What is Philosophy?

Literally, the term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." In a broad sense, philosophy is an
activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the
world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. As an academic
discipline philosophy is much the same. Those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in
asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic questions. To make such a
pursuit more systematic academic philosophy is traditionally divided into major areas of study.
Philosophy is the discipline that looks for reasoned answers to certain very abstract questions,
usually left unasked in everyday life, about the nature of the universe and the place in it of humans
and everything distinctively human. These are questions that the sciences usually do not tackle,
though it may in the end turn out that scientific discoveries are relevant to answering them.
The centrality to philosophy of reasoned debate is part of what makes the study of philosophy
valuable: it cultivates various abilities that are prized in a wide variety of careers—to disentangle
complexity, to find the flaws in arguments, and to write and speak in an organized and persuasive
way.
As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit of knowledge
for its own sake, and comprised all areas of speculative thought, including the arts, sciences and
religion.
Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are usually foundational and abstract in
nature. Philosophy is done primarily through reflection and does not tend to rely on experiment,
although the methods used to study it may be analogous to those used in the study of the natural
sciences.
Philosophy is not simply a theory about something. Nor is Philosophy a belief or wish. Philosophy
is an activity: a quest after wisdom. Philosophy is an activity of thought. Philosophy is a particular
unique type of thought or style of thinking. Philosophy is not to be confused with its
product. What a philosopher provides is a body of philosophic thought NOT a Philosophy. A
philosopher enacts a Philosophy, a quest after wisdom.

https://philosophy.fsu.edu/undergraduate-study/why-philosophy/What-is-Philosophy
https://philosophy.missouri.edu/undergrad/what-philosophy
https://www.philosophybasics.com/general_whatis.html
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%2012Conclusion/W
hat_is_Philosophy.htm