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Branches of Philosophy

  • Writer: Selin Kısacıkoğlu
    Selin Kısacıkoğlu
  • Nov 17
  • 4 min read


When people hear about philosophy they usually think that it is only a boring social science that questions life. While there are a lot of parts in philosophy that focus on the meaning and the creation of life, there are also a lot of parts that contribute to science, society and the modern world. This article will focus on the branches of philosophy. While there are debates on the branches of philosophy it is considered that there are 6 main branches of philosophy:


  1. Metaphysics

  2. Epistemology

  3. Logic

  4. Ethics

  5. Aesthetics

  6. Political philosophy


You may think that these branches are still about questioning life, but these branches are extremely important to our world. As mentioned above these branches have contributed a lot to what we call “life” today. 


Metaphysics

Metaphysics is one of the oldest branches of philosophy. It questions the universe and its structure as well as the “being” of things. For example they ask questions like: 

  • What is reality?

  • What does existence mean?

  • What is the concept of time? 

  • What is the fundamental structure of the universe based on?

  • Why is there something rather than nothing?


There are a lot more to the metaphysics branch of philosophy. It divides itself into categories like ontology (philosophy of existence) or substance, time, space or causality. So basically metaphysics is the study of existence and the universe.


Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that questions scope of knowledge and origin. They question the reliability of knowledge and how we consume knowledge. There are a lot of famous philosophers that studied epistemology such as: Plato, René Descartes, Bertrand Russell, Immanuel Kant, Aristoteles, etc. They study questions like:

  • How do we know what we know?

  • How can we rely on our senses as a base of knowledge?

  • What can be a fact?

  • What are the limits of knowledge?


Some of these questions were attempted to be answered by philosophers. For instance, Plato thought that knowledge does not come from our senses, it comes from our reasonings. Or more famously Descartes argues that knowledge comes from reason, he is particularly famous for “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think therefore, I am). 



Logic

The concept of logic is a very controversial subject among philosophers, however it can be explained by the study of correct reasoning. The term “Logic” comes from the Latin word “Logos” which according to Britannica means “the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). Some questions of  logic in philosophy:

  • What are the principles of valid reasoning?

  • What is the relationship between cognition/perception and language?

  • What are the limits of human reasoning?


Ethics

Ethics is the study of morality and the distinction between right and wrong. Ethics is an important part of both the modern world and philosophy. Ethics shape laws, societal values and religions therefore we can say that ethics is a big contributor to our life. Some questions in ethics include:

  • What makes something morally right?

  • How should we live our lives?

  • Is it right to be dishonest at a good cause?

  • Which one matters more? Deontology (focusing on intentions) or consequentialism (focusing on the outcomes)?

  • What are the differences between moral and justifiable?


Aesthetics

The branch of aesthetics in philosophy is exactly like how it sounds. It studies beauty, artistic and taste related phenomena. You might ask: why would this be a different branch in philosophy? What’s so important about this? Well when you look at paintings, music or other creative arts, you sometimes like them, sometimes don’t. Aesthetics examines why something is particularly interesting or attractive to the human kind. It also involves analyzing art, aesthetics and also trying to understand the logic in an artwork. For example analyzing a literary book, or analyzing a painting is the work of aesthetics. So basically it studies perception, aesthetic judgements, taste and aesthetic attitudes.


Political Philosophy 

Political Philosophy is often left out from the main branches of philosophy, however it is a major contributor to both philosophy and our daily lives. Political philosophy involves the study of governments, political thought, societal hierarchies, justice and liberty. It is a very large topic consisting of numerous topics. However it’s main role in philosophy is to determine the best political theory to govern society. For example it studies the political theories of democracy, authoritarianism, monarchy as well as studying political ideologies like communism, liberalism, social democracy, fascism or anarchism. So basically political philosophy is used in areas like government systems, judicial systems and society. It helps our society to coexist together by aiming to determine the best possible way 


-Selin Kısacıkoğlu


References and Further Readings


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