philosopher

Everyday

1. A philosopher is a person who thinks and writes about big questions, such as what is true, what is right and wrong, and what life means. tree →
2. A person who stays calm and thoughtful about life's troubles: «Grandad is a bit of a philosopher». tree →
3. A philosopher's stone is a legendary stone said to turn metal into gold. tree →

In the lessons

In history and ethics lessons, famous philosophers include Socrates, Plato and Aristotle of ancient Greece and Confucius of China. In «philosophy for children» lessons, pupils become little philosophers by asking «why?» and giving reasons. Phrases: «a Greek philosopher», «the philosopher's stone» (a magic stone in stories).

Examples

• Socrates was a philosopher who asked lots of questions. tree →
• Philosophers ask: what makes an action right or wrong? tree →
• In P4C our class acted like philosophers. tree →
• The philosopher's stone in the story turns metal into gold. tree →
• Plato was a student of Socrates and a great philosopher. tree →
• Grandma is a philosopher about bad weather: «It'll pass». tree →
• Some philosophers think animals have rights. tree →
• This jewel was called the philosopher's stone. tree →

Note

Countable: philosophers. Related: philosophy, philosophical. Spelling: «ph» sounds like «f»: fi-LOS-o-fer. «Philosopher» comes from Greek for «lover of wisdom».

In Jewish tradition

In the Sefer Yetzirah commentaries it means thinkers of ancient Greece and later Jewish thinkers who tried to explain God and creation by reason.

Interpretation. Some scholars say the book shows Greek ideas mixed with Jewish ones, while tradition says it came from Abraham.

Examples

• 23) The ancient philosophers maintained that if God is the first cause, and He is necessarily, He, the immediate effect of Him, as an absolute unity, (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
• Be this as it may, it is worth while to know the extravagant hypotheses which ancient Jewish philosophers and theologians framed as soon as they began to contemplate and to reason, endeavoring to combine oriental and Greek theories. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
• 61) doubts whether there ever was a Pythagoras, althongh he has no doubt there existed a Pythagorean school of philosophers. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →

Note

Countable: philosophers. Related: philosophy, philosophical. Spelling: «ph» sounds like «f»: fi-LOS-o-fer. «Philosopher» comes from Greek for «lover of wisdom».