What is a philosopher?

A philosopher deals with questions of human existence

The term "philosophy" comes from Latin. You can translate this as "love of wisdom". From this translation one can already deduce the spectrum of interests that a philosopher pursues.

• Love of wisdom means that philosophy deals with questions of human existence in our world. She illuminates the topic from an ethical and moral point of view. Philosophy asks questions of meaning about human existence, reasons for human action and ponders becoming, being and passing away. So it stands in opposition to the Natural scienceswho try to explain the world mainly technically and rationally.
• Typical questions that philosophy tries to answer are, for example, "Does God exist?" or "What is the point of a human life?"
• Philosophers also try to explain many other abstract terms such as "beauty" or "justice". For example, have you ever wondered what exactly is love or truth? What is moral action and who decides what is morally okay and what is morally reprehensible? These and many other questions are typical topics that philosophers address.
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• It is not necessarily a question of finding a universal answer to abstract questions of this kind. Philosophers have been dealing with these issues since ancient times. Everyone has in the past and will find different answers to them in the present and future. Your own upbringing that Culture, in which one grows up and many other influences shape one's own view of the world and thus also the world of thought.


Morals - Examples and Explanations of Philosophy

A major theme in philosophy is morality. Examples to explain to you ...

Examples of different philosophical currents 

You are certainly familiar with some of the most famous philosophers of the past. Think, for example, of Aristotle, Plato, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Francis Bacon or Bertrand Russell. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, Martin Heidegger and many others also belong to this group.

• Over the centuries, many different and overlapping disciplines have developed.
• The philosophy of language with well-known representatives such as Gottlob Frege deals with the terminology of language. For example, have you ever wondered why a dog is called a dog in the language? Why is it not called a cat and was the animal "dog" there first or the term "dog" first?
• Immanuel Kant was one of the great philosophers of epistemology. This deals, for example, with questions about people's judgment. For example, why do we perceive some things as "beautiful" and some as "ugly"? Which criteria, which cultural upbringing and which subconscious and collective acting and thinking are responsible for this judgment?

Other currents are, for example, ethical philosophy, legal philosophy or political philosophy.

Philosophy is not a specific professional field

• There is no clear job description for philosophers. If you want to deal intensively with the topic, you usually choose the path through a university degree in philosophy. After completing your studies, you can build on this to achieve a doctoral degree.
• Many studied philosophers continue to work at the university after graduation. There you teach the theory of philosophy to other students as a university lecturer. This area of ​​university science and research also includes writing Articles in journals, as well as researching and preserving philosophical knowledge for posterity.
• In the free business there is no clearly defined profession for a philosopher. However, employers value knowledge of various moral or ethical issues. The human behavior of individuals and the values ​​of our society are also issues in which these humanities scholars are real professionals.
• This humanities background is very attractive for companies, for example in the areas of personnel management, business ethics or management consulting. You could also work as a philosopher in the field of advertising. Here, thanks to your knowledge of the values, ideas and norms of various groups of people, you have the know-how to be able to produce media tailored to individuals.
• Some philosophers go into business for themselves. Working as an author is just as possible as opening up a philosophical practice, for example. A philosophical practice is a type of free life counseling with no medical or psychological background. Here you give your clients new input for their problems and thought blocks through your knowledge of the human being.