By jkirsch | Apr 11, 2009 | Views: 4,003 | Rating: 1

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Philosophy, from the Ancient Greek for "love of wisdom", is man's age old quest to find answers about himself, his societies, and the universe at large. Why are we here? What is right and what is wrong? Is there any truth or meaning to life? What is the best way for a person to be happy? Does God exist? How do we know that we know what we know? Any person who has ever pondered these questions or hundreds of others relating to their own existence has, fundamentally, been a philosopher. More importantly than that however, such a person has truly been a human.

It is basically constitutive of the human condition that we find ourselves thrown into a strange world with no real answers as to why we are there, or why it, the world itself, is there. Being thinking, rational beings, we naturally try to make sense of the conditions of our existence. The body of great philosophical works represents, at bottom, the struggle of individual people to find order and meaning for themselves in what can often be an absurd and cruel world. There is no pursuit more universal to our species than this. Every human, no matter their background, upbringing, homeland, political views, or religious views, searches for meaning, purpose, and answers in life. Despite all of the ways in which we are divided, we are truly united as a species by this simple fact: we all desire truth and meaning. Philosophy, no matter how informal or unrecognized as such, is every man's path to that truth and meaning which we desire and often need to live a truly fulfilled life.