Branches of Philosophy: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, Ethics, Aesthetics
Five branches
- Metaphysics: reality, substance, causation, mind and body, freedom.
- Epistemology: knowledge, belief, truth, justification, perception, reason, testimony.
- Logic: arguments, validity, soundness, fallacies.
- Ethics: right action, good character, value, metaethical status.
- Aesthetics: beauty, art, taste, aesthetic judgement.
Core rules
A question belongs to a branch by its central concept, not its topic. 'Is lying always wrong?' is normative ethics; 'What does wrong mean?' is metaethics. Validity concerns form: an argument can be valid with false premises. Soundness requires validity plus true premises. Epistemology traditionally defines knowledge as justified true belief, though Gettier cases challenge whether justification and truth are sufficient. Aesthetic judgements may be subjective or objective; the debate concerns whether taste is mere preference or grounded in properties and training.
Worked example
Classify: 'Can a beautiful sunset be beautiful if no one experiences it?' This is aesthetics, because it asks whether beauty is response-dependent or a property of the object. It is not metaphysics of nature merely because the subject is a sunset; the key concept is aesthetic judgement. Reasoning should name the branch, identify the central concept, and exclude rival classifications.
Traps
- Calling a valid argument 'true'; arguments are valid or invalid, premises true or false.
- Reducing metaphysics to physics; metaphysical questions can outrun empirical tests.
- Treating metaethics as another name for applied ethics.
- Ignoring that normative ethics prescribes while descriptive ethics reports.