What is Philosophy? according to Plato, Pieper, and Thoreau.

What is Philosophy? Philosophy often appears to be one long debate regarding what it means to be human, what it even means to be. Does an individual become human or is that individual only that individual? How does being differ from to be? The fundamental capacity to understand the world outside the world of the individual and his or her internal world includes the ability to interpret, characterize, and associate what seems to be singular …

…philosophy (if "goal" is the appropriate word to use) is understanding -- understanding one's self, one's being, and one's place in the universe. WORKS CITED Pieper, Josef. "Leisure: The basis of culture." (Chicago: St. Augustine Press, 1998). Plato. "Crito; Or, the duty of a citizen." Benjamin Jowett, trans. 04-12-02. [Online] Available at: http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/crito1.htm Thoreau, Henry David. "Walden." 04-12-02. [Online] Available at: http://eserver.org/thoreau/walden00.html