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Theme 1. Philosophy and its range of problems


1. Philosophy, its origins, subject and principles.
2. The worldview. Historical types of worldview.
3. Functions of philosophy.
4. Philosophy and science.

1. Philosophy, its origins, subject and principles.

The difficulty of getting one encompassing definition of philosophy confirms


the realness of it as a discipline and branch of human knowledge as it entails
arguments of various philosophers; of which these arguments are products of their
reflective thinking. The disagreement among philosophers about the nature of
philosophy is also subtle part of philosophy because every definition of philosophy
must be criticized. Therefore, philosophy has no definition. But, does this mean
philosophy cannot be defined?
The oldest definition of philosophy is attributed by legend to the famous
Pythagoras. Too modest to wish to be called wise, he said that he was not a wise
man, but only a lover of wisdom—a philosopher (from the Greek "philos"—
loving and "sophia"—wisdom). From that time philosophy in the true sense has
been understood as a desire for the highest knowledge and wisdom, as distinct
from everyday and other forms of applied knowledge, and also from religious or
mythological forms of thinking.

Regarding controversial definitions of philosophy, there are uncountable


numbers. Thus, it is not possible to give them all. So, a few of them are highlighted
next;
· The pre-Socratic philosophers
Philosophy is a speculative cosmology whose focus was the search for the
primary stuff or organizing principle of the universe.
· Parmenides
Philosophy is the study of being, regardless of its special, particular, transient
modifications.
· Socrates
Philosophy is the self reflection of the mind in form of conceptual thought.
· Plato
Philosophy is the acquisition of knowledge.
· Aristotle
Philosophy is the knowledge of essence in itself, or of the essence of all that
exists.
· Immanuel Kant
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Philosophy is a doctrine of the absolute boundaries of all possible knowledge.


· The Logical Positivists
Philosophy is the study of cognition.
· Wilhelm Windelband
Philosophy is the science of normal consciousness.
· Hegel
Philosophy is that which grasps its own era (time or age) in thought.
· Karl Marx
Philosophy is an interpretation of the world in order to change it.
· Nietzsche
Philosophy is to grasp the limits of reason.
· George Berkeley
Philosophy is the study of wisdom and truth.
· Cicero
Philosophy is the teacher of life, the discoverer of laws and the guide to every
virtue.
· Seneca
Philosophy is the theory and art of the correct conduct of life.
· Engels and Lenin
Philosophy is the science of the general laws of being (nature and society).
· The analytical philosophers
Philosophy is the clarification of scientific terms, language, and the analysis of
concepts.

Now that some controversial definitions and conceptions of philosophy have


been highlighted, we would then progress to the solution. As earlier said, some
consensus definitions of philosophy, which serve as efforts to put the definition
problem of philosophy into perspective have been developed. These definitions
stylishly encompass and touch on every area of philosophy; and they are presented
next.
Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, literally "love of wisdom" is the study of
general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by
Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC). Philosophical methods include questioning,
critical discussion, rational argument and systematic presentation.
Philosophy as the love of wisdom
This definition represents the etymological definition of philosophy.
Philosophy was formed from the two Greek words of "Philein" and "Sophia". The
former means “love” while the latter means “wisdom”; so together, they construct
the etymology of philosophy, "love of wisdom". However, it is noteworthy to
emphasize that this definition of philosophy which is the most appropriate of all,
was coined by “Pythagoras”, a pre-Socratic philosopher who postulated “numbers”
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as the unifying principle of the universe. This definition expresses the craving and
desire of the philosopher who want to discover the right application of knowledge.
Philosophy as the search for reality
This definition draws its potency from, and is related to “metaphysics”- a
major branch of philosophy. It emphasizes the role of the philosopher in
discovering the principles of life and existence, as well as transcendence i.e. going
beyond the natural.
Philosophy as the search for truth
This definition is the representation of “epistemology” in philosophy as one of
its main branches. It emphasizes the continuous drive of the philosopher in his
quest for knowledge and truth; as well as the principles and presuppositions
guiding their operation.
Philosophy as the search for value or the best forms of life
This definition falls within the domain of “ethics”-the third major branch of
philosophy. It shows what the moral philosopher aims at achieving within human
society and how he intends to create stability in an unstable world.

Classic philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to


prove it? What is most real? However, philosophers might also pose more practical
and concrete questions such as: Is there the best way to live? Is it better to be just
or unjust (if one can get away with it)? Do humans have free will?
Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of knowledge. From the
time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural
philosophy" encompassed astronomy, medicine and physics. For example,
Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became
classified as a book of physics. In the 19th century, the growth of modern research
universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and
specialize. In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of
philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology,
sociology, linguistics and economics.
Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits
remained part of philosophy. For example, is beauty objective or subjective? Are
there many scientific methods or just one?

Knowledge
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Traditionally, the term "philosophy" referred to any body of knowledge. In this


sense, philosophy is closely related to religion, mathematics, natural science,
education and politics. Newton's 1687 "Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy" is classified in the 2000s as a book of physics; he used the term
"natural philosophy" because it used to encompass disciplines that later became
associated with sciences such as astronomy, medicine and physics.
Philosophy is traditionally divided into three major branches:
Natural philosophy ("physics") was the study of the physical world (physis,
lit: nature);
Moral philosophy ("ethics") was the study of goodness, right and wrong,
beauty, justice and virtue (ethos, lit: custom);
Metaphysical philosophy ("logos") was the study of existence, causation, God,
logic, forms and other abstract objects ("meta-physics" lit: "what comes after
physics").
Natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, especially
astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology. Moral philosophy is
birthed the social sciences, but still includes value theory (including aesthetics,
ethics, political philosophy, etc.). Metaphysical philosophy is birthed formal
sciences such as logic, mathematics and philosophy of science, but still includes
epistemology, cosmology and others.
Philosophical progress
Many philosophical debates that began in ancient times are still debated today.
Colin McGinn and others claim that no philosophical progress has occurred during
that interval. Chalmers and others, by contrast, see progress in philosophy similar
to that in science, while Talbot Brewer argued that "progress" is the wrong
standard by which to judge philosophical activity.
Historical overview
In one general sense, philosophy is associated with wisdom, intellectual
culture and a search for knowledge. In that sense, all cultures and literate societies
ask philosophical questions such as "how to live" and "what is the nature of
reality". A broad and impartial conception of philosophy then, finds a reasoned
inquiry into such matters as reality, morality and life in all world civilizations.
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Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include:


1. metaphysics ("concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and
being"),
2. epistemology (about the "nature and grounds of knowledge [and]...its limits
and validity"),
3. ethics (is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending,
and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct),
4. aesthetics (s a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty,
and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty),
5. political philosophy (is the study of topics such as politics, liberty, justice,
property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority),
6. logic (is generally held to consist of the systematic study of the form of
arguments. A valid argument is one where there is a specific relation of
logical support between the assumptions of the argument and its
conclusion),
7. philosophy of science (is a branch of philosophy concerned with the
foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of
this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific
theories, and the ultimate purpose of science. This discipline overlaps with
metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, for example, when it explores
the relationship between science and truth)
8. the history of Western philosophy.
Since the 20th century professional philosophers contribute to society
primarily as professors, researchers and writers. However, many of those who
study philosophy in undergraduate or graduate programs contribute in the fields of
law, journalism, politics, religion, science, business and various art and
entertainment activities.
According to one approach, in ancient times all human's knowledge of the
world and himself was considered to be wisdom and was called philosophy.
Subsequently, as this knowledge became differentiated and was broken down into
separate disciplines, one science after another developed out of philosophy
regarded as the totality of human knowledge.
In this way mathematics, physics, medicine and other sciences appeared.
Philosophy is like a mother of all these sciences. This idea expressed by Descartes,
who compared philosophy to a tree with metaphysics as its roots, physics as its
trunk and all the other sciences such as medicine, mechanics and ethics are its
branches. This broad notion of philosophy, not only in ancient times but even in
the last century, led to its being identified with theoretical mechanics, biology and
other sciences.
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The subject of philosophical cognition is not only the universe and its most
general laws as they exist in themselves, but also the relationship between human
and the universe. It can be said that the basic question of philosophy, that is, the
question of the relationship of thinking to being. It became a part of its subject at
the early stages of the formation of philosophical thought.
Naturally, the subject of philosophy has never remained static. It has
developed historically and has taken its own shape along with the development of
human culture, including the culture of thought itself. Moreover, at various periods
one or another philosophical school or individual thinker has given preference to
questions of ontology, the theory of being, or to questions of the theory of
knowledge and logic, or to problems of morality, philosophical anthropology, and
so on.
If we considered the history of philosophy and what this or that thinker
regarded about the basic subject of philosophical reflection, the answers would be
many and various. Socrates, for example, urged that philosophy should stop
pondering the first principles of existence and concentrate on knowing about
human affairs, particularly the problems of morality. According to Plato, the
purpose of philosophy was to know the essence, the eternal and the intransient, and
according to Aristotle, philosophy should understand the causes and principles of
things. Francis Bacon described philosophy as the universal science, from which
all other sciences grew like the branches of a tree. According to Descartes, it was
the highest wisdom that could be achieved by logic; it taught the reason how to set
about obtaining knowledge of unknown truths. Locke and Hume saw the task of
philosophy in elaborating a theory of knowledge and theory of morality. Helvetius
thought the main question was the nature of human happiness. Hegel defined
philosophy as the highest stage of theoretical thought, the self-cognition of the
absolute idea, and called philosophy the epoch embodied in thought.

What philosophy talks about


Philosophy talks about universals and general realities. It sees things from
the widest perspective. It perceives things as a whole. It considers the entirety of
being as a vast interconnected system. This is why philosophy is regarded as a
universal discipline. For example; if philosophy were talk about man, it would do
so in connection with those elements that are globally and objectively present in all
men.

What philosophy does not talk about


In contrast to the above, philosophy, due to its nature does not talk about
particulars or individual entities. It is not concerned with specifics. It would
never consider reality in isolation from the whole. For example; considering the
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problem of democracy, philosophy is not concerned with the democracy of a


particular country alone (like Nigeria) but the concept of democracy on a global
scale.

2. The worldview. Historical types of worldview.


Worldview is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or
society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and
point of view. A worldview can include natural philosophy, fundamental,
existential, and normative postulates, or themes, values, emotions, and ethics.
The term worldview denotes a comprehensive set of opinions, seen as an
organic unity, about the world as the medium and exercise of human existence.
Worldview serves as a framework for generating various dimensions of human
perception and experience like knowledge, politics, economics, religion, culture,
science and ethics. For example, worldview of causality as unidirectional, cyclic,
or spiral generates a framework of the world that reflects these systems of
causality.
The worldview is by no means all the views and notions of the surrounding
world, that is to say, it is not simply a picture of the world taken in its integral form.
Not a single specific science can be identified with a world-view, although each
science does contain a worldview principle.
The worldview is usually compared with ideology and these two concepts are
sometimes treated as synonyms. But they intersect rather than coincide. Ideology
embraces that part of the worldview that is oriented on social, class relationships, on
the interests of certain social groups and, above all, on the phenomena of political
power. The worldview, on the other hand, is oriented on the world as a whole, on the
"human-universe" system.
Structure: world feeling, world perception, world understanding.
Historical types of worldview (by way of an understanding of man's place in
the world):
- Mythological (myth)
- Religious (religion)
- Philosophical (philosophy)
- Scientific (science)
- Artistic (art)
The mythological worldview - is the result of practical and spiritual life. In
mythological worldview human does not separate himself from the things of the
natural world, and the individual does not separate himself from society. In
mythological worldview there is no clear distinction between thought and speech,
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consciousness and reality, subject and object of thought. Mythological stories tell
us about human-beings ‒ gods and heroes that represent different natural
principles. In the mythological worldview world the human were a single whole.
Break this unity led to the split of human being, losing its harmony with the
world, making it possible theoretical relationship to the world and the rise of such
forms of worldview as science, religion, philosophy.
The mythological worldview (myth - the legend of heroes and gods deeds)
was characteristic of primitive society. It was based on totemism (is a belief
associated with animistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other natural
figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan.).
The mythological worldview divides the world into visible (there are people)
and invisible (there live heroes and gods), dissolving people in nature. This was the
beginning of the history of the spirit.
Mythological consciousness arises and develops during the period of hunting
and gathering, before agriculture and animal husbandry. So thinking of primitive
people is based on the principles of expediency. Myths are the result of
spontaneously formed collective, clan-tribal consciousness, which was the result of
long domination of nature over people.
Only in period of agriculture, accustomed as soil fertility and strength of
animals, people rise to the realization of the objective laws of nature force. The
mythological worldview - is not a product of ignorance.
It put the following questions, which concerned humanity in our time:
- The origin of the world and human;
- The chaos and space;
- The finiteness and infinite world, and so on.

However, they were put in the form of myth. Myth - the oldest form of
ideology.
A myth is any traditional story consisting of events that are ostensibly
historical, though often supernatural, explaining the origins of a cultural practice or
natural phenomenon. Myths are often stories that are currently understood as being
exaggerated or fictitious. The word "myth" is derived from the Greek word mythos
(μῦθος), which simply means "story". Mythology can refer either to the study of
myths, or to a body or collection of myths. A myth also can be a story to explain
why something exists.
Human cultures usually include a cosmogonical or creation myth, concerning
the origins of the world, or how the world came to exist. The active beings in
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myths are generally gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, or animals and
plants. Most myths are set in a timeless past before recorded time or beginning of
the critical history. A myth can be a story involving symbols that are capable of
multiple meanings.
Mythological worldview was not aimed at a quick creative search for new,
more advanced forms and methods of relations with the between outside world and
people. It was aimed at preserving traditional and continuous actual state of affairs
which has developed over many generations. Myth as a special worldview was the
first and probably the most important defender of tradition, tribal morality, tribal
communities, customary conditions of life in general. It had transformed.
A myth is a sacred narrative because it holds religious or spiritual significance
for those who tell it. Myths also contribute to and express a culture's systems of
thought and values.
Myth is a first form of ideology, worldview which form human activity. Fairy
tale is a myth, devoid of something sacred. Explanation by presentation. Myth does
not need justification and explanation. Myth birthed philosophy.
The religious worldview clearly divides world and human, natural and
supernatural, earthly and that, what belonging to the other world. Human, which
created in the image and likeness of God, takes the main, central position in the
God’s world. In the religious worldview, through beliefs in the afterlife,
supernatural divine origin, the human makes its own relationship to the world,
gives it the semantic completeness and achieves harmony with it.
Religious worldview is intrinsically connected to the belief in a supreme being
or God presupposed as the basis and determinant of reality. In this regard, religions
play a very major role. They express a perception and understanding of reality but
in connection with a supreme being. The religious worldview is very idealistic in
outlook concerning reality. Example of a religious worldview is the story of
creation in the Christian bible; the worldview that the universe was created by a
supreme being (God).
For the first time in human history religious worldview raises the idea of
freedom.
Social history appeared as a linear process of unity in the past, present and
future, while the mythological world was turned back, searching for ancestors in
nature.
The philosophical worldview began to emerge almost simultaneously with the
religious, but it had a different background. The basis for the emergence of
philosophical worldview was a need to get knowledge about natural phenomena
with which people have been dealing in the production process.
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Philosophy is a theoretical form of human's relation to the world. Compared


with the science philosophy allows objective in theoretical form to understand the
world as the human’s world, to consider the location and position of human in the
world.
PLATFORMS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORLDVIEW
By platforms, we mean the starting points or the elements that trigger the
creation of a philosophical worldview. These are;
1) Objectivity – the world existing outside the human person whom though
changes has a strong basic continuity and is eternal and infinite.
2) Subjectivity – the human person existing in the world as part of the world
but separate from it; because the human person is mortal and finite. Although, the
human person also has basic continuity via procreation of individuals.
This is the most dynamic of all worldviews. This is intrinsically connected to
the fact that philosophy as a discipline is universal in character. A philosophical
worldview is a combination of views for all that exists universally. A philosophical
worldview encompasses all areas of existence; be it metaphysics, epistemology or
ethics. This implies that all the other worldviews, as many as they may be are all
encapsulated in the philosophical worldview. A philosophical worldview entails
both idealistic and materialistic aspects of reality, and this makes it the most
fundamental of all worldviews.
The philosophical worldview enables human to develop a vision of the world
that is simultaneously subjective and theoretical, and thus achieve harmony of
human with himself, with his vision of the world and the world itself.
In philosophy, unlike other sciences, there is no single, universally accepted
theories. Figuratively speaking, there are as many philosophies as philosophers.
There is only theoretical apparatus, the idea of the subject, tasks, functions that are
constantly in the process of making and understanding.
The philosophical worldview - is the highest theoretical type of vision that
seeks to understand the world in the unity of its manifestations, to provide the most
general, universal, rational (mental) his awareness.
The main problem of philosophical worldview is the determination of
human's place in the "human-world" system.
The emergence of a new type of worldview and style of thinking preceded the
ideological and social background. Ideological reasons were myth and religion.
Social reason was a transition society, in which community-tribal system changed
the political. There was a perceived need in educated people.
The philosophical worldview originates in mythology, which first raised the
philosophical question and gave answers in the form of myth, legends, epics, tales,
legends, etc. They were passed from generation to generation and were taken for
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granted. Philosophy has gone the opposite way, putting the philosophical question
under mind control, choosing the reasonable explanation of the universe.
The philosophical worldview operates with such categories as "world",
"man", "nature," "being," "exists", "consciousness", "thought", "matter",
"substance", "space" , "time" and many others. These ideological categories help
people navigate the world correctly, learn it, do things and phenomena of material
and spiritual culture, form their own idea of truth, goodness, beauty. Philosophy
based on achieving natural, social and human sciences and engineering,
summarizing its discovery.
Solution of the main problem which deals with philosophy, is the problem of
relationship between the human and the world.

The term "world" in philosophy considered very specific.


First, the world is a universe in which man is.
Second, the world is a society where human is a representative and creator.
Third, the world is a spiritual state of human, his feelings, emotions,
experiences, knowledge, beliefs, dreams, hopes; moral, political and legal
principles that guided it in his life; religious beliefs, aesthetic tastes and
preferences; ideals ets.
That is why philosophers say that man is not only part of the world, but also
contains the whole world.

Art is a practical and spiritual activity. Artistic worldview provides a


subjective image of the world in which the artist achieves harmony with the world,
so even contemporary artistic vision of the world is close to the mythological.
The scientific worldview is the theoretical shape of the world. The world
objectively considered it as independent of human, and human is seen in him only
as a part of the world - nature or society. The theoretical relationship to the world
has allowed people to put the laws of nature into his service and create a
comfortable world civilization. Science is not able to overcome ideological
disharmony, to get unity between human and world. This function performed art,
religion and philosophy.
This worldview is intrinsically empirical. It takes its root in the sciences which
uses the tool of technology to express this worldview. A scientific worldview holds
that the existential universe is determined and controlled by natural laws which are
mathematical in nature. The scientific worldview has a strictly materialistic
outlook of reality. Regarding the same issue of the creation of the world, a
scientific worldview detests the idea of creationism; instead they postulate the
concept of evolutionism (all reality developed from lower life forms) as the
foundation of reality.
So,
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mythological worldview provided understanding the world with the help of


humanizing reality (animation) using sensual visual images;
religion as a worldview based on the position of the duality of the world,
belief in the supernatural principle of all principles (the idea of God). It formed its
understanding of the world on symbols;
philosophy based on a system of scientific and theoretic explanation of the
world with the help of logical concepts, which we called categories.

3. Functions of philosophy.
Some philosophers do not always agree on the nature and function of
philosophy. Here are some definitions that attempt to explain what is generally
meant by the term philosophy. These definitions do not necessarily reflect a
consensus of philosophical opinion.
The most important functions of philosophy.
1. The worldview function promotes entire world view, developing the doctrine
of the world structure and the structure of universe, determines human's place in it
and the principles of interaction between human and the world. Philosophy in a
certain way orients human in his life.
2. Methodological function of philosophy produces basic methods of
knowledge of the world (reality). The philosophical methodology based on the
development of philosophical method of understanding the world. Philosophical
methods at different historical periods of its development were dialectics and
metaphysics. Dialectics is a discourse between two or more people holding
different points of view about a subject but wishing to establish the truth through
reasoned arguments. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy investigating the
fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it. Metaphysics
attempts to answer two basic questions:
1. Ultimately, what is there?
2. What is it like?
Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their
properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. A central branch of
metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and
how they relate to one other. There are two broad conceptions about what "world"
is studied by metaphysics. The strong, first assumes that the objects studied by
metaphysics exist independently of any observer, so that the subject is the most
fundamental of all sciences. The weaker, second assumes that the objects studied
by metaphysics exist inside the mind of an observer, so the subject becomes a form
of introspection and conceptual analysis.
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3. Gnoseological (mentally-theoretical) function is after correct and true


knowledge of reality.
4. Axiological function (values, value-orientational) allows adequate evaluation
of objects, phenomena and processes of objective reality. Philosophy investigates
and evaluates social reality on its compliance with social ideals.
5. The critical function intended to question everything, seek truth through
through resolving contradictions between what is already known, and that is not
yet known.
6. Educational (humanistic) function helps to restore the humanistic values and
ideals of modern civilization. It creates social conditions for their implementation,
develops humanistic culture, helps an individual in searching the meaning of the
life and its own place in the world that around us.
7. Prognostic function helps with understanding the perspectives of the world.
8. Therapeutic function helps people overcome life's contradictions and help in
finding meaning in life.
9. Practical function of philosophy consists of morality, concern for the
welfare of people.
It should be noted that there is much more functions of philosophy than we
have listed. But these are the most important.

4. Philosophy and Science.


The connection between science and philosophy has endured for thousands of
years. In present-day conditions it has not only been preserved but is also growing
substantially stronger. The scale of the scientific work and the social significance
of research have acquired huge proportions. For example, philosophy and physics
were at first organically interconnected, particularly in the work of Galileo,
Descartes, Kepler, Newton, Lomonosov, Mendeleyev and Einstein, and generally
in the work of all scientists with a broad outlook.
At one time it was commonly held that philosophy was the science of
sciences, their supreme ruler. Today physics is regarded as the queen of sciences.
Both views contain a certain measure of truth. Physics with its tradition, the
specific objects of study and vast range of exact methods of observation and
experiment exerts an exceptionally fruitful influence on all or nearly all spheres of
knowledge.
Philosophy may be called the "science of sciences" probably in the sense that
it is, in effect, the self-awareness of the sciences and the source from which all the
sciences draw their world-view and methodological principles, which in the course
of centuries have been honed down into concise forms.
As a whole, philosophy and the sciences are equal partners assisting creative
thought in its explorations to attain generalising truth. Philosophy does not replace
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the specialised sciences and does not command them, but it does arm them with
general principles of theoretical thinking, with a method of cognition and world-
view. In this sense scientific philosophy legitimately holds one of the key positions
in the system of the sciences.
Can philosophy develop by itself, without the support of science? Can
science "work" without philosophy? Some people think that the science can stand
apart from philosophy, that the scientist should actually avoid philosophizing, the
latter often being understood as groundless and generally vague theorizing. If the
term philosophy is given such a poor interpretation, then of course anyone would
agree with the warning "Physics, beware of metaphysics!" But no such warning
applies to philosophy in the higher sense of the term. The specific sciences cannot
and should not break their connections with true philosophy.
Science and philosophy have always learned from each other.
Philosophy frames the questions and sets the rules of debate. It does this by
exploring the landscape of what might be true and figuring out how different
approaches to truth interrelate. The dialog of philosophy focuses on logic, rules of
argumentation, and the definition of abstract concepts. The approach and practice
of science, including the "scientific method" arose out of philosophy.
Science is a strategy for arriving at consensus answers to questions about the
natural world. It focuses on discovering "facts", "laws", and "mechanisms". Often
what are discovered are new objects that were previously unseen and unknown to
exist.
Philosophy of mind and the scientific study of consciousness are two fields
that are interacting closely on an unresolved issue and present an interesting
history of how philosophy and science work together.
Philosophy of mind has debated the nature of the mind for centuries, since
Aristotle, and has developed dozens of interrelated frameworks, often called the
"- isms" (dualism, functionalism, materialism, reductionism,
epiphenomenalism, ...). Consciousness has fascinated thinkers, including scientists,
and especially psychologists and physicists, for a very long time ‒ again, since
Aristotle.

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