01b. What is Philosophy?: Part 2/2.

Well, as questions go, these might not seem super…practical. But there's another area of philosophy that helps frame your thinking around what you actually do -- like, how you should act, and what you should attach meaning to.

It's called Value Theory. And it's usually divided into two main branches. The first is Ethics. You've heard of it -- it's the thing that politicians are always said to lack? And Jedi are supposed to have in great supply? Though, don't get me started on the prequels.

In philosophy, though, ethics isn't just a code of what's right and what's wrong. It's the study of how humans should live with each other. Rather than just sitting around and judging people, ethics involves posing questions like: How should I live?

Is there any reason that I should treat, say, strangers differently than the people I love? And for that matter, do I owe anything to myself? What about animals? Or the earth? And if I do have any of these obligations at all, where do they come from? Who says? Ultimately, whatever system you use to decide what's good or evil, as human behavior goes, is determined by your values -- that's why ethics is considered part of Value Theory.

But the other part of value theory isn't about what's right -- it's about what's beautiful. Aesthetics is the study of beauty, and art. Now, the concept of beauty is talked about practically everywhere, from the media, to art school to barber college. But for philosophers, the pursuit of aesthetics involves considering what beauty is, and whether it even exists. Aesthetics is a part of value theory, because beauty, and art, are things we value, and evaluate. And many people who study this particular kind of philosophy -- known as aestheticians -- believe there is such as thing as The Beautiful -- something that doesn't depend on what you happen to find attractive, but something that's just objectively true.

And finally, there's one more aspect of philosophy that I should mention, because it doesn't ask questions, so much as help us find answers. Yes, finally, some answers! And that thing, which I happen to think can be beautiful in its own way, is logic. Logic is the philosopher's toolbox. It contains the saws and hammers, the microscopes and beakers, that philosophers use to go about answering their questions in a clear, systematic way. Logic is about reasoning, giving strong arguments that don't fall victim to fallacies, which are, as you'll learn, the mortal enemies of philosophical precision.

Ok, so metaphysics, epistemology, value theory -- they might all seem pretty airy and abstract. But don't worry, because you have already done philosophy, even though you might not realize it. You do it in almost every aspect of your life.

Every time you argue with your parents, or wonder if you should date someone, or decide to eat a salad instead of a ham ‘n' cheese Hot Pocket, you are doing philosophy. Because you're thinking about the world, and your place in it. You're figuring out what you value, why you value it, and what you should do about it.

So here's our plan. We're going to learn about the major fields of philosophy, posing questions and considering possible answers along the way. And each time, we will use a two-step method.

● First, we'll really try to understand. You're not going to agree with all of the ideas that I present to you – and I won't agree with them either! That's not the point. The point, in step one, is to really try to get inside of an idea – to understand it as charitably as possible.

● Then, in step two, you'll subject your understanding to some serious critical evaluation – basically, you'll try to knock down what you think you know about a particular view of the world. And you'll do this whether you agree with the view or not. Why? Because: Only when you challenge your understanding of how some people view the world, can you decide for yourself if theirs is a view worth having.

Which leads me to my final point: Philosophy is not your usual field of study.

I'm not going to be teaching you a body of knowledge where success means you know a bunch of stuff. Success, in this course, will mean that you know how to think. All we have are questions. And all you have is a brain. And the goal of philosophy is for you to use your brain to come up with the answers that make the most sense to you. You'll learn how to formulate arguments to support your ideas, so you can explain why you think you're right. Which, if you've ever been on the Internet, you know is something that not a lot of people are good at.

In order to do that, you're going to need to understand philosophical reasoning – the tools we use to investigate life's most perplexing questions! And that is where we're gonna be headed the next time we meet.

For now you've learned about the historical origins of philosophy in ancient Greece, and its three main divisions: metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory. We also talked about logic, and how you're going to use it to understand and critically evaluate a whole host of different worldviews. But not about golf.

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Crash Course Philosophy is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. You can head over to their channel to check out some amazing shows like The Good Stuff, PBS Space Time, and Physics Girl.

This episode of Crash Course was filmed in the Doctor Cheryl C. Kinney Crash Course Studio with the help of these amazing people and our Graphics Team is Thought Cafe.