Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom") is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE).
A philosopher is someone who practices philosophy, which involves rational inquiry into areas that are outside either theology or science.
Mankind has evolved brains that allow for higher cogitative ability than any other known species on the planet. Although human and animal brains share a lot of similar neurological properties, there have been studies pinpointing areas of uniqueness in the human brain. Animals are clearly able to think, love, solve problems, use tools, etc. But it is generally believed in the scientific community that the level to which an animal can perform these tasks is underwhelming when compared to humans. As far as we can determine, humans are the only animals capable of philosophy.
So human kind has evolved the capability of philosophizing, meaning it is important for our survival and propagation. Many topics in philosophy will forever remain non-physical. Concepts of the soul, social ethics, moral reasoning are examples of this. Socrates and other philosopher's have made arguments on what they think is true regarding these topics, but they can not be proven using any scientific method, and many remain debated to this day.
It appears to me, there is a general contradiction here. If every claim has to be empirically proven with physical evidence in order to believe it, then how do we address any of the non-physical concepts of life? Your personal viewpoint on all of these concepts literally change the way you see the world and interact with the physical space. How do you know what you believe is true? And doesn't the very idea that we have evolved the capability to philosophize suggest that we need to continue doing so? But if we run our live's believing only that which is physical and measurable, then what do we do with philosophical thought?
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