Philosophy and Theosophy what is the difference?
The concepts of philosophy and for that matter theosophy are indeed very distinct that in all fairness they deserve no contradictions. Philosophy is science, a science that involves the study of existence and its meaning. The discipline also involves the elementary studies of the true natures of knowledge and actual reality. Theosophy on the other hand is distinctively different and unique. It is a religious philosophy that is mainly centered on the nature of the human soul based on speculative insights about the nature of the soul of God. The distinction between the two is simply based on the fact that philosophy is generally a science of the soul while theosophy is basically what we can call religious wisdom or simply put philosophy of religion.
Another eminent difference between theosophy and philosophy is that the latter has over the years developed diversified schools of thought such as the concepts of dualism and monism which the former has not been able to. In the simplest of terms philosophy encompasses different approaches in viewing the subject life and existence while theosophy concentrate on one approach that is based on the belief that the universal soul is indeed the supreme self and which also many champions of theosophy believe forms the power of immortality to human beings.
As the name quite rightly suggest, many philosophers in the monist approach will view the universe and all that it contains in totality of one thing. This is also followed by the assumption that each soul is individually divine in its own way which after it is liberated; it consequently merges to the supreme soul. As for the advocates of the dualism approach, the union of one’s soul with his supreme self is impossible and the happiness and fulfillment of the soul will be achieved indeed after liberation. In other words, while dualists will never buy the concept of oneness in soul, they also will point out that in terms of character and attributes, the supreme soul is very different from the individual one.
The other major difference is the fact that concepts in philosophy are normally unquestionable which is to mean they are dogmatic in nature as opposed to theosophy principles that can be subject to scrutiny. This is largely caused by the idealistic nature of theosophical concepts that affect their verbal authority as opposed to philosophical concepts which are the actual reverse. The fact that in many cases theosophy involves lots of mysticism makes it to stands out from philosophy which buys none of that in many accounts. The popular believe championed by many Theosophists that science, art, philosophy and ultimately religion leads people to the absolute supreme soul also form a basis of distinction to philosophy which entirely promotes the concepts of soul, individual and finally supreme. Theosophy it has to be said will focus on two bodies; the astral and material bodies.