>From your statement I would say there was no need for any philosopher after the birth of Christ (based upon the time line) to have existed or have contemplated the human condition.

This is perhaps true (or perhaps not), but in either case not many philosophers have improved the process of pure rational thought devised before the birth of Christ.

But that is not the point I intended to make. My statement was intended to make the point that our foundations are based on the process of making rational decisions, they are not based on the decisions of our predecessors. I'm also not criticising Thomas Paine. I simply expanded on your message about our understanding our foundations.

This cycle of learning and then forgetting may be amusing to you, but to me, its something I'd like to move past.