Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and the philosopher begins in wonder.

Plato, Theaetetus, 155

It is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at the first began to philosophize.

Aristotle, Metaphysics, I, 2.

It is sometimes claimed that the borderlines between philosophy and all other disciplines are very blurred. After all, what was known in the ancient and medieval worlds as “natural philosophy” is now in the modern era simply called science. This is partly because what the ancient philosophers asked about the natural world has been answered through the course of time. In other words, philosophers set up the questions and through empiricism, trial and error, and eventually, the scientific method, those interested in questions about physical nature found answers. Does this mean, however, that science has discovered all the questions important to human existence? Furthermore, it is claimed that philosophy investigates the great questions of life—but doesn’t art, literature, music, and history explore the great questions of life also? After all, other disciplines are interested in these questions, so what makes philosophy unique? What is philosophy then, and why is it still considered an important and unique field of inquiry, at least for some?

Whenever one begins a study of something it is always best to begin with the name of the thing itself. This will also help us understand how the field of philosophy is set apart from other disciplines. The word “philosophy” comes from the Greek word which means “the love of wisdom.” It is a combination of the Greek words “philia” (love) and “sophia” (wisdom). It is said that the ancient philosopher Pythagoras (about 600 B.C.) was the first to use the term “philosopher” and likened philosophers—pursuers of wisdom—to spectators at ancient games:

“…when Leon the tyrant of Philius asked him who he was, he said, “A philosopher,” and that he compared life to the Great Games, where some went to compete for the prize and others went with wares to sell, but the best as spectators; for similarly, in life, some grow up with servile natures, greedy for fame and gain, but the philosopher seeks for truth.”1 

Pythagoras certainly captures the spirit of the philosophical enterprise as one who seeks wisdom and truth. But what can we know about this project of discovering and loving wisdom? The first philosophers who left us a large body of work which we would now call philosophy were the ancient Greek thinkers, Plato and Aristotle. Plato and Aristotle held that philosophy—the love and pursuit of wisdom begins with the human propensity to wonder. After all, it is due to wonder that humans explore their world, discover new things, and create works of art, culture, and technology. In the ancient Greek world, however, sophia (wisdom) came to be known as the quest for the first principles of the world in which we live. As discoveries were made and conclusions were drawn, it became apparent that not all kinds of answers were the same. The inquiry into what a thing is, for example, is very different from the question of how to do something. Aristotle was the first to recognize that particular fields of investigation had to be separated out into geometry, biology, physics, and psychology (to name a few) because the kinds of questions each field seeks answers to has uniquely different starting points and methods. As Aristotle explains in his Metaphysics, wisdom is knowledge about the first principles and causes of the universe and is different from the arts of production and other fields. Ultimately, the term wisdom became reserved for the inquiry into the first principles of all reality. Philosophers seek the wisdom of the fundamental reality of things, where things come from, why there is anything at all, the truth or falsity of moral claims and whether or not humans can genuinely know anything, and one of the ultimate questions of all, is there a God or creator of the universe? These are among the greatest questions central to all of human experience. Philosophy seeks answers to the most general questions of existence. These questions have been the pursuit of humankind for many centuries, going as far back as to the beginning of written language and possibly further.

It should be clear by now that philosophy is a uniquely human enterprise. The philosopher Ed Miller defines philosophy as the attempt to think rationally and critically about the most important questions. I would add two words to the last sentence—of life. I am not an existentialist but philosophy, if it is going to be meaningful and important, needs to reflect on the nature, significance, and purpose of human existence and mankind’s place in the world. That is why Socrates said at his trial, “the unexamined life is not worth living for a man.” Humans are the only species that create libraries, schools, and hospitals. Cephalopods might have the most advanced brains and nervous systems of the animal kingdom, but they do not write books, program computers, or engage in rational self-reflection. The unexamined life is perfectly fine for a squid or cat but humans have the unique ability to engage in discovering truth through evidence, examination, reasoned evaluation and thoughtful analysis. The impulse to apply reason and to seek understanding, knowledge, and wisdom are uniquely human traits. It is always a tragedy when someone rejects their rationality or declines to develop their rational potential. That is why the UNCF correctly adopted the motto, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Only humans have intellectual capacities. Philosophy seeks to understand the meaning, purpose, and significance of all fields and human inquiry.

Philosophy then, seeks to develop human potential through logic, the formulation and study of the principles of correct reasoning, and is one way it is different from other fields. It is true, that all other fields use logical reasoning in one way or another but in these cases it is used secondarily. Other fields, such as science and history are primarily empirical. It is philosophy, however, which lays out the principles and axioms that make deduction, inference, and valid conclusions possible to begin with. A rational argument is the attempt to show something to be true, well-founded, and coherent, by providing evidence for it. Philosophers examine the truth or falsity of the premises of an argument and what it means to come to a valid conclusion. Philosophy examines the nature of explanation. The laws of logic such as the law of non-contradiction, the law of identity, and the law of excluded middle are philosophical tools that the historian, scientist, and even the novelist have to assume and rely on to make their work comprehensible and conceptually coherent. Done appropriately, it is logic that provides the historian and scientist their methodology. The philosopher examines the principles which make logical and rational argumentation possible. Logic is simply a tool that anyone can use to sharpen their thinking through correct reasoning. Unlike history and the empirical sciences that use uniquely physical investigative methods, philosophy is thinking and inquiring about the ultimate questions of life through rational inquiry, logic, and argumentation alone. You will never find a philosopher researching the nature of moral values in a chemistry lab.

As we have seen, the content and methodology of philosophy are what makes it different from other fields. Philosophy centers itself on the great questions of life, questions which humans have been searching for answers to for thousands of years—moral questions, questions about the nature of reality, and what it means to be authentically human in what seems to be a physical universe. When human beings increase and develop their understanding of these great questions, they and their culture will ripen into what is most distinctively human.

1Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, VII, 8, tr. R.D. Hicks (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1925), II.