Very much agree about Western Society. I also think it has to do with the industrial and technological revolutions, which provided the materials for materialism...in conjunction with scientific knowledge, caused us to understand how a computer works, and that dinosaurs once walked the earth, and how far away the stars really were...we then sighed and went back to our TV sets and countless other distractions.
The sense of magic and mystery was gone, we don't look up at the heavens and wonder anymore. True, God or gods aren't used as a handy excuse for everything anymore, but there was something to be said for that, because we actually had to think about it and prove it without physical evidence.
The need for deductive/positive reasoning, as it applies to concepts and ideas rather than machines, is becoming a lost skill.
The world runs on money, and philosophers need to eat, too. I think also alot of ideas remain undiscovered, as you walk into a modern book store you will find sixty thousand new titles a year. It is hard to figure out what is important in such a sea of clamoring voices.
But I have hope.
Anyways good talking to you Simone, I owe, I owe, so off to work I go
Chris
