What is Philosophy

Living Philosophy : What is philosophy?

Philosophy comes from two Greek words ΦΙΛΟΣ (pronounced filos and meaning “love”) and ΣΟΦΟΣ (pronounced sofos and meaning “wisdom”). Philosophy is about the love of wisdom. The study of Philosophy can be used as a tool that can aid all aspects of living and relationships. The real subject of philosophy is oneself and the examination of oneself, one’s relationships with other people, and one’s relationships with objects and ideas. Philosophy is, therefore, about the world within us, the world between us, and the world around us. And this world is not just the world of objects, but of thoughts, of ideas, and of values. Philosophy demands an honest look at ourselves and at life. Besides philosophies of life, there are philosophies of education, of science, of psychology, of politics, of religion, of practically everything. And it is philosophy that offers a constructive, critical examination of everything.

All our basic questions are within the domain of philosophy. And it is through philosophy that our best answers are to be found.

The paths down which you now will travel are all part of the road of philosophical enquiry. The paths, in one sense, are called Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, Ethics and Aesthetics. They respectively cover all the questions about existence, knowledge, reasoning, morality and beauty. Sometimes when you will be on one path you will have to make a detour down another before you can get back on the main road. But where these paths cross is the road of philosophy. In another sense, the paths bear the names of the philosophers who have travelled down them. And because you are the one travelling down all the paths, where the paths cross is you.

You now begin your journey over 2500 years ago (when the classical philosophers began their journey) by meeting Socrates who has been called the Father of Philosophy. To give you a running start, you will meet several philosophers before his time who will help you to get on your way. As you make your journey, time will continue to pass. And during this time you will be asking questions about the meaning of time itself and how it relates to you.

So, how do you begin? You begin with yourself. For you are not reading about philosophy, you are living it to better understand yourself and your relationships to the world within, the world between and the world beyond. For you are the place where all the paths of philosophy, its parts and its people, cross.

To help seek objectivity and to help avoid prejudice by taking a multi-cultural approach, some commonly used terms are replaced by others: e.g. in dating, AD and BC (Anno Domini and Before Christ) are replaced by CE and BCE (Common Era and Before the Common Era). To help seek accuracy, dates which are not definitely known will be preceded by c., abbreviation of the Latin word, cira, meaning “about”.