Hi Paul,
"Since some modern objects have characteristics and properties that might have been unimaginable to earlier philosophers, do modern philosophers re-read earlier works with some of these modern examples in mind?"

Right on. They could. It is a rich frontier of the mind, expecially since philosophers are patient investigators of arcane meanings. They could reassess the analogies, metaphors and
all the explanations which formed subunits of philosophical treatises.

I will soon have a website which will
self-parody its own difficulty producing
humorous approaches to the deepest
mysteries. It will not be anything
like those subgenius.com sites because
it will not be sarcastic or clever in the
usual sense. If the website I am making were a character on Gilligan's Island, it would be
the theme song. This will be its only advertisement in the near future on this forum. So you are invited to check my
website in a couple of days at www.geocities.com/earthinspace2002
Mike