The nature of philosophy can be defined in many ways. The literal meaning according to the Columbia Encyclopedia, is the love of wisdom. Philosophy can also be defined as the, "ultimate reality, causes and principles underlying being and thinking" ("Philosophy" 2213). Philosophy requires thinking that is beyond the normal level of the average human mind. It requires a knowledge and an understanding of the world around us. Philosophy helps to answer questions that has puzzled the minds of people for years. Those people who are knowledgeable enough and who have the will and desire to answer these puzzling questions, are called Philosophers. A challenging concept that philosophers have pondered about, is that of emotions. Emotions is a term commonly and loosely used to denote individual, subjective feelings which indicate moods ("emotions" 899). .
Logic, Natural Philosophy, Ethics, Poetics and Metaphysics are some various subjects in Philosophy. Metaphysics is about being, which breaks down into the science of being called Ontology and epistemology which concerns truth or the knowing of things as they are. Natural Philosophy which is the study of moveable things breaks into Cosmology and Philosophical Psychology, both dealing with movement. Cosmology states that non-living things are moveable by an outside force. Philosophical Psychology is the study of philosophical issues related to psychology, including the body-mind .
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problem, the nature of consciousness, the place of values in human life, the meaning of existence, and the nature and limits of scientific method ("Philosophical Pyschology" 720). .
Emotions fall under the subject of Philosophical Psychology with regards to why people have emotions such as love, hate, happiness and saddness. Before the problem of emotions can be solved, Warren Shibles, author of the book Emotions, states that it must first be determined what an emotion is.