Intro To Philosophy

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Philosophy of man (modern, ancient, contemporary)
From Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally “love of wisdom” is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning
matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Philosophical methods include:

questioning, critical discussion, rational argument and systematic presentation.
Classic philosophical questions include:

Is it possible to know anything and to prove it? [ What is most real?
However, philosophers might also pose more practical and concrete questions such as:
Is there a best way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust (if one can get away with it)? Do humans have free will?
Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of knowledge. From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th
century, "natural philosophy“ encompassed astronomy, medicine and physics.
For example, Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics. In the
19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and
specialize.
In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including
psychology, sociology , linguistics and economics.
Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of philosophy.
For example, Is beauty objective or subjective? Are there many scientific methods or just one? Is political utopia a hopeful dream
or hopeless fantasy?
Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include :

metaphysics ("concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being")
epistemology (about the "nature and grounds of knowledge [and]...its limits and validity),
ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic, philosophy of science and the history of Western philosophy.
Since the 20th century professional philosophers contribute to society primarily as professors, researchers and writers. However,
many of those who study philosophy in undergraduate or graduate programs contribute in the fields of law, journalism, politics,
religion, science, business and various art and entertainment activities.
8Philosophy was traditionally divided into three major branches: Natural philosophy ("physics") was the study of the physical
world (physis, lit: nature); ("ethics") was the study of goodness, right and wrong, beauty, justice and virtue (ethos, lit: custom);
Moral philosophy Metaphysical philosophy ("logos") was the study of existence,causation, God, logic, forms and other abstract
objects ("meta-physika" lit: "what comes after physics")
9. This division is not obsolete but has changed. Natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, cosmology
astronomy biologychemistry physics
10. This division is not obsolete but has changed. Moral philosophy has birthed value theory Ethics Aesthetics political philosophy
the social sciences
11. This division is not obsolete but has changed. Metaphysical philosophy has birthed formal sciences such as logic Mathematics
philosophy of science Epistemology cosmology
12. Metaphysics Epistemology Value theory Logic, science and mathematics
13. M e t a p h y s i c s Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence Time Objects And their
properties wholes and their parts Events processes and causation and the relationship between mind and body
14. M e t a p h y s i c s Metaphysics includes COSMOLOGY -the study of the world in its entirety ONTOLOGY, -the study of being.
15. A major point of debate revolves between: M e t a p h y s i c s • which holds that there are entities that exist independently of
their mental perception realism • which holds that reality is mentally constructed or otherwise immaterial idealism
16. M e t a p h y s i c s Metaphysics deals with the topic of identity. • is the set of attributes that make an object what it
fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity Essence • is a property that the object has, without which the object can
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still retain its identity. accident • are objects that are said to exist in space and timeParticulars •such as numbersabstract objects •
which are properties held by multiple particulars, such as redness or a gender.universals
17. E p i s t e m o l o g y
19. E p i s t e m o l o g y Epistemologists also ask: What is truth? Is knowledge justified true belief? Are any beliefs justified ?
20. E p i s t e m o l o g y Putative knowledge includes propositional knowledge (knowledge that something is the case), know-how
(knowledge of how to do something) acquaintance (familiarity with someone or something).
22. E p i s t e m o l o g y Rationalism • is the emphasis on reasoning as a source of knowledge. • It is associated with a priori
knowledge, which is independent of experience, such as math and logical deduction Empiricism • is the emphasis on
observational evidence via sensory experience as the source of knowledge.
23. Among the numerous topics within metaphysics and epistemology, broadly construed are: Philosophy of language • explores
the nature, the origins and the use of language Philosophy of mind • explores the nature of the mind and its relationship to the
body. It is typified by disputes between dualism and materialism. In recent years this branch has become related to cognitive
science Philosophy of religion • explores questions that arise in connection with religions, including the soul, the afterlife, God,
religious experience, analysis of religious vocabulary and texts and the relationship of religion and science. Philosophy of human
nature - analyzes the unique characteristi cs of human beings, such as rationality, politics and culture Metaphilosophy -explores
the aims of philosophy, its boundaries and its methods.
24. V a l u e t h e o r y
27. V a l u e t h e o r y • where actions are judged by the potential results of the act, consequentialism, • such as to maximize
happiness, utilitarianism • where actions are judged by how they adhere to principles, irrespective of negative ends. deontology A
major point of debate revolves around
28. V a l u e t h e o r y is the "critical reflection on art, culture and nature It addresses the nature of art, beauty and taste,
enjoyment, emotional values, perception and with the creation and appreciation of beauty It is more precisely defined as the
study of sensory or sensori- emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste It divides into art theory,
literary theory, film theory and music theory Aesthetics
30. V a l u e t h e o r y Other branches of value theory: Philosophy of law(often called jurisprudence) explores the varying theories
explaining the nature and interpretation of laws. Philosophy of education analyzes the definition and content of education, as well
as the goals and challenges of educators. Feminist philosophy explores questions surrounding gender, sexuality and the body
including the nature of feminism itself as a social and philosophical movement. Philosophy of sport analyzes sports, games and
other forms of play as sociological and uniquely human activities.
31. V a l u e t h e o r y Many academic disciplines generated philosophical inquiry. The relationship between "X" and the
"philosophy of X" is debated. Richard Feynman argued that the philosophy of a topic is irrelevant to its primary study, saying that
"philosophy of science is as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds." Curtis White, by contrast, argued that philosophical
tools are essential to humanities, sciences and social sciences. [ The topics of philosophy of science are numbers, symbols and the
formal methods of reasoning as employed in the social sciences and natural sciences. Logic, science and mathematics
33. V a l u e t h e o r y Deductive reasoning is when, given certain premises, conclusions are unavoidably implied. Rules of
inference are used to infer conclusions such as, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then B”, then “Bmust be concluded.”
Because sound reasoning is an essential element of all sciences, social sciences and humanities disciplines, logic became a formal
science. Sub-fields include mathematical logic, philosophical logic, Modal logic, computational logic and non-classical logics A
major issue in the philosophy of mathematics revolves around whether mathematical entities are objective and discovered, called
mathematical realism, or invented, called mathematical antirealism.
34. Modern Philosophy
35. a branch of philosophy that originated in Western Europe in the 17th century, and is now common worldwide It is not a
specific doctrine or school (and thus should not be confused with Modernism), although there are certain assumptions common
to much of it, which helps to distinguish it from earlier philosophy M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y
36. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y The 17th and early 20th centuries roughly mark the beginning and the end of modern philosophy.
How much if any of the Renaissance sho uld be included is a matter for dispute; likewise modernity may or may not have ended in
the twentieth century and been replaced by postmodernity. How one decides these questions will determine the scope of one's
use of "modern philosophy."
37. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Rationalism Modern philosophy traditionally begins with René Descartes and his dictum "I think,
therefore I am" In the early seventeenth century the bulk of philosophy was dominated by Scholasticism, written by theologians
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and drawing upon Plato, Aristotle, and early Church writings. Descartes argued that many predominant Scholastic metaphysical
doctrines were meaningless or false. In short, he proposed to begin philosophy from scratch. In his most important work,
Meditations on First Philosophy, he attempts just this, over six brief essays. He tries to set aside as much as he possibly can of all
his beliefs, to determine what if anything he knows for certain. He finds that he can doubt nearly everything: the reality of physical
objects, God, his memories, history, science, even mathematics, but he cannot doubt that he is, in fact, doubting He knows what
he is thinking about, even if it is not true, and he knows that he is there thinking about it. . From this basis he builds his knowledge
back up again. He finds that some of the ideas he has could not have originated from him alone, but only from God; he proves that
God exists. . He then demonstrates that God would not allow him to be systematically deceived about everything; in essence, he
vindicates ordinary methods of science and reasoning, as fallible but not false.
38. René Descartes Baruch Spinoza Gottfried Leibniz
39. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y René Descartes best known philosophical statement is "Cogito ergo sum" (French: Je pense, donc
je suis; I think, therefore I am) all Philosophy is like a tree, of which Metaphysics is the root, Physics the trunk, and all the other
sciences the branches that grow out of this trunk, which are reduced to three principals, namely, Medicine, Mechanics, and Ethics.
By the science of Morals, I understand the highest and most perfect which, presupposing an entire knowledge of the other
sciences, is the last degree of wisdom. ethics was a science, the highest and most perfect of them. Like the rest of the sciences,
ethics had its roots in metaphysics.[45] In this way he argues for the existence of God, investigates the place of man in nature,
formulates the theory of mind-body dualism, and defends free will. French philosopher , mathematician, and scientist Dubbed the
father of modern western philosophy
40. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Baruch Spinoza born Benedito de Espinosa Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin
argued that God exists and is abstract and impersonal. Spinoza's view of God is what Charles Hartshorne describes as Classical
Pantheism considered one of the great rationalists of 17th- century philosophy ″the infant believes that it is by free will that it
seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks
flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left
unsaid. … All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse
which they have to speak.″ morality and ethical judgement like choice is predicated on an illusion. ″Blame″ and ″Praise″ are non
existent human ideals only fathomable in the mind because we are so acclimatized to human consciousness interlinking with our
experience that we have a false ideal of choice predicated upon this.
41. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y developed differential and integral calculus independently of Isaac Newton German polymath and
philosophe r who occupies a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy In philosophy, Leibniz is
most noted for his optimism, i.e. his conclusion that our Universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could
have created, an idea that was often lampooned by others such as Voltaire.Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz along with René
Descartesand Baruch Spinoza, was one of the three great 17th-century advocates of rationalism. anticipated modern logic and
analytic philosophy wrote works on philosophy, politics, law, ethics, theology, hi story, and philology French: Godefroi Guillaume
Leibnitz made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in philosophy,
probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics, and computer science his philosophy also looks back to the
scholastic tradition, in which conclusions are produced by applying reason to first principles or prior definitions rather than to
empirical evidence.
42. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Empiricism Empiricism is a theory of knowledge which opposes other theories of knowledge, such
as rationalism, idealism and historicism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes (only or primarily) via sensory experience as
opposed to rationalism, which asserts that knowledge comes (also) from pure thinking. Both empiricism and rationalism are
individualist theories of knowledge, whereas historicism is a social epistemology. While historicism also acknowledges the role of
experience, it differs from empiricism by assuming that sensory data cannot be understood without considering the historical and
cultural circumstances in which observations are made. Empiricism should not be mixed up with empirical research because
different epistemologies should be considered competing views on how best to do studies, and there is near consensus among
researchers that studies should be empirical Today empiricism should therefore be understood as one among competing ideals of
getting knowledge or how to do studies. As such empiricism is first and foremost characterized by the ideal to let observational
data "speak for themselves", while the competing views are opposed to this ideal
43. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Empiricism The term empiricism should thus not just be understood in relation to how this term
has been used in the history of philosophy It should also be constructed in a way which makes it possible to distinguish empiricism
among other epistemological positions in contemporary science and scholarship. In other words: Empiricism as a concept has to
be constructed along with other concepts, which together make it possible to make important discriminations between different
ideals underlying contemporary science. Empiricism is one of several competing views that predominate in the study of human
knowledge, known as epistemology Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in
the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or tradition[2] in contrast to, for example, rationalism which relies upon
reason and can incorporate innate knowledge.
44. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y
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45. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y John Locke following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract
theory Considered one of the first of the British empiricists most influential of Enlightenment thinker s and commonly known as
the "Father of Liberalism His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy advocated
governmental separation of powers and believed that revolution is not only a right but an obligation in some circumstances. In a
natural state all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his "Life, health, Liberty, or
Possessions". believed that human nature allowed people to be selfish. believed that human nature is characterised by reason and
tolerance. Locke's political theory was founded on social contract theory. he maintained that we are born without innate ideas,
and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception postulated that, at birth, the mind
was a blank slate or tabula rasa first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. Locke's theory of mind is often cited
as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume,
Rousseau, and Kant English philosopher and physician
46. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y George Berkeley This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that
familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being
perceived also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism. The tract A
Discource on Passive Obedience (1712) is "Berkeley's main contribution to moral and political philosophy. Berkeley defends this
thesis with a deductive proof stemming from the laws of nature. First, he establishes that because God is perfectly good, the end
to which he commands humans must also be good, and that end must not benefit just one person, but the entire human race.
Because these commands—or ‘laws—if practiced, would lead to the general fitness of humankind, it follows that they can be
discovered by the right reason—for example, the law to never resist supreme power can be derived from reason because this law
is “the only thing that stands between us and total disorder”.Thus, these laws can be called the laws of nature, because they are
derived from God—the creator of nature himself. “These laws of nature include duties never to resist the supreme power, lie
under oath…or do evil so that good may come of it.” Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a
theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others) known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of
Cloyne) make exceptions to this sweeping moral statement, stating that we need not observe precepts of “usurpers or even
madmen”[ and that people can obey different supreme authorities if there are more than one claims to the highest authority In A
Discourse on Passive Obedience, Berkeley defends the thesis that people have “a moral duty to observe the negative precepts
(prohibitions) of the law, including the duty not to resist the execution of punishment
47. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y David Hume "the mind itself, far from being an independent power, is simply 'a bundle of
perceptions' without unity or cohesive quality." best known today for his highly influential system of radical philosophical
empiricism , skepticism, and naturalism. Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, (born David Home) The self is
nothing but a bundle of experiences linked by the relations of causation and resemblance; or, more accurately, that the
empirically warranted idea of the self is just the idea of such a bundle. not arguing for a bundle theory, which is a form of
reductionism, but rather for an eliminative view of the self. That is, rather than reducing the self to a bundle of perceptions, Hume
is rejecting the idea of the self altogether. On this interpretation, Hume is proposing a "no-self theory" and thus has much in
common with Buddhist thought. “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions and can never pretend to any other
office than to serve and obey them.”[87] "a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will" "moral
decisions are grounded in moral sentiment." It is not knowing that governs ethical actions, but feelings.[89] Arguing that reason
cannot be behind morality, he wrote: Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent actions. Reason itself is utterly impotent in
this particular. The rules of morality, therefore, are not conclusions of our reason
48. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Political philosophy is the study of such topics as Politics Liberty Justice Property rights Law the
enforcement of a legal code by authority what rights and freedoms it should protect and why what form it should take and why
what the law is what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown—if ever.
49. Political philosophers
50. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury English philosopher best known today for his work on political
philosophy His 1651 book Leviathan established social contracttheory, the foundation of most later Western political philosophy
one of the founders of modern political philosophy and political science Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of
European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men the artificial character of the political order
(which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be
"representative" and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do
whatever the law does not explicitly forbid
51. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y John Locke English philosopher a nd physician most influential of Enlightenment thi nkers and
commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism Considered one of the first of the British empiricists Locke's political theory was
founded on social contract theory. postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa first to define the self
through a continuity of consciousness. he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead
determined only by experience derived from sense perception Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern
conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant
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advocated governmental separation of powers and believed that revolution is not only a right but an obligation in some
circumstances. believed that human nature allowed people to be selfish. In a natural state all people were equal and independent,
and everyone had a natural right to defend his "Life, health, Liberty, or Possessions".
53. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Jean-Jacques Rousseau The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said 'This is mine'
“Beware of listening to this impostor” you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth
itself to nobody. looked to a hypothetical St ate of Nature as a normative guide. "uncorrupted morals" prevail in the "state of
nature" "...Nothing is so gentle as man in his primitive state, when placed by nature at an equal distance from the stupidity of
brutes and the fatal enlightenment of civil man". by joining together into civil society through the social contract and abandoning
their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free.
56. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y John Stuart Mill English philosopher political economist and civil servant. most influential thinkers
in the history of liberalism contributed widely to social theory, political theory and political economy "the most influential English-
speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century." a proponent of utilitarianism, contributed significantly to the theory of the
scientific method first Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage believed that "equality of taxation" meant "equality of
sacrifice
58. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y British historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. is counted among the founders of
Ricardian school and was the father of John Stuart Mill, the philosopher of liberalism His influential History of British India
contains a complete denunciation and rejection of Indian culture and civilisation. He divided Indian history into three parts: Hindu,
Muslim and British. James Mill (born James Milne)
61. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Immanuel Kant • German philosopher who is considered the central figure of modern philosophy
Kant argued • that the human mind creates the structure of human experience, • that reason is the source of morality, • that
aesthetics arises from a faculty of disinterested judgment, • that space and time are forms of our sensibility, • and that the world
as it is "in-itself" is unknowable beliefs continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields of •
metaphysics, • epistemology, • ethics, • political theory, • and aesthetics
62. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Idea of freedom •"everything that is possible through freedom" Categories of freedom • (i) to be
free, • (ii) to be understood as free and • (iii) to be morally evaluated. In the chapter "Analytic of the Beautiful" of the Critique of
Judgment • Kant states that beauty is not a property of an artwork or natural phenomenon, but is instead a consciousness of the
pleasure that attends the 'free play' of the imagination and the understanding. Even though it appears that we are using reason to
decide what is beautiful, the judgment is not a cognitive judgment,"and is consequently not logical, but aesthetical"
63. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Johann Gottlieb Fichte German philosopher, became a founding figure of the philosophical
movement known as German idealism appreciate Fichte as an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights
into the nature of self- consciousness or self -awareness also the originator of thesis–antithesis– synthesis (Thesis– Antithesis–
Synthesis),[4] an idea that is often erroneously attributed to Hegel Fichte was motivated by the problem of subjectivity and
conscious ness has a reputation as one of the fathers of German nationalism
64. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling German philosopher Standard histories of philosophy make
him the midpoint in the development of German idealism Naturphilosophie is to exhibit the ideal as springing from the real. The
change which experience brings before us leads to the conception of duality, the polar opposition through which nature expresses
itself. The dynamical series of stages in nature are matter, as the equilibrium of the fundamental expansive and contractive forces;
light, with its subordinate processes (magnetism, electricity, and chemical action); organism, with its component phases of
reproduction, irritability and sensibility.
67. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Arthur Schopenhauer • German philosopher • best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and
Representation • developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that has been described as an exemplary manifestation
of philosophical pessimism, rejecting the contemporaneous post-Kantian philosophies of German idealism first thinkers in
Western philosophy to share and affirm significant tenets of Eastern philosophy • Einstein paraphrased his views as follows: "Man
can indeed do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants." • Fichtean principle of idealism: "The world is for a subject."
human desiring, "willing," and craving cause suffering or pain. A temporary way to escape this pain is through aesthetic
contemplation (a method comparable to Zapffe's "Sublimation"). • "Schopenhauer thought that music was the only art that did
not merely copy ideas, but actually embodied the will itself." • personal experience of an extremely great suffering that leads to
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loss of the will to live; or • knowledge of the essential nature of life in the world through observation of the suffering of other
people.
68. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Francis Herbert Bradley British idealist philosopher important work was Appearance and Reality
rejected the utilitarian and em piricist trends in English philosophy leading member of the philosophical movement known as
British idealism, addressed the central question of "Why should I be moral?" opposed individualism defending the view of self and
morality as essentially social founded on the need to cultivate our ideal "good self" in opposition to our "bad self". acknowledged
that society could not be the source of our moral life, of our quest to realise our ideal self. made the best of this admission in
suggesting[7] that the ideal self can be realised through following religion
70. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Existential philosophers
71. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to
be the first existentialist philosopher • Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single
individual" • giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice
and commitment He was against literary critics who defined idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time. •key ideas include
the concept of "Truth as Subjectivity", the knight of faith, the recollection and repetition dichotomy, angst, the infinite qualitative
distinction, faith as a passion, and the three stages on life's way •Kierkegaard has been called a philosopher, a theologian, the
Father of Existentialism, both atheistic and theistic variatio ns, a literary critic,a social theorist, a humorist, a psychologist,and a
poet Two of his influential ideas are "subjectivity",and the notion popularly referred to as "leap of faith" •The leap of faith is his
conception of how an individual would believe in God or how a person would act in love. Faith is not a decision based on evidence
that, say, certain beliefs about God are true or a certain person is worthy of love. No such evidence could ever be enough to
completely justify the kind of total commitment involved in true religious faith or romantic love. Faith involves making that
commitment anyway. Kierkegaard thought that to have faith is at the same time to have doubt.
73. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y French philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. one of the
key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenol ogy, and one of the leading figures in 20th- century French
philosophy and Marxism His work has also influenced sociology, critical theory, post- colonial theory, and literary studies, and
continues to influence these disciplines. Sartre's primary idea is that people, as humans, are "condemned to be free". Sartre said
that human beings have no essence before their existence because there is no Creator. "existence precedes essence". "We are left
alone, without excuse." "We can act without being determined by our past which is always separated from us." Sartre maintained
that the concepts of authenticity and individuality have to be earned but not learned. We need to experience "death
consciousness" so as to wake up ourselves as to what is really important; the authentic in our lives which is life experience, not
knowledge.
74. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist.
she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and fem inist theory.
believed that existence precedes essence; hence one is not born a woman, but becomes one. asserted that women are as capable
of choice as men, and thus can choose to elevate themselves moving beyond the 'immanence' to which they were previously
resigned and reaching 'transcendence', a position in which one takes responsibility for oneself and the world, where one chooses
one's freedom.
75. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Karl Theodor Jaspers German- Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher had a strong influence on
modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy points out that as we question reality, we confront borders that an empirical (or
scientific) method simply cannot transcend. point, the individual faces a choice: sink into despair and resignation, or take a leap of
faith toward what Jaspers calls Transcendence. individuals confront their own limitless freedom, which Jaspers calls Existenz, and
can finally experience authentic existence Transcendence (paired with the term The Encompassing in later works) is, for Jaspers,
that which exists beyond the world of time and space
78. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Phenomenology the study of the structure of experience. It is a broad philosophical movement
founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl, expanded upon by a circle of his followers at the universities of
Göttingen and Munich in Germany. spread to France, the United States, and elsewhere, often in contexts far removed from
Husserl's early work.
79. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Edmund Husserl Martin Heidegger Maurice Merleau- Ponty Max Scheler Phenomenological
philosophers
80. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl German philosopher who established the school of
phenomenology he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logicbas ed on analyses of intentionality develop a
systematic foundational science based on the so- called phenomenologic al reduction Arguing that transcendental con sciousness
sets the limits of all possible knowledge re-defined phenomenology as a transcendental- idealist philosophy thought profoundly
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influenced the landscape of twentieth-century philosophy, and he remains a notable figure in contemporary philosophy and
beyond. studied mathematics under Karl Weierstrass and Leo Königsberger, and philosophy under Franz Brentano and Carl
Stumpf taught philosophy as a Privatdozent at Halle from 1887, then as professor, first at Göttingen from 1901, then at Freiburg
from 1916 until he retired in 1928, after which he remained highly productive.
82. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y French phenome nological philoso pher •The constitution of meaning in human experience was
his main interest and he wrote on perception, art, and politics. •expressed his philosophical insights in writings on art, literature,
linguistics, and politics. He was the only major phenomenologist of the first half of the twentieth century to engage extensively
with the sciences and especially with descriptive psychology •emphasized the body as the primary site of knowing the world, a
corrective to the long philosophical tradition of placing consciousness as the source of knowledge, and maintained that the body
and that which it perceived could not be disentangled from each other The articulation of the primacy of embodiment led him
away from phenomenology towards what he was to call “indirect ontology” or the ontology of “the flesh of the world” (la chair du
monde), seen in his last incomplete work, The Visible and Invisible, and his last published essay, “Eye and Mind”. •developed the
concept of the body- subject as an alternative to the Cartesian "cogito." Consciousness, the world, and the human body as a
perceiving thing are intricately intertwined and mutually "engaged." •The phenomenal thing is not the unchanging object of the
natural sciences, but a correlate of our body and its sensory-motor functions. •"inexhaustible" (the hallmark of any perception
according to Merleau- Ponty). Things are that upon which our body has a "grip" (prise), while the grip itself is a function of our
connaturality with the world's things. The world and the sense of self are emergent phenomena in an ongoing "becoming." •Each
object is a "mirror of all others."
83. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Max Ferdinand Scheler German philosopher k nown for his work in phenomenology, et hics, and
philosophical anthropology. developed further the philosophical method of the founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, and
was called by José Ortega y Gasset "the first man of the philosophical paradise." "an attitude of spiritual seeing...something which
otherwise remains hidden...." phenomenology "is given only in the seeing and experiencing act itself." theory of values. • Values
are given a priori, and are "feelable" phenomena.
84. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Values and their corresponding disvalues are ranked according to their essential interconnections
as follows: Values of the holy vs. disvalues of the unholy Values of the spirit (truth, beauty, vs. disvalues of their opposites) Values
of life and the noble vs. disvalues of the vulgar Values of pleasure vs. disvalues of pain Values of utility vs. disvalues of the useless.
Further essential interconnections apply with respect to a value's (disvalue's) existence or non-existence: The existence of a
positive value is itself a positive value. The existence of a negative value (disvalue) is itself a negative value. The non-existence of a
positive value is itself a negative value. The non-existence of a negative value is itself a positive value And with respect to values of
good and evil: Good is the value that is attached to the realization of a positive value in the sphere of willing. Evil is the value that
is attached to the realization of a negative value in the sphere of willing. Good is the value that is attached to the realization of a
higher value in the sphere of willing. Evil is the value that is attached to the realization of a lower value [at the expense of a higher
one] in the sphere of willing. Goodness, however, is not simply "attached" to an act of willing, but originates ultimately within the
disposition (Gesinnung) or "basic moral tenor" of the acting person. Accordingly: The criterion of 'good' consists in the agreement
of a value intended, in the realization, with the value preferred, or in its disagreement with the value rejected. The criterion of
'evil' consists in the disagreement of a value intended, in the realization, with the value preferred, or in its agreement with the
value rejected
86. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Charles Sanders Peirce William James John Dewey Richard Rorty Pragmatist philosophers
87. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Charles Sanders Peirce American philosopher, lo gician, mathematician, and scientist who is
sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". Today he is appreciated largely for his contributions to logic, mathematics,
philosophy, scientific methodology, and semiotics, and for his founding of pragmatism. innovator in mathematics, statistics,
philosophy, research methodology, and various sciences, Peirce considered himself, first and foremost, a logician. made major
contributions to logic, but logic for him encompassed much of that which is now called epistemology and phil osophy of science
He saw logic as the formal branch of semiotics, of which he is a founder, and which foreshadowed the debate among logical
positivists and proponents of philosophy of language that dominated 20th century Western philosophy he defined the concept of
abductive reasoning, as well as rigorously formulated mathematical induction and deductive reasoning. As early as 1886 he saw
that logical operations could be carried out by electrical switching circuits; the same idea was used decades later to produce
digital computers
88. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y William James American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician first
educator to offer a psychology course in the United States one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is
believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced others have labelled him the
"Father of American psychology". he is considered to be one of the major figures associated with the philosophical school known
as pragmatism, also cited as one of the founders of functional psychology also developed the philosophical perspective known as
radical empiricism. "Anything short of God is not rational, anything more than God is not possible"
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89. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y John Dewey American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformerwhose ideas have been
influential in education and social reform primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of
the founders of functional psychology. A well-known public intellectual, he was also a major voice of progressive education and
liberalism known best for his publications about education, he also wrote about many other topics, including epistemology, metap
hysics, aesthetics, art, logic, soc ial theory, and ethics. "Democracy and the one, ultimate, ethical ideal of humanity are to my mind
synonymous."
90. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Richard McKay Rorty American philosopher. saw the idea of knowledge as a "mirror of nature" as
pervasive throughout the history of western philosophy Rorty advocated for a novel form of American pragmatism, sometimes
called neopragmatism, in which scientific and philosophical methods form merely a set of contingent "vocabularies" which people
abandon or adopt over time according to social conventions and usefulness. Abandoning representationalist accoun ts of
knowledge and language, Rorty believed, would lead to a state of mind he referred to as "ironism," in which people become
completely aware of the contingency of their placement in history and of their philosophical vocabulary Rorty tied this brand of
philosophy to the notion of "social hope"; he believed that without the representationalist accounts, and without metaphors
between the mind and the world, human society would behave more peacefully. constitutes the crucial concept of a
"postphilosophical" culture determined to abandon representationalist accounts of traditional epistemology, incorporating
American pragmatist naturalism that considers the natural sciences as an advance towards liberalism.
92. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Rudolf Carnap Gottlob Frege George Edward Moore Bertrand Russell Moritz Schlick Ludwig
Wittgenstein Analytic philosophers
93. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Rudolf Carnap German- born philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United
States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logic al positivism. He is considered "one of the
giants among twentieth- century philosophers." The purpose of logical syntax is to provide a system of concepts, a language, by
the help of which the results of logical analysis will be exactly formulable. Philosophy is to be replaced by the logic of science –
that is to say, by the logical analysis of the concepts and sentences of the sciences, for the logic of science is nothing other than
the logical syntax of the language of science.
94. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y German philosopher, logicia n, and mathematician. Considered a major figure in mathematics, he
is responsible for the development of modern logic and making contributions to the foundations of mathematics. He is also
understood by many to be the father of analytic philosophy, where he concentrated on the philosophy of language and
mathematics. invented axiomatic predi cate logic, in large part thanks to his invention of quantified variables, which eventually
became ubiquitous in mathematics and logic, and which solved the problem of multiple generality. • founders of analytic
philosophy . His contributions to the philosophy of language include: • Function–argument analysis of the proposition; •
Distinction between concept and object (Begriff und Gegenstand); • Principle of compositionality; • Context principle; •
Distinction between the sense and reference (Sinn und Bedeutung) of names and other expressions, sometimes said to involve a
mediated reference theory.
95. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y George Edward "G. E." Moore English philosopher. one of the founders of the analytic tradition in
philosophy he led the turn away from idealism in British philosophy, and became well known for his advocacy of common sense
concepts, his contributions to ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics, and "his exceptional personality and moral character."
Moore asserted that philosophical arguments can suffer from a confusion between the use of a term in a particular argument and
the definition of that term (in all arguments). He named this confusion the naturalistic fallacy. Moore's argument for the
indefinability of "good" (and thus for the fallaciousness of the "naturalistic fallacy") is often called the open- question argument
96. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, British philosopher, logician, mathematician,
historian, writer, social critic, political activist and Nobel laureate. considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he
also admitted that he had "never been any of these things, in any profound sense". Russell led the British "revolt against
idealism".He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege, colleague G. E.
Moore, and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein He is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians mostly was a
prominent anti-war activist; he championed anti-imperialism he advocated preventive nuclear war, before the opportunity
provided by the atomic monopoly is gone, and "welcomed with enthusiasm" world government
98. M o d e r n P h i l o s o p h y Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the
philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language "the most perfect example I have ever known
of genius as traditionally conceived; passionate, profound, intense, and dominating” I won't say 'See you tomorrow' because that
would be like predicting the future, and I'm pretty sure I can't do that.— Wittgenstein, 1949 Thomas Bernhard, more critically,
wrote of this period in Wittgenstein's life: "the multi-millionaire as a village schoolmaster is surely a piece of perversity." "I am not
interested in erecting a building, but in [...] presenting to myself the foundations of all possible buildings."— Wittgenstein Death is
not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but
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timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has
no limits.--Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 6.431
100. Ancient Greek philosophy
101. Ancient Greek philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy Milesian school Xenophanes Pythagoreanism Heraclitus Eleatic philosophy
Pluralism and atomism Classical Greek philosophy Hellenistic philosophy Neoplatonism Cynicism
102. Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in
which Ancient Greece was part of the Roman Empire. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics ,
metaphysics, on tology, logic, biol ogy, rhetoric, and aesthetics Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has
influenced much of Western culture since its inception Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "The safest characterization general
of the European philosophica l tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato Clear, unbroken lines of influence lead
from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers to Early Islamic philosophy, the European Renaissanc e and the Age of
Enlightenment. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn,was influenced by the older wisdom literature and mythological
cosmogonies of the ancient Near East. Martin Litchfield West gives qualified assent to this view, stating, "contact with oriental
cosmology and theolo gy helped to liberate the early Greek philosophers' imagination it certainly gave them many suggestive
ideas. But they taught themselves to reason. Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation."
103. Pre-Socratic philosophyconsidered philosophically useful because what came to be known as the "Athenian school"
(composed of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) signaled a profound shift in the subject matter and methods of philosophy The pre-
Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmolog y, ontology an d mathematics They were distinguished from "non-
philosophers" insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse
104. Pre-Socratic philosophy Democritus Dēmókritos, meaning "chosen of the people"; c. 460 – c. 370 BC) was an influential
Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopherprimarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe The
theory of Democritus held that everything is composed of "atoms", which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that
between atoms, there lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible, and have always been and always will be in motion; that
there is an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms, which differ in shape and size. Of the mass of atoms, Democritus said,
"The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is". But his exact
105. Pre-Socratic philosophy Democritus QUOTES
106. Pre-Socratic philosophy Protagoras a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his
dialogue, Protagoras, Plato credits him with having invented the role of the professional sophist. He also is believed to have
created a major controversy during ancient times through his statement that, "Man is the measure of all things", interpreted by
Plato to mean that there is no absolute truth, but that which individuals deem to be the truth : "Man is the measure of all things:
of the things that are, that they are, of the things that are not, that they are not."". The truth, according to Protagoras, is relative,
and differs according to each individual.”
107. Pre-Socratic philosophy Prodicus of Ceos was a Greek philosopher, and part of the first generation of Sophists. He came to
Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Prodicus was part of the first generation of
Sophists "He was a Sophist in the full sense of a professional freelance educator."Prodicus required that the speech should be
neither long nor short, but of the proper measure, and it is only as associated with other sophists that he is charged with
endeavouring to make the weaker cause appear strong by means of his rhetoric (thereby inspiring, e.g., Milton's description of
Belial). "His theory was that primitive man was so impressed with the gifts nature provided him for the furtherance of his life that
he believed them to be the discovery of gods or themselves to embody the godhead. This theory was not only remarkable for its
rationalism but for its discernment of a close connection between religion and agriculture."
108. Pre-Socratic philosophy Gorgias a Greek sophist, Italiote, pre-Socratic philosopher and rhetorician who was a native of
Leontini in Sicily. "Like other Sophists he was an itinerant, practicing in various cities and giving public exhibitions of his skill at the
great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi, and charged fees for his instruction and performances. A special feature of his
displays was to invite miscellaneous questions from the audience and give impromptu replies." He has been called "Gorgias the
Nihilist" although the degree to which this epithet adequately describes his philosophy is controversial Nihilismis the belief that all
values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is associated with pessimism and a radical skepticism that
condemns existence.
109. Pre-Socratic philosophy Gorgias the work developed a skeptical argument, which has been extracted from the sources and
translated as below: •Nothing exists; •Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it; and •Even if something can be
known about it, knowledge about it can't be communicated to others. •Even if it can be communicated, it cannot be understood.
110. Pre-Socratic philosophy Pericles a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the
Golden Age—specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. “For men can endure to hear others praised only
so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed,
envy comes in and with it incredulity.”
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111. Pre-Socratic philosophy Sir Richard C. Jebb concludes that "unique as an Athenian statesman, Pericles must have been in two
respects unique also as an Athenian orator; first, because he occupied such a position of personal ascendancy as no man before or
after him attained; secondly, because his thoughts and his moral force won him such renown for eloquence as no one else ever
got from Athenians" Pericles Ancient Greek writers call Pericles "Olympian" and extol his talents; referring to him "thundering and
lightening and exciting Greece" and carrying the weapons of Zeus when orating
112. Pre-Socratic philosophy Marcus Tullius Cicero a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and
constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is considered one of Rome's
greatest orators and prose stylists
113. Milesian school regarded by Aristotle as the first philosopher, held that all things arise from water. It is not because he gave a
cosmogony that John Burnet calls him the "first man of science," but because he gave a naturalistic explanation of the cosmos and
supported it with reasons. Thales of Miletus,
114. Milesian school Thales of Miletus, According to tradition, Thales was able to predict an eclipse and taught the Egyptians how
to measure the height of the pyramids Thales inspired the Milesian school of philosophy and was followed by Anaximander
115. Anaximander Milesian school who argued that the substratum or arche could not be water or any of the classical elements
but was instead something "unlimited" or "indefinite" (in Greek, the apeiron ).
116. He began from the observation that the world seems to consist of opposites (e.g., hot and cold), yet a thing can become its
opposite (e.g., a hot thing cold). Milesian school Anaximander Therefore, they cannot truly be opposites but rather must both be
manifestations of some underlying unity that is neither. This underlying unity (substratum, arche) could not be any of the classical
elements, since they were one extreme or another.For example, water is wet, the opposite of dry, while fire is dry, the opposite of
wet
117. Milesian school in turn held that the arche was air, although John Burnet argues that by this he meant that it was a
transparent mist, the aether. Anaximenes
118. Milesian school Despite their varied answers, the Milesian school was searching for a natural substance that would remain
unchanged despite appearing in different forms, and thus represents one of the first scientific attempts to answer the question
that would lead to the development of modern atomic theory; "the Milesians," says Burnet, "asked for the φύσις of all things."
119. Xenophanes Xenophanes was born in Ionia, where the Milesian school was at its most powerful, and may have picked up
some of the Milesians' cosmological theories as a result What is known is that he argued that each of the phenomena had a
natural rather than divine explanation in a manner reminiscent of Anaximander's theories and that there was only one god, the
world as a whole, and that he ridiculed the anthropomorphism of the Greek religion by claiming that cattle would claim that the
gods looked like cattle, horses like horses, and lions like lions, just as the Ethiopians claimed that the gods were snubnosed and
black and the Thracians claimed they were pale and red-haired
120. Burnet says that Xenophanes was not, however, a scientific man, with many of his "naturalistic" explanations having no
further support than that they render the Homeric gods superfluous or foolish. Xenophanes He has been claimed as an influence
on Eleatic philosophy, although that is disputed, and a precursor to Epicurus, a representative of a total break between science
and religion.
121. Pythagoreanism lived at roughly the same time that Xenophanes did and, in contrast to the latter, the school that he founded
sought to reconcile religious belief and reason. Pythagoras Little is known about his life with any reliability, however, and no
writings of his survive, so it is possible that he was simply a mystic whose successors introduced rationalism into Pythagoreanism,
that he was simply a rationalist whose successors are responsible for the mysticism in Pythagoreanism, or that he was actually the
author of the doctrine; there is no way to know for certain
122. Pythagoreanism Pythagoras Pythagoras is said to have been a disciple of Anaximander and to have imbibed the cosmological
concerns of the Ionians, including the idea that the cosmos is constructed of spheres, the importance of the infinite, and that air
or aether is the arche of everything Pythagoreanism also incorporated ascetic ideals, emphasizing purgation, metempsychosis,
and consequently a respect for all animal life; much was made of the correspondence between mathematics and the cosmos in a
musical harmony
123. Heraclitus Heraclitus must have lived after Xenophanes and Pythagoras, as he condemns them along with Homer as proving
that much learning cannot teach a man to think; since Parmenides refers to him in the past tense, this would place him in the 5th
century BCE Contrary to the Milesian school, who would have one stable element at the root of all, Heraclitus taught that
"everything flows" or "everything is in flux," the closest element to this flux being fire; he also extended the teaching that seeming
opposites in fact are manifestations of a common substrate to good and evil itself
124. Parmenides of Elea Eleatic philosophy cast his philosophy against those who held "it is and is not the same, and all things
travel in opposite directions,"—presumably referring to Heraclitus and those who followed himWhereas the doctrines of the
Milesian school, in suggesting that the substratum could appear in a variety of different guises, implied that everything that exists
is corpuscular,Parmenides argued that the first principle of being was One, indivisible, and unchanging.
125. Eleatic philosophy Parmenides of Elea Being, he argued, by definition implies eternality, while only that which is can be
thought; a thing which is, moreover, cannot be more or less, and so the rarefaction and condensation of the Milesians is
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impossible regarding Being; lastly, as movement requires that something exist apart from the thing moving (viz. the space into
which it moves), the One or Being cannot move, since this would
126. Eleatic philosophy Parmenides of Elea While this doctrine is at odds with ordinary sensory experience, where things do
indeed change and move, the Eleatic school followed Parmenides in denying that sense phenomena revealed the world as it
actually was; instead, the only thing with Being was thought, or the question of whether something exists or not is one of
127. Eleatic philosophy Parmenides of Elea In support of this, Parmenides' pupil Zeno of Elea attempted to prove that the concept
of motion was absurd and as such motion did not exist. He also attacked the subsequent development of pluralism, arguing that it
was incompatible with Being.His arguments are known as Zeno's paradoxes.
128. Pluralism and atomism The power of Parmenides' logic was such that some subsequent philosophers abandoned the monism
of the Milesians, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, where one thing was the arche, and adopted pluralism, such as
Empedocles and Anaxagoras. There were, they said, multiple elements which were not reducible to one another and these were
set in motion by love and strife (as in Empedocles) or by Mind (as in Anaxagoras)Agreeing with Parmenides that there is no
coming into being or passing away, genesis or decay, they said that things appear to come into being and pass away because the
elements out of which they are composed assemble or disassemble while themselves being unchanging.
129. Leucippus also proposed an ontological pluralism with a cosmogony based on two main elements: the vacuum and atoms
Pluralism and atomism These, by means of their inherent movement, are crossing the void and creating the real material bodies.
His theories were not well known by the time of Plato, however, and they were ultimately incorporated into the work of his
student, Democritus
130. Sophistry Sophistry arose from the juxtaposition of physis (nature) and nomos (law). John Burnet posits its origin in the
scientific progress of the previous centuries which suggested that Being was radically different from what was experienced by the
senses and, if comprehensible at all, was not comprehensible in terms of order; the world in which men lived, on the other hand,
was one of law and order, albeit of humankind's own making At the same time, nature was constant, while what was by law
differed from one place to another and could be changed.
131. Sophistry The first man to call himself a sophist, according to Plato, was Protagoras, whom he presents as teaching that all
virtue is conventional It was Protagoras who claimed that "man is the measure of all things, of the things that are, that they are,
and of the things that are not, that they are not," which Plato interprets as a radical perspectivism, where some things seem to be
one way for one person (and so actually are that way) and another way for another person (and so actually are that way as well);
the conclusion being that one cannot look to nature for guidance regarding how to live one's life
132. Classical Greek philosophy Socrates Socrates
133. Classical Greek philosophy Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western
philosophy. He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his
students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Plato's dialogues are among the most
comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is "hidden
behind his 'best disciple', Plato".
134. Classical Greek philosophy Socrates Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his
contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the
Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy
in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the
issue at hand. Plato's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and his ideologies and
approach have proven a strong foundation for much Western philosophy that has followed.
135. Classical Greek philosophy Socrates Socratic paradoxesMany of the beliefs traditionally attributed to the historical Socrates
have been characterized as "paradoxical" because they seem to conflict with common sense. The following are among the so-
called Socratic paradoxes: •No one desires evil. •No one errs or does wrong willingly or knowingly. •Virtue—all virtue—is
knowledge. •Virtue is sufficient for happiness. The term, "Socratic paradox" can also refer to a self- referential paradox,
originating in Socrates' utterance, "what I do not know I do not think I know", often paraphrased as "I know that I know nothing."
136. Classical Greek philosophy Socrates QUOTES
143. Classical Greek philosophy Platophilosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first
institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of
philosophy, especially the Western traditionPlato's entire œuvre is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years.In
addition to being a foundational figure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics, Plato has also often been cited as one
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of the founders of Western religion and spirituality. Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in
philosophy, which originate with him.
144. Classical Greek philosophy Plato The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Plato as "...one of the most dazzling
writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of
philosophy. ... He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied. But he was so self-
conscious about how philosophy should be conceived, and what its scope and ambitions properly are, and he so transformed the
intellectual currents with which he grappled, that the subject of philosophy, as it is often conceived—a rigorous and systematic
examination of ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemological issues, armed with a distinctive method—can be called his
invention. Few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle
(who studied with him), Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank.
145. Classical Greek philosophy Plato’s quotes
153. Aristotle Classical Greek philosophy a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern
periphery of Classical Greece.Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at the universal. Aristotle's ontology, however,
finds the universal in particular things, which he calls the essence of things, while in Plato's ontology, the universal exists apart
from particular things, and is related to them as their prototype or exemplar.epistemology is based on the study of particular
phenomena and rises to the knowledge of essences, while for Plato epistemology begins with knowledge of universal Forms (or
ideas) and descends to knowledge of particular imitations of theseFor Aristotle, "form" still refers to the unconditional basis of
phenomena but is "instantiated" in a particular substance Aristotle's method is both inductive and deductive, while Plato's is
essentially deductive from a priori principles
154. Classical Greek philosophy Aristotle In Aristotle's terminology, "natural philosophy" is a branch of philosophy examining the
phenomena of the natural world, and includes fields that would be regarded today as physics, biology and other natural sciences.
Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as "science" For Aristotle, "all science
(dianoia) is either practical, poetical or theoretical" (Metaphysics 1025b25). By practical science, he means ethics and politics; by
poetical science, he means the study of poetry and the other fine arts; by theoretical science, he means physics, mathematics and
metaphysics.
155. Classical Greek philosophy Aristotle If logic (or "analytics") is regarded as a study preliminary to philosophy, the divisions of
Aristotelian philosophy would consist of: and (4) Poetical Philosophy. (3) Practical Philosophy (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including
Metaphysics, Physics and Mathematics; (1) Logic;
156. Classical Greek philosophy AristotleAristotle's metaphysics contains observations on the nature of numbers but he made no
original contributions to mathematics. Aristotle proposed a fifth element, aether, in addition to the four proposed earlier by
Empedocles •Earth, which is cold and dry; this corresponds to the modern idea of a solid. •Water, which is cold and wet; this
corresponds to the modern idea of a liquid. •Air, which is hot and wet; this corresponds to the modern idea of a gas. •Fire, which
is hot and dry; this corresponds to the modern ideas of plasma and heat. •Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up the
heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and planets).
157. Classical Greek philosophy AristotleAristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about can be attributed to four
different types of simultaneously active causal factors 1. Material cause---- describes the material out of which something is
composed. Thus the material cause of a table is wood, and the material cause of a car is rubber and steel. It is not about action. It
does not mean one domino knocks over another domino.
different types of simultaneously active causal factors 2. The formal cause---- is its form, i.e., the arrangement of that matter. It
tells us what a thing is, that any thing is determined by the definition, form, pattern, essence, whole, synthesis or archetype. It
embraces the account of causes in terms of fundamental principles or general laws, as the whole (i.e., macrostructure) is the
cause of its parts, a relationship known as the whole-part causation. Plainly put, the formal cause is the idea existing in the first
place as exemplar in the mind of the sculptor, and in the second place as intrinsic, determining cause, embodied in the matter.
Formal cause could only refer to the essential quality of causation. A simple example of the formal cause is the mental image or
idea that allows an artist, architect, or engineer to create his drawings.
different types of simultaneously active causal factors 3. The efficient cause---- is "the primary source", or that from which the
change under consideration proceeds. It identifies 'what makes of what is made and what causes change of what is changed' and
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so suggests all sorts of agents, nonliving or living, acting as the sources of change or movement or rest. Representing the current
understanding of causality as the relation of cause and effect, this covers the modern definitions of "cause" as either the agent or
agency or particular events or states of affairs. So, take the two dominoes, this time of equal weighting, the first is knocked over
causing the second also to fall over.
different types of simultaneously active causal factors 4. The final cause----- is its purpose, or that for the sake of which a thing
exists or is done, including both purposeful and instrumental actions and activities. The final cause or teleos is the purpose or
function that something is supposed to serve. This covers modern ideas of motivating causes, such as volition, need, desire, ethics,
or spiritual beliefs.
161. Classical Greek philosophy Aristotle metaphysics as "the knowledge of immaterial being," or of "being in the highest degree
of abstraction." He refers to metaphysics as "first philosophy", as well as "the theologic science."
162. Classical Greek philosophy Aristotle QUOTES
179. Classical Greek philosophy The most notable schools of Hellenistic philosophy were: Hellenistic philosophy
•Neoplatonism:Plotinus(Egyptian), Ammonius Saccas, Porphyry (Syrian), Zethos (Arab), Iamblichus (Syrian), Proclus •Academic
Skepticism: Arcesilaus, Carneades, Cicero (Roman) •Pyrrhonian Skepticism: Pyrrho, Sextus Empiricus •Cynicism:Antisthenes,
Diogenes of Sinope, Crates of Thebes (taught Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism) •Stoicism: Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes,
Chrysippus, Crates of Mallus (brought Stoicism to Rome c. 170 BCE), Panaetius, Posidonius, Seneca (Roman), Epictetus
(Greek/Roman), Marcus Aurelius (Roman) •Epicureanism: Epicurus (Greek) and Lucretius(Roman) •Eclecticism: Cicero (Roman)
180. Classical Greek philosophy Hellenistic philosophy During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many different schools of
thought developed in the Hellenistic world and then the Greco-Roman world. There were Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians and
Arabs w ho contributed to the development of Hellenistic philosophy.Elements of Persian philosophy and Indian philosophy also
had an influence.
181. Classical Greek philosophy Hellenistic philosophy The spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world, followed by the
spread of Islam, ushered in the end of Hellenistic philosophy and the beginnings of Medieval philosophy, which was dominated by
the three Abrahamic traditions: Jewish philosophy, Christian philosophy, and early Islamic philosophy.
182. Classical Greek philosophy Transmission of Greek philosophy under Isla During the Middle Ages, Greek ideas were largely
forgotten in Western Europe (where, between the fall of Rome and the East-West Schism, literacy in Greek had declined sharply).
Not long after the first major expansion of Islam, however, the Abbasid caliphs authorized the gathering of Greek manuscripts and
hired translators to increase their prestige. Islamic philosophers such as Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al- Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn Sina
(Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) reinterpreted these works, and during the High Middle Ages Greek philosophy re-entered the
West through translations from Arabic to Latin. The re-introduction of these philosophies, accompanied by the new Arabic
commentaries, had a great influence on Medieval philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas.
183. Neoplatonism is a modern term used to designate a tradition of philosophy that arose in the 3rd century AD and persisted
until shortly after the closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens in AD 529 by Justinian I. Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by
Plato, but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from
Plato.It refers to the dynamic philosophical tradition that Neoplatonism was over the course of its history: to the work of Plotinus,
who is traditionally identified as the founder of Neoplatonism, and to the many thinkers after him, who developed, responded to
and criticized his ideas. Hellenistic philosophy
184. Plotinus a major Greek- speaking philosopher of the ancient world In his philosophy there are three principles: the One, the
Intellect, and the Soul Hellenistic philosophy
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185. (UK spelling scepticism; from Greek σκέψις skepsis, "inquiry") is both a philosophical school of thought and a method that
crosses disciplines and cultures. It is generally agreed that knowledge requires justification. It is not enough to have a true belief:
one must also have good reasons for that belief. Skeptics claim that it is not possible to have an adequate justification. Hellenistic
philosophy
186. Skepticism is not a single position but covers a range of different positions. In the ancient world there were two main
skeptical traditions. took the dogmatic position that knowledge was not possible; refused to take a dogmatic position on any
issue—including skepticism. ends in the paradoxical claim that one cannot know anything—including that one cannot know about
knowing anything. Hellenistic philosophy
187. Skepticism can also be classified according to its method. In the Western tradition there are two basic approaches to
skepticism. , named somewhat misleadingly after René Descartes who was not a skeptic but used some traditional skeptical
arguments in his Meditations to help establish his rationalist approach to knowledge, attempts to show that any proposed
knowledge claim can be doubted. focuses on the process of justification rather than the possibility of doubt. Hellenistic
philosophy
188. Philosophical skepticism is distinguished from methodological skepticism in that philosophical skepticism is an approach that
questions the possibility of certainty in knowledge, whereas methodological skepticism is an approach that subjects all knowledge
claims to scrutiny with the goal of sorting out true from false claims. Hellenistic philosophy
189. Skepticism can be classified according to its scope. involves being skeptical about particular areas of knowledge, e.g. moral
skepticism, skepticism about the external world, or skepticism about other minds, whereas is skeptical about the possibility of any
knowledge at all. Hellenistic philosophy
190. Hellenistic philosophy was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BCE and recorded by Sextus
Empiricus in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century CE. It was named after Pyrrho, a philosopher who lived from c. 360 to c. 270
BCE, although the relationship between the philosophy of the school and that of the historical figure is unclear. A revival of the
use of the term occurred during the 17th century.
191. a modern, fundamental perspective of the scientific method, as put forth by Karl Popper and Charles Sanders Peirce, that all
knowledge is, at best, an approximation, and that any scientist must always stipulate this in his or her research and findings. It is,
in effect, a modernized extension of Pyrrhonism. Indeed, historic Pyrrhonists are sometimes described by modern authors as
fallibilists. Modern fallibilists also are sometimes described as pyrrhonists.
192. Pyrrhoa Greek philosopher of Classical Antiquity, was a student of Eastern philosophy and is credited as being the first Greek
skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.
Pyrrho is renowned for creating the first formal approach to skepticism in Western Philosophy: Pyrrhonism. Pyrrho summarized
his philosophy as follows: "Whoever wants to be happy (eudaimonia) must consider these three questions: First, how are
pragmata (ethical matters, affairs, topics) by nature? Secondly, what attitude should we adopt towards them? Thirdly, what will
be the outcome for those who have this attitude?" Pyrrho's answer is that "As for pragmata they are all
adiaphora(undifferentiated by a logical differentia), astathmēta (unstable, unbalanced, not measurable), and anepikrita
(unjudged, unfixed, undecidable). Therefore, neither our sense-perceptions nor our doxai (views, theories, beliefs) tell us the truth
or lie; so we certainly should not rely on them. Rather, we should be adoxastous(without views), aklineis (uninclined toward this
side or that), and akradantous(unwavering in our refusal to choose), saying about every single one that it no more is than it is not
or it both is and is not or it neither is nor is not.
193. Pyrrho Adiaphora, astathmēta, and anepikrita are strikingly similar to the Buddhist Three marks of existence, suggesting that
Pyrrho's teaching is based on what he learned in India, which is what Diogenes Laertius reported. The main principle of Pyrrho's
thought is expressed by the word acatalepsia, which connotes the ability to withhold assent from doctrines regarding the truth of
things in their own nature; against every statement its contradiction may be advanced with equal justification.
194. Sextus Empiricus was a physician and philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or
Athens. His philosophical work is the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman skepticism. Pyrrhonism is
more a mental attitude or therapy than a theory. It involves setting things in opposition and owing to the equipollence of the
objects and reasons, one suspends judgement. "We oppose either appearances to appearances or objects of thought to objects of
thought or alternando."
195. Sextus Empiricus The ten modes of Pyrrhonism These ten modes or tropes were originally listed by Aenesidemus. •"Based on
positions, distances, and locations; for owing to each of these the same objects appear different." The same tower appears
rectangular at close distance and round from far away. The moon looks like a perfect sphere to the human eye, yet cratered from
the view of a telescope •The same impressions are not produced by the same objects owing to the differences among the
senses.•Owing to the "circumstances, conditions or dispositions," the same objects appear different. The same temperature, as
established by instrument, feels very different after an extended period of cold winter weather (it feels warm) than after mild
weather in the autumn (it feels cold). Time appears slow when young and fast as aging proceeds. Honey tastes sweet to most but
bitter to someone with jaundice. A person with influenza will feel cold and shiver even though she is hot with a fever. . •"The
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same impressions are not produced by the same objects owing to the differences in animals." •The same impressions are not
produced by the same objects owing to the differences among human beings.
196. Sextus Empiricus The ten modes of Pyrrhonism These ten modes or tropes were originally listed by Aenesidemus. •“We
deduce that since no object strikes us entirely by itself, but along with something else, it may perhaps be possible to say what the
mixture compounded out of the external object and the thing perceived with it is like, but we would not be able to say what the
external object is like by itself." •"Based, as we said, on the quantity and constitution of the underlying objects, meaning generally
by "constitution" the manner of composition." So, for example, goat horn appears black when intact and appears white when
ground up. Snow appears white when frozen and translucent as a liquid. •"Since all things appear relative, we will suspend
judgement about what things exist absolutely and really existent.Do things which exist "differentially" as opposed to those things
that have a distinct existence of their own, differ from relative things or not? If they do not differ, then they too are relative; but if
they differ, then, since everything which differs is relative to something..., things which exist absolutely are relative." •"Based on
constancy or rarity of occurrence." The sun is more amazing than a comet, but because we see and feel the warmth of the sun
daily and the comet rarely, the latter commands our attention.[ •"There is a Tenth Mode, which is mainly concerned with Ethics,
being based on rules of conduct, habits, laws, legendary beliefs, and dogmatic conceptions."
197. Sextus Empiricus Superordinate to these ten modes stand three other modes: •I: that based on the subject who judges
(modes 1, 2, 3 & 4). •II: that based on the object judged (modes 7 & 10). •III: that based on both subject who judges and object
judged (modes 5, 6, 8 & 9) Superordinate to these three modes is the mode of relation.[25]
198. Cynicism (philosophy) a school of Ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the Cynics (Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici). For the
Cynics, the purpose of life was to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. As reasoning creatures, people could gain happiness by
rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for themselves, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex
and fame. Instead, they were to lead a simple life free from all possessions Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the
Hellenistic philosophies. It offered people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty.
199. Cynicism (philosophy) Although there was never an official Cynic doctrine, the fundamental principles of Cynicism can be
summarised as follows •The goal of life is eudaimonia and mental clarity or lucidity (ἁτυφια) - freedom from smoke (τύφος) which
signified ignorance, mindlessness, folly, and conceit. •Eudaimonia is achieved by living in accord with Nature as understood by
human reason. •Arrogance (τύφος) is caused by false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions, unnatural desires, and
a vicious character. •Eudaimonia, or human flourishing, depends on self-sufficiency (αὐτάρκεια), equanimity, arete, love of
humanity, parrhesia and indifference to the vicissitudes of life (ἁδιαφορία). •One progresses towards flourishing and clarity
through ascetic practices (ἄσκησις) which help one become free from influences – such as wealth, fame, and power – that have
no value in Nature. Examples include Diogenes' practice of living in a tub and walking barefoot in winter. •A Cynic practices
shamelessness or impudence (Αναιδεια) and defaces the nomos of society; the laws, customs, and social conventions which
people take for granted.
200. Cynicism (philosophy) Antisthenes was a Greek philosopher and a pupil of Socrates. Antisthenes first learned rhetoric under
Gorgias before becoming an ardent disciple of Socrates. He adopted and developed the ethical side of Socrates' teachings,
advocating an ascetic life lived in accordance with virtue. Later writers regarded him as the founder of Cynic philosophy. "He
would prove that virtue can be taught; and that nobility belongs to none other than the virtuous. And he held virtue to be
sufficient in itself to ensure happiness, since it needed nothing else except the strength of a Socrates. And he maintained that
virtue is an affair of deeds and does not need a store of words or learning; that the wise man is self-sufficing, for all the goods of
others are his; that ill repute is a good thing and much the same as pain; that the wise man will be guided in his public acts not by
the established laws but by the law of virtue; that he will also marry in order to have children from union with the handsomest
women; furthermore that he will not disdain to love, for only the wise man knows who are worthy to be loved"
201. Cynicism (philosophy) Antisthenes he imbibed the fundamental ethical precept that virtue, not pleasure, is the end of
existence. Everything that the wise person does, Antisthenes said, conforms to perfect virtue, and pleasure is not only
unnecessary, but a positive evil. He is reported to have held pain and even ill-repute (Greek: ἀδοξία) to be blessings, and said that
"I'd rather be mad than feel pleasure".The supreme good he placed in a life lived according to virtue, – virtue consisting in action,
which when obtained is never lost, and exempts the wise person from error.It is closely connected with reason, but to enable it to
develop itself in action, and to be sufficient for happiness, it requires the aid of Socratic strength (Greek: Σωκρατικὴ ἱσχύς
202. Cynicism (philosophy) Diogenes of Sinope a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as
Diogenes the Cynic (Ancient Greek: Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός, Diogenēs ho Kunikos), he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey),
an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC. Diogenes is considered one of the founders of
CynicismDiogenes maintained that all the artificial growths of society were incompatible with happiness and that morality implies
a return to the simplicity of nature. "Humans have complicated every simple gift of the gods."
203. Cynicism (philosophy) Crates of Thebes was a Cynic philosopher. Crates gave away his money to live a life of poverty on the
streets of Athens. He married Hipparchia of Maroneia who lived in the same manner that he did. Respected by the people of
Athens, he is remembered for being the teacher of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Various fragments of Crates' teachings
survive, including his description of the ideal Cynic state. "What will be in it for me after I become a philosopher?" "You will be
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able," he said, "to open your wallet easily and with your hand scoop out and dispense lavishly instead of, as you do now,
squirming and hesitating and trembling like those with paralyzed hands. Rather, if the wallet is full, that is how you will view it;
and if you see that it is empty, you will not be distressed. And once you have elected to use the money, you will easily be able to
do so; and if you have none, you will not yearn for it, but you will live satisfied with what you have, not desiring what you do not
have nor displeased with whatever comes your way."
204. rnf
205. the present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the end of the 19th century with the professionalization
of the discipline and the rise of analytic and continental philosophy The phrase "contemporary philosophy" is a piece of technical
terminology in philosophy that refers to a specific period in the history of Western philosophy. However, the phrase is often
confused with modern philosophy (which refers to an earlier period in Western philosophy), postmodern philosophy (which refers
to continental philosophers' criticisms of modern philosophy), and with a non-technical use of the phrase referring to any recent
philosophic work.
206. The term ‘contemporary philosophy’ refers to the current era of philosophy, generally dealing with philosophers from the
late nineteenth century through to the twenty-first. The nineteenth century also began to see a division in the approach to
philosophy being taken in different areas of western philosophy. In the United Kingdom and North America, a focus on logic,
language and the natural sciences was becoming predominent in philosophy, and this tradition was labeled analytic philosophy.
Those who did not find themselves in this analytic trend were mostly based in Europe, and the idea of continental philosophy was
born. The names are already considered obsolte, in some senses, but many philosophers still observe a difference between the
logical and scientific approach of analytic philosophy and the existentialism, phenomenology and other approaches of continental
philosophy.
207. Contemporary philosophers Leo Tolstoy (1828– 1910) Charles Sanders Peirce (1839– 1914) Friedrich Nietzsche (184 4–1900)
Gottlob Frege (1848– 1925) Alexius Meinong (185 3–1920) Giuseppe Peano (1858– 1932) Edmund Husserl (1859– 1938) Henri
Bergson (1859 –1941) Alfred North Whitehead (18 61–1947) Bertrand Russell (1872– 1970) Henry M. Sheffer (1882– 1964) Franz
Kafka (1883– 1924) Karl Jaspers (1883– 1969) Ludwig Wittgenstein ( 1889–1951) Gabriel Marcel (1889– 1973) Martin Heidegger
(188 9–1976) Rudolf Carnap (1891– 1970) Gilbert Ryle (1900– 1976) Alfred Tarski (1901– 1983) Karl Popper (1902– 1994) Jean-
Paul Sartre (1905– 1980) Kurt Gödel (1906– 1978) Simone de Beauvoir (1908 –1986) W. V. O. Quine (1908– 2000) Albert Camus
(1913– 1960) John Rawls (1921– 2002) Thomas Kuhn (1922– 1996) Hilary Putnam (1926 — ) Edmund Gettier (1927 — ) Jürgen
Habermas (192 9– ) Harry Frankfurt (192 9— ) Jaakko Hintikka (1929 — ) Jacques Derrida (1930– 2004) Carl Ginet (1932— ) Alvin
Plantinga (193 2– ) John Searle (1932— ) Thomas Nagel (1937— ) Robert Nozick (1938– 2002) Alvin Goldman (193 8– ) Saul Kripke
(1940— ) Frank Jackson (1943 — ) Peter Singer (1946— ) David Chalmers (196 6— )
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Ancient Philosophy
Ancient philosophy is philosophy in antiquity, or before the end of the Roman Empire. It usually refers to ancient Greek
philosophy. It can also encompass various other intellectual traditions, such as Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, and Iranian
philosophy. Ancient philosophies are generally deeply rooted in religious traditions. Accordingly, ancient philosophies have a
comprehensive outlook as opposed to modern or contemporary philosophies, which tend to have more narrow methodologies
and areas of focus.
In the Western tradition, ancient philosophy was developed primarily by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Ancient philosophy,
however, also includes the Pre-Socratics, Hellenistic philosophy, and Roman philosophy. Ancient philosophy in the West is
distinguished from Medieval philosophy, which was largely influenced by Christianity and Islam. Ancient philosophies from non-
Western traditions, such as Chinese or Indian philosophy, often have strong ethical or religious concerns that continue to be major
parts of the traditions today.
General characteristics
The term ancient philosophy encompasses a variety of thoughts that emerged from the early stages of various intellectual
traditions. However, not all ideas are considered philosophies since philosophy includes, as its primary component, a rational self-
refection and conceptualization of thought.
Major philosophies include: ancient Greek and Roman philosophy in the West, which date approximately from the sixth century
B.C.E. through the third century C.E.; Chinese philosophy including Yin-yang philosophy, Taoism, Confucianism; Indian philosophy
including Upanishads and Vedic traditions, Jainism, Buddhist philosophy, and Hindu philosophy; and ancient Iranian philosophy
including Zoroastrianism.
Each philosophy has some distinct characteristics which reflect intellectual climates, problematics, issues, and approaches; despite
these differences, however, these philosophies have some factors in common.
First, ancient philosophy tends to have a comprehensive perspective which includes a wide range of components, including myth,
religious beliefs, ethics, literature, cosmology, and theories of nature. The synthetic characteristic of ancient philosophy is
different from modern and contemporary philosophies in that modern and contemporary philosophies tend to focus on specific,
often narrower, areas and their approaches are accompanied with clearer methodological awareness. Because of its synthetic
character, thought processes found in ancient philosophy also differs from those of modern philosophy. For example, the Pre-
Socratics in ancient Greek philosophy presented their metaphysical arguments in poetic verse and their arguments are inflected
with religious-ethical themes such as divine justice and salvation of the soul. In ancient Chinese philosophy, metaphysics is also
fused with natural philosophy, ethics, and is often extended to political philosophy. Because of their comprehensiveness, the
interpretation of ancient philosophy requires an understanding of an entire framework of thought.
Second, ancient philosophy is often deeply rooted in religious traditions. Modern and contemporary philosophy tend to develop
philosophy as an autonomous discipline independent of religious traditions. This tendency is most evident in the development of
modern and contemporary Western philosophy, which is the main stream of contemporary philosophy. For example, Indian
philosophy is deeply rooted in Upanishad, Vedas, Hinduism, and others. Even Plato's philosophy is built within the framework that
presupposes such beliefs as immortality of the soul, redemption, and divine justice.
Western philosophy
Ancient philosophy in the West refers to philosophies that date from approximately the sixth century B.C.E. to about the third
century C.E. and includes the philosophies of the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and those developed in Hellenistic and
Roman periods.
The pinnacle of ancient philosophy is the classical Greek philosophy as developed by Plato and Aristotle. These two philosophers
defined the issues, philosophical vocabularies, methodologies, and types of discourses of philosophy as a discipline and influenced
the entire tradition of philosophy. Their philosophies are far more comprehensive than those of other philosophers in antiquity.
Presocratic philosophers
Milesian School
Thales (624-546 B.C.E.)
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Anaximander (610-546 B.C.E.)
Anaximenes (585-525 B.C.E.)
Pythagoreans
Pythagoras (582-507 B.C.E.)
Alcmaeon of Croton
Archytas (428-347 B.C.E.)
Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.E.)
Pluralist School
Empedocles (490-430 B.C.E.)
Anaxagoras (500-428 B.C.E.)
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the elder) (fifth century B.C.E.)
Eleatics
Parmenides (515-450 B.C.E.)
Zeno of Elea (490-430 B.C.E.)
Diogenes of Apollonia (460-? B.C.E.)
Philolaus (480-405 B.C.E.)
Melissus of Samos (470-? B.C.E.)
Xenophanes (570-480 B.C.E.)
Atomists
Leucippus (first half of fifth century B.C.E.)
Democritus (460-370 B.C.E.)
Metrodorus of Chios (fourth century B.C.E.)
Pherecydes of Syros (sixth century B.C.E.)
Sophists
Gorgias (483-375 B.C.E.)
Protagoras (481-420 B.C.E.)
Antiphon (480-411 B.C.E.)
Prodicus (465/450-after 399 B.C.E.)
Hippias (middle of the fifth century B.C.E.)
Thrasymachus (459-400 B.C.E.)
Callicles
Critias
Lycophron
Classical Greek philosophers
Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)
Euclid of Megara (450-380 B.C.E.)
Antisthenes (445-360 B.C.E.)
Aristippus (435-356 B.C.E.)
Plato (428-347 B.C.E.)
Speusippus (407-339 B.C.E.)
Diogenes of Sinope (400-325 B.C.E.)
Xenocrates (396-314 B.C.E.)
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
Stilpo (380-300 B.C.E.)
Theophrastus (370-288 B.C.E.)
Hellenistic philosophy
Pyrrho (365-275 B.C.E.)
Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger) (331–278 B.C.E.)
Zeno of Citium (333-263 B.C.E.)
Cleanthes (331-232 B.C.E.)
Timon (320-230 B.C.E.)
Arcesilaus (316-232 B.C.E.)
Menippus (third century B.C.E.)
Archimedes (c. 287-212 B.C.E.)
Chrysippus (280-207 B.C.E.)
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Carneades (214-129 B.C.E.)
Kleitomachos (187-109 B.C.E.)
Metrodorus of Stratonicea (late second century B.C.E.)
Philo of Larissa (160-80 B.C.E.)
Posidonius (135-51 B.C.E.)
Antiochus of Ascalon (130-68 B.C.E.)
Aenesidemus (first century B.C.E.)
Philo of Alexandria (30 B.C.E. - 45 C.E.)
Agrippa (first century C.E.)
Hellenistic schools of thought
Cynicism
Epicureanism
Hedonism
Eclecticism
Neo-Platonism
Skepticism
Stoicism
Sophism
Philosophers during Roman times
Cicero (106-43 B.C.E.)
Lucretius (94-55 B.C.E.)
Seneca (4 B.C.E. - 65 C.E.)
Musonius Rufus (30 C.E. - 100 C.E.)
Plutarch (45-120 C.E.)
Epictetus (55-135 C.E.)
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 C.E.)
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 C.E.)
Alcinous (second century C.E.)
Sextus Empiricus (third century C.E.)
Alexander of Aphrodisias (third century C.E.)
Ammonius Saccas (third century C.E.)
Plotinus (205-270 C.E.)
Porphyry (232-304 C.E.)
Iamblichus (242-327 C.E.)
Themistius (317-388 C.E.)
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.)
Proclus (411-485 C.E.)
Philoponus of Alexandria (490-570 C.E.)
Damascius (462-540 C.E.)
Boethius (472-524 C.E.)
Simplicius of Cilicia (490-560 C.E.)
Chinese philosophy
Main article: Chinese philosophy
Yin-Yang philosophy is probably the oldest among classic Chinese philosophy. It is a comprehensive metaphysics built upon the
principle of Yin and Yang, which encompasses both natural phenomena and human affairs. Centuries later, it was applied to
various areas and disciplines including medical science, nutrition theory, art, martial art, and others.
Practical orientation is a distinctive characteristic of Chinese philosophy and it has guided its entire tradition since antiquity.
Unlike western philosophy, there is a continuity of thought from ancient to contemporary. Ancient philosophy which guided the
entire tradition includes Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. These philosophies are all deeply rooted in or fused into religious
and ethical thoughts.
Chinese philosophy—Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism

Buddhist philosophy arose in India but contributions to it were also made in China, Japan, and Korea.
Eastern philosophy
Indian philosophy
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Main article: Indian philosophy
Vedic philosophy
Indian philosophy begins with the Vedas where questions related to laws of nature, the origin of the universe and the place of
man in it are asked. In the famous Rigvedic Hymn of Creation the poet says:
"Whence all creation had its origin, he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not, he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows—or maybe even he does not know."
In the Vedic view, creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being (Purusha). This leads to the inquiry into the
one being that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things. Cosmic order is termed rta and causal
law by karma. Nature (prakriti) is taken to have three qualities (sattva, rajas, and tamas).
Vedas
Upanishads
Hindu philosophy
Classical Indian philosophy
In classical times, these inquiries were systematized in six schools of philosophy. Some of the questions asked were:
What is the ontological nature of consciousness?

How is cognition itself experienced?
Is mind (chit) intentional or not?
Does cognition have its own structure?
The Six schools of Indian philosophy are:
Nyaya
Vaisheshika
Samkhya
Yoga
Mimamsa (Purva Mimamsa)
Vedanta (Uttara Mimamsa)
Other traditions of Indian philosophy include:
Hindu philosophy
Buddhist philosophy
Jain philosophy
Sikh philosophy
Carvaka (atheist) philosophy
Some ancient philosophers:
Asanga (c. 300), exponent of the Yogacara

Bhartrihari (c 450–510 C.E.), early figure in Indic linguistic theory
Bodhidharma (c. 440–528 C.E.), founder of the Zen school of Buddhism
Chanakya (c.350 - c.275 B.C.E.) , author of Arthashastra, professor (acharya) of political science at the Takshashila University
Dignāga (c. 500), one of the founders of Buddhist school of Indian logic.
Gautama Buddha (563 B.C.E. - 483 B.C.E.), founder of Buddhist school of thought
Gotama (c. second to third century C.E.), wrote the Nyaya Sutras, considered to be the foundation of the Nyaya school.
Kanada (c. 600 B.C.E.), founded the philosophical school of Vaisheshika, gave theory of atomism
Jaimini, author of Purva Mimamsa Sutras
Kapila (c. 500 B.C.E.), proponent of the Samkhya system of philosophy
Nagarjuna (c. 150 - 250 C.E.), the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Panini (520–460 B.C.E.), grammarian, author of Ashtadhyayi
Patañjali (between 200 B.C.E. and 400 C.E.), developed the philosophy of Raja Yoga in his Yoga Sutras.
Pingala (c. 500 B.C.E.), author of the Chandas shastra
Syntipas (c. 100 B.C.E.), author of The Story of the Seven Wise Masters.
Tiruvalluvar (between 100 B.C.E. and 300 C.E.), author of Thirukkural, one of the greatest ethical works in Tamil language
Vasubandhu (c. 300 C.E.), one of the main founders of the Indian Yogacara school.
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Vyasa, author of several important works in Hindu philosophy
Yajnavalkya (c. 800 B.C.E.), linked to philosophical teachings of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, and the apophatic teaching of 'neti
neti' etc.
Old Iranian philosophy
While there are ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian
philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences in their implications for the human being's position in
society and their view on the role of man in the universe. The first charter of human rights by Cyrus the Great is widely seen as a
reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zarathustra and developed in Zoroastrian schools of thought.
Zoroastrianism
Zarathustra
Avesta
Gathas
Mazdakism
Manichaeism
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Medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is a term used to refer to the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending
from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the Renaissance in the 15th century.[1] Medieval philosophy,
understood as a project of independent philosophical inquiry, began in Baghdad, in the middle of the 8th century,[1] and in
France, in the itinerant court of Charlemagne, in the last quarter of the 8th century.[1][2] It is defined partly by the process of
rediscovering the ancient culture developed in Greece and Rome during the Classical period,[1] and partly by the need to address
theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine with secular learning.
The history of medieval philosophy is traditionally divided into two main periods: the period in the Latin West following the Early
Middle Ages until the 12th century, when the works of Aristotle and Plato were rediscovered, translated, and studied upon, and
the "golden age" of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of
ancient philosophy, along with the reception of its Arabic commentators,[1] and significant developments in the fields of
philosophy of religion, logic, and metaphysics.
The Medieval Era was disparagingly treated by the Renaissance humanists, who saw it as a barbaric "middle period" between the
Classical age of Greek and Roman culture, and the rebirth or renaissance of Classical culture.[1] Modern historians consider the
medieval era to be one of philosophical development, heavily influenced by Christian theology. One of the most notable thinkers
of the era, Thomas of Aquinas, never considered himself a philosopher, and criticized philosophers for always "falling short of the
true and proper wisdom".[3]
The problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence and simplicity of God, the
purpose of theology and metaphysics, and the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.
Characteristics
Medieval philosophy places heavy emphasis on the theological.[5] With the possible exceptions of Avicenna and Averroes,
medieval thinkers did not consider themselves philosophers at all: for them, the philosophers were the ancient pagan writers such
as Plato and Aristotle.[4]:1 However, their theology used the methods and logical techniques of the ancient philosophers to
address difficult theological questions and points of doctrine. Thomas Aquinas, following Peter Damian, argued that philosophy is
the handmaiden of theology (ancilla theologiae).[4]:35 Despite this view of philosophy as the servant of theology, this did not
prevent the medievals from developing original and innovative philosophies against the backdrop of their theological projects. For
instance, such thinkers as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas of Aquinas made monumental breakthroughs in the philosophy of
temporality and metaphysics, respectively.
The principles that underlie all the medieval philsophers' work are:
The use of logic, dialectic, and analysis to discover the truth, known as ratio;
Respect for the insights of ancient philosophers, in particular Aristotle, and deference to their authority (auctoritas);
The obligation to co-ordinate the insights of philosophy with theological teaching and revelation (concordia).[4]:3–5
One of the most heavily debated topics of the period was that of faith versus reason. Avicenna and Averroes both leaned more on
the side of reason. Augustine stated that he would never allow his philosophical investigations to go beyond the authority of
God.[6]:27 Anselm attempted to defend against what he saw as partly an assault on faith, with an approach allowing for both faith
and reason. The Augustinian solution to the faith/reason problem is to (1) believe, and then (2) seek to understand (fides
quaerens intellectum).
History
Early medieval Christian philosophy
The boundaries of the early medieval period are a matter of controversy.[4]:1 It is generally agreed that it begins with Augustine
(354–430)[citation needed] who strictly belongs to the classical period, and ends with the lasting revival of learning in the late
eleventh century, at the beginning of the high medieval period.
After the collapse of the Roman empire, Western Europe lapsed into the so-called Dark Ages. Monasteries were among the
limited number of focal points of formal academic learning, which might be presumed to be a result of a rule of St Benedict's in
525, which required monks to read the Bible daily, and his suggestion that at the beginning of Lent, a book be given to each monk.
In later periods, monks were used for training administrators and churchmen.[4]:45
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Early Christian thought, in particular in the patristic period, tends to be intuitional and mystical, and is less reliant on reason and
logical argument. It also places more emphasis on the sometimes-mystical doctrines of Plato, and less upon the systematic
thinking of Aristotle. Much of the work of Aristotle was unknown in the West in this period. Scholars relied on translations by
Boethius into Latin of Aristotle's Categories, the logical work On Interpretation, and his Latin translation of Porphyry's Isagoge, a
commentary on Aristotle's Categories.
Two Roman philosophers had a great influence on the development of medieval philosophy: Augustine and Boethius. Augustine is
regarded as the greatest of the Church Fathers. He is primarily a theologian and a devotional writer, but much of his writing is
philosophical. His themes are truth, God, the human soul, the meaning of history, the state, sin, and salvation. For over a
thousand years, there was hardly a Latin work of theology or philosophy that did not quote his writing, or invoke his authority.
Some of his writing had an influence on the development of early modern philosophy, such as that of Descartes.[7]:15 Anicius
Manlius Severinus Boethius (480 c.–524) was a Christian philosopher born in Rome to an ancient and influential family. He
became consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. His influence on the early medieval period was also marked (so much so
that it is sometimes called the Boethian period).[8] He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original
Greek into Latin, and translated many of Aristotle's logical works, such as On Interpretation, and the Categories. He wrote
commentaries on these works, and on the Isagoge by Porphyry (a commentary on the Categories). This introduced the problem of
universals to the medieval world.[7]:114–117
The first significant renewal of learning in the West came when Charlemagne, advised by Candidus, Peter of Pisa and Alcuin of
York, attracted the scholars of England and Ireland, and by imperial decree in 787 AD established schools in every abbey in his
empire. These schools, from which the name Scholasticism is derived, became centres of medieval learning.
Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815 – 877), successor of Alcuin of York as head of the Palace School, was an Irish theologian and
Neoplatonic philosopher. He is notable for having translated and made commentaries upon the work of Pseudo-Dionysius, initially
thought to be from the apostolic age. Around this period several doctrinal controversies emerged, such as the question of
whether God had predestined some for salvation and some for damnation. Eriugena was called in to settle this dispute. At the
same time, Paschasius Radbertus raised an important question about the real presence of Christ at the Eucharist. Is the host the
same as Christ's historical body? How can it be present at many places and many times? Radbertus argued that Christ's real body
is present, veiled by the appearance of bread and wine, and is present at all places and all times, by means of God's
incomprehensible power.[4]:397–406
This period also witnessed a revival of scholarship. At Fleury, Theodulphus, bishop of Orléans, established a school for young
noblemen recommended there by Charlemagne. By the mid-ninth century, its library was one of the most comprehensive ever
assembled in the West, and scholars such as Lupus of Ferrières (d. 862) traveled there to consult its texts. Later, under St. Abbo of
Fleury (abbot 988–1004), head of the reformed abbey school, Fleury enjoyed a second golden age.[9]:1
Remigius of Auxerre, at the beginning of the tenth century, produced glosses or commentaries on the classical texts of Donatus,
Priscian, Boethius, and Martianus Capella. The Carolingian period was followed by a small dark age that was followed by a lasting
revival of learning in the eleventh century, which owed much to the rediscovery of Greek thought from Arabic translations and
Muslim contributions such as Avicenna's On the soul.[10]
High Middle Ages

The period from the middle of the eleventh century to the middle of the fourteenth century is known as the 'High medieval' or
'scholastic' period. It is generally agreed to begin with Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) an Italian philosopher, theologian,
and church official who is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God.
The 13th and early 14th centuries are generally regarded as the high period of scholasticism. The early 13th century witnessed the
culmination of the recovery of Greek philosophy. Schools of translation grew up in Italy and Sicily, and eventually in the rest of
Europe. Scholars such as Adelard of Bath travelled to Sicily and the Arab world, translating works on astronomy and mathematics,
including the first complete translation of Euclid’s Elements.[11] Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy
and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige.[12] William of Moerbeke's translations and editions of Greek
philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped in forming a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, and in
particular of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions they had previously relied on, which had distorted or obscured the
relation between Platonic and Aristotelian systems of philosophy.[13] His work formed the basis of the major commentaries that
followed.
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The universities developed in the large cities of Europe during this period, and rival clerical orders within the Church began to
battle for political and intellectual control over these centers of educational life. The two main orders founded in this period were
the Franciscans and the Dominicans. The Franciscans were founded by Francis of Assisi in 1209. Their leader in the middle of the
century was Bonaventure, a traditionalist who defended the theology of Augustine and the philosophy of Plato, incorporating only
a little of Aristotle in with the more neoplatonist elements.[7]:4By contrast, the Dominican order, founded by St Dominic in 1215
placed more emphasis on the use of reason and made extensive use of the new Aristotelian sources derived from the East, and
Moorish Spain. The great representatives of Dominican thinking in this period were Albertus Magnus and (especially) Thomas
Aquinas, whose artful synthesis of Greek rationalism and Christian doctrine eventually came to define Catholic philosophy.
Aquinas placed more emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's
metaphysical and epistemological writing. This was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that
had dominated much of early Scholasticism. Aquinas showed how it was possible to incorporate much of the philosophy of
Aristotle without falling into the "errors" of the Commentator Averroes.
At the start of the 20th century, historian and philosopher Martin Grabmann was the first scholar to work out the outlines of the
ongoing development of thought in scholasticism and to see in Thomas Aquinas a response and development of thought rather
than a single, coherently emerged and organic whole. Although Grabmann's works in German are numerous, only Thomas
Aquinas (1928) is available in English. However, Grabmann's thought was instrumental in the whole modern understanding of
scholasticism and the pivotal role of Aquinas.54 Following Anselm, Bonaventure supposed that reason can discover truth only
when philosophy is illuminated by religious faith. Other important Franciscan writers were Duns Scotus, Peter Auriol, and William
of Ockham.
Topics
All the main branches of philosophy today were a part of Medieval philosophy. Medieval philosophy also included most of the
areas originally established by the pagan philosophers of antiquity, in particular Aristotle. However, the discipline now called
Philosophy of religion was, it is presumed, a unique development of the Medieval era, and many of the problems that define the
subject first took shape in the Middle Ages, in forms that are still recognisable today.
Theology
Medieval philosophy is characteristically theological. Subjects discussed in this period include:
 The problem of the compatibility of the divine attributes: How are the attributes traditionally ascribed to the Supreme
Being, such as unlimited power, knowledge of all things, infinite goodness, existence outside time, immateriality, and so
on, logically consistent with one another?
 The problem of evil: The classical philosophers had speculated on the nature of evil, but the problem of how an all-
powerful, all-knowing, loving God could create a system of things in which evil exists first arose in the medieval period.
 The problem of free will: A similar problem was to explain how 'divine foreknowledge' – God's knowledge of what will
happen in the future – is compatible with our belief in our own free will.
 Questions regarding the immortality of the intellect, the unity or non-unity between the soul and the intellect, and the
consequent intellectual basis for believing in the immortality of the soul.
 The question of whether there can be substances which are non-material, for example, angels.
Metaphysics
After the 'rediscovery' of Aristotle's Metaphysics in the mid-twelfth century, many scholastics wrote commentaries on this work
(in particular Aquinas and Scotus). The problem of universals was one of the main problems engaged during that period. Other
subjects included:
Hylomorphism – development of the Aristotelian doctrine that individual things are a compound of material and form (the statue
is a compound of granite, and the form sculpted into it)
Existence – being qua being
Causality – Discussion of causality consisted mostly of commentaries on Aristotle, mainly the Physics, On the Heavens, On
Generation and Corruption. The approach to this subject area was uniquely medieval, the rational investigation of the universe
being viewed as a way of approaching God. Duns Scotus' proof of the existence of God is based on the notion of causality.
Individuation. The problem of individuation is to explain how we individuate or numerically distinguish the members of any kind
for which it is given. The problem arose when it was required to explain how individual angels of the same species differ from one
another. Angels are immaterial, and their numerical difference cannot be explained by the different matter they are made of. The
main contributors to this discussion were Aquinas and Scotus.
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Natural philosophy
In natural philosophy and the philosophy of science, medieval philosophers were mainly influenced by Aristotle. However, from
the fourteenth century onward, the increasing use of mathematical reasoning in natural philosophy prepared the way for the rise
of science in the early modern period. The more mathematical reasoning techniques of William Heytesbury and William of
Ockham are indicative of this trend. Other contributors to natural philosophy are Albert of Saxony, John Buridan, and Nicholas of
Autrecourt. See also the article on the Continuity thesis, the hypothesis that there was no radical discontinuity between the
intellectual development of the Middle Ages and the developments in the Renaissance and early modern period.
Logic
The great historian of logic I. M. Bochenski[14] regarded the Middle Ages as one of the three great periods in the history of logic.
From the time of Abelard until the middle of the fourteenth century, scholastic writers refined and developed Aristotelian logic to
a remarkable degree. In the earlier period, writers such as Peter Abelard wrote commentaries on the works of the Old logic
(Aristotle's Categories, On interpretation, and the Isagoge of Porphyry). Later, new departments of logical enquiry arose, and new
logical and semantic notions were developed. For logical developments in the Middle Ages, see the articles on insolubilia,
obligations, properties of terms, syllogism, and sophismata. Other great contributors to medieval logic include Albert of Saxony,
John Buridan, John Wyclif, Paul of Venice, Peter of Spain, Richard Kilvington, Walter Burley, William Heytesbury, and William of
Ockham.
Philosophy of mind
Medieval philosophy of mind is based on Aristotle's De Anima, another work discovered in the Latin West in the twelfth century. It
was regarded as a branch of the philosophy of nature. Some of the topics discussed in this area include:
Divine illumination – The doctrine of Divine illumination was an alternative to naturalism. It holds that humans need a special
assistance from God in their ordinary thinking. The doctrine is most closely associated with Augustine and his scholastic followers.
It reappeared in a different form in the early modern era.
theories of demonstration
mental representation – The idea that mental states have 'intentionality'; i.e., despite being a state of the mind, they are able to
represent things outside the mind is intrinsic to the modern philosophy of mind. It has its origins in medieval philosophy. (The
word 'intentionality' was revived by Franz Brentano, who was intending to reflect medieval usage[15]). Ockham is well known for
his theory that language signifies mental states primarily by convention, real things secondarily, whereas the corresponding
mental states signify real things of themselves and necessarily.[16]
Writers in this area include Saint Augustine, Duns Scotus, Nicholas of Autrecourt, Thomas Aquinas, and William of Ockham.
Ethics
Writers in this area include Anselm, Augustine, Peter Abelard, Scotus, Peter of Spain, Aquinas, and Ockham. Writers on political
theory include Dante, John Wyclif, and William of Ockham.
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Contemporary philosophy
Contemporary philosophy is the present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the early 20th century with the
increasing professionalization of the discipline and the rise of analytic and continental philosophy.
The phrase "contemporary philosophy" is a piece of technical terminology in philosophy that refers to a specific period in the
history of Western philosophy (namely the philosophy of the 20th and 21st centuries).[2] However, the phrase is often confused
with modern philosophy (which refers to an earlier period in Western philosophy), postmodern philosophy (which refers to
continental philosophers' criticisms of modern philosophy), and with a non-technical use of the phrase referring to any recent
philosophic work.
Professionalization
Process
Professionalization is the social process by which any trade or occupation establishes the group norms of conduct, acceptable
qualifications for membership of the profession, a professional body or association to oversee the conduct of members of the
profession, and some degree of demarcation of the qualified from unqualified amateurs.[3] The transformation into a profession
brings about many subtle changes to a field of inquiry, but one more readily identifiable component of professionalization is the
increasing irrelevance of "the book" to the field: "research communiqués will begin to change in ways [...] whose modern end
products are obvious to all and oppressive to many. No longer will [a member's] researches usually be embodied in books
addressed [...] to anyone who might be interested in the subject matter of the field. Instead they will usually appear as brief
articles addressed only to professional colleagues, the men whose knowledge of a shared paradigm can be assumed and who
prove to be the only one able to read the papers addressed to them."[4] Philosophy underwent this process toward the end of the
19th century, and it is one of the key distinguishing features of the contemporary philosophy era in Western philosophy.
Germany was the first country to professionalize philosophy.[5] At the end of 1817, Hegel was the first philosopher to be
appointed professor by the State, namely by the Prussian Minister of Education, as an effect of Napoleonic reform in Prussia. In
the United States, the professionalisation grew out of reforms to the American higher-education system largely based on the
German model.[6] James Campbell describes the professionalisation of philosophy in America as follows:
The list of specific changes [during the late 19th-century professionalization of philosophy] is fairly brief, but the resultant shift is
almost total. [...] No longer could the [philosophy] professor function as a defender of the faith or an expounder of Truth. The new
philosopher had to be a leader of inquires and a publicizer of results. This shift was made obvious when certified (often German-
certified) philosophy Ph.D.'s replaced theology graduates and ministers in the philosophy classroom. The period between the time
when almost no one had a Ph.D. to when almost everyone did was very brief. [...] The doctorate, moreover, was more than a
license to teach: it was a certificate that the prospective philosophy instructor was well, if narrowly, trained and ready to
undertake independent work in the now specializing and restricted field of academic philosophy. These new philosophers
functioned in independent departments of philosophy [...] They were making real gains in their research, creating a body of
philosophic work that remains central to our study even now. These new philosophers also set their own standards for success,
publishing in the recognized organs of philosophy that were being founded at the time: The Monist (1890), The International
Journal of Ethics (1890), The Philosophical Review (1892), and The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods
(1904). And, of course, these philosophers were banding together into societies – the American Psychological Association (1892),
the Western Philosophical Association (1900), and the American Philosophical Association (1900) – to consolidate their academic
positions and advance their philosophic work.[7]
Professionalization in England was similarly tied to developments in higher-education. In his work on T.H. Green, Denys Leighton
discusses these changes in British philosophy and Green's claim to the title of Britain's first professional academic philosopher:
Henry Sidgwick, in a generous gesture, identified [T.H.] Green as Britain's first professional academic philosopher. Sidgwick's
opinion can certainly be questioned: William Hamilton, J.F. Ferrier and Sidgwick himself are among the contenders for that
honour. [...] Yet there can be no doubt that between the death of Mill (1873) and the publication of G.E.Moore's Principia Ethica
(1903), the British philosophical profession was transformed, and that Green was partly responsible for the transformation. [...]
Bentham, the Mills, Carlyle, Coleridge, Spencer, as well as many other serious philosophical thinkers of the nineteenth century
were men of letters, administrators, active politicians, clergy with livings, but not academics. [...] Green helped separate the study
of philosophical from that of literary and historical texts; and by creating a philosophy curriculum at Oxford he also established a
rationale for trained teachers of philosophy. When Green began his academic career much of the serious writing on philosophical
topic was published in journals of opinion devoted to a broad range of [topics] (rarely to 'pure' philosophy). He helped
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professionalize philosophical writing by encouraging specialized periodicals, such as 'Academy' and 'Mind', which were to serve as
venues for the results of scholarly research.[8]
The end result of professionalization for philosophy has meant that work being done in the field is now almost exclusively done by
university professors holding a doctorate in the field publishing in highly technical, peer-reviewed journals. While it remains
common among the population at large for a person to have a set of religious, political or philosophical views that they consider
their "philosophy", these views are rarely informed or connected to the work being done in professional philosophy today.
Furthermore, unlike many of the sciences for which there has come to be a healthy industry of books, magazines, and television
shows meant to popularize science and communicate the technical results of a scientific field to the general populace, works by
professional philosophers directed at an audience outside the profession remain rare. Philosopher Michael Sandel's book "Justice:
What's the Right Thing to Do?" and Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" are examples of works that hold the uncommon distinction of
having been written by professional philosophers but directed at and ultimately popular among a broader audience of non-
philosophers. Both works became New York Times best sellers.
Professional philosophy today

Not long after their formation, the Western Philosophical Association and portions of the American Psychological Association
merged with the American Philosophical Association to create what is today the main professional organization for philosophers
in the United States: the American Philosophical Association. The association has three divisions: Pacific, Central and Eastern. Each
division organises a large annual conference. The biggest of these is the Eastern Division Meeting, which usually attracts around
2,000 philosophers and takes place in a different east coast city each December. The Eastern Division Meeting is also the USA's
largest recruitment event for philosophy jobs, with numerous universities sending teams to interview candidates for academic
posts. Among its many other tasks, the association is responsible for administering many of the profession's top honors. For
example, the Presidency of a Division of the American Philosophical Association is considered to be a professional honor and the
American Philosophical Association Book Prize is one of the oldest prizes in philosophy. The largest academic organization
devoted to specifically furthering the study of continental philosophy is the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy.

Intro To Philosophy

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Intro To Philosophy

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Philosophy of man (modern, ancient, contemporary)

Philosophical methods include:

Classic philosophical questions include:

Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include :

Chinese philosophy—Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism

What is the ontological nature of consciousness?

Asanga (c. 300), exponent of the Yogacara

High Middle Ages

Professional philosophy today

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