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Rodin's The Thinker
It was Pythagoras [circa 530 B.C.] who first coined the term philosopher. Once, whilst at the Olympic Games, Pythagoras was asked by Leon, Prince of Phlius, to describe himself. Pythagoras answered "I am a philosopher" but Leon, never having heard this term before was perplexed and asked him to explain himself. To this Pythagoras replied: |
Life, Prince Leon, may well be compared with these public Games for in the vast crowd assembled here some are attracted by the acquisition of gain, others are led on by the hopes and ambitions of fame and glory. But among them there are a few who have come to observe and understand all that passes here.
It is the same with life. Some are influenced by the love of wealth while others are blindly led on by the mad fever for power and domination, but the finest type of man gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself. He seeks to uncover the secrets of nature. This is the man I call a philosopher for although no man is completely wise in all respects, he can love wisdom as the key to nature's secrets.
The word 'Philosophy' literally means love of wisdom. In common parlance a person is a philosopher if they are prone to reflect on things, offering opinions on a wide gamut of issues from the nature of politics to the meaning of life. Are such people wise? Hardly. Do they love wisdom? Not as much as the drink that instills within them a confidence that they possess it.
Still, the academic sense of 'philosophy' is continuous with common usage. Philosophy, in the academic sense, does begin with reflection on the nature of things, although such reflection is normally more productive when one is sober! For example, most people at some time in their lives wonder whether God exists. If they don't then they may well be bemused by the fact that many people are convinced that some sort of divine being or unseen force oversees their lives, ultimately controlling everything that happens.
This idea, that there is something behind or beyond what our senses reveal to us about the world is a typically philosophical idea. Today, people who think this way are inclined to believe that this something is, if not God, then some soul or force or entity &emdash; one's own or others' or a more diffuse and embracive well of spiritual energy that individuals are somehow able to tap into (Nature, Gaia, etc.).
Pythagoras, on the other hand, and Plato following him, thought that it was numbers that lay beyond the world of the sense. Numbers gave structure to the world our senses revealed to us.
You don't have to have any interest in religion or the legion forms of spirituality on offer today to be interested in philosophy, however. Today, there is a concerted effort being made by scientists to understand the mind and, in particular, consciousness. Neuroscientists, psychologists, linguists, computer scientists, biologists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians and physicists are all in on the act with philosophers. The problem can be put quite bluntly: how can that small lump of grey matter which is your brain possibly give rise to the richness of your conscious experience? Why should electrochemical changes in your brain and central nervous system result in a searing pain in your hand when you touch a hot stove? Why do you feel anything at all? This is once again a distinctively philosophical question and it is being asked today by all sorts of people, many of whom are very sceptical that anything exists beyond the material world.
Another area of inquiry to which philosophers have increasingly turned their attention in recent years is political philosophy. Amongst other things, political philosophers ask questions about the nature of justice, the constitution of the good society and the proper relationship between the individual and the state. In essence, they challenge us to consider the kind of society in which we should live.
In many ways young children are the most natural philosophers. Their parents and adult carers teach them various things about the world and life and their natural response is to inquire why they should believe these things. "Why should I do what is right? I don't want to!" is not always just a defiant and unthinking response. Children who say this very often really do want to know the basis for an adult's claim that lying or theft is wrong. What makes these things wrong, if they are? Do you know?
If you have ever thought about any of the questions above, you are already a philosopher.