Philosophy Syntheses

Period: ~600–400 B.C. | Context: transition from myth (mythos) to rational thought (logos) Historical Context Philosophy is born in Greece from specific conditions: the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, public and Orphic religions, and the socioeconomic conditions of the poleis. The Pre-Socratics break with myth and seek a unique rational principle — the arché — to explain the totality of things. The knowledge sought is sophia, logos, aletheia, and episteme. ...

Period: ~470–322 B.C. | Context: apex of classical Athenian philosophy; Paideia (Werner Jaeger) as the ideal of human formation I. Socrates (~470–399 B.C.) Synthesis Socrates left nothing written; he is known through the dialogues of Plato and the writings of Xenophon. Son of a sculptor and a midwife, he opposed the Sophists by refusing to charge for teaching and by seeking the essence of things through dialogue. Method Irony (eirôneía): feigning ignorance and asking questions (“what is courage? what is justice?”) Maieutics (maieutikê): “giving birth” — helping the interlocutor to discover the truth he already possesses within himself Objective: the essential definition (ti esti), not particular cases of the sensible Fundamental Theses “Know thyself” (gnôthi seautón) “I know that I know nothing” — authentic wisdom begins in consciousness of one’s own ignorance God = Intelligence that coordinates everything; ordering activity and Providence Virtue = knowledge; evil is involuntary ignorance Death (399 B.C.) Condemned to death for corruption of youth and introduction of false gods. He refused the escape proposed by Crito. ...

Period: ~323 B.C. – 3rd century A.D. | Context: collapse of the polis after Alexander the Great; cosmopolitanism; individual pursuit of happiness (eudaimonia) and tranquility (ataraxia) Historical Context With Greek defeat to Philip II of Macedon (338 B.C.) and the expansion of Alexander the Great (336–323 B.C.), the polis enters into crisis. The cultural center migrates from Athens to Alexandria (the greatest library of the ancient world). Philosophy abandons political reflection and turns toward the individual: how to live well in an unpredictable world? Each school offers a distinct path to ataraxia (absence of disturbance): ...

Period: ~200–1400 A.D. | Context: fusion of Greek philosophy with Christian, Islamic, and Hebrew theology; transition from cosmocentrism to theocentrism/anthropocentrism General Overview Medieval philosophy structures itself around theological-philosophical problems: the relationship between faith and reason, the existence of God, creation ex nihilo, immortality of the soul, universals. The period is divided into: Patristic period (centuries I–VIII): Church Fathers interpret Christianity using Greek philosophical tools Scholasticism (centuries VIII–XIV): systematic rationalization of theology in medieval schools and universities Part I — Patristic Period Philo of Alexandria (~20 B.C.–50 A.D.) First Hellenistic Jewish philosopher: fusion of the Old Testament with Platonism; profoundly influenced the Church Fathers Method: allegory (allegorical interpretation of the Bible) Logos: second God / mind of God / mediator between God and the world (anticipates Christology) Apostolic Fathers (1st–2nd centuries) Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna — disciples of the apostles; concern with moral and ascetic matters. ...

Period: ~1350–1600 | Context: rediscovery of Greco-Latin classics; dignity of man; critique of Scholasticism; religious rupture with the Protestant Reformation Historical Context Humanism (second half of the 14th century – 16th century) values the litterae humaniores — grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral philosophy. The Renaissance represents the cultural synthesis of this period in Italy, expanding throughout Europe. The Protestant Reformation (16th century) is the religious unfolding of the same critical spirit. ...

Period: 1543 (De Revolutionibus by Copernicus) – 1687 (Principia by Newton) | Context: rupture with Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology; birth of modern science as mathematical and experimental investigation of nature Context The Scientific Revolution transforms the worldview: from the Earth as center (Ptolemy + Aristotle) to a heliocentric and then infinite universe. Science ceases to be essentialist contemplation of substances (Aristotle) and becomes quantitative, mathematical, and experimental investigation of phenomena. Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo are heirs of Neoplatonism (God geometrizes the world); Newton synthesizes everything into universal physics. ...

Period: ~1600–1750 | Context: two major projects for founding secure knowledge — through reason (innate, a priori) or through experience (a posteriori) The common problem Both movements answer the question: how are secure knowledge and science possible? Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz): certain knowledge starts from innate or a priori principles in reason; sensation “hides” the cause — one must “jump over the wall” through pure reason Empiricism (Bacon, Locke, Berkeley, Hume): knowledge begins and is grounded in sensory experience; sensation “reveals” the cause — one must “reach the other side of the wall” by inspecting this side Kant, in the 18th century, will attempt to synthesize these two positions. ...

Period: ~1650–1800 | Context: construction of the philosophical foundations of the modern State; triumph of reason as universal criterion; critique of metaphysics and foundation of epistemology Part I — Contractualism Contractualism is the theory according to which the State and political bonds derive from a social contract among individuals, who relinquish part of their natural liberty in exchange for security and order. Each author diverges on the state of nature, the contract, and the resulting type of sovereignty. ...

Period: ~1794–1831 | Context: post-Kantian radicalization; overcoming the thing-in-itself; thought as the totality of reality Context German Idealism departs from Kantian critique: the thing-in-itself (Ding an sich) is a contradiction — if it is “thought,” it cannot be “in itself” (exterior to thought). Therefore, thought is being; nothing exists outside thought. Metaphysics returns as science. The Absolute (God/Reason) develops itself and reveals itself in reality. Difference from classical realism: Realism: being is independent of thought; certainty and truth identify immediately Idealism: certainty = truth in mediate fashion; being is thinking; thought is the whole I. Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) — Subjective Idealism Project Transform Kantian philosophy into a rigorous system — the Doctrine of Science (Wissenschaftslehre). Find the unique principle that unifies the three Critiques of Kant. ...

Period: ~1800–1900 | Context: Industrial Revolution; political revolutions (1789, 1848); rise of capitalism; challenge to Enlightenment rationalism Overview The 19th c. is marked by the tension between Enlightenment confidence in reason and progress and the critical reactions that this project produces: Current Response to the Enlightenment Romanticism Exalts feeling, intuition, organic nature Utilitarianism Accepts reason, but applies it to the maximization of well-being Marxism Accepts progress, but grounds it in class struggle Positivism Trusts empirical science as the only valid knowledge Schopenhauer Reality is irrational will; pessimism as truth Nietzsche Radically critiques the entire Western tradition; transvaluation of values I. Philosophical Romanticism Context Romanticism emerges in England (late 18th c.) and reaches its most philosophical expression in Germany (Schlegel, Novalis, Hölderlin, Tieck). It is inseparable from German Idealism. ...

Period: ~1900–2000 | Context: two World Wars, Holocaust, totalitarianisms, decolonization, globalization, crisis of the modern project Panorama The 20th century fragments philosophy into schools frequently incommunicable with each other: Tradition Geographic Axis Central Themes Phenomenology Germany/France Consciousness, intentionality, being Existentialism France/Denmark Existence, freedom, anguish, absurd Frankfurt School Germany/USA Instrumental reason, capitalism, mass culture Analytic Philosophy England/USA/Austria Language, logic, conceptual analysis Structuralism France Unconscious structures governing culture, language, society Post-Structuralism France Deconstruction of structures; power, genealogy, difference I. Phenomenology Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) — Founder Project: to establish philosophy as a rigorous science, describing phenomena as they appear to consciousness, without presuppositions. ...

Period: ~1879–present | Context: Crisis in the foundations of mathematics; reaction to Hegelian Absolute Idealism; rise of symbolic logic; debates over philosophical method Overview Analytic philosophy emerged at the end of the 19th century as a response to the dominance of British Idealism (Bradley, Bosanquet) and to the project of rigorously grounding mathematics and knowledge. It is defined less by doctrines than by a style: conceptual clarity, logical analysis of language, attention to distinctions. ...

Period: ~1640–present | Context: Scientific Revolution and Cartesian dualism; behaviourist reaction; cognitive revolution (1950s–60s); neuroscience and debates about consciousness Overview Philosophy of mind investigates the nature of the mind, mental states, consciousness, and the mind-body/brain relationship. Its central questions: What are mental states? How do they relate to physical states? Can consciousness be scientifically explained? Position Central Thesis Substance Dualism Mind and body are radically distinct substances Behaviourism Mental states are dispositions to behaviour Identity Theory Mental states = brain states Functionalism Mental states defined by causal roles Eliminative Materialism “Folk psychology” is a false theory to be replaced Property Dualism Physics is complete, but mental properties are irreducible I. The Mind-Body Problem: Descartes René Descartes (1596–1650) Substance Dualism: The Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) establish the fundamental distinction: ...

Period: ~1800–present | Context: Crisis of positivism in the human sciences; reaction to Neo-Kantianism; interrogation of the foundations of historical understanding and lived experience Overview Hermeneutics and phenomenology are two movements that, though distinct in origin, converged in the twentieth century to form one of the most fertile philosophical traditions of modernity. Hermeneutics interrogates the conditions of possibility of understanding and interpretation; phenomenology interrogates the structures of conscious experience and the appearing of things. ...

Period: ~6th century BCE–present | Context: Axial Age (Karl Jaspers) — a period of simultaneous intellectual flourishing in Greece, India, China, and the Middle East; independent traditions of thought that developed their own responses to universal questions Methodological Note Eastern philosophical traditions present particular challenges for students formed in the Western tradition: Disputed dates: Many dates for founders and texts are traditional, contested, or based on late sources. We indicate the current academic consensus with the relevant degrees of certainty. Fluid boundaries: The distinction between philosophy, religion, and literature is more porous in these traditions than in modern Western philosophy. Risk of anachronism: Comparisons with Western concepts must be made with caution — apparent correspondences frequently obscure fundamental differences. Overview Tradition Region Foundational Period Central Figure Confucianism China (state of Lu) ~6th–5th century BCE Confucius (Kǒngzǐ) Taoism China ~4th–3rd century BCE Laozi (attributed), Zhuangzi Theravāda Buddhism India (Bihar) ~5th–4th century BCE Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha) Mādhyamaka Buddhism India c. 2nd–3rd century CE Nāgārjuna Vedanta / Advaita India Upaniṣads c. 800–200 BCE; systematised 8th century CE Śaṅkarācārya Neo-Confucianism China 10th–12th century CE Zhu Xi I. Confucianism Confucius / Kǒngzǐ (551–479 BCE) Born in the state of Lu (present-day Shandong, China), Confucius was a teacher, adviser, and moral reformer. His thought is known principally through the Lunyu (Analects), a compilation of sayings and dialogues made by disciples after his death — the authenticity of individual passages is debated by specialists. ...

Period: 19th century–present | Context: Post-Ibero-American independence, colonialism, dependent capitalism, military dictatorships, national liberation movements, and decolonial thought Overview Latin American philosophy is a field that interrogates its own possibility and legitimacy before consolidating any doctrinal corpus. This self-questioning — “does a genuinely our own philosophy exist?” — is not a weakness but a constitutive feature: it results from a historical condition in which thought was imported, adapted, and progressively confronted with the concrete experience of the continent’s peoples. ...

Period: Antiquity–present | Context: Philosophical traditions developed on the African continent and in the diaspora — from Pharaonic Egypt to contemporary professional philosophy, through Bantu Ubuntu, ethnophilosophy, and anticolonial liberation philosophy Methodological Note The expression “African philosophy” is itself the subject of philosophical debate. Three preliminary questions structure the field: What counts as philosophy? The question presupposes criteria — systematic rational argumentation, reflection on foundations, critical questioning — that were defined predominantly within the Western tradition. Applying these criteria unreflectively risks disqualifying African forms of thought that operate through other modes (proverbial, narrative, ritual). The opposite risk is a relativism that dissolves the distinction between philosophy and any form of cultural thought. ...