Philosophy from a non-philosopher

Defining what a philosopher actually does is not as easy as you might think. In principle a philosopher studies the world and the problems and dilemmas faced by people in order to better understand the World as a whole. The remit of the philosopher covers a vast arena of study taking in all that is, and all that could possibly be. Going back to the early Greek philosophers, they were engaged in exploring their understanding of the physical and metaphysical world, using a combination of mental and physical experiments. It should be noted that in this context, the origin of metaphysics as a concept needs to be understood. The term comes from the collected works of Aristotle, and wasn't coined until about 100 years after his death. There are two collections pertinent to the use of the word. The first collection is known as Aristotles Physics, and pertains to "things that change" the second collection is known as Aristotles Metaphysics and pertains specifically to "things which do not change". The label metaphysics is thought to be a reference by later compilers to the understanding that students would read "Physics" first and that therefore "Metaphysics" would be read later, the word meaning literally "after physcs".

I make no claims to any structured philosophical training, but I do have a desire for knowledge, and for understanding of the World and its systems at a fundamental level. I have been told that I am eclectic in my study areas, attempting to access and discover knowledge by immersing myself in a chosen paradigm until such time as that paradigm no longer serves my purposes. This is a fairly intense process starting with developing the core basics of a subject area, before slowly moving on to more advanced work. Of course this has to be fitted in around real life, but that is part of the fun. Over the course of the next few months I am aiming for a philosophical paradigm, the first step may well be to try to refine exactly which branch of philosophy that will be. My current preference is ethics and morality, as that fits in quite nicely with a couple of other projects, but on of the joys of eclecticism and exploring new areas is that in that initial exploration process there are all sorts of ideas that present themselves.