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The Meaning of Filosofia

Filosofia is the Spanish translation for the English word Philosophy. The etymological definition of philosophy is love of wisdom. Philosophy is derived from the two ancient Greek words "philos" and "sophia". "Philos" means a lover or a friend. "Sophia", on the other hand, means wisdom. Combining the two terms together, the word Philos-sophia was created. In Spanish, the words are assimilated so that it can be used formally in writing and literature. The spelling was also modified in order to achieve the same results. And so, philos-sophia became filosophia in the Spanish language. In the English language, it was also altered in the same way still without changing its main essence. For the English, Philos-sophia is philosophy.

Ever since the olden age, man has the innate ability to think systematically. All of the philosophers of long ago had demonstrated that certain ability to reflect on a matter and provide intellectual explanations about the things that transpires around them.

Philosophy is supposedly divided into 3 periods. These are the modern philosophy, medieval philosophy, and ancient philosophy. The ancient philosophy is also interchangeably referred to as the Greco-Roman philosophy. The best philosophers of such time are Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. These set of philosophers are so great that this particular philosophical period is further divided into pre-Socratic, Socratic, and post-Aristotelian periods.

Medieval philosophy happened when the Roman Empire decided to change their beliefs to Christianity from paganism. During this period, the most celebrated philosophers are the ones who eventually became forerunners of Christianity and Catholicism. Examples of the great philosophers in the medieval philosophical period are St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine of Hippo, and Roger Bacon. There are also philosophers who came from non-Christian religions such as Jewish and Muslim. Good examples of these philosophers are Saadia Gaon and Avicenna, respectively.

Modern philosophy, on the other hand, is mostly concentrated on the western part of the world. If ancient philosophy deals with existence and humanity, and medieval philosophy centers on authority and religion, modern philosophy focuses more to address the mind and body problems encountered by man. One very famous modern day philosopher is Rene Descartes, who lived from 1596 to 1650.

And even though great philosophers seem to have come from the west, filosofia in the different parts of the world had flourished as well. Indian philosophy, or the Hindi philosophy gave rise to religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. Persian philosophy, on the other hand, had paved the way for Zoroastrianism and of course, Islamic philosophy.