Different types of questions give rise to the problems of different sciences. For example, if it is asked whether two and two make four, it is a problem for mathematics. If it is asked that in which year Akbar the Great ruled India, it is a problem for the historian. If it is asked as to what different types of climate are found in India, it is a question for geography. Similarly, the political, economic and social problems fall within the scope of political science, economic and sociology, respectively. The philosopher is not concerned with these particular problems. But, does it mean that his problems are entirely unconnected with the problems of different sciences? No, in the different problems mentioned above, the questions of general nature will fall within the scope of philosophy. For example questions like: What is space? What is time? What is beauty? What is right? What is good? What is knowledge? are philosophical problems. Thus, it is clear that philosophical problems are concerned with general question rather than with question of particular nature.
Kinds of philosophical problems
Philosophical problems are mainly of two types. On the one hand, there are problems of those studies which are known as philosophical sciences. These include Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy of science, Metaphysics, Axiology, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Religion etc. On the other hand are the problems which fall within the field of philosophy as a universal science. Both these types of philosophical problems will no be discussed in sequence.
Problems of philosophical sciences
As has been already pointed out, philosophical problems include problems of the sciences which are different from physical sciences in spite of bearing the name science. The main distinction between philosophical sciences and the physical sciences is that the former raise more fundamental and basic questions as compared to the latter. For example, Aesthetics is not so much concerned with the distinctions between beautiful and ugly objects as with the fundamental question about the nature of beauty and art. What is beauty? What is art? Does art lie in the artist or in his artistic expression? Similarly, other philosophical sciences raise fundamental problems in their own field. Broadly, the main problems of philosophical sciences are as follows :
Metaphysical problems
Metaphysics is the sciences of existence of reality. Its main problems are: What is Reality? Is the world one or many? What are the fundamental characteristics of creation? What is space? What is time? What is matter? What is relation? What is cause and effect? What is the purpose of creation? It the world progressing? Is there a god? Is change real or unreal? In brief, metaphysics discusses the three aspects of Reality—the world, the self, and the God. Some thinkers fail to distinguish between metaphysics and philosophy. Metaphysics is a main branch of philosophy. Thus, philosophy includes many other branches covering widely different fields than metaphysics. When a student of philosophy studies the philosophical thought of any philosopher, he has to study not only his thoughts about metaphysical problems but also about the problems falling within the field of logic, ethics, religion and epistemology etc. However , it can be said that metaphysical problems constitute the central problems of philosophy.
Epistemological problems
Epistemology is the science of knowledge and truth. Its problems are the fundamental problems of the process of knowledge. It is not strange that though so many thinkers are busy in the acquisition of knowledge, not many think over the general questions concerning the nature of knowledge, its limits and the relation of knower with known? These questions are raised in epistemology. Therefore, epis-temology provides the basic foundation of knowledge. For example, an epistemological problems is concerning the question whether one knows the object outside him or only the content of his mind. Epistemology critically examines different methods to achieve different types of knowledge. Philosophers have discussed such problems since time immemorial and conclusions of philosophers like Immanual Kant of Germany have proved to be epoch-making.
Logical problems
Logic it the science of methods of thought and the implication of judgment. It studies the structure of thought, its laws and fallacies. What is though? What is its relation with Nature? How does mind solve a problem? What are the natural methods of thinking? What is definition, hypothesis, division, explanation? All these are the problems falling within the scope of logic. Thus, like epistemology, logic also provides fundamental basis is the science of correct or valid thinking.
Problems of semantics
Semantics is the science of the meaning of words. It is concerned with the question about the relation of words and objects. In other words, it is science of meaning of language. In it the different words, symbols, signs, etc., are analysed and their meanings fixed. It goes without saying that like epistemology and logic, semantics is also a basic science in the achievement of knowledge. Logical positivism, a contemporary school of philosophy, admits semantical problems as constituting the basic problems of philosophy.
Philosophy of science
As has been already pointed out, philosophy is intimately connected with sciences and discusses their problems of general nature. For example, all the sciences believe in the postulate of causality. The philosophy of science critically discusses the concept of causality and finds out its truth and limitations. The philosophy of science also critically examines different scientific methods used in different sciences and finds out conditions in which they are valid. The philosophy of science is mainly concerned with developing a world-view based on the conclusions of different sciences. Hence, in the modern times, the problems of the philosophy of science are considered to be very important. Even the philosophers who do not admit any value of philosophy in modern times, valuable.
Axiological problems
Philosophy is very much concerned with value. Axiology is the science of value. It discusses value from the philosophical point of view. Its main problems are— What is value? What are the fundamental values? What is good? What is beauty? What is arc etc. Without discussing these fundamental problems regarding values, we cannot solve many problems concerning values in our every day life. While the philosophy of science discusses facts, the discussion of values falls within the scope of axiology.
Problems of aesthetics
Aesthetics is the philosophical study of beauty. Art creates beauty. Hence, the nature of art is an aesthetic problem. This, in its turn, raises may questions such as : Does art lie in the artist or in his creation of art? Is there beauty in music, drama, picture, statue, dance woman or is it in our mind? What are basic characteristics of art? What are the criteria of judging beauty and art? All these are problems falling within the field of aesthetics.
Ethiscal problems
Ethics is the science of good, the right and wrong. Its main problems are : What is right? What is wrong? What is good? What is conscience? What is responsibility? What are rights and duties and what is their interrelation? What is justice and how it can be attained? Thus, ethics discusses the ultimate good and explains rights and duties in its light.
Problems of religion
Philosophy of religion, as is clear by the title, raises philosophical problems in the field of religion. For example, Is there a common element in different religions? What are the fundamental elements of religion? What is the relation of religion with ethics? How far is religion based on Reality? What is God? Is God one or many?
Problems of social sciences
While philosophy of science discusses problems of physical sciences different branches of philosophy have been developed for discussing different problems of social science. The important among these social sciences are education, sociology, economics, political science, history etc. Philosophy discusses the philosophical questions arising in the set social sciences. This has given rise to different special branches of philosophy e.g. philosophy of education, social philosophy, economic philosophy, political philosophy, of history, etc. These philosophical disciplines based on social sciences arise general and fundamental disciplines problems in their field. For example, philosophy of education raises the fundamental question about the aim of education. Political philosophy discusses the nature of state and government, their rights and duties and their limitations. Social philosophy discusses the philosophical questions in the social relationship. Economic philosophy raises question of fundamental importance in the fields of production, consumption and exchange. Philosophy of history examines the nature of historical and cultural processes and finds to their places in the total cosmic process. Besides problems of the special branches of philosophy, there are some other philosophical problems concerning matter of social importance, for example, the philosophical basis of marriage, family, physical develop-ment and even of dress.
Problems as a comprehensive science
As has been already pointed out, philosophy also acts as a comprehensive science. In this aspect, its important problems are as follows:
Criticism of different sciences
This philosophical problem is twofold :
Criticism of the basic postulates of different sciences.
Criticism of the conclusions of different sciences.
The critical analysis of the law of causality is an example of a problem of first type. A problem regarding the conclusions of different sciences arises in the form of the question whether man is determined by his circumstances and is bound to act according to them, jurisprudence, ethics and religion consider him free to act according to his will. Whether man is determined or free, this is an important question because it is closely connected with the concept of responsibility.
A man can be held responsible for his acts before law only when he is free to choose among several alternatives. It is only then that his act can be considered to be wrong or unlawful and punishable. If a man is determined by his circumstances, the responsibility for his acts lies not on him but on his circumstances and he cannot be punished for what he has done. As different sciences has presented different conclusions regarding the question of man’s freedom in his circumstances, this problem cannot be solved by sciences alone. On the other hand, different sciences present mutually conflicting conclusions on this issue. Such problems arising from the conflict in the conclusion of different science are philosophical problems. They are also considered philosophical because they are concerned not with any one particular science but fall within the fields of several sciences and because each scientist in confined within his own limited field, no scientist can solve such problems. They are therefore left for the philosopher.
Synthesis of different sciences
According to A.N. Whitehead, “Philosophy is not one among the sciences with its own little scheme of abstraction which it works away at perfecting and improving. It is the survey of sciences, with the special object of their harmony and of their completion.” Thus, the problem of philosophy, as a comprehensive science, is to weld the conclusions of different sciences into a world-view. Without this the conclusions of different sciences will remain scattered and cannot present a complete picture. Thus man cannot arrive at a total world-view without the help of philosophy. A world-view based on science alone will be one-sided, inadequate and deformed. The synthetic function of philosophy can be understood by the example of an elephant and several blind men, each blind man touches some part of the elephant’s body and takes it to be the whole animal because he does not know other parts of its body. The total picture of the elephant’s body can be clear to a person who has eyes to see. The blind men will only form a distorted picture of the elephant. Similar is the case with scientists regarding the nature of the world. Each scientist presents a picture of the world according to the conclusions arrived at in his own field. Thus, different scientists interpret the world differently. While for the biologists the world is moved by biological laws, the psychologists lay more emphasis on psychological principles. Only a philosopher can give a total world-view by a synthesis of the conclusions of different sciences. Hence, the importance of the function of philosophy as a synthetic discipline.
Historical problems of the origin of sciences
It is a widely known fact that every science originally had its beginning in philosophy. It is hence that philosophy is called the mother of all sciences. One finds the influence of the thoughts of ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the fields of several sciences. Basically, both philosophy and science have their origin in man’s curiosity and his wonder is the natural phenomena. The philosopher of the Vedas wondered as to how the hard, black cow gives soft white milk. They were amazed to see that thought all the rivers flow to the sea yet the sea is never full. While these were philosophical problems, they were equally scientific. In the beginning human knowledge, philosophy and science were intermixed. It was only after gradual specialization and subtle study that division of labour resulted in the form of different sciences, separated from the main stem of philosophy.
These siciences were again divided into separate branches which were gradually considered to be independent sciences. As mother of sciences, philosophy also performs a much more important function. In the process of scientific progress philosophy is always found at the apex. It always transcends science and goes further. It is hence that the philosophical problems of today become scientific problems of tomorrow. But does it mean that a time will come when the philosopher will always move further than the scientists, transcend scientific conclusions and discover new problems to think. These problems will be taken over by the scientists of tomorrow but then the future philosopher will again transcend sciences and discover further new problems for his philosophical reflection. Thus, new branches of philosophy will be born from the womb of philosophy and it will retain its title of the mother of sciences.
The above detailed analysis of the philosophical problems shows that philosophy is concerned with the general problems of physical and social sciences, philosophy examines the conclusion and postulates of sciences, solves their conflict, synthesises them and presents new problems thus giving rise to new branches of science. It is clear that no description of philosophical problems can be considered to be complete and final because while on the one hand ever new problems arise in the field of new sciences, on the other hand the philosopher himself also raises new problems in new fields. A beginner in philosophy will be amazed to see the wide differences of opinion among the philosophers on the solution of different philosophical problems.
On the basis of this difference of opinion, some conclude that the philosophical process is useless. But is the arrival at the destination the only reward of the journey? Those who enjoy journey are satisfied even while they do not reach the goal. In fact, the philosopher is a lover of wisdom, never a sole possessor of it. The culmination of philosophical process lies in an ever burning thirst for new knowledge and not in arriving at final conclusion.
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