La FILOSOFÍA explicada: su origen, para qué sirve, qué estudia, ramas

The word philosophy comes from ancient Greek and is born from the union of two terms: philos, which can be translated as love, affection or hobby, and sophia, which means knowledge or wisdom. Thus, in its origins in ancient Greece, philosophy expressed the desire of some particular individuals to dedicate their lives to the acquisition of all kinds of knowledge, regardless of whether or not they had practical utility. Until the eighteenth century there was no clear separation in the West between the exact and experimental sciences and other types of speculative knowledge, such as metaphysics or art.

So in ancient Greece the philosophers cultivated both simultaneously. Pythagoras made the first great discoveries in geometry and laid the foundations for the musical notation system, while also investigating the hidden power of numbers. Plato, for his part, was trained in the esoteric wisdom of Egypt before developing the dialectical method, inherited from his teacher Socrates and the foundation stone of skeptical and rational thought in the West.

From a technical point of view, philosophy can be defined as the critical and rational analysis of the beliefs that we take as true, as well as the logical revision of the concepts that we use to express those beliefs. Origin and brief history of philosophy The history of philosophical thought can be broadly divided into three periods: Greek antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern age. Let us briefly describe each of them.

Greek antiquity It can be said that philosophy originated in ancient Greece. It is true that other great civilizations, such as Egypt, Persia and China also had thought systems that today could be described as philosophical; but these were related to a practical utility, which used to be the justification of state power in religious terms. This Eastern thought lacked two of the essential characteristics of philosophy proper: it had no philos, that is, a love of knowledge regardless of its usefulness; and it did not originate in the desire or will of an individual.

Presocratics The first Greek philosophers – called pre-Socratics – tended towards metaphysical speculation. According to Heraclitus, the most important of them, "the world forms a unity by itself and has not been created by any god or by any man, but has been, is and will be a living fire that goes on and off. according to laws”.

Other notable pre-Socratic philosophers included Pythagoras, Democritus, Parmenides, Thales, and Anaximander. Socrates With the arrival of Socrates (Athens, 470-399 before the common era) Greek philosophy underwent a revolution. Socrates was so skeptical and questioning, even of himself, that he said: "I only know that I know nothing.

" Socrates patented the dialectical method, which consisted of a dialogued reflection in which each thing affirmed by the interlocutors was analyzed from reason to know if it was valid or false. The Middle Ages Medieval philosophy is determined by the rise and spread of Christianity. Most medieval thinkers are monks, and although they appreciate the genius of the Greek philosophers, they also reject them, since many of their ideas are incompatible with Christian revelation.

As Tertullian put it, "Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem. " The main philosophical current of the Middle Ages is scholasticism, whose main representatives are Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Anselm, William of Ockham and Duns Scotus. A central debate in the philosophy of the Middle Ages was that between realism and nominalism.

The first affirmed that universal categories, such as "humanity", correspond to real entities, with concrete existence. Instead, for nominalism, universal categories are just words or abstract mental constructs, such as an idea or a belief. Modern Age Modern philosophy was born by emancipating itself from the tutelage exercised over it by Christian theology.

Although some modern philosophers are Christians and, as far as philosophy is concerned, Christianity in general is still valued and taken into account, it is no longer obligatory to think in agreement with Christian dogmas and philosophy goes its own way freely. The first modern philosopher is René Descartes (1596-1650), who, unearthing Socratic skepticism, doubted everything and put everything to the test of reason. Descartes thus founded modern scientific philosophy.

Other modern philosophers of great importance are Kant, Hegel, Hume, Spinoza, Locke and Leibniz. What does philosophy study? Philosophy, in a broad sense, studies the origin of things, their first cause, as well as their ultimate goal.

Throughout history, it has tried to answer fundamental questions, such as the meaning of existence, what is being, knowledge, reason, death, beauty, love. Many authors consider that philosophy is the basis of all modern sciences, the reason why human beings began to see around them and pay attention to things, natural or not, that happened. It tries to answer the whats and whys of all human issues.

Branches of philosophy Philosophy has allowed the emergence of related disciplines. We'll see what they are. Gnoseology Epistemology is also called, and is the branch that deals with the theory of knowledge.

It studies the various ways in which knowledge is acquired and the way in which it is built. Metaphysics Study reality, how it is structured, how it is formed, what its nature is, as well as what it is composed of and what its foundations are. In a way, it helps us understand the world around us.

Logic Studies the formal and rational procedures of thought, inference and demonstration, methods by which conclusions can be drawn from premises. Aesthetics It is the branch of philosophy responsible for studying beauty, the meaning of beauty, how it is determined in society. It also studies perception, the way in which the beautiful is perceived.

Ethics It is responsible for studying the concepts of virtue, morality, duty, happiness, and also human behavior and its social and human codes. Philosophy of language Language is the center of this branch, how it originates, what its meaning is, what the acquisition of this ability represents for humanity. It differs from linguistics in that it does not use empirical methods to address its study.

Political philosophy is the theoretical study of power relations, how human beings are structured in society, forms of government, political structures, etc. What is philosophy for? It could be thought that philosophy is a study reserved for academics and that it does not concern ordinary individuals.

But it's not like that. Philosophy is a very useful tool for those who want to use it, which will help them understand the paths that human thought has taken throughout history. With it, or through it, it is possible to recognize those dilemmas that each historical period goes through, and how the human being has managed to face ethical problems, such as the meaning of life, what is correct or not, what moral.

When there has been confusion at different moments in history, the philosophers are the ones who advance, not exactly answers, but outlines, roadmaps with which others can be guided.