Conceptions of Philosophy

• • The practice of philosophy is characterized by several general features:
  • it is a form of rational inquiry,
  • it aims to be systematic
  • it tends to critically reflect on its own methods and presuppositions.
  • It requires attentively thinking long and carefully about the provocative, vexing, and enduring problems central to the human condition.
• • The philosophical pursuit of wisdom involves asking general and fundamental questions.
  • It often does not result in straightforward answers but may help a person to better understand the topic, examine their life, dispel confusion, and overcome prejudices and self-deceptive ideas associated with common sense.
• • Socrates stated that "the unexamined life is not worth living" to highlight the role of philosophical inquiry in understanding one's own existence.
• • According to Bertrand Russell, "the man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason."
• • Attempts to provide more precise definitions of philosophy are controversial and are studied in metaphilosophy.
  • Some approaches argue that there is a set of essential features shared by all parts of philosophy.
  • Others see only weaker family resemblances or contend that it is merely an empty blanket term.
• • Precise definitions are often only accepted by theorists belonging to a certain philosophical movement and are revisionistic according to Søren Overgaard et al. in that many presumed parts of philosophy would not deserve the title "philosophy" if they were true.
• Precise definitions are often only accepted by theorists belonging to a certain philosophical movement and are revisionistic according to Søren Overgaard et al. in that many presumed parts of philosophy would not deserve the title "philosophy" if they were true.
• Some definitions characterize philosophy in relation to its method, like pure reasoning.

  
  

  Others focus on its topic

  • For example, as the study of the biggest patterns of the world as a whole or as the attempt to answer the big questions. 

  
  

  Both approaches have the problem that they are usually either too wide, by including non-philosophical disciplines, or too narrow, by excluding some philosophical sub-disciplines.
• • Immanuel Kant, who holds that the task of philosophy is united by four questions:
  • "What can I know?";
  • "What should I do?";
  • "What may I hope?";
  • "What is the human being?"
• • Many definitions of philosophy emphasize its intimate relation to science.
  • In this sense, philosophy is sometimes understood as a proper science in its own right.
  • According to some naturalistic philosophers, such as W. V. O. Quine, philosophy is an empirical yet abstract science that is concerned with wide-ranging empirical patterns instead of particular observations.
• • Science-based definitions usually face the problem of explaining why philosophy in its long history has not progressed to the same extent or in the same way as the sciences.
  • This problem is avoided by seeing philosophy as an immature or provisional science whose subdisciplines cease to be philosophy once they have fully developed.
  • In this sense, philosophy is sometimes described as "the midwife of the sciences".
• • Other definitions focus on the contrast between science and philosophy.
  • A common theme among many such conceptions is that philosophy is concerned with  meaning,  understanding, or the clarification of language.
• • According to one view, philosophy is conceptual analysis, which involves finding the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of concepts.
  • Another definition characterizes philosophy as thinking about thinking to emphasize its self-critical, reflective nature.
• • A further approach presents philosophy as a linguistic therapy.
  • According to Ludwig Wittgenstein, for instance, philosophy aims at dispelling misunderstandings to which humans are susceptible due to the confusing structure of ordinary language.
• • Phenomenologists, such as Edmund Husserl, characterize philosophy as a "rigorous science" investigating essences.
  • They practice a radical suspension of theoretical assumptions about reality to get back to the "things themselves", that is, as originally given in experience.
• • Phenomenologists contend that this base-level of experience provides the foundation for higher-order theoretical knowledge, and that one needs to understand the former to understand the latter.
• • An early approach found in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy is that philosophy is the spiritual practice of developing one's rational capacities.
  • This practice is an expression of the philosopher's love of wisdom and has the aim of improving one's well-being by leading a reflective life.
• The Stoics saw philosophy as an exercise to train the mind and thereby achieve eudaimonia and flourish in life.