Branches or Areas of Philosophy

Branches or Areas of Philosophy 

(1) METAPHYSICS 

The word metaphysics is derived from the Greek word meta (above, beyond) and phusika (nature) and means "beyond nature". 

For Aristotle, the term metaphysics meant “first philosophy,” discussion of the most universal principles; later the term came to mean comprehensive thinking about the nature of things. 

Metaphysics attempts to offer a comprehensive view of all that exists. It is concerned with such problems as the relation of mind to matter, the nature of change, the meaning of “freedom,” the existence of God, and the belief in personal immortality. 

Metaphysics as a branch of philosophy is divided into sup-branches; 

1- Ontology is the study of being in general. 

2- Philosophical cosmology is the study of cosmos. 

3- Philosophical theology is the study of God. 

4- Philosophical anthropology is the study of human nature and human existence. 

(2) Axiology 

The word axiology is derived from the Greek words axiom (value) and logia (study) and means "the study of value ". 

Axiology is the philosophical investigation of the nature of value(s) and of the foundations of value judgments. 

Axiology as a branch of philosophy is divided into sup-branches; 

1- Ethics and it concerns itself with the questions of morality. What is right and what is wrong in human relations? What are the basic standards of morality? What is the nature of moral virtue? 

2- Aesthetics and it concerns itself with the questions of art and beauty. The following questions reflect the concerns of aesthetics: what is beauty? What is art? Can we distinguish between art and non-art? What are the standards of aesthetic judgment? 

3- Social and political philosophy investigates value judgments concerning society, the state, and the individual’s relation to these institutions. The following questions reflect the concerns of social and political philosophy: Why should individuals live in society? What social ideals of liberty, rights, justice, equality and responsibility are desirable? Why should anyone obey any government? 

(3) EPISTEMOLOGY 

In general, epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies the sources, nature, and validity of knowledge. What is the human mind Capable of knowing? From what sources do we gain our knowledge? Do we have any genuine knowledge on which we can depend, or must we be satisfied with opinions and guesses? Are we limited to knowing the bare facts of sense experience, or are we able to go beyond what the senses reveal? The technical term for the theory of knowledge is epistemology, which comes from the Greek word episteme, meaning “knowledge.” There are three central questions in this field: 

1- What are the sources of knowledge? Where does genuine knowledge come from or how do we know? This is the question of origins. 

2- What is the nature of knowledge? Is there a real world outside the mind, and if so can we know it? This is the question of appearance versus reality. 

3- Is our knowledge valid? How do we distinguish truth from falsity? This is the question of the tests of truth, of verification. 

(4) LOGIC 

The word logic is derived from the Greek word logos and means “reason" ". Logic is the study concerned, first, with arguments: 

What is an argument? 

What makes an argument work? 

What makes an argument fail? 

Second, logic is concerned with the laws of logic in accordance with which good arguments must precede, e.g. the law of identity, that of non-contradiction, and that of excluded middle. 

Most influential in logical inquiry as pursued in the western world have been the logical treatises of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 bce), whose collection is called Organon, which, in Greek, means “instrument”.

Philosophy and Suicide

Philosophy and Suicide

Suicide has always been one of the most important philosophical problems through the history of philosophy. The ethical debates about the permissibility of suicide have its own history, beginning with the Ancient Greece to our own age. 

The Pythagoreans thought that suicide is disrespect to the gods and therefore they rejected it. Like them, Plato opposed suicide and discussed the issue in The Phaedo. For him, we are properties of Gods and that’s why, we have no right to kill ourselves against their will.

After Plato, Aristotle opposed suicide since it was “contrary to the rule of life” for him, suicide was an offense against the state and an act of social irresponsibility because the city was thus weakened since, while you destroy yourself, you also destroy a useful citizen.

With the decline of the power of Greece and with changing values, and with the rise of individualism, the meaning of suicide also changed. It became an approved act as the right of each person to decide whether he should continue to live or not.

During this period, the philosophies of both Stoics and Epicureans, though through different reasons, approved suicide. Epicureans thought that after the pleasures of life were abated, there was no reason to continue living. Epicurus warned men that they should weigh carefully whether they would prefer death to come to them, or would themselves go to death.

The philosophy of Stoics, by disregarding the material values and emotions, taught that death was more worthy than living. Stoic philosopher Epictetus thinks that since what a person can endure in this life differs, when things get too intolerable, that person may wish for death and in that condition suicide is permissible. Stoicism taught that suicide is a natural way of ending life which is intolerable, that’s why, committing suicide under such conditions are accepted as an honorable and a brave act. 

During the middle ages, The Christians and The Muslims regarded suicide as a sin of the first degree;

For Muslims, they have always strongly condemned suicide. The QUR’AN, holy scriptures of Islam, expressly forbids suicide as the gravest sin, a more serious crime, in fact, than homicide. Muslims believe that each individual has his or her Kismet, or destiny, which is preordained by God and must not be defied.

For Christians, St. Augustine opposed suicide strictly and declared that it is the worst of all sins. He, too, thought that life is the gift of God and our sufferings are the will of Providence, rejecting life and shortening the decided time of suffering is a violation against God; it is not accepting the divine will. Also, believed in that God definitely forbids suicide with the commandment “not kill”. Committing suicide violates this commandment. Because, this commandment not only prohibited killing others, but it also grasped denying of oneself.

After him, Thomas Aquinas developed his anti-suicide arguments. In The Summa Theologica, Aquinas gives three arguments against suicide. For him, every sin is a sin against God, self or the neighbor; and suicide is a sin against three of them at the same time.

First, suicide is a sin against self because it is unnatural. His second argument against suicide is that it is a sin against your neighbor. It is a utilitarian type argument. Suicide is not justified because of the social harm that is done: it is an offense against community. That’s why, it is also against justice. The third argument is a theological one as suicide is a sin against God. Suicide is a sin because it is like stealing from God. Our lives are the properties of God and we are merely trustees of that property.

This attitude towards suicide has continued for centuries until the Renaissance. During this period, with the upheaval of the static social organization of the Middle Ages, philosophers could discuss the issue in a relatively free sphere. By the rising importance of freedom and individualism during Renaissance, some philosophers could even advocate the right to suicide.

In his essay “On Suicide”, David Hume took up the Aquinas’ argument “Every sin is against self, God or Neighbor,” and discussed whether suicide is a crime through these three cases. Hume followed these arguments against suicide and by refuting them one by one; he demonstrated that suicide is not a violation of our duties against God, society and oneself. He says that: “If suicide be criminal, it must be a transgression of our duty, either to God, our neighbor, or our selves”. Since it is not, suicide can be neither crime nor sin. 

He is also opposed to St. Augustine in that the commandment ‘not kill’ bans only killing others, and, there are no statements about the prohibition of suicide in the Bible. For him, under some conditions, human beings have the right to kill themselves. 

Like Hume, Schopenhauer considered the problem in a different manner: he regarded suicide as a personal right. In his view, a person who commits suicide doesn’t intend to rebel against God or violate something, but he only prefers death because the terrors of life outweigh the terrors of death.

The importance of Hume’s essay is that it shows the permissibility or impermissibility of suicide is not completely a matter of theology.

Unlike Hume, Kant provided an original anti-suicide argument. He opposed it in the name of freedom and autonomy. In his view, individual autonomy is the most important value and suicide is wrong because it is the loss of freedom.

In1895, William James the American Philosopher Psychologist, provided another anti-suicide argument. He delivered a now-famous address to the Harvard YMCA and spoke of what he called “the nightmare view of life.” entitled “Is life worth living?” James’s lecture was a classic example of positive thinking. He answered the title question with a resounding “Yes,” and told his audience: “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help to create the fact.”

Today, the moral permissibility of suicide is accepted as an important applied ethical issue. It generally focuses on the problems of permissibility of suicide and of suicide intervention. Moreover, the discussions about morality of suicide has value since it gives new perspectives to the more contemporary and essential subjects like euthanasia and suicide bombers.

Euthanasia and suicide bombers are the most important issues of ethics under today’s conditions although their meanings are unrelated. While euthanasia is committed for merciful reasons, the latter is committed for destruction in the name of faith; still, both of them are voluntary acts to die. 

These issues need to be discussed by philosophers so that an ethical ground for them can be constructed. That’s why; studying the history of philosophical discussions about voluntary death will be beneficial for further discussions.

The Relation between Philosophy and Science

The Relation between Philosophy and Science

Science and philosophy originally arose together and that the special sciences only gradually split off from philosophy as human knowledge increased. Consequently, philosophy is rightly named "The Mother of the Sciences." 

Science is derived from Latin word Scienta which means knowledge. Science is the study of nature and behaviours of the materials and physical universe which is based on the observation, experiment also measurement and the formulation of laws of describe these facts in a generals terms. Scientists themselves have coined the historical accounts of their disciplines. By the early seventeenth century, histories of physics, chemistry, geology, anatomy and various emerging disciplines were appearing frequency. Many scientists of all over the world proved that science is socially beneficial and is reliable.

Aspects of agreement between philosophy and science

1-Philosophy and science are both try to explain situation and find answers.

2-Philosophy and science are both did not succeed in reaching an absolute theory about man or universe.

Aspects of difference between philosophy and science

1-Science is concerned with the natural phenomena while philosophy attempts to understand the nature of man, existence and the relationship that exists between the two concepts.

2-Philosophy is based on reason. Its methods use logical argumentation. Science, by contrast, its methods use observation, experiment and empirical data.

3-Science is objective while philosophy is subjective.

4-Philosophy at its best is a trial-and-error process of getting at the truth through persistent probing and self-criticism. Science gives us a particularly rigorous way of doing this by experimenting, researching, investigating the nature of things, and offering rigorous theories with mathematical or conceptual precision.

5-Philosophy rather than science contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge as a whole. It alone can stand outside all the sciences and see them as a whole by means of imaginative speculation.

6- The sciences ask limited questions about Man or questions about specific sides of the human life. Philosophy asks the most universal question about Man.

The Relation between Philosophy and Religion

The Relation between Philosophy and Religion

Many have come to think that philosophy and religion are the same while some argue that the two are opposite sites of the same coin. However, these two concepts are just in part true.

Aspects of agreement between philosophy and religion

1-Philosophy and religion are both have focus on convictions and ideas. And see these as a condition for feelings, not as a result of feelings.

2-philosophy and religion are both engaged in the moral and ethical aspects of convictions, and especially in the understanding of the meaning of life. Moreover they both involve spiritual area.

What is then the difference between philosophy and religion?

Aspects of difference between philosophy and religion

1-Philosophy is a big discipline that encompasses many subject matters opposed to religion that is just considered as one of the subsets of philosophy.

2-Religion has more beliefs in the supernatural. Philosophy, by contrast, will only believe if a certain subject is proven to be true by using means of reasoning.

3-Religion has stronger beliefs and highlights the power of faith. Philosophy, by contrast, will only highlight the power of reason.

4-It fallows from the above that philosophy differs from religion in being based on understanding rather than on belief.

5- Finally, Philosophy does not include the practice of rituals religion.

Philosophy Today

Philosophy Today

For most of its history, philosophy has been concerned with the problems of everyday, human situations; in recent decades, however, many philosophers in the Western world turned their attention almost exclusively to questions about the nature and role of philosophy or to a discussion of the terms and language through which thoughts are expressed. A knowledge of terms and the structure and uses of language is important, but we need not substitute the study of instruments—logic, semantics, and linguistic analysis—for the study of the basic problems—the perennial problems of Philosophy. Recently, however, a growing number of philosophers have broadened the scope of their interests. They are working with hospitals, business and industry to help solve the problems of health care delivery and corporate communities.

Philosophers are professionals like doctors, lawyers, and tennis players: philosophers get paid for being specialists in the area of ideas. Many people today have become dissatisfied with narrow analytic conceptions of philosophy; in the 1980s, philosophy began to be concerned with nontraditional fields, such as brain research, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence; and with new issues, such as animal rights, defining life and death, establishing the nature and role of technology in modern thought, and experimentation with human subjects; and with raising philosophical questions in relation to outer space, gender issues, literature, sports, violence, social norms, and the environment. Moreover, as is apparent from newsletters of the American Philosophical Association, many philosophers are giving attention to other topics such as “Feminism and Philosophy,” and “Philosophy and Law.” Applied philosophy has captured the interest of many philosophers who do not regard linguistic analysis as the sole job of philosophy.