On The Branches of Philosophy

Philosophy is that discipline that handles problems, issues or questions that other disciplines are not capable to handle. Lugwig Wittgenstein compared Philosophy to a fly in a bottle.

In a bottle, the fly is struggling to get out without success because it does not know how to get out. The function of Philosophy is to show the fly how to get out of the bottle.

Once the fly is out of the bottle, it flies to its desired destination. In this case, the fly can signify certain kind of problems in which once the fundamental question raised by Philosophers bring them out, solution also can be proffer. This explain further that Philosophy is not just concerned with identifying problems, but also with making  rational suggestions that can help to resolve problems.

Philosophy accomplishes this task of problems identification and problems solving through its various branches which are concerned with specific problems. These branches include;

1. Metaphysics

2. Epistemology

3. Logic

4. Axiology

The above four are the core branches of Philosophy. 

However, there are other branches of Philosophy, these other branches can be referred to "second order activities."

Some of the branches under these second order activities of analyzing, evaluating and interpreting other disciplines are;

1. Philosophy of Religion

2. Philosophy of science

3. Philosophy of Education

4. Philosophy of language, etc. It is important to note that these branches of Philosophy rely on the core branches in its investigation.

In our next article, we shall discussed in detail the various branches of Philosophy.