Originally Posted by TimMason
Philosophy is an umbrella term: Science, Religion, Morality are all sheltered beneath it. Science was at first referred to as 'Natural Philosophy'; how what we call 'science' today developed out of that is a long story, and indeed a rather tangled one. Some would claim that science had its beginnings in the philosophy of Ancient Greece, while others would say that science really begins in the Renaissance.
Philosophy among the Greeks was a very practical matter; it included knowledge of the world, knowledge of the gods, knowledge of humans and how to persuade them to agree with you - a very important practical matter in democracies such as Athens. Philosophers wanted to live by and through their philosophies. Today's philosophers may inhabit the crumbling towers of the academy, but that's probably because they were displaced by churches, on the one hand, and the sciences on the other.
However, perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for our philosophers. The most canny of philosophers is a good plumber.
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