What is philosophy?

Philosophy, from Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), means “love of wisdom.” The term was probably coined by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484–ca. 425 BCE) and first used by the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras (570–495 BCE). Philosophy is in part concerned with the reasons for and against beliefs about such questions as what exists, what is true, what is valuable, how people should behave, and how to live one's life.<br><br>At least seven fields of study make up philosophy: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, and history of philosophy. Logic is the study of arguments, inference, and the principles of reasoning. Metaphysics is the study of existence, or reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, and potentiality and actuality. Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, including the relationship between knowledge and such concepts as perception, belief, and justification. Ethics is concerned with values and duties. Aesthetics is the study of values in art and beauty. Political philosophy is the study of the best kind of government, and history of philosophy is the study of the history of philosophical thought or the study of central questions in the history of philosophy.<br><br>Philosophy is distinguished from the sciences both by its methods and by its subject matter. Philosophical methods include critical thinking, logic, and systematic inquiry or dialectics. Subject matter in philosophy is normally theoretical, meaning that it is not subject to experimentation. Political philosophy and ethics often overlap with areas in the social sciences, but the social sciences remain empirical. The fundamental difference between philosophy and the sciences is the difference between theory and observation. Philosophy deals with theory while the sciences deal with observations.