philosophicallyadv.
/ˌfɪləˈsɒfᵻkli/, U.S. /ˌfɪləˈsɑfək(ə)li/ In a philosophical manner; according to philosophical rules and principles; as befits a philosopher. Also: uncomplainingly, stoically.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > [adverb]
philosophicallya1456
philosophizingly1654
the mind > emotion > calmness > patience > [adverb] > with patient resignation
softlyc1400
philosophically1873
impunitively1958
a1456 tr. Secreta Secret. (Marmaduke, Ashm. 59) (1977) 222 (MED) Thinges..þe whiche God shewed by reuelacion to Heos holly prophetis..philosofres þat folowed philosoficalli þe principal begynniynge haden.
1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. f. 73 Of these emonge others hathe that Theodorus written Philosophicallye in this manner.
1580 G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. in Wks. (1884) I. 64 Partly Philosophically, partly Theologically set downe.
1598 R. Barckley Disc. Felicitie of Man vi. 618 If I haue written aniething ouer much philosophically, that dissenteth from the true professed Religion.
1640 R. Brathwait Ar't Asleepe Husband? 111 In the description of an Oeconomick State, Aristotle expresseth himselfe most Philosophically.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxi. 131 I shall not, contrary to the Design of this Essay, set my self to enquire philosophically into the peculiar Constitution of Bodies.
1741–3 J. Wesley Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 81 Who will either disprove this fact or philosophically account for it.
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer ii. 31 They would not behave better to one another, nor more philosophically than my cattle do.
1825 T. B. Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 320 But, though philosophically in the wrong, we cannot but believe that he was poetically in the right.
1873 T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes III. iii. 75 The practical husbands and wives who take things philosophically are very humdrum, are they not?
1888 Daily News 16 July 4/7 Philosophically indifferent as to the question of who are in power.
1933 E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! i. 43 Mrs. Miller (stares after him worriedly—then sighs philosophically).
1963 A. Baraka Blues People xii. 181 Philosophically, swing sought to involve the black culture in a platonic social blandness that would erase it forever.
1971 Countryman Autumn 112 Suddenly the third member of the brood swooped down from its perch in a nearby spruce and flew back to the tree with the worm in its beak. The hen [blackbird] philosophically started again.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Apr. 28/4 Radical Cartesianism...helps us to focus on those aspects of mainstream Cartesianism that may be mistaken either exegetically or philosophically.
Compounds
philosophically minded adj. predisposed towards approaching questions from a philosophical perspective or in a philosophical manner; interested in philosophy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > calmness > patience > [adjective] > patiently resigned
philosophically minded1848
impunitive1938
1848 Westm. Rev. 49 392 The election of M. Thiers is regretted by many of the most philosophically minded men in France as an unfavorable augury of future progress.
1955 Sci. Amer. July 73/1 Only a few scientists had been philosophically minded, but today physicists are almost all philosophers.
2004 Sun (Baltimore) (Nexis) 18 July (Arts section) 8 f Buckley himself was never an original thinker, nor did he claim to be. He left that job to his more philosophically minded colleagues.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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