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Philosophy

Overview of Philosophy

Philosophy (from the Greek philosophia, "love of wisdom") is the study of fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Subfields include:

  • Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the principles of beauty and artistic taste.
  • Epistemology refers to the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.
  • Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with moral principles.
  • Logic is the study of reasoning, or the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
  • Metaphysics deals with the first principles of things, including concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.

Philosophy is an interdisciplinary endeavor. Related subjects include: Catholic Studies

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are most often collections of words in one or more specific languages, usually arranged in alphabetical order, providing information like word meanings, usage, etymology, and, when they contain more than one language, translations. Some dictionaries include information more commonly found in encyclopedias. 

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias are collections of information on terms, figures, eras, locations also arranged alphabetically, and, alongside definitions of terms, they also include more in-depth general information on a topic. Encyclopedias can be general or subject-specific.

Directories, Guides and Handbooks

Reference resources like directories, guides, and handbooks provide subject-specific, sometimes technical information to aid in understanding important aspects of the discipline or subject that they treat. Finding aids are useful for finding information within libraries, archives, or specific collections. 

Directories

Guides

Handbooks

Biographies

Biographies provide a description of a person's life,  detailing the basic facts like birth and death, education, family background, etc., and frequently portraying the individual subject's experience of those life events.