MAJOR AREAS OF PHILOSOPHY

METAPHYSICS: (from the title of one of Aristotle’s books “after” or “beyond” the Physics).
Two sub-areas:
Ontology: the study of Being
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is it to be?”; “What is ultimately real?” or “What is ultimate reality?”; “What is it to become real?” and “How does non-being become being?” ; “Can non-being become being?”; “What is change, and if it is possible, how?”; “Which is the basis of reality - Being or Becoming?”; “Is there a Supreme Reality (ie. God, The One, Nirvana) and if so, what is its nature?”; “Are physical objects, Time, Space and the phenomenal world real, and if so, what is their nature?”
Cosmology: the study of the whole
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is everything made of - or what is the basic stuff of reality?”; “Has the whole cosmos always existed or did it come into existence?”; “Did the whole cosmos have a cause?”; “How does the whole cosmos work?”; “What are the fundamental laws which govern or describe the whole cosmos?”; “Does the cosmos have meaning, and if so what?”

EPISTEMOLOGY: the study of knowledge
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is knowledge?”; “How does knowledge differ from correct opinion?”; “Is knowledge really possible?”; “What are the sources of knowledge?”; “Can anything known with certainty about reality from pure thought alone?”; “Can sense experience give us any reliable knowledge about objective reality?”; “Can knowledge extend beyond our own language to reach objective truths in reality, and if so, how?”

LOGIC - the study of reasoning.
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is truth?”; “How are some truths related to other truths?”; “Are there any necessary truths?”; “Are there any necessary laws of thought?”; “How can we tell the difference between good reasoning and bad reasoning?”; “What principles govern deductive reasoning?”; “Can there be any principles of inductive reasoning, and if so, what?”; “How is the logic of language related to the logic of numbers?”; “Are there areas of academic or scientific inquiry, or cultures, which have their own exclusive logic - valid for them but not for others?”

AXIOLOGY - the study of values, with its own three sub-areas:

AESTHETICS - values in beauty and art.
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is beauty - what is the essence of the beautiful?”; “What is art?”; “How can humans tell whether or not something is beautiful or a work of art?”;

ETHICS - the study of moral values.
- asks philosophical questions such as “What ought humans to seek as the highest good in life?”; “What is it we ought to be in order to be a good human being?”; “What ought we to do in order to right?” - or “How can we tell the difference between morally right action and morally wrong action?”; “When is a person morally responsible - blameworthy or praiseworthy - for their actions?”; “What is the good life for a human being?”

SOCIAL & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY - the study of social and political values.
- asks philosophical questions such as “What is the good society?”; “Is the value of a human life found in being an individual or in being a member of a group?”; “What is social justice?”; “Is there any rational justification for the existence of government, and if so, what?”; “What is the best form of government?”

PHILOSOPHY OF ‘ *** ’. - there are many areas of Philosophy which ask philosophical
questions about the subject, which might itself be another academic discipline.

Philosophy of Language:
- while linguistics is the study of language, Philosophy of Language asks questions such as “How can language connect with thought and reality?”; “How can words have meaning?”; “How can words refer to reality?”; “What is the ‘meaning of meaning’ - or what does it mean to say “What does it mean to say that?”; “How does language shape thought?”; “Can one understand another’s language, and if so, how?”

Philosophy of Science:
- asks philosophical questions about science itself and the individual sciences, such as “What is a scientific explanation - is there a common essence to them all?”; “What is a ‘scientific law’?”; “Is there a ‘scientific method’ - or are there various methods?”; “Do the methods of science yield ‘knowledge’ - or something else? “What is a ‘scientific theory’?”; “Can scientific theories ever be verified, and if so, how?”; “Can scientific theories ever be falsified, and if so, how?”; “Are there any universal concepts in science?”

Philosophy of Religion
- asks philosophical questions about religion, such as “What is the meaning of key concepts such as ‘God’, ‘holy’ and ‘divine’?” “What is the meaning of religious language?”; “Can religious claims be verified or falsified by evidence?”; “What evidence supports religious claims - that there is a God, for example?”