Philosophy  

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:"[[Nothing]] is more usual than for [[philosopher]]s to encroach on the province of [[grammar]]ians, and to engage in disputes of [[word]]s, while they imagine they are handling [[controversies]] of the deepest importance and concern." - [[David Hume]] :"[[Nothing]] is more usual than for [[philosopher]]s to encroach on the province of [[grammar]]ians, and to engage in disputes of [[word]]s, while they imagine they are handling [[controversies]] of the deepest importance and concern." - [[David Hume]]
-<hr>+ 
-# An [[academic]] [[discipline]] that is often divided into five major branches: [[logic]]; [[metaphysics]]; [[epistemology]]; [[ethics]]; and [[aesthetics]].+
-# A [[comprehensive]] [[system]] of [[belief]].+
-# A [[view]] or [[outlook]] regarding [[fundamental]] [[principle]]s underlying some domain.+
-#: ''a '''philosophy''' of government''+
-#: ''a '''philosophy''' of education''+
-# A [[general]] principle (usually [[moral]]).+
-<hr>+
'''Philosophy''' is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live ([[ethics]]); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures ([[metaphysics]]); what counts as genuine knowledge ([[epistemology]]); and what are the correct principles of reasoning ([[logic]]). '''Philosophy''' is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live ([[ethics]]); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures ([[metaphysics]]); what counts as genuine knowledge ([[epistemology]]); and what are the correct principles of reasoning ([[logic]]).
 +==History==
 +:''[[History of philosophy]]''
 +
 +Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other's works.
 +
 +[[Eastern philosophy]] is organized by the chronological periods of each region. Historians of western philosophy usually divide the subject into three or more periods, the most important being [[ancient philosophy]], [[medieval philosophy]], and [[modern philosophy]].
 +
 +===Ancient philosophy===
 +:''[[Ancient philosophy]]''
 +
 +====Egypt and Babylon====
 +There are authors who date the philosophical maxims of Ptahhotep before the 25th century. For instance, Pulitzer Prize winning historian Will Durant dates these writings as early as 2880 BCE within ''[[The Story of Civilization|The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental History]]''. Durant claims that Ptahhotep could be considered the very first philosopher in virtue of having the earliest and surviving fragments of moral philosophy (i.e., "The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep"). Ptahhotep's grandson, Ptahhotep Tshefi, is traditionally credited with being the author of the collection of wise sayings known as ''[[The Maxims of Ptahhotep]]'', whose opening lines attribute authorship to the vizier Ptahhotep: ''Instruction of the Mayor of the city, the Vizier Ptahhotep, under the Majesty of King Isesi''.
 +
 +The origins of [[Babylonia]]n philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of early [[Mesopotamia]], which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly [[ethics]], in the forms of [[dialectic]], [[dialogue]]s, [[epic poetry]], [[folklore]], [[hymn]]s, [[lyrics]], [[prose]], and [[proverb]]s. The [[reasoning]] and [[rationality]] of the Babylonians developed beyond [[empiricism|empirical]] observation. The Babylonian text ''Dialog of Pessimism'' contains similarities to the [[agnostic]] thought of the [[sophists]], the [[Heraclitus|Heraclitean]] doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogues of [[Plato]], as well as a precursor to the [[Maieutics|maieutic]] [[Socratic method]] of [[Socrates]] and Plato. The [[Milesians (Greek)|Milesian]] philosopher [[Thales]] is also traditionally said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia.
 +
 +====Ancient Chinese====
 +[[File:Confucius - Project Gutenberg eText 15250.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Confucius]], illustrated in ''Myths & Legends of China'', 1922, by E.T.C. Werner.]]
 +{{Main|Chinese philosophy}}
 +Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on [[China|Chinese civilization]], and throughout [[East Asia]]. The majority of Chinese philosophy originates in the [[Spring and Autumn]] and [[Warring States Period|Warring States]] era, during a period known as the "[[Hundred Schools of Thought]]", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments. It was during this era that the major philosophies of China, [[Confucianism]], [[Mohism]], [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]], and [[Taoism]], arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like [[Agriculturalism]], [[School of Naturalists|Chinese Naturalism]], and the [[School of Names|Logicians]]. Of the many philosophical schools of China, only Confucianism and Taoism existed after the [[Qin Dynasty]] [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|suppressed any Chinese philosophy]] that was opposed to Legalism.
 +
 +Confucianism is [[humanism|humanistic]], philosophy that believes that human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are ''ren'', ''yi'', and ''li''. ''Ren'' is an obligation of [[altruism]] and humaneness for other individuals within a community, ''yi'' is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good, and ''li'' is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act within a community.
 +
 +[[Taoism]] focuses on establishing harmony with the [[Tao]], which is origin of and the totality of everything that exists. The word "Tao" (or "Dao", depending on the [[romanization]] scheme) is usually translated as "way", "path" or "principle". Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the [[Three Treasures (Taoism)|Three Jewels of the Tao]]: [[compassion]], [[moderation]], and [[humility]], while Taoist thought generally focuses on [[nature]], the relationship between humanity and the cosmos ({{lang|zh|天人相应}}); [[health]] and [[longevity]]; and [[wu wei]], action through inaction. Harmony with the [[Universe]], or the origin of it through the Tao, is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices.
 +
 +====Ancient Graeco-Roman====
 +{{main|Hellenistic philosophy|Ancient Greek philosophy}}
 +[[File:Sanzio 01 Plato Aristotle.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Plato]] (''left'') and [[Aristotle]] (''right''): detail from ''[[The School of Athens]]'' by [[Raffaello Sanzio]], 1509]]
 +Ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy is a period of Western philosophy, starting in the 6th century [c. 585] BC to the 6th century AD. It is usually divided into three periods: the [[pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic period]], the period of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], and the post-Aristotelian (or [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]]) period. A fourth period that is sometimes added includes the [[Neoplatonic]] and [[Christian]] philosophers of [[Late Antiquity]]. The most important of the ancient philosophers (in terms of subsequent influence) are Plato and Aristotle. Plato specifically, is credited as the founder of Western philosophy. The philosopher [[Alfred North Whitehead]] said of Plato: "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them."
 +
 +The main subjects of ancient philosophy are: understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the [[universe]]; explaining it in an economical way; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it; questions about things that cannot be perceived by the senses, such as [[number]]s, [[classical element|elements]], [[universals]], and [[gods]]. Socrates is said to have been the initiator of more focused study upon the human things including the analysis of patterns of [[reasoning]] and argument and the nature of [[the good life]] and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of [[justice]], and its relation to various [[political systems]].
 +
 +In this period the crucial features of the Western [[philosophical method]] were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation. This includes Socrate's [[dialectic]] method of inquiry, known as the [[Socratic method]] or method of "elenchus", which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and [[Justice]]. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer a person would seek. The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the [[scientific method]], in which [[hypothesis]] is the first stage.
 +
 +====Ancient Indian====
 +
 +The term Indian philosophy (Sanskrit: ''Darshanas''), refers to any of several schools of [[Eastern philosophy|philosophical thought]] that originated in the [[Indian subcontinent]], including [[Hindu philosophy]], [[Buddhist philosophy]], and [[Jain philosophy]]. Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying themes of [[Dharma]] and [[Karma]], and similarly attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation. They have been formalized and promulgated chiefly between 1000 BC to a few centuries AD.
 +
 +[[India]]'s philosophical tradition dates back to the composition of the [[Upanisads]] in the [[Vedic period#The later Vedic period|later Vedic period]] (c. 1000-500 BCE). Subsequent schools ([[Sanskrit|Skt]]: ''Darshanas'') of Indian philosophy were identified as orthodox ([[Sanskrit|Skt]]: ''[[astika]]'') or non-orthodox (Skt: ''nastika'') depending on whether they regarded the [[Vedas]] as an infallible source of knowledge. By some classifications, there are six schools of orthodox [[Hindu philosophy]] and three heterodox schools. The orthodox are [[Nyaya]], [[Vaisesika]], [[Samkhya]], [[Yoga]], [[Purva mimamsa]] and [[Vedanta]]. The Heterodox are [[Jainism|Jain]], [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] and materialist ([[Cārvāka]]). Other classifications also include [[Pashupata Shaivism|Pashupata]], [[Shaiva Siddhanta|Saiva]], [[Raseśvara]] and [[Pāṇini]] Darśana with the other orthodox schools.
 +
 +Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially between 500 BC to 200 AD. Some like the [[Jain]], [[Buddhist]], [[Shaiva]] and [[Vedanta]] schools survived, while others like [[Samkhya]] and [[Ajivika]] did not, either being assimilated or going extinct. The [[Sanskrit]] term for "philosopher" is ''{{IAST|dārśanika}}'', one who is familiar with the systems of philosophy, or ''{{IAST|darśanas}}''.
 +
 +In the history of the [[Indian subcontinent]], following the establishment of a [[Vedic period|Vedic]] culture, the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of ''[[Nastika|astika]]'', or orthodox, Indian or Hindu philosophy. These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of [[Hinduism]], which was a development of the early [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religion]].
 +
 +====Ancient Persian====
 +{{Main|Iranian philosophy}}
 +Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts, with their ancient [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] roots. These were considerably influenced by [[Zarathustra]]'s teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the [[Alexander the Great|Macedonian]], the [[Islamic conquest of Persia|Arab]], and the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia|Mongol invasions]] of Persia, a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose. These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions, extending from Old Iranian and mainly [[Zoroastrianism]]-influenced traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, such as [[Manicheism]] and [[Mazdakism]], as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of [[Persia]] is characterized by different interactions with the [[Ancient philosophy|old Iranian philosophy]], the [[Greek philosophy]] and with the development of [[Islamic philosophy]]. [[Illuminationism]] and the [[transcendent theosophy]] are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia. Zoroastrianism has been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy.
 +
 +===5th–16th centuries===
 +====Europe====
 +=====Medieval=====
 +{{Main|Medieval philosophy}}
 +[[File:St-thomas-aquinas.jpg|thumb|St. [[Thomas Aquinas]]|upright]]
 +Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of [[Western Europe]] and the [[Middle East]] during the [[Middle Ages]], roughly extending from the Christianization of the [[Roman Empire]] until the Renaissance. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical [[Greek philosophy|Greek]] and [[Hellenistic philosophy]], and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of [[Abrahamic religion]] ([[Islam]], [[Judaism]], and [[Christianity]]) with [[secularism|secular]] learning.
 +
 +The history of western European 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 preserved and cultivated; and the "golden age"{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy, and significant developments in the field 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. Yet this period of nearly a thousand years was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe, and possibly the richest. [[Jorge Gracia]] has argued that "in intensity, sophistication, and achievement, the philosophical flowering in the thirteenth century could be rightly said to rival the golden age of Greek philosophy in the fourth century B.C."
 +
 +Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of [[faith]] to [[reason]], the existence and unity of [[God]], the object of [[theology]] and [[metaphysics]], the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.
 +
 +Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Boethius]], [[Anselm of Canterbury|Anselm]], [[Gilbert of Poitiers]], [[Peter Abelard]], [[Roger Bacon]], [[Bonaventure]], [[Thomas Aquinas]], [[Duns Scotus]], [[William of Ockham]] and [[Jean Buridan]]; the Jewish philosophers [[Maimonides]] and [[Gersonides]]; and the [[Muslim]] philosophers [[Al-Kindi|Alkindus]], [[Al-Farabi|Alfarabi]], [[Ibn al-Haytham|Alhazen]], [[Avicenna]], [[Al-Ghazali|Algazel]], [[Ibn Bajjah|Avempace]], [[Ibn Tufail|Abubacer]], [[Ibn Khaldūn]], and [[Averroes]]. The medieval tradition of [[Scholasticism]] continued to flourish as late as the 17th century, in figures such as [[Francisco Suarez]] and [[John of St. Thomas]].
 +
 +Aquinas, father of [[Thomism]], was immensely influential in Catholic Europe, placed a great emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's metaphysical and epistemological writing. His work was a significant departure from the [[Neoplatonic]] and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism.
 +
 +=====Renaissance=====
 +{{Main|Renaissance philosophy}}
 +[[File:Giordano Bruno Campo dei Fiori.jpg|thumb|[[Giordano Bruno]]|upright]]
 +The Renaissance ("rebirth") was a period of transition between the Middle Ages and modern thought, in which the recovery of classical texts helped shift philosophical interests away from technical studies in logic, metaphysics, and theology towards eclectic inquiries into morality, philology, and mysticism. The study of the classics and the humane arts generally, such as history and literature, enjoyed a scholarly interest hitherto unknown in Christendom, a tendency referred to as [[humanism]]. Displacing the medieval interest in metaphysics and logic, the humanists followed [[Petrarch]] in making man and his virtues the focus of philosophy.
 +
 +The study of classical philosophy also developed in two new ways. On the one hand, the study of Aristotle was changed through the influence of [[Averroism]]. The disagreements between these Averroist Aristotelians, and more orthodox catholic Aristotelians such as [[Albertus Magnus]] and [[Thomas Aquinas]] eventually contributed to the development of a "humanist Aristotelianism" developed in the Renaissance, as exemplified in the thought of [[Pietro Pomponazzi]] and [[Giacomo Zabarella]]. Secondly, as an alternative to Aristotle, the study of [[Plato]] and the [[Neoplatonists]] became common. This was assisted by the rediscovery of works which had not been well known previously in Western Europe. Notable Renaissance Platonists include [[Nicholas of Cusa]], and later [[Marsilio Ficino]] and [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]].
 +
 +The Renaissance also renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories of nature considered as an organic, living whole comprehensible independently of theology, as in the work of [[Nicholas of Cusa]], [[Nicholas Copernicus]], [[Giordano Bruno]], [[Telesius]], and [[Tommaso Campanella]]. Such movements in natural philosophy dovetailed with a revival of interest in occultism, magic, [[hermeticism]], and [[astrology]], which were thought to yield hidden ways of knowing and mastering nature (e.g., in Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola).
 +
 +These new movements in philosophy developed contemporaneously with larger religious and political transformations in Europe: the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] and the decline of [[feudalism]]. Though the theologians of the Protestant Reformation showed little direct interest in philosophy, their destruction of the traditional foundations of theological and intellectual authority harmonized with a revival of [[fideism]] and skepticism in thinkers such as [[Erasmus]], [[Montaigne]], and [[Francisco Sanches]]. Meanwhile, the gradual centralization of political power in nation-states was echoed by the emergence of secular political philosophies, as in the works of [[Niccolò Machiavelli]] (often described as the first modern political thinker, or a key turning point towards modern political thinking), [[Thomas More]], [[Erasmus]], [[Justus Lipsius]], [[Jean Bodin]], and [[Hugo Grotius]].
 +
 +====East Asia====
 +{{Main|Neo-Confucianism|Japanese philosophy|Korean philosophy}}
 +[[Mid-Imperial China|Mid-Imperial Chinese]] philosophy is primarily defined by the development of [[Neo-Confucianism]]. During the [[Tang Dynasty]], [[Buddhism]] from [[Buddhism in Nepal|Nepal]] also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline. (It should be noted that philosophy and religion were clearly distinguished in the West, whilst these concepts were more continuous in the East due to, for example, the philosophical concepts of Buddhism.)
 +
 +[[Neo-Confucianism]] is a philosophical movement that advocated a more rationalist and secular form of [[Confucianism]] by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of [[Daoism]] and [[Buddhism]] that had influenced Confucianism during and after the Han Dynasty. Although the Neo-Confucianists were critical of Daoism and Buddhism, the two did have an influence on the philosophy, and the Neo-Confucianists borrowed terms and concepts from both. However, unlike the Buddhists and Daoists, who saw [[metaphysics]] as a catalyst for spiritual development, religious enlightenment, and immortality, the Neo-Confucianists used metaphysics as a guide for developing a rationalist [[ethics|ethical]] philosophy.
 +
 +Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the [[Tang Dynasty]]; the Confucianist scholars [[Han Yu]] and [[Li Ao]] are seen as forbears of the Neo-Confucianists of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty philosopher [[Zhou Dunyi]] is seen as the first true "pioneer" of Neo-Confucianism, using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy.
 +
 +Elsewhere in East Asia, [[Japanese Philosophy]] began to develop as indigenous [[Shinto]] beliefs fused with [[Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]] and other schools of [[Chinese philosophy]] and [[Indian philosophy]]. Similar to Japan, in [[Korean philosophy]] the emotional content of [[Korean Shamanism|Shamanism]] was integrated into the [[Korean Confucianism|Neo-Confucianism]] imported from China.
 +
 +====India====
 +[[File:Adi Shankara.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Adi Shankara]]]]
 +{{Main|Indian philosophy|Hindu philosophy}}
 +The period between 5th and 9th century CE was the most brilliant epoch in the development of Indian philosophy as Hindu and Buddhist philosophies flourished side by side. Of these various schools of thought the non-dualistic [[Advaita Vedanta]] emerged as the most influential and most dominant school of philosophy. The major philosophers of this school were [[Gaudapada]], [[Adi Shankara]] and [[Vidyaranya]].
 +
 +Advaita Vedanta rejects theism and dualism by insisting that “[[Brahman]] [ultimate reality] is without parts or attributes…one without a second.” Since, Brahman has no properties, contains no internal diversity and is identical with the whole reality it cannot be understood as God. Brahman though being indescribable is at best described as Satchidananda (merging "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", i.e., Existence, Consciousness and Bliss) by Shankara. Advaita ushered a new era in Indian philosophy and as a result, many new schools of thought arose in the medieval period. Some of them were [[Visishtadvaita]] (qualified monism), [[Dvaita]] (dualism), [[Dvaitadvaita]] (dualism-nondualism), [[Suddhadvaita]] (pure non-dualism), [[Achintya Bheda Abheda]] and [[Pratyabhijna|Pratyabhijña]] (the recognitive school).
 +
 +====Middle East====
 +{{Main|Islamic philosophy}}
 +In early Islamic thought, which refers to philosophy during the "[[Islamic Golden Age]]", traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries, two main currents may be distinguished. The first is [[Kalam]], that mainly dealt with [[Islamic theology|Islamic theological]] questions. These include the [[Mu'tazili]] and [[Ash'ari]]. The other is [[#Falsafa|Falsafa]], that was founded on interpretations of [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Neoplatonism]]. There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends, notably by [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina (Avicenna)]] who founded the school of [[Avicennism]], [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd (Averroës)]] who founded the school of [[Averroism]], and others such as [[Alhacen|Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen)]] and [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]].
 +
 +===17th–21st centuries===
 +====Early modern philosophy====
 +{{Main|Modern philosophy}}
 +[[File:JohnLocke.png|thumb|upright|[[John Locke]]]]
 +
 +Chronologically, the early modern era of Western philosophy is usually identified with the 17th and 18th centuries, with the 18th century often being referred to as the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].<ref name="philosophers"/> Modern philosophy is distinguished from its predecessors by its increasing independence from traditional authorities such as the Church, academia, and Aristotelianism;<ref name="philosophical8"/><ref name="approaching"/> a new focus on the foundations of knowledge and metaphysical system-building;<ref name="epistemology"/><ref name="metaphysical"/> and the emergence of modern physics out of natural philosophy.<ref name="independently"/> Other central topics of philosophy in this period include the nature of the mind and its relation to the body, the implications of the new natural sciences for traditional theological topics such as free will and God, and the emergence of a secular basis for moral and political philosophy.<ref name="philosophy9"/> These trends first distinctively coalesce in [[Francis Bacon]]'s call for a new, empirical program for expanding knowledge, and soon found massively influential form in the mechanical physics and rationalist metaphysics of [[Rene Descartes]].<ref name="philosophical10"/> [[Thomas Hobbes]] was the first to apply this methodology systematically to [[political philosophy]] and is the originator of modern political philosophy, including the modern theory of a "[[social contract]]".<ref name="Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy11"/><ref name="Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy"/> The academic canon of early modern philosophy generally includes [[Descartes]], [[Spinoza]], [[Leibniz]], [[John Locke|Locke]], [[George Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[David Hume|Hume]], and [[Kant]],<ref name="philosophical12"/><ref name="traditional"/><ref name="philosophical13"/> though influential contributions to philosophy were made by many thinkers in this period, such as [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Pierre Gassendi]], [[Blaise Pascal]], [[Nicolas Malebranche]], [[Isaac Newton]], [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]], [[Montesquieu]], [[Pierre Bayle]], [[Thomas Reid]], [[Jean d'Alembert]], and [[Adam Smith]]. [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] was a seminal figure in initiating reaction against the Enlightenment. The approximate end of the early modern period is most often identified with [[Immanuel Kant]]'s systematic attempt to limit metaphysics, justify scientific knowledge, and reconcile both of these with morality and freedom.<ref name="rutherford"/><ref name="philosophy14"/><ref name="philosophy15"/>
 +
 +====19th-century philosophy====
 +{{Main|19th-century philosophy}}
 +
 +Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of [[Immanuel Kant]] at the beginning of the 19th century.<ref name="Shand"/> German philosophy exercised broad influence in this century, owing in part to the dominance of the German university system.<ref name="universities"/> [[German idealist]]s, such as [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], and [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]], transformed the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational or mind-like process, and as such is entirely knowable.<ref name="frederick"/> [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]'s identification of this world-constituting process as an irrational [[will to live]] influenced later 19th- and early 20th-century thinking, such as the work of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] and [[Sigmund Freud]].
 +
 +After Hegel's death in 1831, 19th-century philosophy largely turned against idealism in favor of varieties of philosophical [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]], such as the [[positivism]] of [[Auguste Comte]], the empiricism of [[John Stuart Mill]], and the materialism of [[Karl Marx]]. Logic began a period of its most significant advances since the inception of the discipline, as increasing mathematical precision opened entire fields of inference to formalization in the work of [[George Boole]] and [[Gottlob Frege]].<ref name="transformation"/> Other philosophers who initiated lines of thought that would continue to shape philosophy into the 20th century include
 +
 +* [[Gottlob Frege]] and [[Henry Sidgwick]], whose work in logic and ethics, respectively, provided the tools for early [[analytic philosophy]].
 +* [[Charles Sanders Peirce]] and [[William James]], who founded [[pragmatism]].
 +* [[Søren Kierkegaard]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], who laid the groundwork for [[existentialism]] and [[post-structuralism]].
 +
 +====20th-century philosophy====
 +{{Main|Contemporary philosophy}}
 +Within the last century, philosophy has increasingly become a professional discipline practiced within universities, like other academic disciplines. Accordingly, it has become less general and more specialized. In the view of one prominent recent historian: "Philosophy has become a highly organized discipline, done by specialists primarily for other specialists. The number of philosophers has exploded, the volume of publication has swelled, and the subfields of serious philosophical investigation have multiplied. Not only is the broad field of philosophy today far too vast to be embraced by one mind, something similar is true even of many highly specialized subfields."<ref name="philosophical16"/>
 +
 +In the English-speaking world, [[analytic philosophy]] became the dominant school for much of the 20th century. In the first half of the century, it was a cohesive school, shaped strongly by [[logical positivism]], united by the notion that philosophical problems could and should be solved by attention to [[logic]] and [[language]]. The pioneering work of [[Bertrand Russell]] was a model for the early development of analytic philosophy, moving from a rejection of the idealism dominant in late 19th century British philosophy to an neo-Humean empiricism, strengthened by the conceptual resources of modern mathematical logic.<ref name="stanford"/><ref name="encyclopedia17"/><ref name="philosophers18"/> In the latter half of the 20th century, [[analytic philosophy]] diffused into a wide variety of disparate philosophical views, only loosely united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified commitment to clarity and rigor. The post-war transformation of the analytic program led in two broad directions: on one hand, an interest in ordinary language as a way of avoiding or redescribing traditional philosophical problems, and on the other, a more thoroughgoing [[naturalized epistemology|naturalism]] that sought to dissolve the puzzles of modern philosophy via the results of the natural sciences (such as cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology). The shift in the work of [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], from a view congruent with logical positivism to a therapeutic dissolution of traditional philosophy as a linguistic misunderstanding of normal forms of life, was the most influential version of the first direction in analytic philosophy.<ref name="wittgenstein"/><ref name="utm"/> The later work of Russell and the philosophy of [[W.V.O. Quine]] are influential exemplars of the naturalist approach dominant in the second half of the 20th century.<ref name="contemporary"/><ref name="encyclopedia19"/><ref name="uncontroversially"/><ref name="wittgenstein20"/> But the diversity of analytic philosophy from the 1970s onward defies easy generalization: the naturalism of Quine and his epigoni was in some precincts superseded by a "new metaphysics" of [[possible worlds]], as in the influential work of [[David Kellogg Lewis|David Lewis]].<ref name="stanford21"/><ref name="introduction"/> Recently, the [[experimental philosophy]] movement has sought to reappraise philosophical problems through social science research techniques.
 +
 +On continental Europe, no single school or temperament enjoyed dominance. The flight of the logical positivists from central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, however, diminished philosophical interest in natural science, and an emphasis on the humanities, broadly construed, figures prominently in what is usually called "[[continental philosophy]]". 20th century movements such as [[phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]], [[existentialism]], modern [[hermeneutics]], [[critical theory]], [[structuralism]], and [[poststructuralism]] are included within this loose category. The founder of phenomenology, [[Edmund Husserl]], sought to study consciousness as experienced from a first-person perspective,<ref name="stanford22"/><ref name="utm23"/> while [[Martin Heidegger]] drew on the ideas of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Husserl to propose an unconventional [[existential]] approach to [[ontology]].<ref name="influential"/><ref name="utm24"/>
 +
 +In the Arab-speaking world [[Arab nationalist]] philosophy became the dominant school of thought, involving philosophers such as [[Michel Aflaq]], [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]], [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] of [[ba'athism]] and [[Sati' al-Husri]]. These people disregarded much of Marx's research, and were mostly concerned with the individual's spirituality which would, in the fight against imperialism and oppression, lead to a united [[Arab Nation]].
 +
== See also == == See also ==
*[[Anti-philosophy]] *[[Anti-philosophy]]

Revision as of 09:23, 5 October 2012

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms
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Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms
By virtue of his magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, Spinoza is considered one of Western philosophy's definitive ethicists.
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By virtue of his magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, Spinoza is considered one of Western philosophy's definitive ethicists.
Thérèse Philosophe (1748) was the bestseller of the French Enlightenment
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Thérèse Philosophe (1748) was the bestseller of the French Enlightenment
Inversions, the first French gay journal is published. Produced between 1924 and 1926, it stopped publication after the French government charged the publishers with "Outrage aux bonnes mœurs". Its full title was Inversions ... in art, literature, philosophy and science.
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Inversions, the first French gay journal is published. Produced between 1924 and 1926, it stopped publication after the French government charged the publishers with "Outrage aux bonnes mœurs". Its full title was Inversions ... in art, literature, philosophy and science.

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"Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach on the province of grammarians, and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern." - David Hume

Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).

Contents

History

History of philosophy

Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other's works.

Eastern philosophy is organized by the chronological periods of each region. Historians of western philosophy usually divide the subject into three or more periods, the most important being ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy.

Ancient philosophy

Ancient philosophy

Egypt and Babylon

There are authors who date the philosophical maxims of Ptahhotep before the 25th century. For instance, Pulitzer Prize winning historian Will Durant dates these writings as early as 2880 BCE within The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental History. Durant claims that Ptahhotep could be considered the very first philosopher in virtue of having the earliest and surviving fragments of moral philosophy (i.e., "The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep"). Ptahhotep's grandson, Ptahhotep Tshefi, is traditionally credited with being the author of the collection of wise sayings known as The Maxims of Ptahhotep, whose opening lines attribute authorship to the vizier Ptahhotep: Instruction of the Mayor of the city, the Vizier Ptahhotep, under the Majesty of King Isesi.

The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs. The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation. The Babylonian text Dialog of Pessimism contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogues of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato. The Milesian philosopher Thales is also traditionally said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia.

Ancient Chinese

[[File:Confucius - Project Gutenberg eText 15250.jpg|upright|thumb|Confucius, illustrated in Myths & Legends of China, 1922, by E.T.C. Werner.]]

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Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on Chinese civilization, and throughout East Asia. The majority of Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments. It was during this era that the major philosophies of China, Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and Taoism, arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians. Of the many philosophical schools of China, only Confucianism and Taoism existed after the Qin Dynasty suppressed any Chinese philosophy that was opposed to Legalism.

Confucianism is humanistic, philosophy that believes that human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are ren, yi, and li. Ren is an obligation of altruism and humaneness for other individuals within a community, yi is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good, and li is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act within a community.

Taoism focuses on establishing harmony with the Tao, which is origin of and the totality of everything that exists. The word "Tao" (or "Dao", depending on the romanization scheme) is usually translated as "way", "path" or "principle". Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility, while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos (Template:Lang); health and longevity; and wu wei, action through inaction. Harmony with the Universe, or the origin of it through the Tao, is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices.

Ancient Graeco-Roman

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[[File:Sanzio 01 Plato Aristotle.jpg|thumb|upright|Plato (left) and Aristotle (right): detail from The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio, 1509]] Ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy is a period of Western philosophy, starting in the 6th century [c. 585] BC to the 6th century AD. It is usually divided into three periods: the pre-Socratic period, the period of Plato and Aristotle, and the post-Aristotelian (or Hellenistic) period. A fourth period that is sometimes added includes the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity. The most important of the ancient philosophers (in terms of subsequent influence) are Plato and Aristotle. Plato specifically, is credited as the founder of Western philosophy. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said of Plato: "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them."

The main subjects of ancient philosophy are: understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the universe; explaining it in an economical way; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it; questions about things that cannot be perceived by the senses, such as numbers, elements, universals, and gods. Socrates is said to have been the initiator of more focused study upon the human things including the analysis of patterns of reasoning and argument and the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justice, and its relation to various political systems.

In this period the crucial features of the Western philosophical method were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation. This includes Socrate's dialectic method of inquiry, known as the Socratic method or method of "elenchus", which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and Justice. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer a person would seek. The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the scientific method, in which hypothesis is the first stage.

Ancient Indian

The term Indian philosophy (Sanskrit: Darshanas), refers to any of several schools of philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent, including Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, and Jain philosophy. Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying themes of Dharma and Karma, and similarly attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation. They have been formalized and promulgated chiefly between 1000 BC to a few centuries AD.

India's philosophical tradition dates back to the composition of the Upanisads in the later Vedic period (c. 1000-500 BCE). Subsequent schools (Skt: Darshanas) of Indian philosophy were identified as orthodox (Skt: astika) or non-orthodox (Skt: nastika) depending on whether they regarded the Vedas as an infallible source of knowledge. By some classifications, there are six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy and three heterodox schools. The orthodox are Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva mimamsa and Vedanta. The Heterodox are Jain, Buddhist and materialist (Cārvāka). Other classifications also include Pashupata, Saiva, Raseśvara and Pāṇini Darśana with the other orthodox schools.

Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially between 500 BC to 200 AD. Some like the Jain, Buddhist, Shaiva and Vedanta schools survived, while others like Samkhya and Ajivika did not, either being assimilated or going extinct. The Sanskrit term for "philosopher" is Template:IAST, one who is familiar with the systems of philosophy, or Template:IAST.

In the history of the Indian subcontinent, following the establishment of a Vedic culture, the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of astika, or orthodox, Indian or Hindu philosophy. These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of Hinduism, which was a development of the early Vedic religion.

Ancient Persian

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Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts, with their ancient Indo-Iranian roots. These were considerably influenced by Zarathustra's teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the Macedonian, the Arab, and the Mongol invasions of Persia, a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose. These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions, extending from Old Iranian and mainly Zoroastrianism-influenced traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, such as Manicheism and Mazdakism, as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the old Iranian philosophy, the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy. Illuminationism and the transcendent theosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia. Zoroastrianism has been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy.

5th–16th centuries

Europe

Medieval
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[[File:St-thomas-aquinas.jpg|thumb|St. Thomas Aquinas|upright]] Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages, roughly extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of Abrahamic religion (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) with secular learning.

The history of western European 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 preserved and cultivated; and the "golden age"Template:Citation needed of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy, and significant developments in the field 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. Yet this period of nearly a thousand years was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe, and possibly the richest. Jorge Gracia has argued that "in intensity, sophistication, and achievement, the philosophical flowering in the thirteenth century could be rightly said to rival the golden age of Greek philosophy in the fourth century B.C."

Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence and unity of God, the object of theology and metaphysics, the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.

Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer, Ibn Khaldūn, and Averroes. The medieval tradition of Scholasticism continued to flourish as late as the 17th century, in figures such as Francisco Suarez and John of St. Thomas.

Aquinas, father of Thomism, was immensely influential in Catholic Europe, placed a great emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's metaphysical and epistemological writing. His work was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism.

Renaissance
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[[File:Giordano Bruno Campo dei Fiori.jpg|thumb|Giordano Bruno|upright]] The Renaissance ("rebirth") was a period of transition between the Middle Ages and modern thought, in which the recovery of classical texts helped shift philosophical interests away from technical studies in logic, metaphysics, and theology towards eclectic inquiries into morality, philology, and mysticism. The study of the classics and the humane arts generally, such as history and literature, enjoyed a scholarly interest hitherto unknown in Christendom, a tendency referred to as humanism. Displacing the medieval interest in metaphysics and logic, the humanists followed Petrarch in making man and his virtues the focus of philosophy.

The study of classical philosophy also developed in two new ways. On the one hand, the study of Aristotle was changed through the influence of Averroism. The disagreements between these Averroist Aristotelians, and more orthodox catholic Aristotelians such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas eventually contributed to the development of a "humanist Aristotelianism" developed in the Renaissance, as exemplified in the thought of Pietro Pomponazzi and Giacomo Zabarella. Secondly, as an alternative to Aristotle, the study of Plato and the Neoplatonists became common. This was assisted by the rediscovery of works which had not been well known previously in Western Europe. Notable Renaissance Platonists include Nicholas of Cusa, and later Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

The Renaissance also renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories of nature considered as an organic, living whole comprehensible independently of theology, as in the work of Nicholas of Cusa, Nicholas Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Telesius, and Tommaso Campanella. Such movements in natural philosophy dovetailed with a revival of interest in occultism, magic, hermeticism, and astrology, which were thought to yield hidden ways of knowing and mastering nature (e.g., in Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola).

These new movements in philosophy developed contemporaneously with larger religious and political transformations in Europe: the Reformation and the decline of feudalism. Though the theologians of the Protestant Reformation showed little direct interest in philosophy, their destruction of the traditional foundations of theological and intellectual authority harmonized with a revival of fideism and skepticism in thinkers such as Erasmus, Montaigne, and Francisco Sanches. Meanwhile, the gradual centralization of political power in nation-states was echoed by the emergence of secular political philosophies, as in the works of Niccolò Machiavelli (often described as the first modern political thinker, or a key turning point towards modern political thinking), Thomas More, Erasmus, Justus Lipsius, Jean Bodin, and Hugo Grotius.

East Asia

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Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is primarily defined by the development of Neo-Confucianism. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism from Nepal also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline. (It should be noted that philosophy and religion were clearly distinguished in the West, whilst these concepts were more continuous in the East due to, for example, the philosophical concepts of Buddhism.)

Neo-Confucianism is a philosophical movement that advocated a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Daoism and Buddhism that had influenced Confucianism during and after the Han Dynasty. Although the Neo-Confucianists were critical of Daoism and Buddhism, the two did have an influence on the philosophy, and the Neo-Confucianists borrowed terms and concepts from both. However, unlike the Buddhists and Daoists, who saw metaphysics as a catalyst for spiritual development, religious enlightenment, and immortality, the Neo-Confucianists used metaphysics as a guide for developing a rationalist ethical philosophy.

Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the Tang Dynasty; the Confucianist scholars Han Yu and Li Ao are seen as forbears of the Neo-Confucianists of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi is seen as the first true "pioneer" of Neo-Confucianism, using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy.

Elsewhere in East Asia, Japanese Philosophy began to develop as indigenous Shinto beliefs fused with Buddhism, Confucianism and other schools of Chinese philosophy and Indian philosophy. Similar to Japan, in Korean philosophy the emotional content of Shamanism was integrated into the Neo-Confucianism imported from China.

India

[[File:Adi Shankara.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Adi Shankara]]

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The period between 5th and 9th century CE was the most brilliant epoch in the development of Indian philosophy as Hindu and Buddhist philosophies flourished side by side. Of these various schools of thought the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta emerged as the most influential and most dominant school of philosophy. The major philosophers of this school were Gaudapada, Adi Shankara and Vidyaranya.

Advaita Vedanta rejects theism and dualism by insisting that “Brahman [ultimate reality] is without parts or attributes…one without a second.” Since, Brahman has no properties, contains no internal diversity and is identical with the whole reality it cannot be understood as God. Brahman though being indescribable is at best described as Satchidananda (merging "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", i.e., Existence, Consciousness and Bliss) by Shankara. Advaita ushered a new era in Indian philosophy and as a result, many new schools of thought arose in the medieval period. Some of them were Visishtadvaita (qualified monism), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism-nondualism), Suddhadvaita (pure non-dualism), Achintya Bheda Abheda and Pratyabhijña (the recognitive school).

Middle East

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In early Islamic thought, which refers to philosophy during the "Islamic Golden Age", traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries, two main currents may be distinguished. The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions. These include the Mu'tazili and Ash'ari. The other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends, notably by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) who founded the school of Avicennism, Ibn Rushd (Averroës) who founded the school of Averroism, and others such as Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) and Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī.

17th–21st centuries

Early modern philosophy

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[[File:JohnLocke.png|thumb|upright|John Locke]]

Chronologically, the early modern era of Western philosophy is usually identified with the 17th and 18th centuries, with the 18th century often being referred to as the Enlightenment.<ref name="philosophers"/> Modern philosophy is distinguished from its predecessors by its increasing independence from traditional authorities such as the Church, academia, and Aristotelianism;<ref name="philosophical8"/><ref name="approaching"/> a new focus on the foundations of knowledge and metaphysical system-building;<ref name="epistemology"/><ref name="metaphysical"/> and the emergence of modern physics out of natural philosophy.<ref name="independently"/> Other central topics of philosophy in this period include the nature of the mind and its relation to the body, the implications of the new natural sciences for traditional theological topics such as free will and God, and the emergence of a secular basis for moral and political philosophy.<ref name="philosophy9"/> These trends first distinctively coalesce in Francis Bacon's call for a new, empirical program for expanding knowledge, and soon found massively influential form in the mechanical physics and rationalist metaphysics of Rene Descartes.<ref name="philosophical10"/> Thomas Hobbes was the first to apply this methodology systematically to political philosophy and is the originator of modern political philosophy, including the modern theory of a "social contract".<ref name="Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy11"/><ref name="Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy"/> The academic canon of early modern philosophy generally includes Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant,<ref name="philosophical12"/><ref name="traditional"/><ref name="philosophical13"/> though influential contributions to philosophy were made by many thinkers in this period, such as Galileo Galilei, Pierre Gassendi, Blaise Pascal, Nicolas Malebranche, Isaac Newton, Christian Wolff, Montesquieu, Pierre Bayle, Thomas Reid, Jean d'Alembert, and Adam Smith. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a seminal figure in initiating reaction against the Enlightenment. The approximate end of the early modern period is most often identified with Immanuel Kant's systematic attempt to limit metaphysics, justify scientific knowledge, and reconcile both of these with morality and freedom.<ref name="rutherford"/><ref name="philosophy14"/><ref name="philosophy15"/>

19th-century philosophy

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Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the 19th century.<ref name="Shand"/> German philosophy exercised broad influence in this century, owing in part to the dominance of the German university system.<ref name="universities"/> German idealists, such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, transformed the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational or mind-like process, and as such is entirely knowable.<ref name="frederick"/> Arthur Schopenhauer's identification of this world-constituting process as an irrational will to live influenced later 19th- and early 20th-century thinking, such as the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud.

After Hegel's death in 1831, 19th-century philosophy largely turned against idealism in favor of varieties of philosophical naturalism, such as the positivism of Auguste Comte, the empiricism of John Stuart Mill, and the materialism of Karl Marx. Logic began a period of its most significant advances since the inception of the discipline, as increasing mathematical precision opened entire fields of inference to formalization in the work of George Boole and Gottlob Frege.<ref name="transformation"/> Other philosophers who initiated lines of thought that would continue to shape philosophy into the 20th century include

20th-century philosophy

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Within the last century, philosophy has increasingly become a professional discipline practiced within universities, like other academic disciplines. Accordingly, it has become less general and more specialized. In the view of one prominent recent historian: "Philosophy has become a highly organized discipline, done by specialists primarily for other specialists. The number of philosophers has exploded, the volume of publication has swelled, and the subfields of serious philosophical investigation have multiplied. Not only is the broad field of philosophy today far too vast to be embraced by one mind, something similar is true even of many highly specialized subfields."<ref name="philosophical16"/>

In the English-speaking world, analytic philosophy became the dominant school for much of the 20th century. In the first half of the century, it was a cohesive school, shaped strongly by logical positivism, united by the notion that philosophical problems could and should be solved by attention to logic and language. The pioneering work of Bertrand Russell was a model for the early development of analytic philosophy, moving from a rejection of the idealism dominant in late 19th century British philosophy to an neo-Humean empiricism, strengthened by the conceptual resources of modern mathematical logic.<ref name="stanford"/><ref name="encyclopedia17"/><ref name="philosophers18"/> In the latter half of the 20th century, analytic philosophy diffused into a wide variety of disparate philosophical views, only loosely united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified commitment to clarity and rigor. The post-war transformation of the analytic program led in two broad directions: on one hand, an interest in ordinary language as a way of avoiding or redescribing traditional philosophical problems, and on the other, a more thoroughgoing naturalism that sought to dissolve the puzzles of modern philosophy via the results of the natural sciences (such as cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology). The shift in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, from a view congruent with logical positivism to a therapeutic dissolution of traditional philosophy as a linguistic misunderstanding of normal forms of life, was the most influential version of the first direction in analytic philosophy.<ref name="wittgenstein"/><ref name="utm"/> The later work of Russell and the philosophy of W.V.O. Quine are influential exemplars of the naturalist approach dominant in the second half of the 20th century.<ref name="contemporary"/><ref name="encyclopedia19"/><ref name="uncontroversially"/><ref name="wittgenstein20"/> But the diversity of analytic philosophy from the 1970s onward defies easy generalization: the naturalism of Quine and his epigoni was in some precincts superseded by a "new metaphysics" of possible worlds, as in the influential work of David Lewis.<ref name="stanford21"/><ref name="introduction"/> Recently, the experimental philosophy movement has sought to reappraise philosophical problems through social science research techniques.

On continental Europe, no single school or temperament enjoyed dominance. The flight of the logical positivists from central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, however, diminished philosophical interest in natural science, and an emphasis on the humanities, broadly construed, figures prominently in what is usually called "continental philosophy". 20th century movements such as phenomenology, existentialism, modern hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism, and poststructuralism are included within this loose category. The founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, sought to study consciousness as experienced from a first-person perspective,<ref name="stanford22"/><ref name="utm23"/> while Martin Heidegger drew on the ideas of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Husserl to propose an unconventional existential approach to ontology.<ref name="influential"/><ref name="utm24"/>

In the Arab-speaking world Arab nationalist philosophy became the dominant school of thought, involving philosophers such as Michel Aflaq, Zaki al-Arsuzi, Salah al-Din al-Bitar of ba'athism and Sati' al-Husri. These people disregarded much of Marx's research, and were mostly concerned with the individual's spirituality which would, in the fight against imperialism and oppression, lead to a united Arab Nation.

See also

See also


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