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. [1913 Webster]
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. --Sir W. Hamilton. [1913 Webster]
2. A particular philosophical system or theory; the hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained. [1913 Webster]
[Books] of Aristotle and his philosophie. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our school. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
3. Practical wisdom; calmness of temper and judgment; equanimity; fortitude; stoicism; as, to meet misfortune with philosophy. [1913 Webster]
Then had he spent all his philosophy. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
4. Reasoning; argumentation. [1913 Webster]
Of good and evil much they argued then, . . . Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
5. The course of sciences read in the schools. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
6. A treatise on philosophy. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
to french
philosophy [fil?s?fi?] philosophie
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philosophy [fil?s?fi?] Philosophie
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philosophy (of life) [fil?s?fi??flaif]
Weltanschauung
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Bible Dictionary
Philosophy
It is the object of the following article to give some account(i.) of that development of thought among the Jews whichanswered to the philosophy of the West; (ii.) of the systematicprogress of Greek philosophy as forming a complete whole; and(iii.) of the contact of Christianity with philosophy. I. THEPHILOSOPHIC DISCIPLINE OF THE JEWS
Philosophy, if we limitthe word strictly to describe the free pursuit of knowledge ofwhich truth is the one complete end is essentially of westerngrowth. In the East the search after wisdom has always beenconnected with practice. The history of the Jews offers noexception to this remark: there is no Jewish philosophy,properly so called. The method of Greece was to proceed fromlife to God; the method of Israel (so to speak) was to proceedfrom God to life. The axioms of one system are the conclusionsof the other. The one led to the successive abandonment of thenoblest domains of science which man had claimed originally ashis own, till it left bare systems of morality; the other, inthe fullness of time, prepared many to welcome the Christ--theTruth. The philosophy of the Jews, using the word in a largesense, is to be sought for rather in the progress of thenational life than in special books. Step by step the idea ofthe family was raised into that of the people; and the kingdomfurnished the basis of those wider promises which included allnations in one kingdom of heaven. The social, the political,the cosmical relations of man were traced out gradually inrelation to God. The philosophy of the Jews is thus essentiallya moral philosophy, resting on a definite connection with God.The doctrines of Creation and Providence, of an infinite divineperson and of a responsible human will, which elsewhere formthe ultimate limits of speculation, are here assumed at theoutset. The Psalms, which, among the other infinite lessonswhich they convey, give a deep insight into the need of apersonal apprehension of truth, everywhere declare the absolutesovereignty of God over the material and the moral world. Oneman among all is distinguished among the Jews as "the wiseman". The description which is given of his writings serves asa commentary on the national view of philosophy (1 kings4:30-33) The lesson of practical duty, the full utterance of "alarge heart," ibid. 29, the careful study of God screatures,--this is the sum of wisdom. Yet in fact the verypractical aim of this philosophy leads to the revelation of themost sublime truth. Wisdom was gradually felt to be a person,throned by God and holding converse with men. (proverbs 8:1)... She was seen to stand in open enmity with "the strangewoman"), who sought to draw them aside by sensuous attractions;and thus a new step was made toward the central doctrine ofChristianity:--the incarnation of the Word. Two books of theBible, Job and Ecclesiastes, of which the latter at any ratebelongs to the period of the close of the kingdom, approachmore nearly than any others to the type of philosophicaldiscussions. But in both the problem is moral and notmetaphysical. The one deals with the evils which afflict "theperfect and upright;" the other with the vanity of all thepursuits and pleasures of earth. The captivity necessarilyexercised a profound influence. The teaching of Persia Jewishthought. The teaching of Persia seems to have been designed tosupply important elements in the education of the chosenpeople. But it did yet more than this. The contact of the Jewswith Persia thus gave rise to a traditional mysticism. Theircontact with Greece was marked by the rise of distinct sects.In the third century B.C. the great Doctor Antigonus of Sochobears a Greek name, and popular belief pointed to him as theteacher of Sadoc and Boethus the supposed founders of Jewishrationalism. At any rate we may date from this time the twofolddivision of Jewish speculation, The Sadducees appear as thesupporters of human freedom in its widest scope; the Phariseesof a religious Stoicism. At a later time the cycle of doctrinewas completed, when by a natural reaction the Essenesestablished as mystic Asceticism. II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEKPHILOSOPHY
The various attempts which have been made toderive western philosophy from eastern sources have signallyfailed. It is true that in some degree the character of Greekspeculation may have been influenced, at least in itsearliest-stages, by religious ideas which were originallyintroduced from the East; but this indirect influence does hotaffect the real originality of the Greek teachers. The veryvalue of Greek teaching lies in the fact that it was, as far asis possible, a result of simple reason, or, if faith assertsifs prerogative, the distinction is sharply marked. Of thevarious classifications of the Greek schools which have beenproposed, the simplest and truest seems to be that whichdivides the history of philosophy into three great periods, thefirst reaching to the era of the Sophists, the next to thedeath of Aristotle, the third to the Christian era. In thefirst period the world objectively is the great centre ofinquiry; in the second, the "ideas" of things, truth, andbeing; in the third, the chief interest of philosophy fallsback upon the practical conduct of life. After the Christianera philosophy ceased to have any true vitality in Greece, butit made fresh efforts to meet the conditions of life atAlexandria and Rome.
The pre-Socratic schools
The first Greek philosophy waslittle more than an attempt to follow out in thought themythic cosmogonies of earlier poets. What is the onepermanent element which underlies the changing forms ofthings?--this was the primary inquiry, to which the Ionicschool endeavored to find an answer. Thales (cir. b.c.639-543) pointed to moisture (water) as the one source andsupporter of life. Anaximenes (cir. b.c. 520-480) substitutedair for wafer. At a much later date (cir. b.c. 460) Diogenesof Apollonia represented this elementary "air" as endowedwith intelligence.
The Socratic schools
In the second period of Greekphilosophy the scene and subject were both changed. Aphilosophy of ideas, using the term in its widest sense,succeeded a philosophy of nature, in three generations Greekspeculation reached its greatest glory in the teaching ofSocrates, Plato and Aristotle. The famous sentence in whichAristotle characterizes the teachings of Socrates(b.c.465-399) places his scientific position in the clearestlight. There are two things, he says, which we may rightlyattribute to Socrates--inductive reasoning and generaldefinition. By the first he endeavored to discover thepermanent element which underlies the changing forms ofappearances and the varieties of opinion; by the second hefixed the truth which he had thus gained. But, besides this,Socrates rendered another service to truth. Ethics occupiedin his investigations the primary place which had hithertobeen held by Physics. The great aim of his induction was toestablish the sovereignty of Virtue. He affirmed theexistence of a universal law of right and wrong. He connectedphilosophy with action, both in detail and in general. On theone side he upheld the supremacy of Conscience, on the otherthe working of Providence.
The post-Socratic schools
after Aristotle, philosophy tooka new direction. Speculation became mainly personal. Epicurus(b.c. 352-270) defined the object of philosophy to be theattainment of a happy life. The pursuit of truth for its ownsake he recognized as superfluous. He rejected dialectics asa useless study, and accepted the senses, in the widestacceptation of the term, as the criterion of truth. But hediffered widely from the Cyrenaics in his view of happiness.The happiness at which the wise man aims is to be found, hesaid, not in momentary gratification, but in life-longpleasure. All things were supposed to come into being bychance, and so pass away. The individual was left master ofown life. While Epicurus asserted in this manner the claimsof one part of man s nature in the conduct of life, Zeno ofCitium (cir. b.c. 280), with equal partiality advocated apurely spiritual (intellectual) morality. Opposition betweenthe two was complete. The infinite, chance-formed worlds ofthe one stand over against the one harmonious world of theother. On the one aide are gods regardless of materialthings, on the other a Being permeating and vivifying allcreation. This difference necessarily found its chiefexpression in Ethics. III. CHRISTIANITY IN CONTACT WITHANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
The only direct trace of the contact ofChristianity with western philosophy in the New Testament isin the account of St. Paul s visit to Athens, (acts 17:18)and there is nothing in the apostolic writings to show thatit exercised any important influence upon the early Church.Comp. (1 corinthians 1:22-24) But it was otherwise witheastern speculation, which penetrated more deeply through themass of the people. The "philosophy" against which theColossians were warned, (colossians 2:8) seems undoubtedly tohave been of eastern origin, containing elements similar tothose which were afterward embodied in various shapes ofGnosticism, as a selfish asceticism, and a superstitionsreverence for angels, (colossians 2:16-23) and in theEpistles to Timothy, addressed to Ephesians, in which citySt. Paul anticipated the rise of false teaching, (acts 20:30)two distinct forms of error may be traced in addition toJudaism, due more or less to the same influence. The writingsof the sub-apostolic age, with the exception of the famousanecdote of Justin Martyr (dial. 2--1), throw little lightupon the relations of Christianity and philosophy. Christianphilosophy may be in one sense a contradiction in terms, forChristianity confessedly derives its first principles fromrevelation, and not from simple reason; but there is no lessa true philosophy of Christianity, which aims to show howcompletely these meet the instincts and aspirations of allages. The exposition of such a philosophy would be the workof a modern Origen.
