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The Nature and Function of Philosophy

Philosophy is for everyone. In fact, although most people may be vague about what philosophy is, we all engage in
philosophy whether we are aware of it or not. We all have some ideas concerning free will, human nature,
morality, the meaning of life, and the like. Everyone, at one time or another, either because of startling events or
simple curiosity, asks philosophical questions like: "Does God exist?" "Is there life after death?" "Are there any
absolute or universal moral principles?" "What do ethical terms like good,bad, right, and wrong mean?" "What is
beauty?" "What are the characteristics of a 'good' work of art?" "From what sources do we gain our knowledge?"
"Does sensory experience provide indubitable knowledge?"
So what is philosophy? Literally the term philosophy is derived from the Greek words philos ("loving")
andsophia ("wisdom"), and means "the love of wisdom." But philosophers do not always agree on the nature and
function of philosophy. Here are four definitions that attempt to explain what is generally meant by the
term philosophy. These definitions do not necessarily reflect a consensus of philosophical opinion.
1. Philosophy analyzes the foundations and presuppositions underlying other disciplines. Philosophy
investigates and studies the underpinnings of science, art, and theology. Philosophers do not ask "Are Pablo
Picasso's paintings 'good' works of art?" (as art critics do) but "Is aesthetic judgment a matter of personal taste, or
are there objective standards that we can apply to evaluate a work of art?" Philosophers do not ask "Is the theory
of evolution true?" (as biologists and physical anthropologists do) but "How do we distinguish truth from error?"
2. Philosophy attempts to develop a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world. Philosophy seeks
to integrate the knowledge of the sciences with that of other fields of study to achieve some kind of consistent and
coherent world view. Philosophers do not want to confine their attention to a fragment of human experience or
knowledge, but rather, want to reflect upon life as a totality. In speaking of this particular function, Charlie Dunbar
Broad, an English twentieth century philosopher, says: "Its object is to take over the results of the various sciences,
to add to them the results of the religious and ethical experiences of mankind, and then to reflect upon the whole.
The hope is that, by this means, we may be able to reach some general conclusions as to the nature of the
universe, and as to our position and prospects in it." (Scientific Thought, New York: Harcourt, 1923, p. 20)
3. Philosophy studies and critically evaluates our most deeply held beliefs and attitudes; in particular, those
which are often held uncritically. Philosophers have an attitude of critical and logical thoughtfulness. They force
us to see the significance and consequences of our beliefs, and sometimes their inconsistencies. They analyze the
evidence (or lack of it) for our most treasured beliefs, and seek to remove from our perspectives every taint and
trace of ignorance, prejudice, superstition, blind acceptance of ideas, and any other form of irrationality.
4. Philosophy investigates the principles and rules of language, and attempts to clarify the meaning of vague
words and concepts. Philosophy examines the role of language in communication and thought, and the problem
of how to identify or ensure the presence of meaning in our use of language. It is a method--a practice--which
seeks to expose the problems and confusions which have results from the misuse of language, and to clarify the
meaning and use of vague terms in scientific and/or everyday discourse.

2.Different Branches of Philosophy

1. Metaphysics - This philosophy study deals with the question concerning ultimate reality and strives to explain it
in its most general terms through its first and most universal principle.
2. Cosmology - This philosophy study strives to formulate a theory explaining the origin, nature and end of the
universe.
3. Ethics - This philosophy study look into the rightness or wrongness of human act.
4. Theodicy - This philosophy study concerns God: His existence and His nature. It also attempts to reconcile the
seeming conflict between the goodness of God and the existence of evil in the world.
5. Epistemology - This philosophy study concerns human knowledge: what knowledge is, what the conditions are
which make human knowledge possible and the extent to which human knowledge can grasp or reach.
6.Political Philosophy - This philosophy study is concerned with good governance of the State, which includes the
theory of its origin, the structure of the government and its different forms, and the qualities of a good leader.
7. Philosophy of the Human Person - This philosophy study focuses on the human person, his or her natures with
the hope maximizing his or her good attributes in order to live life fully human. The goal of this study is to
humanize the person and enable him or her to lead a good life.
8. Aesthetics - This philosophy study sets forth several theories concerning beauty and good taste.
9 - logic - This philosophy study is concerned with the structure and principles of correct thinking and right
reasoning.

3.Periods of development of Chinese philosophy

Historically, Chinese philosophy has gone through four periods: (1) the classical, (2) the neo-Daoist and Buddhist,
(3) the neo-Confucian, and (4) the modern. In the classical period (6th3rd century BCE), the chief concepts were
Dao (the Way), de (virtue), ren (humanity, love), yi(righteousness), tian (heaven), and yinyang (cosmic
elements of tranquility and activity, or weakness and strength, respectively). Every school had its own Way, but the
Way of Confucius(551479 BCE) and that of another traditional sage, Laozi (6th century BCE), were the most
prominent. To Confucius, Dao is the Way of man, the Way of ancient sage-kings, and the Way of virtue. To Laozi,
however, Dao is the Way of nature. His concept was so unique that his school later came to be called the Daoist
school. For all schools, Dao possesses the two aspects of yin and yang, the Dao endowed in man is his virtue, and
the greatest virtues, especially for the Confucianists, are ren and yi. Clearly, some concepts are ethical and others
metaphysical.

Plato's Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology

Students of Plato and other ancient philosophers divide philosophy into three parts: Ethics, Epistemology and
Metaphysics. While generally accurate and certainly useful for pedagogical purposes, no rigid boundary separates
the parts. Ethics, for example, concerns how one ought to live and focuses on pleasure, virtue, and happiness.
Since, according to Plato (and Socrates), virtue and happiness require knowledge, e.g., knowledge of goods and
evils, Plato's ethics is inseparable from his epistemology. Epistemology is, broadly speaking, the study of what
knowledge is and how one comes to have knowledge. Among the many topics included in epistemology are logic,
belief, perception, language, science, and knowledge. (Science derives from the Latin scientia, which in turn
translates the Greek episteme, from which English derives epistemology.) Integral to all of these notions is that
they (typically) are directed at something. Words refer to something; perception (aesthesis in Greek) involves
perceptibles; knowledge requires a known. In this respect, epistemology cannot be investigated without regard to
what there is. Metaphysics, or alternatively ontology, is that branch of philosophy whose special concern is to
answer the question What is there? These expressions derive from Aristotle, Plato's student. In a collection of his
works, the most detailed treatise on the general topic of things that are comes after a treatise on natural
things, ta phusika (from which English derives physics). Since the Greek for after is meta, this treatise is titled
Metaphysics. In that work one finds the famous formula that (first) philosophy studies beingthe Greek for
which is onqua being. Hence the account of being is ontologythe English suffix -ology signifying study of:
e.g., biology is the study of living things. Metaphysics, then, studies the ways in which anything that is can be said
or thought to be. Leaving to sciences like biology or physics or mathematics or psychology the task of addressing
the special ways in which physical things, or living things, or mathematical objects, e.g., numbers, or souls (minds)
come to have the peculiar qualities each, respectively, has, the subject-matter of metaphysics are principles
common to everything. Perhaps the most general principle is: to be is to be something. Nothing just exists, we
might say. This notion implies that each entity/item/thing has at least some one feature or quality or property.
Keeping at a general level, we can provisionally distinguish three factors involved when anything is whatever it is:
there is that which bears or has the property, often called the subject, e.g., Socrates, the number three, or my
soul; there is the property which is possessed; e.g., being thin, being odd, and being immortal; and there is the
manner or way in which the property is tied or connected to the subject. For instance, while Socrates may be
accidentally thin, since he can change, that is, gain and lose weight, three cannot fail to be odd nor, if Plato is
correct, can the soul fail to be immortal. The metaphysician, then, considers physical or material things as well as
immaterial items such as souls, god and numbers in order to study notions like property, subject, change, being
essentially or accidentally.