Philosophy: definition, scope, and fundamental questions

Philosophy is a one of the most perplexing, interesting and intriguing branch of study that seeks to understand the world from a viewpoint not commonly used. Three are many different branches of philosophy and three important ones include metaphysics, epistemology and axiology.

Epistemology refers to the branch of study that tries to go deeper into the meaning and scope of knowledge. The field is concerned with important and pertinent questions concerning knowledge such as what is knowledge, how is it acquired and how do we know some of things that we know. For example we understand that adding 2 and 2 would give us 4. Epistemology is simply concerned with the origin of this knowledge and not with how we add etc. Moser (2002) writes: "Epistemology characterized broadly, is an account of knowledge. Within the discipline of philosophy, epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge and justification: in particular, the study of (a) the defining components, (b) the substantive conditions or sources, and (c) the limits of knowledge and justification. Categories (a)-(c) have prompted traditional philosophical controversy over the analysis of knowledge and justification, the sources of knowledge and justification (in the case, for instance, of rationalism vs. empiricism), and the status of skepticism about knowledge and justification."

Axiology on the other hand is concerned with values that people attach to things. Everyone knows that there are good and bad views attached to things especially positive and negative or low and high values attached to different things. Axiologists study how this value system is developed or acquired. In simpler words, axiology is the philosophy of religion as Brightman (1940 explained:

Philosophy of religion is a branch of metaphysics (specifically of axiology) which interprets the relations of man's experience of religious values to the rest of his experiences; thus it seeks both to contribute concrete religious values to the interpretation of experience as a whole and to criticize those values in the light of a rational view. Philosophy of religion thus has no methods, no criteria, no authorities which are not the common property of all philosophy

Metaphysics on the other hand transcends common knowledge. It is that branch of philosophy that deals with nature of reality that goes beyond the normal scope of science. It is by far the most important component of philosophy and the origin of it is credited to the works of Aristotle. Meta literally means, "after," but in philosophy it also means beyond or above thus indicating that metaphysics is a science that transcends physics. In his own writings, Aristotle called the study first philosophy, the science of being or ontology, and theology. It may be defined, tentatively as the science of the first principles of reality, or the theory of the structure and meaning of reality as a whole, or the theory of the nature of the cosmos. Philosophers are not in entire agreement as to the precise scope of the subject. All are agreed that metaphysics deals with the problems of the structure and meaning of reality; but some hold that epistemology, the doctrine of the nature of knowledge and its place in reality, is a separate discipline. Some hold that the problems of the place of values in reality or of the relationships of existence and value (axiology) do not belong to metaphysics. If one accepted these distinctions, philosophical system would consist of three parts -- epistemology, metaphysics, and axiology, or the theory of the place of truth, goodness and beauty in the universe. While it would not be in accord with historic usage to deny the term "philosopher" to every thinker who has not achieved a systematic conception of the universe, a cosmology or metaphysics, a full or well-rounded philosophy is a theory of the universe. Hence metaphysics is identical in scope with philosophical system. It is the theory of the first principles of reality. It is not quite possible to develop a theory of truth or knowledge without giving birth to a theory of reality. It is thus equally inconceivable to consider the place of values in reality without raising the entire problem of the nature and place of personality. Since every fundamental problem of philosophy is closely connected with all the others, it is, in the end, the most consistent procedure to recognize that metaphysics and philosophical system are identical in scope and content.

Philosophy is a broad science and it is normally used as an umbrella term for comprehensive body of studies. It is usually used for the study of inordinate concepts such as ethics, logic and aesthetics. But it also goes beyond these to study religion, social values, political theories etc. For many decades even psychology was considered a part of philosophy but not anymore. Every science involves philosophical problems, but the above-mentioned subjects all raise, in one form or another, the problem of values and thus start metaphysical questions of central import.

Thus metaphysics is the clearing house for all fundamental philosophical problems. It is the comprehensive discipline in which all philosophical issues and theories converge. Indeed, inasmuch as the special sciences, such as physics, biology, psychology, and sociology, set out from unexamined dogmatic assumptions and issue, severally, in various uncoordinated results which require synthesis, in order to yield a consistent world view, to metaphysics belongs the twofold task of critically examining the primary assumptions of the sciences and of synthesizing their conclusions into a harmonious whole. As a critical inquiry into the validity, scope and interrelations of the respective fundamental assumptions and conclusions of the special sciences, metaphysics is the criticism of the categories, that is, of the chief concepts which man uses in the ordering and mastering of experience. But as widely accepted this branch might have been, it has also faced criticism from famous names such as Kant and Voltaire. Many felt that metaphysics was not to be given the kind of attention that it had come to garner. (Walsh, 1963, p 13)

However metaphysics remains an important branch of study and continues to occupy a significant place in the world of philosophy.

Philosophy is a vast field which also means that there will be as many differing views about what philosophical thought is and what is not. Stephen Stich has introduced a new dimension to the philosophical discourse by focusing on the reasons why there is low representation of women in the club exclusively catering to philosophers. He believes that there is a possibility that women do not have the same intuitions about certain philosophical queries as men and while this needs further experiments for it to become a fact, it is an interesting way of expanding on 'what is philosophy' discussion.