philosophers disagree about the extent of philosophy, but not about the divisions/area within
Ethics
best known area of philosophy
answers questions relating to obligation and right action
partly analytic/meta-ethical
meta-ethics: a field of ethics that defines certain key terms found in ethical statements centered around praise or blame for actions. Examples of terms are “good,” “wrong,” “right,” “responsible,” “ought,” and “should.”
some believe it’s a normative inquiry
theories recommend/appraise/justify certain actions
ethicists find actions that ought to be encouraged
moral/ethical relativism: a view that believes ethical rules are situation- or culture-dependent, not universal
emotivism: a view that states that statements of moral principle only express one’s own personal feelings
Social and Political Philosophy
actions concerning a group or society
centers around society’s goals and the state’s role in achieving them
authority, power, justice, and individual rights are some of the concepts reflected on
example questions
Who should govern society?
Are freedom and organization compatible?
What is democracy, and is it a justifiable form of government?
Aesthetics
essential to axiology (value theory)
does touch on ethical and/or social/political issues
analyzes ideas like beauty, taste, and art
one of the most interesting divisions
example questions
What makes a good poem?
What defines a beautiful painting?
How are interpretation and evaluation distinguished?
Logic
arguably the most fundamental division of philosophy
determines the laws of thought and argument
usually begins with identifying informal fallacies
argumentum ad hominem: using one’s authority, or lack of, instead of evidence to prove a point
mostly concerned with deductive and inductive arguments
deductive logic: major premise → minor premise → conclusions
Aristotle was the first to define rules for validating arguments of deductive syllogisms
modified into symbolic logic by Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russel, and Alfred North Whitehead
inductive logic:
defined by Francis Bacon and John Stuart Mill
the 20th century has been the century of logic
there are at least 3 types
modal logic: deals with impossibility, contingency, and necessity
impossibility: a statement is always false
necessity: a statement is always true
contingency: a proposition is true at least once
deontic logic: attempts to formalize the use of the word “ought” in moral contexts
doxastic logic: consists of “I think,” “I believe,” “he thinks,” or “he believes” statements
Philosophy of Religion
analyzes and evaluates different religions to discover what goes into it and whether it’s true
subjects
what makes this religion different from all the others?
God’s existence (ontological, cosmological, idealogical, and moral arguments)
the attributes of God
is divine omniscience compatible with voluntary human action?
does God’s immortality mean that He exists outside of time, or does He exist in it?
does God’s omnipotence mean that He can invent a task that’s too difficult for Him?
religious language
History of Philosophy
shows how ideas led to certain thought patterns, or philosophies, and how those philosophies affected societies and institutions
examination of the creation and development of schools of thought
examples
Did Rene Descartes’ time praise reason and criticize experience?
Has his discussions been important to the development of contemporary philosophy?
Philosophy of History
critical reflection about the discipline of history
includes analytic and speculative elements
addresses problems in history
examples
does the historian have a unique method, or does he use the scientific method?
what’s the goal of the writings, prediction or understanding?
are historical statements the same as scientific ones in context?
is history linear or cyclical?
does a “universal history” exist?
Philosophy of Science
the critical examination and evaluation of key scientific concepts and methodology
it doesn’t include much observation or experimentation
been called a second-order discipline
examples
how should scientific theories be constructed and evaluated?
what justification and criteria are necessary for scientific theories?
what is the structure of scientific explanation?
Philosophy of …
regard philosophical inquiry
also include philosophy of law, mathematics, education, etc.
Epistemology
the investigation of the origin and nature of knowledge
one of the principle divisions
examples
how do we know something?
when is a claim to know justified?
is absolute knowledge about anything possible?
are our senses reliable in a physical world?
not questions of psychology or natural science
Metaphysics
Greek, meaning “after physics”
Andronicus of Rhodes created the term as the name for the nameless books in the collection featuring Aristotle’s Physics that featured Aristotle’s problems after physics
the study of being or reality
looks at the qualities and relations of reality, while epistemology examines the possibility and conditions of knowledge itself
examples
what defines reality?
what does space and time consist of?
does every event need a cause?
do universals exist? what are they?
is there something that’s always constant?
logical positivists have argued that metaphysics is pseudoscience, thus nonsense and meaningless
today, it’s more limited and modest
Philosophy of Mind
originally part of metaphysics
examples
is there a level of reality that’s mental?
what distinguishes this “mental” reality?
is consciousness just a brain state?
how do the body and mind relate to each other?
are machines like men?
can AI ever function like the human mind?
Action Theory
examples
what’s an act?
how does it relate to an agent?
what is the connection between act and desire?
Suggested Readings
On the Methods and Divisions of Philosophy by Thomas Aquinas
Categories by Aristotle
“The Elimination of All Future Metaphysics by A. J. Ayer