Definition
Philosophy Definition
Philosophy is the systematic and critical study of fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, value, reason, and meaning.
Short answer
The word comes from the Greek philosophia, often translated as “love of wisdom.” In modern usage, philosophy is not simply admiration for wisdom; it is a practice of forming, evaluating, and revising answers through reasons and argument.
A working definition
A useful definition has two parts. Philosophy concerns fundamental questions—questions whose answers shape many other beliefs. It also uses critical methods: clarifying terms, making distinctions, constructing arguments, and testing objections.
For example, “What is justice?” is philosophical because the answer affects law, politics, and personal conduct. Asking whether a proposed answer is coherent and well supported is the philosophical method at work.
Philosophy and wisdom
The Greek root points to a desire for wisdom, but wisdom in philosophy is not a stock of final answers. It includes knowing what one has reason to believe, what remains uncertain, and what a good question requires.
Different traditions express this pursuit differently. Ancient Greek, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, African, and European philosophers developed distinct vocabularies while repeatedly returning to questions of flourishing, knowledge, order, and the self.
What the definition does not mean
Philosophy is not identical with religion, science, or literature, although it can engage each of them. Nor is it mere debate. A philosophical disagreement should make its assumptions and standards of evidence visible.
The word also has a looser everyday use: a person’s philosophy can mean a guiding outlook or principle. That usage is related, but it is broader than academic philosophy.
From the archive
Read alongside this guide
“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”
“What I do not know, I do not claim to know.”
“It is worse to do injustice than to suffer it.”