05/04/13 History of philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History of philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time. Issues specifically
related to history of philosophy might include (but are not limited to): How can changes in philosophy be
accounted for historically? What drives the development of thought in its historical context? To what degree can
philosophical texts from prior historical eras even be understood today?

All cultures — be they prehistoric, medieval, or modern; Eastern, Western, religious or secular — have had
their own unique schools of philosophy, arrived at through both inheritance and through independent discovery.
Such theories have grown from different premises and approaches, examples of which include (but are not
limited to) rationalism (theories arrived at through logic), empiricism (theories arrived at through observation),
and even through leaps of faith, hope and inheritance (such as the supernaturalist philosophies and religions).

History of philosophy seeks to catalogue and classify such development. The goal is to understand the
development of philosophical ideas through time.

Contents
1 Western philosophy
1.1 Ancient philosophy
1.2 Medieval philosophy
1.3 Renaissance philosophy
1.4 Modern philosophy
1.5 Contemporary philosophy
2 Eastern philosophy
2.1 Babylonian philosophy
2.2 Indian philosophy
2.3 Persian philosophy
2.4 Chinese philosophy
3 Abrahamic philosophy
3.1 Jewish philosophy
3.2 Christian philosophy
3.3 Islamic philosophy
3.3.1 Religious roots
3.3.2 Transferring of Greek philosophy
3.3.3 Periods
3.3.3.1 Early Islamic philosophy
3.3.3.2 Mystical philosophy
3.3.3.3 Transcendent Theosophy
3.3.3.4 Modern era
3.4 Judeo-Islamic philosophy
4 African philosophy
5 Further reading
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 References

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9 External links

Western philosophy
Western philosophy has a long history, conventionally divided into four large eras - the Ancient, Medieval,
Modern, and Contemporary. The Ancient era runs through the fall of Rome and includes the Greek
philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. The Medieval period runs until roughly the late 15th century and the
Renaissance. The "Modern" is a word with more varied use, which includes everything from Post-Medieval
through the specific period up to the 20th century. Contemporary philosophy encompasses the philosophical
developments of the 20th century up to the present day.

Ancient philosophy

Further information: Ancient philosophy

Western Philosophy is generally said to begin in the Greek cities of

western Asia Minor (Ionia) with Thales of Miletus, who was active
around 585 B.C. and left us the opaque dictum, "all is water." His most
noted students were Anaximenes of Miletus ("all is air") and
Anaximander (all is apeiron).

Other thinkers and schools appeared throughout Greece over the next
few centuries. Among the most important were Heraclitus ("all is fire", all
is chaotic and transitory), Anaxagoras (reality is so ordered that it must
be in all respects governed by mind), the Pluralists and Atomists (the
world is composite of innumerable interacting parts), the Eleatics Ionia, source of early Greek
Parmenides and Zeno (all is One and change is impossible, as illustrated philosophy, in western Asia Minor
by his famous paradoxes of motion), the Sophists (became known,
perhaps unjustly, for claiming that truth was no more than opinion and for
teaching people to argue fallaciously to prove whatever conclusions they wished). This whole movement
gradually became more concentrated in Athens, which had become the dominant city-state in Greece.

There is considerable discussion about why Athenian culture encouraged philosophy, but a popular theory says
that it occurred because Athens had a direct democracy. It is known from Plato's writings that many sophists
maintained schools of debate, were respected members of society, and were well paid by their students.
Orators influenced Athenian history, possibly even causing its failure (See Battle of Lade). Another theory
explains the birth of philosophical debate in Athens with the presence of a slave labor workforce which
performed the necessary functions that would otherwise have consumed the time of the free male citizenry.
Freed from working in the fields or other manual economic activities, they were able to participate in the
assemblies of Athens and spend long periods in discussions on popular philosophical questions. Students of
Sophists needed to acquire the skills of oration in order to influence the Athenian Assembly and thereby increase
respect and wealth. In response, the subjects and methods of debate became highly developed by the Sophists.

The key figure in transforming Greek philosophy into a unified and continuous project - the one still being
pursued today - is Socrates, who studied under several Sophists. It is said that following a visit to the Oracle of
Delphi he spent much of his life questioning anyone in Athens who would engage him, in order to disprove the
oracular prophecy that there would be no man wiser than Socrates. Through these live dialogues, he examined
common but critical concepts that lacked clear or concrete definitions, such as beauty and truth, and the virtues
of piety, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. Socrates' awareness of his own ignorance allowed him to
discover his errors as well as the errors of those who claimed knowledge based upon falsifiable or unclear
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precepts and beliefs. He wrote nothing, but inspired many disciples, including many sons of prominent Athenian
citizens (including Plato), which led to his trial and execution in 399 B.C. on the charge that his philosophy and
sophistry were undermining the youth, piety, and moral fiber of the city. He was offered a chance to flee from his
fate but chose to remain in Athens, abide by his principles, and drink the poison hemlock.

Socrates' most important student was Plato, who founded the Academy of Athens and wrote a number of
dialogues, which applied the Socratic method of inquiry to examine philosophical problems. Some central ideas
of Plato's dialogues are the Theory of Forms, i.e., that the mind is imbued with an innate capacity to understand
and contemplate concepts from a higher order preeminent world, concepts more real, permanent, and universal
than or representative of the things of this world, which are only changing and temporal; the idea of the
immortal soul being superior to the body; the idea of evil as simple ignorance of truth; that true knowledge leads
to true virtue; that art is subordinate to moral purpose; and that the society of the city-state should be governed
by a merit class of propertyless philosopher kings, with no permanent wives or paternity rights over their
children, and be protected by an athletically gifted, honorable, duty bound military class. In the later dialogues
Socrates figures less prominently, but Plato had previously woven his own thoughts into some of Socrates'
words. Interestingly, in his most famous work, The Republic, Plato critiques democracy, condemns tyranny,
and proposes a three tiered merit based structure of society, with workers, guardians and philosophers, in an
equal relationship, where no innocents would ever be put to death again, citing the philosophers' relentless love
of truth and knowledge of the forms or ideals, concern for general welfare and lack of propertied interest as
causes for their being suited to govern.

Plato's most outstanding student was Aristotle, perhaps the first truly systematic philosopher. Aristotelian logic
was the first type of logic to attempt to categorize every valid syllogism. A syllogism is a form of argument that is
guaranteed to be accepted, because it is known (by all educated persons) to be valid. A crucial assumption in
Aristotelian logic is that it has to be about real objects. Two of Aristotle's syllogisms are invalid to modern eyes.
For example, "All A are B. All A are C. Therefore, some B are C." This syllogism fails if set A is empty, but
there are real members of set B. In Aristotle's syllogistic logic you could say this, because his logic should only
be used for things that really exist ("no empty classes")

The application of Aristotelian logic is preceded by having the student memorize a rather large set of syllogisms.
The memorization proceeded from diagrams, or learning a key sentence, with the first letter of each word
reminding the student of the names of the syllogisms.

Each syllogism had a name, for example: "Modus Ponens" had the form of "If A is true, then B is true. A is true,
therefore B is true."

Most university students of logic memorized Aristotle's 19 syllogisms of two subjects, permitting them to validly
connect a subject and object. A few logicians developed systems with three subjects, or described a way of
elaborating the rules of three subjects.

Medieval philosophy

Further information: Medieval philosophy

The history of western medieval philosophy is generally divided into two periods, early medieval philosophy,
which started with St. Augustine in the mid 4th century and lasted until the recovery in the 13th century West of
a great bulk of Aristotle's works and their subsequent translation into Latin from the Arabic and Greek, and high
medieval philosophy, which came about as a result of the recovery of Aristotle. This period, which lasted a mere
century and a half compared to the nine centuries of the early period, came to a close around the time of William
of Ockham in the middle of the 14th century. Western medieval philosophy was primarily concerned with
implementing the Christian faith with philosophical reason, that is, "baptizing" reason.

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Early medieval philosophy was influenced by the likes of Stoicism, neo-Platonism, but, above all, the philosophy
of Plato himself. The prominent figure of this period was St. Augustine who adopted Plato's thought and
Christianized it in the 4th century and whose influence dominated medieval philosophy perhaps up to end of the
era but was checked with the arrival of Aristotle's texts. Augustinianism was the preferred starting point for most
philosophers (including the great St. Anselm of Canterbury) up until the 13th century.

During the later years of the early medieval period and throughout the years of the high medieval period, there
was a great emphasis on the nature of God and the application of Aristotle's logic and thought to every area of
life. Attempts were made to reconcile these three things by means of scholasticism. One continuing interest in
this time was to prove the existence of God, through logic alone, if possible. The point of this exercise was not
so much to justify belief in God, since in the view of medieval Christianity this was self-evident, but to make
classical philosophy, with its extra-biblical pagan origins, respectable in a Christian context.

One monumental effort to overcome mere logical argument at the beginning of the high medieval period was to
follow Aristotelian demonstration by starting from effects and reasoning up to their causes. This took the form of
the cosmological argument, conventionally attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas. The argument roughly is that
everything that exists has a cause. But since there could not be an infinite chain of causes back into the past,
there must have been an uncaused "first cause." This is God. Aquinas also adapted this argument to prove the
goodness of God. Everything has some goodness, and the cause of each thing is better than the thing caused.
Therefore, the first cause is the best possible thing. Similar arguments were used to prove God's power and
uniqueness.

Another important argument for proof of the existence of God was the ontological argument, advanced by St.
Anselm. Basically, it says that God is that than which nothing greater can be thought. There is nothing that simply
exists in the mind that can be said to be greater than something that enjoys existence in reality. Hence the
greatest thing that the mind can conceive of must exist in reality. Therefore, God exists. This argument has been
used in different forms by philosophers from Descartes forward.

In addition to St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and St. Anselm, other important names from the medieval
period include Blessed John Duns Scotus, St. Bonaventure, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, and Pierre
Abélard.

The definition of the word "philosophy" in English has changed over the centuries. In medieval times, any
research outside the fields of theology or medicine was called "philosophy", hence the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society is a scientific journal dating from 1665, the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
degree covers a wide range of subjects, and the Cambridge Philosophical Society is actually concerned with
what we would now call science and not modern philosophy.

Renaissance philosophy

Main article: Renaissance philosophy

Contemporary philosophical historiography emphasizes a great "gap" between Middle Ages and Modern
thought. And often this "gap" is used as a mean to characterize the meaning of the word "modern" used in
"modern philosophy".

However, a historical perspective (and philosophical ones less interested into a single solid "gap") emphasizes
the existence of a long period of transition between the teleologically driven centuries (running up the 13th or
14th centuries) and the rationalists-empiricists debates.
As well as for the figurative arts, music, vernacular languages and literatures, and the Christian religion,

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philosophy was greatly renewed in The Renaissance. The Renaissance, spread into Europe from Italy and in
particular from Northern Italy and Tuscany, also by the means of architecture, arts and literature, inaugurated
new philosophical problems, and permitted a new era of thought, independent from the Roman Church.

If most (if not all) of medieval philosophers were priests and monks, early and late Renaissance philosophers
were a more heterogeneous population, including rhetors, magicians and astrologues, early empirical scientist,
poets, philologists. The new era put together all these souls in the search for the human specificity. The study of
humanae litterae overcame that of divinae litterae, and opened the way for modern skepticism and science.

Many philosophers from the Renaissance are today read and remembered, even if often not categorized into a
single category, but spread into modern philosophy (if they fit, especially if oriented towards empiricism and
rationalism, like Galileo Galilei or Machiavelli) or instead put back into the Middle Ages, especially if heavily
influenced by esoteric traditions (like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino and even Nicholas of Cusa
and Giordano Bruno). Only a few, relatively "innocuous" philosophers are often fully recognized as Renaissance
philosophers: Montaigne, Tommaso Campanella, Telesius among them.

Modern philosophy

Main article: Modern philosophy

Further information: 17th-century philosophy, 18th-century philosophy, and 19th-century
philosophy

As with many periodizations, there are multiple current usages for the term "Modern Philosophy" that exist in
practice. One usage is to date modern philosophy from the "Age of Reason", where systematic philosophy
became common, excluding Erasmus and Machiavelli as "modern philosophers". Another is to date it, the way
the entire larger modern period is dated, from the Renaissance. In some usages, "Modern Philosophy" ended in
1800, with the rise of Hegelianism and Idealism. There is also the lumpers/splitters problem, namely that some
works split philosophy into more periods than others: one author might feel a strong need to differentiate
between "The Age of Reason" or "Early Modern Philosophers" and "The Enlightenment"; another author might
write from the perspective that 1600-1800 is essentially one continuous evolution, and therefore a single period.
Wikipedia's philosophy section therefore hews more closely to centuries as a means of avoiding long discussions
over periods, but it is important to note the variety of practice that occurs.

A broad overview would then have Erasmus, Francis Bacon, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei represent
the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition. 17th-century philosophy is dominated by the
need to organize philosophy on rational, skeptical, logical and axiomatic grounds, such as the work of René
Descartes, Blaise Pascal, and Thomas Hobbes. This type of philosophy attempts to integrate religious belief into
philosophical frameworks, and, often to combat atheism or other skeptical beliefs, by adopting the idea of
material reality, and the dualism between spirit and material. The extension, and reaction, against this would be
the monism of George Berkeley (idealism) and Benedict de Spinoza (dual aspect theory). It was during this time
period that the empiricism was developed as an alternative to skepticism by John Locke, George Berkeley and
others. It should be mentioned that John Locke and Thomas Hobbes developed their well known political
philosophies during this time, as well.

The 18th-century philosophy article deals with the period often called the early part of "The Enlightenment" in
the shorter form of the word, and centers on the rise of systematic empiricism, following after Sir Isaac
Newton's natural philosophy. Thus Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Kant and the political
philosophies embodied by and influencing the American Revolution and American Enlightenment are part of The
Enlightenment. Other prominent philosophers of this time period were David Hume and Adam Smith, who,
along with Francis Hutcheson, were also the primary philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment and Thomas
Paine and Thomas Jefferson who were philosophers of the American Enlightenment. Edmund Burke was
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influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, namely Hume's skeptism and reliance on tradition and the passions,
and while supporting the American Revolution based on the established rights of Englishmen, rejected the
"natural rights" claims of the Enlightenment and vehemently rejected the Rationalism of the French Revolution
(see Reflections on the Revolution in France).

The 19th century took the radical notions of self-organization and intrinsic order from Goethe and Kantian
metaphysics, and proceeded to produce a long elaboration on the tension between systematization and organic
development. Foremost was the work of Hegel, whose Logic and Phenomenology of Spirit produced a
"dialectical" framework for ordering of knowledge. The 19th century would also include Schopenhauer's
negation of the will. As with the 18th century, it would be developments in science that would arise from, and
then challenge, philosophy: most importantly the work of Charles Darwin, which was based on the idea of
organic self-regulation found in philosophers such as Adam Smith, but fundamentally challenged established
conceptions.

Also in the 19th century, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard took philosophy in a new direction by
focusing less on abstract concepts and more on what it means to be an existing individual. His work provided
impetus for many 20th century philosophical movements, including existentialism.

Contemporary philosophy

Further information: Contemporary philosophy

The 20th century deals with the upheavals produced by a series of conflicts within philosophical discourse over
the basis of knowledge, with classical certainties overthrown, and new social, economic, scientific and logical
problems. 20th century philosophy was set for a series of attempts to reform and preserve, and to alter or
abolish, older knowledge systems. Seminal figures include Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Bertrand
Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Edmund Husserl. Epistemology, the theory of knowledge, and its basis was a
central concern, as seen from the work of Heidegger, Russell, Karl Popper, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Phenomenologically oriented metaphysics undergirded existentialism (Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Albert
Camus) and finally poststructuralism (Gilles Deleuze, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques
Derrida). Pragmatist Richard Rorty has argued that these and other schools of 20th century philosophy,
including his own, share an opposition to classical dualism that is both anti-essentialist and antimetaphysical.[1]
The psychoanalytic work of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, and others has also been influential
in contemporary continental philosophy. Conversely, some philosophers have attempted to define and
rehabilitate older traditions of philosophy. Most notably, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Alasdair MacIntyre have
both, albeit in different ways, revived the tradition of Aristotelianism.

The philosophy of the present century is difficult to clarify due to its immaturity. A number of surviving 20th
century philosophers have established themselves as early voices of influence in the 21st. These include Noam
Chomsky, Saul Kripke, and Jürgen Habermas. The perceived conflict between continental and analytic schools
of philosophy remains prominent, despite increasing skepticism regarding the distinction's usefulness. A variety
of new topics have risen to the stage in analytic philosophy, orienting much of contemporary discourse in the
field of ethics. New inquiries consider, for example, the ethical implications of new media and information
exchange. Such developments have rekindled interest in the philosophy of technology and science. There has
been increased enthusiasm for highly specialized areas in philosophy of science, such as in the Bayesian school
of epistemology.

In contemporary continental thought, a number of developments are taking place. The field of postcolonial
theory, championed in the late 20th century by theorists such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi K.
Bhabha has established itself as a major academic presence. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek remains
tremendously popular in both academic and popular demographics, synthesizing Lacanian, Hegelian, and
Althusserian Marxist thought in discussions of popular culture and politics. Žižek is also involved with the
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contemporary thrust to step beyond postmodernism and the linguistic turn of the 20th century. Key contributors
to this movement are the French polymath Alain Badiou, and those classified under the blanket designation of
speculative realism, including Quentin Meillassoux and Ray Brassier. On the other hand, the American
philosopher Judith Butler has strong support among many demographics in her close readings of language,
gender, subjectivity, corporeality, kinship, war and non-violent ethics. As a result she has received strong
criticism from Žižek to Martha Nussbaum and radical Zionists.

Eastern philosophy
Main article: Eastern philosophy

In the West, the term Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of "the East", namely
Asia, including China, India, Japan, Persia and the general area. One must take into account that this term
ignores that these countries do not belong to a single culture. Ancient eastern philosophy developed mainly in
India and China.

Babylonian philosophy

See article Babylonian literature: Philosophy

Indian philosophy

See article Indian philosophy and Timeline_of_Eastern_philosophers#Indian_philosophers

See also Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy and Jain Philosophy

Indian philosophy primarily begins with the later part of Rig Veda, which was compiled before 1100 BCE.[2]
Most of philosophy of the Rig Veda is contained in the sections Purusha sukta and Nasadiya Sukta. Vedas are
followed by Upanishads the oldest, such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, have been dated to
around the 8th century BCE. The philosophical edifice of Indian religions viz., Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism is
built on the foundation laid by the Upanishads. Upanishadic thought was followed by the Buddhist and Jain
philosophies.

Persian philosophy

See article Iranian philosophy

See also Zoroastrianism

Chinese philosophy

See article Chinese philosophy and Buddhist_philosophy#Chinese_Buddhism

Confucianism can be considered as the oldest school of philosophy in China.[citation needed] Confucianism
developed in China around the same time as Buddhism and Jainism developed in India. Another school of
philosophy, Taoism, developed in China around 200 BC.[citation needed]

Abrahamic philosophy
See also: Abrahamic religions
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Abrahamic philosophy, in its loosest sense, comprises the series of philosophical schools that emerged from the
study and commentary of the common ancient Semitic tradition which can be traced by their adherents to
Abraham ("Father/Leader of many" Hebrew ‫ָם‬ ‫ְרה‬
ָ‫"( אַב‬Avraham") Arabic ‫"( اﺑﺮاھﯿﻢ‬Ibrahim"), a patriarch whose
life is narrated in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and as a prophet in the Qur'an and also called a prophet in
Genesis 20:7).

The standard text common to all of these subsequent traditions are what is known as the Hebrew Bible, roughly
the first five books of the Old Testament, starting with the book of Genesis through to Deuteronomy. However,
each of them added substantially different texts to their emerging canons, and hence their respective
philosophical developments varied widely.

Jewish philosophy

Jewish philosophy

Christian philosophy

See article Christian philosophy

Islamic philosophy

See articles Islamic philosophy, Early Islamic philosophy, and Modern Islamic philosophy

Islamic philosophy as Henry Corbin describes is a philosophy whose development, and whose modalities, are
essentially linked to the religious and spiritual fact of Islam.[3] In the other word, it represents the style of
philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture. This description does not suggest that it is
necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor even that it is exclusively produced by Muslims.[4]

Religious roots

Theoretical questions were raised right from the beginning of Islam, questions which could to a certain extent be
answered by reference to Islamic texts such as the Quran, the practices of the community and the traditional
sayings of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, and his Companions.[4] In fact, rational argumentation about
Islamic doctrines starts with Quran itself, and has been followed up in the utterances of the Muhammad and
especially in the sermons of Ali. This despite the fact that their style and approach are different from those of the
Muslim theologians.[5]

Though nothing definite can be said about the beginnings of theology among Muslims, what is certain is that
discussion of some of the problems, such as the issue of predestination, free will and Divine Justice, became
current among Muslims during the first half of the 2nd century of Islam coincides with 8th century. Perhaps the
first formal centre of such discussions was the circle of Hasan al-Basri(d.728-29).[5] Later several theological
schools have emerged from 8th to 10th century. Mu'tazili theology originated in the 8th century in Basra (Iraq)
by Wasil ibn Ata (d.748 A.D.).[6]

Transferring of Greek philosophy

The early conquests of the Muslims brought them into close contact with centers of civilization heavily influenced
by Christianity and also by Greek culture. Many rulers wished to understand and use the Greek forms of
knowledge, some practical and some theoretical, and a large translation project started which saw official

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support for the assimilation of Greek culture. This had a powerful impact upon all areas of Islamic philosophy.
Neoplatonism definitely became the prevalent school of thought, following closely the curriculum of Greek
philosophy which was initially transmitted to the Islamic world.[4]

Periods

Henry Corbin has divided the history of Islamic philosophy into three periods.[7]

Early Islamic philosophy

The first period of Islamic philosophy coincides with Islamic golden age. During this time pure philosophical
thought is usually used Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism thought as its sources. But it also influenced by Islamic
thought and culture. Falaturi has shown in his research that how Hellenistic philosophy diverged in the context of
Islamic culture. On the other hand Corbin has shown how mystic aspect of Islam, especially Shia affected
philosophy. This period begins with al-Kindi and ends with Averroes(d.1198).[7] On the other hand there were
crucial theological debates between Muslim theologians. These discussion also helped to rise of rational debates
about religion, especially Islam.

Avicenna is one the most prominent figures of this period. He is a thinker who attempted to redefine the course
of Islamic philosophy and channel it into new directions. Avicenna's metaphysical system is built on the
ingredients and conceptual building blocks which are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonic, but the final structure
is more than the sum of its parts.[8] In the Islamic Golden Age, due to Avicenna's successful reconciliation
between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism along with Islamic theology, Avicennism eventually became the
leading school of early Islamic philosophy by the 12th century. Avicenna had become a central authority on
philosophy by then.[9] Although this school was highly criticized by Muslim theologians, such as al-Ghazali,
philosophers, like Averroes, and Sufis, Avicenna's writings spread like fire and continued until today to form the
basis of philosophic education in the Islamic world. For to the extent that the post-Averroistic tradition remained
philosophic, especially in the eastern Islamic lands, it moved in the directions charted for it by Avicenna in the
investigation of both theoretical and practical sciences.[8]

Mystical philosophy

After the death of Averroes, Islamic philosophy in the Peripatetic style went out of fashion in the Arab part of
Muslim world, until the 19th century. Mystical philosophy, by contrast, continued to flourish, although no
thinkers matched the creativity of Ibn Arabi or Ibn Sab‘in. In the Persian-speaking part, Islamic philosophy has
continued to follow a largely Illuminationist curriculum, which is introduced by Suhrawardi.[4][7]

Transcendent Theosophy

The third period, according to Corbin, begins in the 16th century after emergence of Safavid dynasty in
Persia.[7] The most prominent figure of this period is Mulla Sadra who introduced Transcendent Theosophy as a
critical philosophy which brought together Peripatetic, Illuminationist and gnostic philosophy along with Ash'ari
and Twelvers theology, the source of which lay in the Islamic revelation and the mystical experience of reality as
existence.[10][11] This philosophy becomes dominant form of philosophy in Iran since 19th century. Shah Wali
Allah extended Suhrawardi school of thought to the Indian subcontinent.[4]

Modern era

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◌New
َ trends have emerged during 19th and 20th centuries due to challenge of western philosophy and
Modernity to traditional Islamic philosophy. On one hand some of the scholars such as Jamal-ad-Din Asadabadi
and Muhammad Abduh sought to find rational principles which would establish a form of thought which is both
distinctively Islamic and also appropriate for life in modern scientific societies, a debate which is continuing
within Islamic philosophy today. Muhammad Iqbal is one of the prominent figure of this group who provided a
rather eclectic mixture of Islamic and European philosophy. On the other hand some thinkers reacted to the
phenomenon of modernity by developing Islamic fundamentalism. This resuscitated the earlier antagonism to
philosophy by arguing for a return to the original principles of Islam and rejected modernity as a Western
imperialist intrusion.[4] In Iran, the effects of mystic philosophers especially Mulla Sadra is great, and
philosophers who are more loyal to traditional Islamic philosophy have tried to keep alive this school and use it
to deal with Modernism. Allameh Tabatabaei is the most prominent figure of this group. [12] Nowadays Seyyed
Hossein Nasr tries to introduce traditional Islamic philosophy and dealt with the Islamic response to the
challenges of the modern world.[13] Finally, there have been many thinkers who have adapted and employed
non-Islamic philosophical ideas as part of the normal philosophical process of seeking to understand conceptual
problems such as Hegelianism and Existentialism. Therefore modern Islamic philosophy is thus quite diverse,
employing a wide variety of techniques and approaches to its subjects.[14]

Judeo-Islamic philosophy

See article Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800 - 1400)

African philosophy
Main article: African philosophy

Further reading
Oizerman, Teodor; translated by H. Campbell Creighton, M.A., Oxon (1988). The Main Trends in
Philosophy. A Theoretical Analysis of the History of Philosophy (http://su-
ltd.mylivepage.ru/file/2715/6529_OizermanT.I.-Main_trends_in_Philosophy.pdf) (DjVu, etc.) (2nd ed.).
Moscow: Progress Publishers. ISBN 5-01-000506-9. Retrieved 2011-01-20 First published in Russian
as «Главные философские направления»
Oizerman, Teodor; translated from Russian by Robert Daglish (1973). Problems of the History of
Philosophy (http://leninist.biz/en/1973/PHP462/index.html) (1st ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Retrieved 2011-01-20 First published in Russian as «Проблемы историко-философской науки»

See also
History of ethics
List of years in philosophy
List of important publications in philosophy

Footnotes
1. '^ Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and Social Hope. Penguin.1999: 47-48.
2. ^ Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book 10. Estimates for a
terminus post quem of the earliest hymns are more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence'
sets wide range of 1700–1100

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05/04/13 History of philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3. ^ Corbin (1993) p.xiv

4. ^ a b c d e f LEAMAN, OLIVER (1998). Islamic philosophy. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved December 30, 2007 (http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/H057)
5. ^ a b An Introduction to 'Ilm al-Kalam (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/kalam.htm) by Morteza
Motahhari
6. ^ Martin et al., 1997
7. ^ a b c d Corbin (1993), pp. xvi and xvii
8. ^ a b "Avicenna" (http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v3f1/v3f1a046.html) . Encyclopedia Iranica.
Retrieved 2007-12-30.
9. ^ Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), p. 80-81, "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of
Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (died 1288)", Electronic Theses and
Dissertations, University of Notre Dame.[1] (http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615)
10. ^ Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din Muhammad al-Shirazi) (1571/2-1640)
(http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H027.htm)
11. ^ Leaman (2007), pp.146 and 147
12. ^ See:
Leaman (2000), p.410
Nasr (1996), pp.324 and 325
13. ^ Fakhri (2004), p.322
14. ^ Leaman (2000), p.410

References
Corbin, Henry (1993 (original French 1964)). History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain
Sherrard, Philip Sherrard. London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for
The Institute of Ismaili Studies. ISBN 0-7103-0416-1.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Mehdi Aminrazavi (1996). The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia.
Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-0314-4.
Leaman, Oliver; Parviz Morewedge (2000). Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, editor:
Edward Craig. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22364-4.

External links
History of philosophy (https://inpho.cogs.indiana.edu/taxonomy/2242) at the Indiana Philosophy
Ontology Project
Map with western philosophers' places and dates of birth (http://maps.google.it/maps/ms?
ie=UTF8&hl=it&msa=0&msid=107892646478667659520.0004445545f2b2cffb9ed&ll=47.398349,1
4.326172&spn=28.597229,79.013672&z=4)

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