BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Ontology (Metaphysics)
Epistemology
Axiology
Logic

Metaphysics/Ontology
The study of existence.
Foundation of philosophy.
Importance: Explain the world around us and help
us deal with reality.

Metaphysics (ontology)
The dictionary definition of metaphysics is distant
from the physical world and trespassing beyond the
material things in life.
Metaphysics is speculative and focuses on the cause
and-effect relationship of things and phenomena.
Metaphysics posses the following questions:
- What is truth?
- Does God exist?
- What is mankind?
- What is life?

Epistemology.
The study of our method of acquiring
knowledge.
Answers the question, How do we know?
Importance : Gives explanation of how we
think.
It is concerned with how our minds are related
to reality, and whether these relationships are
valid or invalid.

Epistemology
It is also known as the theory of knowledge
that studies about knowledge and beliefs. It
comes from the Greek word episteme which
means knowledge or science, and logos
which means explanation.
Thus, it focuses on the analysis and generation
of knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge.

Sources of the knowledge:

Revelation.
Based on our sensory experiences
Intuition
Expert opinion based on the knowledge and
skills possessed
Logic
Scientific methods

Axiology
Axiology stems from the Greek word which
means value. Therefore, it is the branch of
philosophy that question good or bad, true or
false, beautiful or ugly. It can be classified into
two aspect, that is ethics and aesthetics:
1)Ethics.
Emphasizes what we should do and what is the
best thing to do. In short, ethics focuses on the
moral and behaviour of mankind.

It can be categorized into three basic types as follows:

Meta ethics study about the concept of ethics;
Normative ethics study about how to determine
ethical values;
Applied ethics study about the application of ethical
values.
In relationship to this, ethics attempts to answer the
following questions:
- What is goodness? What are some behavioural
characteristics that determine the goodness?
- What determines a good action?
- Is morality objective or subjective?

1. Ethics.
Dealing with what is proper course of action for man.
Answers the question, What do I do?
Study the right and wrong in human endeavors.
Importance : requirement for human life.

2)Aesthethics
Refers to the criteria for beauty in the arts,
environment and life. in other words, it focuses
more on taste and sentiments. Among the question
it attempt to answer include:
- What is beauty?
- How can we appreciate beauty in our natural
environment?

Esthetics.
The study of art.
Importance: It delves into the reason why art has always
existed, the burning need of mankind through the ages to
see the world in a different, clear way.

Logic
Logic explains the relationship between ideas
besides giving reasons for the purposed answers.
There are two types of logic:
Inductive logic starts with specific details,
followed by reasoning and general conclusions
Deductive logic starts from general conclusions,
then seeking relevant examples to explain these
conclusions before generating logical details.