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Who Were The Great Philosophers?
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philosophy is fundamental to everyone on
some level we all philosophize because
it is in our nature to ponder the
meaning of our lives and the world
around us the process of meaningful
thought allows us to question things
develop ideas and ultimately progress as
a society this is represented in the
Greek word for philosophy philosophia
which translates to love for wisdom for
thousands of years some of the greatest
philosophers have contributed thoughts
and insights that have influenced
developments in science learn
governments societies Human
Relationships there have been so many
notable philosophers over the years but
who are the truly great philosophers the
thinkers whose ideas provoked change and
opened up completely new possibilities
the first records of the most
influential philosophers go all the way
back to ancient Greece and China in
ancient Greece Socrates is considered to
be one of the most important
philosophers in history as his ideas
laid the foundation for Western
philosophy similarly in China the
teachings of confucious laid the
foundation for Eastern philosophy in
fact he was so influential that many
regard Confucianism as both a religion
and a philosophy let's take a look at
both and then work our way forward
Socrates was born in 469 B.C while he
didn't write down any of his ideas his
followers and students took note of his
speeches before publishing them and
spreading the word socrates's philosophy
was based on the pursuit of an ethical
and moral life he was particularly
interested in how to best live one's
life he believed that in order to live a
good life one has how to develop moral
virtues such as Justice courage and
wisdom Socrates was especially focused
on the acquisition of knowledge as he
believed that through wisdom came true
virtue these ideas were massive
Inspirations for his followers one of
whom was also able to become one of the
great philosophers as well Plato but
we'll come back to him later confucious
lived from 551 to 479 bcee and his
philosophy still shapes much of the
culture in East Asian countries
including China Taiwan Korea Japan and
Vietnam however many of his ideas are
applicable to any society for confucious
was dedicated to the pursuit of living a
virtuous life not unlike Socrates
confusious was focused on people
becoming their best possible selves
while also living harmoniously with
others his disciples and students wrote
down his musings on how to build good
character and they've been a Mainstay of
several cultures ever since perhaps the
foundation of confucius's teachings is
the classic notion that we should not do
unto others what you would not want
others to do to you he also believed
that education was the key to developing
wisdom which in turn led to Virtue if a
person was virtuous that would enhance
social harmony which was Paramount in
his ideas the concept of harmonious
group is one that is Central to many
East Asian cultures where the
Cooperative group is considered more
important than the individual getting
back to Greece Plato lived from 428 to
347 BCE and is regarded as the father of
Western philosophy he was a prolific
writer and wrote many detail essays on a
broad range of topics from government
and education to reality truth and
nature Plato was especially interested
in the theory of reality which he wrote
about extensively in his most famous
book The Republic in it he reasons that
the physical world is not actually the
real world and instead our Ultimate
Reality exists beyond our physical world
another theme that gripped play though
was the concept of everyone having to
balance their moral Soul he thought that
each person had the power to determine
right from wrong in order to become
truly morally centered humans Plato was
opposed to the Greek style of democracy
and argued for a more inclusive Society
where every person works for the whole
of society this included a greater
sharing of wealth and increased status
of women following in the steps of
Socrates and Plato came arguably the
greatest philosopher of them all
Aristotle Aristotle lived from 384 to
322 BCE and his ideas and his theories
have helped to shape future
civilizations right up until the present
day to say he was a prolific thinker is
a bit of an understatement Aristotle
contributed groundbreaking insights into
the fields as diverse as metaphysics
ethics Logic the Mind science moral
philosophy moral psychology political
philosophy and Aesthetics he was also
the first true empirical scientist that
we know of he recognized and introduced
these specific scientific Fields biology
chemistry botony physics embryology
zoology after distinguishing these
different fields Aristotle then
performed a comprehensive studies and
documentation work that is still
relevant today in 350 CE in Alexandria
Egypt one of the world's first brilliant
mathematicians was born she was hpaa
daughter of the famed Egyptian
philosopher Theon HIPAA lived in a time
when the woman's role in society was
decidedly minor yet she overcame these
prejudices to establish herself as one
of the greatest minds of her time HIPAA
was a revered public speaker a
mathematician an astronomer a teacher
she taught the principles of mathematics
and astronomy and introduced the
astrolabe which was used help ships
navigate she wrote algebraic formulas
broke down mathematic basics for the
masses and developed devices used for
measuring fluids as we enter the Middle
Ages St Augustine of Hippo and his
theological philosophy shaped the path
for much of medieval and modern
Christian beliefs St Augustine was born
in 354 CE in what is now Algeria he
traveled and wrote extensively about a
wide range of topics ranging from Evil
versus good the pursuit of wisdom God
and creation and the workings of the
Mind Augustine firmly believed that a
true philosopher is a lover of God
because true wisdom is aligned with God
like some of the great philosophers
before him Augustine also taught the
importance of creating unity and peace
in society he wrote that by
understanding God people could acquire
the wisdom needed to create what he
called a social love while a large
amount of Augustine's philosophy was
centered around the human relationship
with God he was also fascinated with the
workings of the body and the mind this
was very much the focus of another of
the great philosophers Renee deart deart
was born in France in 1596 and he's
often been credited as the father of
modern philosophy one of his major
teachings was known as Mind Body dualism
this explored the notion that the human
mind and body are completely distinct
from each other deart saw the Mind as a
thinking thing that was an immaterial
matter there was a separate entity to
the physical being or the body he then
argued that the two could theoretically
exist without each other theart was also
fascinated with the notion of
discovering real truth that is truth
without any doubt he concluded that if
he was aware of his own thoughts then
there was no doubt of his existence this
Theory led to one of philosophy's most
famous and quoted quotes I think
therefore I am in the 17th century John
lck established himself as one of the
most influential political philosophers
of the modern era the English
philosopher helped pave the way for
liberalism with his famous writing the
two treatises of government in this he
disputed the claim that all people are
subjects to a monarch and that every
person has the right to life liberty and
property lock was a strong proponent of
limited government he conceived that
while some of you know some form of
government was necessary everyone was
entitled to a stable and comfortable
life without too much government
intervention Lock's views on a system of
Liberty for the people strongly influen
the founding Charter of the United
States and other democracies Emanuel
Kant lived from 1724 to 1804 and was
another of the great modern philosophers
one of kant's major beliefs was of human
autonomy he reasoned that human
understanding comes from the laws of
nature which lead to all of our
experiences and perceptions of the world
K went on to explain that scientific
knowledge morality and religious belief
are all sound because they're based on
human autonomy Friedrich nche was a 19th
century German philosopher who was also
interested in the concept of morality
nche famously wrote that God is dead
arguing that the development of Science
and Technology was killing Christianity
in one of his most well-known books
Beyond Good and Evil he proposes that
the morality that we know and live by is
no longer relevant in the modern world
as we move into the modern
Simon deor is surely one of the most
influential thinkers of the 20th century
and I might have butchered the name but
we're going to roll past that born in
France in 1908 they were a novelist
feminist activist prolifically on a
person's absolute freedom of choice and
the responsibility and consequences that
come with it she emphasized the
importance of choice being derived from
Individual spontaneity not outside
forces finally no mention of great
philosophers would be complete without
ludvig wienstein V Stein claimed that
the structure of language mirrors the
structure of reality he saw language as
a form of life he was fascinated with
how language is used and how it
represents the world around us he
thought that people reflect the world
they know through their language saying
the limits of my language means the
limits of my world these are just some
of the world's great philosophers there
have been and will continue to be many
more could be you too their theories and
ideas have significantly helped to shape
the world that we live in today it's
exciting to imagine how the philosophers
and think ERS of the future might
continue to ask questions offer insights
and change the way we see the world around
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