Meaning and Definition of philosophy | Purpose of Philosophy | B.Ed First Year

Meaning of Philosophy

The English word ‘philosophy’ is derived from two Greek words ‘Philos’ and ‘ Sophia’. The word ‘Philos’ means intense love and ‘Sophia’ means knowledge or wisdom. So, etymologically, philosophy is the love for knowledge or love for wisdom. The one who loves knowledge or wisdom is named as a philosopher.

‘Darshan’ is the synonymous term to philosophy in Sanskrit, Nepali, and Hindi languages. The word ‘Darshan’ literally signifies ‘seeing’ or ‘to see’.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, law, justice, validity, mind, and language.

Definitions of Philosophy

We cannot find a single definition of philosophy. Different scholars have defined the philosophy differently. Some definitions of philosophy provided by the scholars are as follows:

According to Coleridge, “Philosophy is the science of sciences.”

According to Fichte, “Philosophy is a science of knowledge.”

According to Kant, “Philosophy is science and criticism of cognition.”

According to Voltaire, “Philosophy is the source of knowledge which is based on observation and experience.”

According to Spencer, “Philosophy is the synthesis of science or universal science.”

Purposes of Philosophy

Philosophy has been playing a great role to study the situation, analyst problems and give solutions to them. The main purpose of philosophy can be listed as below:

  1. To direct humanity for the welfare of the people.
  2. To explore all the material world and to describe this material world.
  3. To analyze the creator of this material world and its creations
  4. To find out the ultimate means for the search of eternal truths
  5. To define the nature of the highest good on an individual
  6. To synthesize knowledge in a logical system
  7. To seek the source of knowledge
  8. To find out the causes and solutions of human sufferings
  9. To find out whether the soul exists or not
  10. To find out whether God exists or not

The meaning, definition, and purposes of the definition of philosophy signify the meaning of definition too in detail.

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