Knowra Western philosophy Western philosophy Western philosophy is a tradition of inquiry originating in ancient Greece and developing across Europe and the Americas. It encompasses diverse approaches to knowledge, reality, ethics, and society.
Pre-Socratic philosophy : Early Greek philosophy before Socrates, marked by natural explanations of the cosmos and its underlying principles. Its thinkers established the tradition’s earliest questions about nature, change, and first principles.
Metaphysics : The branch of philosophy that investigates the fundamental nature of reality, existence, and possibility. Questions about what exists and what reality is have recurred from antiquity to contemporary philosophy.
Rationalism : The view that reason can provide substantial knowledge independently of, or prior to, sensory experience. Its confidence in reason shaped early modern debates about the foundations of knowledge.
Scientific Revolution : A period of major changes in European astronomy, physics, and natural inquiry from the sixteenth through seventeenth centuries. New sciences transformed philosophical accounts of nature, evidence, and the limits of human knowledge.
Islamic philosophy : Philosophical inquiry developed in Islamic societies, drawing on Greek thought and engaging theology, science, and metaphysics. Arabic translations and commentaries helped preserve and transmit Greek philosophy into medieval Europe.
Socrates : An Athenian philosopher whose questioning method and trial shaped the direction of ancient philosophy. His practice of examining beliefs made ethical inquiry central to the tradition.
Epistemology : The branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge, justification, evidence, and the limits of belief. Debates over how beliefs can be justified drive major disputes across the tradition.
Empiricism : The view that sensory experience is the primary source or test of knowledge about the world. Its emphasis on experience challenged rationalist accounts of innate ideas and certainty.
Enlightenment : An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, criticism, and reform that influenced Europe and the Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its arguments about autonomy and political legitimacy reshaped modern societies.
Jewish philosophy : Philosophical inquiry within Jewish intellectual traditions, engaging questions of God, law, ethics, and reason. Jewish thinkers participated in shared medieval debates with Islamic and Christian philosophers.
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