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What is philosophy?

Socrates (469-399 B.C.)

Literally translated from the Greek, 'philosophy' means 'love of wisdom'. In Ancient Greece, the birthplace of Western philosophy, the philosophers were people who set their minds to solving the fundamental questions about reality and our place in it. What are the things around us made of? What is space and the heavenly bodies in it? Is the reality we perceive with our senses all there is? Are there gods and what are they like? How should we live? What is a just and fair society? What is beauty? What is truth?

Today, we would say that some of these questions fall into more specialised areas of study. For example, physicists investigate the structure of matter and astronomers study the heavens. Yet these divisions are relatively recent. Originally, the philosopher was subject to no restrictions on the questions he could ask. What made him a philosopher was the approach he undertook. He looked for a systematic explanation of why things are as they are. He would not take things at face value but look for deeper causes. He would use reason and argument to lay out his theory. He would welcome discussion and criticism with others. Philosophy, like science, is a collective enterprise in search of objective truths.

The philosopher today continues to ask fundamental questions about reality and our place in it. On this website, you will find resources to help you study philosophy. But why should you study philosophy?

Why study philosophy?

By studying philosophy you will gain many important practical skills. You will learn different ways of thinking. You will learn how to analyse, argue and assemble your thoughts in a coherent way. Yet, as we hope you will realise, these are not the main reasons. By studying philosophy, you will study some of the most fundamental questions that human beings have ever asked. You will thereby gain an appreciation of the value of gaining knowledge not because of its immediate practical consequences but because it is exciting, interesting and valuable just to have knowledge for its own sake. We have extremely powerful minds and are enormously curious beings and we should enjoy both our ability to wonder about the universe we find ourselves in and the challenge of knowing ever more about it.