Demo asked:

Who is a philosopher?

and Shaista asked:

What is a philosopher? (I need a brief definition)

Why are we not philosophers?

Why do we study philosophy?

What is philosophy?

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Perhaps the real question should be who is a philosopher, an easier answer — everyone! I suppose a
philosopher is one who seeks to understand life, its meaning, its orientation, its end and the
processes that that we engage in our attempt to navigate our way through life. The philosopher seeks
to understand where we have come from, how we got here, where we will end up. The great
philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant etc., searched in their
own way to explain what makes us 'tick' as human persons, whether it was in the nous-sphere (the
sphere of thought) the moral sphere, the human sphere. All of them offered their insights and
perceptions into these great human issues. Ultimately, some philosophers search after meaning, and
how to make that meaning applicable, others would say there is no meaning, others would say we
cannot know anything, others would say it is possible for us to know everything. A philosopher is
anyone who seeks to reflect on life and its meaning and the consequences of that meaning for the
individual, the corporate body, society, the world.

Fr. Seamus Mulholland OFM

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