THE WORD «PHILOSOPHY»: HISTORICAL ASPECT

The main subject of this article is the shift of meanings of the term “philosophy” in the different historical periods. “Philosophy” in ancient Greece was used in its literal sense – the love of wisdom – to explain the special cult “knowledge for the sake of knowledge”. It was believed that this “love” is the mother of all sciences. In the future, the word “philosophy” meant mostly “the love of knowledge” and a set of theoretical science. The word “philosophy” began to be used to refer to a particular branch of knowledge with its own issues (different than the issues of special sciences) only in the 19th century.