Philosophy is understood as the methodological reflection that exposes the coupling of knowledge and the limits of existence. The definition of philosophy indicates that its etymological origin comes from Greece in the 6th century BC and is composed of two words: philos “love” and Sophia “wisdom, thought and knowledge”. Therefore, philosophy is the " love of wisdom." It arises as a consequence of man's self-questioning about everything that surrounded him. On the other hand, it is significant to indicate that it has several branches among which stand out: metaphysics, logic, psychoanalysis, ethics, gnoseology, among others.
What is philosophy
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Philosophy is a science that, in a careful and detailed way, seeks to answer a variety of questions. The historical origin of the definition of philosophy indicates that it arises in the 6th century BC in Greece, as a result of the different questions that man began to ask about the things that surrounded him; This is why philosophy was born as a rational way of explaining the phenomena that occur in nature, through the promotion of human capacities and marking a distance from mythical explanations, which at that time were predominant in that culture.
There are two essential idealists of contemporary thought who have dedicated themselves to studying philosophy, they are Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, both of whom together wrote three books that have had a fundamental and objective meaning. Among them, the most recent stands out: What is philosophy? (1991), which is a book that solidifies everything that writers have wanted to do so far.
The difference between what is philosophy and what is science and logic is that they are not guided by concepts but by functions, in a reference perspective and with partial observers.
Branches of philosophy
Philosophy is divided into different branches that are:
Anthropology
The general concept or general purpose of philosophical anthropology is human rarity, that is, the chain of revelations that testify to the presence of man. It is especially captivating to those who reveal a certain enigma or contradiction, as is the case of the phenomenon of scientific knowledge, freedom, value judgments, religion and interpersonal communication. Its formal purpose (angle or special aspect that requires patience to evaluate the material object) lies in the human characteristics that allow this phenomenon. For example, psychology and history agree on the material object, but not on its formal purpose.
Epistemology
It is the science that studies how the wisdom of the disciplines is validated and generated. Your task is to analyze the regulations that are used to justify scientific notes, considering the psychological, social and even historical factors that come into play.
This definition was applied for the first time in the middle of the 19th century, by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier, after studying philosophy he decided to stamp the term in his book entitled "Institutes of Metaphysics". In it he raised different theories about intelligence, knowledge or the philosophical system.
Esthetic
Aesthetics is responsible for the study of the perception of beauty. When you say that something is beautiful or ugly, you are giving an aesthetic opinion, which at the same time expresses artistic experiences. Therefore, aesthetics seeks to analyze these experiences and opinions of what their nature is, and what are the fundamentals they have in common. This looks for the why of certain things, for example, because a sculpture, object or painting is not seductive for the spectators; This then shows that art has an affinity with aesthetics, since it seeks to cause sensations through expression.
Ethics
Ethics is responsible for the study of morality, of everything related to the goodness or evil of human behavior. His focus is human actions and everything related to good, happiness, duty and life fulfilled. In an analysis of ethics, it is compared with the same origins of the philosophy of Ancient Greece, since its historical evolution has been very varied and wide.
Ethics has a great scope that has linked it with many disciplines such as biology, anthropology, economics, among others.
Gnoseology
Epistemology is responsible for analyzing the origin of nature, as well as the scope of human knowledge. Not only does he investigate particular knowledge such as physics or mathematics, but he is also in charge of knowledge in general.
Epistemology is associated with epistemology, since it, like epistemology, focuses on the study of knowledge, dealing with problems such as historical, psychological and sociological events that lead to obtaining knowledge, as well as the judgments by which they are validated or rejected.
Logic
It is the study of the foundations of valid inference and proof. The goal of logic is inference. Understanding by inference to all that process by which conclusions are deduced from the hypothesis. Logic investigates the principles by which certain inferences are acceptable and others are not. Likewise, it analyzes the arguments without taking into account the content of what is being discussed and without taking into account the language that is being used.
When an inference is acceptable, it is because of its logical organization, and not because of the specific demonstration message or the language used.
Metaphysics
It is responsible for the study of nature, how it is structured, what makes it up, and the essential principles of reality. Its objective is to achieve a greater empirical understanding of the world, trying to know the broader truth of why things are. Metaphysics rests on three questions: What is being? What is there? Why is there something and rather than nothing?
In chemistry the existence of matter is accepted and in biology the presence of life, but neither of them defines life or matter; only metaphysics provides these basic definitions.
Philosophy of language
It is the branch of philosophy that analyzes language in its fundamental and general aspects, the world and thought, the use of language or pragmatics, translation, mediation and the limits of language. This branch differs from linguistics in that it benefits from empirical methods (such as mental tests) to obtain its conclusions. In the philosophy of language, there is usually no difference between spoken, written or any other type of manifestation, except that only what is most common in all of them is analyzed.
philosophy of history
It is a field of ideology that studies forms and development, where human beings establish history. The questions on which the philosophy of history acts are as varied and complex as the causes that have originated them. Some of the questions are: Are there patterns in human history, eg cycles or development? Is there a teleological purpose or objective of the story, that is, a design, a purpose, a guiding principle or an end in the process of formation of the story? What, if so, are their respective addresses?
Philosophy of religions
It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the introspective study of religion, introducing arguments about the existence of God and about nature, the problems of evil, the connection between religion and other systems of principles such as ethics and science. It is usual to differentiate between the ideology of religion and religious. The first points to philosophical thinking about religion, which can be fulfilled by believers and non-believers alike, while in the religious one, it cites an ideology inspired and guided by religion, such as Christian doctrine and Islamic doctrine.
Philosophy of Law
It is a specialty that studies principles as an institutional and normative order of human behavior in society. Philosophy is the study of the universal, therefore, when it has as its object the law, it takes it in its universal aspects. It can also be determined, like the analysis of the foundations, because these, precisely, concern the character of generality. The first fundamentals can allude to either being, knowing and acting; hence the segmentation of ideology into theory and practice.
Political Philosophy
It is the study that analyzes the principles about political affairs, such as freedom, power and justice. The rights, properties and application in a legal code by the authority, in terms of its essence, origin, limits, nature, legitimacy, scope and needs. This branch has a wide field of analysis and is easily linked with other branches and sub-disciplines of ideology, such as the science of law and the science of economics.
The principles of political philosophy have changed throughout history. For the Greeks the community was the center and end of all political movement.
History of Philosophy
The beginning of philosophy is located in Greece in the mid-seventh century BC, specifically in the Colony of Ionia, where the philosopher Thales of Miletus is considered a pioneer, who was one of the seven sages of Greece, who was also a mathematician and astronomer.
The great phases into which the history of philosophy was divided are certainly not clear, since the philosophical movement has not continued a linear evolution, but with advantages and setbacks.
The era of the Christian movement was prominent in the West from the 1st century to the 15th century (the time of the Renaissance). The main representatives of the Catholic and Christian movement who most defended this movement have been Agustín de Hipona and Tomás de Aquino. The main peculiarity of this time was the subordination of the ideological movement to Catholic theology, placing all human culture at the disposal of the church and Catholicism.
Greek philosophy covers from the 7th century BC. until the 3rd century BC; but its prestige has extended to the present day, due more than anything to the thought and school of Plato and Aristotle. According to Plato's belief, Greek philosophy has as its main feature the effort of human discernment to understand all human and cosmic anomalies, through logical studies and interpretations, without resorting to explanations of a religious or mythical nature.
The era of modern philosophy opens with René Descartes in the mid-sixteenth century and focuses, more than anything, on the reflection of knowledge and the human being. The scientific evolution that caused the appearance of this and that starts from the 15th to the 17th century was one of the most important renovating works in the illustrative history of the West and of all society.
Another of the most prominent philosophical currents was the illustration that emerged in Europe. The enlightened ideologues who most helped the philosophical development of the West were Kant and Hume, who positioned the daring of human reason within the measures of empiricism and rationalism.
Contemporary philosophy is the current epoch in the history of philosophy. In addition, it is called by the same term, the philosophies created by ideologists that are still alive. It is the era following modern ideology, and its beginnings were set between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
The most complete and significant idealistic traditions of the 20th century were: the analytic one in the Anglo-Saxon era, and the continental one in continental Europe. The century saw the birth of new philosophical trends, such as phenomenological, positivism, logic, existentialism and poststructuralism.
At this time, most of the leading philosophers worked from the universities. One of the most analyzed topics was the connection between language and philosophy ("a fact that is sometimes referred to as the linguistic turn"). The main representatives were Ludwig Wittgenstein in the analytic tradition and Martin Heidegger in the continental tradition.
What are Philosophical Methods
The philosophical method is the system that ideologues have to start with a certain philosophical theme, characterized by keeping in mind the argument, doubt and dialectics. It is based on the precepts of falsifiability and reproducibility.
It is important to note that each philosopher has their own method of philosophizing, in order to answer the questions that are presented to them.
Therefore, these methods are related to the chain of phases that must be traveled to obtain a valid insight from a scientific perspective, handling elements that are reliable for this.
How a Philosophical Method is applied
The philosophical method is applied in three fundamental ways which are:
The doubt
every philosopher has doubts about whatever it is possible to have, it is almost the primitive impulse of philosophical works. The philosophers at the beginning argued that wonder and doubt were the key to wisdom.
The question
Within philosophy, the questions and how they are formulated, monopolize an important space for ideologists and scientists, since they seek that the question that is elaborated is precise and clear, and at the same time serves as a path to the root of the problem.
The justification
It is another of the elements that distinguish the philosophical method, justifying, supporting or arguing the solutions that are proposed. In general, these arguments are presented as premises that are logically interconnected and that lead to the solution.
What are the Philosophical Methods
Empirical-Rational philosophical method
The rational empirical philosophical method starts from the hypothesis that the two sources of human discernment are the understanding and the senses.
According to this philosophical method, Aristotle points out that the understanding and the senses allow us to enter two stages of reality: first sensible and then intelligible.
In the rational empirical philosophical method, sensible discernment is changeable and multiple, but the intellect manages to find the permanent and immutable element of reality, that is, the foundation of things. This means that the understanding captures that there is something that distorts things and something that does not.
Empiricist philosophical method
The empiricist philosophical method expresses that the principle of knowledge depends on sensory experience and then continues on an inductive line.
Reasoning is the correct source to achieve the "truths of reason" that involve reality. However, experience is the path to "truths of fact", with which new knowledge and new aspects of reality are revealed.
The empiricist philosophical method establishes a theory linked to discernment, which emphasizes the importance of sensory perception and experience in the emergence of ideas. For discernment to be valid, it must be tested by experience.
Rationalist philosophical method
The rationalist philosophical method is a movement that was promoted in continental Europe between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, exposed by René Descartes, which is supplemented by the criticism of Immanuel Kant. It is the mechanism of thought that emphasizes the role of philosophizing in obtaining knowledge, done in disparity with empiricism, which highlights the role of experience and above all, the sense of point of view.
The rationalist philosophical method is identified by the tradition that comes from the philosopher and scientist Descartes, who pointed out that geometry symbolized the prototype of all sciences and ideologies.
Transcendental philosophical method
The transcendental philosophical method, was created by Kant in the eighteenth century, does not inquire about the origin of knowledge, as was the case with rationalism and classical empiricism, but to argue to give reason for it. For example, a subject in your family is taught that it is not right to harm others or yourself. The origin of this knowledge is your family. But is this true? The answer to this question should not be: "it is correct why he learned it from his family", since in this way he would be referring to the origin of his knowledge.
Analytical-linguistic philosophical method
The linguistic analytical philosophical method was born in the context of neopositivism. The method is based on the analysis of language which is the main form of expression of the human being, and for this it must be the point of origin of any reflection. Language has different uses and each one has its own rules. The main representative of the linguistic analytical philosophical method is Wittgenstein who called it “linguistic games”.
According to the neopositivists, ideology has tried to use the rules of scientific management to realities that go beyond the empirical notes.
Hermeneutical philosophical method
The hermeneutical philosophical method is the one used to try to inquire into the perception of more things. Hermeneutics fundamentally states that the meaning of things is interpreted from experience, and the question of how is understanding possible?
The search for answers to this question has been carried out by investigating the elements that make understanding possible (non-normative hermeneutical), or by prosecuting false understandings.
In conclusion, the hermeneutical philosophical method is the art of understanding the truth, and the role it fulfills in the religious sphere is the interpretation of sacred texts.
Phenomenological philosophical method
The phenomenological philosophical method is a very broad and varied philosophical movement. It is characterized by being a current that seeks to solve all the philosophical problems, resorting to the obvious or intuitive experience, which is one in which things are flaunted in the most obvious and ordinary way.
That is why the different aspects of the phenomenological philosophical method tend to constantly debate about what kind of experience is significant for ideology and how to gain access to it. It is from there that all aspects take hold of the motto "to things themselves", which really applies to all scientific understanding.
Socratic philosophical method
The Socratic philosophical method is a method of dialectic or logical argument for the search or investigation of new ideas, prisms or underlying concepts of information. The Socratic philosophical method was widely implemented in the oral writings of moral concepts. It was pointed out by Plantón in the Socratic dialogues.
This is why Socrates is recognized as the founder of Western ethics or moral philosophy. This method is consecrated to Socrates, who was the one who began to become soaked in these disputes with his Athenian colleagues, after a visit to the oracle at Delphi.
Psychoanalytic philosophical method
The psychoanalytic philosophical method is the explanatory and descriptive theoretical model of the mechanisms, phenomena and processes involved in the psychic life of the human being. This prototype was initially based on the studies of Sigmund Freud in the medical treatment of patients who presented phobias, hysteria and different mental illnesses, which has had a great theoretical evolution, later with the help of various psychoanalytic theorists. On the other hand, the psychoanalytic philosophical method also refers to Psychoanalytic therapy itself, that is, a set of therapeutic methods and procedures that are formed from this hypothesis for the treatment of mental illnesses.
