Philosophy Basics

Extract:

There are five branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and aesthetics.

Metaphysics is a word coined almost accidentally. It is the title given to a book written by Aristotle after he had completed his 'Physics', and it was placed immediately afterward in the body of his writings. Whereas 'Physics' deals with the observable world and its laws, 'Metaphysics' is concerned with the principles, structures, and meanings that underlie all observable reality. It is the investigation, by means of pure speculation, of the nature of being of the cause, substance, and purpose of everything. Metaphysics asks: What are space and time? What is a thing and how does it differ from an idea? Are humans free to decide their fate? Is there a first cause, or God, that has made everything and put it in motion?
replaced by religion but
..., metaphysics has many defenders who still explore notions put forward by Plato and Aristotle.

Epistemology means "theory of knowledge." It is derived from the Greek episteme, meaning "knowledge," and logos, which has several meanings, including "theory." Whereas metaphysics is concerned with the underlying nature of reality, epistemology deals with the possibilities and limits of human knowledge. Basically it tries to arrive at a knowledge of knowledge itself. It is also a speculative branch of philosophy and tries to answer such questions as: Is the world as people perceive it the basic reality, or do people perceive only appearances (or phenomena) that conceal basic reality? What are the boundaries between reason and knowledge, on the one hand, and what some thinkers call the illusions deriving from metaphysics? What is the basis for knowledge? Is it observation, experience, intuition, or inspiration? Or is there some other basis?

Knowledge may be regarded as having two parts. There is, first of all, what one sees, hears, touches, tastes, and smells. Next there is the way these perceptions are organized by the mind to form ideas or concepts. The problem of epistemology is based on how philosophers have understood the relationship of the mind to the rest of reality.
Plato taught that the real world consisted of universal ideas. The world that people actually see is given form by these ideas and is thus less real because it is always changing, but the ideas are eternal and unchangeable. (See also Plato.)
Opponents of Plato have claimed that the ideas were nothing more than names people have attached to the objects they perceive. Names of individual objects and of classes of objects are merely ways of organizing perceptions into knowledge. Thus people see one animal they decide to call "cat." All similar animals are called "cats," and a whole category of animals is thereby named without any reference to eternal ideas or forms.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with human behavior, morality, and responsibilities of people to each other and to society. Because ethics plays such a large part in the way people live, it has always been a subject of great interest. Some thinkers have asserted that there are definite, knowable standards for human behavior. Others deny this and say that decisions should be based mostly on the situation in which one finds oneself. They are relativists they say ethical decisions are related to specific circumstances. (See also Ethics and Morality.) This branch of philosophy is very close to religion. A large part of the Bible, for instance, is made up of wisdom literature, which is chiefly practical philosophy with a religious foundation.

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty, the arts, and taste (or appreciation). The term is derived from the Greek word meaning "sense perception." The basic question for aesthetics is: How do humans judge what is beautiful? Is it a reasoned assessment, or is it merely an emotional preference?

Furthermore, do aesthetic judgments have any relationship to moral or scientific judgments? In conclusion then, aesthetics seeks to lay foundations for criticism in the arts, or it tries to show that such foundations are impossible.
Other approaches. Approaches to philosophy other than dividing it into five areas may be taken. It is possible to divide philosophy into two types: speculative and practical. Speculative is from the Latin verb meaning "to look at." Basically it means to ponder a subject and arrive at conclusions.

Metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics are speculative approaches to philosophy. Their conclusions can never be verified.

Logic is an attempt to guide thinking, and as such it is a tool of speculative philosophy. Ethics, however, is often called practical philosophy. It attempts to arrive at guidelines for behavior based on what is the best outcome for individuals or for society. It seeks to present a workable approach to conduct and mutual obligations. It also seeks to answer the questions, What is happiness? and What is a good life?

There is still another way to look at the work of philosophers. Some have been system builders. They have sought to analyze everything and fit all their ideas into one comprehensive way of understanding the world. They want answers to every question. Examples of such thinkers include Thomas Aquinas, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Karl Marx. They created essentially closed systems of thought.

Other philosophers have taken the opposite approach, analyzing every separate piece of evidence and trying to explain it on its own terms. This was the direction taken by Aristotle, David Hume, and Bertrand Russell, among others.

This is not my work, cannot take credit for it: Taken from somewhere!