phil.

Noun

philosophy (countable and uncountable, plural philosophies)

1. (uncountable) An academic discipline that seeks truth through reasoning rather than empiricism, often attempting to provide explanations relating to general concepts such as existence and rationality.
   • Philosophy is often divided into five major branches: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics.
2. (countable) A view or outlook regarding fundamental principles underlying some domain.
   • a philosophy of government; a philosophy of education

   Synonyms:

   worldview, ethos

3. (countable) A general principle (usually moral).
   • As a matter of fact the Enlightment culture was based on a philosophy inspired to an ethical laicism whose aim was to create a better society based on principles such as solidarity, equality of rights and duties, and full freedom.2012, Francesca Valensise, From Building Fabric to City Form: Reconstruction in Calabria at end of Eighteenth Century, Gangemi Editore spa, →ISBN, page 8
4. (countable) A comprehensive system of belief.

   Synonyms:

   doctrine, ideology

5. (archaic, uncountable, originally) The love of wisdom.
6. (dated, uncountable) A calm and thoughtful demeanor; calmness of temper.

See all 9 meanings of philosophy

Noun

philology (countable and uncountable, plural philologies)

1. (US, especially) The humanistic study of texts and their languages, especially ancient or classical languages.
   • Philology and philosophy are treated as reciprocal. They exist on equal footing, and neither functions satisfactorily without the other. Their methods ... are opposite; philology attains to knowledge through induction, whereas philosophy starts from a concept. To formulate his concepts soundly, the...1968, John Paul Pritchard, On Interpretation and Criticism, University of Oklahoma Press
2. (Commonwealth, archaic, especially, rare) Historical or comparative linguistics.
3. (rare) Love and study of learning and literature, broadly speaking.
   • Indeed Philology properly is Terſe and Polite Learning, melior literatura (married long ſince by Martianus Capella to Mercury) being that Florid skill, containing onely the Roſes of learning, without the prickles thereof in which narrow ſenſe thorny Philoſophy is diſcharged as no part of Philology....a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Writers”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 26