A Journey Through the History of Philosophy
Ancient Philosophy (4th-6th Century BC)
All 1st-century philosophers tried to find a single principle that would explain everything. Their main concern was nature. Representative thinkers of this period are Thales, Heraclitus, and Pythagoras. Socrates was one of the most influential philosophers of antiquity. He mainly focused on moral philosophical questions. Socrates left no written work; his thoughts are known thanks to the works of his disciples, such as Plato.
Aristotle was Plato’s pupil, although he later moved away from his doctrine. Both Plato and Aristotle dealt with matters such as appearance and reality, virtue, and city government.
Medieval Philosophy (4th-14th Century)
Religious faith became one of the central philosophical issues. The most representative thinkers were Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Simultaneously with Christian philosophy, Arab philosophy and science emerged. Their representative, Averroes, preserved Greek culture, translated it, and enriched it with new scientific notations and philosophical reflections. Maimonides should also be mentioned.
Modern Philosophy (17th-18th Century)
Two major philosophical currents:
- Rationalism: Considered that true knowledge arises and develops through reason, and its model is geometry. Its main representatives were Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza.
- Empiricism: Asserts that knowledge emerges from the senses and experience. Its supporters were Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.
One of the most important authors of this period is Kant.
Contemporary Philosophy (19th Century – Present)
In the 19th century, opposing currents appeared, such as idealism and positivism. Within idealism, the most prominent philosophers were Johann G. Fichte, Friedrich Schelling, and Georg W. F. Hegel. Positivism maintains that experience and sensory information are fundamental. One of its representatives is the Frenchman Auguste Comte. Authors such as Nietzsche also belong to this period.
In the 20th century, the mathematician and logician Bertrand Russell, the Austrian-German Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Edmund Husserl stood out. Logical positivism also emerged.
In Spain, the most important philosophers are Miguel de Unamuno, María Zambrano, Fernando Savater, and Victoria Camps.
Inductive Arguments
An inductive argument is one in which the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises. One case of induction is to make a generalization from individual events.
Fallacies
Fallacies are argumentative forms that are wrong or false. For this reason, they should not be used in a discussion, and they do not work to support the conclusions of the argumentation. Fallacies appear in all kinds of arguments, both inductive and deductive. Two types can be identified:
- Formal fallacies: These are those in which the form of the argument is invalid because true premises can lead to false conclusions. They are typical of deductive reasoning and can be discovered through truth tables.
- Material fallacies: These are fallacies in which the argument is ignored. The arguments on the table are not criticized, but the person is disqualified, feelings are appealed to, or a thesis that has not been presented is attacked.
Contemporary Atheism
In contemporary times, philosophers appeared who declared themselves atheists. Ludwig Feuerbach inverted the terms of ontology, according to which man had been a creation of God, and affirmed that God was a human creation, and that the idea of infinity is born from finite things. Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud are the “philosophers of suspicion.” Nietzsche proclaimed that “God is dead,” and for Freud, religion was the result of frustration and was nothing more than a “collective neurosis.”
The Current Worldview
Optimism and confidence led many scientists to believe that the time was near when there would be no relevant law left to discover. Nothing could be further from the truth. New branches of physics would completely transform our vision of the world, both for the microcosm and the macrocosm: the theory of relativity and quantum physics.
The Theory of Relativity
Space and time measurements depend on the speed at which an observer is moving. From this, it follows, shockingly to common sense, that time elapses differently for two observers traveling at different speeds.