[edit]

History of western philosophy
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Ancient philosophy
Medieval philosophy
Renaissance philosophy
17th-century philosophy
18th-century philosophy
19th-century philosophy
20th-century philosophy
Postmodern philosophy
Contemporary philosophy
See also:
Eastern philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Christian philosophy
Islamic philosophy

17th-century philosophy in the West is generally regarded as seeing the start of modern philosophy, and the shaking off of the mediæval approach, especially scholasticism. Image File history File links Cropped version of [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the book by Bertrand Russell, see History of Western Philosophy (Russell) The usefulness of dividing philosophy into Western philosophy and other philosophies is open to challenge, not the least for speaking down to those other philosophies. ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates, who exerted tremendous influence on later thought. ... This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... By region Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance English Renaissance In his book The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Jacob Burckhardt argued that, beginning in the 14th century a transformation in outlook and ideas began in Italy which would later cover all of Europe. ... The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. ... (Redirected from 19th century philosophy) In the 18th Century the philosophies of The Enlightenment would begin to have dramatic effect, and the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau would have an electrifying effect on a new generation of thinkers. ... The 20th century brought with it upheavals that produced a series of conflicting developments within philosophy over the basis of knowledge and the validity of various absolutes. ... Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by the postmodern criticism and analysis of Western philosophy. ... It is almost always difficult, some would say impossible, to describe the shape of any particular era while it is happening. ... The usefulness of dividing philosophy into Western philosophy and other philosophies is open to challenge, not the least for speaking down to those other philosophies. ... Jewish philosophy is not a universally agreed-upon term, but it does exist as a field of scholarship. ... Christian philosophy is a catch-all expression for a two-millennia tradition of rational thought that attempts to fuse the fields of philosophy with the religious teachings of Christianity. ... Islamic philosophy (الفلسفة الإسلامية) is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between faith, reason or philosophy, and the religious teachings of Islam. ... Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus which means that [which] belongs to the school, and is the school of philosophy taught by the academics (or schoolmen) of medieval universities circa 1100 - 1500. ...

Europe

In Western Philosophy, the modern period is usually taken to start with the seventeenth century — more specifically, with the work of René Descartes, who set much of the agenda as well as much of the methodology for those who came after him. The period is typified in Europe by the great system-builders — philosophers who present unified systems of epistemology, metaphysics, logic, and ethics, and often politics and the physical sciences too. Wikisource has original works written by or about: René Descartes Works by René Descartes at Project Gutenberg A summary of his book A Discourse On Method French French Audio Book (mp3) : excerpt about animals/machines from Discourse On the Method Discourse On the Method – at Project Gutenberg Selections from... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being (ontology). ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, (but coming to mean thought or reason) is most often said to be the study of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy amongst philosophers (see below). ... Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Look up Politics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Politics (disambiguation) Democracy History of democracy List of democracy and elections-related topics List of years in politics List of politics by country articles Political corruption Political economy Political movement Political parties of the world Political party Political psychology Political sociology Political...

Kant was to classify his predecessors into two schools: the Rationalists and the Empiricists, and Early Modern Philosophy (as seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy is known) is often characterised in terms of a supposed conflict between these schools. This division is a considerable oversimplification, and it's important to be aware that the philosophers involved didn't think of themselves as belonging to these schools, but as being involved in a single philosophical enterprise. His tomb and its pillared enclosure outside the cathedral in Königsberg are some of the few artifacts of German times preserved by the Soviets after they conquered East Prussia in 1945. ... A separate article deals with a different philosophical position called rationalism. ... Empiricism (greek εμπειρισμός, from empirical, latin experientia - the experience), is the philosophical doctrine that all human knowledge ultimately comes from the senses and from experience. ...

Although misleading in many ways, this classification has continued to be used to this day. The three main Rationalists are normally taken to have been Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz, while the three main Empiricists were John Locke, and in the eighteenth century George Berkeley and David Hume. The former were distinguished by the belief that, in principle (though not in practice), all knowledge can be gained by the power of our reason alone; the latter rejected this, believing that all knowledge has to come through the senses, from experience. Thus the Rationalists took mathematics as their model for knowledge, and the Empiricists took the physical sciences. Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), was named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento dEspiñoza in his native Amsterdam. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Locke Free, full-text works by John Locke Works by John Locke at Project Gutenberg Works by Locke on the Web John Locke Online Bibliography Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry John Locke Bibliography John Locke Manuscripts Readable versions of the Essay... (Redirected from 18th century philosophy) 17th-century Western philosophy is conventionally seen as being dominated by the coming of symbolic mathematics and rationalism to philosophy, many of the most noted philosophers were also mathematicians. ... Bishop George Berkeley George Berkeley (British English://; Irish English: //) (March 12, 1685 – January 14, 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of what has come to be called subjective idealism, summed up in his dictum, Esse est percipi... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Hume Online editions of Humes work: Works by David Hume at Project Gutenberg Free eBook of A Treatise of Human Nature at Project Gutenberg Free eBook of The History of England, Volume I at Project Gutenberg Free eBook of An... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mathematics Look up Mathematics on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mathematics Bogomolny, Alexander: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. ...

This emphasis on epistemology is at the root of Kant's distinction; looking at the various philosophers in terms of their metaphysical, moral, or linguistic theories, they divide up very differently. Even sticking to epistemology, though, the distinction is shaky: for example, most of the Rationalists accepted that in practice we had to rely on the sciences for knowledge of the external world, and many of them were involved in scientific research; the Empiricists, on the other hand, generally accepted that a priori knowledge was possible in the fields of maths and logic, and of the main three, only Locke has any scientific training or expertise. The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... Philosophy of language is the branch of philosophy that studies language. ... A priori is a Latin phrase meaning from the former or less literally before experience. In much of the modern Western tradition, the term a priori is considered to mean propositional knowledge that can be had without, or prior to, experience. ...

This period also saw the birth of some of the classics of political thought, especially Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, and Locke's Two Treatises of Government. Thomas Hobbes portrait by John Michael Wright (National Portrait Gallery, London) Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588–December 4, 1679) was a noted English political philosopher, most famous for his book Leviathan (1651). ...

The seventeenth century in Europe saw the culmination of the slow process of detachment of philosophy from theology. Thus, while philosophers still talked about – and even offered arguments for the existence of – god, this was done in the service of philosophical argument and thought. (In the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, 18th-century philosophy was to go still further, leaving theology and religion behind altogether.) Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

List of 17th-century philosophers

(Still very incomplete)

• Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
• Marin Mersenne (1588–1648)
• Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
• Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655)
• René Descartes (1596–1650)
• Antoine Arnauld (1612–1694)
• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
• Anne Conway (1631–1679)
• Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)
• John Locke (1632–1704)
• Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715)
• Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
• Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
• Giambattista Vico (1668–1744)

Sir Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, spy, freemason and essayist. ... Marin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne (September 8, 1588 – September 1, 1648) was a French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist. ... Thomas Hobbes portrait by John Michael Wright (National Portrait Gallery, London) Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588–December 4, 1679) was a noted English political philosopher, most famous for his book Leviathan (1651). ... Pierre Gassendi (January 22, 1592 – October 24, 1655) was a French philosopher, scientist and mathematician, best known for attempting to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christianity. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: René Descartes Works by René Descartes at Project Gutenberg A summary of his book A Discourse On Method French French Audio Book (mp3) : excerpt about animals/machines from Discourse On the Method Discourse On the Method – at Project Gutenberg Selections from... Antoine Arnauld, (1612 - August 8, 1694) — le grand as contemporaries called him, to distinguihs him from his father — was a French Roman Catholic theologian and writer. ... Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623–August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Anne Conway (1631–1679) was an English philosopher whose work, in the tradition of the Cambridge Platonists, was an influence on Leibniz. ... Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), was named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento dEspiñoza in his native Amsterdam. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Locke Free, full-text works by John Locke Works by John Locke at Project Gutenberg Works by Locke on the Web John Locke Online Bibliography Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry John Locke Bibliography John Locke Manuscripts Readable versions of the Essay... Nicolas Malebranche (August 6, 1638 – October 13, 1715) was a French philosopher of the Cartesian school. ... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS (25 December 1642 (OS) – 20 March 1727 (OS) / 4 January 1643 (NS) – 31 March 1727 (NS)) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, philosopher and alchemist. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ... Giambattista Vico or Giovanni Battista Vico (June 23, 1668—January 23, 1744) was a Neapolitan philosopher, historian, and jurist. ...

Outside Europe

• Wang fu-zi (1619–1693)