Portal:Temporary/Branches
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Philosophy ponders the most fundamental questions humankind has been able to ask. These questions are increasingly numerous and over time they have been arranged into the overlapping branches of philosophy:
- Logic: What makes for good thinking? When can I say for sure that something just does not make sense? How can I think critically about complicated arguments?
- Epistemology: What is the nature of knowledge? How do we come to know what we know? What are the limits and scope of knowledge? How can we know that there are other minds?
- Metaphysics: What sorts of things exist? What is the nature of those things? Do some things exist independently of our perception? What is the nature of space and time? Is there a fifth dimension? What is the nature of thought and thinking? What is it to be a person? What is it to be conscious? Do we have souls? Is there a god?
- Ethics: Is there a difference between ethically right and wrong actions (or values, or institutions)? If so, what is that difference? Which actions are right, and which wrong? Are they necessarily based on value? Are they divine commands or is there something else that makes them "just right?" Is ethical analysis dependent on the situation? Is it relative or absolute? In general or particular terms, how should I live? How should we live?
- Political Philosophy: How should society act as a whole? What is social justice? Who should rule? What laws are just?
- Aesthetics: What is art? What is beauty? Is everything that is beautiful art? Is there a standard of taste? Is art meaningful? If so, what does it mean? What is good art? Is art for the purpose of an end, or is "art for art's sake?" What connects us to art? How does art affect us? Is some art unethical? Does art have limits? Can art corrupt or elevate societies? Is anything original?
