The role and purpose of philosophy is not to create phenomena, but to reflect on it through reasoning. The goal of this "reflective reasoning" is to seek the truth about various phenomena. As stated in What is Philosophy: "They (philosophers) do not make nations, they reflect on them." Philosophy seeks to reason through two major components: Analysis and synthesis. Analysis carefully scrutinizes phenomena's components. Synthesis concentrates on how phenomena's components work together. Even though analysis and synthesis are two different applications, in philosophy they serve as a coexisting approach to reflective reasoning. Through philosophy's coexisting approach between analysis and synthesis, it has been influencing modern society's reasoning of phenomena to this present day.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2000