What Is Philosophy, Really?

Hansson, Oskar

doi:10.1111/theo.12163

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This is because the meaning of the word “philosophy” has changed dramatically in the last few centuries. What we call “philosophy” today did not exist as a well‐defined discipline before the nineteenth century (Yolton,1986; Hansson, 2018b). Let us focus on the modern concept of philosophy, which evolved in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…”

Section: Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Disciplines and Subdisciplines

Hansson¹

2022

Theoria

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Section: Philosophymentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Disciplines and Subdisciplines

Hansson¹

2022

Theoria

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“…As for current academic philosophical research, it seems often to be done separately from empirical research. This separation is a very long development trend through the history of (Western) philosophy from its start as ‘one’ science (Hansson 2018). Some of the philosophy of the time was devoted to natural phenomena and was discernable as ‘natural philosophy’.…”

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confidence: 99%

Philosophy and childhood studies

2022

Childhood

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Is there, and should there be, within the multidisciplinary field of childhood studies, a place also for an autonomous philosophical subdiscipline: philosophy of childhood? What would motivate such inquiry, what might be its central concerns? Also, what would be its role among and in relation to the already existing range of specialist childhood sciences, such as the sociology, geography, and psychology of childhood?Recently, a handbook on the philosophy of childhood was published in Germany (Drerup and Schweiger 2019). In their introduction to the handbook, the editors state that such an endeavour is concerned about philosophical questions and problems that are related to the thematic field of children and childhood, and include questions about children's moral, political and juridical status, their instrumental and intrinsic worth, the differences between children and adults, and childhood's constructed character. Such questions are of interest not only within systematical philosophic inquiry; also professionals in various fields, such as in education and jurisdiction, deal with such questions within their everyday ethical, political and pedagogical self-understanding and reflection, and they are also topics in politics and in public debate. All of this should support efforts to establish a philosophical subdiscipline with a systematic focus on issues of children and childhood. As the editors further note, such a field of scientific inquiry has begun to establish itself, both internationally and in the German-language academia, of which their compilation is an example.What is a philosophy of childhood made of? First, what is meant by the word 'philosophy'? The word certainly is used in many contexts that have little or no connection with philosophy as an academic discipline, as is explained in the current Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online). As a science and an academic discipline philosophy, according to the dictionary, is 'the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, and the basis and limits of human understanding'; this is also the usual, contemporary sense of the word. There is however also plenty of 'extended use' of the same word, as when the word refers to a set of opinions or ideas held by an individual or group, a theory or attitude which acts as a guiding principle for behaviour, or an outlook or worldview. A teacher or a parent, for example, might have his or her own 'philosophy' of teaching, of the child, or of childhood.Secondly, how are philosophical research and the research within 'specialist' childhood disciplines related? What is their interaction and how do the sciences cooperate? As for current academic philosophical research, it seems often to be done separately from empirical research. This separation is a very long development trend through the history of (Western) philosophy from its start as 'one' science (Hansson 2018

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“…A lthough philosophy, in the sense that we use that word today, was already being pursued more than two‐and‐a‐half millennia ago, our current conception of philosophy is of quite recent origin. Well into the nineteenth century, the term “philosophy” had a much wider meaning, covering most if not all of the scientific and scholarly subjects studied at universities (Hansson, ). Today's more limited concept of philosophy evolved in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…”

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confidence: 99%