In the era of industrial and technological progress, philosophy has receded into the background, not every person will be able to clearly answer the question of what kind of science it is and what it does. People are busy with pressing problems, they are little interested in philosophical categories divorced from life. Does this mean that philosophy has lost its relevance and is no longer needed?
Philosophy is defined as a science that studies the root causes and beginnings of all that exists. In this sense, it is one of the most important sciences for man, as it tries to find an answer to the question of the cause of human existence. Why does a man live, why was this life given to him? The answer to this question also determines the paths that a person chooses.
Being a truly all-encompassing science, philosophy includes a variety of disciplines and tries to find answers to questions important for human existence - is there God, what is good and evil, questions of old age and death, the possibility of objective knowledge of reality, etc. etc. We can say that natural sciences provide an answer to the question "how?", While philosophy tries to find an answer to the question "why?"
It is believed that the very term "philosophy" was invented by Pythagoras, translated from Greek it means "love of wisdom". It should be noted that, unlike other sciences, in philosophy no one obliges to base their reasoning on the experience of predecessors. Freedom, including freedom of thought, is one of the key concepts for a philosopher.
Philosophy arose independently in Ancient China, Ancient India and Ancient Greece, from where it began to spread throughout the world. The classification of the currently existing philosophical disciplines and directions is rather complicated and not always unambiguous. General philosophical disciplines include metaphilosophy, or philosophy of philosophy. There are philosophical disciplines that study the ways of knowing: logic, theory of knowledge, philosophy of science. Theoretical philosophy includes ontology, metaphysics, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of nature, natural theology, philosophy of spirit, philosophy of consciousness, social philosophy, philosophy of history, philosophy of language. Practical philosophy, sometimes called philosophy of life (axiology), includes ethics, aesthetics, praxeology (philosophy of activity), social philosophy, geophilosophy, philosophy of religion, law, education, history, politics, economy, technology, ecology. There are other areas of philosophy, you can get acquainted with the full list by looking in the specialized philosophical literature.
Despite the fact that the new century seems to leave little room for philosophy, its practical significance does not diminish in the least - humanity is still looking for answers to the questions of being that are of concern to it. And the answer to these questions determines the path that human civilization will take in its development.
