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This Filo Notes whiteboard session introduces philosophy, defining it etymologically as "love of wisdom" (philia and Sophia) – a strong desire for and correct application of knowledge. Traditionally, philosophy is viewed as a science studying beings (all existing things, material or immaterial) and their ultimate causes using reason alone. Key philosophical questions include the origin of the world, the existence of God, the meaning of life, and ethical dilemmas like euthanasia. Philosophy employs reason, critical thinking, and logical analysis. However, philosophers disagree on its definition; Karl Jaspers, for example, prioritizes questions over answers.

The session then outlines philosophy's four main branches: metaphysics (study of things beyond the physical, subdivided into general metaphysics/ontology – studying being and existence – and special metaphysics, including cosmology, psychology/anthropology, and theodicy); epistemology (study of knowledge, its nature, scope, and justification); logic (study of correct thinking and valid arguments); and ethics (study of moral human actions, right conduct, and the good life, distinct from morality, which is the practice). Each branch's core questions and sub-disciplines are briefly discussed, emphasizing the schematic nature of the overview.

00:00:01 hello everyone welcome to filo notes this is our daily whiteboard where we will be discussing relevant topics in philosophy every single day and for our very first edition I will present the definition of philosophy and briefly discuss its major branches but specifically I will address the question what is philosophy now I would like to start off with its etymological definition so philosophy particularly Western philosophy comes from the two Greek words philia which means love and Sophia which

00:00:48 means wisdom thus etymological is speaking philosophy means the love of wisdom as is well known love in this context is understood as a strong desire for a particular objects while wisdom is understood as a correct application of knowledge thus philosophy as the love of wisdom at least in this context could refer to the strong desire of the human person to possess knowledge and apply it correctly so it's not a coincidence therefore that most philosophers in the ancient world particularly in Greece India and China

00:01:38 were sages or wise men think for example of Socrates Gautama Buddha Confucius and loud - traditionally however philosophy is defined as a science that studies beings in their ultimate causes reasons in the principles through the aid of human reason alone and when we speak of being or beings in philosophy in this context we mean all things that exist material or immaterial an example of beings are stones trees persons cars air water and the notions of God soul and or spirits all of these are beings and philosophy

00:02:35 studies their ultimate causes reason and principles through the aid of human reason alone in other words philosophy is concerned with a reason and principles that account for everything that exists the some of the basic questions in philosophy are what is the origin of the world of everything that exists why do this things exist rather than not to exist at all and is there God if so how can we justify the goodness of God in the face of evil and what is the meaning and purpose of life why do we have to suffer and if one is suffering

00:03:29 from an unbearable pain such as cancer is it morally right to resort to euthanasia or assisted suicide these are just some of the questions that philosophy attempted to address and in doing so philosophy uses reason as a tool which can be expressed in many forms such as the ability to reflect question articulate one's thoughts and analyze certain phenomenon or events in short philosophy attempts to understand things in a critical and logical manner it is important to note however that philosophers do not agree in a single

00:04:19 definition of philosophy in fact philosophers differ in their basic understanding of philosophy for example Karlee Esper's a famous german existence of philosopher understands philosophy as a discipline in which questions are more important than answers because answers themselves will in turn becomes questions after addressing the question what is philosophy I will now proceed and discuss its major branches so basically philosophy is divided into four major branches namely metaphysics epistemology

00:05:13 logic and ethics metaphysics comes from the two Greek words meta which means beyond or after and physica which means physical or in nature hence etymological is speaking metaphysics means the study of things beyond the physical that is concepts or things that cannot be experienced such as the concepts of God freedom and soul metaphysics is commonly understood as the foundation of philosophy in fact hours total calls it the first philosophy originally the Greek word metaphysical which literally means after physics actually designated

00:06:14 that part of our totals works which came after those chapters that dealt with physics however it was misappropriated later by the medieval commentators on a classical texts as that which is beyond the physical this overtime metaphysics has been understood as the study of that which exists beyond the physical now metaphysics is further subdivided into two namely general metaphysics and special metaphysics general metaphysics is also referred to as ontology and under special metaphysics we have cosmology psychology or anthropology and

00:07:08 natural theology or a theodicy as mentioned earlier general metaphysics is also known as ontology ontology is derived from the two greek words Anto which means being or that which is that is everything that exists and logos which means knowledge or study note however that the term logos in ancient Greek scholarship have different connotations for example Heraclitus a Greek philosopher of the late 16th century BCE understands logos as reason or the underlying principle of all that is but going back however ontology therefore is

00:08:01 the specific branch of philosophy that studies beings in their ultimate causes reasons and principles through the aid of reason alone in other words ontology studies the first principles are the essence of all things so some of the basic questions in ontology are what is being and why do thinks exist rather than not to exist at all and what is the meaning and nature of reality also what is the underlying principle of all that exists and is there nothing although these philosophical questions are mentioned in

00:08:57 this edition please note that our concern here is just to describe very schematically the four major branches of philosophy and if you want to know more about the nature and dynamics of ontology per se you may check out this resource [Music] on the other hand we have special metaphysics which includes cosmology psychology or anthropology and natural theology or Theo de si and I will also briefly discuss each of these subcategories cosmology from the ancient Greek words cosmos which means the world and logos

00:09:44 which means study is the specific sub branch of philosophy that studies the world or the universe including its origin dynamics and characteristics as well as the laws that govern its order and some of the basic questions in cosmology are what is the origin of the world what is the basic material of which the world is formed how do things arise and in what consists its fundamental form or principle of order and is the world or universe infinite next we have psychology psychology comes from the two Greek words psyche which

00:10:41 means soul but this is loosely understood his mind and longus meaning study the psychology is the specific sub branch of philosophy that studies the soul or mind broadly construed though psychology is the study of the nature and the dynamics of the Union person as a whole with emphasis on the way the person's mind functions and the way she behaves some of the questions in psychology are what is the nature of the human person is there such thing as human nature and what is the meaning and purpose of any of life

00:11:31 and it's their life after death now how do we account for the existence of sufferings in the world lastly we have theodicy or natural theology Theo de si is derived from the Greek word theose which means God the word theodicy was coined by the famous 18th century German philosopher named gut freed fell home live nets in his 1970 work titled geodesy broadly construed theodicy is the study of God but specifically the Odyssey is concerned with a justification of the goodness of God in the face of the existence of evil in the

00:12:20 world some of the basic questions in theology are is there God what and who is God if he exists at all how do we prove the existence of God and if God exists how do we justify the existence of evil and suffering in the world and disability fin God's really necessary but then again these are just brief descriptions of those subcategories of the special metaphysics and for a detailed discussion on the special metaphysics you may refer to this material all right I think I already have briefly described the first

00:13:14 branch of philosophy called metaphysics now let's move on to the second branch of philosophy that is epistemology epistemology comes from the two Greek words epistle which means knowledge and logos which means study as it is formally defined as the study of the nature and scope of knowledge and justified belief specifically it analyzes the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth belief in justification here are some of the basic questions in epistemology what is knowledge what do we know

00:14:08 how is knowledge acquired what are the structures and limits of knowledge and what makes justified beliefs justified for an in-depth discussion of epistemology you can also check out this resource the third major branch of philosophy is logic logic comes from the Greek word logos which as I already mentioned has different meanings however I would stick to the definition that logic is the science of correct thinking or the study of the principles in criteria of valid argument more specifically logic attempts to

00:14:58 distinguish sound or good reasoning from unsound and bad reasoning the basic questions in logic includes the following what distinguishes a good argument from a bad one how can we detect a fallacy in an argument what are the criteria in determining the validity of an argument and what are the types of logic [Music] now lastly in the fourth major branch of philosophy that is ethics ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos which means custom or habit broadly construed ethics is the morality of human actions

00:15:50 ethics therefore is concerned with questions of how human persons ought to act and the search for a definition of a right conduct and the good life it is important to note that ethics is not the same with morality this is because ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good while morality indicates practice that is the rightness or wrongness of a human action and here are some of the common questions and ethics what is the right conduct as that which causes the realization of the greatest good how do

00:16:37 we determine a right conduct in other words what makes a right conduct right and what is a good life and can we attain it what is the difference between human act and actions that are based on instinct and what do people think is right all right that's it for today keep looking forward to our series of daily whiteboard additions as we try to make the learning and understanding of philosophy incredibly easy thanks for joining us today in this edition of our daily whiteboard here at filo notes I hope you find this material helpful and

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