WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY

Some people say that Philosophy is very difficult to understand and there is no point in wasting time in reading Philosophy.

True enough, one need not read Philosophy or for that matter any other subject and still live on, but one should remember that if such a thing had happened then man would have still been in the caves and would not have been different from any other animal.

Some people think that Science is the greatest and there is no need for Philosophy at all. However, they should understand that Philosophy is the beginning of science and Philosophy also comes in when science ends.

When man does not know about something he speculates and this speculation is nothing but Philosophy. Then he experiments and that philosophical concept advances to become science.

Similarly when Science ends at a point, man again speculates, which again is Philosophy. This in turn gives rise to experimentation again and that leads to further science and so on in an unending cycle.

Apart from this there are certain human values that are beyond Science. What is meant by Good, Bad, Beauty, Love, Justice, Morals etc. cannot be dealt by Science and Philosophy comes to our rescue?

Philosophy therefore, is considered as the Queen of all Sciences. There are considered to be six divisions in Philosophy; 1) Logic, 2) Ethics, 3) Esthetics, 4) Politics, 5) Epistemology and 6) Metaphysics

1.     Logic is the study of Ideal Method in Thought and Research.

2.     Ethics is the study of Ideal Moral Conduct.

3.     Esthetics is the study of Ideal form or Beauty.

4.     Politics is the study of Ideal Social Organization.

5.     Epistemology is the study of the Interrelation of mind and matter in thought and perception

6.     Metaphysics is the study of the Ultimate Reality of all things.

Everything is Philosophy. For example writing poetry is an art. But trying to find out what is the goal of poetry, which is good poetry and which is bad poetry becomes the Philosophy of Poetry. The case is similar for all other activities like painting, Music and Dance.