Major Branches of Philosophy

When we talk about philosophy, for the most part, we are actually referring to just two branches of philosophy. That is, the branches that deal with:

1. Truth, and
2. Epistemology

Epistemology is that branch of philosophy that deal with the theory of knowledge;
While Truth is in reference to that branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality.

All other branches of philosophy are grounded in them both.

Issues in Epistemology:

• A Priori, Posteriori Knowledge, and Intuitive understanding
  • A Priori: That which is been derived from self-evident truth
  • A Posteriori: That which is been derived from experience
  • Intuitive understanding: that which is been derived through insights, mystical or psychic means. This means is closely akin to the other two in that such revelations are often not just subjective reality but self-evident or verifiable truth borne from real mental and mystical experiences. Such Intuitive understanding are, more importantly, the foundation of every new knowledge of reality. The mind stuff of great inventions, discoveries, conventions and ideas; reams of Geniuses: the main spring of human progress
• Nativism versus Empiricism
  • Nativism: a belief in prenatal learning; a unique genetic code of each individual; leading to a unique functional and structural properties of the nervous system that determines personality, explanatory styles, and behavioral tendencies
  • Empiricism: the argument that all perceptions are learnt or developed from experience; truths is believed to be synthetic or grounded in empirical evidence; hence a belief in reductionism: the philosophy that each meaningful statement, can be reduced to, and is based on the premise of empirical evidence
• Instinct versus Learning
  • Instinct: that which is been derived through Intuition conditioning, Gut feeling, Impulse, Natural feeling, Sixth sense, Hunch or ESP
  • Learning: that which is been obtained by way of knowledge, information, experience, comprehension, awareness or mental conditioning (hypnotism, subliminal process, painful experiences, etc.)

Criteria by which we claim to know truth

• Authority
  • Expert information in the form of books and other written or electronic sources
  • Institutions, Parents, Teachers and legal codes
• Empiricism
  • Objective information from experiment, observation and data collection
  • Experience
• Rationalism
  • Rationalism emphasizes the importance of a priori reason or innate premiss or idea and involve inductive or deductive reasoning
    • Inductive reasoning: from specific to general knowledge "bottom-up" thinking and knowledge gathering: from observation to pattern to tentative hypothesis to general theory
    • Deductive reasoning :from general to specific knowledge "top-down" thinking and knowledge gathering: from theory to hypothesis to observation to confirmation of the original theory
• Aestheticism
  • A belief that the principle of beauty permeate all nature and is applicable to all other areas of human thought (can be considered a form of Epistemology)
  • Beauty in all things and people is a natural state or potential and is a worthy goal of the human race
• Pragmatism
  • Pragmatism: truth must be judged in accordance to its workability
  • Truth can be ignored if it serves no useful purpose
  • Truth that injury others with benefits to none is not worth knowing
  • Business, industry, technological advancement and rugged individualism are grounded in this notion of truth. So too was the industrial revolution (long before the term was coined by William James of Harvard)
• Perception, Prejudices and Ignorance
  • Perception: belief systems and dogmas; subjective conclusions based on imagined or real experience
  • Prejudices: subjective conclusions without evidence as derived by any means described above: bias. projection, personalizing, generalizing; ignorance
  • Ignorance: false assumptions and or conclusions based on insufficient knowledge

Books at Bargains

You May Be Paying much More for Books You Buy On the Internet than You Should: References, New/Used Books, Books on Academic, Business, & Entertainment; Technical & Professional Disciplines, Dictionaries and more. That's because most suppliers are jobbers, not Distributors or Publishers.

Or if they're not as big as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, they're not able to purchase large Volumes of Books, at substantial discounts, then pass on some of the savings to you.

United Tradeways not only links you to millions of Books but connects you to some of the best offers online. For Bargain on Books
Go on A Shopping Spree and Reap a Carnival of Savings.

Books and more Books Fit Your Budget with Books at Discounts * Pick Up A Bargain on Books Today!

Year after year, this site comes out on top in customers' satisfaction. Check them out for all your needs in books, computers, electronics, games, music, software more Get your links to one of the most technologically advanced, user-friendly sites online/ Your link to Books, Computers, Electronics, Video Games, Home Hardware, Music, Software, Toys...