1. PHILOSOPHY AS A SECOND ORDER DISCIPLINE

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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.”

11. 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

12. 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.”

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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?

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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

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

21. 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.

22. 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.”

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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