English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English philosophie, Old French philosophie, and their source, Latin philosophia, from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophía), from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). Synchronically, philo- + -sophy. Displaced native Old English ūþwitegung.
Pronunciation
Noun
philosophy (countable and uncountable, plural philosophies)
- (uncountable, originally) The love of wisdom.
- (uncountable) An academic discipline that seeks truth through reasoning rather than empiricism.
Philosophy is often divided into five major branches: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics.
- (countable) A comprehensive system of belief.
- (countable) A view or outlook regarding fundamental principles underlying some domain.
a philosophy of government; a philosophy of education
- (countable) A general principle (usually moral).
2012, Francesca Valensise, From Building Fabric to City Form: Reconstruction in Calabria at end of Eighteenth Century[1], Gangemi Editore spa, →ISBN, page 8:As a matter of fact the Enlightment culture was based on a philosophy inspired to an ethical laicism whose aim was to create a better society based on principles such as solidarity, equality of rights and duties, and full freedom.
- (archaic) A broader branch of (non-applied) science.
- A calm and thoughtful demeanor; calmness of temper.
- (printing, dated) Synonym of small pica (especially in French printing).
- 2010, Thomas Wharton, Salamander, Emblem Editions (→ISBN)
- Although I prefer small pica. Or as its[sic] sometimes known, philosophy.
- – Small pica, or philosophy, she said. It sounds like the title of a novel. With a girl heroine.
Meronyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
academic discipline
- Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
- Arabic: فَلْسَفَة f (falsafa)
- Egyptian Arabic: فلسفة f (falsafa)
- Hijazi Arabic: فَلْسَفة f (falsafa)
- Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
- Azerbaijani: fəlsəfə (az)
- Balinese: ᬢᬢ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬯ (tattwa)
- Basque: filosofia
- Belarusian: філасо́фія f (filasófija)
- Bulgarian: филосо́фия (bg) f (filosófija)
- Burmese: ဒဿနဗေဒ (da.ssa.na.beda.), သဘာဝတ္ထဗေဒ (my) (sa.bhawathta.beda.)
- Catalan: filosofia (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 哲學 (zit3 hok6)
- Mandarin: 哲学 (zh) (zhéxué)
- Cornish: filosofieth f
- Czech: filozofie (cs) f, filosofie (cs) f
- Danish: filosofi (da) c
- Dutch: filosofie (nl) f, wijsbegeerte (nl) f
- Esperanto: filozofio (eo)
- Faroese: heimspeki f
- Finnish: filosofia (fi)
- French: philosophie (fr) f
- Galician: filosofía (gl) f
- Georgian: ფილოსოფია (pilosopia)
- German: Philosophie (de) f
- Greek: φιλοσοφία (el) f (filosofía)
- Ancient: φιλοσοφία f (philosophía)
- Hindi: दर्शन (hi) m (darśan), फ़लसफ़ा m (falasfā), तत्व (hi) m (tatva)
- Hungarian: filozófia (hu), bölcselet (hu)
- Icelandic: heimspeki (is) n
- Ido: filozofio (io)
- Indonesian: filsafat (id), falsafah (id)
- Interlingua: philosophia (ia)
- Irish: fealsúnacht f
- Italian: filosofia (it) f
- Japanese: 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
- Kannada: ತತ್ತ್ವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (kn) (tattvaśāstra)
- Kazakh: пәлсапа (pälsapa), фәлсафа (fälsafa), философия (kk) (filosofiä), даналықтану (danalyqtanu)
- Khmer: ទស្សនវិជ្ជា (km) (tʊəhsana vɨcchie)
- Korean: 철학(哲學) (ko) (cheolhak)
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view regarding fundamental principles
general principle
- Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
- Arabic: مَبْدَأ m (mabdaʾ), مَذْهَب (ar) m (maḏhab)
- Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
- Catalan: filosofia (ca)
- Dutch: filosofie (nl) f
- Finnish: filosofia (fi), periaate (fi)
- Galician: filosofía (gl) f
- Hindi: मज़हब m (mazhab), मजहब (hi) m (majhab)
- Hungarian: filozófia (hu), elv (hu), alapelv (hu)
- Japanese: 方針 (ja) (ほうしん, hōshin), 方向 (ja) (ほうこう, hōkō), 主義 (ja) (しゅぎ, shugi), (figuratively) 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
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Translations to be checked
Verb
philosophy (third-person singular simple present philosophies, present participle philosophying, simple past and past participle philosophied)
- (now rare) To philosophize.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:Plato hath (in my seeming) loved this manner of Philosophying, Dialogue wise in good earnest, that therby he might more decently place in sundry mouthes the diversity and variation of his owne conceits.
See also
References
Further reading
- "philosophy" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 235.