2 of 2
added 4 characters in body
njs
  • 934
  • 1
  • 6
  • 11

Philosophy is a general term that can include all of science. In fact, the two were the same until the 19th century. Before that science was referred to as 'natural philosophy.' This is easy to see if you consider that both are trying to understand how the world is. Mathematics can be derived from logic and can thus be considered a subset of logic, which has also traditionally been a branch of philosophy as well. Therefore, both science and mathematics can be considered subsets or parts of philosophy.

How do science and math differ? In physics, the distinction can be confusing and sometimes people think that physics (and possibly engineering) is applied math. I don't think this is the best way to think about it. While physics (and science, in general) does use math as a tool, science (including physics) is concerned with understanding empirical truths, while math is concerned with numerical relations and the relations that result from their abstraction. Therefore, while scientists and mathematicians can engage in identical tasks, their aim is quite different.

This leaves religion, which is slightly harder to put into relation with philosophy (and by extension math and science). The first problem that arises from trying to differentiate philosophy from religion is that there are too many different things that are called religion. Therefore, a clean (analytical) distinction is not possible. A couple general comments: There is a lot of overlap between philosophy and religion. I think it would be possible for someone to successfully defend a position that orthodox theology was a subset of philosophy. I don't share this view, but think it could be easily defended. This is due to the fact that many religions come with rich philosophical systems. But, I think most religions come with other things that are not usually considered philosophy, like social hierocracies (although, there are schools of thought and journals and organizational structure in philosophy too!). In the end, I think the best way to think about it is to note that many religions contain philosophical systems, but also include things like social hierarchies, which are not usually considered part of philosophy.

njs
  • 934
  • 1
  • 6
  • 11