Philosophy (a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being and truth.

There is no consensus about which approach should be taken in these pursuits, including whether philosophy requires the ancient dialectical, i.e., dialogical, approach. Indeed, philosophy historically has been understood in different ways by different philosophers and outsiders to philosophy.

Therefore, philosophy itself seems to require a meta-philosophy to adjudicate.

Philosophy may also refer to the collective works of major philosophers. It can mean the academic exploration of various questions raised by philosophers; it can also mean a certain critical, creative way of thinking. Contemporary Western academic 'philosophy' has two broad traditions: 'analytic' and 'continental' philosophy.

The former tradition is commonly focused on conceptual analysis. The latter tradition is distinctive for its associations with particular problems. Eastern philosophy is another, distinct tradition. Each of these can be considered individually or in comparison with the others.