Philosophical Disciplines (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what the philosophical disciplines are and what they are, what they deal with and the characteristics of each one.

branches of philosophy philosophical disciplines — Philosophical disciplines offer different views on human existence.

What are the philosophical disciplines?

Philosophical disciplines are those branches of philosophy that, due to their object of study, methodology and history, constitute their own, formal and autonomous discipline. Most of them were consolidated by the universities of the 19th century and by those who academically practiced philosophy. Each has its own objectives and particular approaches to reasoning.

Many of the areas of knowledge that we currently consider part of the sciences, such as astronomy (today part of physics), were at one time branches of natural philosophy. For this reason, Philosophy is considered the mother of all sciences.

The current philosophical disciplines were formed by the specificity of their field of study. Many are as old as philosophy itself, and in many cases, obtained their names from the internal classification of the Aristotelian corpus which is how Aristotle's work is known in its entirety.

The most recent ones appeared as their older sisters developed and, over time, they acquired specificity and their own, autonomous ways of working.

The most worked disciplines today are:

Metaphysics
epistemology
Epistemology
Logic
Ethics
Aesthetics
Political philosophy
Philosophy of language
Philosophy of mind

Metaphysics

Metaphysics takes its name from Latin metaphysics and this one from Greek meta tà physiká (μετὰ (τὰ) φυσικά), meaning “beyond nature. Your fundamental question par excellence investigate what being is or what the being of each thing is be it reality, entities, time, space, existence or God himself.

You may be interested: Plato's Cave Myth

Metaphysics has two main branches: ontology, which is the study of being as such, and teleology, which is the study of transcendent ends.

epistemology

Epistemology, also known as the “Theory of Knowledge”, is the branch of philosophy that deals with thinking about what knowledge is how it originates and what its limits are.

Epistemology is not concerned with the possible types of knowledge but with the nature of knowledge itself, that is, with its understanding as an object of study. For this reason it has many points of contact with disciplines such as psychology, education or logic.

Epistemology

Epistemology takes its name from the Greek epistêmê (ἐπιστήμη), which translates as “knowledge”, and constitutes a branch close to epistemology. The epistemology studies the mechanisms of obtaining knowledge.

Specifically, it deals with the historical, psychological or sociological circumstances that lead to the obtaining and validation of human knowledge, as well as the criteria that serve to approve or invalidate it.

Logic

Logic, as a branch of philosophy, is also a formal science. It takes care of distinguish and justify why valid and invalid reasoning processes exist based on the principles of demonstration and inference, which include the study of paradoxes, fallacies and truth itself.

Logic has specific applications within the field of other scientific disciplines, such as mathematical logic, computational logic, etc.

Continue in: Logic

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, studies human behavior and aims to understand the differences between right and wrong good and bad, and the notions of virtue, happiness and duty. Ethics is the discipline that studies morality, although many use these two terms synonymously.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics takes its name from the Greek aísthêsis (αἴσθησις), which translates as “perception” or “sensation.” It is the branch of philosophy that makes beauty its object of study.

It studies the essence and perception of beauty, aesthetic judgments, aesthetic experiences, concepts such as the beautiful, the ugly and the sublime. In general, aesthetics are associated with different forms of art and it also deals with the feelings that these evoke in us.

Political philosophy

political philosophy studies the relationship between individuals and society and deals with fundamental concepts such as government, laws, politics, freedom, equality, justice, rights or political power. It questions what makes a government legitimate or not and what its functions are.

political philosophy approaches political science or political science. The latter deal with the history, current affairs and future of politics, while philosophy seeks to theorize about its fundamental concepts.

Philosophy of language

The philosophy of language includes the philosophical study of language. Investigate the most fundamental aspects such as meaning, reference, its limits, or the relationship between language, the world and thought. It often works alongside linguistics, although the latter studies language from an empirical perspective, while the philosophy of language asks about its essence and ontological behavior.

Philosophy of mind

The philosophy of mind makes the human mind its object of study. Study perceptions, sensations, emotions, fantasies and dreams thoughts and even beliefs. It is questioned what defines something as belonging to the realm of the mental. Furthermore, the philosophy of mind reflects on how well we can know our own mind.

References

Marías, J., Zubiri, X., & and Gasset, JO (1941). History of philosophy (No. B94. M37 1974.). Madrid: Western Magazine.
Reale, G., & Antiseri, D. (2007). History of philosophy. San Pablo Editorial.
Hegel, GWF, & Terrón, E. (1971). Introduction to the history of philosophy. Aguilar.
Deleuze, G., Guattari, F., & Kauf, T. (2001). What is philosophy?. Barcelona: Anagram.
Lyotard, J.F., & Veiga, J.M. (1989). Why philosophize?: four conferences. Paidós.
Greek, D. M. (1967). Classical Greek-Spanish. Vox
Heidegger, M. (2013). What is philosophy?. Herder Editorial.