What is ‘Philosophy’?

The word ‘philosophy’ came from Greek as a ‘love of knowledge or wisdom’. It is the study of general and abstract features of the world and categories of whatever we can think of: mind, matter, reason, proof, truth, etc. In the world of philosophy, the concepts to approach the world itself become the topic of enquiry. Disciplines such as history, physics, or law with its philosophical aspects aren’t interested in solving historical, physical, or legal questions as compared to study the concepts that structure such thinking and building the foundations and presuppositions. Philosophy happens when practice becomes self-conscious. The borderline between ‘second-order’ reflection and the ways of practising the first-order of the discipline itself, is not always clear: philosophical problems may be tamed by the advance of a discipline, and the conduct of a discipline may be swayed by philosophical reflection. At different times there may be more or less of optimism about the possibility of pure or ‘first’ philosophy, while taking an a priori standpoint from which the other intellectual practices can be impartially assessed and subjected to logical evaluation and correction. The contemporary spirit of the subject being hostile to any possibility. And it generally prefers to see philosophical reflection as continuous with the best practice of any field of intellectual enquiry.