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Discuss the nature of Philosophy.


Philosophy is the science pertaining to wisdom. As people strive to grasp basic facts about self, the universe in which they exist,
and their relationships with the environment and with each other, philosophy is an endeavor that people pursue. Philosophy is
much like an empirical discipline. Those practicing philosophy are constantly interested in questioning, responding, and arguing
about their answers to the most profound questions of life. Philosophy is a practice, and the way to comprehend what something
is through discussions of the categories of methodical questions and claims, found in the universe.

The one aspect that essentially defines the nature of philosophy is its character of totality. This is one of its most celebrated
features. Philosophy seeks to know the inner essence of things, about the ultimate principles of nature. “Nothing escapes
philosophy, not even nothingness itself”, this was said by Aristotle. Philosophy, insofar as it immerses humans in the total
question of reality, confronts them with a great commitment that does not cease in any moment of existence. From this
perspective, the nature of philosophy becomes a way of commitment, a way of life for humans, for the human who seeks
wisdom. Philosophy is totalizing and reflective from its questions, it is comprehensive because it is not limited to the natural
dimension of reality; it also wants to include the transcendent, which could give us a possibility about the origin, the end, and the
fundamental reason for being of reality.

Philosophy is methodical in its pursuit of wisdom and critical in questioning the beliefs. “It is the search for a comprehensive
view of nature, an attempt at a universal explanation of things.” says Professor Weber while defining the nature of history.
Philosophers are generally more interested in what lies behind the facts, their meaning, significance and veracity, than in the facts
themselves. Philosophers observes all the phenomena around them, formulate a suitable and logical hypothesis that can explain
the whole system of beings. Clear thinking is imperative in finding truth. Two enemies to clear thinking are ambiguity and
vagueness. And hence, philosophical knowledge is claimed to be of the highest order.

Philosophy examines and evaluates everything; nothing is taken for granted. Every belief and idea is open to critical examination.
Clarification and justification are required before accepting any belief to be true. Across several academic disciplines, philosophy
is inextricably connected, since they try to learn about things in the correct manner. And by studying certain subjects
and philosophy, we can discern between the reasoning that exists in certain subjects and the phase back operation to determine if
the processes and methods are sound in reasoning. Philosophy pertains to facts and a sequence of reasoning that lead to a
conclusion, and is concerned with giving or testing arguments. Philosophy establishes valid and sound arguments, criticizes
arguments by seeking to demonstrate whether one or more of the conclusions are false (the statement is not sound), or that the
fact of the conclusion does not follow from the premises (the argument is not valid).

It is also believed that there is much of the ideal in the nature of philosophy insofar as it aspires to find a satisfactory answer to its
questions; answers that perhaps some can contribute to clarifying the reason for being of humans as parts of reality and that of
reality itself. Philosophy does not have a nature of definitive claims in the search for truth; it is practically impossible, the reality
in its changing dynamics does not allow that the concepts, the definitions, and the experience of people can boast of a definitive
destiny in the construction of knowledge. And this is the greatest value of philosophy, making it clear that everything is a state of
permanent reflection. Allowing people to continue having a humanizing vision of being, of the world; be a permanent proposal of
thought that contributes to the happiness of humanity. Philosophy is made, thought for the good and happiness; otherwise, it
would not be so. We cannot speak of a harmful or negative or destructive philosophy, this would be a contradiction to its concept
and its objective. There are many definitions of philosophy, but none of them has a supremacy value over all the others. What is
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certain is that from each one of them the possibility of a balanced relationship between humans and the world is sought through
reason.

Show the relationship between philosophy and science.


The origin of philosophy dates at least as far back as the Greeks in the ages of Socrates and Aristotle. Philosophy pertains to
knowledge and wisdom, attempting to understand the reality, nature, all around. This is almost the same as science.

Science is defined as a study of natural phenomena and its interpretation through the use of empirical data, namely
data that can be observed, verified, and reproduced. It is systematic in nature, and the scientific method is a
particular course of action that is used for the said interpretation. Science is founded on the results of experiments,
empirical proof, and measurable evidence for its justification. "Science" comes from the word "scientia" in Latin,
which means "knowledge." There are several science branches or fields. It is possible to categorize these divisions
under different headings: pure and applied sciences, physical and life sciences, Earth and space sciences. Exact
science and descriptive science are also included in these classifications. Science began as an aspect of philosophy.
It was then called the natural philosophy, but in the 17th century, science deviated from philosophy and arose as a
distinct study or domain. In the 17th century, with the use of scientific evidence to prove hypotheses and principles, science
became its own field of reasoning. And through the clarification of arguments with logic, and theory, philosophy catered to
another fold of reasoning.

Objective forms of problems are involved in science. It seeks to find answers as a study and prove them to be factual
reality or truth. The experiment generates such theories in its system that can be proved or confirmed as truth.
Hypotheses, in the same way, may even be false or falsified. Science generates information by observation through
studying and conducting an experiment. The main aim of science is to derive from current or naturally occurring
concepts the empirical reality.

A more complicated concept to define is Science's "predecessor," philosophy. It is generally characterized as an


activity that uses reason in several areas to explore questions. Philosophy aims at the concept of reality that is both
indestructible and eternal. As R. J. Hirst said, “Philosophy is the rational investigation of certain fundamental
problems about humankind and the world they live in”. Philosophy may roughly be defined as a critical study of the
real nature and meaning of the universe along with that of our own being by a right implication of our faculty or
faculties of knowledge. Philosophy is a critical justification, a logical judgment, a rational interpretation, and a
scientific analysis.

Philosophy attempts to research and comprehend the basic essence of two things: a person's life and the person's
relationship with life. In fields such as language theory, history, the mind, and religion, among others, it also has
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several branches: metaphysics, logic, politics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and specific philosophy. The word
"philosophy" derives from Greek "philosophia," which translates into "love of wisdom."

Philosophy is built on reason; rational argumentation is used in its methods. Philosophy makes use of concepts'
claims as the basis for its interpretation.

Philosophy includes both empirical and subjective types of problems. This implies that it also decides to generate
questions in addition to seeking answers. Before finding out the answers, it raises concerns and processes.
Philosophy is particularly interested in thought and knowledge formation.

Philosophy is the search for general understanding of existence, values, reality, mind, knowledge and reason through
speculations rather than observations. Science on the other hand is the systematic study of knowledge, which deals
with scientific methods of testing and practical’s which justify scientific laws.  Therefore, science and philosophy
have a fundamental connection which has been exhausted by various philosophers in the world. Science and
philosophy have always drawn ideas from each other. Philosophy draws ideas from the scientific discoveries and
concepts. Science provides the picture of the world view and the methodologies used are extracted from philosophy
based on its universal principles. Statements used in philosophy are based on the truth and facts obtained by science.

Russell believed in scientific methods of bringing a concept to the world through experimentation and justification.
He insisted on inclusion of science in the study of philosophy because it provided answers to existence of certain
phenomena rather than just making predictions and assumptions. Blanchard noted that scientists do not investigate
assumptions used in their research of concepts so they tend to leave the work load to philosophers. Nozick argues
that philosophy is a humanity which should not be associated with scientific methods. It is therefore important to
note that content in science depends on philosophy especially in the field of knowledge, the facts and laws are
related to philosophy.

Science in its early phase is basically philosophy. Later on with the help of theories and universal laws science and
philosophy can be distinguished. They both are aimed to find the truth. However, science is limited in its domain
while philosophy can be from any domain. As both science and philosophy benefits from each other, we can say that
both are interdependent to a certain degree.

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