Philosophy

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Philosophy \Phi*los"o*phy\ (f[i^]*l[o^]s"[-o]*f[y^]), n.; pl.
     {Philosophies} (f[i^]*l[o^]s"[-o]*f[i^]z). [OE. philosophie,
     F. philosophie, L. philosophia, from Gr. filosofi`a. See
     {Philosopher}.]
     1. Literally, the love of, inducing the search after, wisdom;
        in actual usage, the knowledge of phenomena as explained


        by, and resolved into, causes and reasons, powers and
        laws.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: When applied to any particular department of knowledge,
           philosophy denotes the general laws or principles under
           which all the subordinate phenomena or facts relating
           to that subject are comprehended. Thus philosophy, when
           applied to God and the divine government, is called
           theology; when applied to material objects, it is
           called physics; when it treats of man, it is called
           anthropology and psychology, with which are connected
           logic and ethics; when it treats of the necessary
           conceptions and relations by which philosophy is
           possible, it is called metaphysics.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: "Philosophy has been defined: -- the science of things
           divine and human, and the causes in which they are
           contained; -- the science of effects by their causes;
           -- the science of sufficient reasons; -- the science of
           things possible, inasmuch as they are possible; -- the
           science of things evidently deduced from first
           principles; -- the science of truths sensible and
           abstract; -- the application of reason to its
           legitimate objects; -- the science of the relations of
           all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason; --
           the science of the original form of the ego, or mental
           self; -- the science of science; -- the science of the
           absolute; -- the science of the absolute indifference
           of the ideal and real." --Sir W. Hamilton.
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     2. A particular philosophical system or theory; the
        hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained.
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              [Books] of Aristotle and his philosophie. --Chaucer.
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              We shall in vain interpret their words by the
              notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our
              school.                               --Locke.
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     3. Practical wisdom; calmness of temper and judgment;
        equanimity; fortitude; stoicism; as, to meet misfortune
        with philosophy.
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              Then had he spent all his philosophy. --Chaucer.
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     4. Reasoning; argumentation.
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              Of good and evil much they argued then, . . .
              Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy. --Milton.
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     5. The course of sciences read in the schools. --Johnson.
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     6. A treatise on philosophy.
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     {Philosophy of the Academy}, that of Plato, who taught his
        disciples in a grove in Athens called the Academy.
  
     {Philosophy of the Garden}, that of Epicurus, who taught in a
        garden in Athens.
  
     {Philosophy of the Lyceum}, that of Aristotle, the founder of
        the Peripatetic school, who delivered his lectures in the
        Lyceum at Athens.
  
     {Philosophy of the Porch}, that of Zeno and the Stoics; -- so
        called because Zeno of Citium and his successors taught in
        the porch of the Poicile, a great hall in Athens.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  philosophy
       n 1: a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by
            some group or school [syn: {doctrine}, {philosophical
            system}, {school of thought}, {ism}]
       2: the rational investigation of questions about existence and
          knowledge and ethics
       3: any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a
          situation; "self-indulgence was his only philosophy"; "my
          father's philosophy of child-rearing was to let mother do
          it"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  220 Moby Thesaurus words for "philosophy":
     Aristotelianism, Berkeleianism, Bradleianism,
     Buddha-like composure, Cynicism, Cyrenaic hedonism, Cyrenaicism,
     Epicureanism, Fichteanism, Hegelianism, Heideggerianism,
     Heracliteanism, Herbartianism, Humism, Kantianism, Leibnizianism,
     Marxism, Mimamsa, Neo-Hegelianism, Neo-Pythagoreanism,
     Neoplatonism, Newtonian physics, Oriental calm, Peripateticism,
     Platonism, Purva Mimamsa, Pyrrhonism, Pythagoreanism, Sankhya,
     Schellingism, Scotism, Socratism, Sophism, Sophistry,
     Spencerianism, Stoicism, Thomism, Weltanschauung, acosmism,
     acoustics, aerophysics, aesthetics, agnosticism, animalism,
     animatism, animism, aplomb, applied physics, astrophysics, atomism,
     attitude, basic conductor physics, biophysics, body of ideas,
     calm disposition, calm of mind, calmness, chemical physics,
     composure, control, cool, coolheadedness, coolness, cosmotheism,
     countenance, criticism, cryogenics, crystallography, cytophysics,
     deduction, deductive reasoning, deism, demonstration,
     dialectical materialism, discourse, discourse of reason,
     discursive reason, dispassion, dualism, easy mind, eclecticism,
     egoism, electron physics, electronics, electrophysics, empiricism,
     epistemology, equanimity, ethics, ethos, eudaemonism,
     existentialism, feeling, geophysics, hedonism, humanism,
     hylomorphism, hylotheism, hylozoism, icy calm, idea, idealism,
     ideology, immaterialism, imperturbability, imperturbation,
     indisturbance, individualism, induction, inductive reasoning,
     intuitionism, logic, logical thought, macrophysics, materialism,
     mathematical physics, mechanics, mechanism, medicophysics,
     mental composure, mentalism, metaphysics, microphysics, monism,
     mysticism, natural philosophy, natural science, naturalism,
     neocriticism, nominalism, notion, nuclear physics, ontologism,
     ontology, opinion, optics, optimism, organic mechanism, organicism,
     outlook, panpsychism, pantheism, patience, peace of mind,
     peacefulness, pessimism, philosophic composure, philosophicalness,
     physic, physical chemistry, physical science, physicalism,
     physicism, physicochemistry, physicomathematics, physics,
     placidity, pluralism, point of view, positivism, pragmaticism,
     pragmatism, proof, psychism, psychological hedonism, psychophysics,
     quiet, quiet mind, quietude, radiation physics, radionics,
     ratiocination, rationalism, rationality, rationalization,
     rationalizing, realism, reason, reasonableness, reasoning,
     resignation, restraint, sang-froid, sangfroid, secular humanism,
     self-control, self-possession, semiotic, semiotics, sensationalism,
     sentiment, serenity, skepticism, solar physics,
     solid-state physics, soothingness, sophistry, specious reasoning,
     statics, stereophysics, stoicism, substantialism, sweet reason,
     syncretism, system of ideas, system of theories, tenets, theism,
     theoretical physics, thermodynamics, thinking, thoughtfulness,
     tranquillity, transcendentalism, unruffledness, utilitarianism,
     viewpoint, voluntarism, world view, zoophysics
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  philosophy
       
          See {computer ethics}, {liar paradox}, {netiquette}, {proof}.
       
       

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  PHILOSOPHY, n.  A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.