1.
What is Philosophy?
The derivation of “philosophy” from the Greek roots is suggested by the
following definitions.
Philo—love of, affinity for, liking of
Philander—to engage in love affairs frivolously
Philanthropy—love of mankind in general
Philately—to collect postage stamps
Phile—(as in “anglophile”) one having a love for
Philology—having a liking for words
Sophos—wisdom sophist—lit. one who loves knowledge
Sophomore—wise and mOros—foolish; i.e. one who thinks he knows
many things
Sophisticated—one who is knowledgeable
A suggested definition for our beginning study will be as follows.
Philosophy is the systematic inquiry into the principles and
presuppositions of any filed of study.
Psychologically, philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or a calling to
answer or to ask, or even to comment upon certain peculiar problems
(i.e., those problems usually in the main branches discussed below).

2.
There is, perhaps, no one single sense of the word “philosophy.”
Eventually we must abandon the attempt to define adequately
philosophy and, instead, turn to what philosophers do—i.e., study the
practice of philosophy.
The Main Branches of Philosophy are divided as to the nature of the
questions asked in each area. The integrity of these divisions cannot be
rigidly maintained.
Axiology: the study of value; the investigation of its nature, criteria, and
metaphysical status.
We can briefly elaborate as follows.
Nature of value: is value a fulfillment of desire, a pleasure, a
preference, or simply an interest?
Criteria of value: de gustibus non (est) disputandum or do standards
apply?
Status of value: how are values related to (scientific) facts? What
ultimate worth, if any, do human values have?
Axiology is sub-divided into two main parts.

3.
Ethics: the study of values in human behavior or the study of moral
problems: e.g., (1) the rightness and wrongness of actions, (2) the kinds
of things which are good or desirable, and (3) blameworthy and
praiseworthy actions.
Aesthetics: the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into feelings,
judgments, or standards of beauty and related concepts.
Epistemology: the study of knowledge. In particular, epistemology is
the study of the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge.
Epistemology investigates the origin, structure, methods, and integrity
of knowledge.
Consider the truth of the statement, “The earth is round.” This
statement can be successively translated as …
“The earth is spherical”
“The earth is an oblate spheroid” (i.e., flattened at the poles).
But what about the Himalayas and the Marianias Trench? Even if we
surveyed exactly the shape of the earth, our process of surveying would
alter the surface, albeit marginally.

4.
As further examples, consider two well-known problems in
epistemology.
Russell’s Five-Minute-World Hypothesis: Suppose the earth were
created five minutes ago, complete with memory images, history
books, records, etc., how could we ever know of it?
Suppose everything in the universe (including space) were to expand
uniformly a thousand times larger. How could we ever know it?
Russell’s Five-Minute-World Hypothesis is a philosophical problem; the
universe’s expanding is a scientific problem since can be answered by
elementary physics.
Ontology or Metaphysics: the study of what is really real. Metaphysics
deals with the so-called first principles of the natural order and “the
ultimate generalizations available to the human intellect.”
What kinds of things exist? How is existence possible?
How do ideas exist if they have no size, shape, or color. (My idea of the
Empire State Building is quite as small as my idea of a book.)

5.
E.g. the truths of mathematics: in what manner do geometric figures
exist?
What is spirit? Or soul? Or matter? Or space? Are they made of the
same sorts of things?