The six main branches
Metaphysics asks what exists: is there free will, do numbers exist, what is time? The room where 3am questions live. Epistemology asks how you know anything at all: what separates knowledge from lucky guessing, and whether you could be wrong about everything. Every argument about misinformation is epistemology wearing street clothes.
Ethics asks what you should do: the trolley problems, yes, but also whether you owe strangers anything and what makes a life good. Our trolley explainer is the free sample. Logic asks what follows from what: the rules that make arguments valid, and the fallacies that make them merely loud. Aesthetics asks what beauty and art are, and why a song can wreck you. Political philosophy asks who should hold power and why anyone should obey: rights, justice, and the state, from Plato's Republic to your last election.
The newer shoots
The branches keep growing tips: philosophy of mind (what is consciousness, and could a machine have it, suddenly the least academic question on Earth), philosophy of science (what makes something scientific), and philosophy of language (how words hook onto the world). Each is an old branch aimed at a new object; mind is metaphysics plus epistemology pointed at the brain.
Why the map matters
Because the branches answer different kinds of confusion. Arguing about whether AI art is real art? Aesthetics. Whether you can trust a study? Epistemology and philosophy of science. Whether taxes are theft? Political philosophy with an ethics floor. Knowing which room you're in is half the argument, and it's the skill philosophy actually teaches. What philosophy is covers the whole house; the beginner shelf gets you inside free.
Walking the map, one room a day
The branches are also why philosophy suits daily-format reading: each thinker inhabits a room, and a year of one-page visits covers the house without a syllabus. That's the design of our 365 Days of Philosophy (130+ thinkers, chronological, all six branches, ★4.5 across 253 Amazon ratings), and the free daily philosophy email is the open front door.
Common questions
What are the 6 main branches of philosophy?
Metaphysics (what exists), epistemology (how we know), ethics (what to do), logic (what follows from what), aesthetics (beauty and art), and political philosophy (power and justice). Philosophy of mind, science, and language are the major modern additions.
What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
Metaphysics asks what reality contains (free will, time, God, numbers); epistemology asks how you could know any of it (evidence, justification, doubt). One maps the territory, the other audits the mapmaker.
Which branch of philosophy should a beginner start with?
Ethics, usually: the questions are urgent, the examples are everyday, and the classic texts are readable. Epistemology lands hardest in the misinformation era. Starting with whichever question already bothers you beats any official order.
What branch of philosophy is the trolley problem?
Ethics, specifically normative ethics: it tests whether outcomes (five lives) or actions (killing versus letting die) carry the moral weight. Our free trolley-problem guide walks the original and the famous variants.