The Spirit of Philosophy
According to Diogenes Laertius, Socrates “engaged all the more keenly in argument with anyone who would converse with him, his aim being not to alter his opinion but to get at the truth.”
The philosopher qua philosopher desires to acquire the truth, not to persuade others. Rhetoric — the art of persuasion — is important in its own right, and can involve argumentation (i.e., the logos of the logos, ethos, pathos (LEP) triumvirate) but it is not philosophy. Nor is apologetics, nor polemics, as I note here.
Argumentation is used for multifarious ends. The philosopher’s end is knowledge, or at least justified true belief. The philosopher’s chief mission is not to persuade, neither to convert, nor defend, nor attack.
The philosopher is primarily a seeker, not an activist, proselytizer, or debater. Each uses the tool of argumentation. But the philosopher is an intellectual hunter*, whereas the activist, apologist, and polemicist are intellectual warriors.
Perhaps mountain climber or hiker is a better metaphor.