Philosophy Students

{Exam II Study Guide}

Hey guys, from what i understand, thus far we have covered these Major categories of Philosophy (make sure you know these):

• Epistemology: 

or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge. It addresses the questions:

• What is knowledge?
• How is knowledge acquired?
• What do people know?
• How do we know what we know?

• Ontology:

is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence, or reality in general. This category is an extension of Metaphysics. Principal questions of ontology are:

•  "What can be said to exist?",
• "Into what categories, if any, can we sort existing things?",
• "What are the meanings of being?",
• "What are the various modes of being of entities?"

Webster defines Ontology as:

1: a branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and relations of being

2: a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence

Pasted from <http://dictionary.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ontology>

• Axiology:

is the philosophical study of value. It is either the collective term for ethics and aesthetics—philosophical fields that depend crucially on notions of value. Axiology studies mainly two kinds of values: ethics and aesthetics.

• Cosmology:

in strict usage, refers to the study of the Universe in its totality as it now is (or at least as it can be observed now), and by extension, humanity's place in it.

• Metaphysics:

is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world although it is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:

1. "What is there?" and
2. "What is it like?"