Questioner: How would you define philosophy? Who is your favorite philosopher?
Alexander wrote:
I think at this point I have read every major philosopher. And, often when reading some of the more modern or obscure ones, like Heidegger, Sartre, or Hegel, I feel that the discipline has become too broad, has gotten off track, and has become too poorly defined.
If I had to choose a favorite it would mostly certainly be Socrates – followed closely behind by Plato. These two were the progenitors of the discipline, and in my opinion clearly defined what its goals are. So, if I were to define philosophy in a few words I would have to say it is something like the following.
1. Philosophy is the preparation for death
This is a great line of Socrates and the whole purpose of the discipline. The philosopher is aware of the reality of his end, and seeks wisdom, knowledge, and self-transcendence in anticipation of the death of the body.
2. The philosopher seeks wisdom
The word itself means philos (love) + sophos (wisdom), the love of wisdom. The philosopher seeks what is the most difficult and elusive virtue to obtain. The world we live in is corrupt, morally complex, and complicated and that is why wisdom is so central to acquire. Wisdom takes on many different forms, and one can have wisdom in one area but none in another. The general lack of wisdom in man in general, and the difficulty we face in acquiring wisdom, is certainly one of the reasons why the world is such a corrupt and dysfunctional place to live in.
3. The philosopher seeks the true, good, and beautiful
A philosopher would ponder the question of Pilate in the Bible, “Quid est veritas?” or “What is truth?” He would seek the highest goods available to him, and the highest versions of them he could attain. He would seek the beautiful – for example in a beautiful woman – but then realize he was also attracted to something else, the idea of beauty itself.
4. The philosopher seeks the perfect; he seeks the higher forms of things
Socrates goes through a line of reasoning in one of the dialogues. The philosopher first sees a beautiful woman and loves her, then contemplates the concept of love itself and questions where it arises from. This line of reasoning leads him to realize all the concepts used to organize the physical world derive from a higher space. For example, we have womanhood, manhood, truth, beauty, and so forth. All these ideas exist in specific instances in the physical world, but the concepts in an absolute sense exist somewhere else. Thus, the physical world is like a shadow version of a higher world. The world we inhabit is a corrupt, imperfect, imitation world created by emanations from a higher plane. Thus, the philosopher seeks to transcend the physical world, where he can never find perfect truth or beauty, and return to the nonphysical, where such things are in fact possible to attain.
5. The cave and the quest
The Allegory of the Cave is the central work of Plato’s writing and communicates the goal of philosopher. Man is imprisoned in a state of darkness or ignorance, and through the philosophic life he can break free. One can break his chains – perhaps the views of mass belief and delusion – and escape. First by seeing the light of truth, and then by following a hidden path, he reaches the outside world – true reality, the realm of the higher forms, the realm of liberation, the nonphysical domain.
6. Asceticism is a key part of philosophy
Socrates is very clear about this in the dialogues: that the work of the philosopher is to purify and prepare the soul. If we are fettered to the physical world by our selfishness, appetites, and weaknesses, we must work diligently to perfect ourselves as much as possible for our deaths. By purifying the soul, we remove the fetters that bind us to the corrupt physical world and allow ourselves to rise to the higher, more noble domains.
7. Philosophy is the answer to life’s central problems
The key problems to human life are suffering and death. It is impossible to avoid misfortune, pain, tragedy, and failure. It is also impossible to overcome death. We call these elements, along with the general fallibility of man, the “human condition.” Socrates is clear that the philosophic life is the heroic life; it is the path to self-conquest, redemption, and transcendence – to liberation and enlightenment.
8. Philosophy does possess a major esoteric element to it
Socrates and Plato were likely very inspired by the mystery schools that existed at their time, for example the schools of Orpheus and Dionysus. In fact, the Eleusinian mysteries, which were contemporary to the two, taught a cycle of “descent,” “search,” and “ascent,” which is fascinating as it parallels the mystic’s steps of purgation, illumination, and union. Socrates himself speculated on the practices of these schools in one of the dialogues. It is also likely Plato was inspired by the school of Pythagoras in Magna Graecia when he founded his Academy in Athens.
