List of philosophical questions

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Below are questions that have given rise to philosophy through the ages (see perennial philosophy), and the attempts to answer those questions from the world's various philosophical points of view, from mainstream academic positions to the approaches of new-age pop philosophy, and from the various cultures and regions of the world (e.g., answers have been presented from both Western and Eastern philosophy).

Contents 1 About philosophy 1.1 What is philosophy? 1.2 What good is philosophy? 2 What exists? 2.1 What is metaphysics? 2.2 Does anything material actually exist, or is what I see an illusion? 2.3 Do those things I see only exist because they are observed, or do they exist independent of any observer? 2.4 How did the universe come into existence? 2.5 How do I know that I exist? 2.5.1 What if this is all a dream? 2.6 Do god(s) exist? If so, how many? What are they like? 2.7 What are cause and effect? 2.8 Is the universe deterministic? 2.9 What is consciousness? 2.10 Is there life after death? 2.11 What are time and space? 3 How do I know it? 3.1 Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable person could doubt it? -Bertrand Russell, "The Problems of Philosophy", Chapter 1, page 7. 3.2 What is knowledge? 3.3 How do I know what I know? 3.4 What makes a belief justified? 3.5 Is a priori knowledge possible? 3.6 Can I be certain of anything? 3.7 Do my senses provide me with valid knowledge? 3.8 How do I form concepts? 3.9 What is truth? 3.9.1 How can we know when something is true or not? 3.10 What is the process for acquiring knowledge? 3.10.1 What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge? 3.10.2 What is faith and can it provide valid knowledge? 3.10.2.1 What is the difference between belief and knowledge? 3.11 What are axioms? 3.12 What are definitions and how does one construct them? 4 What should I do? 4.1 Do I have free will? 4.2 What is ethics and what does it apply to? 4.3 How does one determine good and evil, right and wrong, and what is of value? 4.4 What is the standard of value? 4.5 What is the importance or need of ethics? 4.6 What are virtues, vices? 4.7 What gives rise to idea of a government, to politics? 4.8 What is freedom? 4.9 What is just? 5 What is art? 5.1 What is esthetics? 5.2 What good is art? 5.3 What is beauty? 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] About philosophy

Main list: List of basic philosophy topics

[edit] What is philosophy?

Main article: Definition of philosophy

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. - Anonymous; quoted in Dennett, Daniel C. (2006). Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, 1st ed., p. 17, Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-670-03472-X.

[edit] What good is philosophy?

Too much philosophy makes men mad. -Alan Judd, The Noonday Devil (1987)

[edit] What exists?

Main articles: Matter and Existence

[edit] What is metaphysics?

[edit] Does anything material actually exist, or is what I see an illusion?

[edit] Do those things I see only exist because they are observed, or do they exist independent of any observer?

• Materialism
• Idealism

[edit] How did the universe come into existence?

Main articles: Beginning of the universe, Big Bang, and Origin beliefs

[edit] How do I know that I exist?

• René Descartes' answer to this question

[edit] What if this is all a dream?

For there to be a dream, there must be a dreamer.

Is our life just a matrix style reality. Who decides what is real and what is not?

[edit] Do god(s) exist? If so, how many? What are they like?

Main article: Existence of God

• Polytheism
• Monotheism
• Pantheism
• Panentheism
• Atheism
• Agnosticism

[edit] What are cause and effect?

[edit] Is the universe deterministic?

[edit] What is consciousness?

Main article: Consciousness

[edit] Is there life after death?

Main article: Afterlife

I am trying to call attention to the elephant in the room that everybody is too polite - or too devout - to notice: religion, and specifically the devaluing effect that religion has on human life. I don't mean devaluing the life of others (though it can do that too), but devaluing one's own life. Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end. -Richard Dawkins

[edit] What are time and space?

Main article: Philosophy of space and time

[edit] How do I know it?

Main articles: Knowledge, Truth, and Epistemology

[edit] Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable person could doubt it? -Bertrand Russell, "The Problems of Philosophy", Chapter 1, page 7.

[edit] What is knowledge?

• True justified belief
• True justified belief, plus something else (i.e., Gettier cases)

[edit] How do I know what I know?

• Rationalism
• Empiricism
• Kantian Intuition

[edit] What makes a belief justified?

• Reliabilism
• Coherantism
• Correspondence theory of truth
• Pragmatism

[edit] Is a priori knowledge possible?

Main article: a priori and a posteriori (philosophy)

[edit] Can I be certain of anything?

[edit] Do my senses provide me with valid knowledge?

[edit] How do I form concepts?

Main articles: Concept and Problem of universals

[edit] What is truth?

[edit] How can we know when something is true or not?

[edit] What is the process for acquiring knowledge?

Main articles: Wisdom and Scientific method

[edit] What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?

[edit] What is faith and can it provide valid knowledge?

[edit] What is the difference between belief and knowledge?

[edit] What are axioms?

[edit] What are definitions and how does one construct them?

[edit] What should I do?

[edit] Do I have free will?

Main article: Free will

• Determinism (soft and hard determinism)
• Libertarianism (metaphysics)

[edit] What is ethics and what does it apply to?

[edit] How does one determine good and evil, right and wrong, and what is of value?

Main article: Good and evil

[edit] What is the standard of value?

[edit] What is the importance or need of ethics?

[edit] What are virtues, vices?

[edit] What gives rise to idea of a government, to politics?

[edit] What is freedom?

Main article: Freedom (philosophy)

[edit] What is just?

Main article: Justice

[edit] What is art?

Main article: Art

[edit] What is esthetics?

Main article: Esthetics

[edit] What good is art?

[edit] What is beauty?

Main article: Beauty

[edit] See also

• Unsolved problems in philosophy

[edit] External links

• Principia Cybernetica