> You might not remember that in the Middle-Ages a large portion of intellectuals were spending most of their time debating religion such as is God really omnipotent and what a specific verse in Bible meant.
And that lead to establishing a whole new field of social sciences that is philosophy. Yes, i am aware that middle-age debates and musings like that were not solely responsible for philosophy as a field of study, we gotta remember eastern philosophers and others too, but they were still monumental to making philosophy what it is today.
Regardless of how much their musings on god contributed to creating philosophy as we know it today in comparison to efforts of others working in that field (e.g., eastern philosophers in old China or middle eastern philosophers of about the same time period), their efforts accomplished a lot in terms of generating actual value for the society through philosophy as a field of study. Unless you are dismissing the entire field of philosophy as it stands today as "useless", then the value of those discussions is pretty obvious.
Not even mentioning second-order effects, like those debates making people question prior assumptions and embarking on important scientific endeavors, like trying to prove that Earth might be indeed revolving around the sun and not the other way around.
Absolutely agreed, it goes at least as far (if not further) as ancient Greece.
Just wanted to highlight that specific time period, since it was pointed out by the parent comment as a specific example of those efforts going nowhere.
And that lead to establishing a whole new field of social sciences that is philosophy. Yes, i am aware that middle-age debates and musings like that were not solely responsible for philosophy as a field of study, we gotta remember eastern philosophers and others too, but they were still monumental to making philosophy what it is today.
Regardless of how much their musings on god contributed to creating philosophy as we know it today in comparison to efforts of others working in that field (e.g., eastern philosophers in old China or middle eastern philosophers of about the same time period), their efforts accomplished a lot in terms of generating actual value for the society through philosophy as a field of study. Unless you are dismissing the entire field of philosophy as it stands today as "useless", then the value of those discussions is pretty obvious.
Not even mentioning second-order effects, like those debates making people question prior assumptions and embarking on important scientific endeavors, like trying to prove that Earth might be indeed revolving around the sun and not the other way around.