What is philosophy or Fundamental foundations of being

With the very concept of "philosophy" to understand is quite simple. Going into the genesis of the term, answering the question about what philosophy is, one can not help but mention the literal translation from the Greek language. Although this concept can also be defined with the help of elementary and everyday knowledge. For example, the first part of the word means nothing other than love. So, philosophy is a love for something. But to determine what this high feeling is for, is also not so difficult. To do this, it is enough to turn your attention back to the original word, in which the last part of it - "sofia" - stands out clearly. Now for us it is, first and foremost, a name that means nothing less than wisdom. Consequently, if we connect these two values, we get a very clear definition of the term philosophy - it is a love of wisdom, a peculiar desire and even a thirst for obtaining certain knowledge of being.

A little bit from the history of philosophy

Philosophy in its development has gone a long way. Not only did it change the understanding of what philosophy is, but also the relevant views, which can be more specifically discussed only in the context of correct periodization. So, the main periods can be identified: Eastern philosophy, ancient, medieval, Renaissance philosophy, New European philosophy, classical German, as well as 19th century philosophy and modern knowledge. In the context of each period, there were their own philosophical schools, which had a direct impact on the worldview. The accumulated knowledge simply needed to be classified and systematized in some way. That is why, in the course of time, such necessary structuralism appeared in philosophy as a whole scientific direction in humanitarian knowledge.

Structuralism - what is it and why?

It is important to note that as such it arose in connection with the active development of the humanities. When the latter began to move from the observational-descriptive level to the theoretical level, a more urgent need arose to create structural methods and elements that could model and formalize this knowledge. And not the least role in this case played mathematics. In this direction, few were interested in what philosophy is-much more important was the direct identification of the structure, knowing that it was easy to determine how a particular object functions. Nevertheless, over time this approach was criticized, and post-structuralism appeared.

Much later, a social philosophy emerges , the main task of which was the need to determine the person's immediate place in the social system. Although, of course, this issue was relevant even at the origins of philosophy, when only the first definitions and understandings of what philosophy, its tasks and goals were. Nevertheless, having formed as one of the directions, the subject of social philosophy becomes even more obvious. Some confuse social philosophy with sociology. Indeed, these sciences are contiguous, but if the latter studies society as a whole and its basic laws, then this philosophy rather acts as a kind of critic. As for the subject of social philosophy, of course, it is a person. But in this case it is important to note that a person is not as an "individual", but as a representative of a certain community. Although, despite the fact that the subject is so obvious, it is rather difficult to talk about it without taking into account the basic functions of social philosophy, which, again, manifest themselves in the thinking of each person and have a direct impact on the community that this individual represents.