Philosopher's request for help wrapping box (8)
I believe the answer is:
socrates
'philosopher's' is the definition.
(Socrates is an example)
'request for help wrapping box' is the wordplay.
'request for help' becomes 'sos' (I've seen this in another clue).
'wrapping' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'box' becomes 'crate' (crate is a kind of box).
'sos' placed around 'crate' is 'SOCRATES'.
(Other definitions for socrates that I've seen before include "Man philosophically questioning" , "Hemlocked philosopher" , "Coarsest sort of Greek philosopher" , "Athenian philosopher who was teacher to Plato" , "2 [PHILOSOPHER]" .)