What is philosophy and why should anyone study it?
It is difficult to define what exactly philosophy is. Literally, it means “love of wisdom” and as Psychology is the study of the human mind and behavior, Philosophy is the study based on the matters such as truth, knowledge, existence and reality. It is divided in many disciplines such as: epistemology which is concerned with the nature of knowledge; metaphysics which is the study of nature of being and worldwide, and ethics also known as “ moral standard,” which is interested on the way people act. Philosophy raises many questions that make all certainties vacillate. Study philosophy can be very stimulating, it can help people think more effectively and broad one’s intellectual horizon.
Study philosophy is stimulating because it raised questions that no one has the right or wrong answer. In his branch call epistemology, it raises the question such as how do I know that? What is true? What I think I know do I really know it? The ethic raises questions such as how should I behave? Do we always have to say the truth? While metaphysics raise questions as
Who am I? Why do I exist? The desire to find the answers to those questions become an intellectual quest that one must satisfy. Learning philosophy will provide us tools that help us to formulate answers to any sorts of questions while keeping our mind open to others opinion’.
Add to that, Henry Thoreau said: “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”
Also, philosophy which is the search of truth through reasoning, gives us the ability to think critically and build up our own ideas. As an example, there is many false beliefs which
2
have become truth for many of us because they have being taught to us by our parents, friends or neighbors. We have never taken the time to verify the information or think about it. One example of those beliefs is the