Plamen asked:

What is it that makes you a Philosopher?

Select from:

- Education
- Predisposition
- Sorrows of the world
- The other's ignorance
- Fear of death
- Wesenschau
- Failed in science/music
- Cannot stop talking

============

Let me go through your suggestions, one by one:

Education From the ages of 13 to 18 I attended a prominent public school in Hampstead, North
London, where I succeeded in gaining what was regarded as sufficient for university entrance without
ever once hearing the word 'philosophy'. My physics Master, who was a member of the Christian
Union, once asked the science sixth form whether any of us had ever wondered about the relevance
of our studies to Life with a capital 'L'. That provoked an animated discussion which lasted at least
five minutes. Over thirty years on, there is still a lamentable lack of awareness of the subject in British
secondary education.

Predisposition You might think that to make a success out of a career in philosophy you've got to like
it, and also be good at it. Neither of these things is true. There are philosophers who, judging by their
work, hate the very idea of philosophy, and others who are no good at the subject but have managed
to convince their colleagues and students that they are. I would prefer to be assigned the second
category rather than the first.

Sorrows of the world No.

The other's ignorance Maybe.

Fear of death The first time I realized that I was afraid of death was when my mother died of lung
cancer in 1991, nineteen years after I first became interested in philosophy. Prior to that time, I don't
know what I really thought. Death wasn't on the horizon. Now, it's very much an issue to be reckoned
with. I once wrote, 'My subjective world can never die, can never cease to continue, for with every
new moment it is as if it had never existed, and will continue no longer than that very moment' (Naive
Metaphysics 1994, p. 120). Knowing that the fear of death is irrational does not stop me fearing it.

Wesenschau In my mini German dictionary, I found 'wesen' and 'schau', and I am still none the wiser
about the meaning of their combination. Can anyone help me?

Failed in science/ music It is true that if I had not failed in science, I would have become a Chemist.
(See a philosophical life.) My brief career as a pub musician (online notebook page 51) never showed
any real promise. Had I not given up when I did, I would have grown a very large beer belly.

Cannot stop talking Others may think that this is true. I know that I prefer silence to the sound of my
own voice.

Geoffrey Klempner