phD
Saturday, January 20th, 2007It’s not really a discovery…but I was puzzled by it for some time and now I think I have the answer. You know how people joke about getting a ‘permanent head damage’? A phD. But really, it stands for Doctorate of Philosophy (correct me if I’m wrong).
The thing I find amusing about this is that when one pursues a phD in any field , one will actually be pursuing a doctorate in philosophy. Does a physicist/biologist/chemist etc. end up a philosopher? If a person is pursuing a phD in Physics, why does he get a Doctorate of Philosophy? It sounded to me as if one would lose all that one has learned and become a philosopher. I imagine a person sitting under a tree, just thinking, thinking and thinking. And if he has to, he will speak, but he will speak philosophically (read:in riddles no normal human like myself will understand)
I recently was made aware that philosophy comes from the Greek words Phileo (one of the greek words for ‘love’) and Sophia (Wisdom). Put together, it becomes philosophia, the love of wisdom. Of course! It makes sense! Anyone who would dare pursue such a high level of scholarship would certainly do it for no other reason but for the love of wisdom (am I being too naive?).
Do I want to get a phD? I dream of it from time to time, but out of the love of glory, not wisdom. Am I capable of getting it is another question.
So lets put things into perspective. First you get a degree, then you try and master your field. And then you find you love it so much, you decide to go beyond mastering it for the love of wisdom. Why do you want/not want a phD?
