The Historical Development of Philosophy

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
THE PRE-SOCRATIC PERIOD (Cosmocentric)

This is the era in philosophy when the query of the thinkers was on the cosmos, otherwise known as the universe. Philosophers were the first ones to inquire about the nature and origin of the world. They argued that there must be a basic stuff that constitutes the cosmos; hence, they searched on what is the cosmos made of.
1. Thales of Miletus (c. 620 546 BCE)

The ancient Greek philosopher born in Miletus in Greek

Ionia. Identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy. Traditionally the father of philosophy. The first to provide an answer to the query, What is the ultimate material of the universe? Thales says that it is the nature, the arch, the originating principle, this nature was a single material substance, and it is WATER. Because of this postulate, human philosophical activities began to trigger.
2. Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 546 BCE) He was the author of the first surviving lines of Western

philosophy. It was neither water nor any other of the so-called elements, but a different substance which is infinite, from which arise all the heavens and the world. Speculated and argued about THE BOUNDLESS (Greek: apeiron, that is, that which has no boundaries) as the origin or the first cause of things which is eternal and ageless.
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 He also worked on the fields of what we now call geography and

biology. Moreover, Anaximander was the first speculative astronomer. He originated the world-picture of the open universe, which replaced the closed universe of the celestial vault. 3. Anaximenes of Miletus (d. 528 BCE)
He is the third philosopher of the Milesian School of philosophy,

so named because like Thales and Anaximander, Anaximenes was an inhabitant of Miletus, in Ionia (ancient Greece). He was an associate, and possibly a student, of Anaximanders. He is best known for his doctrine that AIR is the source of all things. In this way, he differed with his predecessors like Thales, who held that water is the source of all things, and Anaximander, who thought that all things came from an unspecified boundless stuff. He seems to have held that at one time everything was air. Air can be thought of as a kind of neutral stuff that is found everywhere, and is available to participate in physical processes. Natural forces constantly act on the air and transform it into other materials, which came together to form the organized world. In early Greek literature, air is associated with the soul (the breath of life) and Anaximenes may have thought of air as capable of directing its own development, as the soul controls the body. Accordingly, he ascribed to air divine attributes.

THE SOCRATIC PERIOD

This is the era in philosophy that there were countless questions that struck the inquisitive minds of the philosophers. Questions like: Is there a soul or a God? What is the highest good for man to pursue? Answers to these questions were profoundly introduced by the Greek Triumvirate Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

The Greek Triumvirate did not like the Sophists because the Sophists taught how to twist the truth. A Sophist believed that there was no such thing as a universal or absolute truth which is valid at all times.
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A Sophist is a person who could argue eloquently and could prove a position whether the position was correct or incorrect. What mattered was persuasion, not the truth. The sophist regarded by Socratic philosophers as one who made money by sham wisdom.

1. Socrates (c. 470 to 399 BCE) Greek thinker and founder of Western philosophy. Wrote nothing down; all we know of his teaching comes from the philosophy of his pupil Plato, who was not quite 30 when Socrates was put to death. And it is difficult in the later Plato to distinguish between his own thoughts and those of Socrates. Lived in Athens, where he questioned fellow citizens on how they should live their lives. Know Thyself and The unexamined life is not worth living was his principal axiom, and he believe in the unity of beauty, truth and virtue. It was impossible, Socrates held, to know what was good and not pursue it. The first great Athenian philosopher, taught that the key to a good life lay in moral worth and the practice of virtue, and saw it as his duty to make other citizens aware of the ignorance of the true good. Good consists of a state of happiness which evolves from useful actions which means that action must be in conformity with ones real purpose in life. It was him who said that a person who knows is a person who knows that he does not know. According to him, there is no such thing as a perfect definition of happiness, for happiness is a matter of continuing personal experience and is not easily open definition. He died not of natural death but by drinking the poisonous hemlock after he was convicted of the charge of poisoning the minds of the youth. 2. Plato (c. 427 to 347 BCE) The son of wealthy and influential Athenian parents. One of the worlds best known and most widely read and studied philosophers. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher ofAristotle, and he wrote in the middle of the fourth century B.C.E. in ancient Greece. Though influenced primarily by Socrates, to the extent that Socrates is usually the main character in many of Platos writings.
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 His middle to later works, including his most famous work, the Republic, are generally regarded as providing Platos own philosophy, where the main character in effect speaks for Plato himself. These works blend ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics into an interconnected and systematic philosophy. It is most of all from Plato that we get the theory of Forms, according to which the world we know through the senses is only an imitation of the pure, eternal, and unchanging world of the Forms. He also philosophized that truth is the same as the ultimate ideal reality. It is idea which consists of the ultimate reality. The idea signifies the objects permanent essence, a prototype to which every particular object is a copy. This is alluded in his Allegory of the Cave. His works also contain the origins of the familiar complaint that the arts work by inflaming the passions, and are mere illusions. We are also introduced to the ideal of Platonic love: Plato saw love as motivated by a longing for the highest Form of beautyThe Beautiful Itself, and love as the motivational power through which the highest of achievements are possible. Because they tended to distract us into accepting less than our highest potentials, however, Plato mistrusted and generally advised against physical expressions of love.
3. Aristotle (c. 384 - 322 BCE)

He was born at Stageira in Thrace in 384/3 B.C. His fathers name is Nicomachus, a doctor of the Macedonian King, Amyntas ll. He was 17 years old when he pursued his studies at the academy (which was established by Plato). He had academic intercourse with Plato which made him a critic of the latter. Because of his growing popularity in philosophy, Aristotle was invited to Pella by Philip of Macedon in order to educate the latters son, Alexander. This boy became prominent and was dubbed as Alexander the Great. On the latter part of his teaching career, Aristotle established his own school, the Lyceum.

Aristotle went out to Athens after Alexander the Great died. He transferred to Chalcis in Euboea, where the land of his dead mother was situated. He died of an illness in 322/1 B.C.

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The early works of Aristotle were Platonic in spirit, and it was only gradually that he came to take up the independent position and to criticize the Platonic theory.

Aristotle was the first to study in a systematic way the method and the scope of philosophy as a distinct branch of enquiry, and it may be said that, with him, philosophy becomes fully self-conscious. His theory of Logic still remains substantially the basis of that sphere of philosophy.

The most gifted student of plato, is accorded the title The Philosopher.

He taught that truth is the agreement on knowledge and reality. There is no innate idea. On the good life, he emphasized that a life lived in moderation is what makes life good. The avoidance of the extremes excess and deficiency makes man attain his summum bonum (highest good) in life which is happiness. Either of the extremes is a vice. Only the moderate is a virtue.

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY "The Middle Ages" refers to the period of European history from the end of the Roman Empire in Italy until the Renaissance, i.e. from the 5th century A.D. until the 15th. The advent of Christianity has made a shift in philosophizing to the contemplation of God and his creation and how the actions of man should conform to the natural law which human reason is pre-ordained to possess. It was during this era that philosophers used reason to understand the concept of God. Hence, philosophy was made the handmaid of theology.

1. St. Augustine (c. 354 430 AD)

Was born at Thagaste in Numidia, which is part of present day

Algeria. His father was a pagan (later converted to Christianity), but his mother was a devout Christian who labored untiringly for her son's conversion.

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 As a child he was schooled in Latin literature and later went to Carthage to study rhetoric, where he became a teacher. By the age of twenty he turned away from his Christian upbringing. He was repelled by its codes of behavior, but he never completely renounced it. He was known as a man who once lived his life to pleasures. Religion was not his interest and he deemed Christianity a religion for simple folk, for the uneducated and the unlettered. The exemplary life of his mother and the influence of St. Ambrose, whose sermons Augustine attended just for his rhetoric, that he experienced a changed life. He one of the foremost philosopher-theologians of early Christianity and the leading figure in the church of North Africa. He had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western thought and culture, and shaped the themes and defined the problems that have characterized the Western tradition of Christian theology. His two most celebrated writings are his semiautobiographical Confessions and City of God, a Christian vision of history. He thought of his relationship with God as an experience in solitude. He preached that we discover God in ourselves. He argued that reason and faith must be in concordance to know the truth and the stages of history will culminate with tranquility and resurrection. He claimed that God is the source of all good things. The soul is susceptible to do evil deeds. Evil does not exist it is the absence of God. Lust - an independent feeling (will) of man which is a manifestation of the sin passed down to us by Adam; hindrance to a virtuous life a barrier in order to have a virtuous life. On the doctrine of original sin, Adam has an inherent freewill corruption entered Adam and Eves mind. The moment they ate the forbidden fruit we undoubtedly inherited his mortal sin man should live under Gods grace (virtue) sacrament of baptism - is the only way for salvation. On the Life of Man live in this world = struggle between evil and good forces. City of God - concerned with belief, with obedience and with love of God. Earthly City - A mere manifestation of pride, sin, greed, and lust and of self-love to the point of contempt of God. 2. St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 1274 AD) His real name was Thomas of Aquin (Aquino) and was born in Castle of Roccasecca Kingdom of Naples on January 28, 1225 and died at Fossanova, 7 March 1274. His father was Count Landulph (Count of Aquino) and his mother was Theodora (Countess of Teano)
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He will enter the Order of Friars Preachers, and so great will be his learning and sanctity that in his day no one will be found to equal him." At the age of five, he sent to receive his first training from the Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino. He was sent to the University of Naples in 1236 and his1st teacher was Pietro Martini and Petrus Hibernus. He excelled in grammar mastered and taught all the lessons with more depth than his teachers. at 12401243 he received the order of St. Dominic St. Thomas on Priesthoodstill a mystery to St. Thomas family why a man of his social class chose to live the life of a poor friar. St. Thomas on Priesthood Dominicans feared that St. Thomas family will do actions to hinder Thomas in fulfilling his vow to Dominican order. Thomas brothers confined him in the fortress of San Giovanni at Roccasecca detained by his family for two years and his brothers even provided him with a temptress in order to destroy his virtue. He then asked God to give him integrity of mind and body in his slumber, he was visited by two angels and assured him that God heard his prayer. He was placed under Albertus Magnus, the most renowned professor in The Dominican Order. He was ordained in Colognehe frequently preached the Word of God, in Germany, France, and Italythe master general of the order, by the advice of Albertus Magnus and Hugo a S. Charo (Hugh of St. Cher), sent Thomas to fill the office of Bachelor (subregent) in the Dominican studium at Paris. Summa Theologica one of the great work of St. Thomas Aquinas and it immortalized him. It contains the complete scientifically arranged exposition of theology and at the same time a summary of Christian philosophy which revelation is necessary for salvation without it, men could not know the supernatural end and without revelation, even the truths concerning God which could be proved by reason would be known "only by a few. No other science can be compared to sacred theology because it primarily deals with divine truths

2 kinds of wisdom in religion:

1. A man can attain a virtuous life through constant practice

(habit)
2. virtuous life can be attained through learning/studying sacred

theology is the highest science God and other things that are related to God are the main subject of sacred theology. In explaining his political theory combined with theological
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principles mans need should be satisfied by the state mans self sufficiency and satisfaction can be acquired at the end of his life the responsibilities of the State are only subordinates of the responsibilities of the Church. Principles of St. Thomas were solemnly proclaimed in the Vatican Council that reason alone is not sufficient to guide men, they need Revelation.
Reason should be rendered in three ways: 1. Reason should prepare the minds of men to receive the

faith. 2. Reason should explain and develop the truths of faith. 3. Reason should defend the truths revealed by Almighty God.

Modern Philosophy
The 15th century marked the beginning of modern philosophy.

The interaction between the materialistic interpretation of the universe and the belief on the human thought as the ultimate reality reflected its effect on scientific discoveries and political changes and speculations. Mechanism and Materialism
The 15th and 16th centuries are periods of radical socio-political

and intellectual developments.

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 The aim of human man life is not focused anymore on the preparation for salvation in the next life but rather is the satisfaction of natural desires. Political institutions and ethical principles ceased to be regarded as reflections of divine command. In this new philosophical view, sensory perception and reason became standards of truth, at the expense of faith and revelation.

1. Rene Descartes (1596 1650)

A French mathematician, physicist, and rationalist philosopher. He made mathematics the model for all sciences, applying its deductive and inductive methods to all fields. The father of Modern Philosophy established a method of which certitude (certainty) is attained. He calls his method the Methodic Doubt. This is the means employed by Descartes in order to avoid falling into the deception of immediately believing something as real. He devised the method of doubting based from his factual experience that even our own senses deceive us. The senses cannot be trusted. Proceeding in an orderly fashion, Descartes has four rules to follow as part of this methodic doubt. First, to accept nothing as true that is not known to be true, and to use in making a judgment only what is presented to the mind so clearly and distinctly that it cannot be doubted; Second, to divide each problem into essential parts; Third, to begin with those things that are easiest to know and proceed to the more complex one; Fourth, to make sure that nothing is omitted. This methodic doubt was applied by Descartes in trying to ascertain wether his existence his real. Thus, he initially doubted even his own existence, for he might be thinking that he exists when only a demon might have put this illusion that he exists. But he then proceeded that the mere fact that he is doubting his existence, it proves that his existence is real for how could he doubt if he had no self that exists who is doubting.
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 He said Cogito ergo sum which means I doubt therefore I am. Sometimes this is translated to mean I think therefore I exist.

2. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) He was one of the founders of modern political philosophy. His understanding of humans as being matter and motion, obeying the same physical laws as other matter and motion, remains influential; and his account of human nature as selfinterested cooperation, and of political communities as being based upon a "social contract" remains one of the major topics of political philosophy. He said that man is by nature distrustful of his fellowmen. A man (barbaric brutish) is a wolf to a man. He gives a concrete evidence to validate this statement on the fact that when one goes to a journey, he arms himself, and seeks to go well accompanied, when going to sleep, he locks his doors. There are various instances of mans acts that show his basic distrust of his fellowmen not with standing the presence and existence of the law enforcers and entities which the society has for him. For Hobbes man has passions and reasons. The most fundamental one, among mans passions is his self-preservation. It is the fear of death, especially violent death that moves man to self-preservation. He calls self-preservation as the right of nature. And because man is in continual fear of death, this moves him to its opposite, which is peace. It is mans reason that discovers the way to peace. Peace is the common-wealth of men. Since man by nature is distrustful of his fellowman, and one of his fundamental passions is selfpreservation, every man naturally tends to put peace as an antidote to war and this is what Hobbes calls as the Commonwealth of men. In the Title of Hobbes masterpiece, he calls it as the Leviathan Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil commonly called simply Leviathan is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (15881679) and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Every man becomes willing to attain peace as an antidote to war, and in order to preserve their lives, and because man does not seek peace individually as it is collectively done for that purpose, there comes as mutual agreement and Hobbes calls it a
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Contract. This contract is a mutual transfer of rights by which all persons and parties endeavor to achieve higher good, and to ensure that endeavor, the reasonable laying down of rights and the making and keeping of contracts, common power must be established to make the agreement of men constant and lasting. The Common Power is called the Sovereign. It is upon the Sovereign that men confer their power and strength, and who could act in any to guaranty the peace and safety of his subjects. However, the transfer of rights and power to the Sovereign does not mean, for Hobbes, the transfer of ones personhood. Personhood, is inalienable, hence, non-transferable. What is transferred to the Sovereign is the right to self-governace. The subjects give up their right to self-governance to the Sovereign so that all, united together, they, in effect, govern themselves. 3. John Locke (1632 1704) Is a proponent of the school of Empiricism. Empiricism comes from the Greek word empeirikos, which means an experiment. He rejects the philosophy that man has innate ideas. The beginning of knowledge does not originate in ideas already possessed by man before experience. This position is a direct attack against the philosophy of Descartes and other ancient philosophers like Plato. One of the few instance that Locke advance against the existence of innate knowledge is the fact that children do not know universal truths unless taught to them or they experience them when they come of age. Neither do people of unsound mind know them, too. Locke gives the analogy of the mind of man to a blank tablet. The mind is like an empty tablet or cabinet waiting to be filled or a blank paper waiting for something to be written upon. His term for this blank tablet is tabula rasa, a clean slate. According to Locke, the two fountains of knowledge are sensation and reflection. The senses to produce perceptions of sensible qualities, like color, heat, texture and taste. So the sense of sihgt conveys the color yellow, the sense of touch conveys the texture, etc. Understanding conveys the sense perception to our sensation. Sensation is the great sources of our ideas, after the sense perception is conveyed by our understanding. In great part, the sensation is dependent on what the senses
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perceive and as derived from understanding. Perception, thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowing, and willing follow upon sensation. When the ideas perceived by the senses bounce back to the mind that perceives, this is the activity of reflection. After the mind captures the different sense experience, the internal senses transfer the sense data to the internal senses. It is the activity of reflection that man knows he is the very reasoning, imagining, believing, and knowing.

Contemporary Philosophy
is the present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the end of the 19th century with the professionalization of the discipline and the rise of analytic andcontinental philosophy.
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The phrase "contemporary philosophy" is a piece of technical terminology in philosophy that refers to a specific period in the history of Western philosophy. However, the phrase is often confused with modern philosophy (which refers to an earlier period in Western philosophy), postmodern philosophy (which refers to continental philosophers' criticisms of modern philosophy), and with a non-technical use of the phrase referring to any recent philosophic work.
o

o It is also know as Anthropocentric/Homocentric period or Existentialist Period. o Existence is undeniably the theme of the philosophical enterprise of the existentialist philosophers, the human person as the subject. o Existentialist philosopher focused their attention on the primacy of existence with meaning as its emphasis or goal. Thus, philosophy, in the existentialist sense is often regarded as the search for the meaning of mans existence. o The Philosophy of man, it is important to identify the three subjects or themes of study. These are Man as the first agent of Philosophical inquiry Know thyself Man as a being to other being-with Man as being for others man as being-in-the-world o Existentialist Philosophers 1. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) An atheist existentialist whose center of philosophy is on the individual, who is free to create new values. The Freedom of man necessarily rejects any universal norm of morality which has to be destroyed in order for the individual to act according to his insights; thus, creating his own values. Overman or Superman (obermensch). The concept of the homo superior was first explored by Nietzsche in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883). In the story, the prophet Zarathustra announces the coming of the supermanan idealized person who defines his own morality. This fictional Superman rejects faith and immortality, assuming that either God is dead...and we have killed Him or that the Creator is no longer active in human development. By rejecting faith, this Superman and his ideal society become responsible for their own morality. Once man has
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undergone the process of denying God, he begins a journey towards becoming the Superman and creates his own new moral ideals. Nietzsche concluded that although Man is something which ought to be overcome, no person had yet reached such a level, noting that even the greatest of men is all too human. 2. Martin Heidegger (1880-1976) Said that the meaning of human existence comes from understanding what man has of himself, that is, he is a being-inthe-world. He calls this being as Dasein. That man is thrown into the world (thereness) is the first act that man must know of himself in order to shape meaning in his existence. In the world, there are a lot of possibilities from which man shapes his meaning.

3. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1908) Another atheist existentialist says that freedom is mans main key to understand himself and shape meaning in his existence. He says that Existence precedes Essence. There is no such thing as pre determination of meaning prior to mans existence. Freedom makes possible what man conceives of himself as his projects in life. Man gives meaning to himself and builds up his own existence. Man, therefore, defines his own existence. 4. Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) Was a philosopher, drama critic, playwright and musician. According to Marcel, it is an illusion to say that I am the center of the universe. We are conscious of ourselves as persons only because we are in relationship to others. There is no I without You. He calls it the I-Thou relationship. This is Marcels availability for others.

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