PHILOSOPHY AS A SECOND ORDER DISCIPLINE

Philosophy as a Second Order Discipline A second order discipline examines some issues arising in another discipline. Whenever philosophy is practised as a second order discipline, it is concerned with interrogating or scrutinising certain problems and issues arising from studies going on in other disciplines

The aims, the methodology, and outcome of other disciplines are subjected to rigorous analysis and evaluation There is also ethical evaluation of the practices in other disciplines Philosophy, as a second order enterprise, examines salient issues in other academic fields like Law, Social Science, Science, Education, ICT, etc.

According to Anselm K. Jimoh, philosophy as a second order discipline has “to do with the application of the tools of philosophy in analysing and clarifying the theoretical problems in the specialised disciplines that broke away from philosophy mainly for the sake of intellectual division of labour that makes for increase in knowledge output and excellence.

Philosophy as a second order discipline emerged in order to respond to new problems and issues in the various fields or endeavours

PHILOSOPHY AS THE QUEEN OF ALL DISCIPLINES Why is philosophy interested in all other disciplines? This is because philosophy is the queen of all disciplines. By this we mean that philosophy is the mother of all disciplines. It gave birth to all disciplines. In other words, all other disciplines or subjects came out of philosophy

Observable in the way philosophy was practiced in the early days is the fact that history, geography, astronomy, mathematics, biology, medicine, law were undertaken by philosophers, who drew no distinction between these disciplines and philosophy but reflected about subject-matters in these disciplines as part of their contribution to philosophy

It is however, interesting to note that even though there is a separation of the other disciplines from philosophy, every academic discipline still has some philosophical question surrounding it. This is because not all questions by a discipline can be answered empirically

Philosophy and the Natural sciences While not preempting the details of this course, it is important to point out that the natural sciences are concerned with knowing in detail, as much as possible, the cause and effect of things; and what things are in themselves. The natural sciences are concerned with the observable part of reality and nature. It is only interested in what can be encountered by our senses- feeling, touching, taste, seeing, hearing.

In the natural sciences experience is regarded as the source of knowledge The natural science is further concerned with observation, experimentation, and generalisation The interrogation of science is done under the field of philosophy known as “philosophy of science.”

Philosophy of science as a field of science use to be under the branch of philosophy called epistemology. But it became an independent field of inquiry in the 19th century Philosophy is however interested in the natural science in order to question its methodology, scrutinise its aims and objectives, evaluate its findings

According to Anselm K. Jimoh, “Philosophy of science tries to explain the process of scientific inquiry. It is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods, implications of science, and how science is used.”

Things done in philosophy of science The examination of the procedural methods of the sciences the patterns of arguments that are employed for justifying scientific claims or knowledge Examination of theories Examination of concepts of science Examination of issues that have to do with proper demarcation between the sciences and other disciplines like sociology, economics, and history Examination of the problems of induction

Philosophy of Language This deals with the philosophical problems regarding language and its use At the core of the philosophical inquiry into language are the following: 1 the nature of language 2 the relationship between language, language users, and reality in the world 3 the nature of meaning 4. The problem of translation

Philosophy of LAW This is the field that examines concepts, theories, institutions, and practices in law. Such concepts likes justice, judicial precedence, law, freedom are subjected to critical investigation It asks the question: why should we obey the law?

Three issues investigated in philosophy of law Analytic jurisprudence Normative jurisprudence Critical theories of law

Analytic jurisprudence In analytic jurisprudence there is a separation of law from non-law. Analytic jurisprudence provides the analysis of what law is in itself so as to enable an understanding of the differences between law and other systems of norms. As such it makes a distinction between law and ethics for instance. In other words under analytic jurisprudence we have “an account of how to distinguish law as a system of norms from other normative systems. In analytic jurisprudence there is the analysis of law and legal systems

There are two trends that have emerged in the attempt to define law in analytic jurisprudence. These are: > the affirmation of a conceptual relation between law and morality > the denial of a conceptual relation between law and morality

Normative Jurisprudence Normative jurisprudence is concerned with “the normative, evaluative, and prescriptive issues involved in law.” There are three key issues examined in normative jurisprudence 1. the restriction on freedom 2. an examination of the obligation to obey the law 3. the ground on which people deserve to be punished

Critical theories of law Critical theories of law aim at generating new theories that can challenge traditional explanations in philosophy of law

Philosophy of education This branch of philosophy became recognised as a field of philosophy in the 19th century This branch of philosophy examines the aims, forms methods, and results of education, both as a process of formation and as a field of study.

Generally speaking, philosophy of education is concerned with “an analysis of the different theories of education, the political issues that influence education, for example, the problem of equal educational opportunity, the socio-political values that education should cultivate, and the economic and political ideology that should determine academic curricula and the systems of education to be practiced.”

There is a distinction between educating a person and indoctrinating him/her There is also the issue of morality in education There is the examination of the appropriate method with which education can best be achieved There is the examination of how education and other areas of national life like the economy, the political and the social meet

Philosophy of the social sciences The social sciences are: economics, sociology, psychology, political science, international relations, etc. In philosophy of the social sciences, these disciplines are subjected to rigorous interrogation. There is an inquiry into the method of investigation and the logic of the social sciences, as well as theories and hypotheses An attempt is made to understand the difference between the pure or natural sciences and the social sciences

Philosophy of history This branch of philosophy deals with the theoretical aspect of history. It examines what historians do. In it, the aim and purpose of history are questioned and there is an attempt to resolve the issues of whether there should be general law by which we explain human history

Philosophy of religion In philosophy of religion, there is an attempt to understand various concepts involved in religious beliefs The tools of philosophy are employed in interrogating conflicting claims of the various religions