traditional divisions of philosophy

[Guest guest]

Philosophy has traditionally been divided into four branches. The first is

logic, the study of the formal structure of argument, of how a conclusion

properly flows from certain assumptions, premises, and statements. The

second branch is metaphysics, the study of the ultimate nature of reality -

of God and the universe and consciousness. The third branch is epistemology,

the science of how we know things. And the fourth branch is axiology, the

study of values, of ethics, of how we determine what is right and wrong.

This branch also includes aesthetics, the study of what is truly beautiful.

 

(From the publisher's introduction to Beyond Illusion and Doubt, by Srila

Prabhupada)

 

Query: presuming that the traditional acceptance of these divisions is

within Western philosophy, who first delineated them and how widely are they

accepted? How far does this division of categories apply to Vedic

philosophy?