Comments on: What exactly is philosophy (in very simple terms), and how does one become a philosopher?

By: Kailee Cordingley

Kailee Cordingley — Wed, 17 May 2006 16:50:14 +0000

I’ll give you a short answer…

Philosophy is asking questions…questions about what, you ask? questions about anything and everything!

From questions about reality (metaphysics), questions about knowledge and knowing (epistemology), to questions about philosophy itself! (meta philosophy)..

To become a philosopher, simply start questioning…and trying to find out the answers…

By: Meghan155

Meghan155 — Mon, 15 May 2006 11:00:52 +0000

Philosophy is an approach to life through knowledge. Philosophers hold the contention that life can be made sense of, and that a life understood is a preferable one.

As a discipline, philosophy studies the origin, evolution and validity of ideas about life, all in one grand attempt to make sense of it.

Historically, there have been several subjects studied in philosophy, such as: “logic”, the study of the mechanics of our reasoning; “ontology or metaphysics”, which studies existence and being; “epistemology”, the study of truth and knowledge itself; “ethics”, the study of values and intent; “politics”, the study of forms of societal order; and “aesthetics”, which studies beauty and art. Since the past century many new fields have developed, most notably: philosophy of science, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind.

All these subjects and fields interact profoundly with each other, and attempt to establish consistent propositions about life, while avoiding contradictions. Philosophy is developed by consistently testing previously held ideas against experience and newly developed ideas, finding new contradictions in them and coming up with more consistent ones.

To become a philosopher, that works as a philosopher, you need to study philosophy and specialize in a field, preferably obtaining a doctorate.

The study and work a philosopher does involves a lot of considering ideas previously developed by earlier philosophers. A good place to start getting into philosophy is to start becoming familiar with these ideas. A good way to go about this is chronologically, starting with the earliest philosophers, on which subsequent philosophers based their own ideas. This is how most introduction to philosophy courses are taught.

As for a book recommendation, I would suggest getting yourself a small “history of philosophy” book, that would cover most major ideas since its origin, but bring you quickly up to date. Then you might be inclined to read a specific philosopher that jumps out at you. Though after you read your history book, you might find it easier to understand how philosophers developed their ideas, by reading the early guys, particularly Plato and Aristotle.

By: Angelina Goulding

Angelina Goulding — Sun, 14 May 2006 18:45:38 +0000

Philosophy: making life more complicated

By: Kelvin Warrington

Kelvin Warrington — Sat, 13 May 2006 11:50:22 +0000

In the simplest of terms. philosophy is the love of wisdom. It combines the two Greek words Philos, love and Sophia (a feminine term), wisdom. There are many good introduction to philosophy texts, generally giving articles or sections from major works and philosophers, usually grouped around themes and issues they take up. A good introduction is Philosophy by Clifford Barrett, or you can begin at the beginning with Early Greek Philosophy by John Burnet. Martin Heidegger also wrote a short book titled, What is. Immanuel Kant’s Prologomena is now also available in translation. A good dialogue of Plato’s to begin with is the Meno. A work of Aristotle’s is the Nichomachaean Ethics. These will introduce two different schools as an approach to philosophy. Philosophy is basically about questioning and finding applications to knowledge acquired and presented. There is no easy way to become a philosopher, you have to first explore different ways of thinking, those most opposite to your own cherished beliefs are the best study.

By: Myles Langley

Myles Langley — Sat, 13 May 2006 05:22:14 +0000

Philosophy means asking questions. You can’t just become a philosopher, you must have the ability to be surprised at things, that seem very normal to other people.
The most popular asked questions, which philosphers ask, are: How did the world begin? Is there a sense in it? How can living come into being? How important is the single person for the world?
Some people really think about these questions, but others just don’t care about them. If you do not care about these questions, you’ll never become a philosopher!
A very important thing to know about philosphy is, that you will never get answers for your questions, you can only speculate.
A good book about philosophy is “Sofies Welt” (sorry, that’s the German title because I’m from Germany, and I don’t know the English one) from Jostein Gaarder. There the philosphy is explained very good and if you read it, you will see soon, if you can become a philosopher or not.

By: Brenda Pearson

Brenda Pearson — Thu, 11 May 2006 08:19:36 +0000

To a phisospher is to technicaly have your own ideas and thoughts on various subjects, and be able to easily write them down or tell others about them. Philosophy is just ideas, thoughts, ways of thinking.

Well i think any book that expresses any one person opinion(other than yours) on a subject you are interested, would be good to start with. You have to keep you mind open and take in all their different viewpoints. Their are millions of books out there.Sorry i couldn’t give you specifics.

By: Kayla Fowler

Kayla Fowler — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:48:39 +0000

its a study of the abstract categories that we think eg mind, matter, reason, proof, truth.

Get a book on famous philosophers, socrates, john locke etc

You can do a degree in university.. or if you arent that brainy, social science courses in college have alot of philosophy in them

hope this helps!
xx

By: Jade Longstaff

Jade Longstaff — Mon, 08 May 2006 23:43:33 +0000

Philosophy means ‘love for knowledge’, so it studies absolutely everything, but in the most general ways. Every science is derived from philosophy or metaphysics. Actualy every human is a philosopher because it has its own knowledge. But to be one like well known philosophers you need to have a large view of the world and well theorized. For that you need some time to think things through. And then, to be known by the others as a philosopher, you need to write your thoughts.

By: Amare Wade

Amare Wade — Sun, 07 May 2006 04:28:34 +0000

To theorize morality, to ponder the ways of life and good ethics, to study wisdom and embrace well being. To learn how to live simply, without remorse or creating such upon others.

By: TaylorB

TaylorB — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:42:46 +0000

it is psychology plus the shapes of objects in your surrounding,., it is understadn human thought in their enviroment !