philosophy
Syllables: phi·los·o·phyUK/fɪˈlɒs.ə.fi//fɪˈlɑ.sə.fi/
philosophy noun: 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.
Noun
philosophy (countable and uncountable, plural philosophies)
- 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.
- During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
- A view or outlook regarding fundamental principles underlying some domain.
- a philosophy of government; a philosophy of education
- 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
- A comprehensive system of belief.
- The love of wisdom.
- A calm and thoughtful demeanor; calmness of temper.
- Synonym of small pica (especially in French printing).
- Although I prefer small pica. Or as its^([sic]) sometimes known, philosophy.
- – Small pica, or philosophy, she said. It sounds like the title of a novel. With a girl heroine.2010, Thomas Wharton, Salamander, Emblem Editions, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- small pica
- A broader branch of (non-applied) science.
- natural philosophy
Verb
philosophy (third-person singular simple present philosophies, present participle philosophying, simple past and past participle philosophied)
- To philosophize.
- Plato hath (in my seeming) loved this manner of Philosophying, Dialogue wise in good earnest, that therby he might more decently place in sundry mouthes the diversity and variation of his owne conceits.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
philosophy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
philosophy in Hindi
- academic discipline
- दर्शन darśan, फ़लसफ़ा falasfā, तत्व tatva
- view regarding fundamental principles
- मज़हब mazhab, मजहब majhab, अकीदा akīdā
- general principle
- मज़हब mazhab, मजहब majhab
- comprehensive system of belief
- फ़लसफ़ा falasfā, मज़हब mazhab, मजहब majhab, दर्शन darśan
philosophy in Tamil
- academic discipline
- மெய்யியல் meyyiyal, தத்துவம் tattuvam
philosophy in Urdu
- academic discipline
- فَلْسَفَہ falsafa
philosophy in Bengali
- the philosophy or doctrine of indestructibility; the philosophical view that the soul or ultimate reality is indestructible
- অবিনশ্বরতাদর্শন ôbinôśśôrôtadarśôn
- philosophy
- দর্শন dorśon
More languagesFewer languages
- philosophy in Malayalam
- മെയ്യുണർവ്, തത്വചിന്ത, ദാർശനികത
- philosophy in Kannada
- ತತ್ತ್ವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ tattvaśāstra
- philosophy in Punjabi
- ਫ਼ਲਸਫ਼ਾ falsafā, ਦਰਸ਼ਨ darśan
- philosophy in Gujarati
- ફિલસૂફી philsūphī
- philosophy in Sanskrit
- दर्शन darśana
- philosophy in Nepali
- दर्शन darsan
- philosophy in Tagalog
- pilosopiya, batnayan
- philosophy in Arabic
- فَلْسَفَة falsafa, مَذْهَب maḏhab, عَقِيدَة ʕaqīda, مَبْدَأ mabdaʔ
- philosophy in Malay
- falsafah
- philosophy in Indonesian
- filsafat, falsafah
- philosophy in Persian
- فلسفه falsafe, خرددوستی xeraddusti
- philosophy in Thai
- ปรัชญา bpràt-yaa
- philosophy in Vietnamese
- triết học, triết lý, nguyên lý
- philosophy in Myanmar
- ဒဿနဗေဒ da.ssa.na.beda., သဘာဝတ္ထဗေဒ sa.bhawathta.beda.
Examples of philosophy in a sentence
- The nature of the mind is a major topic in philosophy.
- "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" was a seminal work in the modern philosophy of science.
- What philosophy needs is to be revisioned with a more hopeful, engaged inspirational point of view.
Synonyms of philosophy
Forms of philosophy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | philosophies |
| alternative form (obsolete) | philosophie |
| alternative form (obsolete) | phylosophie |
| alternative form (nonstandard) | phylosophy |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | philosophies |
| present participle | philosophying |
| past participle | philosophied |
| past | philosophied |
Origin of philosophy
From Middle English philosophie, Old French philosophie, and their source, Latin philosophia, from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophía), from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). By surface analysis, philo- + -sophy. Displaced Old English ūþwitegung.
Words formed from philosophy
- analytic philosophy
- antiphilosophy
- astrophilosophy
- biophilosophy
- continental philosophy
- counterphilosophy
- critical philosophy
- cyberphilosophy
- Doctor of Philosophy
- ecophilosophy
- ecosophy
- ethnophilosophy
- first philosophy
- foolosophy
- geophilosophy
- metaphilosophy
- moral philosophy
- natural philosophy
- nature philosophy
- neurophilosophy
- nonphilosophy
- ordinary language philosophy
- Oxford philosophy
- perennial philosophy
- personal philosophy
- philosophist
- philosophize
- philosophylike
- philosophy of mind
- philosophy of science
- Philosothon
- physiophilosophy
- protophilosophy
- pseudophilosophy
- psychophilosophy
- religiophilosophy
- rosewater philosophy
- social philosophy
- sociophilosophy
- speculative philosophy
- synthetic philosophy
- technophilosophy
- theophilosophy
- Unix philosophy
- unphilosophy
Phrases with philosophy
Questions about philosophy
- What does philosophy mean?
- Philosophy means 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.
- What is philosophy in Hindi?
- Philosophy in Hindi is दर्शन (darśan), फ़लसफ़ा (falasfā), तत्व (tatva). See Philosophy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is philosophy?
- Philosophy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce philosophy?
- Philosophy is pronounced /fɪˈlɒs.ə.fi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of philosophy?
- The plural of philosophy is philosophies.
Words near philosophy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: philosophy (page history and authors); অবিনশ্বরতাদর্শন (Bengali) (page history and authors); philosophy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਦਰਸ਼ਨ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-philosophy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “philosophy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/philosophy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.