Thinking ...

Thinking about philosophy. I was given a book of philosophy "problems" for my last birthday and still find myself thinking about them from time to time. I found some of the scenarios to be fairly common sensical; others were less so and seemed to offer little insight. Or perhaps I just don't understand the whole philosophy concept. So to the SlovoEd dictionary (Princeton University ed. for Palm) I go.
Philosophy:
1) (cognition) a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school. Synonyms: doctrine; school of thought; ism
2) (cognition) any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation
3) (cognition) the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics.
No. 3 comes closest ... questions about existence and knowledge and ethics. But surely these are dictated by the location, time and setting. Is the pursuit of philosophical thinking a modern Western construct or is it a universal consideration which has been with us for eons. Are there those who accept that ''this is the way things are" rather than ''why are things like this, and is this the way they should be"?