The Composition of Philosophy

In my discourse, philosophy consists of four parts:

1. Metaphilosophy.
2. First philosophy.
3. Second philosophy.
4. History of ideas.

Metaphilosophy

Metaphilosophy answers the question:

what do philosophers think about philosophy?

This includes definitions of philosophy, ideas about the tasks of philosophy, rules of philosophical discussion, and the distinction between discourse, excursus, and cosmos.

First Philosophy

First philosophy considers the initial scene:

the person - the world.

Before society.

First philosophy has basic terms and terms that are introduced during unfolding.

Here we only indicate the basic terms:

• material - ideal;
• being and cognition;
• truth and truthfulness.

The unfolding of these tuples takes place in other texts.

Second Philosophy

Second philosophy considers a more complex scene:

the person - society - the world.

Here a triangle appears.

Therefore, second philosophy is where themes appear that are impossible in first philosophy: progress, values, good and evil.

The basic terms of second philosophy are:

• the arrow of history (four questions);
• good and evil (three points of view).

Here too we only indicate the place of these themes. Their unfolding belongs to other texts.

History of Ideas

The history of ideas is not only the history of philosophical ideas.

It includes the ideas on which I rely when building my philosophy: philosophical, mathematical, scientific, and cultural.

For example, Euclid and Hilbert matter not as the history of mathematics by itself, but as material for understanding how one can work with concepts.

Short Formula

Metaphilosophy: what philosophy thinks about itself.

First philosophy: the person - the world.

Second philosophy: the person - society - the world.

History of ideas: the ideas on which the construction of philosophy relies.