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Jul 23, 2020 · The idea of “philosophy as a way of life” has been gaining currency both among the general public and among professional philosophers. Among the public, the interest can be seen in the increasing popularity of events such as Stoic Week, and in a variety of bestselling books. 1 Among professional philosophers, it can be seen in the surge of new grants, book series, and course offerings ...
- Stephen R. Grimm, Caleb Cohoe
- 2021
- What Does Philosophy Mean?
- How Is Philosophy done?
- How Can We Think Clearly About Thinking?
- So, Philosophy Just Rests on ‘Arguments’?
- The 4 CORE Branches of Philosophy
- Who Does Philosophy?
- Continue Learning
The word ‘philosophy’ literally means ‘love of wisdom’, and this etymology is apt, for as a subject philosophy generally refers to the study of deep, fundamental questions (like those we opened with) relating to core aspects of the human condition. These questions typically revolve around the nature of existence, knowledge, consciousness, ethics, s...
Considering such difficult, fuzzy subject matter, we might wonder how philosophers get anything done. How does philosophy make progress? How do philosophers decide what’s accurate and inaccurate? Well, it essentially comes down to thinking hard about thinking, and separating out the sound thinking from the erroneous thinking. As the philosopher Tho...
In order to separate good thinking from bad thinking, philosophy essentially runs on what philosophers call ‘arguments’, i.e. chains of reasoning that support certain conclusions. There are a whole host of ways in which arguments can be presented and structured. They can be informal, like persuading a friend to go to a certain restaurant, or a poli...
Compared to the grand instruments of modern science, the humble arguments of philosophers may not seem a very impressive toolkit. But, when you think about it, it is upon such deployments of reason that all human knowledge is built. The ability to formulate and respond to rational arguments is — arguably — among humanity’s most powerful intellectua...
While philosophical inquiry can be (and has been) applied to virtually any subject, one traditional picture organizes philosophy into four core branches. These are the branches of epistemology (the study of knowledge), metaphysics (the study of reality), value theory (the study of ethics and values), and logic(the study of correct reasoning). The p...
As we’ve seen, the concerns of philosophy are both deep and wide-ranging. There may be some areas that interest you, there may be others you find a little dry* (*cough, logic, cough). Either way, philosophers have been studying the difficult questions mentioned above for thousands of years. The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristo...
If you’re interested in learning more about philosophy, check out our follow-up piece, Why Is Philosophy Important Today, and How Can It Improve Your Life?, as well as our bite-size Life’s Big Questions course, which distills the great philosophers’ answers to some of life’s most difficult and enduring questions: Why does anything exist? Is percept...
Simple Definitions of Philosophy As A Way Of Life First off, think of ‘Philosophy as a way of life’ as using some pretty important ideas about life to make every single day better. Imagine that these ideas are like secret codes that unlock ways to be happier, smarter, and kinder. When people use these secret codes, they figure out how to face tough situations, get along with others, and ...
May 15, 2007 · So, if one’s life is meaningful, it might be so in virtue of being married to a person, who is important. Being finite, the spouse must obtain his or her importance from elsewhere, perhaps from the sort of work he or she does. This work also must obtain its meaning by being related to something else that is meaningful, and so on.
May 15, 2007 · Furthermore, it seems that talk of a “meaningless life” does not simply connote the concept of an absurd (Nagel 1970; Feinberg 1980), unreasonable (Baier 1997, ch. 5), futile (Trisel 2002), or wasted (Kamm 2003, 210–14) life. Fortunately the field does not need an extremely precise analysis of the concept of life's meaning (or definition ...
Mar 2, 2019 · However, this should not and does not have bearing on our own lives and our own well-being. As we are all unique and different, comparing yourself to others is counter-productive and damaging to the cause of finding a personal philosophy of life. Dedicate all concern to your own life and how to better it, not to others’ material achievements. 2.
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Jun 25, 2024 · The meaning of life. Philosophy offers us different vantage points from which we can reflect on the meaning of life. Indeed, fundamental questions like existence, morality, and freedom can help us understand our own lives and find purpose. Philosophy also teaches us that life doesn’t have a universal meaning.
