Six Branches of Philosphy

Branches of Philosophy

Six Branches of Philosophy

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Six Branches of Philosophy

Philosophy is seeking knowledge in order to develop a better understanding of the truth of the matter. It’s the search to better understand different realities by asking question, arguing points, and pursuing answers to life’s questions. There are six branches of philosophy each focused on answering different questions. Metaphysics looks beyond physics to what is real while epistemology is the understanding of knowledge. Other branches of philosophy include ethics, logic, reason, aesthetic, and political.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics seeks the truth about God, spirituality, and other abstract possibilities, such as being, knowing, and free will (Fine, 2010). There have been times in everyone’s life when they have questioned what is real and what is not. One of the biggest personal struggles has been with my faith. While I believe in God doubt creeps in and I struggle with the belief of an afterlife. I question why evolution makes sense but in order to be a faithful Christian you must reject what science has been proven to be true.

I often wonder if spirituality has to mean when we die we go to a magic place in the sky or does it simply mean we continue to exist in another form. Faith is a struggle leaving behind many questions that cannot be logically explained but does everything in the universe has to be seen or can there be a whole other reality that exists within the world we live. Physics say heaven is about a foot from Earth which means we mingle everyday but the Bible speaks of a paradise. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Despite this promise it is an everyday struggle to wrap my mind around something I can’t see, feel, or touch.

Epistemology

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It looks how people acquire knowledge and differentiates between what is true and what is not. Everyone learns or gains knowledge differently. Some people are visual and must be the information before it processes while others must hear the information in order for it to become a part of their knowledge. Basically people cannot understand knowledge or knowledge cannot exist if it is not understood. What is rational or justified to one person may not be so for another person or group.

A good example involves something I watch on the discovery channel. It involved a tribe that was recently located deep in the Amazon rainforest. When they saw a helicopter fly by they began to immediately shoot spears at the helicopter. These people had no knowledge of a helicopter and perceived the giant metal object as a threat. They had no concept or no reality of people being able to fly in objects and would develop their own truth for what they saw. There truth about the helicopter will become that it is a dangerous threat and they will develop other knowledge about the helicopter based on what they saw.

Ethics

Ethics is applying knowledge to making the best decision that will create the least harm. In other words ethics is taking a situation and doing what a person knows is right. Ethical decisions can be a struggle with no good outcome. Ethics is determining what action is good or justified. Some people will never ask themselves philosophical questions, such as what is the knowledge of knowledge but they will be faced with an ethical decision. They will have to determine what course of action is good or which will create the least harm.

One ethical situation that arose was at work. While working as a server at a restaurant I heard another server complaining there was no tip on the credit card receipt from their last guest. As I was walking away I saw the server take a pen and write in a five dollar tip. I turned around and said you can’t do that. Her response was I have both copies of the receipt so there is no way they can prove they didn’t leave the tip. She then proceeded to tell me I should do it too if a get stiffed by a guest with a credit card receipt. I had two options. One was tell and the other was to forget it because she was right, no one would know. I decided to inform my manger about this situation and let me determine what to do.

Aesthetics

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Overtime everyone develops their idea of beauty. What might be beautiful to one person will not be beautiful to another. I learned that after I bought a large painting for several hundred dollars of a mountain painted at night. I thought it was gorgeous and would go with the house and furniture but both my roommates hated it and thought it was ugly. I ended up putting the painting in my room. This is when I learned other people had different tastes and different ideas about beauty.

Political Philosophy

Political philosophy refers to questioning, answering, and arguing points of government. Political philosophy is a discussion of the way the government should be run and why one government structure is more effective than another. This includes studying the effect of a government structure on political and social processes. This usually involves analyzing and interpreting ideas like freedom, justice, authority and democracy and then applying them in a critical way to the social and political institutions that currently exist (Miller, 1998).

Political philosophy looks at different arguments, such as is communism better for the people or the ability to pursue liberties. You are always hearing on the news about the government treading on what civil liberty or another but the public usually pays little attention unless it s so outrageous it cannot be ignored but even then these issues can be ignored. I am guilt of this but after learning about the Patriot Act I began to question the way our government functions and if it is in fact a true democracy. When the government can ignore civil liberties in favor of security does that not make us a military state? Before the Patriot Act and the NSA I never questioned my due process rights and just assumed they would always be there.

Social Philosophy

Social Philosophy is focused on social issues that surface in society and understanding what is creating these issues. It looks at different topics, such as the social contract, individualism, social entities, self, etc. Major parts of social philosophy overlap with political philosophy, especially in regards to authority, revolution, property, and rights but it also provides a discussion on cognition, psychology, and sociology (Hughes, 2007). Social philosophy asks how people should behave in society and seeks to establish an understanding of social norms. It provides a discussion on social values and looks to understand how people socialize or conform.

As a child of a Navy man I spent a great deal of my life living in countries overseas. In this constant change of countries I quickly learned to adapt and quickly made friends even when there was a language barrier. The funny thing was in my teens we moved back to the United States and this was the hardest time I had adapting to a new environment. During this time I reflected on why in some environments adaptation was easy while in others it was much harder. In my reflections I realized some societies are just more accepting than others and less competitive.

References

Fine, K. (2010). Chapter one: What is Metaphysics? P. 8-25. Retrieved February 14, 2014 from

http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/docs/IO/1160/met.pdf

Hughes, S. (2007). Social Philosophy. Retrieved February 14, 2014 from

http://onlinephilosophyclub.com/social-philosophy.php

Miller, D. (1998). Political philosophy. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

London: Routledge