ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to defend the thesis by characterizing the subject matter of philosophy and by propounding some subsidiary theses based on its characterization. It is divided into two parts. The first demarcates the subject matter of philosophy as comprising certain aspects of specific cognitive and practical systems, supreme cognitive and practical principles and the relations of these principles. The second indicates the bearing of these demarcations on two philosophical problems, namely the structure of philosophical arguments and the limits of cognitive and practical relativism. To the role of logical consistency and cognitive domination in welding beliefs into cognitive systems there corresponds the role of practical consistency and practical domination in welding practical attitudes into practical systems. A person's intellectual development may provide a context in which his philosophical views are more clearly understood. The standards themselves were first conceived as regulative principles which govern and constrain the construction of theories.
