[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on What is Philosophy?
Whether or not you have ever studied philosophy, you probably have some idea about what philosophy is. You’ve certainly heard people talk about their philosophy of life, or heard them say, my philosophy is such and such. You are no doubt aware that philosophy is a “liberal arts discipline” (Spark notes, 2002) and it has a long history, just as science does.
If you have never studied philosophy before, you probably should know that defining philosophy is itself a philosophical task. When people talk about philosophy, they sometimes talk about the entire field of philosophy. Other times, they may talk about specific branches of philosophy, such as philosophy of science or philosophy of math. Corresponding to these two ways of talking about philosophy are two ways to define ‘philosophy’. One approach is to give a general definition of philosophy, and use this to define the branches of philosophy, such as philosophy of art.
Another way is to define the branches of philosophy, where these take the form philosophy of S. “Here ‘S’ is the name of some system of thought or field of study such as science, history, or mathematics” (Baum, 2004). Then the definition of a philosophy of S can be used to give a more general definition of philosophy. This is to understand what a philosophy of S is, it is helpful to look at the kinds of questions different philosophies of S answer. Suppose S is science. Philosophy of science answers questions such as: What is a scientific theory?
“Philosophy can broadly be defined as ‘thinking’” (Blackburn, 1999). Another way to define philosophy is as theoretical science. The great thing about philosophy is that you do not need a lab to do it. You do not need a research team. You do not need tenure.....................
