Part Ten X › Division V V › Section 10/51 10/51

History of Philosophy

Subject Outline

AHistory of Western philosophy
- 1Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
  - aThe beginnings of philosophy in Greece: the Pre-Socratic philosophers
    - iCosmology and the metaphysics of matter: theories of the origin and nature of the physical world, monistic and pluralistic cosmologies
    - iiThe rise of problems in the theory of knowledge: problems about the real and phenomenal worlds
    - iiiThe metaphysics of number: Pythagorean speculations about number and the nature of reality, advances toward the foundation of quantitative science
    - ivAnthropology and relativism: the Sophists' criticism of cosmological and metaphysical speculations, man as the measure of all things, the positions of the Sophists about the conventionality of law and justice
  - bThe maturity of Greek philosophy
    - iThe ethical concerns and positions of Socrates: the Socratic method of teaching, the influence of Socrates
    - iiThe philosophy of Plato: his dialogues on issues in politics, ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and cosmology; his emphasis on the relations of mathematics to philosophy
    - iiiThe philosophy of Aristotle: his criticisms of Platonic metaphysics and theory of knowledge; the corpus of his works on logic; his teleological positions in biology, ethics, and politics; his empirical researches in the natural sciences and on laws and political institutions
  - cHellenistic and Roman philosophy: developments from the time of Alexander III the Great to the closing of the philosophical schools in Athens
    - iThe philosophy of the Stoics: the teaching of Zeno of Citium concerning the basis of human happiness, the further elaboration of Stoic thought by Cleanthes and Chrysippus, the role of Stoicism during the late Roman Republic and the empire
    - iiThe philosophy of the Epicureans: the teaching of Epicurus concerning the universe, the role of pleasure, and man's relationship to the gods
    - iiiThe philosophy of the Skeptics: the teaching of Pyrrhon of Elis concerning man's lack of certainty in knowing, the role of the Skeptics in preserving the doctrines of , ancient philosophers
    - ivThe philosophy of the Neo-Pythagoreans and of the Neoplatonists: the teaching of Plotinus concerning the various levels of being, Neo-Pythagorean schools in Asia Minor
    - vJewish and Christian philosophy during the Hellenistic Age: diverse attempts to relate the teachings of the Hellenistic and Roman schools to Jewish and Christian theology
- 2Philosophy in the Middle Ages
  - aEarly medieval philosophy
    - iThe patristic period: Augustine's use of Neoplatonist thought in his theology and his doctrine of man, the role of Boethius' translations and commentaries, Anselm's proofs of the existence of God, the methodology of Abelard
    - iiPhilosophy and the liberal arts in the schools of the Christian West from the 9th to the 11th century
  - bThe contribution of Arabic and Jewish philosophy: the role of the Islamic philosophers in increasing the influence of Aristotle in the West, the teaching of Solomon ibn Gabirol and Maimonides
  - cThe age of the Schoolmen: the attempt to reconcile philosophy and theology, the teaching of Bonaventure and Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas' synthesis of Aristotelianism and Christian theology
  - dPhilosophy in the late Middle Ages: new styles of philosophy and theology that vied with Thomism, the criticism of Aristotelian thought by Duns Scotus and Ockham, the speculative mysticism of Eckehart, Nicholas of Cusa's doctrine of the "coincidence of opposites"
- 3Modern philosophy
  - aPhilosophy in the Renaissance
    - iPolitical theory: the views of Machiavelli, Bodin, Hobbes, Grotius, and others on the nature and moral status of political power
    - iiHumanism: the influence of the writings of Plato on moral theory and literary endeavour; renewed interest in Atomistic Materialism, ancient Skepticism, and Stoicism [for humanistic scholarship in the Renaissance, see also 10/42.A.3.]
    - iiiPhilosophy of nature: the pluralistic, machinelike, and mathematically ordered character ascribed to the natural world; the influence of discoveries in anatomy, physics, and astronomy on philosophy
  - bThe early modem period: the rise of Empiricism and Rationalism
    - iDevelopments in the Empiricist tradition: Bacon's attempt to formulate a new scientific method, Hobbes's theory of knowledge
    - iiDevelopments in the Rationalist tradition: the antiempirical character of Descartes's metaphysics and the dualism of his doctrine of man and the world, the speculative systems of philosophy provided by the writings of Spinoza and Leibniz
  - cPhilosophy in the period of the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason
    - iEpistemological issues: the attempt of Locke and Berkeley to inquire into the origin and nature of reason, Hume's science of man, Kant's critical examination of reason
    - iiDevelopments in the philosophy of science: Materialist views, the effect of scientific discoveries on philosophical thought
    - iiiSocial and political philosophy: the concern of Locke and Rousseau with the freedom and equality of citizens, developments in religious philosophy
  - dPhilosophy in the 19th century
    - iThe resurgence of the metaphysical spirit: the Idealism of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel
    - iiDevelopments in the empirical and scientific tradition: Comte's Positivism and its subsequent influence on the philosophy of science, J.S. Mill's theory of knowledge and ethics, the dialectical Materialism of Marx and Engels
    - iiiThe reaction against Rationalism: Kierkegaard's preoccupation with the states of consciousness, Schopenhauer's doctrine of cosmic will, the writings of Nietzsche
  - ePhilosophy in the 20th century
    - iIndependent speculative and social philosophies: Bergson's intuitionism, Whitehead's speculative philosophy, William James's and Dewey's Pragmatism
    - iiDevelopments in Marxist thought: Lenin's metaphysical Materialism and his theory of knowledge, the continuing attempt to make theory serve practice
BNon- Western philosophy
- 1Indian philosophy
  - aEarly Indian philosophical thought: the role of Hindu and Buddhist sacred literature in presystematic philosophy, the concepts of Brahman and atman in Hindu thought and of selflessness and Nirvana in early Buddhist writings
  - bThe beginning of system building in Indian philosophy: the role of the sutra, metaphysical and epistemological concerns, ethical and political thought, the teaching of the Ajlvikas and Carvakas
  - cThe further developments of systematic thought in India: Realism and Idealism in metaphysical and epistemological thought, the relation of pluralistic and monistic views to various linguistic philosophies
  - dThe schools of Vedanta: the contribution of Sankara and Ramanuja and their followers; the schools of Nimbarka, Vallabha, and Caitanya
  - eThe Vaisnava and Saiva schools: philosophical systems based on the literature of Vaisnavism and Saivism
  - fLater Indian philosophical thought: the influence of Islamic thought and European philosophy, recent trends
- 2Chinese philosophy
  - aThe classical Chinese philosophical schools; e.g., Confucianism, Taoism, Yin-Yang, Mohism, Dialecticians, the Legalist school
  - bNeo-Taoist and Buddhist thought
  - cNeo-Confucianism: the development of the concept of principle
  - d20th-century Chinese philosophy: the effects of Western thought and of Maoism
- 3Japanese philosophy
  - aEarly Japanese philosophical thought: the introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, the Six Schools of Nara, Tendai and Shingon philosophy
  - bDevelopments during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods: the origins and concerns of the Zen, Jodo (Pure Land), and Nichiren sects; tendencies in Shinto and Confucian thought
CPhilosophies associated with religion
- 1Hindu philosophy [see 823.B.3.]
- 2Buddhist philosophy [see 824.B.3.]
- 3Confucian philosophy [see 825.B.3.]
- 4Taoist philosophy [see 825.C.3.]
- 5Jewish philosophy [see 826.B.6.]
- 6Islamic philosophy [see 828.B.4.]