Applied Philosophy:

Taking the denotative meaning of Applied which means “to put into practice” and we can come up with the general definition for applied philosophy. It is generally to study the practical affairs and activities of an individual by keeping the concepts and the principles that are derived from philosophy as a base.

One important thing to note is that the principles and the concepts are used to study the practical affairs. Among the philosophers, there have been two categories namely “normative” and “Speculative”.  The study of value like axiology and ethics are included in the normative category. On the other hand, Studies like epistemology and metaphysics are includes in the Speculative category.

The discipline of philosophy is generally defined by the classical realist as the study of reality basing the cause and reason by using the human reason. There are a numerous branches in philosophy like ontology, epistemology, ethics, philosophy and so on which bring out the specific object of study. For example ontology is referred to as the study of “being” and epistemology is known as the study of the verification of knowledge.

Epistemology which has been the part of the metaphysics has now become a discipline by itself. Past four hundred years have shown a massive in the philosophical skepticism which has rooted the development of epistemology.  Though “logic” has been considered primarily as a methodological science, the sense of being basic is the first-order knowledge.

Metaphysics and epistemology falls under the first order knowledge where as ethics, politics, and aesthetics disciplines fall under the second-order philosophical knowledge.

One should have knowledge from rational psychology in order to develop concepts and principles in ethics. This is called as the philosophy of animate nature and philosophy of man during a period of time. Without having a considerable understanding of human nature one cannot develop a code for the rational human conduct or cannot develop a system which would emphasize on correct ethical principle. Without the help of human nature in philosophical terms on cannot ever arrive at the concept “good” for man.

The applied philosophy enters arena only in the third –order philosophical knowledge. To the human conditions or the human affairs what practical application can be made from the acquired knowledge from the study of descriptive and normative philosophy? Based on this concept the philosophy of education , the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of law, the philosophy of science and many other philosophies have been developed.

One main draw back here is that the applied philosophy is not capable of producing absolute certainty.

Questions

• What are the categories among the philosophers?
• What is the drawback of the applied philosophy?