Here is a chronological list of all the dates, years, and events mentioned in Chapter One: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

Timeline of Key Dates and Events

6th Century BC

  • 620–546 BC: Thales of Miletus (first Greek philosopher; proposed water as the fundamental substance).
  • 611–547 BC: Anaximander (student of Thales; posited the boundless as the source of reality).
  • 582–500 BC: Pythagoras (first called “philosopher”; linked philosophy to disinterested wisdom).
  • 540–475 BC: Heraclitus (“Everything is in flux”; fire as the basic element).

5th Century BC

  • 500–430 BC: Empedocles (four-element theory: earth, air, fire, water).
  • 480 BC: Parmenides (reality is unchanging being).
  • 5th century BC: Rise of Sophists (teachers of rhetoric and ethics; relativistic views).
  • 469–399 BC: Socrates (dialectical method; “philosophy as midwifery”).

4th Century BC

  • 427–347 BC: Plato (idealist metaphysics; student of Socrates).
  • 384–322 BC: Aristotle (first philosophy/metaphysics; systematized logic, ethics, sciences).
  • 4th century BC:
  • Zeno of Citium (founded Stoicism: live in harmony with nature’s laws).
  • Epicurus (Epicureanism: pleasure as the goal of life).
  • Sceptics (doubted certainty of knowledge).

Middle Ages (5th–15th Century AD)

  • 354–430 AD: St. Augustine (synthesized Christianity with Platonic philosophy).
  • 1033–1109 AD: St. Anselm (ontological argument for God’s existence).
  • 1225–1274 AD: St. Thomas Aquinas (merged Aristotle with Christian theology).

Modern Period

  • 15th–16th century: Renaissance/Enlightenment (philosophy liberated from theology).
  • 17th century: René Descartes (rationalism; “quest for certainty”).
  • 18th century: Immanuel Kant (deontology; critique of pure reason).
  • 19th century:
  • Auguste Comte (positivism: philosophy as science’s synthesizer).
  • G.E. Moore (analytic ethics; indefinability of good).
  • 20th century:
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein (language analysis; unverifiability theory).
  • A.J. Ayer (logical positivism; emotivism).

Key Philosophical Schools/Events

  1. Ionian Naturalism (6th century BC): Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus (materialist explanations).
  2. Athenian Ethics (5th–4th century BC): Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (focus on morality, metaphysics).
  3. Hellenistic Schools (4th century BC): Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism (practical life guidance).
  4. Medieval Synthesis (5th–15th century): Philosophy as theology’s tool (Aquinas’ Summa Theologica).
  5. Scientific Revolution (16th–17th century): Separation of science from philosophy (e.g., Newton, Galileo).
  6. Analytic Turn (20th century): Focus on language/logic (Wittgenstein, Ayer).

Summary of Major Transitions

  • Pre-Socratics (6th–5th BC): Nature’s fundamental substance.
  • Classical (5th–4th BC): Ethics, metaphysics (Socrates to Aristotle).
  • Hellenistic (4th BC–3rd AD): Personal happiness (Stoics, Epicureans).
  • Medieval (5th–15th AD): Faith-reason synthesis.
  • Modern (17th–20th): Epistemology, scientific methodology.

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