Philosophy Iii

Introduction

Philosophy is traditionally divided into east and west. Eastern philosophy being the most cohesive of the two, retaining practices and beliefs that go back hundreds if not thousands of years. Western philosophy has experienced a more volatile existence, in which students and teachers have a more rebellious nature. A student of Buddhism may expand on the Buddhist way, bringing about new practices. Said discipline may evolve in a gradual manner, but still, retain the essence of its ancestral teaching. Zen Buddhism is still Buddhism and Buddhism is still in many ways Hinduism. In the case of Western thought, ideas tend to evolve in a more predatorial manner. From Hegelian dialectics, came about both Fascism and Marxism, two philosophies which are opposite, with completely different world views, who see themselves as the only true redeemers of mankind. Its no wonder that throughout the twentieth century, many of the bloodiest conflicts came about through the absolutist tendencies of both philosophies. In turn, Hegel believed that his “idealism” was also the “truest of the bunch” rejecting Kantian philosophy, a philosophy which defined eighteenth-century Europe. This is not to say that western philosophy is always cannibalistic, many philosophies tend to look back into older knowledge for inspiration. There were, after all, “Neo-Platonists”, in the roman empire. As there are Neo-Platonists today. [(Definition)]

Ancient Philosophy

There is a common idea that philosophy began to develop in ancient Greece when collective interested shifted from the natural world to the mental one. Experts regard this change as the mythos-logos transition. Gradually thinkers began to gravitate towards the more metaphysical aspects of life in stark contrast with the pre-Socratic (mythological) thinkers which concentrated on the base substance of things. Atomic theory as such began in ancient Greece with pre-philosophers such as Democritus and Protagoras developing their conception of the theoretical composition of the universe. Others like Pythagoras concentrated on the mathematical description of reality. Figures like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle began to appear in the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ, developing ideas such as the distinction of form (the metaphysical essence of things) and matter (the physical essence of things). These ideas fermented in various forms throughout the end of ancient Greece and the beginning of the roman empire, with various philosophies emerging as a product of inbreeding between the theories, falling out and sometimes instances of inspired individuals providing a new way to see the world. The Romans did not particularly add much to the already existent Greek schools of thought, rather choosing to develop rhetoric and logic, rather than the epistemological and metaphysical of their Greek counterparts. With the exceptions of the stoic philosophers and Christian philosophers which gave way to the medieval age of philosophy.

Medieval Philosophy

Medieval philosophy, which began somewhere close to the year 400 AD and lasted till the 1400s, concentrated mostly on religious philosophy. Here a distinction is to be made between theology and religious philosophy. Most experts agree that, where philosophy is preoccupied with the question: “Is there a God?”, theology asks “What does God want from us?”. The line blurs when considering the eastern conception of God. Eastern metaphysicians sometimes regard atheism as part of their religion, others believe in a completely different conception of what “God” is, varying from “nothing” to “anything”. Philosophers like Saint Anselm regarded God as “a being that which no greater could be conceived”. Saint Thomas Aquinas regarded God as a perfect being from which all things are created. Others like Saint Augustine noted the overwhelming difficulty in describing God through language in the first place. Gradually, philosophy transitioned into modernity through the renaissance. Focusing more on the human rather than the godly.

Modern Philosophy

From the Renaissance up until the early twentieth century we have what is called modern philosophy. A somewhat confusing term given that we see ourselves, in the present, as modern. Nevertheless, experts denote our current philosophical epoch as post-modern. Modern philosophy began as a general effort to revisit the classics of ancient Greece, but which quickly grow out into many different and often time opposing philosophies that characterize the west. Philosophy quickly divided into two very different branches. Rationalism which stated that only through reason, man can achieve true knowledge, as such one should revisit all ideas previously conceived. On the other end of the spectrum, empiricism emerged as a counter to rationalism, stating that one can only create knowledge through experience. This created a stark divide among philosophers until 1781 when the philosopher Immanuel Kant published his “Critique of Pure Reason” which bridged the gap between them. From Kant, the idealist movement began to take form, from whom the dialectic and existentialist schools that paved the way for post-modern philosophy can trace their roots.

Post-Modern Philosophy

Post-modern philosophy grew out of eighteenth-century philosophy yet holds a strong opposition to the premises held by modern philosophers. Specifically, that there a no universal standards from which man can discern values. This is not the same as stating that no values exist, rather that they vary from society to society. Post-modern philosophy is deconstructive in nature, mainly existing as a constant critique of the status quo. In the twenty-first century, today, there is a growing conflict between those who openly adhere to the post-modern view and those who look at the past philosophies as an alternative

Keywords

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References

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