Be sure to check out our podcast! If you like what we do, you can support us by buying us a coffee! My areas of interest are phenomenology, metaphysics and their overlap; but I dabble in whatever field I feel like — and with whoever's up for it.
Philosophy to me means questioning our presuppositions, which fascinates me because it is something we can do whenever anyone says anything about anything and it never gets boring or old; it's also something that's painfully absent from public discourse, but easily learned.
Enter: public philosophy! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content Paul asked: What makes someone a philosopher? Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Published by Geoffrey Klempner. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. You will probably marvel at how silly some of your assumptions can be, and in the process you will mature.
If you don't know where to begin you can start with questions that other philosophers have explored before, such as how one should treat the existence of god, or whether we have free will or are controlled by fate.
The true power of philosophy lies in the continuity of thought that you'll be maintaining in your writing. As you investigate a concern, a single entry may do little on its own, but as you return to that concern throughout the day s , the different circumstances you encounter in a day will allow you to bring fresh insights to your investigation.
It is this cumulative power of thought that will bring you to those 'Eureka! Develop a philosophy of life. As you write, you should begin to develop your own philosophical perspective, arriving logical and well-considered ideas about life and the world. It is common for philosophers to adopt a perspective over time, especially about a specific issue.
These are frameworks, patterns of thought. Many of the greatest philosophers have developed such frameworks. At the same time, remember to examine each issue with a critical eye. The central task that underlies the effort of the philosopher is that of model development. Whether we're aware of it or not, each of us has an abductive model of reality that is constantly modified to fit our observations. We can employ deductive reasoning e.
The process of developing a philosophical theory is the process of making these models explicit and scrutinizing them.
Rewrite and get feedback. Through several drafts, you should organize your ideas more formally and let others read your work. You can ask friends, relatives, teachers, or classmates to offer some thoughts on your work, or you can post your writings online through a website, a blog, or a message board and look for responses there.
Be prepared to receive criticism, and use it to improve your own ideas. Always remember to analyze the evidence presented in order to find understanding, and let the perspectives and critiques of others help you expand your own thinking.
Such critics have assumed that they are thinkers without actually accepting the philosophical discipline presented here, but still feel they are entitled to philosophical consideration.
Such 'debates' will go on fruitlessly and ad nauseam. After you receive feedback from your readers, rewrite again, incorporating any feedback you find useful. Part 3. Get an advanced degree. To successfully pursue philosophy as a career, you must acquire a doctorate or, at very least, a master's degree.
Earning a living from philosophy means using your knowledge and hopefully wisdom to produce original works of philosophical thought and, usually, to teach others about the field. In other words, the professional philosopher of today is typically an academic, and this requires an advanced degree.
Equally important, the rigors of graduate school will help you further your philosophical thinking. In particular, you'll need to learn how to write in the very disciplined style that academic journals demand. Spend some time exploring the philosophy programs offered by a variety of different universities. Pick the ones that sound best to you and start applying for programs. Graduate school applications are highly competitive, so don't expect to be accepted to the first program you apply to.
It's a good idea to apply to several schools, ideally 10 to Publish your ideas. Even before you have completed your graduate studies, you should begin the work of trying to publish your philosophical insights. There are many academic journals that focus on philosophy. Publishing in these journals will help you gain a reputation as a philosophical thinker and improve your chances of getting hired as a philosophy professor. It's also a good idea to present your work at academic conferences.
Taking part in these events is a good opportunity to get more feedback from other professional thinkers and is good for your career prospects as well. Learn to teach. Many of history's greatest philosophers have been teachers.
Beyond this, any university that might want to hire you to study philosophy professionally will also expect you to teach other budding philosophers. Your graduate program will most likely give you some opportunities to teach undergraduate students and develop your pedagogical skills. Get a job. After you've completed your graduate studies, start looking for a job as a philosophy professor. This process is arguably even more competitive than applying for graduate schools.
Be prepared for many rejections before you finally succeed. Many philosophy graduates are unable to find work in academia. Nonetheless, the skills you'll learn in your graduate studies will be helpful in many fields of employment, and you can always keep working on philosophy in your free time. The benefits of disciplined thinking cannot be overestimated, even without serving as a vocation. In today's environment, with ready access to enormous amounts of information, some of it specious, or worse, deliberately poisoning of a person's mental health , it is the investigative mind of the philosopher that possesses the tools to recognize half truths or complete falsehoods.
I'm an art student right now because I thought that was my passion, but lately I have an interest in philosophy. What should I do? You can seek a way to combine your interests. Great art is often deeply philosophical, and great philosophy deeply artistic. Not Helpful 5 Helpful Become an autodidact.
Read everything: novels, history, religion, philosophy, whatever. Think about what you read. Talk to others about what you read. Ask intelligent questions. Audit classes about subjects you are interested in. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
Words nearby philosopher philophobia , philoprogenitive , philos. Words related to philosopher theorist , logician , sage , savant , sophist.
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