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1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined

[attempts to define the whole subject of philosophy]

32 ideas
A philosopher is one who cares about what other people care about [Socrates, by Foucault]
Philosophy has different powers from dialectic, and a different life from sophistry [Aristotle]
Philosophy is a kind of science that deals with principles [Aristotle]
Absolute thinking is the thinking of thinking [Aristotle]
Carneades' pinnacles of philosophy are the basis of knowledge (the criterion of truth) and the end of appetite (good) [Carneades, by Cicero]
The task of philosophy is to establish standards, as occurs with weights and measures [Epictetus]
Philosophy is knowing each logos, how they fit together, and what follows from them [Epictetus]
Even pointing a finger should only be done for a reason [Epictetus]
What fills me with awe are the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me [Kant]
Philosophy is the conceptual essence of the shape of history [Hegel]
Philosophy is exploration of the rational [Hegel]
Philosophy considers only the universal, in nature as everywhere else [Schopenhauer]
Everyone is conscious of all philosophical truths, but philosophers bring them to conceptual awareness [Schopenhauer]
Philosophy is distinguished from other sciences by its complete lack of presuppositions [Feuerbach]
Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development [Marx/Engels]
Philosophy is the study and criticsm of cultural beliefs, to achieve new possibilities [Dewey]
Philosophy verifies that our hierarchy of instinctive beliefs is harmonious and consistent [Russell]
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language [Wittgenstein]
The main problem of philosophy is what can and cannot be thought and expressed [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
I say (contrary to Wittgenstein) that philosophy expresses what we thought we must be silent about [Ansell Pearson on Wittgenstein]
All thought about values is philosophical, and thought about anything else is not philosophy [Weil]
Philosophy is a department of logic [Ayer]
Suicide - whether life is worth living - is the one serious philosophical problem [Camus]
Critical philosophy is what questions domination at every level [Foucault]
Philosophy is just a linguistic display [Derrida]
Traditionally philosophy is an a priori enquiry into general truths about reality [Katz]
Most of philosophy begins where science leaves off [Katz]
Who cares what 'philosophy' is? Most pre-1950 thought doesn't now count as philosophy [Fodor]
Philosophy is a concept-creating discipline [Deleuze/Guattari]
There is no dialogue in philosophy [Zizek]
Maybe what distinguishes philosophy from science is its pursuit of necessary truths [Sider]
Philosophy is the most general intellectual discipline [Horsten]