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Philosophy & ThoughtGreekEnglish

Philosophy

/fɪˈlɒsəfi/

The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.

The Greek roots

φίλος
phílos
loving
+
σοφία
sophía
wisdom

Literally: love of wisdom

The story of the word

Pythagoras reportedly called himself not a sage but a philósophos — a lover of wisdom, forever seeking rather than claiming to possess it.

The same roots elsewhere

Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.

In a sentence

A single question can open an entire philosophy.

Built on the same root

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