hello Fiona its friends welcome back for another edition of our daily whiteboard this is our second edition about the introduction of the philosophy of the human person and for more editions of our daily whiteboard here at filo notes simply click here and subscribe in today's edition I will discuss very briefly the origin of philosophy particularly Western philosophy for some reason I will not include here the discussion on the origin and development of Eastern or Asian philosophy this will be discussed in our other editions according to Socrates as Plato reports wonder is the only beginning of philosophy then later Aristotle in response to his predecessors especially the Union philosophers said that it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first begun to philosophize this is precisely the context and basis of the now famous claim that philosophy begins in wonder but what kind of wonder is this for sure wonder includes the feeling of surprise coupled with admiration that is when one is being curious or being in all but this is not enough wonder as the beginning of philosophy is precisely philosophic wonder that is the feeling of being perplexed for example the ancient Greek philosophers were perplexed about the origin and nature of the world as Aristotle writes four men were first led to study philosophy as indeed they are today by wonder now he who is perplexed and wanders believes himself to be ignorant they took to philosophy to escape ignorant in this sense philosophic wander seeks clarity by trying to understand the perplexities or vagueness or confusion that shrouded the enquiring mind in other words philosophic wander seeks answers to or at least make sense of the mysterious world thus when one begins to make sense of the questions regarding for example the origin of the world or the meaning and purpose of life one begins to philosophize thus in philosophic wonder one is not merely amazed by the mysteriousness of the world or of life but seeks to understand this mystery in a word one thinks given this brief discussion on the origin of philosophy and the conceptual level it is therefore reasonable to suppose that Western philosophy originated in militants because Thiel is the acclaimed the first philosopher in the Western world was from Miletus mellitus during the time of Thales was the richest and the most powerful of all the Union cities and was the first center of scholarship in ancient Greece Ionia was a Greek city-state on the coast of Asia mean or now called Turkey it is worth noting that with a decline of Ionia which began with its conquest by the persons in 546 BCE the intellectual life of Greece moved to Croton in southern Italy in 530 BCE Croton was a splendid and powerful city-state of Greece to where Pythagoras emigrated from Samos and founded the Pythagorean Brotherhood now if philosophy begins in wonder how do we exactly know that tellus was the first philosopher that he was the first one to wonder that is the first one to attempt to make sense of the mysteriousness of the world in fact we cannot deny the occurrence of other pre philosophical rumblings in Egyptian and Babylonian cultures as well as in India and in China and for sure there were great thinkers that existed in each of these cultures and there are evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers had come in contact with at least some of the products of Egyptian and Babylonian thoughts and of course we cannot absolutely determine the first person who wondered or philosophized well to address this question it is commonly believed that felis was the first philosopher because he was the first at least in recorded history to put his philosophy into writing in fact we find in Thais and many philosophers after him some reasoned arguments for the origin and development of the world indeed this is a unique feature of ancient Greek philosophy that distinguishes it from the pre philosophical rumblings of other cultures and so to reiterate Western philosophy begins in wonder and that the origin of philosophy in terms of place is said to be in millet or Ionia alright that's it for today and for a full transcript of this video kindly visit our website at filo notes com now in the succeeding editions I will discuss the development of Western philosophy from the pre-socratic to the modern period and to keep you updated of our daily whiteboard editions here at filo notes simply click here and subscribe until then thanks take care