philosopher

American  

[fi-los-uh-fer] / fɪˈlɒs ə fər /

noun

• philosophers
  plural

1. a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields.

2. a person who is deeply versed in philosophy.

3. a person who establishes the central ideas of some movement, cult, etc.

4. a person who regulates their life, actions, judgments, utterances, etc., by the light of philosophy or reason.

5. a person who is rationally or sensibly calm, especially under trying circumstances.

6. Obsolete. an alchemist or occult scientist.

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philosopher British  

/ fɪˈlɒsəfə /

noun

1. a student, teacher, or devotee of philosophy

2. a person of philosophical temperament, esp one who is patient, wise, and stoical

3. (formerly) an alchemist or devotee of occult science

4. a person who establishes the ideology of a cult or movement

   the philosopher of the revolution

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philosopher Cultural  

1. Someone who engages in philosophy. Some examples of philosophers are Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and Plato.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• philosophership
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• philosophers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of philosopher

First recorded before 900; Middle English, variant of philosophre from Anglo-French ( Middle French philosophe, from Latin philosophus ); replacing Old English philosoph, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philósophos “philosopher,” equivalent to philo- philo- + soph(ía) “wisdom” ( see -sophy) + -os noun suffix

Explanation

A philosopher is someone engaged in the study of philosophy. Have you ever wondered about the meaning of life? This is the type of weighty question a philosopher tackles. In ancient Greek, the word philosopho meant a “lover of wisdom.” Thales of Miletus, who lived in the 7th century B.C., generally gets credit for being the first western philosopher, though he is much less well known than Socrates, Plato or Aristotle. René Descartes, famous for his declaration, “I think, therefore I am,” is considered the first modern philosopher, though he lived in the 17th century.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

philosopher philosophers

Many of those texts were works by Philodemus, an Epicurean philosopher who lived in Herculaneum roughly a century before Vesuvius erupted.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

The term is often linked to the author and philosopher Nick Bostrom, who more than a decade ago defined the idea as an "intellect" that is superior to humans in all forms.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

He asked you who your favorite philosopher is, and you can’t name one, but then you ask him the same question and he also isn’t able to name one.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

The German philosopher Hegel considered Sophocles’ “Antigone” the high-water mark of tragedy for the way it dramatizes the collision between two equally justified moral positions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Nowhere in that story is anything demonstrated with the rigor that a philosopher would require.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Two years later, Oxford University philosophers William MacAskill and Toby Ord launched "Giving What We Can," encouraging people to donate at least 10 percent of their income to tackling global poverty.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

In Chicago, ACT UP’s Gregg Bordowitz became her mentor and professor, and for three years, Rosales immersed herself in learning, becoming obsessed with Gertrude Stein and philosophers like Gilles Deleuze.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

He was close friends with virtually all of Russia’s pre-eminent philosophers, historians and literary critics, among them Vissarion Belinsky, Timofei Granovsky, Nikolai Stankevich and Petr Chaadayev.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

For thousands of years, philosophers, linguists, and cognitive scientists have debated whether language is essential for thought.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

Thanks to the Scientific Revolution, we have a much more reliable type of knowledge than ancient and medieval philosophers ever had, and we call it science.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• theorist