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philosophy (n.)
Origin and meaning of philosophy

c. 1300, philosophie, "knowledge, learning, scholarship, scholarly works, body of knowledge," from Old French filosofie "philosophy, knowledge" (12c., Modern French philosophie) and directly from Latin philosophia, from Greek philosophia "love of knowledge, pursuit of wisdom; systematic investigation," from philo- "loving" (see philo-) + sophia "knowledge, wisdom," from sophis "wise, learned;" a word of unknown origin [Beekes]. With many spelling variants in Middle English (filozofie, phelosophie, etc.).

From mid-14c. as "the discipline of dealing in rational speculation or contemplation;" from late 14c. as "natural science," also "alchemy, occult knowledge;" in the Middle Ages the word was understood to embrace all speculative sciences. The meaning "system a person forms for conduct of life" is attested from 1771. The modern sense of "the body of highest truth, the science of the most fundamental matters" is from 1794.

Nec quicquam aliud est philosophia, si interpretari velis, praeter studium sapientiae; sapientia autem est rerum divinarum et humanarum causarumque quibus eae res continentur scientia. [Cicero, "De Officiis"]
In 1744 he made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a professorship at Edinburgh; having failed in this, he became first a tutor to a lunatic and then secretary to a general. Fortified by these credentials, he ventured again into philosophy. [Bertrand Russell, writing of Hume, in "A History of Western Philosophy," 1945]
[Philosophical problems] are, of course, not empirical problems; but they are solved through an insight into the workings of our language, and that in such a way that these workings are recognized — despite an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not through the contribution of new knowledge, rather through the arrangement of things long familiar. Philosophy is a struggle against the bewitchment ( Verhexung) of our understanding by the resources of our language. [Ludwig Wittgenstein, "Philosophical Investigations," 1953]
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philosophize (v.)

"to think and reason about the subjects of philosophy; to meditate upon the fundamental principles of being or knowledge," 1590s, from philosophy + -ize. Related: Philosophized; philosophizing. The earlier verb was simply philosophy (late 14c., philosophien).

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philosophic (adj.)

"pertaining to philosophy," mid-15c., philosophik, from Old French filosofique (Modern French philosophique) and directly from Late Latin philosophicus, from Greek philosophikos, from philosophia "philosophy" (see philosophy).

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philosophical (adj.)

late 14c., "learned, skilled in learning;" c. 1500 as "related or belonging to philosophy or philosophers;" see philosophy + -ical. Related: Philosophically.

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philosophaster (n.)

"pretender to philosophical knowledge," 1610s, from philosophy + -aster.

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philosophist (n.)

"a would-be philosopher," a disparaging term for a rationalist or skeptic, a philosophe; 1798, from French philosophiste; see philosophy + -ist.

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pragmaticism (n.)

1865, "officiousness," from pragmatic + -ism. From 1905 as a term in philosophy by American philosopher C.S. Peirce (1839-1914) in reference to the doctrine that abstract concepts must be understood in terms of their practical implications; coined to distinguish his philosophy from pragmatism.

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positivism (n.)

1847, the philosophy, based on actual or absolute knowledge, of Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who published "Philosophie positive" in 1830; see positive (adj.) in the "just the facts" sense + -ism. A philosophy based on positive facts and observable phenomena and abandoning inquiry into causes or ultimate origins. Related: Positivist; Positivistic.

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ethic (n.)

late 14c., ethik "study of morals," from Old French etique "ethics, moral philosophy" (13c.), from Late Latin ethica, from Greek ēthike philosophia "moral philosophy," fem. of ēthikos "ethical, pertaining to character," from ēthos "moral character," related to ēthos "custom" (see ethos). Meaning "moral principles of a person or group" is attested from 1650s.

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mathematics (n.)

"the science of quantity; the abstract science which investigates the concepts of numerical and spatial relations," 1580s; see mathematic (the older form of the word in English, attested from late 14c.) + -ics. Originally one of three branches of Aristotelian theoretical science, along with first philosophy (or metaphysics) and physics (or natural philosophy).

Mystical doctrines as to the relation of time to eternity are also reinforced by pure mathematics, for mathematical objects, such as numbers, if real at all, are eternal and not in time. Such eternal objects can be conceived as God's thoughts. [Bertrand Russell, "A History of Western Philosophy"]
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