Philosophy is not just thepreserve of brilliant buteccentric thinkers that it ispopularly supposed to be. It is whateveryone does when they’re notbusy dealing with their everydaybusiness and get a chance simplyto wonder what life and theuniverse are all about. We humanbeings are naturally inquisitivecreatures, and can’t help wonderingabout the world around us and ourplace in it. We’re also equipped witha powerful intellectual capability,which allows us to reason as wellas just wonder. Although we maynot realize it, whenever we reason,we’re thinking philosophically.Philosophy is not so much aboutcoming up with the answers tofundamental questions as it isabout the process of trying to findthese answers, using reasoningrather than accepting withoutquestion conventional views ortraditional authority. The very firstphilosophers, in ancient Greece andChina, were thinkers who were notsatisfied with the establishedexplanations provided by religionand custom, and sought answerswhich had rational justifications.And, just as we might share ourviews with friends and colleagues,they discussed their ideas withone another, and even set up“schools” to teach not just theconclusions they had come to, butthe way they had come to them.They encouraged their students todisagree and criticize ideas as ameans of refining them and comingup with new and different ones. Apopular misconception is that ofthe solitary philosopher arriving athis conclusions in isolation, but thisis actually seldom the case. Newideas emerge through discussionand the examination, analysis, andcriticism of other people’s ideas.