Aristotle's "philosophical thinking" is not just any exploration; What he said is not "how it should be", but what it actually is.
This sentence is in the second section of the first volume of Metaphysics, and the original text is like this: Δ ι? γ? ρ τ? θαυμ? ζειν ο νθρωποι κα? ν? ν κα? τ? πρ? τον ? ρξαντο φιλοσοφε? ν.
English translation is of course varied, and Sir Ross's English translation is like this:
It is because of their surprise that people begin to think philosophically now and at first.
People began to think philosophically out of surprise, at first and now.
Aristotle did not create this sentence, but learned it from Plato. There is a saying in Plato's Tyatedes: "The sense of surprise is the characteristic of philosophers, and the origin of philosophy is nothing more than surprise".
Aristotle's sentence should be placed in the whole paragraph of the second section of the first volume of Metaphysics in order to understand his meaning accurately. What Aristotle emphasizes here is the purity of philosophical thinking: philosophical thinking is not for any practical purpose, but purely out of surprise, so only philosophy is free learning. When he said "freedom", he meant "existing only for himself". Philosophy does not exist for any benefit, and the purpose of philosophy is philosophy itself. If "philosophical thinking" here is replaced by "exploration", it will destroy the original intention of this sentence and make no sense at all. There are many kinds of exploration, many of which are for practicality, not pure surprise.