Divisions of Philosophy

Abstract: Philosophy, philosophical inquiry, and the main branches of philosophy are characterized.
I.
A.

B.

What is Philosophy?
The derivation of the word "philosophy" from the Greek is suggested by the following words
and word-fragments.
philolove of, affinity for, liking of
philanderto engage in love affairs frivolously
philanthropylove of mankind in general
philatelypostage stamps hobby
phile(as in "anglophile") one having a love for
philologyhaving a liking for words
sophoswisdom
sophistlit. one who loves knowledge
sophomorewise and morosfoolish; i.e. one who thinks he knows many things
sophisticatedone who is knowledgeable

A suggested definition for our beginning study is as follows.

Philosophy is the systematic inquiry into the principles and presuppositions of any field of study.
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II.

From a psychological point of view, philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or a calling to answer

or to ask, or even to comment upon certain peculiar problems (i.e., specifically the kinds of
problems usually relegated to the main branches discussed below in Section II).
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There is, perhaps, no one single sense of the word "philosophy." Eventually many writers
abandon the attempt to define philosophy and, instead, turn to the kinds of things philosophers
do.

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What is involved in the study of philosophy involves is described by the London Times in an
article dealing with the 20th World Congress of Philosophy: "The great virtue of philosophy is
that it teaches not what to think, but how to think. It is the study of meaning, of the principles
underlying conduct, thought and knowledge. The skills it hones are the ability to analyse, to
question orthodoxies and to express things clearly. However arcane some philosophical texts
may be the ability to formulate questions and follow arguments is the essence of education."
The Main Branches of Philosophy are divided as to the nature of the questions asked in
each area. The integrity of these divisions cannot be rigidly maintained, for one area overlaps
into the others.

A. Axiology: the study of value; the investigation of its nature, criteria, and metaphysical status. More
often than not, the term "value theory" is used instead of "axiology" in contemporary discussions
even though the term theory of value is used with respect to the value or price of goods and
services in economics.
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Some significant questions in axiology include the following:

a. Nature of value: is value a fulfillment of desire, a pleasure, a preference, a behavioral
disposition, or simply a human interest of some kind?
b. Criteria of value: de gustibus non (est) disputandum(i.e., (there's no accounting for tastes)
or do objective standards apply?
c. Status of value: how are values related to (scientific) facts? What ultimate worth, if any, do
human values have?
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Axiology is usually divided into two main parts.

a. Ethics: the study of values in human behavior or the study of moral problems: e.g., (1) the
rightness and wrongness of actions, (2) the kinds of things which are good or desirable, and
(3) whether actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy.

i.

Consider this example analyzed by J. O. Urmson in his well-known essay, "Saints and
Heroes":
"We may imagine a squad of soldiers to be practicing the throwing of live hand grenades; a
grenade slips from the hand of one of them and rolls on the ground near the squad; one of
them sacrifices his life by throwing himself on the grenade and protecting his comrades with
his own body. It is quite unreasonable to suppose that such a man must be impelled by the
sort of emotion that he might be impelled by if his best friend were in the squad."
ii.

Did the soldier who threw himself on the grenade do the right thing? If he did not cover the
grenade, several soldiers might be injured or be killed. His action probably saved lives;
certainly an action which saves lives is a morally correct action. One might even be
inclined to conclude that saving lives is a duty. But if this were so, wouldn't each of the
soldiers have the moral obligation or duty to save his comrades? Would we thereby
expect each of the soldiers to vie for the opportunity to cover the grenade?

b. sthetics: the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into feelings, judgments, or standards
of beauty and related concepts. Philosophy of art is concerned with judgments of sense,
taste, and emotion.
i.

E.g., Is art an intellectual or representational activity? What would the realistic

representations in pop art represent? Does art represent sensible objects or ideal objects?
ii.

Is artistic value objective? Is it merely coincidental that many forms in architecture and
painting seem to illustrate mathematical principles? Are there standards of taste?

iii.

Is there a clear distinction between art and reality?

B. Epistemology: the study of knowledge. In particular, epistemology is the study of the

nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge.
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Epistemology investigates the origin, structure, methods, and integrity of knowledge.

Consider the degree of truth of the statement, "The earth is round." Does its truth depend upon
the context in which the statement is uttered? For example, this statement can be successively
more accurately translated as
"The earth is spherical"
"The earth is an oblate spheroid" (i.e., flattened at the poles).
But what about the Himalayas and the Marianas Trench? Even if we
surveyed exactly the shape of the earth, our process of surveying would alter the surface by the
footprints left and the impressions of the survey stakes and instruments. Hence, the exact shape of
the earth cannot be known. Every rain shower changes the shape.
(Note here as well the implications for skepticism and relativism: simply
because we cannot exactly describe the exact shape of the earth, the conclusion does not logically
follow that the earth does not have a shape.)
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Furthermore, consider two well-known problems in epistemology:

a.

Russell's Five-Minute-World Hypothesis: Suppose the earth were created

five minutes ago, complete with memory images, history books, records, etc., how could we
ever know of it? As Russell wrote in The Analysis of Mind, "There is no logical impossibility
in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was,
with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary
connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will
happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago." For
example, an omnipotent God could create the world with all the memories, historical records,
and so forth five minutes ago. Any evidence to the contrary would be evidence created by
God five minutes ago. (Q.v., the Omphalos hypothesis.)

b.

Suppose everything in the universe (including all spatial relations) were to

expand uniformly a thousand times larger. How could we ever know it? A moment's thought
reveals that the mass of objects increases by the cube whereas the distance among them

increases linearly. Hence, if such an expansion were possible, changes in the measurement
of gravity and the speed of light would be evident, if, indeed, life would be possible.
c.

Russell's Five-Minute-World Hypothesis is a philosophical problem; the

impossibility of the objects in the universe expanding is a scientific problem since the latter
problem can, in fact, be answered by principles of elementary physics.

B. Ontology or Metaphysics: the study of what is really real. Metaphysics deals with the socalled first principles of the natural order and "the ultimate generalizations available to the
human intellect." Specifically, ontology seeks to indentify and establish the relationships
between the categories, if any, of the types of existent things.
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What kinds of things exist? Do only particular things exist or do general things also exist? How is
existence possible? Questions as to identity and change of objectsare you the same person
you were as a baby? as of yesterday? as of a moment ago?
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How do ideas exist if they have no size, shape, or color? (My idea of the Empire State Building
is quite as "small" or as "large" as my idea of a book. I.e., an idea is not extended in space.)
What is space? What is time?

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E.g., Consider the truths of mathematics: in what manner do geometric figures exist? Are
points, lines, or planes real or not? Of what are they made?

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What is spirit? or soul? or matter? space? Are they made up of the same sort of "stuff"?

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When, if ever, are events necessary? Under what conditions are they possible?