What, may I ask, is philosophy?

Question

What, may I ask, is philosophy?

Answer 1

The study of everything and anything, from outside looking in.

Answer 2

It is the theorising of everything belonging to Phil.

Answer 3

Philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline. It is the investigation of the nature, causes, principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning.

Answer 4

it's the search for your inner self,to find a better way,to live a better existence,to understand the fundamentals of being.

Answer 5

It is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity, mind, and language.

Answer 6

...ones opinion on LIFE...

Answer 7

It is a theory on any particular subject that doesn't have an absolute scientific answer.  We all have theories on things.  Our opinions of the hows and the whys of the universe.  People in our past (Plato, Socrates, St. Augustine) have had theories.  The good ones are the ones we study and decide whether we agree or disagree.

It's searching down deep inside of yourself for answers and when you come up with something and it feels really right to you -- that's your philosophy.  It's a wonderful mental/spiritual exercise.

Answer 8

It is an ironic gift received from the gods, thusly...The Greeks (who invented it) were made to be differentiated from the immortals.

Philosophy is...one of the least understood of all human endeavors.  It entails the selective parsed perspectival conceptualization of that which surrounds us on a massive scale.  And to consequently employ a selective degree of differentiation of humankind to the afforementioned.  This is subconsciously taken as a given within the effort to further ascertain our surroundings ontologically...and to then REplace ourselves meaningfully within...them.  That subconscious aspect is what makes philosophy difficult to accurately define.

To simply state that philosophy seeks to synoptically understand the cosmos (by reason, or whatever) is overly simplistic and innadequate for explaining its totality.  I only mention this because the "dumber thumbers" have taken it upon themselves to judge this Qs answers improperly before the jury was ready to give a verdict.

Answer 9

Whatever science cannot handle.

Answer 10

You have been asking philosophy questions for along time now so I would think you would know the answer. So in your case it's something you shouldn't engage in.

Philosophy is an attempt to come to a synoptic understanding of the cosmos by the use of reason.

Edit -- YA monitors the first paragraph is a joke because I know the person writing the question. The second paragraph answers the question asked. So please try not to remove my answer again for a nonexistent violation, such as not answering the question. It's very tiresome and shows that YA monitors don't understand the give and take of debate.

Answer 11

These days, it's nothing more than semantics.