[quote=DTLarca;214321]There was a time when it was only philosophers who asked those questions. There was a Greek philosopher called Democritus who speculated that the planets had formed from dust clouds condensing into great masses and that there would be many worlds formed that way across the universe - of course he was later found be wrong, 600 years later, when they realised earth, the center of the universe, was the only planet, and that all else orbited earth, being created just for us.

We have eastern philosophy, European philosophy and western philosophy. Eastern, it seems to me, is more about social psychology. European, it seems to me, is more about society and politics (existentialism etc). Western, which is analytic philosophy and therefore squarely built upon the foundations of logic, was summed up by AJ Ayer "A (western) philosopher is NOT engaged on an empirical or a metaphysical inquiry. We may speak loosely of him as analysing facts, or notions, or even things. But we must make it clear that these are simply ways of saying that he is concerned with the definition of the corresponding words." For example consider the word "Theory". Many who spend no time relaxed in lazy thought giving time to the question think a theory is something that is not a fact. However, it is true a theory can never be a fact but only in the same way a book can never be a word. Theories comprise facts and laws. Books comprise words and sentences. No facts no theory. No words no book.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vceIV4Arpmg

Thanks for the link, could philosophy be as much about learning about ourselves as the world around us?

Cheers