Major Fields of Philosophy
MAJOR FIELDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Epistemology - is the branch of philosophy that addresses knowledge, especially in regards to its method, validity, and scope. It is what helps distinguish between a justified belief or claim and an opinion.
Logic - is the science of correct thinking. A classic definition is new and necessary reasoning. It's new because you didn't know the item before, and necessary because a correctly formulated syllogism has to be true if the bases are true. We took two axioms and made a new and necessary conclusion.
Metaphysics - Metaphysics is the philosophical study of the nature of our existence. Modern scientists consider this area as opposite to the scientific method. It is the collective processes that are beyond basic physics principles. It is also used as a word to describe using unseen forces to effect a seemingly unrelated event, person, area, etc.
Moral philosophy – Moral philosophy is the area of philosophy concerned with theories of ethics, with how we ought to live our lives. It is divided into three areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
Metaethics - is the most abstract area of moral philosophy. It deals with questions about the nature of morality, about what morality is and what moral language means. This section of the site contains material on cognitivism and noncognitivism, and on moral relativism.
Normative Ethics - while metaethics treats the most abstract questions of moral philosophy, normative ethics is more concerned with providing a moral framework that can be used in order to work out what kinds of action are good and bad, right and wrong. There are three main traditions in normative ethics: virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism.
Applied Ethics - the most down to earth area of moral philosophy is applied ethics. This seeks to apply normative ethical theories to specific cases to tell us what is right and what is wrong. In this section, various thorny ethical issues are discussed: e.g.
Epistemology - is the branch of philosophy that addresses knowledge, especially in regards to its method, validity, and scope. It is what helps distinguish between a justified belief or claim and an opinion.
Logic - is the science of correct thinking. A classic definition is new and necessary reasoning. It's new because you didn't know the item before, and necessary because a correctly formulated syllogism has to be true if the bases are true. We took two axioms and made a new and necessary conclusion.
Metaphysics - Metaphysics is the philosophical study of the nature of our existence. Modern scientists consider this area as opposite to the scientific method. It is the collective processes that are beyond basic physics principles. It is also used as a word to describe using unseen forces to effect a seemingly unrelated event, person, area, etc.
Moral philosophy – Moral philosophy is the area of philosophy concerned with theories of ethics, with how we ought to live our lives. It is divided into three areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
Metaethics - is the most abstract area of moral philosophy. It deals with questions about the nature of morality, about what morality is and what moral language means. This section of the site contains material on cognitivism and noncognitivism, and on moral relativism.
Normative Ethics - while metaethics treats the most abstract questions of moral philosophy, normative ethics is more concerned with providing a moral framework that can be used in order to work out what kinds of action are good and bad, right and wrong. There are three main traditions in normative ethics: virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism.
Applied Ethics - the most down to earth area of moral philosophy is applied ethics. This seeks to apply normative ethical theories to specific cases to tell us what is right and what is wrong. In this section, various thorny ethical issues are discussed: e.g.