PHILOSOPHY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Philosophy

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/fəlˈɑsəfi/ Listen

noun

Philosophy n. (pl. philosophies)

Literally, the love of, inducing the search after, wisdom; in actual usage, the knowledge of phenomena as explained by, and resolved into, causes and reasons, powers and laws. Note: When applied to any particular department of knowledge, philosophy denotes the general laws or principles under which all the subordinate phenomena or facts relating to that subject are comprehended. Thus philosophy, when applied to God and the divine government, is called theology; when applied to material objects, it is called physics; when it treats of man, it is called anthropology and psychology, with which are connected logic and ethics; when it treats of the necessary conceptions and relations by which philosophy is possible, it is called metaphysics. Note: "Philosophy has been defined: the science of things divine and human, and the causes in which they are contained; the science of effects by their causes; the science of sufficient reasons; the science of things possible, inasmuch as they are possible; the science of things evidently deduced from first principles; the science of truths sensible and abstract; the application of reason to its legitimate objects; the science of the relations of all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason; the science of the original form of the ego, or mental self; the science of science; the science of the absolute; the science of the absolute indifference of the ideal and real."

A particular philosophical system or theory; the hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained. "(Books) of Aristotle and his philosophie." "We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our school."

Practical wisdom; calmness of temper and judgment; equanimity; fortitude; stoicism; as, to meet misfortune with philosophy. "Then had he spent all his philosophy."

Reasoning; argumentation. "Of good and evil much they argued then,... Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy."

The course of sciences read in the schools.

A treatise on philosophy.

Philosophy of the Academy, that of Plato, who taught his disciples in a grove in Athens called the Academy.

Philosophy of the Garden, that of Epicurus, who taught in a garden in Athens.

Philosophy of the Lyceum, that of Aristotle, the founder of the Peripatetic school, who delivered his lectures in the Lyceum at Athens.

Philosophy of the Porch, that of Zeno and the Stoics; so called because Zeno of Citium and his successors taught in the porch of the Poicile, a great hall in Athens.

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Etymology of 'Philosophy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Philosophy" Quotes from Famous Books

... mentioned were also translated by or for Alfred. "The Chronicle of Orosius," a history of the world by a Spaniard of Seville; "The History of the Venerable Bede;" "The Consolations of Philosophy," by Boethius; "Narratives from Ancient Mythology;" "The Confessions of St. Augustine;" "The Pastoral Instructions of St. Gregory;" and his "Dialogue," form portions of the works of this greatest of kings, and true father of his people. His "Apologues," imitated ...

— Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune • A. D. Crake

... their bodily perfection was extraordinary. In mind, they were like children; happy and friendly, joyful to teach all they knew—joyful to show all they had. The days rang with clean, childish laughter; but there was no philosophy. There was no deep concern, no lasting ...

— Son of Power • Will Levington Comfort and Zamin Ki Dost

... who have been specially remarkable, all who have been leaders of humanity. There is no going against facts. The Jews lived only to await the coming of the true God and left the world the true God. The Greeks deified nature and bequeathed the world their religion, that is, philosophy and art. Rome deified the people in the State, and bequeathed the idea of the State to the nations. France throughout her long history was only the incarnation and development of the Roman god, and if they have at last flung their Roman god into the abyss and ...

— The Possessed - or, The Devils • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... lumen siccum ac purum notionum verarum. He seems to see the injury inflicted upon the sum of thought by the posteriori superstition, the worship of facts, and the deification of synthesis. Lastly, came the reckless way in which Locke freed philosophy from the incubus of innate ideas. Like Luther and the leaders of the great French Revolution, he broke with the Past; and he threw overboard the whole cargo of human tradition. The result has been an immense movement ...

— The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi • Richard F. Burton

... Johnnie had French lessons and German, and lessons in natural philosophy, beside studying English literature after a plan of Miss Inches' own, which combined history and geography and geology, with readings from various books, and accounted for the existence of all the great geniuses of the world, as if they had been ...

— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge

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