CLASSIFYING PHILOSOPHIES: A ROAD MAP FOR A PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNEY

Dr. Napoleon M. Mabaquiao, Jr.

• Activity of Philosophizing
➢ It is an activity that seeks to resolve a particular type of issue(s) using a particular
type of method(s), and which transpires in a particular place and at a particular
time.
➢ General Bases for Classifying Philosophies:
1. According to Topic
❖ According to the type of issues or questions being addressed in a
given philosophical activity
2. According to Position
❖ According to the kind of solution proposed or put forward for the
issue being addressed in a given philosophical activity
3. According to Method
❖ According to the particular way by which a certain proposed solution
is arrived at or is argued for in a given philosophical activity
4. According to Region
❖ According to the geographical location in which a given
philosophical activity transpires or flourishes
5. According to Historical Period
❖ According to the time frame of the occurrence of a given
philosophical activity

• ACCORDING TO TOPIC
➢ Philosophy exists as we ask questions of a certain kind.
➢ Other disciplines also ask questions. So what makes a question uniquely
philosophical?
o Internal Questions vs. External Questions regarding Frameworks
❖ Frameworks
▪ Also known as perspectives
▪ Used as we cope with the changes in the world within and
around us
▪ Come in the form of belief systems or conceptual schemes
❖ Internal Questions
▪ Questions that we ask in the course of using these
frameworks to address our concerns
▪ Called as such because these are questions internal to the
frameworks, meaning, they are answerable within or using
these very frameworks
▪ Example:
Mathematical Framework
✓ Questions/concerns regarding computations
✓ Questions/concerns regarding measurement
Scientific Framework
✓ Questions/concerns regarding matter
✓ Questions/concerns regarding plants and
animals
Linguistic Framework
✓ Questions/concerns regarding grammar
Theological Framework
 ✓ Questions Concerns regarding religion, God,
worship, etc.
❖ External Questions
▪ Questions that we ask about the foundations of these
frameworks
▪ Issues concerning the correctness, universality, objectivity,
plausibility, coherence, and appropriateness of these
frameworks
▪ Asks why we adopted these frameworks in the first place
▪ Called as such because these are questions external to the
frameworks, meaning they are not answerable within or
using these frameworks
▪ Example:
Why did we adopt the kind of mathematical system
that we are presently using when there are
alternative ones?
Where do words get their meanings in the first
place?
Is the scientific method really an objective method?
Is there really a God? Do we really need religion in
life?
▪ Answers to these questions lie outside the framework
▪ Foundational Questions
Questions that seek to clarify, examine, or evaluate
the foundations or grounds of the frameworks that we
use to deal with the world and cope with the flux of our
experiences
o Philosophical questions are external /foundational questions!
❖ Inquiry into the foundations of the various frameworks we use in life
❖ Since life has many dimensions, we use many frameworks in life
❖ There can be as many philosophical questions as the number of
frameworks we use in the different dimensions of life
❖ Thematic Types of Philosophies (Discipline-based)
▪ We have philosophies for each and every are of life!!!
Philosophy of science
Philosophy of religion
Philosophy of myth
Philosophy of literature
Philosophy of education
Philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of law
Philosophy of artificial intelligence
Philosophy of history
Philosophy of social sciences
Philosophy of psychology
Philosophy of music
Philosophy of sports
Philosophy of economics
Philosophy of (insert academic discipline)
❖ Philosophy as Queen or Mother of the Sciences
 ▪ Philosophy investigates the foundations of all disciplines or
areas of human knowledge
▪ There is a philosophy for each of these areas!
❖ Thematic Types of Philosophies (Phenomena-based)
▪ Philosophizing is not just directed to academic disciplines
but to all types of phenomena. Anything under the sun!
▪ Philosophy of Person
Inquiry into the foundations of the various frameworks
used in understanding the nature of the human person
▪ Aesthetics
Nature of beauty
▪ Logic
Nature of correct reasoning
▪ Epistemology
Nature of knowledge
▪ Philosophy of action
Nature of human action
▪ Philosophy of mind
Nature of the mind
▪ Ethics
Nature of morality or moral judgements
▪ Philosophy of language
Nature of language
❖ Major/Basic Thematic Types/Branches of Philosophy
▪ Depending on the time/period the list was made or the
philosopher making the list
▪ Logic
Structure of correct reasoning
▪ Epistemology
Justification and validity of knowledge-claims
▪ Metaphysics
Nature of reality or existence
▪ Ethics
Nature of morality or moral judgements
▪ Aesthetics
Nature of beauty or judgements about beauty
▪ Social and Political Philosophy
Nature of the state and social justice
▪ Philosophy of Science
Nature of scientific concepts
▪ Philosophy of Religion
Nature of religious concepts and beliefs
▪ Philosophy of Language
The generation of linguistic meanings
▪ Philosophy of Mind
Nature of the mind and consciousness
❖ How does a branch of philosophy become a major branch?
▪ If such branch concerns itself with a general theme and that
such theme is also investigated by other branches
❖ Within branches of philosophy are further sub-branches, sub-sub-
branches, and so on
 ▪ Ethics
Metaethics
Normative Ethics
Applied Ethics
✓ Business Ethics
✓ Environmental Ethics
✓ Bioethics
✓ Etc. Etc. Etc.

• ACCORDING TO POSITION
➢ philosophical views, philosophical positions, philosophical schools of thought,
positional types of philosophies
➢ Types of philosophies distinguished according to their proposed solutions to
philosophical issues
➢ For every branch of philosophy, there are competing philosophical views or
positions
➢ The number of philosophical views or positions is directly proportional to the
number of branches or thematic types of philosophies – the numbers are still
increasing!!!
➢ Labelling Philosophical Positions:
o According to the View Itself
❖ Metaphysics: What is reality?
▪ Materialism (reality is material)
▪ Dualism (reality has a dual nature – material and nonmaterial)
▪ Idealism (reality is mental or nonmaterial)
o According to the Proponent/Originator/Philosopher
❖ Epicureanism (Epicurus)
❖ Platonism (Plato)
❖ Confucianism (Confucius)
❖ Thomism (St. Thomas Aquinas)
❖ Cartesianism (Rene Descrates)
➢ Philosophical System
o When philosophical views consistently address a cluster of philosophical
issues
o Philosophical systems in Western Philosophy: Philosophical Views of the
“System Builders” like Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Hegel, etc.
❖ Their views consistently address issues in epistemology,
metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of religion, and even socio-political
philosophy
o Philosophical system in Eastern Philosophy: Buddhism

• ACCORDING TO METHOD