Understanding Philosophy: Fields and Approaches

Posted on Feb 20, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Philosophy: An Active Inquiry

Philosophy is an activity linked to thought and reflection, involving certain attitudes towards life and a theoretical framework. It’s characterized by:

  • Attitude: A refusal to accept just any answer, a drive to seek the foundations of things, and a constant questioning (curiosity).
  • Activity: A continuous search for knowledge, not stagnant, and not a reflection of possessing certainties.

Tasks of Philosophy:

  • Discovering and analyzing our presuppositions.
  • Explaining and understanding reality.
  • Clarifying the meanings of concepts used to explain facts.
  • Considering the validity of reasoning processes, emphasizing arguments, explaining laws, and identifying errors.
  • Being sensitive to consequences.
  • Defending and promoting ideas.

Developing awareness, realizing meaning, questioning the seemingly small things.

Fields of Philosophy

  • Logic: Reasoning expressed linguistically.
  • Methodology of Science: Studying structures that articulate clear procedures.
  • Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology): Studying the possibilities, origins, values, and limits of knowledge.
  • Metaphysics: Studying the ultimate causes of the basics of being, or principles in general.
  • Anthropology: The study of the human being, especially when thinking.
  • Cultural Ethics: The study of the fundamentals and rules of morality.
  • Social Philosophy: The study of the various structures involving human relations.
  • Philosophy of Law: Foundations and validity of legislation.
  • Political Philosophy: Questions about the organization of society, forms of state power.
  • Aesthetics: Concerning pleasure, beauty, and the arts in general.

Different Ways of Knowing

Mythical Knowledge

Myth: A traditional tale, appealing to exemplary characters in an extraordinary, original time, explaining reality and giving meaning to the lives of individuals and the collective (fixed).

Regular Knowledge

Simple, direct knowledge, not produced, transmitted from generation to generation, with little critical analysis (changing).

Religious Knowledge

Based on faith in God, belief in an afterlife, and the idea that a higher being can be known.

Scientific Knowledge

Objective knowledge that establishes a universal and necessary relationship between phenomena, predicting results. It is knowledge derived from experience. Objectivity is the great accomplishment of scientific knowledge. Science provides necessary relationships, creates universal laws, and examines phenomena to forecast and understand causes and effects. Science analyzes, explains, provides, and acts.

Science and Philosophy

  • Scope:
    • Science: Studies physical, chemical, etc., aspects, offering a fragmented view of reality.
    • Philosophy: Considers reality and what is deemed possible.
  • Attitude:
    • Science: Measures or observes; results are universally accepted.
    • Philosophy: Not measured; results are not universally accepted.
  • Purpose:
    • Science: To know and describe reality.
    • Philosophy: To understand life and find meaning.
  • Method:
    • Science: Hypothetico-deductive.
    • Philosophy: Own verifiability.
  • Problem:
    • Science: Knowledge of solutions, problems, and responses.
    • Philosophy: Awareness of the problem.
  • Approach
    • Science: Remind.
    • Philosophy: Reflect.