Philosophy

I've read various explanations of what philosophy is, but what is "A philosophy"? When a philosopher sits down to write "a philosophy of . . . .," what is s/he trying to do? Thank you!!!

Comments

good question. you know the degree 'Ph.D.', the hghest degree you can obtain in many fields, is a 'doctor of philosophy', so presumably what one gets in completing a PhD in say literature, language, art history, physics, etc., is 'a philosophy of that field' -- and that in turn indicates something like a 'highest-level mastery of the field', which in turn typically includes two levels of accomplishment: mastering all/the major knowledge and principles of obtaining knowledge within the field (eg how to be a good physicist) but also mastering perhaps some of the phiosophical elements of any given field ... a good physicist knows how to create/evaluate good theories, but a good philosopher of science knows what counts generally about a good theory and whether good theories should be construed about truth or something else (like usefulness) ....

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