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Michael asked:
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I am taking a introductory philosophy course. I have to write a essay on "What is philosophy"
explaining it to someone who has never studied it. The essay is to be 500 words or less. I would like
to start the essay with the Greek meaning "philo and sophia" and then lead into history applying
Socrates. I'm having difficulties starting the paper. Any suggestions?
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Although you could start by mentioning that the term"philosophy" does derive from the Greek terms
for "love of wisdom," I don't think that you can base much on this. After all, this is only about word
derivation, and doesn't tell you much about what philosophy is. Any way, once you mention "love" and
"wisdom" you will still be faced with the very same problem about "wisdom" you had with
"philosophy." (Furthermore, everyone else who writes on the topic, will start that way!) Another thing
is the question is "What is Philosophy?" This isn't an historical question, so I don't support your plan
to answer it by "starting with Socrates." If you do "start with Socrates," where will you end. The history
of philosophy is more that two thousand years old.
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"What is philosophy?" is a philosophicalquestion. So it is unlike "What is history?" or "What is
music?" which are not historical questions. Philosophers ask questions like, "What is knowledge?"
"What is morality?" "What is a scientific explanation?" These are often called "conceptual questions"
because they are about concepts or ideas. That is one important thing to note. Although the scientist
attempts to find explanations for what happens in the world, for instance, explain why objects fall
(gravity); philosophers, as I have just mentioned, try to understand what scientific explanation is; they
try to understand and analyse the conceptof "scientific explanation." Or to take another example:
although you and I and philosophers too (philosophers are people!) make moral judgements about
what is right or wrong ("Don't lie, lying is wrong!") philosophers will ask the question, "What makes an
action wrong?" That is, the philosopher will, just as in the case of "scientific explanation" will try to
analyse and understand the conceptof "right" or of "wrong."
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So, what am I saying? I am saying that philosophy consists in trying to understand and analyse the
fundamental concepts in terms of which human beings think and understand the world. People use
these basic concepts like "knowledge" ("I know that London is the capital of the U.K.".) Philosophers
investigate the meanings of these concepts that are so fundamental to human thought. So,
philosophy can be understood as an investigation of fundamental concepts, or a "conceptual
investigation."
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I hope I have given you enough to go on. By the way, this site has a lot of information on the concept
of "philosophy," which is, of course, another conceptual investigation into the concept of "philosophy."
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Kenneth Stern
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