The word philosophy literally means love of wisdom; It is derived from two Greek words i.e. 'phil... more The word philosophy literally means love of wisdom; It is derived from two Greek words i.e. 'phileo' (love) and 'Sophia' (wisdom). This tells us something about the nature of philosophy, but not much, because many disciplines seek wisdom. Since times immemorial there have been various pursuits for unfolding the mystery of the universe, birth and death, sorrow and joy. Various ages have produced different thoughts throwing light upon the mystic region. The ultimate truth is yet to be found out. This eternal quest for truth 'lends the origin of philosophy. A love of wisdom is the essence for any philosophy investigation. On the standard way of telling the story, humanity's first systematic inquiries took place within a mythological or religious framework: wisdom ultimately was to be derived from sacred traditions and from individuals thought to possess privileged access to a supernatural realm, whose own access to wisdom, in turn, generally was not questioned. However, starting in the sixth century BCE, there appeared in ancient Greece a series of thinkers whose inquiries were comparatively secular (see "The Milesians and the Origin of Philosophy"). Presumably, these thinkers conducted their inquiries through reason and observation, rather than through tradition or revelation. These thinkers were the first philosophers. Although this picture is admittedly simplistic, the basic 3 distinction has stuck: philosophy in its most primeval form is considered nothing less than secular inquiry itself. The subject of philosophical inquiry is the reality itself. There are different schools of philosophy depending on the answers they seek to the question of reality. It is the search for understanding of man, nature and the universe. There are different branches of philosophy-Epistemology, Metaphysics, etc. There are different fields of philosophy such as educational philosophy, social philosophy, political philosophy, economic philosophy etc. There are also different philosophical approaches such as idealism, naturalism, pragmatism, materialism, and so on.
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