The 9 branches of Philosophy (characteristics and authors)

Philosophy encompasses a set of thoughts and reflections about the very nature of things. But it goes much further.

It is made up of a broad and diverse body of knowledge; that is why it diversifies into branches. In this article we will know the 9 branches of Philosophy.

We are going to see what philosophy consists of, broadly speaking, and what characterizes each of its 9 most important branches. In addition, we will know which authors are the most representative of each field.

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What is Philosophy?

Philosophy, for many considered a science, is a very broad body of knowledge, and at the same time a science. It encompasses a series of reflections and thoughts about the causes and effects of things natural, the universe, the human being, the properties of things, their nature, essence, etc.

That is, it collects a body of abstract knowledge in a certain way, which aims to answer great philosophical questions that have been transmitted throughout history: about us? Where are we going? What is the meaning of things? Etc.

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The 9 branches of Philosophy

Thus, we see how philosophy encompasses a wide and diverse field. That is why philosophy specializes or diversifies into different branches, according to its object of study, methodology, characteristics, etc.

Let's see what the 9 branches of philosophy consist of and its most famous thinkers.

1. Metaphysics

The first of the branches of philosophy that we are going to explain is metaphysics. It consists of a fairly abstract branch, based on the study of existence. It aims to answer the following question: what is existence?

With existence, metaphysics refers to "everything that exists", beyond being itself; It also tries to analyze the nature of it. Another question it aims to answer is: Is the world real or is it an illusion? In other words, it also aims to analyze the reality in which we live.

• Famous authors: Immanuel Kant, René Descartes, Socrates, Aristotle, Martin Heidegger ...

2. Ethics

This second branch of philosophy, ethics, has as its object of study good and evil; that is, it tries to discern what is right and what is wrong, in relation to the actions and thoughts of the individual. It aims to answer the question: What should I do? o How can I act properly / morally?

Ethics is also called "moral philosophy", because it studies morality. In addition, it aims to establish universal ethical values.

• Famous authors: Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, Seneca, Thomas Hobbes, Peter Singer ...

3. Esthetic

This branch of philosophy has as its object of study art. Try to describe what goals and purposes are hidden behind all art forms. Art encompasses disciplines such as literature, sculpture, painting, music ...

But it also encompasses natural elements (landscapes, nature itself, the sea ...) that are in themselves beautiful. That is, aesthetics also aims to appreciate beauty, determine where it is, analyze its nature and composition, etc.

• Famous authors: Friedrich Nietzsche, Noël Carroll, John Dewey, Ayn Rand ...

4. Epistemology

The next of the branches of philosophy is epistemology. This branch has as object of study the methodology that allows to acquire knowledge; that is to say, it tries to answer the following question: How do we learn? or how do we know, do we know ???

Thus, in addition to studying the methodology that allows us to know the world, it also studies the nature of this knowledge, its properties, characteristics, etc. It also covers logical reasoning, which allows you to understand certain concepts.

On the other hand, epistemology also encompasses mental processes, such as ideas, memories, thoughts... even emotions. He tries to find out how these mental processes connect (or are related to) reality and the environment. Finally, he analyzes whether these connections are valid or not.

• Famous authors: Mario Bunge, Karl Popper, David Hume, John Locke, Thomas Kuhn ...

5. Philosophy of language

The philosophy of language is responsible for studying the nature of language itself, and how we can use it to communicate with others and with the environment. That is, understand and study the language as a universal communication system.

Specifically, the philosophy of language seeks to decompose it into its most specific, but also more general, aspects. In addition, it aims to evaluate the meaning of it, what relationship exists between language and thought, as well as the relationship between language and the world. On the other hand, it also encompasses pragmatics; pragmatics is the part of linguistics that studies how we use language, in what contexts, in what way, etc.

Furthermore, the philosophy of language is also interested in its limits; that is, it seeks to answer: “how far does language go? Do you have limits? which are?". The limits have to do with the difficulty or impossibility of language to describe all of reality.

• Famous authors: Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein ...

6. Political philosophy

Political philosophy seeks to reflect on politics itself. What does this mean?

That it pretends to study all kinds of political ideologies; Specifically, it is in charge of analyzing the logic and the concepts behind them. In addition, it studies the different political (and economic) proposals, and their underlying values. Finally, it also studies the concepts and theories underlying social and political movements.

This branch is responsible for analyzing how the relationship between society and people should be. That is why it is also in charge of issues related to government, laws, justice, freedom, rights, etc. Political philosophy seeks to determine what a government should do to protect the freedoms and rights of people, for example.

• Famous authors: Noam Chomsky, Nicolas Machiavelli, Jürgen Habermas, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Herbert Marcuse ...

7. Ontology

Ontology is another branch of philosophy; actually, it is part of metaphysics. It is in charge of studying the "existence of phenomena"; that is, it studies being in general, in addition to its underlying properties and concepts. He wonders what exists and what does not? In what sense does this exist and this does not?

Other questions that ontology tries to answer are: what is matter? What is space-time?. As we can see, it is a fairly abstract branch, like metaphysics.

• Famous authors: Martin Heidegger, Gustavo Bueno, Jean-Paul Sartre ...

8. Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science has its origin in the late 1920s; This branch has as object of study science itself; analyze its nature and properties. In addition, it aims to find out how science is applied in order to obtain valid data.

That is, it reflects on scientific knowledge and investigates scientific practice, among others. It seeks to find out how scientific theories are evaluated, for example.

• Famous authors: Mario Bunge, Albert Einstein, Patrick Suppes, Daniel Dennett, Robert Boyle ...

9. Anthropology

Anthropology is another branch of philosophy, which is also considered an independent science. It is in charge of studying human communities; specifically, it deals with its manifestations, both social and cultural, as well as its physical aspects.

In addition, he analyzes everything related to the human being, and tries to find out "what is his place in the universe.

• Famous authors: Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Antonio Gramsci, Adam Kuper ...

Bibliographic references

• Ajdukiewicz, K. (1986). Introduction to Philosophy. Epistemology and metaphysics, Ed. Cátedra.

• Bontempo, C.J. and Odell, S. J. (1979). (Comp.), Minerva's owl. What is Philosophy?, Ed. Cátedra.

• Châtelet, F. (Dir.). (1998). History of Philosophy, Ideas, Doctrines, 1-4, Ed. Espasa Calpe.