What's a philosopher?

Question: What's a philosopher!?

and does he/she believe in God!? just need this for my assignment!. thanks!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

A philosopher is someone who presses questions a little more insistently than they have to be pressed, or who demands consistency where the average Joes will let an inconsistency slip by!.

But we can be more particular!. In a narrower sense, a philosopher is someone who is especially interested in certain questions that have not yet been answered to the satisfaction of all of those by whom they have been asked, the residuum of unsolved problems that have resisted thousands of years of inquiry!.

Among these unsolved problems are questions about God!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A philosopher doesn't have to believe or disbelieve in God!. Here in the UK at least, fewer philosophy academics believe in God than the man on the street!.

A philosopher is anyone who does philosophy with some competence!. Philosophy is generally supposed to work by rational argument in which the premisses can all be questioned!. I've seen philosophy described as the third way of gaining knowledge aside from science (which is supposed to study the outside world with conceptually simple hypotheses and without prejudice) and religion (which provides truth by 'revealing' it, if it provides it at all)!. This is a crude definition, but there aren't any very refined ones!. Wikipedia has a row going on about it atm!.

Part of the problem is that abstracting away from any data or assumptions makes things more philosophical, particularly if it's our concepts that are the difficult bit!.

Recently someone re-asked the old Q in the Philosophy section about whether God can make a rock so heavy he cannot lift it!. He later indicated that he thought the answer was to be found in scripture!. The question was philosophical, as it abstracted away from religious dogma, but his answer was not (imo)!.

Libet's experiments regarding voluntary control (which arguably show that the cause of a bodily movement in the brain is observable before the urge to move is detectable to the individual) represent a scientific discovery!. Arguments as to the consequences of the experiment for free will, take one into the philosopher's arena as the discussion is mainly about the concept of free will, and doesn't require repeated reference to more and more data!.

I hope this is helpful for your assignment - it might not be!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

anybody who contemplates the meaning of life

technically, I'm a philopsopher, and you better believe that I believe in the Lord GodWww@QuestionHome@Com

You should think up your own answer relying on written references, as from the dictionary, or encyclopedia!.

What questions do philosophers seek to answer!?
What subjects do they study!?
What subjects to they teach!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

a philosopher is like a very wise person
just look it up on wordreference!.com
and not all philosophers believed in GodWww@QuestionHome@Com

Hey guess what any one who asks questions is a philosopher[also does a wee bit of thinking!] So you are!.Www@QuestionHome@Com