In the words of Julio Cabrera, philosophy is like my oxygen. Most everything else is nuisance.

Part of what attracts me so much to philosophy is its limitless self-consciousness. You aren't doing philosophy very well if you aren't at least somewhat conscious of what it is you're even doing. This self-consciousness is unique to philosophy, I think. I don't think you've really done philosophy as well as you could have unless you question your own foundations. Only philosophy can ask whether there is a need for philosophy.

But more importantly, it's the dedication, the passion, for critical reflection that makes me love philosophy so much. That you have to have, and be prepared to defend, good reasons for holding beliefs makes philosophy a refuge from the rabble. To not take tradition at face value, to be skeptical of cherished beliefs, and to be ready and willing to question anything and everything is what I see to be necessary traits to a good philosopher.

That you can choose to profess an ideology or system of beliefs that may be thousands of years old yet still be valid to this day. Isn't that amazing? — Posty McPostface

For me it's less about aligning with a certain tradition (most are neither fully true or false but a mixture of both) and more with realizing that these questions are perennial. The same questions that bothered Socrates continue to bother modern thinkers. Like Wittgenstein said, this ought to amaze us, not make us question the value of philosophy.

Really, I think philosophy has most of the really cool and important questions. What we ought to do, what we can know and what we can hope for are infinitely more important than anything else. I hold this view very strongly, that ethics should be the driving force behind philosophy, or anything else for that matter, and not simply a "peripheral" to the "more pressing" topics such as, the migration patterns of walruses or the next iPhone or whatever. Most of that is pointless and banal which is why I find it surprising when people are interested in it. In some ways I think modern science has corrupted our self-image, making ourselves seem to be like technological gods. Some good philosophy will temper that image.

Kant said the prior triad, and Wittgenstein affirmed the awe of perennial questions.

Not sure I understand what you're asking.

I'd have to try to find where he said it, but from my memory Wittgenstein wasn't necessarily saying that philosophy was "amazing" (especially since he saw it to be analogous to a sort of disease). He was rather saying that while some people may give up on philosophical questions because "they'll never be answered", he finds their continual resistance to answering to be a source of awe.

I'd have to try to find where he said it, but from my memory Wittgenstein wasn't necessarily saying that philosophy was "amazing" (especially since he saw it to be analogous to a sort of disease). He was rather saying that while some people may give up on philosophical questions because "they'll never be answered", he finds their continual resistance to answering to be a source of awe. — darthbarracuda

Wittgenstein elevated ethics to the status of religion within the field of philosophy. That is amazing.

To the degree that there is a 'specialness' to philosphy, I've always considered it to lie in its generality: it's non-specialness. Sellars' definition has always been attractive to me: “The aim of philosophy, abstractly formulated, is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term” (though Thesis XI competes for top spot here). There is, of course, a specificity to dealing in just such generalities (philosophy requires discipline and taste), but it's the broadness, its openness to exploring so many different and varied fields, that I find really attractive.

For me, I see philosophy as that interface between me and the external world, an organic link that enables me to articulate reality authentically. The practice of philosophy is this negotiation that makes the world intelligible. Going back to Witt: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” So I largely agree about this broadness you speak of.

No.

Yes, Philosophy is something special to me, for it has taught me how to approach an idea, one I am comfortable with and those I am not. Postmodern Beatnik taught me a lesson about Philosophy that made all the difference in my life. His lesson was that any piece of information has neither a "good" or "bad" connotation assigned to it when you first see/read it. It is you that assigns the emotion to it. That was HUGE as I was able to put in a 'stop gap' of thought for me to pause and remember what he said and THEN assign a judgement if I still felt the need to do so. Very few people can show you the power within yourself but a good Philosopher can tease it out. (L)

What's special about philosophy for me is the unlimited potential for thought. It's much broader than any one field because it goes beyond any one field of thought. You can incorporate philosophy into any endeavor you pursue. Even a carpenter's view of his work, his desire for excellence in the things he makes, has a philosophical foundation, an ethical foundation.

If it were up to me I would start teaching philosophy in high school, including basic logic.