This is going to be a blog about philosophy. As such, it is appropriate to begin with a general philosophical framework. This framework will serve as a guide for all future posts.
I take philosophy to be concerned with asking questions about us and our relationship to the world (if indeed there is a world beyond us).
In particular, I take philosophy to be concerned with asking three types of questions.
1. Ontological Questions
Ontological questions are about the nature of existence. What kinds of things exist? How do they work? How did they get here? What will things be like in the future?
2. Ethical Questions
Ethical questions are about conduct. What kinds of activities should I engage in if I want to live a meaningful and fulfilling life? And how should I treat other people?
3. Epistemological Questions
Epistemological questions are concerned with the nature of knowledge. It is easy to make claims about the nature of existence or the nature of ethics, but which claims are true and which are false? We need to have some sort of quality control. Epistemology attempts to establish this quality control by developing appropriate methods of inquiry.
This framework is illustrated below (click to embiggen).
In future posts I will be exploring these philosophical questions in many different domains. For the most part, this will take the form of reference guides and summaries of the work of others. However, I will occasionally present some original analyses.
No comments:
Post a Comment