Metaphysics is a difficult branch of Philosophy, but is rather easy to define: It is the study of the most fundamental concepts and beliefs about them. Examples of metaphysical concepts are Being, Existence, Purpose, Universals, Property, Relation, Causality, Space, Time, Event, and...

What is Philosophy? This question is as “philosophical” and profound as any of the big questions philosophers ask. The diverse, cultural activity of Philosophy is the historical study of the meaning and justification of beliefs about the most general and universal aspects of all things. It is a study carried out, not...

Philosophical Method (or philosophical methodology) is the study and description of how to “do” Philosophy, arguably the “Mother” of all the Arts and Sciences. The basic feature of such a method is the questioning of “given” things, or things assumed to be true. The method also has to do with one’s motivation in studying Philosophy or Science. We often find ourselves believing...

Ethics (from the Ancient Greek ethikos, the adjective of ethos, “custom, habit”), is a major branch of Philosophy and the study of Value Theory, Customs and Morality of a person or group. It covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, and moral responsibility...

Ontology is the most fundamental branch of Metaphysics, the study of Being and Existence, as well as the basic Categories of things in general. A Being is anything that can be said to ‘be’ in various senses of the word ‘be’. The verb “to be”...

Teleology (telos: end, purpose) is the philosophical study of design, purpose, directive principle, or finality in nature or human creations. Teleology traditionally is contrasted with Naturalism, which views nature as lacking design or purpose. For example, Naturalism would say that a...

Theology was used as early as in Plato’s Republic (book ii, chap 18). The the term, compounded from two Greek words theos (god) and logos (rational utterance), has been defined as reasoned discourse about God or the gods, or more generally about religion or spirituality. Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument...

Inquiry is any proceeding or process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim. Classical sources- Deduction- When three terms are so related to one another that the last is wholly contained in the middle and the middle...

general philosophical history

area studies and articles