Are the abilities we have *to imagine & *to reason which help us speculate & hypothesize sol'ns to problems...

the fact that you mention the two gentlemen in your question should tell you that you are a beneficiary of civilization of the past and present ..without all those great thinkers who came before all of us where would you have come up with the idea for such a question.. now as a result of our forbears we understand that we possess such abilities as you put it ..if you carry on in the path of philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge and truth you might just write something that will inspire somebody in the future ..i hope you enjoy this answer as much as i have enjoyed your question