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.

Philosophical traditions

Members of many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophic traditions based upon each other's works. The term "philosophy" in a Euro-American academic context may misleadingly refer solely to the philosophic traditions of Western European civilization. This is also called "Western philosophy", especially when contrasted with "Eastern philosophy", which broadly subsumes the philosophic traditions of Asia. Both terms group together diverse, even incompatible schools of thought.

Related Topics:
Academic - Western European civilization - Western philosophy - Eastern philosophy - Asia - Schools of thought

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Eastern and Middle Eastern philosophical traditions have influenced Western philosophers. Russian, Jewish, Islamic and recently Latin American philosophical traditions have contributed to, or been derivative of Western philosophy, yet retain a unique identity.

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It is convenient to divide contemporary Western academic philosophy into two traditions, since use of the term "Western philosophy" over the past century has often revealed a bias towards one or the other.

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Analytic philosophy is characterized by a precise approach to analysing the language of philosophical questions. The purpose is to lay bare any underlying conceptual confusion. This approach dominates Anglo-American philosophy, but has roots in continental Europe, where it is also practiced. The tradition of analytic philosophy began with Gottlob Frege at the turn of the twentieth-century, and was carried on by Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Related Topics:
Analytic philosophy - Gottlob Frege - Bertrand Russell - G. E. Moore - Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Continental philosophy is a label for various schools predominant in continental Europe, but also at home in many English-speaking Humanities departments, that may examine language, metaphysical approaches, political theory, perspectivalism, or various aspects of the arts and culture. One of the focuses of recent continental philosophical schools is the attempt to reconcile academic philosophy with issues that appear non-philosophical, subverting common expectations of what philosophy is meant to be.

Related Topics:
Continental philosophy - Political theory - Arts - Culture

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The differences between traditions are often based on their favored historical philosophers, or emphases on ideas, styles or language of writing. The subject matter and dialogues of each can be studied using methods derived from the others, and there have been significant commonalities and exchanges between them.

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Other philosophical traditions, such as African, are rarely considered by foreign academia. On account of the widespread emphasis on Western philosophy as a reference point, the study, preservation and dissemination of valuable but not widely known non-Western philosophical works faces many obstacles.

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Languages can either be a barrier or a vehicle for ideas. The question of which specific languages can be considered essential to philosophizing is a theme in the works of many recent philosophers.

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Western philosophy

The Western philosophic tradition began with the Greeks and continues to the present day. Major Western philosophers include Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Heraclitus, Sextus Empiricus, Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury, William of Ockham, John Duns Scotus, Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Nicolas Malebranche, Gottfried Leibniz, Thomas Hobbes, George Berkeley, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Reid, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, John Stuart Mill, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gottlob Frege, Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, Henri Bergson, Edmund Husserl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Theodor Adorno, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Rawls, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Emmanuel Lévinas, and Thomas Kuhn.

Related Topics:
Greeks - Philosopher - Parmenides - Socrates - Plato - Aristotle - Epicurus - Heraclitus - Sextus Empiricus - Augustine of Hippo - Boethius - Anselm of Canterbury - William of Ockham - John Duns Scotus - Thomas Aquinas - Francis Bacon - René Descartes - Baruch Spinoza - Nicolas Malebranche - Gottfried Leibniz - Thomas Hobbes - George Berkeley - John Locke - David Hume - Thomas Reid - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Immanuel Kant - Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - Arthur Schopenhauer - John Stuart Mill - Søren Kierkegaard - Karl Marx - Friedrich Nietzsche - Gottlob Frege - Alfred North Whitehead - Bertrand Russell - Henri Bergson - Edmund Husserl - Ludwig Wittgenstein - Martin Heidegger - Hans-Georg Gadamer - Theodor Adorno - Jean-Paul Sartre - John Rawls - Simone de Beauvoir - Albert Camus - Michel Foucault - Gilles Deleuze - Emmanuel Lévinas - Thomas Kuhn

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Other influential contemporary Western philosophers include Giorgio Agamben, Daniel Dennett, Jerry Fodor, Jürgen Habermas, Saul Kripke, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Thomas Nagel, Jean-Luc Nancy, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Robert Nozick, John Searle, Gianni Vattimo, Slavoj ?i?ek, Willard van Orman Quine, Donald Davidson, and Jacques Derrida (the last three deceased since 2000 but continue to exert a strong contemporary influence, due to both the strength of their published work and their institutional influence among peers and students).

Related Topics:
Giorgio Agamben - Daniel Dennett - Jerry Fodor - Jürgen Habermas - Saul Kripke - Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe - Thomas Nagel - Jean-Luc Nancy - Richard Rorty - Hilary Putnam - Robert Nozick - John Searle - Gianni Vattimo - Slavoj ?i?ek - Willard van Orman Quine - Donald Davidson - Jacques Derrida - 2000

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Western philosophy is sometimes divided into various branches of study, based on the kind of questions addressed. The most common categories are: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, ontology, and aesthetics. Some other disciplines include logic, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. For more information, see Western philosophy.

Related Topics:
Metaphysics - Epistemology - Ethics - Political philosophy - Ontology - Aesthetics - Logic - Philosophy of mind - Philosophy of language - Western philosophy

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Eastern philosophy

Eastern philosophy follows the broad traditions that originated from, or were popular within, Iran, India and China. Major Eastern philosophers include Yajnavalkya, Gautama Buddha, Zarathustra, Confucius, Kapila, Lao Zi (Lao Tzu), Akshapada Gotama, Mencius, Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu), Xun Zi, Han Feizi, Mazdak, Patanjali, Nagarjuna, Dharmakirti, Sankara, Farabi, Avicenna, Ramanuja, Huineng, Huang Po, Zhu Xi, Suhrawardi, Wang Yangming, Mulla Sadra, Narayana Guru, Vivekananda, Aurobindo and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Related Topics:
Iran - India - China - Yajnavalkya - Gautama Buddha - Zarathustra - Confucius - Kapila - Lao Zi - Akshapada Gotama - Mencius - Zhuang Zi - Xun Zi - Han Feizi - Mazdak - Patanjali - Nagarjuna - Dharmakirti - Sankara - Farabi - Avicenna - Ramanuja - Huineng - Huang Po - Zhu Xi - Suhrawardi - Wang Yangming - Mulla Sadra - Narayana Guru - Vivekananda - Aurobindo - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

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Indian philosophy is perhaps the most comparable to Western philosophy. For instance, the ancient Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy explores logic as some modern Analytic philosophers do; similarly the school of Carvaka was openly atheistical and empirical. However there are important differences - e.g. ancient Indian philosophy traditionally emphasized the teachings of schools or ancient texts, rather than individual philosophers, most of whom either wrote anonymously or whose names were simply not transmitted or recorded.

Related Topics:
Nyaya - Hindu philosophy - Logic - Carvaka - Atheist - Empirical

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