Classics of Western Philosophy, Essay Example

What is Philosophy? How It Differs from Myth and Religion

The philosophy comes from the Greek words philo and Sophia. Philo is a Greek work meaning love and Sophia is a Greek work meaning knowledge. Hence taken literary the word philosophy means the love of knowledge. Different scholars have come up with different definitions of philosophy. Some have defined it as the search for a comprehensive view of nature, an attempt at a universal explanation of things. Some have defined it as both the summary of the sciences and their competition, forming a separate branch of study among manifestations of the human mind. There are those who have defined philosophy as the theory of subject matter taken as a whole or organized unity containing principles which bind together a variety of particular truths and facts requiring a certain harmony of theory and practice. From the above, it is clear that a single definition that takes into account the different views of many scholars is not a simple thing. Generally, philosophy can be taken as a kind of approach that can be applied to any branch of learning.

The essence of philosophy is in the search of better understanding of the world and the nature of man and his place in the world. Thus philosophy does not purport or pretend to offer answers to problems of men. The history of philosophy has centuries old attempts to understand it. These attempts have led to diverse and at times conflicting of what is philosophy. This in itself shows how difficult it is to define what philosophy is and come up with a definition that is acceptable to all scholars.

The first sophist to coin the term ‘philosopher’ was Protagoras of Abdera. The term was used to mean a lover of wisdom. This history of the word philosophy suggests that the word consists of insight, soundness of perspectives and balance of proportion in judgment. A man who has or possesses a great deal of facts has knowledge; this can be held by anyone with good memory, dedication and a modicum of intelligence. Wisdom is understood as the capacity of sound evaluation and integration of facts. It is the capacity to judge the right manner in matters of life and conduct. It entails soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends in practical affairs.

Knowledge can be defined as comprehension of facts. It is a personal acquaintance or familiarity with facts or range of information. Knowledge can also be defined as a theoretical or practical understanding of the fact or condition about which one is being instructed.

The lover of wisdom in the sense Protagoras implies must also call for the need to distinguish appearance from reality; one must therefore grasp the foundation of observation which falls in the area of science. One cannot possess wisdom about a situation of which one does not know the true facts. Science is the Latinized name for knowledge. It is concerned with how things in nature came to be as man experiences them. It is in other words knowledge discovered by observation.

In an attempt to understand what philosophy is and what philosophers do, one may thereby achieve a better understanding of some more pressing practical problems of life. Traditionally, the ancient Greeks believed that to illuminate the problems of conduct is ultimately the chief function of philosophy. For them, the study of the nature of reality had, its chief purpose, the aim of enabling men to understand better how they should live. Hence they distinguished the theoretical from practical uses of reason; the former was to understand the world while latter to guide conduct. The attainment of excellence in each of these endowed man with theoretical and practical wisdom. These traits exemplified the highest excellence of man.

Philosophy is characterized by an inquiring attitude, a deeper sense of reflection, a logical unity and posing questions that are critical. It is also characterized by issues that tend to be speculative and tentative and questions that are related to decisions about values.

There are two major branches of philosophy; critical philosophy which entails critical examination and investigation of everything one knows and believes and speculative philosophy which deals with the first principle and recognizes values. These branches of philosophy are further subdivided into divisions. The divisions of critical philosophy are epistemology and logic. Epistemology is the science or theory of knowledge. It deals with investigating the structure, origin, methods and validating knowledge. Logic on the other hand is the normative science of thought or rather the systematic investigation of the fundamental process by which thought becomes either verified as true or falsified by inconsistency or the lack of evidence.

Speculative philosophy is subdivided into the division of metaphysics and theory of value. Metaphysics is the ultimate reality of all things. It is an attempt to find a true account of reality. Metaphysics is further subdivided into cosmology, ontology and metaphysical psychology. Cosmology deals with the science of the universe as a whole and also covers speculations about the world. Ontology deals with speculations concerning pure beings as well as the realm of human experience whereas metaphysical psychology deals with the mind, soul and personality. Theory of value deals with the status of value in the universe, for instance the value of ethics and religion.

Philosophy differs from religion greatly both in reasoning and application. Religion can be defined as a belief in supernatural being. It is the belief in the relationship between the sacred and the profane. Whereas philosophy is more of reasoning and critical thinking, religion is more of believes. Religious people rely on faith, at times even excluding reasoning. Thus, philosophy and religion are different.

Religion separates the sacred and the profane but philosophy does not. Philosophers explain the phenomena of feelings of mystery, religious awe and the importance of sacred objects. However, this is different from the feelings of awe and essence of sacred objects. Many religious people on the other hand only teach people to have great reverence for the sacred scriptures.

Philosophy differs with religion in that religion has rituals whereas philosophy does not. In religion, important ceremonies exist for such events and activities such as birth, marriage or death. Religious people also have rituals that they perform to mark different times of the year or season. Philosophers however do not have any rituals that they perform to mark various activities or event and various times of the year.

Philosophy seeks to make human beings understand themselves and the world that they live in whereas religion seeks to strengthen the relationship between the sacred and the profane. Religion seeks to make human beings sacred. It des not bring in any element of reasoning and of understating himself or the world. However, both philosophy and religion have similarities. They both are concerned with what is good, what it means to live a good life and what is important in life.

Myth can be defined as the belief that an occurrence will occur upon the occurrence of another specified occurrence. It differs from religion in that religion includes the aspect of sacred and profane. For a myth, the belief does not take into account the sacred and the profane. Myth is also different from philosophy since philosophy is about critical thinking and reasoning whereas myth is only based on beliefs. In mythology, reasoning and critical thinking are thrown out of the window and the person concerned is only expected to believe in the occurrence of certain occurrences triggered by the occurrence of other specified occurrences.

Myths are passed from generation to generation and are generally known by almost everyone in the community. However, philosophy is a subject that was learned and its pass ability from generation to generation is not an automatic thing. People have to learn philosophy compare to mythology.

In conclusion, philosophy involves reasoning and critical thinking. Philosophy seeks to understand the human being and understand the world I which he lives on. Thus, with the help of critical thinking, human beings can be ale to explain their existence and understand how the universe runs. Philosophy is different from religion in that religion is about believing in faith to explain things in the universe. It is also different from myths since myths seek to explain the occurrence of events and activities as a result of the occurrence of specified events or occurrences.

Work Cited

Cahn, Steven. Classics of Western Philosophy. New York: Springer. 2007.

Perry, John. Bratman, Michael and Fischer, J.M. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings. New York: Springer. 2006.

Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1945. London: Unwin Books. 1978.

Oniango, Clement. An Introduction to Philosophy. Nairobi: East African Education Publishers. 2001