Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The study of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning.
  • noun A system of thought based on or involving such study.
  • noun The study of the theoretical underpinnings of a particular field or discipline.
  • noun An underlying theory or set of ideas relating to a particular field of activity or to life as a whole.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The body of highest truth; the organized sum of science; the science of which all others are branches; the science of the most fundamental matters. ; ;
  • noun A special branch of knowledge of high speculative interest
  • noun Any such science, as alchemy (in Chaucer).
  • noun Theology: this nse of the word was common in the middle ages
  • noun Psychology and ethics; moral philosophy.
  • noun Physics; natural philosophy.
  • noun The fundamental part of any science; propædeutic considerations upon which a special science is founded; general principles connected with a science, but not forming part of it; a theory connected with any branch of human activity: as, the philosophy of. science; the philosophy of history; the philosophy of government.
  • noun A doctrine which aims to be philosophy in any of the above senses.
  • noun A calm temper which is unruffled by small annoyances; a stoical impassiveness under adversity
  • noun See the adjectives.
  • noun The philosophy of Hegel. Also called objective philosophy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Literally, the love of, inducing the search after, wisdom; in actual usage, the knowledge of phenomena as explained by, and resolved into, causes and reasons, powers and laws.
  • noun A particular philosophical system or theory; the hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained.
  • noun Practical wisdom; calmness of temper and judgment; equanimity; fortitude; stoicism.
  • noun Reasoning; argumentation.
  • noun The course of sciences read in the schools.
  • noun A treatise on philosophy.
  • noun that of Plato, who taught his disciples in a grove in Athens called the Academy.
  • noun that of Epicurus, who taught in a garden in Athens.
  • noun that of Aristotle, the founder of the Peripatetic school, who delivered his lectures in the Lyceum at Athens.
  • noun that of Zeno and the Stoics; -- so called because Zeno of Citium and his successors taught in the porch of the Poicile, a great hall in Athens.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable, originally The love of wisdom.
  • noun uncountable An academic discipline that seeks truth through reasoning rather than empiricism.
  • noun countable A comprehensive system of belief.
  • noun countable A view or outlook regarding fundamental principles underlying some domain.
  • noun countable A general principle (usually moral).
  • noun archaic A broader branch of (non-applied) science.
  • verb To philosophize.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school
  • noun the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics
  • noun any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English philosophie, from Old French, from Latin philosophia, from Greek philosophiā, from philosophos, lover of wisdom, philosopher; see philosopher.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman philosophie, Old French philosophie, and their source, Latin philosophia, from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία, from φίλος (philos, "beloved") + σοφία (sophia, "wisdom").

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Examples

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  • applied logic

    October 20, 2017