Outline of philosophy


is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions by being critical and generally systematic and by its reliance on rational argument. It involves logical analysis of language and clarification of the meaning of words and concepts.
The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek philosophia, which literally means "love of wisdom".

Branches of philosophy

The branches of philosophy and their sub-branches that are used in contemporary philosophy are as follows.

Aesthetics

is study of the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and the creation of personal kinds of truth.

Epistemology

is the branch of philosophy that studies the source, nature and validity of knowledge.

Ethics

- study of value and morality.
  • Applied ethics - philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment. It is thus the attempts to use philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life.
  • * Bioethics - analysis of controversial ethical issues emerging from advances in medicine.
  • * Environmental ethics - studies ethical issues concerning the non-human world. It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law, environmental sociology, ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and environmental geography.
  • * Medical ethics - studies ethical issues concerning medicine and medical research.
  • * Professional ethics - ethics to improve professionalism.
  • Discourse ethics – discovery of ethical principles through the study of language.
  • Normative ethics - study of ethical theories that prescribe how people ought to act.
  • Metaethics - branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments.

Logic

- the systematic study of the form of valid inference and reasoning.
Also regarded as the separate formal science.

Metaphysics

- concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it.

Other

Philosophic traditions by region

Regional variations of philosophy.

African philosophy

Eastern philosophy

Middle Eastern philosophy

Indigenous American philosophy

Western philosophy

History of philosophy

The history of philosophy in specific contexts of time and space.

Timeline of philosophy

Ancient and classical philosophy

Philosophies during ancient history.

Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy

Classical Chinese philosophy

Classical Indian philosophy

Medieval and post-classical philosophy

Philosophies during post-classical history.

Christian philosophy

Islamic philosophy

Jewish philosophy

Post-classical Chinese philosophy

Modern and contemporary philosophy

Philosophies during the modern era.

Renaissance philosophy

Early modern philosophy

Contemporary philosophy

Philosophical schools of thought

Philosophical schools of thought not tied to particular historic contexts.

Aesthetical movements

Epistemological stances

Ethical theories

Logical systems

Metaphysical stances

Political philosophies

Philosophy of language theories and stances

Philosophy of mind theories and stances

Philosophy of religion stances

Philosophy of science theories and stances

Philosophical literature

General introduction

  • Blumenau, Ralph. Philosophy and Living.
  • Craig, Edward. Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction.
  • Harrison-Barbet, Anthony, Mastering Philosophy.
  • Russell, Bertrand. .
  • Sinclair, Alistair J. What is Philosophy? An Introduction, 2008,
  • Sober, Elliott.. Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall.
  • Solomon, Robert C. Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy.
  • Warburton, Nigel. Philosophy: The Basics.
  • Nagel, Thomas. What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy. Classics of Philosophy by Louis P. Pojman
  • Cottingham, John. Western Philosophy: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. Print. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies.
  • Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View.

Topical introductions

African

  • Imbo, Samuel Oluoch. ''An Introduction to African Philosophy.''

Eastern

A Source Book in Indian Philosophy by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles A. Moore
  • Hamilton, Sue. Indian Philosophy: a Very Short Introduction.
  • Kupperman, Joel J. Classic Asian Philosophy: A Guide to the Essential Texts.
  • Lee, Joe and Powell, Jim. Eastern Philosophy For Beginners.
  • Smart, Ninian. World Philosophies.
  • Copleston, Frederick. Philosophy in Russia: From Herzen to Lenin and Berdyaev.

Islamic

Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings edited by Muhammad Ali Khalidi
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Historical introductions

General

Ancient

Medieval

The Phenomenology Reader by Dermot Moran, Timothy Mooney
  • Kim, J. and Ernest Sosa, Ed.. Metaphysics: An Anthology. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
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Modern and contemporary

The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill by Edwin ArthurEuropean Philosophers from Descartes to Nietzsche by Monroe BeardsleyExistentialism: Basic Writings by Charles Guignon, Derk Pereboom
  • Curley, Edwin, A Spinoza Reader, Princeton, 1994,
  • Bullock, Alan, R.B. Woodings, and John Cumming, eds. The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thinkers, in series, Fontana Original. Hammersmith, Eng.: Fontana Press, 1992 . xxv, 867 p.
  • Scruton, Roger. A Short History of Modern Philosophy. Contemporary Analytic Philosophy: Core Readings by James Baillie
  • Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Thinking it Through – An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy, 2003,
  • Critchley, Simon. Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction.

Lists