Philosophy is present in the life of every person. Anyone who is able to think is unprofessional, but philosopher. It is enough to just think how many times in your life you thought about why this or that happens, how many times thoughts went deep into the essence of a term, process, action. Of course, countless. So what is philosophy? Who are the very famous philosophers who founded entire schools of thought?
What is a philosophy?
Philosophy is a term that can be defined from different angles. But no matter how we think about it, we nevertheless come to the conclusion that this is certain knowledge or a sphere of human activity, during which he learns wisdom. And in this case, the philosopher is a vehicle in the intricate structure of this science and its concepts.
Speaking in scientific language, the term “philosophy” can be defined as knowledge of objective reality that surrounds us and does not depend on us. Just 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 gr. Σοφία - “wisdom”). It can be concluded that philosophy is love or the pursuit of wisdom.
The same is true for the subject who is engaged in philosophy - the philosopher. About who it is, and it will be discussed.
Who is a philosopher?
This term came to us, as already understood, from Ancient Greece and appeared in the 5-6th century BC. Over the centuries of its use, there was no modification of it, 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 the world and its structure.
The following interpretation of the term can be found in the explanatory dictionary: this is a human thinker, whose main activity is the study, development and presentation of the basic concepts of worldview.
Another interpretation of the term can be called the following: a philosopher is an individual who in his way of thinking refers to a particular philosophical school, shares its ideas or lives according to them.
The origin of philosophy and the first philosopher
It is believed that the first person who began to use the term "philosopher" was the ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras in the 6th century BC. This is because it was necessary to divide people with knowledge into two categories: sages and "not sages." The first philosopher then defended the point of view that a philosopher cannot be called a sage, since the first only seeks to know wisdom, and the second is the one who already knew it.
The works of Pythagoras did not survive, therefore, for the first time on paper, the term "philosopher" is found in the works of Heraclitus and Plato.
From Ancient Greece, the concept spread to the West and East, where initially a separate science did not exist at all. The philosophy here was dissolved in religion, culture, and politics.
The most famous philosophers
Many philosophers are inclined to believe that it was philosophers who were the people who sought to know how a person can become happy. This list can be very long, since throughout the world philosophy has developed even without dependence of one current on another. Despite this, there are many similarities in which the philosophy of West and East is similar.
Among the first philosophers are such well-known people from past centuries as 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, Feofan Prokopovich, Grigory Skovoroda - these are philosophers who lived and learned the essence of being in Russia. Thinkers of even later years - Elena Petrovna Blavatsky and Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich.
As we see, the first philosophers were not only thinkers, but also mathematicians, doctors, emperors and universal experts. The list of modern philosophers is also quite extensive. There are much more of them today than they were in antiquity, and they are less known, nevertheless they exist and actively develop and disseminate their thoughts.
Today, such people include Jorge Angel Livraga, Daniel Dennett, Peter Singer, Jacques Derrida (pictured), Alasder MacIntyre, Jean Baudrillard, Alain Badiou, Slava Zizek, Pierre Klossowski, Karl Popper, Hans Georg Gadamer, Claude Levy-Stros, Sz Blackmore and many others.
