Western Philosophy

Western Philosophy refers to philosophical

thinking in the Western or Occidental world,
(beginning with Ancient Greece and Rome,
extending through central and western Europe
and, since Columbus, the Americas)
Has strongly influenced and been influenced by
Western religion, science, mathematics and
politics.
strives to find and prove "the truth"
School Of Thought
A school of thought (or intellectual
tradition) is a collection or group of
people who share common
characteristics of opinion or outlook of
a philosophy, discipline, belief, social
movement, economics, cultural
movement, or art movement.
School Of Thought
A philosophical movement is the appearance
of (or the increased popularity of) a specific
school of philosophy, an identifiable tradition
of philosophy, or a marked change in
philosophical thought on a particular
subject.

A school is a group of people, especially

philosophers, artists, or writers, whose thought,
work, or style demonstrates a common origin
or influence or unifying belief. These are the
famous -isms of philosophy.
 Aristotelianism Neo-Platonism
Atomism Platonism
Cynicism Pluralism
Eleatic School Pythagoreanism
Ephesian School Skepticism
Epicureanism Sophism
Hedonism Stoicism
Milesian School
 Aristotelianism(Peripatetic School)
SOCRATIC(4th Century B.C.)

Investigated
nature and even the parts of animals,
and Metaphysics is in a significant way a theology.

AristotelianVirtue of "phronesis" (practical

wisdom or prudence). Aristotelianism is the idea
of teleology(the idea that all things are designed for,
or directed toward, a final result or purpose).

Ethics, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Logic,

Epistemology, Politics and Science.
 Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) was an
important Greek philosopher from
the Socratic (or Classical) period, mainly
based in Athens. He is one of the most
important founding figures in Western
Philosophy, and the first to create
a comprehensive system of philosophy,
encompassing Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics,
Metaphysics, Logic and science.
 Notable Philosopher
Theophrastus (c. 371 c. 287 BC)
a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos,[2] was the successor to Aristotle in
the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age and initially
studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached himself to
Aristotle who took to Theophrastus his writings. When Aristotle fled
Athens, Theophrastus took over as at the Lyceum.[2] Theophrastus
presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which
time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the "father
of botany" for his works on plants. After his death, the Athenians
honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school
was Strato of Lampsacus.
The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, extending
from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two
surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants (Historia
Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence
on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral
Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, and fragments
on Physics and Metaphysics.
 Eudemus of Rhodes (c. 370 - 300 B.C)
He was one of Aristotle's most important
pupils, editing his teacher's work and making it
more easily accessible. he was generally
considered to be one of Aristotle's most brilliant
pupils: he and Theophrastus of Lesbos were
regularly called not Aristotle's "disciples", but
his "companions.
 Atomism
Pre-Soctratic (5th Century B.C)
Main Features/Beliefs:

Everthing in nature is made up of invisible

elements called atom.

Anything might ultimately consist of

an aggregation of small, indivisible units .
 Leucippus (5th century BCE) reported
in some ancient sources to have been a
philosopher who was the earliest
Greek to develop the theory
of atomismthe idea that everything is
composed entirely of various
imperishable, indivisible elements
called atoms. Leucippus often appears
as the master to his pupil Democritus,
a philosopher also touted as the
originator of the atomic theory.
 Notable Philosopher
Democritus (c. 460 - 370 B.C.)
Sometimes known as the "Laughing Philosopher", was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
from Thrace in northern Greece. Along with his teacher, Leucippus, he was the founder of
the Greek philosophical school of Atomism and developed a Materialist account of the natural
world.

Although he was a contemporary of Socrates, he usually considered Pre-Socratic in that his

philosophy and his approach were more similar to other Pre-Socratic thinkers than
to Socrates and Plato.

Democritus was also a pioneer of mathematics and geometry, and produced works
entitled "On Numbers", "On Geometrics", "On Tangencies", "On Mapping" and "On
Irrationals", although these works have not survived. We do know that he was among the
first to observe that a cone or pyramid has one-third the volume of
a cylinder or prism respectively with the same base and height.

He was also the first philosopher we know who realized that the celestial body we call
the Milky Way is actually formed from the light of distant stars, even though many later
philosophers (including Aristotle) argued against this. He was also among the first to propose
that the universe contains many worlds, some of which may be inhabited. He devoted
many of the later years of his life to researches into the properties of minerals and plants,
although we have no record of any conclusions he may have drawn.
 Cynicism
Socratic (c. 445 - 365 B.C.)

Cynicism is primarily a moral doctrine, which

consists in rejecting the commonly accepted
social and moral conventions. The cynical life
must therefore be based on a very ascetic
virtue.
The doctrine of Cynicism holds that
the purpose of life is to live a life
of Virtue in agreement with Nature (which
calls for only the bare necessities required
for existence).
Notable Philosopher
Diogenes of Sinope (aka Diogenes the Cynic) (c.
412 - 323 B.C.)
was a Greek philosopher of
the Socratic (or Classical) period. He was one of
the founders (and the archtypical practitioner)
of the ancient Greek philosophical school
of Cynicism.
He lived as a beggar in the streets of Athens and
made a virtue of extreme poverty. He
taught contempt for all human achievements,
social values and institutions.
Hipparchia (c. 325 B.C.)
was a Cynic philosopher, and wife of Crates of Thebes. She was born in Maroneia,
but her family moved to Athens, where Hipparchia came into contact with Crates,
the most famous Cynic philosopher in Greece at that time. She fell in love with
him, and, despite the disapproval of her parents, she married him. She went on to
live a life of Cynic poverty on the streets of Athens with her husband.
Little survives of her own philosophical views, but like most Cynics, her influence
lies in the example of her life, choosing a way of life which was usually considered
unacceptable for respectable women of the time. The story of her attraction to
Crates, and her rejection of conventional values, became a popular theme for later
writers.

Metrocles (c. 325 B.C.)

Metrocles (Greek: ; fl. c. 325 BC) was
a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia. He studied
in Aristotles Lyceum under Theophrastus, and eventually became a follower
of Crates of Thebes who married Metrocles sister Hipparchia. Very little survives
of his writings, but he is important as one of the first Cynics to adopt the practice of
writing moral anecdotes (chreiai) about Diogenes and other Cynics.
Eleatic School
Pre-Socratic(5th Century B.C.)

Main Features/Beliefs:

Believe that all is one, that

everything that exists has always
existed, and that nothing ever
really changes
 Notable Philosopher
Parmenides of Elea (c. 515 - 450 B.C.) was an early Pre-
Socratic Greekphilosopher and founder and chief representative of
the Eleatic School of ancient Greek philosophy.
He is one of the most significant and influential (as well as the
most difficult and obscure) of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, and he is
sometimes referred to as the father of Metaphysics. He particularly
influenced Plato (and, through him, the whole of Western Philosophy),
who always spoke of him with veneration. Perhaps his greatest
contribution to philosophy was his method of reasoned proof for
assertions.
In denying the reality (or even the possibility) of change as part of
his Monistphilosophy, Parmenides presented a turning point in the
history of Western Philosophy, and sparked a
philosophical challenge that determined the course of enquiries of
subsequent philosophers such
as Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Democritus, and an intellectual
revolution that still echoes today.
 Zeno of Elea(c. 490-430BCE) Zeno of Elea (c. 490 - 430 B.C.)
was an important Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from the
Greek colony of Elea in southern Italy. He was
a prominent member of the Eleatic School of ancient
Greek philosophy, which had been founded by Parmenides,
and he subscribed to and defended the Monist beliefs
of Parmenides.
Arguably he did not really attempt to add anything positive
to the teachings of his master, Parmenides, and he is best
known today for his paradoxes of motion.
But Aristotle has called him the inventor of the dialectic,
and no less a logician and historian than Bertrand
Russell has credited him with having laid the
foundations of modern Logic.
 Xenophanes of Colophon (570 480 B.C.)
was a traveling poet and sage with
philosophical leanings who lived in ancient
Greece during the sixth and the beginning of
the fifth centuries B.C.E. There are a significant
number of surviving fragments for such an
early figure, and the poetic verses available to
us indicate a broad range of issues. These
include comments on religion, knowledge, the
natural world, the proper comportment at a
banquet, as well as other social teachings and
commentary.
 Ephesian School
(Pre-Socratic5th Century B.C.)

Main Features/Beliefs
Refer to the ideas of just one man.

Believed that everything is in a

constant state of change and that
are sense are generally reliable.
 Notable Philosopher

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 - 475 B.C.) was a Pre-

Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus, on
the Ionian coast of modern-day Turkey. He is
sometimes mentioned in connection the Ephesian
School of philosophy, although he was really
the only prominent member of that school (which, along
with the Milesian School, is often considered part of
the Ionian School).
In his work, he used puns, paradoxes, antitheses,
parallels and various rhetorical and literary devices to
construct expressions that have meanings beyond the
obvious. The reader must therefore solve verbal
puzzles (he was also nicknamed "The Riddler"), and,
by so doing, learn to read the signs of the world.
Epicureanism Hellenistic(c.334-262BCE)
Happiness (or the greatest good) is to
seek modest pleasures in order to attain
a state of tranquillity, freedom from
fear and the absence of bodily pain.

Believes that wisdom and simple living will

result to a life free of fear and pain.
 Notable Philosopher
Epicurus (341 - 270 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher of the Hellenistic period. He
was the founder ancient Greek philosophical school of Epicureanism, whose
main goal was to attain a happy, tranquil life, characterized by the absence of
pain and fear, through the cultivation of friendship, freedom and an analyzed
life. His metaphysics was generally materialistic, his Epistemology was empiricist,
and his Ethics was hedonistic.

Epicurus is supposed to have written over 300 books, but the only
surviving complete works that have come down to us are three
letters and two groups of quotes, which are to be found in the "Lives
of Eminent Philosophers" of the 3rd Century historian, Diogenes
Laertius, and which present his basic views in a handy
and concise form. Other evidence comes from the ruined town
of Oenoanda, where the rich Epicurean follower Diogenes of
Oenoanda had Epicurus' entire philosophy of happiness inscribed on
the stones of the town's stoa in the early 2nd Century AD. Also,
numerous fragments of his thirty-seven volume treatise "On
Nature" have been found among the charred remains at Herculaneum.
 Milesian School
Pre-Socratic6th Century B.C.

Main Features/Beliefs:
More focused on nature than on
reason and thought.
Sometimes described as philosophers
of nature, and they presented a view of
nature in terms of methodologically
observable entities, and therefore
represented one of the first attempts to
make philosophy truly scientific.
Notable Philosopher
Thales(c.624-546BCE)

Anaximander (c. 610 - 546 B.C.) was an early Pre-

Socratic philosopher from the Greek city
of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He was a key figure in
the Milesian School, as
a student of Thales and teacher of Anaximenes and Pythagoras.
He was an early proponent of science, and is sometimes
considered to be the first true scientist, and to have conducted
the earliest recorded scientific experiment. He is often
considered the founder of astronomy, and he tried to observe
and explain different aspects of the universe and its origins, and
to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the
Earth. He made important contributions to cosmology, physics,
geometry, meteorology and geography as well as to Metaphysics.
 Anaximenes (c.585-525 B.C.)

Anaximenes (c. 585 - 525 B.C.) was an early Pre-

Socratic philosopher from the Greek city
of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He was a key
figure in the Milesian School, a friend and pupil
of Anaximander and he continued the Milesians'
philosophical inquiries into the "arch" or first principle of
the universe (which Anaximenes deemed to be air), and
sought to give a quasi-scientific explanation of the world.
In the physical sciences, Anaximenes was the first Greek
to distinguish clearly between planets and stars, and he
used his principles to account for various natural
phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, rainbows,
earthquakes, etc.
Pluralism Pre-Socratic(5th Century B.C.)
Main Features/Beliefs:
Origin of the cosmogenic theory of
the four classical elements (fire, air,
water and earth) which he held to be simple,
eternal and unalterable.
More than one basic substance or principle,
whether it be the constitution of the universe, of the
mind and body, the sources of truth
Notable Philosopher
Anaxagoras (c. 500 - 428 B.C.) was an early Pre-
Socratic Greek philosopher from Ionia, although he
was one of the first philosophers to move to Athens as a
base.
He is sometimes considered to be part of the poorly-
defined school of Pluralism, and some of his ideas also
influenced the later development of Atomism. Many
of his ideas in the physical sciences were quite
revolutionary in their day, and quite insightful in
retrospect.

He is best known for his cosmological theory of the

origins and structure of the universe.
Empedocles (c. 490 - 430 B.C.)

Was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, usually considered a

member of the poorly-defined Pluralist school in that he
was eclectic in his thinking and combined much that had been
suggested by others.
He is perhaps best known as the originator of the cosmogenic
theory of the four classical elements of the ancient
world: earth, air, fire and water, which became the standard
dogma for much of the next two thousand years. He is also
credited with several prescient ideas in physics which have since
proved quite prophetic.
The details of his life have mainly passed into myth, and he has
been regarded variously as a materialist physicist, a
shamanic magician, a mystical theologian, a gifted healer,
a democratic politician, a living god and
a fraud and charlatan.
Pythagoreanism
Pre-Socratic(530 B.C.)

Main feature/Beliefs:
Dominated by mathematics, but it was also
profoundly mystical/religious.

Believe in metempsychosis (the transmigration

of the soul and its reincarnation after death).
 Notable Philosophers
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 - 490 B.C.) was an early Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher and
mathematician from the Greek island of Samos.
He was the founder of the influential philosophical and religious movement or cult
called Pythagoreanism, and he was probably the first man to actually call himself a
philosopher (or lover of wisdom). Pythagoras (or in a broader sense the Pythagoreans),
allegedly exercised an important influence on the work of Plato.
As a mathematician, he is known as the "father of numbers" or as the first pure
mathematician, and is best known for his Pythagorean Theorem on the relation between
the sides of a right triangle, the concept of square numbers and square roots, and the
discovery of the golden ratio.
Unfortunately, little is known for sure about him, (none of his original writings
have survived, and his followers usually published their own works in his name) and he
remains something of a mysterious figure. His secret society or brotherhood had a great
effect on later esoteric traditions such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.
Sophism Pre-Socratic( 7th and 6th Century B.C.)

Emphasized the practical

application of rhetoric toward civic
and political life.

Confusing or illogical argument used

to deceive someone, or merely philosophy
or argument for its own sake, empty of
real content or value.
 Protagoras (c. 490 - 420 B.C.) was a Pre-
Socratic Greek philosopher from Thrace in northern Greece, although he made his
name as a teacher and advisor in Athens.
Along with his rough contemporary Gorgias, he is considered one of the major
figures in the philosophical school of Sophism, and Plato credits him with
having invented the role of the professional Sophist or teacher of virtue. He is
also sometimes known as the father of Relativism and of Agnosticism.
Protagoras apparently wrote many works, the two of which we have definite
knowledge being "Alethia" ("Truth") and "Peritheon" ("On the Gods").
Unfortunately, none of his works have survived the destruction of the ages. What
we know of his works are just a few fragments quoted in the writings of other
philosophers, particularly Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes Lartus and Sextus
Empiricus.
 Gorgias (c. 487 - 376 B.C.) was a Pre-
Socratic Greek philosopher, orator and rhetorician
from Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he was one of
the major figures in the first
generation of Sophists.
Both Plato and Aristotle criticized Gorgias severely,
labelling him as a mere sophist (in the derogatory
sense of "sophistry") whose primary goal was
to make money by appearing wise and clever, and
not a true philosopher. However, he was
undeniably highly influential and, in bringing his
rhetorical innovations from his native Sicily
to Athens and Attica, he also contributed to the
diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language
of literary prose.
Stoicism Hellenic(3rd century AD.)
Main Features/Beliefs

Emphasis on morality, virtue, calm,

and emotional fortitude.
Notable Philosophers
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Epectitus
Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius (c. A.D. 121 - 180) was
a Roman Emperor (the last of the "Five Good
Emperors") and philosopher of the Roman period. He is
considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.
Although, perhaps not a first-rank or original philosopher,
his "Meditations" remain revered as a literary
monument and as a succinct
statement of Stoic philosophy. Looked at as a series
of practical philosophical exercises intended to digest
and put into practice philosophical theory, his works have
had a profound influence over the centuries.

Zeno of Citium
MEDIEVAL SCHOOL
Averroism
Avicennism
Illuminationism
Scholasticism
Scotism
Thomism
Scholasticism
Medival(12th to 16th Century)

Application of philosophy to define and

explain religious doctrines.

An acceptance of the
prevailing Catholic orthodoxy.
 Notable Philosopher
Thomas Aquinas (AKA Thomas of Aquin or Aquino) (c.
1225 - 1274) was an Italian philosopher and theologian of
the Medieval period. He was the foremost classical proponent
of natural theology at the the peak of Scholasticism in
Europe, and the founder of the Thomistic school of philosophy
and theology.
The philosophy of Aquinas has exerted enormous
influence on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of
the Roman Catholic Church, but also Western philosophy in
general. His most important and enduring works are
the "Summa Theologica", in which he expounds his
systematic theology of the "quinquae viae" (the five proofs of
the existence of God), and the "Summa Contra Gentiles".
 St. Augustine of HippoSt. Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430) was
an Algerian-Roman philosopher and theologian of the late Roman /
early Medieval period. He is one of the most important early figures in the
development of Western Christianity, and was a major figure in
bringing Christianity to dominance in the previously pagan Roman
Empire. He is often considered the father of orthodox theology and
the greatest of the four great fathersof the Latin Church (along with St.
Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Gregory).
Augustine wrote over 100 works in Latin, many of them texts
on Christian doctrine and apologetic works against various heresies.
He is best known for the "Confessiones" ("Confessions", a personal
account of his early life, completed in about 397), "De civitate
Dei" ("The City of God", consisting of 22 books started in 413 and
finished in 426, dealing with God, martyrdom, Jews and other Christian
philosophies) and "De Trinitate" ("On the Trinity", consisting of 15
books written over the final 30 years of his life, in which he developed the
"psychological analogy" of the Trinity).
 Scotism
Medieval (13 century)

Main Features/Beliefs:

Stoicism is both a theory of the

universe and of morality. Stoic
wisdom is defined as knowledge of the
Cosmos.
Notable Philosopher
Francis Mayron
Pope Alexander V
Pope Sixtus IV
Elector Frederick III of Saxony
Angelus of Chivasso
Paul Scriptoris
Luke Wadding
Claude Frassen
Francisco Macedo
 Thomism medieval(13th century)
Main Features/Beliefs:
Believe God is the sole being whose existence
Explain Christian Religious Doctrine
Teleology: the universe is guided by principles,
purpose, and design beyond the universe
itself; specifically, the principles and design
of God.
Notable Philosopher
Thomas Aquinas
John Duns Scotus
Robert Bellarmine
Francisco Surez
Francisco de Lugo
 MODERN SCHOOL
Analytic Philosophy Ordinary Language
British Empiricism Philosophy
Continental Philosophy Phenomenology
Deconstructionism Positivism
Existentialism Post-Modernism
Empiricism Post-Structuralism
German Idealism Pragmatism
Hegelianism Rationalism
Humanism Romanticism
Kantianism Structuralism
Logicism Transcendentalism
Logical Positivism Utilitarianism
Marxism
Modernism
 Rationalism
The Enlightenment (17th to 18th Centuries)

Main Features/Beliefs:

Reason and logic considered the basis of knowledge and

belief; man has innate knowledge that can be accessed
through intuition or deduction.

Believe that, rather than being a "tabula rasa" to be

imprinted with sense data, the mind is structured by, and
responds to, mathematical methods of reasoning.
 Notable Philosopher
Ren Descartes (15961650)Descartes was the first of the
modern rationalists and has been dubbed the 'Father of
Modern Philosophy.' Much subsequent Western
philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied
closely to this day.
Descartes thought that only knowledge of eternal truths
including the truths of mathematics, and the
epistemological and metaphysical foundations of the
sciences could be attained by reason alone; other
knowledge, the knowledge of physics, required experience
of the world, aided by the scientific method.
He elaborated these beliefs in such works as Discourse on
Method, Meditations on First Philosophy, and Principles
of Philosophy.
 Baruch Spinoza (16321677) of Baruch Spinoza is a systematic, logical, rational
philosophy developed in seventeenth-century Europe. His work was in many
respects a departure from the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Gottfried Leibniz(16461716) was the last of the great Rationalists who contributed
heavily to other fields such
as metaphysics, epistemology, logic, mathematics, physics, jurisprudence, and
the philosophy of religion; he is also considered to be one of the last "universal
geniuses".[47] He did not develop his system, however, independently of these
advances. Leibniz rejected Cartesian dualism and denied the existence of a material
world. In Leibniz's view there are infinitely many simple substances, which he called
"monads" (possibly taking the term from the work of Anne Conway).
Immanuel Kant (17241804)[is one of the central figures of modern philosophy, and
set the terms by which all subsequent thinkers have had to grapple. He argued that
human perception structures natural laws, and that reason is the source of morality.
His thought continues to hold a major influence in contemporary thought, especially
in fields such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and
aesthetics.
Kant named his brand of epistemology "Transcendental Idealism", and he first laid
out these views in his famous work The Critique of Pure Reason. In it he argued that
there were fundamental problems with both rationalist and empiricist dogma.
Empirism The Enlightenment(17th to 18th centuries)

Main Features/Beliefs :

Knowledge is gained through the

senses and experience; reliance on
inductive reasoning to arrive at
generalizations,
 Notable Philosopher
John Locke (1632 - 1704) was an English philosopher of
the Age of Reason and early Age of Enlightenment. His ideas
had enormous influence on the development
of Epistemology and Political Philosophy, and he is widely
regarded as one of the most
influential early Enlightenment thinkers.
Locke wrote
on philosophical, scientific and political matters
throughout his life, in a voluminous correspondence and
ample journals, but the public works for which he is best
known were published in a single, sudden burst in 1689 -
1690.

The fundamental principles of Locke's Epistemology are

presented in his monumental "An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding" of 1690, the culmination of
twenty years of reflection on the origins of human
knowledge.
 David Hume
David Hume (1711 - 1776) was a Scottish philosopher,
economist and historian of the Age of Enlightenment. He was an
important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and, along
with John Locke and Bishop George Berkeley, one of the three
main figureheads of the influential British
Empiricism movement.
He was a fierce opponent of
the Rationalism of Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza, as well as
an atheist and a skeptic. He has come to be considered as one of
the most important British philosophers of all time, and
he was a huge influence on later philosophers,
from Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer to the Logical
Positivists and Analytic Philosophers of the 20th Century, as
well as on intellectuals in other fields (including Albert
Einstein, who claimed to have been inspired by
Hume's skepticism of the established order).
 Sir Francis Bacon (Baron Verulam, 1st Viscount St Alban) (1561 -
1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, essayist and scientist of
the late Renaissance period. He was an astute and ambitious
politician in the turbulent and poisonous political climate
of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. But, despite his
sometimes nefarious dealings and constant battles against debt, he
was also the possessor of a brilliant mind.

His major contribution to philosophy was his application of inductive

reasoning (generalizations based on individual instances), the
approach used by modern science, rather than the a priori method
of medieval Scholasticism and Aristotelianism. He was an early
proponent of Empiricism and the scientific method.

For Bacon, the only knowledge of importance to man

was empirically rooted in the natural world, and a clear system
of scientific inquiry would assure man's mastery over the world. He
had a great reverence for Aristotle, although he found Aristotelian
philosophy barren, disputatious and wrong in its objectives.
 Humanism
Renaissance(14th to 17th centuries)

Main Features/Beliefs:

Emphasis on the human person; use of

philosophy to understand society,
nature, and humanity.
 Francesco Petrarca was an Italian scholar
and poet in Renaissance Italy, who was one of the
earliest humanists. His rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often
credited with initiating the 14th-century Renaissance.
Petrarch is often considered the founder of Humanism.[1] In
the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the
modern Italian language based on Petrarch's works, as well
as those of Giovanni Boccaccio, and, to a lesser extent, Dante
Alighieri.[2] Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for
Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca. Petrarch's
sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe
during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical
poetry. He is also known for being the first to develop the
concept of the "Dark Ages."[3] This standing back from his
time was possible because he straddled two worldsthe
classical and his own modern day.
 Notable Philosopher
Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus (AKA Desiderius
Erasmus Roterodamus or Desiderius Erasmus of
Rotterdam) (1466 - 1536) was a Dutch philosopher and
theologian of the Renaissance. He is best known as an
early Humanist (sometimes known as "Prince of the
Humanists" or "the crowning glory of the Christian
Humanists"), and the intellectual father of the Reformation.
He was instrumental in rescuing Christian theology from the
pedantries of the Scholastics.
He was a very learned classical scholar, and was especially
interested in the study of ancient languages. Although his Latin
and Greek editions of the New Testament earned
him enemies among both Catholics and Protestant
Reformers, his works were hugely popular and influential,
both during his life and afterwards (in the 1530s, his writings
accounted for 10 to 20 percent of all book sales).
 Niccol di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 - 1527) was
an Italian philosopher, political theorist, diplomat, musician and writer
of the Renaissance period. He was a central figure in the political
scene of the Italian Renaissance, a tumultuous periodof plots,
wars between city states and constantly shifting alliances.
Although he never considered himself a philosopher (and often
overtly rejectedphilosophical inquiry as irrelevant),
many subsequent political philosophers have been influenced by his
ideas. His name has since passed into common usage to refer to any
political move that is devious or cunning in nature, although this
probably represents a more extreme view than Machiavelli actually
took.
He is best known today for two main works, the well-known "The
Prince" (a treatise on political realism and a guide on how a ruler
can retain control over his subjects), and the "Discourses on
Livy" (the most important work on republicanism in the early
modern period).
 Franois Rabelais between 1483 and 1494 9
April 1553) was a French Renaissance writer,
physician, Renaissance humanist, monk
and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded
as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy
jokes and songs. His best known work is Gargantua
and Pantagruel. Because of his literary power and
historical importance, Western literary critics
consider him one of the great writers of world
literature and among the creators of modern
European writing.[2] His literary legacy is such that
today, the word Rabelaisian has been coined as a
descriptive inspired by his work and life.
Social and Political Philosophy
The Enlightenment(17th to 18th centuries)

Discussions on the ideal human

situation and society; emphasis on
individual rights and liberties.
 Voltaire (real name Franois-Marie Arouet) (1694 - 1778) was
a French philosopher and writer of the Age of Enlightenment. His intelligence,
wit and style made him one of France's greatest writers and philosophers,
despite the controversy he attracted.
He was an outspoken supporter of social reform (including the defence of civil
liberties, freedom of religion and free trade), despite the
strict censorship laws and harsh penalties of the period, and made use of his
satirical works to criticize Catholic dogma and the French institutions of his
day.
He was a prolific writer, and produced works in almost every literary
form (plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works, over 21,000
letters and over two thousand books and pamphlets).Many of his prose works
and romances were written as polemics, and were often preceded by his caustic
yet conversational prefaces.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) was
a French philosopher and writer of the Age of Enlightenment.
His Political Philosophy, particularly his formulation of social
contract theory (or Contractarianism), strongly influenced
the French Revolution and the development
of Liberal, Conservative and Socialist theory. A brilliant,
undisciplined and unconventional thinker throughout
his colourful life, his views on Philosophy of Education and
on religion were equally controversial but nevertheless
influential.
He is considered to have invented modern autobiography and
his novel "Julie, ou la nouvelle Hlose" was one of the
best-selling fictional works of the 18th Century (and was
important to the development of Romanticism). He also made
important contributions to music, both as a theorist and as
a composer.
 Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) was an English philosopher of
the Age of Reason. His famous 1651 book "Leviathan" and
his social contract theory, developed during the tumultuous
times around the English Civil War, established the
foundation for most of Western Political Philosophy.
His vision of the world was strikingly original at the time,
and is still relevant to contemporary politics. He did not
shrink from addressing sensitive issues head on, and while
few have liked his thesis, many have seen the political
realism it represents.
Like Machiavelli before him, Hobbes looked on politics as
a secular discipline, divorced from theology, and he has always
attracted his share of powerful (and often vitriolic) detractors.
Other have taken issue with his apparent assumption of
mankind as not inherently benevolent, but rather self-
centred and competitive.
 John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) was an English philosopher, political
economist and Member of Parliament of the early Modern period.
His philosophical roots were in the British Empiricism of John
Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume. But he is best known for
his further development of the Utilitarian theory of his
teacher, Jeremy Bentham, which he popularized as a movement and
of which he became the best known exponent and apologist.
He was instrumental in the development of progressive political
doctrines such as Socialism, Libertarianism and Feminism, and he
was active in calling for political and social reforms such as
the abolition of the slave trade, universal suffrage, labour
unions and farm cooperatives.
He was perhaps the most influential English-speaking philosopher
and liberal thinker of the 19th Century, and he made important
contributions to British thought, especially in Ethics and Political
Philosophy.