while there is somethign to the 'anglo-american' generalization, i'm not sure i accept the premise of your question -- i find analytic philosophy to have plenty of 'richness of meaning' in it ... (and certainly there's no explicit decision to privilege clarity at the cost of meaning ...) i think, anyway -- but hm, this is provocative. ap

good question. you know the degree 'Ph.D.', the hghest degree you can obtain in many fields, is a 'doctor of philosophy', so presumably what one gets in completing a PhD in say literature, language, art history, physics, etc., is 'a philosophy of that field' -- and that in turn indicates something like a 'highest-level mastery of the field', which in turn typically includes two levels of accomplishment: mastering all/the major knowledge and principles of obtaining knowledge within the field (eg how to be a good physicist) but also mastering perhaps some of the phiosophical elements of any given field ... a good physicist knows how to create/evaluate good theories, but a good philosopher of science knows what counts generally about a good theory and whether good theories should be construed about truth or something else (like usefulness) ....

it's never too late! ... I would recommend any of Simon Blackburn's more popular books -- "Think" (or is it "Thinking"?), "Truth" -- just google him and you'll find a few titles -- if you enjoy philosophical reflection on God you might try my own recent book 'the God question' -- or of course read Daniel Dennett's recent book on religion "Breaking the Spell" -- happy reading! Andrew

let me supplement Eddy's fine response by noting that you will probably have to be very pro-active in making this happen! not only will you get distracted (reasonably) by life, but so will most of the people you're hanging out with, who may not have any initial interest in philosophy anyway! so you'll have to take charge -- for example, start a book club or discussion group at a local coffee shop ... check out 'socrates cafe' on that score ... find organizations that have public events of philosophical import so you can meet more like-minded folks (if you're in NYC you might look up 'socrates in the city') -- make sure your local NPR station carries the program Philosophy Talk (look it up!) and then be sure to listen to it ... organize a lecture yourself -- for example, i recently gave a talk at a bar in New York City that has a tuesday evening literary series ... find such a thing, or start one yourself! .... so don't count on others keeping your philosophy bug alive, you'll probably have to do it...

Well, I'd say philosophy is pretty infinitely deep -- there could be no such thing for any ordinary mortal to learn "the whole history of philosophy" -- not least because there wouldn't be agreement on just who the "notable" philosophers are (so you'd have to study EVERY philosopher to learn the "whole" history), and also because there's no clear distinction between who counts as a "philosopher" and who doesn't (so you'd have to study every thinker in every field ....) -- in fact what's most important is to recognize that philosophy is a process or activity, it's the act of philosophizing itself, and so it's not all that important to learn the "whole history" as to engage in the process -- and that you could do by studying, in depth, even just one or a few great thinkers .... spend your life studying just Plato (say), and you will be well-served, and probably end up being a better philosopher (and better served philosophically) than someone who has read hundreds of books by hundreds of different authors ....