Philsophical

Compiled in conjunction with Gemini

800 BCE – 200 BCE

  • 800–500 BCE: Vedic/Upanishadic Philosophy (India) – Moving from ritual to abstract concepts like Brahman (ultimate reality) and Atman (the self).
  • 6th Century BCE: Daoism (China) – Attributed to Laozi. Focuses on "The Way" (Dao) and living in harmony with the natural flow of the universe.
  • 551 BCE: Confucianism (China) – Confucius emphasizes social order, filial piety, and the cultivation of virtue (Ren).

600 BCE – 300 CE

  • 585 BCE: The Pre-Socratics – Thales of Miletus is often called the first philosopher because he sought natural explanations for phenomena rather than mythological ones.
  • 470–322 BCE: The "Big Three"
    • Socrates: Developed the Socratic Method (questioning to find truth).
    • Plato: Founded the Academy; explored the "World of Forms" (Idealism).
    • Aristotle: The father of formal logic and biology; emphasized empirical observation.
  • 300 BCE: Stoicism & Epicureanism – Post-Aristotelian schools focused on personal ethics. Stoics (Zeno) preached emotional resilience, while Epicureans sought tranquility through modest pleasures.

400 CE – 1400 CE

  • 400 CE: Augustinianism – St. Augustine merges Neoplatonism with Christian doctrine.
  • 800–1200 CE: Islamic Golden Age (Falsafa) – Philosophers like Al-Kindi, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), and Averroes (Ibn Rushd) preserve and expand upon Greek texts, influencing the later European Renaissance.
  • 1265 CE: Thomism – Thomas Aquinas writes the Summa Theologica, using Aristotelian logic to prove the existence of God.

1600s – 1800s

  • 1641: Rationalism – René Descartes ("I think, therefore I am") seeks to rebuild knowledge from scratch using pure reason.
  • 1690: Empiricism – John Locke argues that the mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) and knowledge comes only from sensory experience.
  • 1781: Kantianism – Immanuel Kant attempts to bridge Rationalism and Empiricism, arguing that our minds actively shape our perception of reality.

1850 – Present

  • 1850s: Existentialism – Kierkegaard and later Sartre focus on individual freedom, choice, and the "absurdity" of life.
  • 1900s: Analytic Philosophy – Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein shift the focus to the logic of language (this era heavily influenced computer programming languages).
  • Present Day: Ethics of AI & Post-Humanism – Philosophy now grapples with the technical achievements we discussed earlier—asking what it means to be "human" in an age of silicon intelligence.