Is Philosophy a Traditional Science-What Separates Philosophy from Other Sciences?

What separates philosophy from other sciences?

Is Philosophy a Traditional Science-What Separates Philosophy from Other Sciences?

Introduction

In common sense, philosophy is the study of general and basic problems associated with intellectual culture and discovery of knowledge, language, existence, value, mind, and reason. Traditionally, it is closely related to religion, natural science, education, mathematics, and politics.

The term "philosophy" comes from the Greek words; Philo- means "love" and - Sophia means "wisdom". When someone studies philosophy, they want to know why people do particular things and how to live a happy life?

Philosophy is one of the oldest knowledge areas known by humans. Some people believe that philosophy is the mother of science as it is based on the realization of the mind and therefore philosophical thought was the seed that grew up different branches of science, those branches grew and evolved over the years gradually independent themselves from the philosophy that evolved in turn and thus became all completely different from the other. But many people refuse to classify it as one of the branches of science and they no longer consider philosophy the basis of traditional science.

Although the philosophy differs greatly from other sciences, there are many points of convergence that combine them, primarily the cognitive bases that require the achievement of results away from the instincts and personal appetites and rely on the logic of the conduct of studies in order to ensure reasonable results, However, the first goal is to enrich human civilization and promote individuals and societies. Before we discuss the topic, it is important to know some essential aspects of philosophy that are very useful to understand the topic well.

 

The most influential philosophers in the Greek world

Thales of Miletus, an astronomer, and a mathematician was considered by Aristotle to be the first philosopher of the Greek tradition. While the word ‘philosophy’ was first created and formulated by the Greek scholar Pythagoras; he was the first who named himself the philosopher and the first known elaboration and complete detail on this topic were conducted by Plato.

Philosophy, according to the Pythagorean concept, was a rational argument; critical discussion, systematic presentation, reflection, and contemplation of what things are in pursuit of the abstract truth, especially the issues concerning the universe and the nature of creation.

Socrates was the first to give philosophy a new concept, it moved from the mere thought of the nature of the universe and how it appeared to think about the human nature and wisdom of quality, which contributed greatly to the development of concepts and foundations of philosophy, and unlike the sophists, who used the philosophy of Socrates and Plato to motivate people to pursue virtue and high morals.

Why did the concept of philosophy come to existence and what are its meaning and types?

Since the beginning of the science of philosophy seeks to analyze all aspects of life and human behavior, which led to the complexity and appearance of several branches. So why did the science of philosophy come into existence?

Philosophy, or so-called science, is one of the human sciences that relies primarily on thinking and analysis. It has dealt with all forms of human life by analyzing and searching for its abstract truth.

The strange thing is that most people use philosophy on a daily basis without realizing it by raising questions and looking for the most important issues that philosophy has dealt with since its inception.

Why did philosophy emerge and what did it mean?

Despite the penetration of philosophy in most areas of life and address many of the issues of science and pure theory, but there are some fundamental issues that philosophers occupied over the ages, these issues include:

How the universe arose

Most philosophers, depending on their age and religion, have dealt with this issue. They asked about the nature of creation and the existence of the Creator, and whether the universe could arise from nothingness and continue without a great Creator. All these questions were in the minds of philosophers.

The fact of the great Creator

After most of them ended this result, began to question the nature of this creator and form, and why cannot be able to see, based on these questions put each answer to satisfy the mind and thinking, so they differed in determining the meaning of the world great Creator, but Muslim philosophers have acknowledged the existence God Almighty and He is the only Creator of the universe.

Mind and nature of thinking

One of the important issues raised by the philosophers, too, they asked about the nature of the mind and how a man thinks, and whether the human mind deceives and depicts things that are not true to him, our life can be a lie or the dream we live in. Hence the famous saying of the philosopher Rene Descartes "I doubt therefore I am, where it ended with the reality of life and the reality in which we live”.

Human free will and divine predestination

An issue that not only occupied the philosophers but occupied almost all human beings; If all of our actions are predestined, then why should we get reward or punishment? And if we have the option to do what we want, why is there a distinction between good and bad?  We all know that we are created to play an important role, whether we understand or not, God knows in advance everything that will be presented to him, and God will ask why you did not opt the right way.

All of these questions have come to the conclusion that man is free and has the freedom to think and judge as he sees fit for him, whether evil or good. God has given him the reason to weigh things correctly and to tell him the results of each choice. This is proof of his greatness and broad knowledge.

Types of Philosophy

The divergence of philosophy and the multiplicity of its branches led to the philosophers to divide it. Therefore, they divided the philosophy into the following major categories:

Philosophy of values

This philosophy focused on the issues of good and evil, establishing the foundations of virtue and spreading it among people, and clarifying the relationship between man and his society and the duty of each other.

Philosophy of mind

It is a kind of philosophy that deals with the analysis of issues of mind and thinking, and the relationship of the mind to human consciousness and way of thinking and life, as well as issues of perception and nature and whether humans see all things in the same shape or affects the consciousness of the nature of his perception?

Philosophy of religion

I took care of this type by analyzing religious issues and their relation to the foundations of abstract rational thinking. I also took great care of the issues of metaphysics such as the nature of life, spirit, death and what happens after it. The philosophy of religion continued to encompass all the religious issues that occupy human thinking.

Philosophy of beauty

Everyone is interested in the aesthetic and sensual aspects of all forms of life. He is interested in the sciences of painting and music and its effect on human feelings and thus reflection in his thinking and the way he behaves.

 We have learned so far and understood the meaning of philosophy, its factors and the purpose of existence,  we have also learned kinds of philosophy, and now we will learn the differences and similarities between philosophy and science, then we will discuss why philosophy is not a traditional science? let's see

Differences and similarities between philosophy and science 

Differences between philosophy and science

Philosophy:  The philosophical method deals with the total abstract subjects, such as the universe, nature, and man in a holistic view and seeks to know the origins, nature of things, meanings of freedom, monitoring of global movements and scientific progress and its impact on human life as well as politics and economy.

Science: The scientific method deals with tangible physical subjects, which can be sensibly understood, such as light, movement, heat and what is happening inside the human body of biological processes as well as plants, all of which is subject to measurement.

Philosophy:  The philosophical method follows the mind-based approach that sometimes reflects the philosopher's vision and analytical approach and reaches the roots of the problem and the critical critique of the previous views and shows their weaknesses and strength.

Science: The scientific research follows the scientific methods and steps which consist of: 1 - sense of the problem 2 - identify the problem 3 - data collection and information 4 - impose the necessary assumptions of the problem 5 - verifying the validity of the hypotheses by testing them 6 - to reach an explanation of the problem and the development of a law.

Philosophy:  Philosophy seeks to know the distant problems and the first principles of non-material existence, which are the reasons of abstract mentality; it also seeks to know what is beyond the material interpretations.

Science:  It seeks to discover the direct causes and the proximate causes of things, which are material verifiable verbs by experience, the law that explains the phenomenon.

Philosophy:  Philosophical style is subjective; because the vision of the philosopher is influenced by his personal experiences, tendencies, and the circumstances of his society and age. The philosophical doctrines are different from one philosopher to another.

Science:  The scientific method is objective because it studies subjects as a separate form and as an independent existence. It decides what the reality of things is without being influenced by their circumstances?. Hence, the subjectivity is one and does not change.

Similarities between philosophy and science

 Philosophical and scientific thinking agreed on several benefits, including:

• Rejection of all kinds of intellectual authorities and promise them a source of truth.
• Care and accuracy and review
• Diligence in research and critical thinking.
• Objectivity in the search and away from the profane self.
• The philosopher and scientists agree on the moral qualities of life such as love of truth, integrity in the request, and the need to defend it in courage and faith.
• Freedom from any restriction imposed by the authority but the authority of reason or the power of experience.
• The integration of philosophy and science: Although philosophy and science differ from each other, they are independent of each other, but must never be separated in the interest of human progress. The connection between philosophy and science remained, and separation was necessitated by specialization and research methods.
• Science is interested in studying parts of the phenomena of existence, such as voice or light, for example, to reach the direct causes and interpretation of material explanation, philosophy is interested in studying the existence of a holistic search for the first ills and principles. Both fields provide human knowledge with what the other party lacks.

Why is philosophy not a traditional science?

There are many factors that show why philosophy cannot be considered a traditional science, the most prominent of which are the following:

Theories and theses:

Science depends mainly on scientific theories through which it seeks to reach the facts that explain phenomena or study specific topics. It is aware of the nature of the human soul as well as the science of mathematics and the point of convergence between sciences.  In different branches, they are looking at facts that can be easily understood and find unequivocal proofs.

Philosophy, unlike other cognitive disciplines, is not based on theories, but rather on the so-called philosophic theses. It is the realization of reason, contemplation, and reflection in the range of intangibles, such as values, faith, human concepts, and other existential issues.

Different methodology:

One of the most striking differences between philosophy and other science is their methodology. The scientific approach depends mainly on the scientific experiments that are conducted with a view to reaching specific results. The scientific experiments are not intended here on materials such as chemistry, and other areas that study intangible matters based on research and practical experience.

Philosophical science does not follow the methodology of experimentation but depends entirely on the realization of the mind in the reflection and the so-called mental perception, and that is not a deficiency in philosophical science but because the issues discussed by philosophical ideas are primarily intellectual issues and cannot be subjected to specific experiences.

Different objectives:

Philosophy shares other cognitive fields in the overall goal of enriching human civilization and elevating individuals and societies, but the two areas differ in terms of the more specific objectives. The goal of scientists is always to discover the various natural laws and to exploit them in various cognitive and utilitarian purposes and to use them in developing the manifestations of civilized life and make them more sophisticated and developed, and they seek to know the science of medicine and the latest digital technology.

If we look at the theses of philosophy, we will find that they are not subject to any laws and do not adhere to any constants. The goal is to elevate the human being spiritually and intellectually through access to knowledge, mental practices and the application of systematic skepticism.

Conclusion:

In this article, we discussed some important points of philosophy, the differences, and similarities between philosophy and science and we learned why philosophy cannot be considered a traditional science.

Although philosophy is very different from other sciences, there are many points of convergence that connect them, mainly cognitive support, which requires achievements of trends and results away from personal appetites and relies on the logic of conductivity to ensure the best results.

however, as we have mentioned, the first goal is to enrich human civilization and promote societies.

By: Mahtab Alam Quddusi