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After doing some research I came up with the following classification of analytic philosophy. Do certain branches overlap or worse, are there any inclusions that I have missed?

I do consider logic as distinct from philosophy but rather part of formal sciences. So philosophy of logic would be under philosophy of science.

  • Welcome to SE Philosophy! Thanks for your contribution. Please take a quick moment to take the [tour](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/tour) or find [help](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/help). You can perform [searches here](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/search) or seek additional clarification at the [meta site](https://philosophy.meta.stackexchange.com/). Don't forget, when someone has answered your question, you can click on the arrow to reward the contributor and the checkmark to select what you feel is the best answer. – J D Dec 09 '20 at 21:56
  • I've gone back and added links, and took a stab at your hierarchy. I think the question itself, which is largely metaphilosophical is a good one for our knowledge base. Good luck! – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:10
  • Thank you for your time! –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:11
  • - Added some European schools. No idea what the organization is like there. – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:26
  • I originally wanted to classify the fields of study not the answers brought by specific schools, but thanks –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:28
  • In the [Continental tradition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_philosophy) philosophy is conducted holistically, so not so much by fields of studies, and you'd be remiss if you're interested in philosophy generally to disregard. If you that's the case, you might want to adjust your question to specify you're talking about within the [analytic school](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_philosophy). – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:31
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    I've also moved the current tree to my answer, so free to rearrange anyway you'd like :D! – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:32
  • I edited the question accordingly! –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:33
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    PhilPapers has a much more detailed [taxonomy](https://philpapers.org/utils/struct.pl) that you can peruse. – Conifold Dec 09 '20 at 23:10
  • I already looked at it but for many reasons it is not satisfactory for me (Philosophical Traditions, History of Western Philosophy, Mathematics… are not relevant for example) –  Dec 09 '20 at 23:39

2 Answers2

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Short Answer

To be technical, concepts are related by webs rather than hierarchies, so any attempt to map a network to a tree is normative, however, what you have given seems to be largely consistent with how philosophy is traditionally organized.

Long Answer

Your schema seems rather non-controversial, however, some tweaking (I edited the OP) might be in order. Since psychologism, language is generally accepted as a product of the mind. For instance, the philosophy of linguistics and language are interrelated. I'm aware of no analytic philosopher who rejects modern linguistics and but conducts philosophy of language in its absence. If you wanted, you might want to add the philosophies of the five fundamental sciences that are taught extensively in secondary and higher education: philosophies of physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and sociology. Wikipedia also lists modality as a topic of metaphysics, but once again, ontology, modality, and epistemology aren't crisp boundaries but rather interplay with each other, so SEP has an article on the epistemology of modality. For most analytical philosophers, logic and fallacy, rhetoric, and argumentation are often seen as language usage where the formal logics are syntactical in nature and informal logic is semantic and generally concerned with natural language. See the SE Philosophy Q&A In how many and which ways can a logic be non-classical? Are there systems for organizing them? for more information on types of non-classical logics if you're interested in lists. Lastly, there are philosophers who are interested in the nature of philosophy itself which is studied in metaphilosophy. You'll find that besides the analytic and continental traditions, there are theological, Indian, Chinese, and other traditions in and outside of Anglo-America and Continental Europe. Lastly, what comes to mind is the philosophy of information which is a much more modern philosophy that tries to take ICT principles and ensure they're consistent with traditional philosophical thinking. Central to this philosophy are the information sciences which have become all the rage in computer science departments.

This is what I'd propose:

J D
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  • Thank you very much for your answer. I will consider your advices. I considered metaphilosophy, philosophy of physics… as parts of philosophy of science but a distinction has to be made with the study of the scientific method itslef. Anyway thank you ahain –  Dec 09 '20 at 21:59
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    Could you explain why social philosophy could not be considered part of the axiology since political philosophy is about what makes a system of government legitimate (which could be considered a value)? –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:09
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    And finally, I find it a bit problematic to put the theories of reference in philosophy of language as a sub-part of philosophy of mind. –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:10
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    You can rearrange as you see fit. Language is a product of the mind. No mind, no language. Theories of reference are generally linguistic. – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:12
  • I will do more research about it then, thank you very much –  Dec 09 '20 at 22:13
  • Also, so you're clear, ALL language is value-laden, because language is a social practice of convention... – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:13
  • I just added semiotics which is continental... – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:17
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/117104/discussion-between-j-d-and-blincer). – J D Dec 09 '20 at 22:17
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Analytic philosophy focusses on these key areas:

  • language & logic
  • metaphysics
  • epistemology

Your classification includes a number of non-analytic topics including:

axiology, social epistemology, culture, political philosophy

see 'Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology' ed. Martinich and Sosa

kurt ludwig
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