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Modern Philosophy

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Modern Philosophy
Philosophy is a study that includes various diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Various philosophical traditions use different methods and include different topics in their study. Some, for example, include politics, physics, or religion. The fundamental method of philosophy involves the systematic use of critical reasoning to evaluate arguments in defence of assertions of belief or opinion.

The term philosophy comes from the Greek word "Φιλοσοφία" (philo-sophia), which means "love of wisdom". The term is notoriously difficult to define (see definition of philosophy) because of the diverse range of ideas that have been labeled as a philosophy. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy defines it as the study of "the most fundamental and general concepts and principles involved in thought, action, and reality". The Penguin Encyclopedia says that philosophy differs from science in that philosophy 's questions cannot be answered empirically, and from religion in that philosophy allows no place for faith or revelation. However, these points are called into question by the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, which states: "the late 20th-century... prefers to see philosophical reflection as continuous with the best practice of any field of intellectual enquiry." Indeed, many of the speculations of early philosophers in the field of natural philosophy eventually formed the basis for modern scientific explanations on a variety of subjects.

Informally, a "philosophy" may refer to a general world view or to a specific ethic or belief.

Contents [hide]
1 Branches of philosophy
2 History of philosophy
2.1 Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
2.2 Medieval philosophy
2.3 Eastern philosophy
3 Modern philosophy
3.1 Rationalism and empiricism
3.2 Kantian philosophy and the rise of idealism
3.3 American pragmatism
3.4 The prominence of logic
3.5 Phenomenology and



References: Crystal, David, The Penguin Encyclopedia, Penguin Books, 2004, ISBN 0140515437 Curley, Edwin, A Spinoza Reader, Princeton, 1994, ISBN 0691000670 Descartes, René, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy Fourth Edition, Hacket Publishing Company, 1998, ISBN 0872204219 Dolan, John P., The Essential Erasmus, Meridian, 1964, ISBN 0452009723 Heidegger, Martin, Basic Writings : Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, HarperSanFrancisco. 1993, ISBN 0060637633 Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan, Penguin Classics, 1985 Husserl, Edmund and Welton, Donn, The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology, Indiana University Press, 1999, ISBN 0253212731 Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason, Prometheus Books, 1990, ISBN 0879755962 Kierkegaard, Søren, Fear and Trembling, Penguin Classics, 1986, ISBN 0140444491 Kierkegaard, Søren, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Princeton University Press, 1992, ISBN 0691020817 Kung Fu Tze (Confucius), D. C. Lau (Translator), The Analects, Penguin Classics, 1998, ISBN 0140443487 Lao Tze (Laozi), Stephen Hodge (Translator), Tao Te Ching, Barrons Educational Series, 2002, ISBN 0764121685 Leibniz, G. W., Philosophical Essays, Hackett Publishing Company, 1989, ISBN 0872200639 Mauter, Thomas (editor), The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy, Penguin Books, 1998, ISBN 0140512500 Nietzsche, Friedrich, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Penguin Books, 1961, ISBN 0140441182 Popper, Karl R., The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0415278449 Sigmund, Paul E., The Selected Political Writings of John Locke, Norton, 2005, ISBN 0393964515

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