History of Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy and Definition

If philosophy is the love of wisdom, how does it differ from other sciences? This question is crucial for delineating philosophy's place within the system of knowledge, especially given the overlap in their subject matter. To answer this question, one must delve into the structuring of human knowledge. To know something is to uncover its essence. There is only one way to reveal the essence of an object of knowledge, known as definition. Whenever there is a need to explain what something is, people employ definitions. This applies to both scientific and everyday understanding. For instance, to explain what a square is, one must provide a definition of a square; similarly, to explain what a noun is, one must present a definition of a noun. There is no other method of explanation. In other words, an adequate answer to "What is a square?" is "A square is a geometric figure with four equal and pairwise parallel sides and four right angles," whereas to answer "What is a noun?" one provides the definition "A noun is a part of speech that denotes a thing and answers the questions 'who' and 'what'." The provided definitions are complete and adhere to all rules of construction. In daily life, people also use incomplete definitions. If a definition follows all the rules of its construction, it is scientific; if it ignores the rules, it is unscientific.

All definitions, regardless of the context in which they are used and the concept they elucidate, share the same structure. Each definition specifies the concept being defined, called the definiendum. In the given definitions, the definienda are "square" and "noun." The second part of the definition is called the definiens, which contains the concepts used to explain the essence of the definiendum. The definiens of any definition is divided into the general concept and the specific features that distinguish the definiendum from other concepts within the general concept of the definiens. For example, in the definition of a square, it is stated that a square (definiendum) is a geometric figure (general concept). However, geometric figures also include triangles, circles, rhombuses, and so forth. Therefore, merely naming a square as a geometric figure is insufficient. It is necessary to explain how it differs from other geometric figures by listing the specific features unique to the square. Practice shows that listing specific features poses no problems, but determining the general concept can be more complex.

When someone sets out to construct a definition, their sole aim is to clarify something for others. If everyone knew what a square was, no one would waste time and paper describing its definition in geometry textbooks. A definition of a square is provided only because there are those who do not know what a square is, and the textbook author aims to explain the concept. However, to explain something, the means of explanation must themselves be understandable; that is, all the words used in the definiens must be comprehensible. Thus, to explain what a square is, one must first clarify what a geometric figure is, because nothing can be explained through concepts that are themselves unclear. Therefore, to construct a definition, one must first construct a definition of the general concept included in it. Since the general concept itself will have its own general concept, it too must be clarified through definition. This chain is not endless; it will eventually reach the most general concept, which will not have a more general concept to use for definition. This dead end of generality is the greatest paradox of knowledge. The mind can explain everything based on the most general concepts but cannot explain the most general concepts themselves. However, without explaining the most general concepts, it is impossible to explain the concepts derived from them.

This dilemma creates the main distinction between philosophy and other sciences. Each science explains its subject, that is, constructs definitions for the concepts it uses. Yet, none can construct definitions for the most general concepts, as these cannot be defined at all. This task falls to philosophy. For example, anatomy studies how the organs of the human body are constructed, and physiology studies how they function, but neither anatomy, physiology, nor any other field of knowledge studying humans answers the question of what it means to be human. Since "human" is the most general concept in its category, it cannot be defined. The most general concepts are the subject of philosophy. Philosophy alone is tasked with elucidating what being, humanity, society, the state, economy, knowledge, thought, understanding, and so on, truly are.