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Philosophy


 
 


Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity, mind and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions (such as mysticismMysticism

Mysticism from the Greek ?st???? "an initiate" is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious aware...
 or mythologyMythology

The word mythology literally means the retelling of myths stories that a particular culture believes to be true and t...
) by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasonReason

In the philosophy of arguments, reason is the ability of the human mind to form and operate on concepts in abstraction, in v...
ed argument. The word philosophy is of Ancient GreekFacts About Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek refers to the dialects of the Hellenic language family from about 1100 B.C to 600 A.D., including during the h...
 origin: f???s?f?a (philosophía), meaning "love of knowledge", "love of wisdom".
Branches of philosophyTo give an exhaustive list of the main branches of philosophy is difficult, because there have been different, equally acceptable divisions at different times, and the divisions are often relative to the concerns of a particular period.






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Timeline

20   Philo defines philosophy as the maidservant of theology.

134   Opening of a university of rhetoric, law and philosophy in Rome, the Athenaeum.

229   Ammonius Saccas, renews Greek philosophy by creating Neoplatonism.

1277   The philosophical doctrine Averroism is banned from Paris at a condemnation at the University of Paris.






Quotations


Too much philosophy makes men mad.

Alan Judd, The Noonday Devil (1987)

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.

Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, thesis 11

Philosophy is not the owl of Minerva that takes flight after history has been realized in order to celebrate its happy ending; rather, philosophy is subjective proposition, desire, and praxis that are applied to the event.

Philosophy is a word which has been used in many ways, some wider, some narrower. I propose to use it in a very wide sense, which I will now try to explain.

Bertrand Russell A History of Western Philosophy

Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.

Richard Rorty, Introduction to Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers, Volume 3 (1998).

Physics and philosophy are at most a few thousand years old, but probably have lives of thousands of millions of years stretching away in front of them. They are only just beginning to get under way.

Physics and Philosophy (1942), p.217.





Encyclopedia




Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, justice, beauty, validity, mind and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions (such as mysticismMysticism

Mysticism from the Greek ?st???? "an initiate" is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious aware...
 or mythologyMythology

The word mythology literally means the retelling of myths stories that a particular culture believes to be true and t...
) by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasonReason

In the philosophy of arguments, reason is the ability of the human mind to form and operate on concepts in abstraction, in v...
ed argument. The word philosophy is of Ancient GreekFacts About Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek refers to the dialects of the Hellenic language family from about 1100 B.C to 600 A.D., including during the h...
 origin: f???s?f?a (philosophía), meaning "love of knowledge", "love of wisdom".

Branches of philosophy

To give an exhaustive list of the main branches of philosophy is difficult, because there have been different, equally acceptable divisions at different times, and the divisions are often relative to the concerns of a particular period. However, the following branches are usually accepted as the main ones.

  • MetaphysicsMetaphysics

    Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of the world....
    investigates the nature of being and the world. Traditional branches are cosmologyCosmology

    Cosmology, from the Greek:??sµ?????a is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it...
     and ontologyOntology

    In philosophy, ontology is the study of being or existence....
    .
  • EpistemologyFacts About Epistemology

    Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature and scope of knowledge....
    is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible. Among its central concerns has been the challenge posed by skepticismSkepticism

    In ordinary usage, skepticism or scepticism refers to...
     and the relationships between truthTruth

    Common dictionary definitions of truth mention some form of accord with fact or reality....
    , beliefBelief

    Belief is usually defined as a conviction of the truth of a proposition without its verification; therefore a belief is a su...
     and justificationJustification

    Justification can mean:*Justification...
    .
  • EthicsEthics

    Ethics is a major branch of philosophy....
    , or 'moral philosophy', is concerned with questions of how persons ought to act or if such questions are answerable. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethicsMeta-ethics

    In philosophy, meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties , and ethical s...
     (sometimes called "analytic ethics"), normative ethicsNormative ethics

    Normative ethics is the branch of the philosophical study of ethics concerned with classifying actions as right and wrong, a...
     and applied ethicsApplied ethics

    Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply 'theoretical' ethics, such as utilitarianism, social con...
    . Metaethics concerns the nature of ethical thought, comparison of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such truths could be known. Ethics is also associated with the idea of moralityMorality Summary

    Morality refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to matters of good and evil —also referred to as "right ...
    . PlatoPlato

    Plato , whose real name is believed to have been Aristocles, was an immensely influential ancient Greek philosopher, ...
    's early dialogues include a search for definitions of virtue.
  • Political PhilosophyPolitical philosophy

    Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property...
    is the study of government and the relationship of individuals and communities to the state. It includes questions about law, property, and the rights and obligations of the citizen.
  • AestheticsAesthetics

    Aesthetics is a branch of value theory which studies sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sen...
    deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory-emotional values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment.
  • LogicLogic

    Logic, from Classical Greek ?????, originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, is most often said to be the stud...
    deals with patterns of thinking that lead from true premises to true conclusions. Beginning in the late 19th century19th century

    The 19th century lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar....
    , mathematicianMathematician

    A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics....
    s such as Frege began a mathematical treatment of logic, and today the subject of logic has two broad divisions: mathematical logicMathematical logic

    Mathematical logic is a subfield of mathematics that is concerned with formal systems in relation to the way that they encod...
     (formal symbolic logic) and what is now called philosophical logicPhilosophical logic

    Philosophical logic is the application of formal logical techniques to problems that concern philosophers....
    .
  • Philosophy of MindPhilosophy of mind

    Philosophy of mind is the philosophical study of the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties,...
    deals with the nature of the mind and its relationship to the body, and is typified by disputes between dualismDualism

    The term dualism has a number of uses in the history of thinking....
     and materialismMaterialism

    In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist i...
    . In recent years there is an increasing connection between this branch of philosophy and cognitive scienceCognitive science

    Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence ....
  • Philosophy of languagePhilosophy of language

    Philosophy of language is the branch of philosophy whose primary concerns include the natures of meaning, reference, truth, ...
    : is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language.


Most academic subjects have a philosophy, for example the philosophy of sciencePhilosophy of science

Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications ...
, the philosophy of mathematicsPhilosophy of mathematics

Philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implicati...
, and the philosophy of historyFacts About Philosophy of history

Philosophy of History is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history....
. In addition, a range of academic subjects have emerged to deal with areas which would have historically been the subject of philosophy. These include PsychologyPsychology

Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the human mind, brain, and behavior....
, AnthropologyAnthropology

Anthropology consists of the study of humanity ....
 and ScienceNatural science Summary

In science, natural science is the rational study of the universe via rules or laws of natural order....
.

History


Western philosophy

The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker PythagorasFacts About Pythagoras

Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian mathematician and philosopher, founder of the mystic, religious and scientific society c...
 (see Diogenes LaertiusDiogenes Laertius

Diogenes Lartius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town o...
: "De vita et moribus philosophorum", I, 12; CiceroCicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator, statesman, political theorist, and philos...
: "Tusculanae disputationes", V, 8-9). The ascription is based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of AristotleAristotle

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great....
. It is considered to be part of the widespread legends of Pythagoras of this time. "Philosopher" replaced the word "sophist" (from sophoi), which was used to describe "wise men," teachers of rhetoricRhetoric

Rhetoric is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language....
, who were important in Athenian democracyAthenian democracy Summary

The Athenian democracy was the democratic system developed in the Greek city-state of Athens ....
.

The history of philosophy is customarily divided into three periods: Ancient philosophyAncient philosophy

This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosop...
, Medieval philosophyMedieval philosophy Summary

Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe in the "era" now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period ro...
, and Modern philosophyModern philosophy

Modern philosophy is philosophy done during the "modern" era of Europe and North America....
. For a map with the dates and places of birth of most western philosophers see .
Ancient philosophy



Ancient philosophy is the philosophy of the Graeco-Roman world from the sixth century [circa 585] B.C. to the fourth century A.D. It is usually divided into four periods: the pre-Socratic periodPre-Socratic philosophy

The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier....
, the periods of PlatoPlato

Plato , whose real name is believed to have been Aristocles, was an immensely influential ancient Greek philosopher, ...
 and AristotleAristotle

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great....
, and the post-Aristotelian (or HellenisticHellenistic period

The Hellenistic period, if the figures of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra are excluded, is relatively less known....
) period. Sometimes a fifth period is added that includes the ChristianChristian

A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, referred to as Christ....
 and Neo-Platonist philosophers. The most important of the ancient philosophers (in terms of subsequent influence) are Plato and Aristotle.

The themes of ancient philosophy are: understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the universeUniverse

The term universe has a variety of meanings, based on the context in which it is used....
; explaining it in an economical and uniform way; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it; questions about things which cannot be perceived by the senses, such as numbersFacts About Numbers

A number is a mathematical concept used to describe and assess quantity....
, elementsClassical element

Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical elements to explain patterns in nature....
, universals, and godsGods

Gods can refer to:* plurality of Gods; see polytheism...
; the analysis of patterns of reasoningReasoning

Reasoning is defined very differently depending on the context of the understanding of reason as a form of knowledge....
 and argument; the nature of the good lifeThe Good Life

The Good Life was one of the most successful British situation comedies of all time, produced by the BBC between 1975 an...
 and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justiceJustice

Justice is the ideal, morally correct state of things and persons....
, and its relation to various political systems.

In this period the crucial features of the philosophical methodPhilosophical method

Philosophical method is the study of how to do philosophy....
 were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation.


Medieval philosophy

Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western EuropeWestern Europe

Western Europe is mainly a socio-political concept coined, forged and used during the Cold War....
 and the Middle EastMiddle East Overview

The Middle East is a subcontinent for the historical and cultural subregion of Africa-Eurasia traditionally held to be count...
 during what is now known as the medieval era or the Middle AgesMiddle Ages

The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the clas...
, roughly extending from the fall of the Roman EmpireRoman Empire

The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government....
 to the RenaissanceRenaissance

In the traditional view, the Renaissance was understood as a historical age in Europe that followed the Middle Ages and ...
. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical GreekGreek philosophy

Classical Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry....
 and Hellenistic philosophyHellenistic philosophy

Hellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy that was developed in the Hellenistic civilization following Aris...
, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine (in IslamIslam

Islam is a monotheistic religion based upon the Qur'an, which adherents believe was sent by God through Muhammad....
, JudaismJudaism

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people....
 and ChristianityChristianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New...
) with secularSecularism

Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities....
 learning.

Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faithFaith

Faith is commonly known as a belief, trust or confidence often based on a transpersonal relationship with God, a higher powe...
 to reasonReason Overview

In the philosophy of arguments, reason is the ability of the human mind to form and operate on concepts in abstraction, in v...
, the existence and unity of GodGod

God is the deity believed by monotheists to be the supreme reality....
, the object of theologyTheology

Theology is reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God....
 and metaphysicsMetaphysics Overview

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of the world....
, the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.

Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Muslim philosophers AlkindusAl-Kindi

For the Christian theologian, see Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi...
, AlfarabiAl-Farabi

Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Farabi or Abu Nasr al-Farabi , also known in the West as Alpharabius, Al-F...
, Alhacen, AvicennaAvicenna

Ibn Sina or Avicenna was a Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist who was born in 980 as the author of 450 bo...
, AlgazelAl-Ghazali

Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ??????? was an Arabic-language Persian Muslim theologian and philosopher, known ...
, AvempaceIbn Bajjah

Ibn Bajjah ??? ???? Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn al-Sayegh ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? was an Andalusian Muslim philo...
, AbubacerIbn Tufail

Ibn Tufail full name: Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Tufail al-Qaisi al-Andalusi ??? ??? ???? ?? ??...
 and AverroesAverroes

Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes , was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic la...
; the Jewish philosophers MaimonidesMaimonides

Maimonides was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain and Egypt during the Middle Ages....
 and GersonidesGersonides

Levi ben Gershon , better known as Gersonides or the Ralbag , was a famous rabbi, philosopher, mathematician, as...
; and the Christian philosophers AnselmAnselm Overview

Anselm may refer to any of several historical figures:...
, Peter AbelardPeter Abelard Overview

Pierre Ablard or Abailard was a French scholastic philosopher and logician....
, Roger BaconRoger Bacon

Roger Bacon , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was one of the most famous Franciscan friars of his time....
, Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] was an Italian philosopher and theologian in the scholastic t...
, Duns ScotusDuns Scotus

Blessed John Duns Scotus was a theologian, philosopher, and logician....
, William of OckhamWilliam of Ockham

William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher, from Ockham, a small village in Surrey, near...
 and Jean BuridanJean Buridan

Jean Buridan was a French priest who sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe....
.
Early modern philosophy (c. 1600 – c. 1800)


The early modern period begins with the revival of skepticismSkepticism

In ordinary usage, skepticism or scepticism refers to...
 and with the growth of modern physical science. The main themes of this era are: the problem of how we can know anything about the world outside our own minds; the dispute between rationalistsRationalism

In philosophy and in its broadest sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justificat...
 and empiricistsEmpiricism

In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience....
, rationalists holding that the ultimate source of knowledge is reason, empiricists, that any genuine knowledge must be justified by experience; the nature of the mindFacts About Mind

Mind refers to the collective aspects of intellect and consciousness which are manifest in some combination of thought, perc...
 or self, and its relation to the body, and the closely related problem of reconciling our belief in free willFacts About Free will

The problem of free will is the problem of whether human beings exercise control over their own actions and decisions....
 with the emerging scientific picture of the physical universe as deterministicDeterminism

Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined ...
; attempts to explain the relationship between GodGod

God is the deity believed by monotheists to be the supreme reality....
 and scienceScience

Science in the broadest sense refers to any system of knowledge attained by verifiable means....
, and the rebirth of political philosophyPolitical philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property...
.

Canonical figures include Montaigne, Descartes, Francis BaconFrancis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, KC was an English philosopher, statesman and essayist but is best known for leading t...
, LockeJohn Locke

John Locke was an influential English philosopher....
, Spinoza, Leibniz, BerkeleyGeorge Berkeley

George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical ach...
, HumeDavid Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian, as well as an important figure of Western philosophy and o...
, and Kant. Chronologically, this era spans the 17th and 18th centuries, and is generally considered to end with Kant's systematic attempt to reconcile Newtonian physics with traditional metaphysical topics.
Nineteenth century philosophy
Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant Overview

Immanuel Kant , was a German philosopher from Knigsberg in East Prussia ....
 at the beginning of the 19th-century. German idealistsGerman idealism

German idealism was a philosophical movement in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries....
, such as FichteJohann Gottlieb Fichte Summary

Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher....
, HegelGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [] was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Wrttemberg, in present-day southwest Germany....
, and SchellingSchelling Summary

Notable people with the last name of Schelling include:...
, expanded on the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational mind-like process, and as such is entirely knowable.

Rejecting idealism, other philosophers, many working from outside the university, initiated lines of thought that would occupy academic philosophy in the early and mid-20th century:
  • PeirceCharles Peirce

    Charles Sanders Peirce, was an American polymath, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
     and William JamesWilliam James

    William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher....
     initiated the school of pragmatismPragmatism

    Pragmatism, as a school of philosophy, is a collection of many different ways of thinking....
  • HusserlEdmund Husserl

    Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology....
     initiated the school of phenomenologyPhenomenology

    Phenomenology has three meanings in philosophical history, one derived from G.W.F....
  • KierkegaardSøren Kierkegaard

    Sren Aabye Kierkegaard was a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentia...
     and NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche

    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche , a Prussian-born philologist and philosopher, produced critiques of religion, morality, contemp...
     laid the groundwork for existentialismExistentialism Summary

    Existentialism is a philosophical movement that is generally considered a study that pursues meaning in existence and seeks ...
  • FregeGottlob Frege Overview

    Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician who became a logician and philosopher....
    's work in logic and SidgwickHenry Sidgwick

    Henry Sidgwick was an English philosopher. ...
    's work in ethics provided the tools for early analytic philosophyAnalytic philosophy

    Analytic philosophy is the dominant academic philosophical movement in English-speaking countries and in the Nordic countri...


Contemporary philosophy (c. 1900 – present)
In the last hundred years, philosophy has increasingly become an activity practiced within the university, and accordingly it has grown more specialized and more distinct from the natural sciences. Much of philosophy in this period concerns itself with explaining the relation between the theories of the natural sciences and the ideas of the humanities or common sense.

In the Anglophone world, analytic philosophyAnalytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is the dominant academic philosophical movement in English-speaking countries and in the Nordic countri...
 became the dominant school. In the first half of the century, it was a cohesive school, more or less identical to logical positivismLogical positivism

Logical positivism is a school of philosophy that combines positivism—which states that the only authentic knowledge ...
, united by the notion that philosophical problems could and should be solved by attention to logic and language. In the latter half of the twentieth century, analytic philosophyAnalytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is the dominant academic philosophical movement in English-speaking countries and in the Nordic countri...
 diffused into a wide variety of disparate philosophical views, only loosely united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified commitment to clarity and rigor. Since roughly 1960, analytic philosophy has shown a revival of interest in the history of philosophy, as well as attempts to integrate philosophical work with scientific results, especially in psychologyPsychology

Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the human mind, brain, and behavior....
 and cognitive scienceCognitive science

Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence ....
.

On continental Europe, no single school or temperament enjoyed dominance. The flight of the logical positivists from central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, however, diminished philosophical interest in natural science, and an emphasis on the humanities, broadly construed, figures prominently in what is usually called "continental philosophyContinental philosophy

Continental philosophy is a term used in philosophy to designate one of two major "traditions" of current Western philosophy...
". Twentieth century movements such as phenomenologyPhenomenology

Phenomenology has three meanings in philosophical history, one derived from G.W.F....
, existentialismExistentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that is generally considered a study that pursues meaning in existence and seeks ...
, hermeneuticsHermeneutics

Hermeneutics may be described as the development and study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts....
, structuralismStructuralism

Structuralism is an approach in academic disciplines that explores the relationships between fundamental elements of some ki...
, and poststructuralism are included within this loose category.

Philosophical doctrines


Realism and nominalism


RealismRealism

Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and a rejection of the impractical and visionary....
sometimes means the position opposed to the 18th-century Idealism, namely that some things have real existence outside the mind. Classically, however, realism is the doctrine that abstract entities corresponding to universal terms like 'man' have a real existence. It is opposed to nominalismNominalism

The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defines nominalism as "the doctrine holding that abstract concepts, genera...
, the view that abstract or universal terms are words only, or denote mental states such as ideas, beliefs, or intentions. The latter position, famously held by William of OckhamWilliam of Ockham

William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher, from Ockham, a small village in Surrey, near...
, is conceptualismConceptualism

Conceptualism is a doctrine in philosophy intermediate between nominalism and realism, that says that universals exist only ...
.

Rationalism and empiricism



Rationalism is any view emphasizing the role or importance of human reason. Extreme rationalism tries to base all knowledge on reason alone. Rationalism typically starts from premises that cannot coherently be denied, then attempts by logical steps to deduce every possible object of knowledge.

The first rationalist, in this broad sense, is often held to be ParmenidesParmenides

Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy....
 (fl. 480 BCE), who argued that it is impossible to doubt that thinking actually occurs. But thinking must have an object, therefore something beyond thinking really exists. Parmenides deduced that what really exists must have certain properties – for example, that it cannot come into existence or cease to exist, that it is a coherent whole, that it remains the same eternally (in fact, exists altogether outside time). Zeno of EleaZeno of Elea

Zeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides...
 (born c. 489 BCE) was a disciple of Parmenides, and argued that motion is impossible, since the assertion that it exists implies a contradiction.

PlatoPlato

Plato , whose real name is believed to have been Aristocles, was an immensely influential ancient Greek philosopher, ...
 (427–347 BCE) was also influenced by Parmenides, but combined rationalism with a form of realismPhilosophical realism

Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief in and allegiance to a reality that exists independently of observers....
. The philosopher's work is to consider being, and the essence of things. But the characteristic of essences is that they are universal. The nature of a man, a triangle, a tree, applies to all men, all triangles, all trees. Plato argued that these essences are mind-independent 'forms', that humans (but particularly philosophers) can come to know by reason, and by ignoring the distractions of sense-perception.

Modern rationalism begins with Descartes. Reflection on the nature of perceptual experience, as well as scientific discoveries in physiology and optics, led Descartes (and also LockeJohn Locke

John Locke was an influential English philosopher....
) to the view that we are directly aware of ideas, rather than objects. This view gave rise to three questions:
  1. Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents? Sensation is not a direct interaction between bodily objects and our sense, but is a physiological process involving representation (for example, an image on the retina). Locke thought that a 'secondary quality' such as a sensation of green could in no way resemble the arrangement of particles in matter that go to produce this sensation, although he thought that 'primary qualities' such as shape, size, number, were really in objects.
  2. How can physical objects such as chairs and tables, or even physiological processes in the brain, give rise to mental items such as ideas? This is part of what became known as the mind-body problem.
  3. If all the contents of awareness are ideas, how can we know that anything exists apart from ideas?


Descartes tried to address the last problem by reason. He began, echoing Parmenides, with a principle that he thought could not coherently be denied: I think, therefore I am (often given in his original Latin: Cogito ergo sumCogito ergo sum

"Cogito, ergo sum" is a philosophical statement by Ren Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western rationalis...
). From this principle, Descartes went on to construct a complete system of knowledge (which involves proving the existence of God, using, among other means, a version of the ontological argumentOntological argument

In theology and the philosophy of religion, an ontological argument for the existence of God is an argument that God's exist...
). His view that reason alone could yield substantial truths about reality strongly influenced those philosophers usually considered modern rationalists (such as Baruch SpinozaBaruch Spinoza

Benedictus de Spinoza , named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders, and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bent...
, Gottfried LeibnizGottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath who wrote mostly in French and Latin....
, and Christian WolffChristian Wolff (philosopher)

Christian Wolff was a German philosopher. ...
), while provoking criticism from other philosophers who have retrospectively come to be grouped together as empiricists.

EmpiricismEmpiricism Overview

In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience....
, in contrast to rationalism, downplays or dismisses the ability of reason alone to yield knowledge of the world, preferring to base any knowledge we have on our senses. John Locke propounded the classic empiricist view in An Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is one of John Locke's two most famous works, the other being his Second Treat...
in 1689, developing a form of naturalismNaturalism (philosophy) Overview

Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that do not d...
 and empiricismEmpiricism

In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience....
 on roughly scientific (and Newtonian) principles.

During this era, religious ideas played a mixed role in the struggles that preoccupied secular philosophy. Bishop BerkeleyGeorge Berkeley

George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical ach...
's famous idealistIdealism

Idealism is an approach to philosophical enquiry which asserts that everything is of a mental nature....
 refutation of key tenets of Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton

[[[Old Style and New Style dates|OS]]: [[25 December]] [[1642]] [[20 March]] [[1727]]] was an [[England|English]] [[physics|physicist,]]...
 is a case of an Enlightenment philosopher who drew substantially from religious ideas. Other influential religious thinkers of the time include Blaise PascalFacts About Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher....
, Joseph ButlerJoseph Butler

Joseph Butler was an English bishop, theologian, apologist, and philosopher....
, and Jonathan Edwards. Other major writers, such as Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Geneva-born philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolu...
 and Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke Summary

Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years i...
, took a rather different path. The restricted interests of many of the philosophers of the time foreshadow the separation and specialization of different areas of philosophy that would occur in the 20th century.

Skepticism


Skepticism is a philosophical attitude that questions the possibility of obtaining any sort of knowledge. It was first articulated by PyrrhoPyrrho

Pyrrho, a Greek philosopher from Elis, is usually credited as being the first skeptic philosopher and is the founder of the ...
, who believed that everything could be doubted except appearances. Sextus EmpiricusSextus Empiricus

Sextus Empiricus, was a physician and philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Ath...
 (2nd century CE) describes skepticism as an "ability to place in antithesis, in any manner whatever, appearances and judgments, and thus […] to come first of all to a suspension of judgment and then to mental tranquility." Skepticism so conceived is not merely the use of doubt, but is the use of doubt for a particular end: a calmness of the soul, or ataraxiaAtaraxia

Ataraxia is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for freedom from worry or any other preoccupation, and is the first ste...
. Skepticism poses itself as a challenge to dogmatism, whose adherents think they have found the truth.

Sextus noted that the reliability of perception may be questioned, because it is idiosyncratic to the perceiver. The appearance of individual things changes depending on whether they are in a group: for example, the shavings of a goat's horn are white when taken alone, yet the intact horn is black. A pencil, when viewed lengthwise, looks like a stick; but when examined at the tip, it looks merely like a circle.

Skepticism was revived in the early modern period by Michel de MontaigneMichel de Montaigne

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance....
 and Blaise PascalBlaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher....
. Its most extreme exponent, however, was David HumeDavid Hume Summary

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian, as well as an important figure of Western philosophy and o...
. Hume argued that there are only two kinds of reasoning: what he called probable and demonstrative (cf Hume's forkHume's fork

In philosophy Hume's fork is a distinction, due to David Hume, between two different areas of human study:...
). Neither of these two forms of reasoning can lead us to a reasonable belief in the continued existence of an external world. Demonstrative reasoning cannot do this, because demonstration (that is, deductive reasoningDeductive reasoning

In traditional Aristotelian logic, Deductive reasoning is reasoning in which the conclusion is necessitated by, or reach...
 from well-founded premises) alone cannot establish the uniformity of nature (as captured by scientific laws and principles, for example). Such reason alone cannot establish that the future will resemble the past. We have certain beliefs about the world (that the sun will rise tomorrow, for example), but these beliefs are the product of habit and custom, and do not depend on any sort of logical inferences from what is already given certain. But probable reasoning, which aims to take us from the observed to the unobserved, cannot do this either: it also depends on the uniformity of nature, and this supposed uniformity cannot be proved, without circularity, by any appeal to uniformity. The best that either sort of reasoning can accomplish is conditional truth: if certain assumptions are true, then certain conclusions follow. So nothing about the world can be established with certainty. Hume concludes that there is no solution to the skeptical argument – except, in effect, to ignore it.

Even if these matters were resolved in every case, we would have in turn to justify our standard of justification, leading to an infinite regressInfinite regress

An infinite regress in a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P1 requires the support of proposition P2...
 (hence the term regress skepticism).

Many philosophers have questioned the value of such skeptical arguments. The question of whether we can achieve knowledge of the external world is based on how high a standard we set for the justification of such knowledge. If our standard is absolute certainty, then we cannot progress beyond the existence of mental sensations. We cannot even deduce the existence of a coherent or continuing "I" that experiences these sensations, much less the existence of an external world. On the other hand, if our standard is too low, then we admit follies and illusions into our body of knowledge. This argument against absolute skepticism asserts that the practical philosopher must move beyond solipsismSolipsism

The word solipsism is used for two related yet distinct concepts:...
, and accept a standard for knowledge that is high but not absolute.

Idealism



Idealism is the epistemological doctrine that nothing can be directly known outside of the minds of thinking beings. Or in an alternative stronger form, it is the metaphysical doctrine that nothing exists apart from minds and the "contents" of minds. In modern Western philosophy, the epistemological doctrine begins as a core tenet of Descartes – that what is in the mind is known more reliably than what is known through the senses. The first prominent modern Western idealist in the metaphysical sense was George BerkeleyGeorge Berkeley

George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical ach...
. Berkeley argued that there is no deep distinction between mental states, such as feeling pain, and the ideas about so-called "external" things, that appear to us through the senses. There is no real distinction, in this view, between certain sensations of heat and light that we experience, which lead us to believe in the external existence of a fire, and the fire itself. Those sensations are all there is to fire. Berkeley expressed this with the Latin formula esse est percipi: to be is to be perceived. In this view the opinion, "strangely prevailing upon men", that houses, mountains, and rivers have an existence independent of their perception by a thinking being is false.

Forms of idealism were prevalent in philosophy from the 18th century to the early 20th century. Transcendental idealism, advocated by Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant , was a German philosopher from Knigsberg in East Prussia ....
, is the view that there are limits on what can be understood, since there is much that cannot be brought under the conditions of objective judgment. Kant wrote his Critique of Pure ReasonCritique of Pure Reason

The Critique of Pure Reason, first published in 1781 with a second edition in 1787, is widely regarded as the most influ...
(1781–1787) in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting approaches of rationalism and empiricism, and to establish a new groundwork for studying metaphysics. Kant's intention with this work was to look at what we know and then consider what must be true about it, as a logical consequence of, the way we know it. One major theme was that there are fundamental features of reality that escape our direct knowledge because of the natural limits of the human faculties. Although Kant held that objective knowledge of the world required the mind to impose a conceptualConceptual framework

A conceptual framework is used in research to outline possible courses of action or to present a preferred approach to a sys...
 or categorical frameworkFramework

In software development, a framework is a defined support structure in which another software project can be organized and d...
 on the stream of pure sensory data – a framework including space and time themselves – he maintained that things-in-themselves existed independently of our perceptions and judgments; he was therefore not an idealist in any simple sense. Indeed, Kant's account of things-in-themselves is both controversial and highly complex. Continuing his work, Johann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher....
 and Friedrich Schelling dispensed with belief in the independent existence of the world, and created a thoroughgoing idealist philosophy.

The most notable work of this German idealismGerman idealism

German idealism was a philosophical movement in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries....
 was G.W.F. HegelGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [] was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Wrttemberg, in present-day southwest Germany....
's Phenomenology of SpiritPhenomenology of Spirit

Hegel's work Phnomenologie des Geistes is called The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind...
, of 1807. Hegel admitted his ideas weren't new, but that all the previous philosophies had been incomplete. His goal was to correctly finish their job. Hegel asserts that the twin aims of philosophy are to account for the contradictions apparent in human experience (which arise, for instance, out of the supposed contradictions between "being" and "not being" ), and also simultaneously to resolve and preserve these contradictions by showing their compatibility at a higher level of examination ("being" and "not being" are resolved with "becoming") . This program of acceptance and reconciliation of contradictions is known as the "Hegelian dialecticDialectic

In classical philosophy, dialectic is an exchange of propositions and counter-propositions resulting in a synth...
". Philosophers in the Hegelian tradition include Ludwig Andreas FeuerbachLudwig Andreas Feuerbach Summary

Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist, the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann A...
, who coined the term projection as pertaining to our inability to recognize anything in the external world without projecting qualities of ourselves upon those things, Karl MarxKarl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and socialist revolutionary....
, Friedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels , a 19th-century German...
, and the British idealists, notably T.H. Green, J.M.E. McTaggart, and F.H. Bradley.

Few 20th century philosophers have embraced idealism. However, quite a few have embraced Hegelian dialectic. Immanuel Kant's "Copernican Turn" also remains an important philosophical concept today.

Pragmatism



Pragmatism was founded in the spirit of finding a scientific concept of truth, which is not dependent on either personal insight (or revelation) or reference to some metaphysical realm. The truth of a statement should be judged by the effect it has on our actions and truth should be seen as that which the whole of scientific enquiry will ultimately agree on. This should probably be seen as a guiding principle more than a definition of what it means for something to be true, though the details of how this principle should be interpreted have been subject to discussion since Peirce first conceived it. Like Rorty many seem convinced that Pragmatism holds that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality, but in their usefulness and efficacy.

The late 19th-century American philosophers Charles PeirceCharles Peirce

Charles Sanders Peirce, was an American polymath, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
 and William JamesWilliam James

William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher....
 were its co-founders, and it was later developed by John DeweyJohn Dewey

John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly ...
 as instrumentalismInstrumentalism

In the philosophy of science, instrumentalism is the view that concepts and theories are merely useful instruments whose wor...
. Since the usefulness of any belief at any time might be contingent on circumstance, Peirce and James conceptualised final truth as that which would be established only by the future, final settlement of all opinion. Critics have accused pragmatism of falling victim to a simple fallacy: because something that is true proves useful, that usefulness is the basis for its truth. Thinkers in the pragmatist tradition have included John Dewey, George SantayanaGeorge Santayana

George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist....
, W.V.O. Quine and C.I. Lewis. Pragmatism has more recently been taken in new directions by Richard RortyRichard Rorty

Richard McKay Rorty is an American philosopher....
, John LachsJohn Lachs

John Lachs is the Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, where he has taught since 1967....
, Donald DavidsonDonald Davidson Overview

Donald Davidson is the name of several people, including:...
 and Hilary PutnamHilary Putnam Overview

Hilary Whitehall Putnam is an American philosopher who has been a central figure in Western philosophy since the 1960s, espe...
.

Phenomenology



Edmund Husserl's phenomenologyPhenomenology

Phenomenology has three meanings in philosophical history, one derived from G.W.F....
 was an ambitious attempt to lay the foundations for an account of the structure of conscious experience in general. An important part of Husserl's phenomenological project was to show that all conscious acts are directed at or about objective content, a feature that Husserl called intentionalityIntentionality

The term intentionality is often simplistically summarized as "aboutness" or the relationship between mental acts and the ex...
.

In the first part of his two-volume work, the Logical Investigations (1901), he launched an extended attack on psychologismPsychologism

Psychologism is a generic type of position in philosophy according to which psychology plays a central role in grounding or ...
. In the second part, he began to develop the technique of descriptive phenomenology, with the aim of showing how objective judgments are indeed grounded in conscious experience – not, however, in the first-person experience of particular individuals, but in the properties essential to any experiences of the kind in question.

He also attempted to identify the essential properties of any act of meaning. He developed the method further in Ideas (1913) as transcendental phenomenology, proposing to ground actual experience, and thus all fields of human knowledge, in the structure of consciousness of an ideal, or transcendentalTranscendence (philosophy)

In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey three different but related primary mean...
, ego. Later, he attempted to reconcile his transcendental standpoint with an acknowledgement of the intersubjective life-world in which real individual subjects interact. Husserl published only a few works in his lifetime, which treat phenomenology mainly in abstract methodological terms; but he left an enormous quantity of unpublished concrete analyses.

Husserl's work was immediately influential in Germany, with the foundation of phenomenological schools in Munich and Göttingen. Phenomenology later achieved international fame through the work of such philosophers as Martin HeideggerMartin Heidegger Summary

Martin Heidegger , German philosopher, attempted to reorient Western philosophy away from metaphysical and epistemological a...
 (formerly Husserl's research assistant), Maurice Merleau-PontyMaurice Merleau-Ponty

Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenologist philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl, who is often classif...
, and Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre , normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre , was a French existentialist philosopher,...
. Indeed, through the work of Heidegger and Sartre, Husserl's focus on subjective experience influenced aspects of existentialismExistentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that is generally considered a study that pursues meaning in existence and seeks ...
.

Existentialism



Although they didn't use the term, the nineteenth century philosophers Søren KierkegaardSøren Kierkegaard

Sren Aabye Kierkegaard was a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentia...
 and Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche , a Prussian-born philologist and philosopher, produced critiques of religion, morality, contemp...
 are widely regarded as the fathers of existentialism. Their influence, however, has extended beyond existentialist thought.

The main target of Kierkegaard's writings was the idealist philosophical system of Hegel which, he thought, ignored or excluded the inner subjective life of living human beings. Kierkegaard, conversely, held that "truth is subjectivity", arguing that what is most important to an actual human being are questions dealing with an individual's inner relationship to existence. In particular, Kierkegaard, a Christian, believed that the truth of religious faith was a subjective question, and one to be wrestled with passionately.

Although Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were among his influences, the extent to which the German philosopher Martin HeideggerMartin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger , German philosopher, attempted to reorient Western philosophy away from metaphysical and epistemological a...
 should be considered an existentialist is debatable. In Being and TimeBeing and Time

Being and Time is the most important work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger....
he presented a method of rooting philosophical explanations in human existence (Dasein) to be analysed in terms of existential categories (existentiale); and this has led many commentators to treat him as an important figure in the existentialist movement. However, in The Letter on Humanism, Heidegger explicitly rejected the existentialism of Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Sartre Summary

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre , normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre , was a French existentialist philosopher,...
.

Sartre became the best-known proponent of existentialism, exploring it not only in theoretical works such as Being and Nothingness , but also in plays and novels. Sartre, along with Albert CamusAlbert Camus

Albert Camus was a French author and philosopher....
 and Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a French author and philosopher....
, represented an avowedly atheistic branch of existentialism, which is now more closely associated with their ideas of nausea, contingency, bad faith, and the absurd than with Kierkegaard's spiritual angst. Nevertheless, the focus on the individual human being, responsible before the universe for the authenticity of his or her existence, is common to all these thinkers.

Structuralism and post-structuralism




Inaugurated by the linguist Ferdinand de SaussureFerdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Geneva-born Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many of the significant develop...
, structuralism sought to ferret out the underlying systems through analysing the discourseDiscourse

Discourse is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, ...
s they both limit and make possible. Saussure conceived of the sign as being delimited by all the other signs in the system, and ideas as being incapable of existence prior to linguistic structure, which articulates thought. This led continental thought away from humanism, and toward what was termed the decentering of man: language is no longer spoken by man to express a true inner self, but language speaks man.

Structuralism sought the province of a hard science, but its positivism soon came under fire by poststructuralism, a wide field of thinkers, some of whom were once themselves structuralists, but later came to criticize it. Structuralists believed they could analyse systems from an external, objective standing, for example, but the poststructuralists argued that this is incorrect, that one cannot transcend structures and thus analysis is itself determined by what it examines, that systems are ultimately self-referential. Furthermore, while the distinction between the signifier and signified was treated as crystalline by structuralists, poststructuralists asserted that every attempt to grasp the signified would simply result in the proliferation of more signifiers, so meaning is always in a state of being deferred, making an ultimate interpretation impossible.

Structuralism came to dominate continental philosophy from the 1960s onward, encompassing thinkers as diverse as Michel FoucaultMichel Foucault

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher who held a chair at the Collge de France, which he gave the title "The History of ...
 and Jacques LacanJacques Lacan

Jacques-Marie-mile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and doctor....
.

The analytic tradition




The term analytic philosophy roughly designates a group of philosophical methods that stress detailed argumentation, attention to semantics, use of classical logic and non-classical logics and clarity of meaning above all other criteria. Michael DummettMichael Dummett Summary

Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett F.B.A., D....
 in his Origins of Analytical Philosophy makes the case for counting Gottlob FregeGottlob Frege

Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician who became a logician and philosopher....
 The Foundations of Arithmetic as the first analytic work, on the grounds that in that book Frege took the linguistic turn, analysing philosophical problems through language. Bertrand RussellBertrand Russell Overview

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS , was a British philosopher, logician, and mathematician, working...
 and G.E. Moore are also often counted as founders of analytic philosophy, beginning with their rejection of British idealism, their defense of realism and the emphasis they laid on the legitimacy of analysis. Russell's classic works The Principles of Mathematics, On DenotingOn Denoting

On Denoting is one of the most significant and influential philosophical essays of the 20th century....
 and Principia MathematicaPrincipia Mathematica

The Principia Mathematica is a 3-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, written by Alfred North Whitehead and Be...
, aside from greatly promoting the use of classical first order logic in philosophy, set the ground for much of the research program in the early stages of the analytic tradition, emphasising such problems as: the reference of proper names, whether existence is a property, the meaning of propositions, the analysis of definite descriptions, the discussions on the foundations of mathematics; as well as exploring issues of metaphysical commitment and even metaphysical problems regarding time, the nature of matter, mind, persistence and change, which Russell tackled often with the aid of mathematical logic. The philosophy developed as a critique of Hegel and his followers in particular, and of grand systems of speculative philosophy in general, though by no means all analytic philosophers reject the philosophy of Hegel (see Charles TaylorCharles Taylor

Charles Ghankay Taylor is a Liberian leader who served as President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003....
) nor speculative philosophy. Some schools in the group include logical atomismLogical atomism

Logical Atomism