Examples of Philosophical Thought

The philosophical thought is the one who wonders about the nature of things, and who tries to find the truth through the observation and analytical reflection. It is a way of thinking of very old dates in the history of humanity, often considered the initiator of all knowledge or, also, the mother of all sciences: the philosophy.

The origin of philosophical thought is too remote to know for sure, since it is even prior to the invention of writing. We know of ancient and important philosophers thanks to the written accounts of his disciples, as in the case of the Greek Socrates, of whom we know mainly thanks to his disciple Plato. Philosophical thought was distinguished at the time from mysticism and religion, hugging arguments rational and analytical.

The ancient Greeks were the most important exponents of philosophical thought in the West. In fact, the term "philosophy" is of Greek origin, and can be translated as "love of wisdom" (phylos, "love and sophos, “wisdom”). The great Greek philosophers of the Socratic tradition, Plato (427-347 B.C. C.) and Aristotle (384-322 a. C.), affirmed that the beginning of philosophical thought is astonishment: the astonished attitude of the human being before the complexity of the world around him, and the desire to know, understand and explain it using reason (and not faith).

Another essential element of philosophical thought is doubt: the possibility of doubting and asking questions that lead to investigation, reflection and obtaining of information. conclusions, or at least towards the best ways of thinking and mentally approaching a topic that is of human interest. The word is, in this sense, the fundamental tool of philosophical thought, for the expression of propositions, theorems, dilemmas and deductions. With all this, philosophy seeks to build a comprehensive and comprehensive vision of reality.

examples of philosophical thought

The great works and philosophical traditions throughout history have contributed to the construction of contemporary thought. Among them stand out:

1. The Socratic Tradition of Ancient Greece. Inaugurated by Socrates and continued by his disciples, it is one of the central philosophical traditions in Western history. Its importance is such that in the year 399 a. C., after the death of Socrates, numerous Socratic schools were founded: the Academy of Plato, the school Euclid's Megara school, the Cyrene school of Aristippus the hedonist, and the Cynic school of Antisthenes in Athens. Of this tradition, the names of Plato and Aristotle are fundamental.
2. ancient chinese philosophy. One of the oldest traditions of philosophical thought in the world (which began around the 13th century BC). C.) had its moment of splendor during its classic period, around the year 500 a. c. At that time its main schools proliferated: Russianism or Confucianism (founded by Confucius); Taoism (founded by Lao-Tsé and collected in his book Dao De Jing); Moism (founded by Mozi); legalism (founded by the administrator and philosopher Shen Buhai); and finally the so-called School of Names (emerged during the Warring States period).
3. The philosophical schools of ancient India. This tradition encompasses the set of philosophies and world views originating in ancient India, characterized by a strong mystical and religious component. His six main orthodox systems of thought were the sakhya (“the enumeration”), founded by the sage Kapila; the Yoga, whose key texts are the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali; the nyaya (“the rule” or “the method”), based in turn on the Nyaya Sutras; the Vaisheshika, founded by the philosopher Kanada; the mimamsa, created by Rishi Yamini; and the Vedanta ("end of the Vedas"). Most of these schools arose before or at the beginning of the Gupta Empire (320 AD). C).
4. The Jewish philosophical tradition. This Jewish philosophical tradition, intimately linked with its forms of mysticism and religiosity, emerged in Classical Antiquity, in times of the Roman Empire, and continued to be cultivated throughout the medieval In its beginnings it consisted of commentaries and readings of the Talmud and the Kabbalah, but later it produced a secular philosophical thought during the so-called Jewish enlightenment or haskala (from the 18th to the 19th century). Its main thinkers were Philo of Alexandria, Nahmanides, Maimonides and Ibn Gabirol.
5. christian philosophy. This tradition is deeply religious, typical of medieval European thought after the fall of the Roman Empire and the evangelization of subsequent kingdoms. For this reason, it has many detractors and has sometimes been controversial, but the importance of the legacy of different christian thinkers in the formation of modern thought western. Among them are fathers of the Church such as Augustine of Hippo, Saint Justin and Origen, medieval scholastics such as Saint Anselm, Hugo de San Víctor and Santo Tomás de Aquinas, or reformist thinkers such as Francisco de Vitoria or Juan Luis Vives, in the fifteenth century or XVI.
6. Renaissance humanism. This tradition of Western thought emerged during the fifteenth century and the European Renaissance, and has as its cradle the Italian cities of Florence, Rome and Venice. It was a return to the ancient classical tradition, after the end of the Christian Middle Ages, and consisted of the exaltation of human reason and the role of the human being in creation. Its main exponents were Francisco Petrarca, Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Bocaccio, Antonio de Nebrija, Tomás Moro, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Michel de Montaigne.

References:

• "Philosophy" in Wikipedia.
• "History of scientific-philosophical thought" by Vera Waksman in the University of La Plata (Argentina).
• "The importance of philosophical and scientific thought in the generation of knowledge" by Evelin Garnica Estrada in the LaSalle University (Mexico).
• "Philosophy" in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Follow with: