Philosophy is The human attempt to systematically study the most fundamental structures of our entire experience in order to arrive at beliefs that are as conceptually clear, experientially confirmed, and rationally coherent as possible.

Each term in this definition is significant. How-ever, it is particularly important that we understand what it means to say that philosophy is a “human attempt” to take on a task we never can complete.

What this means is that we are never finished with philosophy, and it is never finished with us, and our most dearly held and fundamental ideas are never without the need for modification and improvement.

This is difficult to accept, because we like closure, finality, and quick solutions. We live in a world of thirty-minute television dramas, lightning-speed computers, instant coffee, and microwave meals. However, it is helpful to compare the search for philosophical understanding to cultivating a meaningful relationship.

The minute two people decide that they have figured out their relationship and do

not need to work at it anymore, the relationship has grown stale. In both relationships and philosophy, there are always new problems to face and old problems to address in new ways. Appropriately, the term philosopher literally means “a lover of wisdom.”

The qualities that make one a successful lover or philosopher are similar. Successful lovers never tire of exploring the facets of one another’s personality. Likewise, the successful philosopher end-lessly desires to explore new ideas and undiscovered dimensions of old ideas. Hence, the search to understand our friend or to philosophically comprehend our experience is a quest that is always ongoing and never completed. However, this does not mean that we cannot make progress along the way.

Cengage Advantage Books—The Voyage of Discovery: A Historical Introduction to

Philosophy, Fourth Edition, William F. Lawhead.