Philosophy as a term means the love for knowledge . A philosopher on the other hand is one who is in quest for knowledge and the one who is seeking answers to the whys , hows and whats of life.
The very first image that strikes , when we talk of a philosopher is that of someone with a long beard , sitting somewhere aloof under a tree , completely uninterested in the happenings around him , occupied in the thoughts that might seem alien to others . But contrary to this the fact is that each and everyone of us , irrespective of age and backgroung , are philosophers in some way .
The sense of wonder has been an inherent thing in each human being ever since he or she was born . Consider a small child of 2 to 3 years of age . The curiosity that a kid of that age shows in everything around him is unparalleled . But as he grows up , he is conditioned by the society to accept things as they are . The curiosity in him slowly subsides and he is no more fascinated by the beauty of life . But there are some who do not let the child in them die . The sense of wonder prevails as they grow and in fact becomes stronger than ever . These are the men who go on to become the great philosophers .
If it was not for the philosopher in Issac Newton , we would not have come this far in the field of physics and science . An apple falling from a tree was a thing people have been seeing for ages . They were conditioned to believe that this is how things happen . An apple always falls to the ground and not go up in the sky . Newton was the one who questioned this simple thing , and the rest is history. In fact , every great scientist was a great philosopher before he turned the quest into a verifiable entity . The only difference between the two is that science tries to verify and philosophy is not something that can be verified .
When some misfortune srtikes us , the philosopher in us awakens . The loss of a dear one make us question the meaning of life . We seek answer to the mystries of life . But then , as the life goes on , we leave these queries behind and once again flow with the time and become busy in the daily lives . Every one , invariably , has in some part of his or her life has been a philosopher . We only fail to acknowledge it .
Humans are the only species , of 8.7 million life forms on the earth , who have the ability to reason . Let not this sense of wonder die . Let not the philosophers in us evanesce…
