.
Religion says "Because it is. Period."
Science says "Because we have observed this to be the case true for matter and energy, thus proven it."
Art says "Because man envisages it so"
Philosophy says "Why not/why so?" and indipendent of empiricism, deconstructs un-truths until the answer is obtained through logic.
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Philosophy only confuses....Voted for by butterman.
It is an irony that the more you found “knowledge”, the more you find gaps to fill.. it’s a never ending cycle. i should say Philosophy is nothing special. it’s just a mind game. True philosophy is one which can bring you tranquility, peace of mind, and nothingness. we are not living in a linear world nor can logic saves to explain lifes misery/mystery, only by dropping philosophy that the real search will begin…
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PHILOSOPHY A WAY LIFE.Voted for by a woman to love.
MY DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY IS THAT IT IS A WAY OF LIFE. IT IS VEHICLE THAT IS USED TO MAKE CHOICES ON HOW TO DEAL WITH ISSUES AND PROBLEMS THAT INVOLVES US IN DAY TO DAY LIFE. IT IS A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE THAT HELPS US TO SEARCH THE TRUTH ,DAREFORE GROUNDING US IN REALITY. IT IS NOT A MATTER OF OPINION, I WOULD SAY IT IS MORE OF AN IDEA , COGNITIVE REASONING IMPLEMENTED FOR THE GREATER GOOD.
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PhilosophyVoted for by Arzab.
I think to get to the truth of life we need to combine philosophy with quantum physics and metaphysics.
Also would like to mention my fave philosophers are: Plato, Aristotle and Socrates. I think they had interesting and intriguing ideas about life and were very wise and quite ahead of their time as far as ideas about how life is.
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August 15, 2006
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Philosophy
Philosophy is the ability to reason with your own and others intellect, on matters relating to the past and future with creation and knowledge in mind.Jackymania
February 5, 2007
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Philosophy 2o!!
Philosophy.... is basically the pursuit of knowledge, (according to me). I agree with dwr. s/he has put it very correctly. In addition I suggest the following frame's. Unlike science it is more to do with people, society and the individual; describing their behaviour, mind-sets, finding their causes; finding new concepts and ideas with purpose of leading the individual and the masses to whom it is addressed, out of a paradigm into a new vista of thought. Thus the creation or re-creation of a new hope is what motivates a Philosopher.Science is merely an outcome of philosophy (i say).
What the topic-initiator claimed is true....but in so many words and with such aggression as if s/he was practising tennis on his/her backyard wall. Was it necessary to grunt so much, when practising with yourself.
If one can pick up the dictionary( Oxford's Advanced Learner's)... It says in precise and concise manner...that Philosophy can be differentiated by 'moral philosophy' and 'natural philosophy'...
So if a conflict is proposed betweem Science and Philosophy, i am sorry to say there exists none between the two.
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