Philosophers often find that the response I am a philosopher when given in reply to the question What do you do? produces a puzzled silence. The puzzle is not one simply about the nature of philosophical thought, it is one about what philosophers actually do. David Hamlyn's account considers the history of the practice of philosophy or of philosophy considered as an institution. Being a Philosopher examines the main trends of that practice and how philosophers have been regarded at different times. The Greek philosophical schools provided the first professional philosophers. While philosophy...