The History of Philosophy is the history of philosophic arguments

Outline

• Nature of Philosophy
  • Philosophy is the investigation of fundamental issues by rational argument
• Historical Themes
  • Central Role of Arguments
    • An argument is a piece of reasoning, from premises to a conclusion
  • Rationalism vs Empiricism
    • Rationalism is the view that important truths about the world can be established by a priori reasoning (reasoning independent of experience)
    • Empiricism is the view that important truths about the world can only be established by a posteriori reasoning (reasoning based on experience)
  • Extreme Metaphysics vs Common Sense
  • Skepticism vs Common Sense
  • Role of Math and Science
• Ancient Greek Philosophy (6th century BCE to 4th century)
  • Proto-Scientists
  • Socrates
  • Euclid
  • Plato
  • Aristotle
  • Skeptics
• Medieval Philosophy (4th to 15th centuries)
  • Anselm
  • Ockham
• Scientific Revolution (16th and 17th centuries)
  • Copernicus
  • Galileo
  • Kepler
  • Newton
• Modern Philosophy (17th and 18th centuries)
  • Enlightenment
    • Modern Philosophy was part of the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries elevating the use of reason in understanding the world and developing systems of government.
    • Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were leaders of the Enlightenment in America.
  • Rationalism vs Empiricism
  • Continental Rationalism
    • Descartes
    • Spinoza
    • Leibniz
  • British Empiricism
    • Locke
    • Berkeley
    • Hume
  • Kant
  • Reid
  • Seeing a Tomato Graphic
• Nineteenth Century
  • Absolute Idealists
  • Mill
  • Frege
• Contemporary Analytic Philosophy
  • Moore
  • Russell