Concept and Scope of Philosophy
Philosophy is the acquisition of knowledge and
the education is a process of application of knowledge and modification of
behavior. John Dewey defines philosophy in its most general phases as being the
theory of education. Greek philosopher Aristotle remarked, “Everyone follows a
philosophy, whether he is aware of it or not.”
Philosophy is the
study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with
reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. Philosophy is
distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical,
generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. Philosophy
can refer to “the most basic reliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual
or group.”
Definitions Philosophy:
1.
In the words of Plato, “knowledge of the true nature of
different things is philosophy.”
2.
According to Aristotle, “Philosophy is science which discovers the real nature
of supernatural elements.”
3. Immanuel
Kant
regards philosophy as, “ the science and criticism of cognition.”
4.Henderson
thinks that “philosophy is search for comprehensive view of nature, an attempt
at a universal explanation of the nature of the things.”
5.Edgar
S. Brightman says “philosophy is essentially a
spirit of method of approaching experience rather than a body of conclusions
about experience.”
6.According to Herbert Spencer ,
“Philosophy is concerned with everything as a universal science.”
7.In
the words of Alfered Weber “Philosophy
is a search for comprehensive view of nature, an attempt at a universal
explanation of the nature of things.”
8.According
to John Dewey, “ Philosophy is
critical reviewing of just those familiar things.”
9.George Berkeley said,
“Philosophy being nothing but the study of wisdom and truth.”
10.Jacques Maritain
says, “Philosophy is the science by which the natural light of reason studies
the first causes or highest principles of all things – is , in other words, the
science of things in their first causes, in so far as these belong to the
natural order.”
11.Bertrand
Russel “Philosophy is the logical knowledge of basic
princioles of different sciences.”
12.According to Karl Marx, “ Philosophy is an
interpretation of the world in order to change it.”
Indian
view on Philosophy:
Indian
philosophy has been, however, intensely spiritual and has always emphasized the
need of practical realization of truth. The term “Darshanam” is considered as
an equivalent term for philosophy in India. The Sanskrit word
‘Darshan’(Philosophy) means ‘seeing’, ‘direct perception of truth’ , ‘vision’.
Philosophy in India stands for
the direct, immediate and intuitive vision of
reality., the actual perception of
Truth, and also includes the means which lead to this realization. Seers
of ancient India used to see or perceive the truth.
According to Manu, Philosophy is
“Samyak Darshan ’’. It is the right knowledge, leading to Salvation or Mukthi.
Dr. Sarvepally Radhakrishnan,
considers philosophy as a “logical inquiry into the nature or reality. In the
critical exposition of reality.”
From
the above it can be conclude that:
1. Philosophy is a search for reality and
truth.
2. Philosophy is based on inquiery.
3. Philosophy is a dynamic and living force.
4. Philosophy is a guide to a way of life.
5. Philosophy is an art as well as a science.
6. Philosophy is love of knowledge.
7. Philosophy is an intellectual attempt to
interpret and understand the nature.
8. Philosophy gives a direction to life.
9. Philosophy is guidance from great sages
(Rishees) with their vision for future
generation.
10. Philosophy is
closely related to education.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan,
The great Indian Philosopher in his book “The Idealistic View if Life” says,
Human life is always purposeful. The purpose of life is determined by the
philosophy to take decision wisely and to act consistently. We need such vision
by that can able to differentiate truth and false, beauty and ugliness, right
and wrong etc.
(A)
BRIEF HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
Ancient
Philosophy:
·
Pre-Socrates:
The
Milesian School
1. Thales
(~585BC)
·
Father of western philosophy.
·
Everything is made of water.
·
The earth rests on water.
·
The magnet has a soul in it because
it moves iron.
·
All things are full of gods.
2.
Anaximander (~564BC)
·
All things come from a single primal
substance, but it is not water, nor other known substances.
·
Conception of justice –of or not
overstepping eternally fixed bounds .
·
Man evolved from fishes.
·
Earth is a cylinder.
3.
Anaximedes (<494BC) The fundamental substance is air.
· Earth is shaped like a round table
surrounded by air.
4.
Pythagorus (~532BC)
· Founded a school of mathematics
· Founded a religion – transmigration
of souls; sin to eat beans;
5. Heraclitus (~500BC)
· Fire is the fundamental substance.
· Everything is born by the death of
something else.
· Hostile attitude to life.
6. Parmenides (500-450BC)
· The way of opinion
· The way of truth – “Both thought
and language require objects outside themselves” “words have a constant
meaning”
7. Empedocles (~440BC)
·
Discover that air is a separate
substance.
·
Evolution & Survival of the
fittest.
·
Founder of Italian Medical School.
·
4 Elements – earth, air, fire &
water – combined by love & separated by strife.
8. Anaxogorus (500-432BC)
· Everything is infinitely divisible.
· Mon shines by reflected light.
· Correct theory of eclipses, knew
moon is below sun
· 1st to bring philosophy to Athens.
9. Atomists – Leucippus & Democritus (~440BC)
· Contemporary to the Sophists
· Everything is composed of atoms
which always move.
10. Socrates (~400BC)
·
Who was teacher of Plato
·
Who used questioning as tool for
awakening youngsters.
·
Who lived for truth.
11. Plato (429-347BC): - a dualist
1.He was so self-conscious about how
philosophy should be conceived, and what its scope and ambitions properly are,
and he so transformed the intellectual currents with which he grappled, that
the systematic examination of ethical, political
metaphysical and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method – can
be called his invention.
2.Plato believed that the true
substances are not physical bodies, which are ephemeral, but the eternal forms
of which bodies are imperfect copies. These forms not only make the world
possible, they also make it intelligible, because they perform the role of
universals, or what Frege called
concepts. It is their connection with intelligibility that is relevant to the
philosophy of mind. Because forms are the grounds of intelligibility, they are
what the intellect must grasp in the process of understanding.
12. Aristotle (~350BC):
1.Aristotle did not believe in
Platonic forms, existing independently of their instances. Aristotelian forms
are the natural and properties of things and exist embodied in those things.
This enabled Aristotle to explain the union of body and soul by saying that the
soul is the form of the body. This means that a particular person’s soul is
more than his nature as a human being. Because this seems to make the soul into
a property of the body, it led many interpreters, both ancient and modern, to
interpret his theory as materialistic.
2.The interpretation of Aristotle’s
philosophy of mind-and, indeed, of his whole doctrine of form – remains as live
an issue today as it was immediately after his death. Nevertheless, the text
makes it clear that Aristotle believed that the intellect, though part of the
soul, differs from other faculties in not having a bodily organ. His argument
for this constitutes a more rightly argued case than Plato’s for the
immateriality of thought and hence for a kind of dualism. He argued that the
intellect must be immaterial because if it were material it could not receive
all forms. Just as the eye, because of its particular physical nature , is
sensitive to light but not to light, so, if the intellect were in a physical
things ; but this is not the case, for we can think about any kind of material
object (De Anima).
13. Epicurus:
1.Felt most of us don’t understand
what we really need to make us happy, and substitute spending in place of it.
2.Blamed advertising in the
commercial world for misleading and confusing us.
3.Whilst some money is needed to
allow us to attain happiness by provision of our basic needs, more money than
this is not an essential ingredients for further levels of happiness.
14. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274):
1.Lived at a critical junction of
western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation
between faith and reason, calling into question the Modus Vivendi that had
obtained for centuries. This crisis flared up just as universities were being
founded.
2.Thomas after early studies at Montecassino,
moved on to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican
orders. It was at Naples too that Thomas had his first extended contact with
the new learning. When he joined the Dominican Order he went north to study
with Albertus Magnus author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus.
3.Thomas completed his studies at the
University of Paris, which had been formed out of the monastic school at Notre
Dame. In two stints as a regent master Thomas defended the mendicant orders
and, of greater historical importance, countered both the Averroistic
interpretations of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Geek
philosophy. The result was a new Modus
Vivendi between faith and philosophy
which survived until the rise of the new physics.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY:
15. Francis Bacon (1561-1626):
1.
A lawyer, Member of Parliament, and Queen’s
Counsel, Bacon wrote on questions of law, state and religion, as well as on
contemporary politics; but he also published texts in which he speculated on
possible conceptions of society, and he pondered questions of ethics (Essays)
even in his works on natural philosophy (The Advancement of Learning).
2.
To the present day Bacon is well
known for his treaties in empiricist natural philosophy (The Advancement of
Learning, Novum Organum Scientiarum) and
for his doctrine of the idols, which he put forward in his early writings, as
well as for the idea of a modern research institute, which described in Nova Atlantis.
3.
He was considered as father of inductive
logic.
16. Descartes (1596-1650) - a
dualist:
1.While the great philosophical distinction
between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to
the seminal work of René Descartes (1596-1650), French mathematician philosopher,
and physiologis, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body
relationship. Father of modern western philosopher.
2.Descartes proposed a mechanism for
automatic reaction in response to external events. According to his proposal,
external motions affect the peripheral ends of the nerve fibrils, which in turn
displace the central ends. As the central ends are displaced, the pattern of
interfibrillar space is rearranged and the flow of animal spirits is thereby
directed into the appropriate nerves. It was Descartes’ articulation of this
mechanism for automatic, the founding of reflex theory.
3.In Descartes’ conception, the rational soul,
an entity distinct from the body and making contact with the body at the pineal
gland, might or might not become aware of the differential outflow of animal
spirits brought about through the rearrangement of the interfibrillar spaces.
When such awareness did occur, however the result was conscious sensation- body
affecting mind. In turn in voluntary action, the soul might itself initiate a
differential outflow. Of animal spirits. Mind, in other words, could also
affect body.
4.“Cartesian science” is that which was taught by Descartes.
17. Baruch Spinoza (1632-77):
1.His thought combines a commitment
to Cartesian metaphysical and epistemological principles with elements from
ancient Stoicism and medieval Jewish rationalism into a nonetheless highly
original system.
2.His extremely naturalistic views on
God, the world, the human being and knowledge serve to ground a moral
philosophy centered on the control of the passions leading to virtue the
happiness.
3.They also lay the foundations for a
strongly democratic political thought and a deep critique of the pretensions of
Scripture and sectarian religion.
4.Of all the philosophers of the
seventeenth-century, perhaps none have more relevance today than Spinoza.
18. John Locke (1632-77):
1.Much of Locke’s work is
characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. This opposition is both on the
level of the individual person and on the level of the individual person
and on the level of institutions such as
government and church.
2.For the individual, Locke wants
each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the
opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wants us t proportion
assent to propositions to the evidence for them.
19. Thomas Hobbes (published 1642-81)
1.
Thomas Hobbes is now widely
regarded as one of a handful of truly great political philosophers, whose
masterwork Leviathan rivals in significance the political writings of Plato,
Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Kant and Rawls.
2.
Hobbes is famous for his early and
elaborate development of what has come to be known as “Social Contact Theory”,
the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the
agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational free, and equal
persons.
3.
He is infamous for having used the
social contract method to arrive at the astonishing conclusion that we ought to
submit to the authority of an absolute – undivided and unlimited – sovereign
power.
20. George Berkeley (1685-1753):
1. He was a brilliant critic of his
predecessors, particularly Descartes, Malebranche, and Locke. He was a talented
metaphysician famous for defending idealism, that is, the view that reality
consists exclusively of minds and their ideas. Berkeley’s system, while it
strikes many as counter-intuitive, is strong and flexible enough to counter
most objections.
2.His most-studied works,, the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (Dialogue),
are beautifully written and dense with the sort of arguments that delight
contemporary philosophers.
3.He was also a wide-ranging thinker
with interests in religion (which were fundamental to his philosophical
motivations), the psychology of vision, mathematics, physics, morals economics,
and medicine.
4.Although many of Berkeley’s first
readers greeted him with incomprehension, he influenced both Hume and Kant, and
is much read in our own way.
21. David Hume (1711-76):
1.Generally regarded as the most
important philosopher ever to write in English, the last of the great
triumvirate of “British Empiricists” – was also noted as an historian and
essayist.
2.Influenced Immanuel Kant &
Charles Darwin in particular.
22. Immanuel Kant (-1804):
1.He was rationalist philosopher.
2.Written three famous books named
Critique of pure reason,Critique of practical reason and Critique of judgment.
3.He emphasized on transcendat
idealism.
4.His ethical slogan was ‘duty for
the duty sake.’
23. George Hegel (1770-1831):
1.
Belongs to the period of “German
idealism” in the decades following Kant.
2.
The most systematic of the
post-Kantian idealists, Hegel attempted, throughout his published writings as
well as in his lectures, to elaborate a comprehensive and systematic ontology
from a “logical” starting point.
3.
He is perhaps most well-known for
his teleological account of history, an account which was later taken over by
Marx and “inverted” into a materialist theory of an historical development
culminating in communism.
4.
For most of the twentieth century,
the “logical” side of Hegel’s thought had been largely forgotten, but his
political and social philosophy continued to find interest and support.
However, since the 1970s, a degree of more general philosophical interest in
Hegel’s systematic thought has also been revived.
24. Karl Marx (1818-1883):
1.He is best known not as a best
philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the
foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. It is hard to
think of many who have had as much influence in the creation of the modern world.
2.Trained as a philosopher, Marx
turned away from philosophy in his
mid-twenties, towards economics and politics. However in addition to his
overtly philosophical early work, his later writings have many points of contact
with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in the philosophy of
history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy.
Historical materialism – Marx’s theory of history- is centered around the idea
that forms of society rise and fall as they further and then impede the
development of human productive power.
25. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900):
1.Challenged the foundations of
traditional morality and Christianity. He believed in life, creativity, health
and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a
world beyond.
2.Central of Nietzsche’s philosophy
is the idea of “life-affirmation,” which involves a honest questioning of all
doctrines which drain life’s energies, however socially prevalent those views
might be.
3.Often referred to as one of the
first “existentialist” philosophers, Nietzsche has inspired leading figures in
all walks of cultural life, including dancers, poets, novelists, painters,
psychologists, philosophers, sociologists and social revolutionaries.
26. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970):
1.A British philosopher, logician essayist,
and social critic best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic
philosophy.
2.His most influential contributions
include his defense of logicism (the view that mathematics is in some important
sense reducible to logic), and his theories of definite descriptions and
logical atomism. Along with G.E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one
of the founders of analytic philosophy.
27. Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980):
1.He is arguably the best known
philosopher of the twentieth century.
2.He is commonly considered
the father of Existentialist philosophy, whose writings set the tone for
intellectual life in the decade immediately following the Second World War.
(B)
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
The origin of Indian
philosophy may be easily traced in the Vedas. The Vedas are the oldest sacred
text in the India. This Vedic tradition has two aspects.
1.
The aspect of knowledge (Jnana
Knada) and
2.
Ritualism (Karma kanda)
The Upanishads
are purely meant for knowledge. A simplified explanations on Vedas are
available in India which is known as ‘Prastanatrayam’ i.e.
Three texts
1. Upanishads,
2.
Brahma Sutras and
3.
Srimad Bhagvad Gita
Indian
Philosophical system can be classified into two groups based on the criteria of
acceptance of Vedas.
I.Nasthica School of Indian Philosophy
1.
Carvaka:
Also known as
Lokayata, Carvaka is a materialistic, sceptial and purely atheistic (nastica)
school of thought because it was denied all three criteria i.e. there is no
belief in Vedas, God and Rebirth. Its founder was Carvaka, author of the Barhaspatya Sutras in the final centuries B.C., although the original texts
have been lost and our understanding of them is largely based on criticism of
the ideas by other schools. As early as the 5th century, Saddaniti and
Buddhaghosa connected the Lokayatas with the Vitandas (or Sophists), and the
term Cravaka was first recorded in the 7th Century by the
philosopher Purandara was first recorded in the 8th Century by
Kamalasila and Haribhadra.
2.
Jaina Philosophy:
Jainism
also considered as atheistic (naasthica) school because it never accept Vedas
and God. But there is a belief in rebirth and law of karma
3.
Buddhist Philosophy:
Buddhism is
atheistic (nasthica) system because it never accepts Vedas and God. But there
is a belief in rebirth and karma concept. This ism is based on the teachings of
Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince later known as the Buddha, in the 5th
century B.C. The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, and it is
mainly founded on the rejection of certain orthodox Hindu philosophical
concepts. (although it does share some philosophical views with Hinduism, such
as belief in Karma). Buddhism advocates a Noble Eightfold Path to end
suffering, and its philosophical principles are known as the Four Noble Truths
(the Nature of Suffering , the Origin of Suffering, the Cessation of Suffering,
and the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering ). Buddhist philosophy deals
extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics and
epistemology.
II.
Asthica School of Indian Philosophy
This
system is also known as sixitems of Indian Philosophy which believe in
testimony of the Vedas, collectively known as Sad Darshanas. They are:
1.Samkhya:
(Indian Numerology or Mathematics)
Samkhya is the
oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in postulates that everything in
reality stems from purusha (self or soul or mind) and prakriti (matter,
creative agency, enery). It is dualist philosophy, although betweenthe self and matter rather than between mind
and body as in the Western dualist tradition, and liberation occurs with the
realizatrion that the soul and the dipositions of matter (steadiness, activity
and dullness) are different. The founder was Kapila Maharshi.
2.
Yoga: (Indian Psychology)
The Yoga
School, as expounded by Patanjali Maharshi in the 2nd Century B.C. Yoga Sutras,
accepts the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic, with the
addition of divine entity to Samkhya’s twenty-five elements of reality.
3.
Nyaya: (Indian Logic)
The
Nyaya School is based on the Nyaya Sutra, written by Aksapada Goutama in
the 2nd Century B.C. Its methodology is based on a system of logic
that has subsequently been adopted by the majority of the Indian schools, as
much the same way as Aristotelian logic has influenced Western philosophy. Its
followers believe that obtaining valid knowledge (the four sources of which are
perception, Inference, comparision and testimony) is the only way to gain
release from suffering. Nyaya developed several criteria by which the knowledge
thus obtained was to be considered valid or invalid (equivalent in some ways to
Western analytic philosophy).
4.
Vaisheshika: (Indian Atomism)
The Vaisheshika
school was founded by Kanada in the 6th century B.C., and it atomist and
pluralist in nature. The basis of the school’s philosophy is that all objects
in the physical universe are reducible to a finite number of atoms, and Brahman
is regarded as the fundamental force that causes consciousness in these atoms.
The Vaisheshika and Nyaya schools eventually merged, because of their closely
related metaphysical theories (although Vaisheshika only accepted perception
and inference as sources of valid knowledge.)
5.
Purva Mimansha: (Indian Language and Grammar)
The main objective of
the Purva Mimansha School is to interpret and establish the authority of the Vedas. It requires unquestionable faith
in the Vedas and the regular performance of the Vedic fire sacrifices to
sustain all the activity of the universe. This system was
discussed on Sanskrit language and grammar. The founder was Jaimini Maharshi
and developed by two Batta Sodara i.e. Kumarila Batta and Prabhakara Batta.
6.
Uthara Mimamsa or Vedanta:
The Vedanta, or Uttara
Mimamsa, school concentrates on the philosophical teachings of the Upanishadas (mystic or spiritual
contemplations within the Vedas),
rather than the Brahmanas (instructions for ritual and sacrifice). The Vedanta
focuses on meditation, self-discipline and spiritual connectivity, more than
traditional ritualism. The founder was Veda Vyasa.
7.
Due to the rather cryptic and poetic nature of
the Vedanta Sutras, the school was separated into six sub-schools, each interpreting
the texts in its own way and producing its own series of sub-commentaries:
i. ( a) Advaita (the best known, ehich
holds that the soul and Brahman are one and the same).
(b)Shankaracharya was
mainly proposed and explained this system.
ii.
Vishsistavaita (which teaches that
the Supreme Being has a definite for, name –Vishnu – and attributes).
Ramanujacharya who explained this system.
iii. ( c )Dvaita (which espouces a belief in
three separate realities: Vishnu and eternal soul and matter). Madhavaacharya
explained this system.
iv. (d )Dvaitadvaita (which holds that
Brahman exists independently , while soul and matter are dependemt ).
Nimbarkacharya explained this system.
v. ( e)Suddhadvaita (which believes that
Krishna is the absolute form Brahman) Vallabhacharya explained this system. It
is also known as Pustimarga. And
vi. (f )Achintya Bheda Abheda (which
combines monism and dualism by stating that the soul is both distinct and
non-distinct from Krishna, or God).Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was considered as
founder of this system. Differentiates the Gaudiya tradition from the other Vaishnava
Sampradayas. It can be best understood as integration of strict dualist
(Dvaita) view of Madhavacharya any qualified monism Vishistadvaita ot
Ramanujacharya while rejecting absolute monism Advaita of Adi Sankara.
NATURE
OF PHILOSOPHY
The nature of
philosophy is one sense in philosophical. It explains the philosophical
problems, philosophical attitude and philosophical activities. Philosophical
attitude begins with doubt. It is critical, reflective, tolerant , detached,
continually progressive, directed by experience and reasoning and devoid of
hurry in arriving at conclusions.
It deals with
the educational problems in a philosophical method is critical, comprehensive
and synthetic. They are inductive (particular to universal or from examples to
understand the principle), deductive (from universal to particular or from
general to specific), dialectical (from two different duels can draw the new
truth), Analytical (It is clear explanations) and synthesis (drawing new
truths) etc.
1.
Philosophy analyses the foundations
and presuppositions underlying other disciplines. Philosophy investigates and
studies the underpinning of science, art and theology.
2.
Philosophy attempts to develop a
comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world. Philosophy seeks to
integrate the knowledge of the sciences with that of other fields of study to
achieve some kind of consistent and coherent world view. Philosophers do not
want to confine their attention to a fragment of human experience or knowledge,
but rather, want to reflect upon life as a totality.
3.
Philosophy studies and critically
evaluates our most deeply held beliefs and attitudes; in particular; those
which are often held uncritically. Philosophers have an attitude of critical
and logical thoughtfulness. They force to us the significance and consequences
of our beliefs, and sometimes their inconsistencies. They analyze the evidence
(or lack of it) for our most treasured beliefs, and seek to remove from our
perspectives every taint and trace of ignorance, prejudice, superstition, blind
acceptance of ideas, any other form of irrationality.
SCOPE OF PHILOSOPHY
Scope
refers to width and breadth, outlook, comprehensiveness, range of experiences,
purview etc. The scope of philosophy is so vast. Francis Bacon, a great English
philosopher regarded the philosophy as, “the great mother of the Sciences”. And
Coleridge defined philosophy as the “sciences of sciences”. The source of
philosophy can be understood by seeing the branches of philosophy.
Broadly speaking there are mainly three
branches. Those are:
1.
Meta Physics:
Meta Physics is the branch
of philosophy which deals with the problem of reality. It is considered as
beyond physics. It is theory of reality. It is deeper study of finding truths.
It studies about man, World and Ultimate or God. It studies purpose and essence
part. Meta Physics deals with:-
1.
Theory of Reality
2.
It is beyond Physics
3.
It deals with Man, World and
Ultimate Reality or God.
4.
It is deeper study for finding
truth.
5.
It studies the essence and purpose.
6.
It deals with questions like:-
i.
What is living being? What is Soul?
ii.
What is the relationship between
body and soul?
iii.
What is the relationship between
Man, World and God?
2.
Epistemology:
Epistemology is the branch
of which deals with the problem of knowledge. It is considered as theory of
Knowledge. It deals with sources of knowledge. Many philosophies accepted that
the sources of knowledge mainly Perception, Inference, Testimony, Comparison
etc. Many philosophers were accepted that the Sources mainly Experience,
Observation, Logical assumptions, Authority, Intuition etc. Different
philosophies and different philosophers have provided different answers.
Epistemology mainly deals with:-
1.
Theory of knowledge
2.
It deals with sources of knowledge
3.
Sources of knowledge mainly
perception, Inference, Testimony, Comparison etc.
4.
Sources mainly Experience,
Observation, Logical assumptions, Authority, Institution etc.
5.
It deals with questions like
i.
What is truth? What is doubt?
ii.
What are the sources of acquiring
knowledge?
3.
Axiology:
Axiology
is the branch which deals with the problem of values. It is considered as
theory of values. It can be classified values based on the instinct nature of
human kind.
There are mainly three kinds of values:-
(a)
Logical Values or Truth Values:
‘Knowing’
is the instinct nature of human kind. The question arises what should know?
When our mind can satisfy? The answer is man should know only truths. By
knowing truths only our mind can satisfy. Our mind never accepts
contradictions. The study related to truths is known as science of logic. Logic
proposes various logical values. It deals with questions like what is the
nature of logical thinking. What are the truths? What is doubt? Etc. Through
the process of deductive and inductive thinking and arguments we can draw the
true conclusions and values. There is a truth value inherent in every
individual. Right education should develop it.
(b)
Ethical Values or Good Values:
‘Willing’ or ‘Desire’ is
the instinct nature of human mind. The question arises what should desire? When
our mind can satisfy? The answer is Man should desire only good. By willing
good only our mind can be satisfied. Our mind never accepts the bad desires.
The study related to good and bad is known as science of ethics. The subject of
ethics deals with question like what is good. What is evil? Many ethical
philosophers, scholars, saints, proposed various kinds of ethical values.
It is expected with individuals ought to be
followed the ethical values because it is like prescriptions which gives
happiness and creates harmony in the society. There is a good value inherent in
every individual. Right education should develop it.
(c)
Aesthetic Values or Beauty Values:
‘Feeling
is the instinct nature of human mind. The question arises what should feel?
When your mind can satisfy? The answer is Man should feel only beauty. By
beauty feeling only our mind can be satisfied. Our mind never accepts the ugly.
The study related to beauty is known as science of Aesthetics. It deals with
questions like what is beauty and what is ugly? There is a beauty value
inherent in every individual. Right
education should develop it.
It is clear that all the
philosophers and philosophies dealt in with in a deeper way and found many
truths. The philosophers discussed truths in a metaphysical point of view,
epistemological point of view and also axiological point of view. In this way
the scope of philosophy is very wide and vast.
