| A Brief History of Philosophy |
| The Atomists: Leucippus -> Democritus -> Epicurus -> Carus These Greek and Latin (Carus) men created the first Atomic theories of matter. Setting the stage for 19th-20th century Physics. |
| Parmenides-> Zeno ->Socrates ->Plato ->Aristotle ->Protagoras ->Sophists These greeks are known as the fathers of western philosophy. Plato to this day still being very relevant and Aristotle's influence dying off. Hypatia becomes the first great woman philosopher, a greek. |
| Persia leads in astronomy, with the Chinese not far behind. Confucius comes and defines morality and values for the Chinese, his philosophy is still practiced to this day in much of Asia. The Persian, Avicenna, becomes the leader in philosophical thought in the near east. |
| Buddhism erupts from India and gains a strong following in China. Ideas such as Kharma and Dharma influence thinking everywhere. Buddhism may be the closest thing to a perfect religious practice that has ever existed. |
| Monotheistic Religions dominate the majority of philosophy for many centuries. They greatly harm and try to control the other non-metaphysical aspects of philosophic thought. |
| The Romans produce Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. Philosophy lives on in India in religious forms and is on the backburner in Rome. |
| The Catholic Church upholds Aristotelian doctrines and oppresses those who seek the truth. St Thomas Aquinas does some good and influences many to come. |
| Aristarchus is the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of our solar system. |
| Rene Descartes says "I think, therefore I am." in his discourse and launches modern philosophy. Schopenhauer betters Spinoza's work and influences many to come. John Locke comes in the 18th century and gives us great political philosophy. |
| Men like Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Leibniz, Spinoza, and Keplar rise from the oppression of the church and set the table for modern thinkers. |
| The 18th and 19th century Philosophers led by Immanuel Kant propose totally new forms of philosophy in all fields. Hegel, Darwin, Nietzsche, Max Planck, and Hume are prominent. Marx and Engels launch Communist Manifesto. |
| The 20th century rolls around and Karl Marx's influence is felt in much of the world. Bertrand Russell comes on to the scene and becomes the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. Edwin Hubble, Karl Popper, Einstein, Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Ayn Rand, Simone de Beauvoir, and Julius R. Oppenheimer give us valid philosophy and science that we can use, unlike much of the 19th century philosophy. |
| 21st century- physics, psychology, and cosmology become prominent as philosophy for understanding all things. Ethics, Politics, religion, and other social issues are left to what is now known as the philosopher. Science seems to give us the best of what philosophy has to offer, although it's not called philosophy anymore. |
| -Joe Essays and Such: "A Sky Without Meaning" Part 1 |
| Check out the "links" page to learn more about some of these people. |