What qualities are needed to become a "good" philosopher?

Question

Ok, so I'm pretty new to Philosophy. I took my 1st course in philosophy a semester year ago and is totally blown away by it. I'm planning to major in it but then I was brought up in an environment where science and basic skills like English and Math rules. I'm not sure if I'll be any good at abstract subject like Philosophy.

Anyway, sort of went off topic. So what qualities are needed to become a "good/successful" philosopher? What does it take? (I put good/successful in quote because those terms are not well-defined and probably means differently to everyone.)

Thanks for answering! Have a great day!

Answer 1

My knowledge of philosophy ends at Sophie's World, but my thoughts:

You can be a teaching philosopher or pensive philosopher--teach someone else's philosophy or create your own. I suppose you could be both. To be a teacher/professor, you'll have to understand someone else's works thorougly, make your own interpretations, compare/contrast philosophies, and do other things endemic to academia.

To be a good creative philosopher, you need a fluid mind and knack for seeing things in new ways. To me, those things make for good scientists and engineers too; Jostein Gaarder believes that babies make the best philosophers because they have no habits of thought yet.

Answer 2

Qualities Of A Philosopher

Answer 3

Philosophy basically deals with argumentation. So does politics, what makes it different? Political science views the ability to convince the standard by which an argument is evaluated, philosophy views this ability as merely a by product that may or may not result as a consequence of a well-formed argument. You state that you are not good at an abstract study, however philosophy is hardly abstract (take a course in formal logic, and you will be wishing you were doing calculus.) To most directly answer your question, I feel that you have begun to think as a philosopher by virtue of using specific language. Most of contemporary philosophy deals with language in some form. Adding caveats to your use of the words good and successful is exactly what a philosopher should do (they would also go on to define them as well.) Good Luck on joining the club of unemployable intellectuals, I am loving every moment of it. See you there.

Answer 4

Begin by understanding the basics. Go to the library and find the series "The Great Books of the Western World." Volumes II and III contain those basics, in easy to understand language. Those volumes are called the Great Ideas of the Western World, about which most writers and thinkers have written on, from the ancients to the moderns. The references will tell you where in the rest of the books to the find the details.

Answer 5

Humility, sincerity, purity and surrender to one who already knows the Absolute Truth. Otherwise one can spend lifetimes speculating on what is truth. If one finds one who knows the Truth then they do not need to do unnecessary research or hard labor to find the truth. Everything is already known. We just have to find the one who knows it and which takes the above qualities to be able to discern who that person is and what the truth is. To end ones search for the Absolute Truth read Bhagavad gita as it is BY Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada. asitis.com I am satisfied to have found the answers with little endeavor. But if one needs to labor to find something already known and try to take credit then they can go on life after life speculating about the Absolute truth and never coming to the final conclusion.

Answer 6

Honesty

Practicality

Depth

Experience

Good luck in class. Take care.

Answer 7

Balance. Watch people a lot. Learn to seperate even if it hurts.

Answer 8

1. someone who thinks at a high level of generality
2. has "explanatory ambition"
3. provides arguments in support of his/her views

Answer 9

You just need to have the ability to talk BS and to do it with some inteligence.

Answer 10

live life logically