In Part One of The Examined Life (Radford, 1989) I recalled certain episodes from my childhood and youth in which, as I came to realize later, I had been exercised by a philosophical problem. By so doing I hoped not only to convey to non-professionals what philosophy is—or is like—but to show them that they too were philosophers, i.e., had been exercised by philosophical questions. In Part Two I gave some examples of how such problems may be treated by a professional, in articles.

In one, for example, I tried to show that just as our being frightened by films and fictional characters in them is irrational, so is our being moved by and for fictional characters in films, plays, and novels. This tendency to irrationality is of course present in almost all of us, and is not only innocent but enhances our enjoyment of such works and the attention we pay them; so we should not regret it. But we should not—therefore, perhaps—deny that that is what it is. (None the less philosophers continue to do so.)

I did not essay a definition of philosophy or attempt to give any general account of the connected matter, namely what prompts it, relying on the examples to speak for themselves. But if I had to do so, I would say that they show that when we do philosophy we are engaged in reflective, critical thought.