Midnight philosophy

We spoke about the world changing. The cab driver and I. He said he felt the world is not the same as it was when he grew up. Progress. We spoke about rural and urban; city and countryside. Then, he started talking about change in the context of philosophy.

We spoke for half an hour, with the driver doing most of the talking. Inductive reasoning, proving statements, the nature of testimony in arguments and our world view. I sensed passion.

He mentioned that other people haven’t seen things his way. “He has had this discussion before?” I wondered. The way they goes all the way to the fundamentals and asks the big questions about the nature of the universe.

He referenced Socrates and other ancient philosophers who helped build world views. Was “scientist” a more apt term for ancient philosophers given that we hadn’t developed the scientific method we had today? They theorized and used logic to explore universal questions.

It was midnight. The city, Chicago, was illuminated by the bright lights in buildings. I felt warmly welcomed to the city.