4. 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
5. 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?
6. Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of
knowledge.[14] 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.
7. In the modern era, some
investigations that were
traditionally part of philosophy
became separate academic
disciplines,
including psychology, sociology
, linguistics and economics.
8. 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?
9. 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.
10. 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
11. Philosophy 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")
12. This division is not obsolete but has changed.
Natural
philosophy
has split into the
various natural
sciences,
cosmology
astronomy
biologychemistry
physics
13. This division is not obsolete but has changed.
Moral
philosophy
has birthed
value theory
Ethics
Aesthetics
political
philosophy
the social
sciences
14. This division is not obsolete but has changed.
Metaphysical
philosophy
has birthed formal sciences such as
logic Mathematics
philosophy
of science
Epistemology cosmology
16. 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
18. 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
19. 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 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
25. 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.
26. 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.
30. 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
31. 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
33. 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.
34. 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
36. 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.
40. 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
41. 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."
42. 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 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.
44. 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
45. 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.
46. 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.
47. 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
48. 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.
50. 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
51. 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
52. 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
53. 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.
55. 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
56. 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
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".
58. 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.
61. 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
63. 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)
66. 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
67. 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"
68. 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
69. 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.
72. 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
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.
73. 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
76. 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.
78. 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.
79. 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.
80. 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
83. 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.
85. 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
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.
87. 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."
88. 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.
89. 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
92. 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
93. 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"
94. 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."
95. 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.
98. 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.
99. 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.
100. 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
101. 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
103. 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
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
107. 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."
108. 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
109. 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
111. 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.”
112. 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."
113. 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.
114. 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.
115. 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.”
116. 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
117. 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
118. 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,
119. 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
120. 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 ).
121. 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
122. 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
123. 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."
124. 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
125. 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.
126. 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
127. 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
128. 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
129. 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.
130. 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 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
131. 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
132. 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.
133. 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.
134. 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
135. 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.
136. 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
138. 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".
139. 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.
140. 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."
148. 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 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.
149. 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.
158. 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
159. 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.
160. 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;
161. 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).
162. 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.
163. Classical Greek philosophy
AristotleAristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about
can be attributed to four 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.
164. Classical Greek philosophy
AristotleAristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about
can be attributed to four 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 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.
165. Classical Greek philosophy
AristotleAristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about
can be attributed to four 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.
166. 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."
184. 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)
185. 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.
186. 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.
187. 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.
188. 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
189. 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
190. (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
191. 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
192. 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
193. 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
194. 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
195. 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.
196. 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.
197. 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.
198. 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.
199. 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."
200. 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 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.
201. 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."
202. 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]
203. 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.
204. 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.
205. 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"
206. 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
207. 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."
208. 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
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."
211. 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.
212. 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.
213. 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— )