Prepared to caress philosopher (8)
I believe the answer is:
socrates
'philosopher' is the definition.
(Socrates is an example)
'prepared to caress' is the wordplay.
'prepared' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to'+'caress'='tocaress'
'tocaress' with letters rearranged gives 'SOCRATES'.
(Other definitions for socrates that I've seen before include "Coarsest sort of Greek philosopher" , "old question-master?" , "Ancient Greek" , "Athenian philosopher who was teacher to Plato" , "Philosophical Greek" .)