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Bertrand Russell | 352 pages | 06 Apr 2009 | Taylor & Francis Ltd | 9780415473453 | English | London, United Kingdom - Wikipedia

For younger readers and those with short attention spanshere is my own abbreviated and An Outline of Philosophy history of , all on one long page. The explanations are necessarily simplistic and lacking in detail, though, and the links should be followed for more information. Thales of Miletus is usually considered the first proper , although he An Outline of Philosophy just as concerned with what we now call science as with philosophy as we know it. Thales and most of the other Pre-Socratic i. They were Materialists they believed that all things are composed of material and nothing else and were mainly concerned with trying to establish the single underlying substance the world is made up of a kind of Monismwithout resorting to supernatural or mythological explanations. For instance, Thales thought the whole was composed of different forms of water ; Anaximenes concluded it was made of air ; Heraclitus thought it was fire ; and Anaximander some unexplainable substance usually translated as " the infinite " or " the boundless ". Another issue the Pre- Socratics wrestled with was the so-called problem of changehow things appear to change from one form to another. At the extremes, Heraclitus believed in an on-going process of perpetual changea constant interplay of opposites ; Parmenideson the An Outline of Philosophy hand, using a complicated deductive argument, denied that there was any such thing as change at all, and argued that everything that exists is permanentindestructible and unchanging. This might sound like an unlikely proposition, but Parmenides 's challenge was well-argued and was important in encouraging other philosophers to come up with convincing counter-arguments. Zeno of Elea was a student of Parmenidesand is best known for his famous paradoxes of motion the best known of which is that of the Achilles and the Harewhich helped to lay the foundations for the study of . However, Zeno 's underlying intention was really to show, like Parmenides before him, that all in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion. Although these ideas might seem to us rather simplistic and unconvincing today, we should bear in that, at this time, there was really no scientific whatsoever, and even the commonest of phenomena e. Their attempts were therefore important first An Outline of Philosophy in the development of philosophical thought. They also set the stage for two other important Pre-Socratic philosophers: Empedocleswho combined their ideas into the theory of the four classical elements earth, air, fire and waterwhich became the standard dogma for much of the next two thousand years; and Democrituswho developed the extremely influential idea of that all of is actually composed of tinyindivisible and indestructible building blocks known as atomswhich form different combinations and shapes within the surrounding void. Another early and very influential Greek philosopher was Pythagoraswho led a rather bizarre An Outline of Philosophy sect and essentially believed that all An Outline of Philosophy reality was governed by numbersand that its could be encountered through the study of mathematics. Philosophy really took off, though, with Socrates and in the 5th - 4th Century B. Unlike most of the Pre-Socratic philosophers before him, Socrates was more concerned with how people should behaveand so was perhaps the first major philosopher of . He developed a system of critical reasoning in order to work out how to live properly and to tell the between right and wrong. An Outline of Philosophy system, sometimes referred to as the Socratic Methodwas to break problems down into a series of questionsthe answers to which would gradually distill a solution. Although he was careful to claim not to have An Outline of Philosophy the answers himself, his constant questioning made him many enemies among the authorities of Athens who eventually had him put to death. Socrates himself never wrote anything down, and what we know of his views comes from the "Dialogues" of his student Platoperhaps the best knownmost widely studied and most influential philosopher of all time. In his writings, Plato blended EthicsMetaphysicsPolitical Philosophy and the theory of knowledge and how we can acquire it into an interconnected and An Outline of Philosophy philosophy. He provided the first real opposition to the of the Pre-Socraticsand he developed doctrines such as Platonic RealismEssentialism and Idealismincluding his important and famous theory of Forms and universals he believed that the world we perceive around us is composed of mere representations or instances of the pure ideal Forms, which had their own elsewhere, an idea known as . Plato believed that was a kind of knowledge the knowledge of good and evil that we An Outline of Philosophy in order to reach the ultimate goodwhich is the aim of all human desires and actions a theory known as An Outline of Philosophy. Plato 's was developed mainly in his famous An Outline of Philosophywhere he describes an ideal though rather grim and anti- democratic society composed of Workers and Warriorsruled over by wise Philosopher Kings. The third in the main trio of classical philosophers was Plato 's student Aristotle. He created an even more comprehensive system of philosophy than Platoencompassing EthicsAestheticsPoliticsMetaphysicsLogic and scienceand his work influenced almost all later An Outline of Philosophy thinking, particularly those of the Medieval period. Aristotle 's system of deductive Logicwith its emphasis on the syllogism where a conclusion, or synthesisis inferred from two other premises, the thesis and An Outline of Philosophyremained the dominant form of Logic until the 19th Century. Unlike PlatoAristotle held that Form and Matter were inseparableand cannot exist apart from each other. Although he too believed in An Outline of Philosophy kind of EudaimonismAristotle realized that Ethics is a complex concept and that we cannot always control our own moral environment. He thought that happiness could best be achieved by living a balanced life and avoiding excess by pursuing a golden mean in everything similar to his formula for political stability through steering a middle course between tyranny and democracy. In the philosophical cauldron of Ancient Greecethough as well as the Hellenistic and Roman civilizations which followed it over the next few centuriesseveral other schools or movements also held sway, in An Outline of Philosophy to and :. After about the 4th or 5th Century A. This period also saw the establishment of the first universitieswhich was an important factor in the subsequent development of philosophy. Avicenna tried to reconcile the rational philosophy of Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism with Islamic theologyand also developed his own system of Logicknown as Avicennian Logic. He also introduced the concept of the "tabula rasa" the idea that humans are born with no innate or built-in mental contentwhich strongly influenced later Empiricists like John Locke. The Jewish philosopher Maimonides also attempted the same reconciliation of Aristotle with the Hebrew scriptures around the same time. The Medieval Christian philosophers were all part of a movement called which tried to combine LogicMetaphysicsEpistemology and semantics the theory of An Outline of Philosophy into one discipline, and to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers particularly Aristotle with Christian theology. The Scholastic method was to thoroughly and critically read the works of renowned scholars, note down any disagreements and points of contentionand then resolve them by the use of formal Logic and analysis of language. Scholasticism in general is often criticized for spending too much time discussing infinitesimal and pedantic details like how many angels could dance on the tip of a needle, etc. Anselm best known as the originator of the Ontological Argument for the by abstract reasoning alone is often regarded as the first of the Scholasticsand St. Thomas Aquinas known for his five rational proofs for the existence of God, and his definition of the cardinal and the theological virtues is generally considered the greatestand certainly had the greatest influence on the theology of the Catholic Church. Each contributed slight variations to the same general beliefs - Abelard introduced the doctrine of limbo for unbaptized babies; Scotus rejected the distinction between essence and existence that Aquinas had insisted on; Ockham introduced the important methodological principle known as Ockham's Razorthat one should not multiply arguments beyond the necessary; etc. Roger Bacon was something of an exception, and actually criticized the prevailing Scholastic system, based as it was on tradition and scriptural authority. He is sometimes credited as one of the earliest European advocates of the theory that An Outline of Philosophy origin of all knowledge is sense and of the modern scientific method. The revival of classical civilization and learning in the 15th and 16th Century known as the Renaissance brought the Medieval period to a close. It was marked by a movement away from and medieval Scholasticism and towards the belief that humans can solve their own problems through reliance on and the scientific method and a new sense of critical inquiry. Among the major philosophical figures of the Renaissance were: Erasmus who attacked many of the traditions of the Catholic Church and popular superstitions, and became the intellectual father of the European Reformation ; Machiavelli whose cynical and devious Political Philosophy has become notorious ; Thomas More the Christian Humanist whose book "Utopia" influenced generations of politicians and planners and even the early development of Socialist ideas ; and Francis Bacon whose empiricist belief that requires evidence from the real worldand whose application of inductive reasoning - generalizations based on individual instances - were both influential in An Outline of Philosophy development of modern scientific methodology. The Age of Reason of the 17th Century and An Outline of Philosophy Age of Enlightenment of the 18th Century very roughly speakingalong with the advances in sciencethe growth of religious tolerance and the rise of which went with them, mark the real beginnings of . In large part, the period can be seen as an ongoing battle between two opposing doctrinesRationalism the belief that all knowledge arises from intellectual and deductive reasonrather than from the senses and Empiricism the belief that the origin of all knowledge is sense experience. His method known as methodological skepticismalthough its aim was actually to dispel and arrive at certain knowledgewas to shuck off everything about which there could be even a An Outline of Philosophy of doubt including the unreliable senseseven his own body which could be merely an illusion to arrive at the single indubitable principle that he possessed and was able to think "I think, therefore I am". He then argued rather unsatisfactorily, some would say that our of the world around us must be created for us by God. An Outline of Philosophy saw the human body as a kind of machine that follows the mechanical laws of physics, while the mind or consciousness was a quite separate entitynot subject to the laws of physics, which is only able to influence the body and deal with the outside world by a kind of mysterious two-way interaction. This idea, known as Dualism or, more specifically, Cartesian Dualismset the agenda for philosophical discussion of the "mind-body problem" for centuries after. Despite Descartes ' innovation and boldness, he was a product of his times and never abandoned the traditional idea of a Godwhich he saw as the one true substance from which everything else was made. The second great figure of was the Dutchman Baruch Spinozaalthough his conception of the world was quite different from that of Descartes. He built up An Outline of Philosophy strikingly original self-contained metaphysical system in which he rejected Descartes ' An Outline of Philosophy in favor of a kind of where mind and body were just two different aspects of a single underlying substance which An Outline of Philosophy be called Nature and which he also equated with a God of infinitely many attributes, effectively a kind of . Spinoza was a thoroughgoing Determinist who believed that absolutely everything even human behavior occurs through the operation of necessityleaving absolutely no room for free and spontaneity. He also took the Moral Relativist position that nothing can be in itself either good or bad, except to the extent that it is subjectively perceived to be so by the individual and, anyway, in an ordered deterministic world, the very concepts of Good and Evil can have little or no absolute meaning. The third great Rationalist was the German Gottfried Leibniz. In order to overcome what he saw An Outline of Philosophy drawbacks and inconsistencies in the theories of Descartes and Spinozahe devised a rather eccentric metaphysical theory of monads operating according to a pre- established divine harmony. According to Leibniz 's theory, the real world is actually composed of eternal, non-material and mutually-independent elements he called monadsand the material world that we see and touch is actually just phenomena appearances or by-products of the underlying real world. The apparent harmony prevailing among monads arises because of the will of God the supreme monad who arranges everything in the world in a deterministic manner. Leibniz also saw this as overcoming the problematic interaction between mind and matter arising in Descartes ' system, and he declared that this must be the best possible worldsimply because it was created and determined by a perfect God. He is also considered perhaps the most important logician between Aristotle and the midth Century developments in modern formal Logic. Another An Outline of Philosophy 17th Century French Rationalist although perhaps of the second order was Nicolas Malebranchewho was a follower of Descartes in that he believed that humans attain knowledge through ideas or immaterial An Outline of Philosophy in the mind. However, Malebranche argued more or less following St. Augustine that all ideas actually exist only in Godand that God was the only active power. Thus, he believed that what appears to be "interaction" between body and mind is actually caused by Godbut in such a way that similar movements in the body An Outline of Philosophy "occasion" similar ideas in the mind, an idea An Outline of Philosophy called Occasionalism. In opposition to the continental European Rationalism movement was the equally loose movement of British Empiricismwhich was also represented by three main proponents. The first of the British Empiricists was John Locke. He argued that all of our ideas, whether simple or complex, are ultimately derived from experienceAn Outline of Philosophy that the knowledge of which we are capable is therefore severely limited both in its scope and in its a kind of modified Skepticismespecially given that the real inner natures of things derive from what he called their primary qualities which we can never experience and so never know. Lockelike Avicenna before him, believed that the mind was a tabula rasa or blank slate and that people are born without innate ideasalthough he did believe that humans have absolute natural rights which are inherent in the nature of Ethics. Along with Hobbes and Rousseauhe was one of the originators of Contractarianism or Theorywhich formed the theoretical underpinning for democracyrepublicanismLiberalism and Libertarianismand his political views influenced both the American and French Revolutions. The next of the British Empiricists chronologically was Bishop George Berkeleyalthough his Empiricism was of a much more radical kind, mixed with a twist of . Using dense but cogent arguments, he developed the rather counter-intuitive system known as Immaterialism or sometimes as Subjective Idealismwhich held that underlying reality consists exclusively of and their ideasand that individuals can only directly know these ideas or although not the objects themselves through experience. Thus, according to Berkeley 's theory, an object only really exists if someone is there to see or sense it "to be is to be perceived"although, he added, the infinite mind of God perceives everything all the time, and so in this respect the objects continue to exist. The third, An Outline of Philosophy perhaps greatestof the British Empiricists was . He believed strongly that human experience is as close are we are ever going to get to the truthand that experience and observation must be the foundations of any logical argument. Hume argued that, although we may form beliefs and make inductive about things outside our experience by means of instinct, imagination and customthey cannot be conclusively established by reason and we should not make any claims to certain knowledge An Outline of Philosophy them a hard-line attitude verging on An Outline of Philosophy Skepticism. Although he never openly declared himself an atheisthe found the idea of a God effectively nonsensicalgiven that there is no way of arriving at the idea through sensory data. He attacked many of the basic assumptions of religionand gave many of the classic An Outline of Philosophy of some of the arguments for the existence of God particularly the teleological argument. In his Political PhilosophyHume stressed the importance of moderationand his work contains elements of An Outline of Philosophy and Liberalism. Among the "non-aligned" philosophers of the period many of whom were most active in the area of Political Philosophy were the following:. Towards the end of the Age of Enlightenmentthe German philosopher caused another paradigm shift as An Outline of Philosophy as that of Descartes years earlier, and in many ways this marks the shift to Modern An Outline of Philosophy. He sought to move philosophy beyond the debate between Rationalism and Empiricismand he attempted to combine those two apparently contradictory doctrines into one overarching system. A whole movement developed in the wake of his work, and most of An Outline of Philosophy subsequent history of philosophy can be seen as responsesin one way or another, to his ideas. Kant showed that Empiricism and Rationalism could be combined and that statements were possible that were both synthetic a posteriori knowledge from experience alone, as in Empiricism but also a priori from reason alone, as in Rationalism. Thus, without the senses An Outline of Philosophy could not become aware of any object, but without understanding and reason we could not form any conception of it. However, our senses can only tell us about the appearance of a An Outline of Philosophy phenomenon and not the "thing-in-itself" noumenonwhich Kant believed was essentially unknowablealthough we have certain innate predispositions as to what exists . Kant 's major contribution to Ethics was the theory of the Categorical Imperativethat we should act only in such a way that we would want our actions to become a universal law An Outline of Philosophy, applicable to everyone in a similar situation and that we should treat other individuals as ends in themselvesnot as mere means Moral Absolutismeven if that means sacrificing the greater good. Kant believed that any attempts to prove God's existence are just a waste of timebecause our concepts only work properly in the empirical world which God is above and beyondalthough he also An Outline of Philosophy that it was not irrational to believe in something that clearly cannot be proven either way . In the Modern period, Kantianism gave rise to the German Idealistseach of whom had their own interpretations of Kant 's ideas. Fichte 's later Political Philosophy also contributed to the rise of German Nationalism. Friedrich Schelling developed a unique form of Idealism known as Aesthetic Idealism in which he argued that only art was able to harmonize and sublimate the contradictions between subjectivity and , freedom and necessity, etcand also tried to establish a connection or An Outline of Philosophy between his conceptions of nature and spirit. Arthur Schopenhauer is also usually considered part of the and movements, although his philosophy was very singular. He was a thorough-going pessimist who believed that the "will-to-life" the drive to survive and to reproduce was the underlying driving force of the world, and that the pursuit of happiness, An Outline of Philosophy and intellectual satisfaction was very much secondary and essentially futile. He saw art and other artistic, moral and ascetic forms of awareness as the only way to overcome the fundamentally frustration-filled and painful human condition. The greatest and most influential of the German Idealists An Outline of Philosophy, though, was Georg Hegel. An Outline of Philosophy by

Philosophy — study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Other than the core areas, there are several fields of studied formally within philosophy. They are:. Wikimedia Foundation. Topic outline of philosophy — Philosophy is an ongoing discussion about knowledge ; it is a broad field of inquiry in which the definition of knowledge itself is one of the subjects investigated. Outline of ethics — See also: Index of ethics articles The following outline An Outline of Philosophy provided as an overview of and topical guide to ethics: Ethics — major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. — is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science. The An Outline of Philosophy is defined by an interest in one of a set of traditional problems or an interest in central or foundational concerns in science. Outline of geography — See also: Index of geography articles The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geography: Geography — science An Outline of Philosophy studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Outline of science — The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical An Outline of Philosophy to science: Science — in the broadest sense refers to any system of objective knowledge. Philosophy of mathematics — The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. Outline of logic — The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to logic: Logic — formal science of using reason, considered a branch of both philosophy and mathematics. We are using cookies for the best presentation of our site. Continuing to use this site, you agree with this. For other uses, see Philosophy disambiguation. Main article: History of philosophy. Main article: . Main articles: An Outline of Philosophy and Outline of . Main article: . Main article: . Main article: . These problems are concerned with the nature of existence, knowledge, , reason and human purpose. Honderich ed. Each of the three elements in this list has a non- philosophical counterpart, from which it is distinguished by its explicitly rational and critical way of proceeding and by its systematic nature. Everyone has some general conception of the nature of the world in which they live and of their place in it. replaces the unargued assumptions embodied in such a conception with a rational and organized body of beliefs about the world as a whole. Everyone has occasion to doubt and question beliefs, their own or those of others, with more or less success and without any theory of what they are doing. Epistemology seeks by argument to make explicit the rules of correct belief formation. Everyone governs their conduct by directing it to desired or valued ends. Ethics, or moral philosophy, in its most inclusive sense, seeks to articulate, in rationally systematic form, the rules or principles involved. General reference Culture and the arts Geography and places Health and fitness History and events Mathematics and logic Natural and physical sciences People and self Philosophy and thinking Religion and belief systems Society and social sciences Technology and applied sciences. Categories: Outlines Philosophy-related lists. An Outline of Philosophy and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet. Contents 1 An Outline of Philosophy areas of philosophy 2 Major fields of philosophy 3 History of philosophy 3. Philosophy Paper Outline: Example And Writing Tips -

Philosophy is complicated stuff. But what follows is your introduction, a rapid-fire look at 20 Major Philosophers, their Big Ideas, and their An Outline of Philosophy important written works. But think fast, because these mindblowers come at a furious pace. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, theologian and Doctor of the Church, born in what is known today as the Lazio region of Italy. His most important contribution to Western thought is the concept of natural theology sometimes referred to as in tribute to his influence. This belief system holds that the existence of God is verified through reason and rational explanation, as opposed to through scripture or religious experience. This ontological approach is among the central premises underpinning modern Catholic philosophy and liturgy. His writings, and Aquinas himself, An Outline of Philosophy still considered among the preeminent models for Catholic priesthood. His ideas also remain central to theological debate, discourse, and modes of worship. In addition to a philosopher, Aristotle was also a scientist, which led him to consider an enormous array of topics, and largely through the view that all concepts and knowledge are ultimately based on perception. This position of influence gave Aristotle the means to establish the library at Lyceum, where he produced hundreds of writings on papyrus scrolls. And of course, it also gave him direct sway over the mind of a man who would one day command an empire stretching from Greece to northwestern India. Chinese teacher, writer, and philosopher viewed himself as a channel for the theological ideas and values of the imperial dynasties that came before him. With an emphasis on family and social harmony, Confucius advocated for a way An Outline of Philosophy life that reflected a spiritual and religious tradition, but which was also distinctly humanist and even secularist. As Buddhism became the dominant spiritual force An Outline of Philosophy China, declined in practice. However, it remains a foundational philosophy underlying Asian and Chinese attitudes toward scholarly, legal, and professional pursuits. A French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, Descartes was born in France but spent 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic. As a member of the Dutch States Army, then as the Prince of Orange and subsequently as Stadtholder a position of national leadership in the Dutch RepublicDescartes wielded considerable intellectual influence over the period known as the Dutch Golden Age. He often distinguished himself by An Outline of Philosophy or attempting to undo the ideas of those that came before him. A Boston-born writer, philosopher, and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson is the father An Outline of Philosophy the transcendentalist movement. He was also seen as a key figure in the American romantic movement. Historian, social theorist, and philosopher Michel Foucault, born in the riverfront city of Poiltiers, France, dedicated much of his An Outline of Philosophy and writing to the examination of power and knowledge and their connection to social control. Though often identified as a postmodernist, Foucault preferred to think of himself as a critic of . His service as an international diplomat on behalf of France also influenced his understanding of social constructs throughout history and how they have served to enforce racial, religious, and sexual inequality. His ideals have been particularly embraced by progressive movements, and he allied with many during his lifetime. Active in movements against racism, human rights abuses, prisoner abuses, and marginalization of the mentally ill, he is often cited as a major influence in movements for social , human rights, and feminism. More broadly speaking, his examination of power and social control An Outline of Philosophy had a direct influence on the studies of sociology, communications, and political science. In contrast to rationalists such as Descartes, Hume was preoccupied with the way that passions as opposed to reason govern human behavior. This, Hume argued, predisposed human to knowledge founded not on the existence of certain absolutes but on personal experience. As a consequence of these ideas, Hume would be among the first major thinkers to refute dogmatic religious and moral ideals in favor of a more sentimentalist approach to human nature. His belief system would help to inform the future movements of and logical , and would have a profound impact on scientific and theological discourse thereafter. Prussian-born and therefore identified as a German philosopherKant is considered among the most essential figures in modern philosophy, an advocate of reason as the source for morality, and a thinker whose ideas continue to permeate ethical, epistemological, and political debate. What perhaps most distinguishes Kant is his innate desire to find a synthesis between rationalists like Descartes and empiricists like Hume, to decipher a middle ground that defers to human experience without descending into skepticism. To his own way of thinking, Kant was pointing a way forward by resolving a central philosophical impasse. A Danish theologian, social critic, and philosopher, Kierkegaard is viewed by many as the most important existentialist philosopher. His work dealt largely with the idea of the single individual. His thinking tended to prioritize concrete An Outline of Philosophy over abstract thought. Within this construct, he viewed personal choice and commitment as preeminent. This orientation played a major part in his theology as well. This proliferation was a major force in helping take root in the 20th century. First described the concept of angst, defining it as a dread the comes from anxieties over choice, freedom, and ambiguous feelings. Viewed as a divine figure in traditional Chinese , his ideas and writings would form one of the An Outline of Philosophy pillars alongside Confucius and the Buddha for Eastern thought. As such, is equally rooted in religion and philosophy. In traditional telling, though Lao-Tzu never opened a formal school, he worked as an archivist for the royal court of Zhou Dynasty. This gave him access to an extensive body of writing and artifacts, which he synthesized into his own poetry and prose. As a result of his writing, his influence spread widely during his lifetime. In fact, one version of his biography implies he may well have been a direct An Outline of Philosophy to the Buddha or, in some versions, was the Buddha himself. There are lot of colorful narratives surrounding Lao-Tzu, some of which are almost certainly . In fact, there are some historians who even question whether or not Lao-Tzu was a real person. Historical accounts differ on who he was, exactly when he lived and which works he contributed to the canon of Taoism. An Outline of Philosophy, in most traditional tellings, Lao-Tzu was the living embodiment of the philosophy known as Taoism and author of its primary text, the Tao Te Ching. An English physicist and philosopher, John Locke was a prominent thinker during the Enlightenment period. Part of the movement of British Empiricism alongside fellow countrymen David Hume, Thomas Hobbes, and Sir Francis Bacon, Locke is regarded as an important contributor to the development of the social contract theory and is sometimes identified as the father of liberalism. Indeed, his discourses on identity, the self, and the impact of sensory experience would be essential revelations to many Enlightenment thinkers and, consequently, to real revolutionaries. A writer, public office-holder, and philosopher of Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli both participated in and wrote prominently on political matters, to the extent that he has even been identified by some as the father of modern political science. Machiavelli An Outline of Philosophy an empiricist who used An Outline of Philosophy and historical fact to inform his beliefs, a disposition which allowed him to divorce politics not just from theology but from morality as well. His most prominent works described the parameters of effective rulership, in which he seems to advocate for leadership by any means which retain power, including deceit, murder, and oppression. A German-born economist, political theorist, and philosopher, Karl Marx wrote some of the most revolutionary philosophical content ever produced. Indeed, so pertinent was his writing to the human condition during his lifetime, he was exiled from his native country. This would, however, also make it possible for his most important ideas to find a popular audience. Together, they devised an assessment of class, society, and power dynamics that revealed deep inequalities, An Outline of Philosophy exposed the economic prerogatives for state-sponsored violence, oppression, and war. Marx predicted that the inequalities and violence inherent in capitalism would ultimately lead to its collapse. From its ashes would rise a new socialist system, a classless society where all participants as opposed An Outline of Philosophy just wealthy private owners have access to the means for production. The philosophy underlying Marxism, and his revolutionary fervor, would ripple throughout the world, ultimately transforming entire spheres of thought in places like Soviet Russia, Eastern Europe, and Red China. In many ways, Karl Marx presided over a philosophical revolution that continues in the present day in myriad forms of , , socialized democracy, and grassroots political organization. British economist, public servant, and philosopher John Stuart Mill is considered a linchpin of modern social and political theory. He contributed a critical body of work to the school of thought called liberalism, an ideology founding on the extension of individual liberties and economic freedoms. As such, Mill himself advocated strongly for the preserving of individual rights and called for limitations to the power An Outline of Philosophy authority of the state over the individual. Mill was also a proponent of utilitarianism, which holds that the An Outline of Philosophy action is one that maximizes utility, or stated more simply, one that provide the greatest benefit to all. For his own part, as a member of Parliament, Mill became the first office-holding Briton to advocate for the right of women to vote. was a poet, cultural critic, An Outline of Philosophy philosopher, as well as possessor of among the most gifted minds in human history. Writing on an enormous breadth of subjects, from history, religion and science to art, culture and the tragedies of Greek and Roman Antiquity, Nietzsche wrote with savage wit and a love of irony. He used these forces to pen deconstructive examinations of truth, Christian morality, and the impact of social constructs on our formulation of moral values. This idea in particular would remain an important component of the existentialist An Outline of Philosophy surrealist movements that followed. Greek philosopher and teacher Plato did nothing less than found the first institution of higher learning in the Western World, establishing the Academy of Athens and cementing his own status An Outline of Philosophy the most important figure in the development of western philosophical tradition. As the pupil of Socrates and the mentor to An Outline of Philosophy, Plato is the connecting figure in what might be termed the great triumvirate of Greek thought in both philosophy and science. Often, in his dialogues, he employed his mentor Socrates as the vessel for his own thoughts and ideas. While he was not An Outline of Philosophy first individual to partake of the activity of philosophy, he was perhaps the first to truly define what it meant, to articulate its purpose, and to reveal how it could be applied with scientific rigor. This orientation provided a newly concreted framework for considering questions of ethics, politics, knowledge, and theology. Born in Geneva, then a city-state in the Swiss Confederacy, Rousseau would be one of the most consequential thinkers of the Enlightenment era. His ideas on human morality, inequality, and most importantly, on the right to rule, would have an enormous and definable impact not just on thinking in Europe, but on the actual power dynamics within Western Civilization. Indeed, his most important works would identify personal property as the root to inequality and would refute the premise that monarchies are divinely appointed to rule. Rousseau proposed the An Outline of Philosophy idea that only the people have a true right to rule. These ideas fomented the French Revolution, and more broadly, helped bring an end to a centuries-old entanglement between Church, Crown, and Country. Rousseau may be credited for providing a basic framework for classical republicanism, a form of government centered around the ideas of civil society, citizenship, and mixed governance. A French novelist, activist, and philosopher, Sartre was a leading exponent of the 20th century existentialist movement as well as a vocal proponent of Marxism and socialism. He advocated for resistance to oppressive social constructs and argued for the importance of achieving an authentic way of being. His writing coincided with, An Outline of Philosophy contrasted, the sweep of fascism through An Outline of Philosophy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, and the spread of Nazism. Sartre became active in the socialist resistance, which aimed its activities at French Nazi collaborators. Of note, one of his activist collaborators was both a romantic partner and a fellow major cohort of existentialism, Simone de Beauvoir. In fact, his involvement earned Sartre two near-miss bomb attacks at the hands of French paramilitary forces. Also notable, Sartre was supportive of the Soviet Union throughout his lifetime. A necessary inclusion by virtue of his role as, essentially, the founder of Western Philosophy, Socrates is nonetheless unique among entrants on this list for having produced no written works reflecting his key ideas or principles. Thus, the body of his thoughts and ideas is left to be deciphered through the works of his two most prominent students, Plato and Xenophon, as well as to the legions of historians and critics who have written on him since. And because Socrates is best known as a teacher of thought and insight, it is perhaps appropriate that his most widely recognized contribution is a way of approaching education that remains fundamentally relevant even today. The so-called , which involves the use of of questioning and discourse to promote open dialogue on complex topics and to lead pupils to their own insights, is on particular display in the Platonic dialogues. His inquisitive approach also positioned him as a central social and moral critic of the Athenian leadership, which ultimately led to his trial and execution for corrupting the minds of young Athenians. He lived a life of eccentricity and professional nomadism, dabbling in academia, military service, education, and even as a hospital orderly. Moreover, during his life, he wrote voluminously but published only a single manuscript.