Fulfillment is Gained Through Philosophical Thought The ability to think philosophical is the ability to truly understand and know ones surroundings and everything that influences those surroundings to the degree that that knowledge becomes the ultimate understanding and appreciation of the surroundings without question. With this ultimate understanding, a philosopher is able to appreciate life and live life to a fuller degree than the average person. Unfortunately, becoming a philosopher or even recognizing a philosopher can become difficult. Therefore, in order to live a philosophical life, one must understand what philosophy is and have a clear perception of why they desire a life as a philosopher and the hardships that ultimately coincide with it. A philosopher is a person that desires one part of something no greater than the other. He eagerly and freely tries all kinds of learning and avidly wants more knowledge at all times. Unfortunately, a "true philosopher" can be confused with a person of similar characteristics, a person of sight and sound. The true philosopher is one that searches for the truth behind something that is, unlike the person of sight and sound that only sees or hears what is and then moves on to the next thing, only viewing and listening to it and only appreciating what they can see and hear. The true philosopher searches for the eternal truth behind what is or what is not in determination of reaching the ultimate conclusion on that which is. For example, if we use beauty as a subject, a person of sight or sound would view or hear something beautiful and know it is beautiful and enjoy its beauty and that is it; they would not however search or desire the nature of beauty itself (476 b-c). This is what separates a true philosopher from a person ...