Through the years of learning, a learner will see the value of education and sometimes look down upon this value in tough exam times. And question why education was invented and who thought of it in the first place. Well, education provides a way in which accumulated knowledge and values of society are transmitted (Mukerji, 2021). And the people to praise and blame in tough exam times for inventing education are philosophers. Just like the way you question the invention of school, they questioned reality, reason, morality, religion, knowledge, government, mind and many more, thus they presented their findings in the form of philosophies. And these philosophies have been passed on from one generation to the next. Philosophy is a very important focus in the world as it is the mother of all academic disciplines. Whether social or natural sciences, they all originate from philosophy.
What is
philosophy?
ü The word philosophy is made up of
two Greek words “Philo means love” and “Sophia meaning wisdom”. Therefore,
put together philosophy means “the love of wisdom”.
ü Alfred North Whitehead (2012 p.9)
defined philosophy as “the product of wonder”. As it is a critical mental
interrogation, questioning and exploring habits against poorly held beliefs.
ü Philosophers pursuit the
understanding of vital truths about themselves, their relationships with other
human beings and the world (universe) they live in. The way scientists have a
lab where they carry out experiments on their hypothesis, philosophers also
have a lab which is the mind where they carry out thought experiments on their
hypothesis too.
Why is it important to learn philosophy?
¨ Since philosophy is all about
thoughts, it develops an individual to be a critical and rational thinker.
¨ Philosophy is the mother of all subjects;
thus, it creates a strong foundation for every discipline and career.
¨ Philosophy teaches good construction
of sound arguments; thus, it makes its learners develop persuasive influence.
¨ Studying philosophy helps develop
a quick spotting skill of bad reasoning and unclear writings.
¨ Philosophers always try to
convince the world to accept their viewpoints
¨ Philosophy teaches its students' problem-solving skills as it deals with various answers to foundation questions, from which a student is tasked to synthesize and come up with a simplified,
inclusive middle ground.
Branches
of philosophy
1.
Meta-physics
“Meta
means after “and “physics means nature"; therefore, metaphysics means
after nature. There are two stories about how this branch of philosophy got
its name. Some say it is called that because it comes after Aristotle’s papers
on physics while others say it comes as all the questions of nature were asked
and answered. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the study of
“first cause and the nature of reality”. Some of the issues the metaphysician
tackles include the following
ü The
mind-body problem
ü The
problem of free will and determinism
ü The
problem of permanence and change
2.
Epistemology
It comes
from two Greek words “episteme meaning knowledge” and ology (study). Put
together, Epistemology means “the study of knowledge. Epistemology is a branch
of philosophy that is concerned with the nature and source of knowledge. In
simple words, it is the theory of knowledge. We as human beings underestimate
what it means to know. The following are the common questions in
Epistemology.
ü What is
‘knowledge’
ü Is it
possible to acquire knowledge?
ü How can
we acquire this ‘knowledge’?
3.
Logic
As a
branch of philosophy, logic focuses on the correctness of reasoning by setting
up rules that differentiate good reasoning from bad reasoning. Surprisingly, logic applies
reason to its self. Traditional logic has been divided into two categories that
are inductive and Deductive logic and formal and informal logic. The following
are some of the issue’s logic deals with as a branch of philosophy.
ü What is
an argument?
ü What is
inductive?
ü What is
Deductive?
ü What is
informed logic?
ü What is
formal logic?
4.
Ethics
It is
concerned with the study of how man carries himself in society, thus its
primary focus is on morality. To know what ethics is, the unexpected approach to
use is to know what people mistakenly associate it with. Ethics is not law,
religion, science, feelings, society. The scope of ethics includes Normative
ethics and Meta-ethics (non-normative ethics).
5.
Philosophy of religion
Although some typical religionists become paranoid with questioning this branch of philosophy, it does not justify or disapprove of any specific religion’s claim but rather “examine the intellectual questions that arise in considering religious views.” (Popkins & Strolls, 1972 chpt 4). Some of the issues include
ü The problem of evil
ü The
existence of God
ü Relationship
between reason and faith
ü The
Nature and Attributes of God
ü The
various arguments on the existence of God
6.
Political philosophy
This
branch of philosophy came about as a result of the question philosophers were
answering about who should govern and in what way. And in answering this
question different views arose.
ü The political philosophy of Plato
ü The
political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes
ü The
political philosophy of John Locke
ü The
political philosophy of John Stuart Mill
ü The political philosophy of John Rawls
ü The
political philosophy of Karl Marx
Mainly adapted from:
Nagel, T. (1987). What Does It
All Mean?: A very short introduction to philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Popkin, R.H & Stroll, A.
(1972). Introduction to philosophy. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Alfred North Whitehead (2012). Nature
and Life, p.9, London: Cambridge University Press.
Huberty, E.S (2020). 10 Reasons
Why Philosophy Is Important. The important site.https://theimportantsite.com/10-reasons-why-philosophy-is-important/
Mukerji, S.N. (2021). Education. Britannica.
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/education
Popkin, R.H & Stroll, A.
(1972). Introduction to philosophy. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.