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Philosophy is a field of study that includes diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, in which people ask questions such as whether God exists, what is the nature of reality, whether knowledge is possible, and what makes actions right or wrong. The fundamental method of philosophy is the use of reasoning to evaluate arguments concerning these questions. However, the exact scope and methodology of philosophy is not rigid. What counts as philosophy is itself debated, and it varies across philosophical traditions.
The term philosophy comes from the Greek word "Φιλοσοφία" (philo-sophia), which means "love of wisdom" or less commonly "friend of wisdom". Many ancient Greek philosophers made the distinction between the desire for wisdom, as opposed to the desire for material things, vices, and the satisfaction of bodily desires. The definition of wisdom for many ancient Greeks would have been about virtue and the desire for knowledge and not false opinions. However, the term is notoriously difficult to define today (see definition of philosophy) because of the diverse range of ideas that have been labeled as philosophy. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy defines it as the study of "the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action, and reality". The Penguin Encyclopedia says that philosophy differs from science in that philosophy's questions cannot be answered empirically, and from religion in that philosophy allows no place for faith or revelation. However, these points are called into question by the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, which states: "the late 20th-century... prefers to see philosophical reflection as continuous with the best practice of any field of intellectual enquiry." Indeed, many of the speculations of early philosophers in the field of natural philosophy eventually formed the basis for modern scientific explanations on a variety of subjects.
Informally, a "philosophy" may refer to a general world view or to a specific ethic or belief.
More on [ Philosophy ]
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People :: Linguistics
Philosophers :: Philosophy
The Top Party School Shoots For A Lower Ranking
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:00:00 -0400
The University of Florida in Gainesville is the No. 1-ranked party school. It's a distinction that surprises some students, and administrators hope new policies will help the school change that reputation.
Pick Of Palin Sets Up Battle For Female Voters
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:41:00 -0400
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McCain Picks Gov. Palin As Running Mate
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:00:00 -0400
Sen. John McCain surprised a lot of people Friday by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. McCain is in Dayton, Ohio to make the announcement. Madeleine Brands talk to David Schaper who's at the McCain rally in Dayton.
The Talk of the Town
Lauren Collins: The Brooklyn painter Kehinde Wiley.
Lauren Collins Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
The painter Kehinde Wiley first travelled to Nigeria in 1997. He was trying to find his father, whom he had never met, or, more crucially for a portraitist, seen. (His mother didn’t have any photographs.) After several weeks in Lagos, he found his dad, who welcomed him. But--like any . . .
James Surowiecki: What drives market volatility?
James Surowiecki Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
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Hendrik Hertzberg: What Barack Obama is up against.
Hendrik Hertzberg Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
The week before the week before this week’s scheduled gathering of the delegates and their media camp followers in Denver, the nominee-presumptive of the Democratic Party did something that is strongly recommended, and ought to be mandatory, for anyone who has just logged a year and a half’s worth . . .
Bach, Kent - Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University. A good resource on pragmatics in the philosophy of language.
Floyd, Juliet - Boston University - philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, Wittgenstein.
Forbes, Graeme - Celia Scott Weatherhead Distinguished Professor at Tulane University. This homepage looks to become a promising resource.
Gauker, Christopher - Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cincinnati who completed a PhD under Wilfred Sellars.
Graff, Delia - Assistant Professor at Cornell University.
Hauser, Larry - Philosopher of mind and language, especially concerned with issues in cognitive science. Extensive online resources provided.
Meta Description: [ Philosophy Resources, Etc. Philosophy resources (e-texts, etc.) and links to facilitate philosophical research on the internet. Specializing in philosophy of mind and cognitive science ]
Hertzberg, Lars - Professor of Philosophy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Interested especially in the later Wittgenstein.
Hintikka, Jaakko - Professor of Philosophy, Boston University. Pioneer of game-theoretical semantics in logic, branching quantifiers, and a prominent critic of the thesis that formalisation means formalisation in (Fregean) first-order logic.
Luntley, Michael - Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Warwick. Interested in ontology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and especially in semantic realism.
Meta Description: [ Department of Philosophy ]
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Millikan, Ruth - Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.
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Penco, Carlo - Associate Professor, University of Genova.
Peregrin, Jaroslav - Professor in Logic and Philosophy of Language at the Academy of Sciences, Prague.
Perry, John - Co-founder of Situation Semantics. Excellent resource.
Smith, Barry - Professor of Philosophy and of Cognitive Science, Buffalo University. Extensive resource covering his wide-ranging interests, with a focus on conceptual ontologies.
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Teng, Norman Y. - Research Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Tennant, Neil - Professor of Philosophy, Ohio State University.
Viana, Amadeu - Online papers, contact details.
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Voltolini, Alberto - University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli - Broad and narrow content, Wittgenstein, holism, privacy and rule-following.
Wright, Crispin - University of St. Andrews - Crispin Wright has sustained a deep research effort in the relationship between the Theory of Language and Metaphysics.
Zalta, Edward - Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, founder of the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, and associate of the CSLI.
| An excerpt from the PBS documentary Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Sagan discuss early Greek philosophy. ... Carl Sagan Cosmos PBS ... | |
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