What Is Philosophy

What is philosophy? That is a hard question to answer. If asked to many different people in different cultures, the answer may be different every time. Is there a right of wrong answer to this question? No, there is not. People learn philosophy through their own cultures and what they have learned from around them. Here is the book definition of what philosophy is. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of man's relationship to existence (Thomas, 2011). Here are the definitions of the major philosophical areas of inquiry. Also, is the description of approaches to philosophical questions, for each of the major philosophical areas of inquiry. Also an explanation of how philosophy and culture interact in the development of thought. The major philosophical area of inquiry that best describes me is metaphysics. I will explain why the selected philosophy best describes me.

The major philosophical areas of inquiry are; epistemology, metaphysics, moral, social, political, ethnically, aesthetics, and logic. The theory of knowledge is known as epistemology. Questions associated with this are, what is the nature of knowledge, and what are its criteria, sources, and limits? The next is metaphysics, which is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with these questions, relating to being or existence. Two basic questions of metaphysics are, what is being, and what are its fundamental features and properties? Questions related to values. Included under this heading are primarily, moral philosophies, the philosophical study of moral judgments. Social philosophy, the study of society, and its institutions, are another under this heading. Political philosophy, the focus on the state and seeks to determine its justification and ethically proper organization is another form under this heading. Also under this heading is aesthetics, the study of art and of value judgments about art. Questions pertaining to the theory of correct inference, otherwise known as logic, which seeks to investigate and establish the criteria of valid reasoning and demonstration. These are the major philosophies used in our society. In