(November 5, 2017 at 2:13 am)Hammy Wrote: The etymology of philosophy: The "Phil" part comes from "Phila" or love and the "sophy" part comes from "Sophia" or "wisdom" in ancient Greece. Etymologically philosophy means "the love of wisdom".
What philosophy developed into is it's pretty much questioning the fundamental concepts of anything. You can question the fundamentals about science and have the philosophy of science, you can apply fundamental questioning to politics and have the philosophy of politics. You can have philosophy of mind. By questioning the fundamentals of mind.
You can apply fundamental questioning to anything . . . even philosophy itself, which is known as metaphilosophy. But the two main fields of philosophy are epistemology and metaphysics. Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge and it asks "What, if anything, can we know?" and metaphysics is the study of existence, what things are made of, and the differences between essence and existence, and how everything fits together. Ontology being the largest subfield of metaphysics which deals specifically with questions of being.
My personal favorite field of philosophy is phenomenology which is kind of half way between science and philosophy. Phenomenology is the study of experience and the world of phenomena. It would be like studying what it's like to experience playing a game of chess, as opposed to studying chess. That would be the phenomenology of chess. For example.
Just off the top of my head.
All very good according to the present meaning unfortunately this view lead nowhere.
The Greeks that were so deep into philosophy had their mind shattered when Jesus said to them.........
the work of intellection tends to solve the problems of the things we see, and nothing more.
20. The senses were ordained to bring into the mind mere pictures of the things that pass away; they do not deal with real things; they do not comprehend eternal law.
an then he said............
24. There is no power in intellect to turn the key; philosophy and science both have toiled to get a glimpse behind the veil; but they have failed.
25. The secret spring that throws ajar the door of soul is touched by nothing else than purity in life, by prayer and holy thought.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/agjc/agjc047.htm
So here we are with this love for wisdom that lead nowhere.
Or lead to the border with real wisdom.
Surely philosophy is good but good up to the point.
After that we need a different approach that goes behind the mind.
When I did asked what philosophy is all about I didn't mean the various branches of studies but the very essence of philosophy which is nothing but a starting process that may lead higher towards a goal of life.
If philosophy is instead taken as a goal of life then is all futile because it will not lead to real wisdom with all that entail such as total peace of mind and bliss.
