We tell you about the branches of philosophy and some of its representatives. In addition, we tell you about its history and its questions.
Plato devoted himself to almost all branches of philosophy.
What are the branches of philosophy?
Some of the branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics and epistemology.
Philosophy is an academic discipline that deals with different theoretical and practical problems through reflection, critical thinking and the invention of concepts. The branches of philosophy are the ways in which it specializes according to the subject it deals with.
Metaphysics, for example, deals with questions about the meaning of being, the world and the existence of God. However, it often happens that the questions are repeated in one branch or another. This forces the different branches to dialogue with each other. The question of the existence of God, for example, is also addressed in theology.
All branches of philosophy have their representative philosophers, who, like their study questions, tend to share the same themes. Plato, for example, wrote about metaphysics but also about epistemology, ethics and aesthetics.
Key points
- Philosophy, which deals with the most general questions, is divided into branches.
- Each branch of philosophy works with different, interrelated questions that give it its own particularity.
- Some of the most important branches are metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics.
See also: Philosophy
Metaphysics
Metaphysics deals with questions that relate to being, the world, God, reality and existence. It is one of the oldest branches of philosophy and for a long time was the most important, studied by almost all philosophers.
It often shares many of its questions with theology. In the 20th century, two major ways of doing metaphysics emerged: continental and analytical.
Representatives: Plato, Aristotle, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger.
Epistemology
Epistemology works with knowledge but from a different point of view to gnoseology, since it asks about its origin and the way in which it is obtained, independently of the world. It works on scientific knowledge.
Representatives: Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath and Carl Hempel.
Gnoseology
Epistemology deals with questions about how knowledge and experience of the world occur. It is as old as metaphysics and is therefore often difficult to define. Phenomenology, for example, is derived from it.
Representatives: David Hume, Edmund Husserl, Plato, Aristotle, René Descartes and Immanuel Kant.
Logic
Logic studies the thought processes by which conclusions can be obtained from premises.
Representatives: Aristotle, Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead.
Ethics
Ethics deals with ethical and moral questions, such as questions about virtue, duty or goodness. It also deals with topics such as happiness or codes of human behavior. Today, ethics is studied in three dimensions: metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics.
Representatives: Socrates, Aristotle and Emmanuel Lévinas.
Esthetic
Aesthetics deals with questions about beauty and why art exists, among others. From the 18th century onwards, aesthetics sought the meaning of art, works of art and their rules of behaviour, as well as aesthetics. During the 20th century, it was related to other disciplines such as painting, poetry, literature, music and cinema.
Representatives: Immanuel Kant, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin.
Political Philosophy
Political philosophy addresses human relations in society: power and its structures, forms of government and the emergence of society, among others. Although some political treatises are as old as philosophy, since modern philosophy it has become an autonomous discipline.
Representatives: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes and G.W.F. Hegel.
Philosophy of language
The philosophy of language deals with language as a philosophical problem. It asks what it is, what its nature is, whether it has an origin and how it behaves. It also studies the relationship between language, thought and the world, as well as the limits of meaning.
Representatives: FLG Frege and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Philosophical Anthropology
Philosophical anthropology deals with questions about human beings from a philosophical point of view. One of its main concerns is to define what makes human beings human. This branch is a recent discipline, although several antecedents can be found throughout the history of philosophy.
Representatives: Max Scheler and Martin Heidegger.
Philosophy of mind
The philosophy of mind deals with the mind, its parameters and how mental behaviors occur. It is a branch that works in an interdisciplinary manner with some hard sciences, such as mechanics, neuroscience or physics.
Representatives: René Descartes, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Franz Brentano.
Philosophy of law
The philosophy of law deals with the nature of laws and justice from a philosophical point of view. This discipline rubs shoulders with political philosophy and ethics.
Representatives: Friedrich Hegel and Immanuel Kant.
Philosophy of animality
The philosophy of animality works with animal studies. This is one of the most recent and youngest branches of philosophy. It seeks to think of different non-violent ways for human beings to coexist with non-human natural diversity.
Representatives: Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida.
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References
- Marías, J. (1941). History of Philosophy. Alliance.
- Reale, G. and Antiseri, D. (2007). History of Philosophy. San Pablo Publishing House.
- Hegel, G.W.F. (1971). Indroduction to the philosophy’s history. Aguilar.
- Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (2001). What is philosophy?. Anagram.
- Lyotard, JF (1989). Why Philosophize? Four Lectures. Paidos.
- Heidegger, M. (2013). What is philosophy? Herder.