FREE ESSAY ON PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

Fulfillment is Gained Through Philosophical Thought 
The ability to think philosophical is the ability to truly understand and know ones
surroundings and everything that influences those surroundings to the degree that that
knowledge becomes the ultimate understanding and appreciation of the surroundings without
question. With this ultimate understanding, a philosopher is able to appreciate life and
live life to a fuller degree than the average person. Unfortunately, becoming a
philosopher or even recognizing a philosopher can become difficult. Therefore, in order
to live a philosophical life, one must understand what philosophy is and have a clear
perception of why they desire a life as a philosopher and the hardships that ultimately
coincide with it. 
A philosopher is a person that desires one part of something no greater than the other.
He eagerly and freely tries all kinds of learning and avidly wants more knowledge at all
times. Unfortunately, a "true philosopher" can be confused with a person of similar
characteristics, a person of sight and sound. The true philosopher is one that searches
for the truth behind something that is, unlike the person of sight and sound that only
sees or hears what is and then moves on to the next thing, only viewing and listening to
it and only appreciating what they can see and hear. The true philosopher searches for
the eternal truth behind what is or what is not in determination of reaching the ultimate
conclusion on that which is. For example, if we use beauty as a subject, a person of
sight or sound would view or hear something beautiful and know it is beautiful and enjoy
its beauty and that is it; they would not however search or desire the nature of beauty
itself (476 b-c). This is what separates a true philosopher from a person of sight and
sound. Thus, a philosopher not only enjoys the object that is beautiful, but he
appreciates the meaning of beauty, comparing it to other beautiful things, desiring and
embracing the ultimate nature of beauty along with the physical object that is beautiful.
The understanding of this beauty as itself allows the philosopher to fully and ultimately
understand, like or dislike, or question or conclude anything that he may further want to
comprehend on the subject of beauty. Thus, comprehension of this sort gives the true
philosopher knowledge of beauty rather than simple opinion. If someone opines something,
or has an opinion on a subject, he finds his opinion as the ultimate understanding of
that subject and refuses and disregards any further understanding of it. To further
explain, if a person views something that is beautiful and that is all he is capable of
understanding, the objects physical beauty, then he does not understand the ultimate
truth behind that object and its beauty it possesses drawing to a personal opinion of
that object. Thus, an opinion is simply an incomplete truth. An opinion is not
necessarily wrong in its idea, rather it is simply not a complete idea or understanding.
To be a complete idea and understanding, the idea must be universal. This is a key to
philosophical thought. The idea being drawn from a subject must be absolute and universal
in its being, thus being the ultimate understanding or idea. Therefore, to conclude, a
philosopher is one who has knowledge of something rather than an opinion, acquiring that
knowledge through true appreciation of the subject in its universal and absolute state. 
Being a philosopher is not always easy. Along with understanding how a philosopher thinks
and learns knowledge, one must also understand the hardships that coincide with it. But
first, one must have a clear perception of why they want to be a philosopher. A full
understanding and self-recognition of why one wants to be a philosopher will allow them
to completely defend themselves when necessary. Being a philosopher allows a person to
grasp a situation, an object, or an idea with an ultimate appreciation and knowledge.
Thus, a philosopher is superior towards people of opinion or that do not have an
understanding at all. A person of courage, high-mindedness, ease in learning, and a good
memory belong to the nature of philosophy and philosophical thought as described above
(490 c-d). With this array of qualities, a philosopher is able to view life in a very
unique way. His appreciation for an object, subject, or idea becomes concise and
complete, allowing him to enjoy the essence of a thing rather than questioning it. Once
this essence or ultimate conclusion has been deducted, the philosopher gains knowledge
and moves to the next object, subject, or idea to be understood. Therefore, as the
philosopher gains more knowledge he becomes not only superior in his intellect, but he
begins to understand the true meanings of life and everything that goes along with life.
One would be foolish not to desire this way of thinking. Once the philosopher appreciates
his abilities, then he can honestly and firmly uphold his beliefs as a philosopher. 
Understanding his abilities and appreciating them, a philosopher can begin to teach his
knowledge to his inferiors. Unfortunately, a philosopher with radical yet true knowledge
is now contested with societal issues concerning ethics and things of that sort which can
ultimately get him punished and killed for tyranny. Not everyone will always believe the
knowledge a philosopher has to offer. Those people, living in their blindness (476 c-d),
will try and eliminate a philosopher's teachings because of its corruptness towards
society as they see it. This corruption is simply the unparallel of philosophical
thoughts with the everyday societal lifestyle. In a society, people become formed by that
society, living and believing in what the greater majority of society believe in in such
a way that they avoid conflict or punishment. This is not uncommon at all. For instance,
people that opine, those that are average in their being, do not like to cause problems
or interrupt the rhythm of society; so they stay unquestioning, ultimately
unphilosophical, and refuse to understand what a philosopher has to offer. Simply, the
majority of society does not want to share the philosophical knowledge that the
philosopher is willing to give because of their predetermined ideas and beliefs.
Unfortunately, this refusal and harshness the majority exhibit towards philosophy is
caused by those outsiders, rulers and guardians of the city, who do not belong and who
have abused one another by indulging in quarrels and arguments in a way that is wholly
inappropriate to philosophy (500 a-c). Until the time when philosophers control the city
as guardians, they will have to be careful, yet dedicated, to the task of philosophical
teaching and thought.
With an ultimate understanding and appreciation of the surroundings a philosopher holds
as knowledge, he is able to see the truest meanings of life. Unfortunately, not being
appreciated by all people and having difficult times at reaching the true understandings
for some things weighs hard on a philosopher. Yet, with his courage and high-mindedness,
the philosopher is able to be patient with his hardships. Eventually, while forming an
understanding and knowledge of everything that surrounds him, the philosopher learns to
live a life of fullness, appreciating all that is and all that might not be.