A Brief Rundown of the Main Branches of Philosophy.

This is by definition not nearly as in depth as those of you who have studied these branches
might like, but I'm hoping that it will be of interest to those new to the subject, those
looking for a brief description of the kinds of things they might encounter while studying
philosophy. At the top of this list I've put the 3 main subdivisions of philosophy, namely
epistemology, ethics and metaphysics, into which the majority of philosophical activity falls.
Apart from this the list is in alphabetical ordering. In each entry I've also tried to name a few
of the most important works in each branch, though obviously there are far more than I
could list here, particularly in the main 3 branches. To be honest, pretty much every one of
the hundred of so classic works of philosophy could probably be listed under those 3 as
classic, so I've just tried to keep it to the most central ones, and my personal favourites.

Epistemology: The philosophy of knowledge. Concerned with such questions as, is

knowledge of anything really possible, is our knowledge certain, how do we get our
knowledge, what things can we have knowledge about, what exactly is knowledge, etc.
Classic works include Descartes' Meditations, Locke's An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding, Hume's Treatise on Human Nature, and Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
Almost all the major philosophers have written on this subject, though it is less popular
nowadays.

Ethics: This is probably the most self-explanatory of all the branches. Concerned with such
things as what is good/evil, is there such a thing as objective morals or are they created by
us, or some other being, how we should live our lives, and so on. Classic works include
Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, and Kant’s Groundwork for the
Metaphysics of Morals, Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.

Metaphysics: Meta means above; this is the study of the nature of things above physics.
Metaphysics covers the kinds of things most people probably think of if asked what
philosophy covers e.g. those 'big questions', such as, is there God, why are we here, what is
the ultimate nature of the universe, and so on. Another important area of metaphysics is
the nature of substance, that is, what is the universe really made of, a particular favourite of
mine. Metaphysics has often come under attack for being too abstract to actually have any
worth, particularly famously by A.J. Ayer. Classic works include Aristotle's Metaphysics,
Spinoza's Ethics (which unsurprisingly also is a classic work on Ethics), and almost anything
written by Leibniz.

Aesthetics: The philosophy of art. Concerned with questions like why do we find certain
things beautiful, what makes things great art, so on. Classic works include Aristotle's
Rhetoric and Poetics, Schopenhauer and Hegel's lectures, Kant's Critique of Judgement.
Plato had a famously dim view of this branch.

Philosophy of Education: Fairly self-explanatory. A minor branch mainly concerned with

what is the correct way to educate a person. Classic works include Plato's Republic, Locke's
Thoughts Concerning Education, and Rousseau's Emile.
Philosophy of History: Fairly minor branch (not as minor as education), although highly
important to Hegel and those who followed him, most notably Marx. It is the philosophical
study of history, particularly concerned with the question whether history (i.e. the universe
and/or humankind) is progressing towards a specific end? Hegel argued that it was, as did
Marx. Classic works include Vico's New Science, and Hegel and Marx's works.

Philosophy of Language: Ancient branch of philosophy which gained prominence in the last
century under Wittgenstein. Basically concerned with how our languages affect our thought.
Wittgenstein famously asserted that the limits of our languages mark the limits of our
thought. Classic works include Plato's Cratylus, Locke's Essay, and Wittgenstein's Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus.

Philosophy of Law: Also called Jurisprudence. Study of law attempting to discern what the
best laws might be, how laws came into being in the first place, attempting to delimit
human laws from natural laws, whether we should always obey the law, and so on. Law isn't
often directly dealt with by philosophers, but much of political philosophy obviously has a
bearing on it.

Logic: The study of the proper methods of thinking and reasoning. Logic languages, like
Predicate Logic, promise to produce arguments which, if the premises are true, can only
lead to true conclusions. Logic is slightly different than the other branches as it aims to
suggest the correct ways of studying philosophy in general. Classic works include Aristotle's
Prior and Posterior Analytics, and Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica.

Philosophy of Mathematics: Study of mathematics concerned with issues such as, is

mathematics real or created by us, is it necessary to understand the world, do perfect
mathematical forms exist in the real world, and so on. Principia Mathematica is almost
certainly the most important work in this field.

Philosophy of Mind: Study of the mind, attempting to ascertain exactly what the mind is,
how it interacts with our body, do other minds exist, how does it work, and so on. Probably
the most popular branch of philosophy right now, it has expanded to include issues of AI.
Classic works include Plato's Republic and Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations,
although every major philosopher has had some opinion at least on what the mind is and
how it works.

Philosophy of Politics: Closely related to ethics, this is a study of government and nations,
particularly how they came about, what makes good governments, what obligations citizens
have towards their government, and so on. Classic works include Plato's Republic, Hobbes'
Leviathan, Locke's Two Treatises, and J.S. Mill's On Liberty.

Philosophy of Religion: Theology is concerned with the study of God, recommending the
best religious practises, how our religion should shape our life, and so on. Philosophy of
religion is concerned with much the same issues, but where Theology uses religious works,
like the Bible, as its authority, philosophy likes to use reason as the ultimate authority.
Philosophy of Science: Study of science concerned with whether scientific knowledge can
be said to be certain, how we obtain it, can science really explain everything, does causation
really exist, can every event in the universe be described in terms of physics and so on. Also
popular in recent times, classic works include Hume's Treatise on Human Nature, Kripke's
Naming and Necessity, Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions.