The root question of all philosophical inquiry is the big ‘why’ – why do we exist; why are we here, on earth, alive, conscious; why is there anything rather than nothing. Any answer to this why question leads to the second movement of human inquiry/ingenuity – the ‘what’ question. More exactly – now what? So, once we have established the philosophical basis of our existence we must decide what we must do with this. This how philosophy rears, feeds and forms politics. Religion, ideology, et al are all part and product of this movement from the why to the what.

Religion is, however, too limiting and ideology is too religious. It is best, considering our present stage of development, to be more or less scientific in looking for solutions to our major problems. A sort of proto-scientific answer to the why question was 19th Century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Fredrich…