philosophy

English

Alternative forms

philosophie (obsolete)
phylosophie (obsolete)
phylosophy (nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English philosophie, Old French philosophie, and their source, Latin philosophia, from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophía), from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). Synchronically, philo- +‎ -sophy. Displaced native Old English ūþwitegung.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɒsəfi/
(General American) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɑsəfi/
Audio (GA) (file)

Noun

philosophy (countable and uncountable, plural philosophies)

(uncountable, originally) The love of wisdom.
(uncountable) An academic discipline that seeks truth through reasoning rather than empiricism.
Philosophy is often divided into five major branches: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics.
- 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
  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 […]
(countable) A comprehensive system of belief.
(countable) A view or outlook regarding fundamental principles underlying some domain.
a philosophy of government; a philosophy of education
(countable) A general principle (usually moral).
- 2012, Francesca Valensise, From Building Fabric to City Form: Reconstruction in Calabria at end of Eighteenth Century‎, Gangemi Editore spa, →ISBN, page 8:
  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.
(archaic) A broader branch of (non-applied) science.
A calm and thoughtful demeanor; calmness of temper.
(printing, dated) Synonym of small pica (especially in French printing).
- 2010, Thomas Wharton, Salamander, Emblem Editions, →ISBN:
  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.

Meronyms

See also Thesaurus:philosophy

Derived terms

analytic philosophy
antiphilosophy
astrophilosophy
biophilosophy
continental philosophy
counterphilosophy
cyberphilosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
ecophilosophy
ethnophilosophy
foolosophy
geophilosophy
metaphilosophy
moral philosophy
natural philosophy
neurophilosophy
nonphilosophy
perennial philosophy
personal philosophy
philosophize
philosophylike
philosophy of mind
philosophy of science
physiophilosophy
pseudophilosophy
psychophilosophy
religiophilosophy
sociophilosophy
speculative philosophy
theophilosophy

Related terms

philologist
philology
philosopher
philosophic
philosophical
philosophically
philosophise
philosophize

Translations

the pursuit of wisdom

Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
Belarusian: філасо́фія (filasófija)
Burmese: ဒဿနဗေဒ (da.ssa.na.beda.)
Dutch: wijsbegeerte (nl) f, filosofie (nl) f
Greek: φιλοσοφία (el) f (filosofía)
Ancient: φιλοσοφία f (philosophía)
Japanese: 悟り (ja) (さとり, satori)
Macedonian: мудрување n (mudruvanje)
Old English: ūþwitegung f
Scottish Gaelic: feallsanachd f
Ukrainian: філосо́фія (uk) f (filosófija)

academic discipline

Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
Arabic: فَلْسَفَة‎ f (falsafa)
Egyptian Arabic: فلسفة‎ f (falsafa)
Hijazi Arabic: فَلْسَفة‎ f (falsafa)
Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: fəlsəfə (az)
Balinese: ᬢᬢ᭄ᬢ᭄ᬯ (tattwa)
Basque: filosofia
Belarusian: філасо́фія f (filasófija)
Bulgarian: филосо́фия (bg) f (filosófija)
Burmese: ဒဿနဗေဒ (da.ssa.na.beda.), သဘာဝတ္ထဗေဒ (my) (sa.bhawathta.beda.)
Catalan: filosofia (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 哲學 (zit³ hok⁶)
Mandarin: 哲学 (zh) (zhéxué)
Cornish: filosofieth f
Czech: filozofie (cs) f, filosofie (cs) f
Danish: filosofi (da) c
Dutch: filosofie (nl) f, wijsbegeerte (nl) f
Esperanto: filozofio (eo)
Faroese: heimspeki f
Finnish: filosofia (fi)
French: philosophie (fr) f
Galician: filosofía (gl) f
Georgian: ფილოსოფია (pilosopia)
German: Philosophie (de) f
Greek: φιλοσοφία (el) f (filosofía)
Ancient: φιλοσοφία f (philosophía)
Hindi: दर्शन (hi) m (darśan), फ़लसफ़ा m (falasfā), तत्व (hi) m (tatva)
Hungarian: filozófia (hu), bölcselet (hu)
Icelandic: heimspeki (is) n
Ido: filozofio (io)
Indonesian: filsafat (id), falsafah (id)
Interlingua: philosophia (ia)
Irish: fealsúnacht f
Italian: filosofia (it) f
Japanese: 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
Kannada: ತತ್ತ್ವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (kn) (tattvaśāstra)
Kazakh: пәлсапа (pälsapa), фәлсафа (fälsafa), философия (kk) (filosofiä), даналықтану (danalyqtanu)
Khmer: ទស្សនវិជ្ជា (km) (tʊəhsana vɨcchie)
Korean: 철학(哲學) (ko) (cheolhak)
Latin: philosophia (la) f
Latvian: filozofija f
Lithuanian: filosofija (lt) m
Macedonian: философија f (filosofija), филозофија f (filozofija)
Malay: falsafah (ms)
Maori: whakaaromōhio
Mongolian: философи (filosofi)
Muong: tliết học
Norwegian:
Bokmål: filosofi (no) m
Nynorsk: filosofi m
Occitan: filosofia (oc) f
Old English: ūþwitegung f
Persian: فلسفه‎ (fa) (falsafe), خرددوستی‎ (xeraddusti)
Polish: filozofia (pl) f
Portuguese: filosofia (pt) f
Romanian: filozofie (ro) f
Russian: филосо́фия (ru) f (filosófija)
Scottish Gaelic: feallsanachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: филозофија f
Roman: filozofija (sh) f
Sicilian: filusufìa (scn) f
Slovak: filozofia f
Spanish: filosofía (es) f
Swahili: falsafa (sw) class 9
Swedish: filosofi (sv) c
Tagalog: pilosopiya, batnayan
Tajik: фалсафа (tg) (falsafa)
Tamil: மெய்யியல் (ta) (meyyiyal), தத்துவம் (ta) (tattuvam)
Thai: ปรัชญา (th) (bpràt-yaa)
Turkish: felsefe (tr)
Ukrainian: філосо́фія (uk) f (filosófija)
Urdu: فلسفہ‎
Uyghur: پەلسەپە‎ (pelsepe)
Vietnamese: triết học (vi) (哲學)
Volapük: filosop (vo)
West Frisian: wiisbegearte
Yiddish: פֿילאָסאָפֿיע‎ f (filosofye)

comprehensive system of belief

Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
Arabic: فَلْسَفَة‎ f (falsafa), مَذْهَب‎ (ar) m (maḏhab)
Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: fəlsəfə (az)
Bulgarian: философия (bg) f (filosofija)
Catalan: filosofia (ca)
Czech: filozofie (cs) f
Dutch: filosofie (nl) f
Esperanto: filozofio (eo)
Finnish: filosofia (fi)
Galician: filosofía (gl) f
Greek: φιλοσοφία (el) f (filosofía)
Hindi: फ़लसफ़ा m (falasfā), मज़हब m (mazhab), मजहब (hi) m (majhab), दर्शन (hi) m (darśan)
Hungarian: filozófia (hu), eszmerendszer, életfilozófia (hu), életszemlélet, életfelfogás (hu)
Japanese: 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
Macedonian: философија f (filosofija), филозофија f (filozofija)
Portuguese: filosofia (pt) f
Romanian: filozofie (ro) f
Russian: филосо́фия (ru) f (filosófija)
Sanskrit: दर्शन (sa) n (darśana)
Scottish Gaelic: feallsanachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: филозофија f
Roman: filozofija (sh) f
Sicilian: filusufìa (scn) f
Swedish: filosofi (sv) c
Ukrainian: філосо́фія (uk) f (filosófija)
Welsh: athroniaeth (cy)
West Frisian: filosofy c

view regarding fundamental principles

Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
Arabic: مَذْهَب‎ (ar) m (maḏhab), عَقِيدَة‎ (ar) f (ʿaqīda)
Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: fəlsəfə (az)
Bulgarian: философия (bg) f (filosofija)
Catalan: filosofia (ca)
Dutch: filosofie (nl) f
Finnish: filosofia (fi)
Galician: filosofía (gl) f
Greek: φιλοσοφία (el) f (filosofía)
Hindi: मज़हब m (mazhab), मजहब (hi) m (majhab), अकीदा (hi) f (akīdā)
Hungarian: filozófia (hu), elmélet (hu)
Japanese: 方針 (ja) (ほうしん, hōshin), 方向 (ja) (ほうこう, hōkō), 主義 (ja) (しゅぎ, shugi), (figuratively) 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
Macedonian: философија f (filosofija), филозофија f (filozofija)
Portuguese: filosofia (pt) f
Romanian: filozofie (ro) f
Russian: филосо́фия (ru) f (filosófija)
Scottish Gaelic: feallsanachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: филозофија f
Roman: filozofija (sh) f
Sicilian: filusufìa (scn) f
Swedish: filosofi (sv) c

general principle

Amharic: ፍልስፍና (fəlsəfna)
Arabic: مَبْدَأ‎ m (mabdaʾ), مَذْهَب‎ (ar) m (maḏhab)
Armenian: փիլիսոփայություն (hy) (pʿilisopʿayutʿyun)
Catalan: filosofia (ca)
Dutch: filosofie (nl) f
Finnish: filosofia (fi), periaate (fi)
Galician: filosofía (gl) f
Hindi: मज़हब m (mazhab), मजहब (hi) m (majhab)
Hungarian: filozófia (hu), elv (hu), alapelv (hu)
Japanese: 方針 (ja) (ほうしん, hōshin), 方向 (ja) (ほうこう, hōkō), 主義 (ja) (しゅぎ, shugi), (figuratively) 哲学 (ja) (てつがく, tetsugaku)
Macedonian: философија f (filosofija), филозофија f (filozofija)
Portuguese: filosofia (pt) f
Romanian: filozofie (ro) f
Scottish Gaelic: feallsanachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: филозофија f
Roman: filozofija (sh) f
Sicilian: filusufìa (scn) f
Swedish: filosofi (sv) c
Welsh: athroniaeth (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Estonian: ^{(please verify)} filosoofia (et)
French: ^{(please verify)} philosophie (fr)
German: ^{(please verify)} Philosophie (de) f
Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} heimspeki (is)
Italian: ^{(please verify)} filosofia (it) f
Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} filosofija (lt) f
Maltese: ^{(please verify)} filosofija f
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 哲学 (zh) (zhéxué)
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} filosofie f, ^{(please verify)} filozofie (ro) f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} филозофија f
Roman: ^{(please verify)} filozofija (sh) f
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} filozofija (sh) f
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} filosofía (es) f
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} తత్వం (tatvaṁ), ^{(please verify)} తాత్వికత (tātvikata) h(taatvikata)

Verb

philosophy (third-person singular simple present philosophies, present participle philosophying, simple past and past participle philosophied)

(now rare) To philosophize.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
  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.

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “philosophy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
“philosophy”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.