World Philosophy Day

In my opinion World Philosophy Day could not find a better place than Greece. Of course, every man can think as a philosopher, but the word “philo-sophy” in ancient Greek is divided in two words: philos (friend) and sophia (wisdom). So, Philosophy is not only the wisdom one can naturally develop because of the social conditions of life, but the thinking on thinking; that is the thinking about the presuppositions of thinking, and especially of thinking right, so as what one thinks to be in correspondence to reality: the quest for truth. The questioning, whether one is thinking philosopically, philosophizing, or simply he is thinking, does not have any meaning. But if someone is just thinking, and starts thinking about what he is thinking, inquiring what is thought of, where it is coming from, where it is going, why, how it works, if it can be somewhere, then he will not only be a wise man, but a philosopher, in the sense that he will be a friend of wisdom; he holds the position of an observer, who wonders about everything and doesn’t pretend to know everything. So, he can be identified with the Socratic words: ἕν οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα (one thing I know I know nothing). 

The adventure of Philosophy started on the shores of Ionia, in 6th cent. B.C., by the Pre-Socratic philosophers, who first tried to find explanatory principles of how nature works. So, Philosophy is a historical phenomenon with a beginning in History. It can’t be attributed to any other people of the Ancient World, as were the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Jews etc. Philosophy in the Archaic and Classical Greece was distinct from other aspects of social life, for example Religion, Theater, Politics, Art etc. It started in Ancient Greece and it followed a special course in History, even if in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages confused with Religion (it must be noted here that, in the Latin Middle Ages Philosophy was considered as ancilla theologia, while in Byzantium it had maintained its practical and theoretical autonomy). In Renaissance the West found its way out of the Middle Ages only through the rediscovery of the ancient civilization. “La querelle des anciens et des modernes”, had already appeared at the time of Humanism, and especially later in Enlightenment, to lead in the culmination of the scientific spirit, based on the observation and the experiment. But the Scientific Revolution could not be accomplished without the revival of Greek Philosophy, which always was connected with Science.

I agree that every man is a philosopher, but Philosophy in the course of History was developed in many theories, ideas, systems, principles etc. without the consideration of which no one can seriously claim that he contributes to the study of Philosophy. Philosophy is not neither initial (a nostalgia for paradise), nor final (deification of mankind), in the sense that it is founded on reason, with or without the aid of experience. 

Also, Philosophy, on the one hand, is narrow connected with the social sciences, because it can’t be a private Philosophy that is Philosophy without being characterized by communicability (in the same way that a private language doesn’t exist). On the other hand, Philosophy is connected with the natural sciences, because it uses physical means for its expression, and its principles are used for the construction of theories about nature. If Philosophy was a non-social and a non-scientific phenomenon would be celebrated everywhere and nowhere, but since it is a historical phenomenon with a beginning in History, it should return to its roots, where it came from. The question raised in the late 20th cent., about the end of Philosophy in History, was a consequence of the understanding of the historicity of Philosophy: if Philosophy had a beginning, why wouldn’t have an end? In reality the problem wasn’t about the end of Philosophy, but about the philosophy of the end. Philosophy continues its course not because there are human beings who philosophize, but because there is a philosophical discipline. Philosophy is not just a name for serious thinking, but has to be identified with the real being our words convey.