Introduction
Philosophy can be described as the general study of different fundamental problems that affect our society. This revolves around a wide range and array of issues that touch on aspects like existence, reason, and knowledge. Philosophy can also study the mind and language which are issues that the society has had to examine now and then due to their position and place.
As much as there are other ways of dealing with such problems, philosophy is different based on its critical and systematic approach. In this case, it should be understood that philosophy relies a lot on rational arguments which is distinct in its way. Philosophy has been occasionally identified with the love for wisdom which can be traced on what it has always stood for (Cottingham 34).
We can say that philosophy is the love of wisdom which can be attained by effective intellectual means. Therefore, it should occur that philosophy might also revolve around understanding various aspects of nature through empirical methods and continued logical reasoning. As much as there are different definitions of the word philosophy, nobody can underestimate the importance that it has in our society.
This is because it involves some critical analysis of different beliefs that have occasionally defined our co-existence and relationships. Therefore, this means that it is a discipline that combines a set of ideas that ultimately relate to different activities (Katherine 57).
Philosophy is very important in our lives because it sets a lot of values by which we ultimately live. All in all, this paper will touch on this issue by looking at various branches of philosophy which is good for general understanding.
Discussion
Philosophy can be divided into different branches based on the prevailing circumstances under which they are applied. In this case, there are four main branches of philosophy though others have been coming up as time goes by. These main branches are ethics, logic, metaphysics, and epistemology.
Logic revolves around different rules that relate in one way or the other to rational thought. This is normally done by trying to codify existing rules as time goes by. In this case, it is done by looking at different structures of arguments that can give way to truth.
In the process, full extraction of knowledge is emphasized to give good evidence on what is being argued about. This is a very important tool because it is mostly used in inquiries. Logic is a very important branch because it helps philosophers to cope with various problems based on the difficult to understand the nature of language (Juergensmeyer 20).
Epistemology should be understood as the study of knowledge from different perspectives. This mostly revolves around the criteria that must be satisfied for a proper understanding of different things. In this case, there are instances where we might need to believe in something for it to count.
There are certain things that need to be understood for a given position and preposition to be true in real life situations. Metaphysics is mostly concerned with the nature of things. In this case, there is some pursuit to try and understand things that do exist. The structure and composition of things that do exist should be understood in this case (Blackburn 44).
All in all, metaphysics tries to understand the reasoning behind the fact that people might either have free will or not. There is questioning as per to why abstract objects can be said to be existing. This branch of philosophy tries to understand why brains are always in a capacity to give rise to minds.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that explains the nature of rights and wrongs in our society. In a broad perspective, it looks at good and evil things in the community. The foundations of morality are evaluated in this branch of philosophy by looking at existing and practical considerations. This means that finer details of the society’s moral conduct are put into consideration about practicability (Cottingham 61).
There have been different arguments by various philosophers on whether there is something as moral facts at all. This is based on investigative questions that have continued to emerge as time goes by. Morality is a very complex issue that will emerge and re-emerge because of different complexities that are prevalent in our society. In this case, there are issues that will arise thereby shaking the foundations upon which ethics in the society are built upon.
Conclusion
The analysis of these branches of philosophy helps broadly to understand the role that they play in our society. Philosophy is supposed to help in coming up with good solutions to different problems that will give us a better understanding of morals, knowledge and to a large extend rationality (Katherine 88).
As much as there are other branches of philosophy, they are related to the four main branches above. This means that philosophy covers a wide area of different societal aspects that need to be understood. The nature of philosophy differs from other disciplines which might require critical thinkers.
Works Cited
Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Print.
Cottingham, John. Western Philosophy: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Print.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. Religion in global civil society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.
Katherine, Evans. Philosophy: A Beginner’s Guide. New York: Blackwell Publishing, 1999. Print.