Philosophy

Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. It is the discipline in search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. The term covers a very wide range of approaches, and is also used to refer to a worldview, to a perspective on an issue, or to the positions argued for by a particular philosopher or school of philosophy. The phrase "a philosophical attitude" is often used to refer to a stoical approach to life. This article concerns philosophy as a discipline.

Applied philosophy

Though often seen as a wholly abstract field, philosophy is not without practical applications. The most obvious applications are those in ethics – applied ethics in particular – and in political philosophy. The political philosophies of Confucius, Kautilya, Sun Tzu, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Niccolo Machiavelli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Nozick, and John Rawls have shaped and been used to justify governments and their actions.

Related Topics:
Ethics - Applied ethics - Political philosophy - Confucius - Kautilya - Sun Tzu - John Locke - Thomas Hobbes - Niccolo Machiavelli - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Karl Marx - John Stuart Mill - Mahatma Gandhi - Robert Nozick - John Rawls

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In the field of the philosophy of education, progressive education as championed by John Dewey has had a profound impact on educational practices in the United States in the twentieth century.

Related Topics:
Philosophy of education - John Dewey - United States

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Other important applications can be found in epistemology, which might help one to regulate one's notions of what knowledge, evidence, and justified belief are. Two useful ways that epistemology and logic can inform the real world are through the fields of journalism and police investigation. Informal logic has many useful and practical applications, helping citizens to be critical in reading rhetoric and in everyday discussion. Philosophy of science discusses the underpinnings of the scientific method. Aesthetics can help to interpret discussions of art. Even ontology, surely the most abstract and least practical-seeming branch of philosophy, has had important consequences for logic and computer science.

Related Topics:
Epistemology - Logic - Journalism - Informal logic - Rhetoric - Philosophy of science - Scientific method - Aesthetics - Art - Ontology - Computer science

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In general, the various "philosophies of," such as philosophy of law, can provide workers in their respective fields with a deeper understanding of the theoretical or conceptual underpinnings of their fields.

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Often, philosophy is seen as an investigation into an area not understood well enough to be its own branch of knowledge. What were

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once merely philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and

Related Topics:
Psychology - Sociology - Linguistics

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economics (among others). Computer science, cognitive science and artificial intelligence are modern areas of research that philosophy has played a role in developing.

Related Topics:
Economics - Computer science - Cognitive science - Artificial intelligence

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Moreover, a burgeoning profession devoted to applying philosophy to the problems of ordinary life has recently developed, called philosophical counseling. Many Eastern philosophies can and do help millions of people with anxiety problems through their emphasis on meditation for calming the mind and the connection between the health of the body and the health of the soul.

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