This is PHILOSOPHY!

Shattering misconceptions and shedding light on the wonders of philosophy

I’m just going to say it bluntly. I am tired of hearing distorted and baseless opinions about philosophy as a discipline. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. Philosophy deals with abstract theories that don’t lead to real conclusions; science is much better than philosophy because it deals with theories that can be backed with proof.
2. Philosophy is irrelevant in the modern world and has no practical applications in real life. It has zero job prospects.
3. Philosophy is an easy, unimportant academic discipline as compared to economics, physics etc.

If I had a penny for every time someone said these to me when I told them — “I’m majoring in philosophy,” I could build my own Wakanda. Seriously people, if you’re going to express opinions that sum up (and unjustly dismiss) a discipline, you should at least KNOW what it actually deals with (Ironically, one who is well versed in philosophy (introducing — LOGIC) is less prone to making invalid arguments).

I am going to shatter each of these misconceptions in future blogs, but first, I want to explain what philosophy actually is.

The etymology of ‘Philosophy’

The word ‘philosophy’ originates from the Greek ‘philosophia’, in which ‘philo’ means love and ‘sophia’ means wisdom. Therefore, philosophy means ‘the love of wisdom’, in which the most fundamental and acute matters of human existence are discussed.

This is Philosophy

If you ask me, philosophy is thinking about the fundamental questions, big and small. It is about setting our assumptions aside and picking up a logical approach for building strong arguments. Being a good philosopher doesn’t require you to know certain facts, but for you to know how to think, and it also means holding on to that sense of wonder we all had as children.

You take nothing as given, and build your own worldview using the one ultimate tool — your mind.

How I Understand the Meaning of Philosophy

Humans have a unique combination of two things:

1. The desire to have knowledge
2. The capacity to have knowledge

When we philosophize, we attempt to satisfy 1 by employing 2. In this process, we discover the limits of 2, i.e. our capacity to actually know things. Philosophy is, for me, a humbling and necessary enterprise.

What are these fundamental questions?

There are many questions that philosophers have been trying to answer, but here are a few popular ones. Do we have ‘free will’? What would ‘global justice’ look like? Where did we come from and where are we going? Can ‘true knowledge’ be achieved? — and perhaps the most important of all — What is the purpose of life?

The Major Branches of Philosophy

As you might have gathered, philosophy as a discipline covers a lot of ground. Among its multitudes are fields that seek to comprehend the nature and meaning of life, being, reality, knowledge and ethics.

There are six main branches of philosophy, with one example question to help understand it better:

1. Epistemology — Also known as Theory of Knowledge, this branch attempts to explain the process of acquiring knowledge, judge its certainty, and understand how it relates to ideas of justification, belief and truth. [Can true knowledge be acquired?]
2. Metaphysics — This branch deals with the study of the nature of existence, reality, and the universe. [How was the universe made?]
3. Logic — The study of reason — this is my favorite. It deals with the study of building valid arguments and identifying invalid ones. [What makes an argument valid?]
4. Ethics — This branch deals with the study of moral philosophy or morality. It attempts to define what a virtuous life is, and how we can lead one. [Can morality be universal?]
5. Aesthetics — Aestheticians study everything related to beauty and art. It is concerned with defining art, and how it makes us feel. [What makes an artwork successful?]
6. Political Philosophy — This branch deals with concepts like politics, government, law, justice, liberty, rights and state. [What is the extent of the power of government?]

The Mother Of All Subjects

If you look closely at history, you’ll find that philosophy is one of the most influential fields of all time. In fact, there was a time when all disciplines were studied under the broad umbrella of philosophy. Later on, though, as specialized research advanced, distinctions were made. In 1834, the name ‘natural philosophy’ was dropped and was replaced by ‘science’.

Marcus Tullius said, “Philosophy is the mother of all arts and the true medicine of the mind.”

Under its diverse scope, everything from politics to physics, law to language, mathematics to ethics, psychology to sociology — are studied (in its own unique, philosophical way).

Philosophy is an indispensable, thought-provoking subject. It deserves to be recognized for its invaluable contributions to humanity and academia.