Philosophy is a field of study that attempts to answer questions that cannot be resolved solely by factual information. Rather, it delves into deeper understanding and contemplation.
Key areas of philosophy include logic, critical thinking, ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and metaphysics. In essence, philosophy seeks to explore fundamental truths about ourselves, the world, and our relationships within the world. It is a pursuit of wisdom that transcends mere facts and engages with complex concepts across various domains.
While philosophy is sometimes considered to be a field of science, it is more often placed within the humanities. The humanities encompass various disciplines, including literary theory, history, art history, musicology, linguistics, film studies, religious studies, and philosophy, all of which collectively seek to understand human culture, creativity, and expression.
Once referred to as the "queen of the sciences," philosophy plays a crucial role within the humanities. Philosophers engage in critical inquiry, examining fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, ethics, and reality, each of which explores abstract concepts and challenges assumptions. Philosophy does, however, intersect with psychology, geography, sociology, anthropology, and other fields of science, so there is some overlap. Philosophy is an integral part of the humanities, fostering critical thinking, interdisciplinary connections, and transformative insights. While there is no single definition that encapsulates its breadth, philosophers explore these big questions through rigorous inquiry and logical argumentation. Philosophy enriches our understanding of what it means to be human.
The practice of philosophy is characterized by several general features. It is a form of rational inquiry, it aims to be systematic, and it tends to critically reflect on its own methods and presuppositions.
The core branches of philosophy are aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, logic, and metaphysics. Aesthetics focuses on beauty, art, and the nature of aesthetic experiences; ethics explores moral principles, values, and how we ought to live; epistemology investigates knowledge, belief, and how we acquire justified beliefs; logic studies reasoning, inference, and valid argumentation; and metaphysics examines the nature of reality, existence, and the fundamental structure of the universe.
Western philosophy came into prominence in ancient Greece, where it included philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, who laid the groundwork for Western philosophy. Medieval philosophy focused on religious topics, blending Christian theology with classical thought. The Renaissance period saw a renewal of interest in Platonism, and humanism also emerged during this period. Modern Western philosophy featured such philosophers as Descartes, Kant, and others, including Karl Marx.
Eastern philosophy encompasses traditions from India (Vedanta, Buddhism) and China (Confucianism, Taoism). New Confucianism aims to modernize and rethink Confucian teachings, particularly its compatibility with democratic ideals and modern science.
Dominant in Anglo-American philosophy since the early 20th century, analytic philosophy emphasizes the study of language and the logical analysis of concepts. Analytic philosophers investigate concepts by examining the language in which they are expressed. Some focus on uncovering the underlying logical structures of sentences to define concepts, while others explore how these concepts manifest in everyday language and behavior. Overall, it's a movement that seeks solutions to philosophical problems through proposition or sentence analysis.
Continental philosophy encompasses a diverse range of Western philosophical schools and movements primarily associated with countries on the European continent, especially Germany and France. It includes German idealism, phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, structuralism, post-structuralism, deconstruction, French feminism, psychoanalytic theory, and critical theory from the Frankfurt school. Unlike analytic philosophy, which emphasizes logical analysis and natural science, continental philosophy focuses on philosophical reflection to understand knowledge, experience, and reality.
Other philosophical concepts include historical analysis and critical thinking. Historical analysis traces philosophical ideas across time, and critical thinking is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. It involves being aware of biases, consistently evaluating sources, and applying rational, unbiased reasoning.
Recommended Resources
Acknowledging a goal of reaching "skeptics, seekers, believers, and a hurting world with powerful evidence for God and the Good News of Jesus," the site also discusses wider concepts, such as philosophical inquiries about existence, suffering, morality, and purpose. It also examines non-Christian philosophical thought, such as Bertrand Russell, Confucius, Nietzsche, Aristotle, Plato, and Abd-ar-Rahman III. Various systems of thought are discussed, such as atheism, humanism, and materialism.
https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/
American Philosophical Society
The APS is an American scholarly organization founded as the Philosophical Society by Benjamin Franklin, James Alexander, Francis Hopkinson, John Bartram, Philip Syng, and others in 1743 in Philadelphia. The organization promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach. The organization is considered the first learned society founded in what became the United States.
https://www.amphilsoc.org/
Center for Process Studies, The
Founded by John B. Cobb and David Ray Griffin in 1973, the CPS is a faculty center of the Claremont School of Theology in association with Claremont Graduate University. Through seminars, conferences, publications, and the library, CPS seeks to promote new ways of thinking based on the work of philosophers Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. Its programs, publications, educational opportunities, book series, and archives are set forth, along with a blog.
https://www.ctr4process.org/
Epicurus & Epicurean Philosophy
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based on the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher who emphasized materialism, atomism, and the pursuit of pleasure while rejecting superstition and divine intervention. His philosophy focused on achieving happiness through moderation, friendship, and the avoidance of pain. His relationships with other philosophic disciplines are outlined, along with a history of Epicurus and the development of Epicurean philosophy.
https://epicurus.net/
The international organization of scholars was created in 1974 to stimulate scholarship on all aspects of thought and the writings of David Hume, an 18th-century Scottish philosopher, historian, and essayist. Membership is open to anyone interested in Hume and his philosophical and literary contemporaries. Membership information, meeting and conference schedules, and an overview of its Hume Studies and scholarship programs are set forth, along with contacts.
https://www.humesociety.org/
HYLE: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry
HYLE is a double-blind, peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to all philosophical aspects of chemistry. Its articles deal with epistemological, methodological, foundational, and ontological problems of chemistry and its subfields. The journal publishes original articles, essays, book reviews, reports, and short biographies. Its board, a bibliography, statistics, submission guidelines, and contacts are provided, along with access to the journal and archives.
http://www.hyle.org/
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
IEP is a scholarly online encyclopedia on philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The publication publishes solely peer-reviewed and blind-refereed original papers, with contributions generally by invitation. Contributors are recognized as leading international specialists within their field. Founded in 1995, the IEP operates as a non-profit organization with the goal of providing accessible and scholarly information on philosophy. Articles are listed alphabetically.
https://iep.utm.edu/
Formerly known as the PhilPapers Archive, PhilArchives is an open-access e-print archive on topics related to philosophy. It is built on and integrated with the PhilPapers database, although access to PhilArchives does not require a user account. PhilArchive consists entirely of articles submitted by users, and readers are invited to submit their work to the archive. There are currently almost 100,000 works in the archive, listed under nearly 6,000 topics.
https://philarchive.org/
Philosophical Gourmet Report, The
Also known as the Leiter Report or PGR, the Philosophical Gourmet Report was founded by philosopher and law professor Brian Leiter. The Gourmet Report is based on a survey of philosophers nominated as evaluators by the Report's advisory board. Its purpose is to provide guidance to prospective Ph.D. students, particularly those who intend to pursue a professional career in academic philosophy. Its methods, criteria, and rankings are set forth, and job placement information is provided.
https://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/
Established in 1991, the bimonthly philosophy magazine is sold from newsstands and bookstores in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Canada and is also available on digital devices and online. While focusing on philosophy, the publication aims to appeal to a wider audience, including students and philosophy teachers. Its issues are available online, and articles are categorized. Other resources include a discussion forum, podcasts, and an online store.
https://philosophynow.org/
Maintained by the Centre for Digital Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, PhilPapers is an interactive academic database of journal articles, open-access archives, and personal web pages in philosophy. It has more than 350,000 registered users, including the majority of professional philosophers and graduate students. A community of philosophers maintains a comprehensive index and bibliography of philosophy. Readers can browse by topic or journal.
https://philpapers.org/
Subtitled "Forum for Intercultural Philosophy," Polylog is an international association that promotes philosophical exchange beyond national and cultural boundaries. Its goal is to give voice to marginalized philosophical perspectives from various cultural contexts, including Asian, African, and Latin American viewpoints. The site uses a virtual platform that fosters a philosophical polylogue among thinkers worldwide, creating a space for discussion.
https://www.polylog.org/
The Pragmatism Cybrary is an online resource that studies pragmatism in American philosophy. It discusses the definitions and origins of pragmatism, bibliographic and biographic information, and information on its lineage, including its roots and influential thinkers. Contemporary book reviews on pragmatism and announcements of upcoming events related to pragmatism are included. Links to pragmatism centers, societies, and other organizations are provided.
http://www.pragmatism.org/
Proceedings of the Friesian School, Fourth Series
Jakob Friedrich Fries was a 19th-century German philosopher and mathematician with an interest in metaphysics, psychology, the philosophy of science, and philosophical logic, who sought to give a new foundation to and continue the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, an earlier German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment-era thinkers. This is a non-peer-reviewed electronic journal of philosophy created in 1996, containing several essays on a variety of issues.
https://friesian.com/
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Edited by Edward Craig, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy was first published by Routledge in 1998. Originally published in ten volumes of print and as a CD-ROM, it was made available online on a subscription basis in 2002, and is regularly updated with new articles and revisions to existing articles. Currently, it has about 1,300 contributors providing over 2,000 scholarly articles. Free trial access is available, along with teaching and learning resources.
https://www.rep.routledge.com/
