Often, the questions philosophers are interested in with respect to these areas are questions that concern the most basic concepts in such disciplines. So, for example, a physicist may wish to know what are the basic laws that govern the behavior of some particle, whereas the philosopher wishes to know what a law is, or what it is for a law to be basic. Of course, sometimes the philosopher and the physicist may be interested in the same questions. But, often, the philosopher will continue to ask questions where the physicist does not. Another way to characterize philosophy is to point out that it is something all of us do at one time or another.
Philosophy is an unavoidable human activity.
We must each decide what sort of person to be, and what sort of world we think we live in. These are important decisions. Philosophers think that we will be better equipped to make these decisions to the extent that we think carefully about them. In taking a philosophy class, you can expect to think harder than usual about many questions to which you may already think you know the answers, or to which you may think there are no answers. Notice that if you think there are no answers to certain kinds of questions, it is always possible to try to think about just why such questions have no answers.