Philosophical issues are the topics and questions raised by the study of philosophy.

There are several branches of philosophy, and in all of them, the search for answers
often leads to more questions.

Ontology is the philosophical study of being. More broadly, it studies concepts that directly relate to being, in
particular becoming, existence, reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their
relations.[1] Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology
often deals with questions concerning what entities exist or may be said to exist and how such entities may be
grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.

Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief. Much debate in
epistemology centers on four areas: (1) the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and how it relates
to such concepts as truth, belief, and justification,[2][3] (2) various problems of skepticism, (3) the sources and
scope of knowledge and justified belief, and (4) the criteria for knowledge and justification. Epistemology
addresses such questions as: "What makes justified beliefs justified?", [4] "What does it mean to say that we
know something?",[5] and fundamentally "How do we know that we know?".[6]

Positivism is a philosophical theory stating that certain ("positive") knowledge is based on natural
phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted
through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge.[1] Positivism holds that valid
knowledge (certitude or truth) is found only in this a posteriori knowledge.
Verified data (positive facts) received from the senses are known as empirical evidence; thus positivism is
based on empiricism.[1]
Positivism also holds that society, like the physical world, operates according to
general laws. Introspective and intuitive knowledge is rejected, as are metaphysics and theology because
metaphysical and theological claims cannot be verified by sense experience. Although the positivist approach
has been a recurrent theme in the history of western thought,[2] the modern sense of the approach was
formulated by the philosopher Auguste Comte in the early 19th century.[3] Comte argued that, much as the
physical world operates according to gravity and other absolute laws, so does society, [4] and further developed
positivism into a Religion of Humanity.