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Hey ,

hope you’re having a great day.

Just a reminder: This is the first email I'm sending out to my subscribers, so I guess that makes you special in a way. Don't we all want to feel special?

Anyway, let's get back to the good stuff...

You've probably heard or read the word "philosophy" dozens, if not hundreds, of times -- but did you ever stop to consider what philosophy actually is, what it means?

If you're like me, you probably haven't. I thought about it for the first time a couple weeks ago, while I was working on starting this newsletter.

And where do people normally go when they have questions -- to family, friends, partners?

Of course not, we're in the 21st century for God's sake! Just google it and open the first article from Wikipedia in a new tab. So that's exactly what I did...

And philosophy is defined as:

"[...] the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about reason, existence, knowledge, values, mind, and language [...]"

Also, the word itself comes from the Greek word "philosophia", which means "love of wisdom".

Wait a minute...

I love talking about this stuff AND I love wisdom -- does that make me a philosopher?

This is when it becomes complicated because there is no consensus on who is considered to be a philosopher.

The spectrum of definitions varies from "everyone is a philosopher" all the way to "you need a PhD to be a philosopher".

Most commonly, the answers are somewhere in-between. For example, "someone who practices philosophy", "someone who lives according to a certain way of life" or "someone who actively engages in critical thought about big questions that have no obvious answers".

If we take these definitions, then yes, I can say I'm a philosopher. Because I have certain principles & rules I live by, and because I'm often thinking about the "big questions".

Which principles & rules do I live by? Many of those come from Stoicism, which we'll definitely talk more about in the future. (Some of the best sports teams in the world -- like the Seattle Seahawks -- are relying on Stoicism to help them win championships.)

What about you? Hit 'reply' and tell me whether you see yourself as a philosopher or not. And don't worry -- this is not a school test, there is no wrong answer.

After all, there’s no license required for claiming to be a philosopher. You’re not going to get arrested for impersonating a philosopher if someone disagrees with your personal assessment.

That's about it for my first newsletter for you , hope you had fun reading it!

See you around,

Filip

P. S. As I am still trying to figure out this newsletter, it would be helpful if you could answer one simple question for me -- was this email too long, too short or just about right?