Philo

• Socrates


  • "Athens' street-corner Philosopher"
  • Born to a midwife and sculptor
  • Studied under Pericles
  • Influenced by Heraclitus and Parmenides
  • Famous for creating the Socratic Method of Teaching
• Socratic Method


  • A teaching method where a person digs deeper into a particular idea by means of creating and using follow-up questions, which will eventually lead to the truth of the matter
  • Done by minimum of two (2) participants -- the one who inquires (student) and the one who intrigues (teacher)
• Socrates never wrote his own philosophies
• Plato


  • "The Philosopher who would be King"
  • Born as Aristocles from a wealthy family
  • Won two (2) prizes as a champion wrestler
  • Studied under Socrates
  • His famous treatise, The Republic, stated that a philosopher should be a king
  • Possibly dualistic because of his perception of life
• Aristotle


  • "A Long walk to the Golden Mean"
  • Plato's best student
  • Became the well-paid tutor for Alexander the Great
  • Started his own philosophical school at age 50
  • Known as a peripatetic philosopher
  • Wrote many books and pamphlets, but only a few survived
  • Founded the school of Logical Theory
  • One (1) of his best-known ideas is The Golden Mean, where one avoids extremes, effectively making it a counsel of moderation in all things
• Predecessors of the Big Three

  • Thales of Miletus
  • Anaximanes of Miletus
  • Heraclitus of Ephesus
  • Anaximander
  • Pythagoras of Samos
  • Parmenides of Elea
  • Zeno of Elea
  • Empedocles
  • Democritus
• Thales of Miletus proposed that the whole Universe was composed of different forms of water
• Anaximanes of Miletus proposed that the whole Universe was made of air
• Heraclitus of Ephesus proposed that the whole Universe was made of fire
• Anaximander proposed that the whole Universe was made from an unexplainable substance usually translated as "the infinite" or "the boundless"
• Pythagoras of Samos led a rather bizarre religious sect and essentially believed that all of reality was governed by Mathematics
• Parmenides of Elea argued that motion is an illusion
• Zeno of Elea focused on Metaphysics and Ontology, and pointed out that the concept of infinity in divisibility is a problematical
• Zeno of Elea is known for his Ten Paradoxes, including the Achilles and the Tortoise, Dichotomy, and Arrow paradoxes
• Empedocles proposed that everything is made up of the four (4) classical elements
• Democritus proposed the theory of the atomos, which became one of the foundations for modern-day Chemistry
• Although the pre-Socratic ideas might seem simplistic and unconvincing today, they were important initial steps in the development of philosophical thought
• Differences between Western and Eastern Philosophy

  • Western philosophy is school of thought based mainly from Greece, stems from Rome and Christianity, and believes laws govern the universe
  • Eastern philosophy is school of thought based mainly from China, stems from Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Taoism, and believes the universe exists as is
• Differences between Western and Eastern Philosophy (continued)

  • Western philosophy is individualistic, has a linear journey of life, and has ethical emphasis
  • Eastern philosophy is collectivistic, has a cyclical journey of life, and has virtual emphasis
• Both Western and Eastern philosophy believe a study of reality is possible, and that a supreme being exists
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  • Date of Birth: June 28, 1712
  • Philosophical School: Social Contract, Romanticism
  • Prime Focus: Politics, Music, Education, Literature, Autobiography
  • Notable Ideas: General will, moral simplicity of mankind, child-centered learning, amour de soi (primitive and pure self-love), amour-propre (self-love that can be corrupted)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: 'We are born capable of sensation and from birth are affected in diverse ways by the objects around us. As soon as we become conscious of our sensations we are inclined to seek or to avoid the objects which produce them: at first, because they are agreeable or disagreeable to us, later because we discover that they suit or do not suit us, and ultimately because of the judgements we pass on them by reference to the idea of happiness of perfection we get from reason. These inclinations extend and strengthen with the growth of sensibility and intelligence, but under the pressure of habit they are changed to some extent with our opinions. The inclinations before this change are what I call our nature. In my view everything ought to be in conformity with these original inclinations.'
• John Locke


  • Date of Birth: August 29, 1632
  • Philosophical School: Social Contract, Liberalism, Empiricism, Foundationalism, Conceptualism, Indirect Realism, Correspondence theory of truth, Ideational theory of meaning, Corpuscularianism, Natural Law
  • Prime Focus: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Politics, Mind, Education, Economics
  • Notable Ideas: Consciousness, Consent of the governed, Labor theory of property, Law of Opinion, Natural Rights (Rights of Life, Liberty, Property), State of Nature, Social Contract, Tabula Rasa (knowledge is not inherent), Molyneux's Problem, Lockean Proviso
• John Locke: 'Knowledge then seems to me to be nothing but the perception of the connection and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy of any of our Ideas. Where this Perception is, there is Knowledge, and where it is not, there, though we may fancy, guess, or believe, yet we always come short of Knowledge.'
• Montesquieu


  • Date of Birth: January 18, 1689
  • Philosophical School: Enlightenment, Classical Liberalism
  • Prime Focus: Politics
  • Notable Ideas: Separation of political state powers, classification of government systems based on principles
• Montesquieu: 'I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.'
• Voltaire


  • Date of Birth: November 21, 1694
  • Philosophical School: Lumières (Enlighteners), Philosophes (Philosophers), Deism, Classical liberalism
  • Prime Focus: Politics, Literature, Historiography, Biblical Criticism
  • Notable Ideas: Philosophy of History, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Separation of church and state
• Voltaire: 'The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.'
• Thomas Hobbes


  • Date of Birth: April 5, 1588
  • Philosophical School: Social Contract, Classical Liberalism, Empiricism, Deterrminism, Nominalism, Materialism, Corpuscularianism, Ethical Egoism
  • Prime Focus: Politics, History, Ethics, Geometry
  • Notable Ideas: Inherent selfishness of humans, "Absolute" monarchy as the true and correct form of government
• Scientia potentia est. Knowledge is power.
• Laozi


  • Date of Birth: 601 BC
  • Philosophical School: Taoism
  • Prime Focus: none
  • Notable Ideas: Tao (Way, Doctrine), Wu wei (Without Exertion)
• Laozi: 'Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.'
• Amartya Kumar Sen


  • Date of Birth: November 3, 1933
  • Philosophical School: Capability Approach
  • Prime Focus: Welface Economics, Development Economics, Ethics
  • Notable Ideas: Human development theory
• Amartya Kumar Sen: 'A good statement of an inherently imprecise concern – and most important concerns in the world are imprecise – must capture that imprecision, and not replace it by a precise statement about something else. You should learn to speak in an articulate way about ideas that are inescapably imprecise (as a man called Aristotle explained more than two millennia ago). And that is one of the reasons why the humanities are important. A novel can point to a truth without pretending to capture it exactly in some imagined numbers and formulae.'
• Traditional Branches of Philosophy

  • Metaphysics
  • Epistemology
  • Logic
  • Ethics
  • Aesthetics
  • Political philosophy
• Metaphysics


  The branch of philosophy which deals with the fundamental questions of reality
• Branches of Metaphysics


  • Cosmology
  • Ontology
• Cosmology


  Seeks to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order
• Ontology


  The investigation into what types of things there are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another
• Main Questions of Epistemology


  • What is knowledge?
  • How is knowledge acquired?
  • What do people know?
  • How do we know what we know?