Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here.

President Trump is breaking what needs to be broken. See here.

Here.

Wishbone Four (1973).

If you want some innocent holiday fun (okay, there are bad words), go to the theater to see Father Figures (2017). Ed Helms and Owen Wilson play twin brothers (!) who go out looking for their father. Terry Bradshaw is a surprisingly good actor. Some of the scenes are hilarious.

Here is the trailer.

To the editor:

Jonah Goldberg touts President Trump's first-year achievements, starting with "a record number of judicial appointments, including a Supreme Court justice, [and] the defeat of Islamic State." ("Trump's end-of-year accomplishment list isn't that skimpy. Of course, the party's in charge," Opinion, Dec. 26)

Given that Republicans blocked President Obama's judicial nominations and created a record number of vacancies, the first achievement is akin to forcefully starving a population and then declaring oneself a master chef when the people finally get to eat.

The second achievement is like declaring that the forgettable Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln as president, was actually the president who won the Civil War.

Douglas Baldwin, La Cañada Flintridge

The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc. We must protect our Country at all cost!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

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One answer to the titular question is this: Philosophy is what philosophers do. But this is no help, for until we know who the philosophers are, we don't know what philosophers, as such, do; and we don't know who the philosophers are until we know what philosophy is.

For consider: A given philosopher is many things, not one thing. Take me, for example. I'm a philosopher, a lawyer, an historian, a teacher, a citizen, a husband, a cyclist, and a musician (to mention just a few of my many attributes). Not everything I do is philosophy (thank God!), so it would be invalid (fallacious) to infer "x is philosophy" from "Keith is a philosopher" and "Keith does x." It's true that Keith is a philosopher and it's true that Keith rides a bike, but it's false that riding a bike is philosophy (though, truth be told, I do much philosophy while abike).

As this example shows, what I do may or may not be in my capacity as a philosopher. So if our objective is to answer the question "What is philosophy?," it does no good to answer "Whatever philosophers do." There must be some other way—a noncircular way—to answer the question.

Gamma 2 (1980). Ronnie Montrose on guitar; Davey Pattison on vocals.

Here.