Definition of Philosophy

The word philosophy can be looked at from two aspects: its etymological and its real definition.

Etymologically, philosophy comes from two Greek words, philo and sophia, which mean love and wisdom. Thus, a philosopher is a lover of wisdom.

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Its real definition can be stated briefly: philosophy is a search for meaning.

The word "search" means to look, to find, to seek. It connotes, however, something more serious, more intense, more of a quest. There is definitely a world of difference between the ordinary and the philosophical meaning of search. The difference lies in the three elements found in philosophical search. These are:

1. The object of the search is of real value to the subject. In philosophy, broadly speaking, "object" refers to a thing, "subject" to the person philosophizing.

We hear of buyers having paid more than $50 million for an $8 million worth of jewelry of the late Duchess of Windsor at a recent auction because of romantic and historical reasons. Philosophers likewise favor certain "objects", such as what Heidegger terms the "limit experiences" of God, life, and death.

2. It "consumes" the whole person - his attention, concentration, interest, effort.

A person can hardly eat or sleep at the loss of a big amount of cash, or at the exciting prospect of a momentous event. Likewise, a philosopher can hardly afford distractions as he goes on his "search." He observes, reads, reflects, writes on what to him now is the most important thing in his life.

3. It is continued without let-up until (a) the answer is found, or (b) the answer is not yet found, but the conviction is reached that for the moment at least this is the best possible although still imperfect answer.

One observes that man can never be satisfied, completely and for always. True, for man is a homo viator, a traveler, and life presents a lot of questions. Philosophy can answer most, but not all, of these questions. However, this should not be a cause for despair. Accepting man as he is - a finite, imperfect being - is accepting also the inadequate answers to certain questions. It is enough that man tries his best up to life's end to confront the myriad problems his being a homo viator poses.

The philosopher searches for the meaning of life- the importance, significance, value, relevance.

The Nature Of Philosophy

It is in the very nature of philosophy that man searches for the meaning of himself, and his world. It can truly be said that philosophy was born the very first time man started wondering at what he saw around him.

The School of Athens (1509-1511) by Raphael, depicting famous classical Greek philosophers in an idealized setting inspired by ancient Greek architecture
To the early Greeks, philosophy was a superstar of a subject. They looked with favor. "...on a total world picture, in the unity of all truths -- whether they were scientific, ethical, religious, or aesthetic. A Greek philosophos was concerned not only with particular types of knowledge, but with all types."

Later, of course, we witness the other subjects -- mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, astronomy, theology -- come into their own. Today, philosophy is considered to have four main branches: logic, ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. Universities with a major in philosophy usually offer the following core subjects:

1. Logic (the science and art of correct thinking)
2. Ethics (the science of the morality of human acts)
3. Epistemology (the theory of knowledge, the goal of which is truth)
4. Metaphysics (the foundation subject of all of human thought that seeks to explain the fundamental concepts of man)
5. Cosmology (the study of inanimate things such as the universe, from the philosophical viewpoint)
6. Aesthetics (the study of beautiful)
7. Rational or Philosophical Psychology (the study of the life principle of living things, specifically that of man)
8. Theodicy (the philosophical study of God)
9. Social Philosophy (the study of man in relation to the family, the State, and the Church)
10. Philosophy of Man (as already defined in the first chapter, is the inquiry into man and his dimenions as person and as existent being in the world: His dignity, truth, freedom, justice, love, death, his relations with others and with God)

Dignaga founded Buddhist epistemology (pramana)

A Short Historical Outline

At the start of the semester, the temptation is great to begin the discussion with "Once upon a time...", and why not? To students, the beginnings of philosophy seem so long ago it has the aura of fairy tales and dinosaurs.

Bust of Socrates in the Vatican Museum

It is commendable to put the introduction in a capsule historical perspective and say that indeed once upon a time there lived people in Greece who thought the world was made out of water or air, who preceded the well-known triumvirate of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; that Socrates and Plato were brilliant, but that it was Aristotle who contributed significantly in the following areas; ethics, logic, metaphysics, art, literature, psychology, biology, politics, and that when he died in 322 BC he had given the world so much, but the best tribute came sixteen centuries later, when in the thirteenth century, he was rediscovered and his philosophy was put within the Christian framework by Thomas Aquinas, the "angelic doctor", the best philosopher of the Middle Ages.

Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition.

Thomas Aquinas: Detail from Valle Romita Polyptych
by Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1400)

One can be tempted to write a detailed historical account of philosophy but time and space are onstraints. So only a brief skeletal outline of the history of western thought will be given here, and only to put this course in its proper perspective and to place correctly periods and philosophers mentioned.

Sources:

http://www.studymode.com/subjects/philosophy-an-attempt-at-its-definition-nature-and-historical-outline-page1.html
"The Nature of Philosophy," Philosophy and ideas. Reade's Digest Library of Modern Knowledge Vol. 2 (London: The Reader's Digest Association Limited, 1978) p.632
A history of Philosophy by Frederick Copleston, S.J.
realms of Philosophy by William S. Sahakian and Mabel Lewis Sahakian
Approaches to Ethics by W. T. Jones, Frederick Sontag, Morton O. Beckner, and Robert Fogelin editors.

"Knowledge is Power."
-Steemit Digest.