As opposed to someone who just thinks a lot and has a bunch of opinions?
a philosopher doesn’t have to have lots of opinions. Indeed, the more I know, the less I am sure I understand anything. I think the “thinks alot” is the key, to be searching after the truth of reality, or to be able to explain how things work. Nowdays a natural philosopher is called a scientist, but one can be a philosopher in morality, politics, religion - anywhere where hard facts are in short supply. To call anyone a philosopher is fairly rare before his death, it tends to be earned by the esteem of ones peers posthumously.
“Philosophy” used to be the overarching word for educated thought–the seven liberal arts stemmed from it. Another system contrasted philosophy with philology, or, the love of knowledge with the love of words.
I’d like to think that logical, methodical thought makes one a philosopher. Which discounts a lot of the philosophy students here…
Oh don’t look so far into it mates; to be a philosopher simply means one who thinks and asks questions. One does not have to be a distant relative of Kant, or Nietzsche, or come up with some spatter of original thought to claim they are a philosopher. Many of my colleagues in the philosophy department would say that most of the time they feel like drones, blathering fools preaching to a crowd that does not listen…and only feel like true philosophers when they know enough to sit and be quiet, and only ask a question when it is worth asking!
As someone who has always had a strong philosophical bent, I blame early childhood head trauma. Before medical school, I considered it something between an addiction and OCD. I even considered starting a 12-step program.
FWIW, I see a disproportionate number of philosophy types in the leadership of state medical associations, AMA and AMSA (American Medical Student Association).
(I got my degree in philosophy by accident: I’d accumulated enough philosophy courses in the course of other degrees, to qualify with minimal additional work]
I think anyone can consider themselves to be a philosopher, but you are officially christened a philosopher when your colleagues concur your thoughts and opinions have merit.
…and originality? If I heard people refering to “the great philosopher ccwaterback” I’d assume you’ve had some Good Ideas that no one else had ever thought of before, or at least hadn’t expressed well enough or publicly enough that they’d really caught on.
Perhaps to be a “great” philosopher you need original ideas. I had a history professor who could rattle on for hours about history, and I considered him to be a philosopher, although I don’t remember him having any original ideas. Perhaps the aspect of deep speculation needs to be included in the definition of a philosopher.
Apparently, if you choose to think about something in a particular way, and act in a particular way based upon this mode of thought, you have a philosphy. I suppose it follows that if you are somehow an exponent of this pattern of thought and action, you are a philospher. I have learned here just recently that I am a philospher (though a pathetic hack of an excuse for one), and I didn’t even know it.
A philosopher is a lover of wisdom
I’m not sure I agree with you Loopydood. We all think in a particular way and we all act in particular ways based on our thinking but I don’t think we are all philosophers. Just because you act in a pragmatic way doesn’t make you a pragmatist, unless you choose to define a pragmatist as someone who acts pragmatically.
I think wonder is at least one of the operative words. Thinking about something and wondering about it are not necessarily the same thing. It is hard for me to talk about except in metaphorical terms but a philosoper attempts to understand, not merely know. It’s trying to see the trees and the forest at the same time.
One of my philosophy professors once said that there are only two questions in philosophy. How does it all work? How should I live my life? If you think these questions make sense and are worth persuing, then you probably have a philosophical bent.