A philosopher is a profession or a state of mind?

Philosophy is present in the life of every person. Anyone who is able to think, let it be unprofessional, but a philosopher. It's enough to just think about how many times in your life you've thought about why it is happening one way or another, how many times the thoughts went deep into the essence of this or that term, process, action. Of course, there are countless numbers. So what is philosophy? Who are the most famous philosophers who founded whole schools of thought?

What is philosophy?

Philosophy - a term, the definition of which can be given from different sides. But no matter how we think about it, we still come to the conclusion that this is a certain knowledge or sphere of human activity, in the process of which he learns wisdom. And in this case the philosopher is a conductor in the intricate structure of this science and its concepts.

If we speak in scientific terms, we can define the term "philosophy" as knowledge about the objective reality that surrounds us and does not depend on us. It is enough to look at the etymology of the word "philosophy" - and it becomes clear what it means. This term comes from the Greek language and consists of two others: "philia" (with gr. Φιλία - "love, aspiration") and "sophia" (with the word σοφία - "wisdom"). It can be concluded that philosophy is love or the pursuit of wisdom.

The same is true for the subject who deals with philosophy - the philosopher. About who it is, and will be discussed.

Who is a philosopher?

This term came to us, as we already understand, from ancient Greece and appeared in the 5th-6th century BC. Over the long centuries of its use of modifications it was not, and the word retained its original meaning in its original form.

Based on the concept of "philosophy", a philosopher is a person who is engaged in the search for truth, understanding of the world and its structure.

In the explanatory dictionary, the following interpretation of the term can be found: it is a human thinker whose main activity is the study, development and presentation of the basic concepts of the worldview.

Another interpretation of the term can be called the following: a philosopher is an individual who, in his way of thinking, refers to one or another philosophical school, shares his ideas or lives according to them.

The origin of philosophy and the first philosopher

It is generally believed that the first person who began to use the term "philosopher" was the ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras back in the 6th century BC. All because it was necessary to divide people with knowledge into two categories: sages and "not wise men". The first philosopher then defended the point of view that a philosopher can not be called a wise man, since the first is only seeking to know wisdom, and the second is someone who has already learned it.

The works of Pythagoras are not preserved, therefore for the first time on paper the term "philosopher" is found in the writings of Heraclitus and Plato.

From Ancient Greece the concept spread to the West and the East, where initially there was no separate science at all. Philosophy here was dissolved in religion, culture and politics.

The most famous philosophers

Many philosophers tend to believe that it was philosophers who were the people who wanted to know how to become happy. This list can be very long, because throughout the world philosophy has developed even without dependence of one current from another. Despite this, there are many similarities in which the philosophy of the West and the East is similar.

Among the first philosophers are people known as from the past centuries, like Pythagoras, Buddha, Plato, Socrates and Seneca, Aristotle, Confucius and Lao Tzu, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Giordano Bruno, Omar Khayyam and many others.

In the 17-18th century the most famous were Peter Mogila, Theophan Prokopovich, Grigory Skovoroda - these are the philosophers who lived and cognized the essence of being in Russia. Thinkers of even later years - Elena Petrovna Blavatsky and Nicholas Roerich.

As we see, not only thinkers, but also mathematicians, doctors, emperors and universal experts were the first philosophers. The list of modern philosophers is also quite extensive. They are much larger today than they were in antiquity, and they are less well-known, nevertheless exist and actively develop and spread their thoughts.

Today such people include Jorge Angel Libraga, Daniel Dennett, Peter Singer, Jacques Derrida (pictured), Alasder McIntyre, Jean Baudrillard, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, Pier Klossowski, Karl Popper, Hans Georg Gadamer, Claude Levi-Strauss, Susan Blackmore and many others.

Philosophy as a way of life and profession

Earlier, the term "philosopher" referred a person to a certain school and its teachings, now the philosopher is also a profession that can be obtained in many higher educational institutions. For this purpose, faculties and departments are specially opened. Today you can get a diploma of a philosopher.

The benefit of such education is not only that a person learns to think correctly and deeply, to find non-standard ways out of situations, to resolve conflicts and much more. Also, such a person can realize himself in many other spheres of life, since he received basic knowledge and understanding of the world (to a greater or lesser extent).

It is worth noting that many foreign companies today are happy to welcome philosophers and young specialists in this field to work, in particular to work with people, for the above reasons.