note
| - “Philosophy” is a word invented by the ancient Greeks, most likely by Pythagoras in the late sixth century BCE. Before the time of Pythagoras, there was a lively tradition, shared with other literate cultures around the Mediterranean, of collections of “wisdom” literature (“Sophia”). In Greece, lists were made of outstanding contributors to such collections, that is, of “wise” people, or sophoi. The story goes that when Leon of Phlius asked Pythagoras what he was, he replied, “a philosophos,” a lover of or seeker for wisdom.
[A. Preus, Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Philosophy, 2007, p. 1] (en)
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