A Presentation on ‘Sophie’s World’

by

Nayana RenuKumar Sr. Knowledge Manager, Centre for Good Governance

Chapter I--Garden of Eden

Chapter II--The Top Hat

Chapter III--The Myths

Chapter IV--Natural Philosophers

Chapter V--Democritus

Chapter VI--Fate

Chapter VII--Socrates

Chapter VIII--Athens

Chapter IX--Plato

Chapter X--Major's Cabin

Chapter XI-Aristotle

Chapter XII--Hellenism

Chapter XIII--The Postcards

Chapter XIV--Two Cultures

Chapters XV--Middle Ages

Chapter XVI-- Renaissance

Chapter XVII--The Baroque

Chapter XVIII--Descartes

Chapter XIX--Spinoza

Chapter XX--Locke

Chapter XXI--Hume

Chapter XXII--Berkeley

Chapter XXIII--Bjerkely

Chapter XXIV--The

Enlightenment

Chapter XXV--Kant

Chapter XXVI--Romanticism

Chapter XXVII--Hegel

Chapter XXVIII--Kierkegaard

Chapter XXIX--Marx

Chapter XXX--SUMMARY/

REVIEW & DARWIN

Chapter XXXI--Freud

Chapter XXXII--Our Own Time

Chapter XXXIII--Garden Party

Chapter XXXIV--Counterpoint

Chapter XXXV--The Big Bang

Chapter Index

The Garden of Eaden

The Top Hat

The Myths

Who are you?

Where does the world

come from?

The Garden of Eden

Dear Sophie,

The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions:

How was the world created?

Is there any will or meaning behind what happens?

Is there a life after death?

How can we answer these questions?

And most important, how ought we to live?

A Greek philosopher who

lived more than two

thousand years ago

believed that philosophy

had its origin in man’s

sense of wonder

The Top Hat

Philosophy -- the completely new way of thinking that evolved in Greece about 600 years before Christ

Till then religions offered answers to people's questions

Religious explanations were handed down from generation to generation as myths. Myth is a story about the gods which sets out to explain why life is as it is

Around 700 B.C., Homer and Hesiod writes down much of the Greek mythology. Once Myths existed in written form, it was possible to discuss and criticize them. Earliest Greek philosophers criticized Homer’s mythology because the gods resembled mortals too much

For the first time, it was said that the myths were nothing but human notions

The Myths

... a precarious balance between the forces of good and evil…

THREE

PHILOSOPHERS

FROM MILETUS

Thales: Source of all

things is water

Anaximander: Our

world is only one of a

myriad of worlds that

evolve and dissolve in

the boundless

Anaximenes : Source of

all things must be “air” or

“vapor

All believed in the existence

of a single basic substance

as the source of all things

ELIATICS

Parmenides: Everything

that exists had always

existed. Nothing could

change

Heraclitus : Constant

change, or flow, was the

most basic characteristic of

nature. Everything flows.

Therefore we cannot step

twice into the same river.

Eerything could change

Empedocles: World had

to consist of more than one

single substance. Nature

could transform without

anything actually changing.

DEMOCRITUS

Everything was made

of was built up of

tiny invisible blocks,

each of which was

eternal and

immutable.

Democritus called

these smallest units

atoms

Natural Philosophers

Seekers of natural than

supernatural

explanations for natural

processes

Decisive break with the

mythological world

picture

The Triumvirate 3 great classical philosophers to

influence European civilization

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

Socrates (470-399BC)

Most enigmatic figure in the entire history of philosophy

Life of Socrates mainly known through the writings of Plato has inspired the Western world for nearly 2,500 years

Not a sophist, but a philosopher : Sophists and Socrates turned their attention from questions of natural philosophy to problems related to man and society.

He was neither certain nor indifferent: All he knew was that he knew nothing—and it troubled him. "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing" So he became a philosopher—someone who does not give up but

tirelessly pursues his quest for truth. He dared tell people how little we humans know.

The Art of Discourse : Never a believer of instruction. Like a midwife, Socrates saw his task as helping people to “give birth” to correct insight

By playing ignorant, Socrates forced people to use their common sense

Socrates

All true insight comes from within: Real understanding must come from within;

only that can lead to true insight. Right insight leads to right action. He who

knows what good is will do good.

We all had the same chances because we all had the same common sense:

There exists eternal and absolute rules for what is right or wrong.

By using our common sense we can all arrive at these norms

Ability to distinguish between right and wrong lies in people’s reason, not in society

Unmistakable faith in human reason

Socrates managed to free himself from the prevailing views of his time by his own

intelligence. But he had to pay a heavy price for it

Socrates was killed because he disturbed the Athenian society's conventional

ideas and tried to light the way to true insight.

In Socrates, we therefore see how dangerous it could be to appeal to people’s

Reason.

Socrates must have had tremendous courage and sense of pedagogic responsibility

to go ahead regardless of the perils

Plato (428 -347 BC)

Search for the eternal and immutable : Plato was concerned with the

relationship between what is eternal and immutable, on the one hand, and what

“flows,” on the other – middle ground between sophists and socrates

Theory of Ideas: Reality is divided into two regions:

● World of senses: About which we can only have approximate or

incomplete knowledge by using our five senses. Here, “everything flows” and

nothing is permanent.

● World of ideas: About which we can have true knowledge by using our

reason. This world of ideas cannot be perceived by the senses, but the ideas

(or forms) are eternal and immutable. All natural forms are mere shadows

or reflections of eternal forms or ideas – theory of ideas

Man is thus a dual creature: our body consists of earth and dust like

everything else in the sensory world (matter), but we also had an

immortal soul (spirit)

Plato

Pluto's political philosophy

Characterized by rationalism. Favored philosophers' rule of state. In

effect a totalitarian state with no family and political ties, not unlike

caste system. Later opined that a constitutional state is the next

best option

On women: Women could govern just as effectively as men for

the simple reason that the rulers govern by virtue of their reason.

Women have exactly the same powers of reasoning as men, provided they get the same training and are exempt from child rearing

and housekeeping

Body Soul Virtue State

Head Reason Wisdom Rulers

Chest Will Courage Auxiliaries

Abdomen Appetite Temperance Laborers

Aristotle...not only the last of the great Greek philosophers, but also

Europe’s first great biologist (384-322 BC)

A meticulous organizer who set out to clarify our concepts.

Founded the science of Logic.

Criticized Plato's theory of ideas:

The distinction between “form” and “substance” plays an important part in

Aristotle’s explanation of the way we discern things in the world

Things we see in natural world are purely

reflections of things that existed in the

higher reality of the world of ideas - and

thereby in the human soul

Things that are in the human soul were

purely reflections of natural objects. So

nature is the real world

Highest degree of reality is that which

we think with our reason

Highest degree of reality is that which

we perceive with our senses

Nature's scale: There is a gradual transition from simple growths to more

complicated plants, from simple animals to more complicated animals. With man at

the top of this “scale” who lives the whole life of nature.

Ethics: Three forms of happiness;

Life of pleasure and enjoyment;

Life as a free and responsible citizen;

Life as thinker and philosopher.

All three criteria must be present at the same time for man to find happiness and

fulfillment. He rejected all forms of imbalance and advocated the golden mean

Women: Woman is incomplete, an unfinished man

Politics: Three good forms of constitution

Form Meaning Must not degenerate into

Monarchy Only one head of

State

Tyranny

One ruler captures power

Aristocracy Larger group of

rulers

Oligarchy

Government run by a select few

Polity Democracy Mob rule

Hellenism... a spark from the fire…

Athens loses its dominant role by 325 BC

Conquests of Alexander the Great political upheavals new

epoch in history of mankind

Hellenism refers to both the period of time and the Greek-

dominated culture that prevailed in the Hellenistic kingdoms of

Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt

Borders between countries and cultures became erased. In

place of “national religion, different cultures merged into a

fusion of creeds

New religious formations – fusion of many gods, many beliefs -

doubt and uncertainty about philosophy of life - religious

doubts, cultural dissolution, and pessimism - "The world had

grown old"

Hellenism

Philosophic insight – not only for its own sake but also to

free mankind from pessimism and the fear of death

Eliminates boundaries between religion and philosophy

Hellenistic philosophy

Not startlingly original

Continued to work with problems raised by Socrates,

Plato, and Aristotle

Common current: Desire to discover how mankind should

best live and die – ethics - central philosophical project

Emphasis on finding out what true happiness was and how

it could be achieved.

Four major philosophical trends

The Cynics & Stoics

Antisthenes – Athens -

around 400 B.C

True happiness is not found

in external advantages or

on being dependent on

random and fleeting things

Therefore happiness is

within everyone’s reach

Having once been attained,

it can never be lost

Zeno -around 300 BC

All natural processes follow

the unbreakable laws of

nature. Man must therefore

learn to accept his destiny.

Nothing happens

accidentally;

Everything happens through

necessity;

So it is of little use to

complain when fate comes

knocking at the door

Epicureans & Neoplatonics

Epicurus around 300 BC

The highest good is pleasure, the

greatest evil is pain

Pleasurable results of an action to

be weighed against possible side

effects

Death does not concern us; as long

as we exist, death is not here. And

when it does come, we no longer exist

The gods are not to be feared. Death

is nothing to worry about.

Good is easy to attain. The fearful is

easy to endure.

Plato - distinction between

world of ideas and sensory

world

Plotinus (270-205 BC) - world as

a span between two poles with

divine light (God) at one end and

absolute darkness at other end.

All that exists is God. Soul is

illuminated by the light from the

God, while matter is the

darkness that has no real

existence.

Divine mystery in everything

that exists. No barrier between

god and man

Two Cultures, two philosophies

Indo-European: All nations and cultures

using Indo-European languages (Most of

Europe, India, Iran) Clear similarities in

mode of thoughts

Semitic : Cultures using Semitic

languages. Root of all three

Western religions - Judaism,

Christianity, Islam

Sought insight into world’s history - Sight Relied on God’s words - Hearing

Belief in many gods Belief in one god

Oneness with God Distance between god and his creation –

No pictures & sculptures -

Purpose of life is to be released from the

cycle of rebirth Purpose of life is to be redeemed from sin

and blame

Religious life characterized by self-

communion and meditation Religious life characterized by prayer,

sermons, and study of scriptures

Cyclic view of history: History goes in

circles like seasons - no beginning and no

end - Civilizations rise and fall in an eternal

interplay between birth and death

Linear view of history: In the beginning,

God created the world – history begun.

On Judgment day history will end, when

God judges the living and the dead

The Middle Ages...A 1000 year journey

Rise of Christianity:

Church puts the lid on Greek philosophy

529 AD- Closed Plato’s Academy

Monasteries wrested monopoly of education, reflection, and meditation

By 600 AD, Islam wins over Middle East, Spain, and North African part

of Roman empire; adopts Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and Bagdad

Arabs inherited much of old Greek science; gains prominence in sciences

Dark Ages, one interminable thousand-year-long night settled

over Europe between antiquity and the Renaissance.

Also seen as a period of germination and growth when schools and

universities developed. Unifying force of Christian culture

300 AD

Christian Church banned

313 AD

Accepted religion

380 AD

Official religion

145 AD

Paul’s missionary journeys

Medieval philosophers

Took it almost for granted that Christianity was true. Only

questions:

Whether to simply believe Christian revelations or approach

them with help of reason

No dramatic break with Greek philosophy; slow transition

enabled by Fathers of the Church like St. Augustine

St. Augustine:

Located Platonic ideas in God and thus preserved the Platonic view

of eternal ideas

Biblical idea : God created the world out of the void.

Greeks : World had always existed.

St. Augustine : Before God created the world, the ‘ideas’ were in the

Divine mind

Idea of City of God: Human history is a struggle between

‘Kingdom of God’ and ‘Kingdom of World for mastery over human

beings

St. Thomas Aquinas

Christianized Aristotle just as St. Augustine Christianized Plato

Adopted Aristotle’s philosophy in all areas where it did not collide with

Church’s theology. (Logic, theory of knowledge, and natural philosophy)

No need for any conflict between philosophers like Aristotle and Christian

doctrine

God’s existence can be proved on the basis of Aristotle’s philosophy

Truths could be reached both through Christian faith and innate reason.

Two paths to faith: Aristotle’s philosophy presumed the existence of a formal cause (God)

which sets all natural processes going. Christianity knows this formal cause is god. God has

thus revealed himself to mankind both through the Bible and through reason.

Two paths to moral life: Bible teaches us how God wants us to live. But God has also given

us a conscience to distinguish between right and wrong.

Aristotle goes only part of the way because he didn’t know of the Christian

revelation. But going only part of the way is not the same as going

the wrong way

Renaissance (Rebirth):

Rich cultural development - began in late 14th century – N. Italy - spread rapidly

northward in 200 years

Rebirth of art and culture of antiquity

After Dark Ages where life was seen through divine light, everything once again

revolved around man - Renaissance humanism

Basis

Changes on the cultural and economic front –

From subsistence economy to a monetary economy.

Developed cities – rise of middle class with better basic conditions of life.

Rewarded people’s diligence, imagination, and ingenuity

New demands on individual

Three discoveries: - compass (easy navigation – great voyages), firearms,

(military superiority) and printing press (dissemination of ideas – breaks free of

Church monopoly) - essential preconditions

Renaissance middle class - break away from feudal lords and church.

Religion acquires a freer relationship to reasoning and science

New scientific methods and a new religious fervor.

Rediscovery of Greek culture through closer contact with the Arabs in

Spain and Byzantine culture in East

Unrivalled development in all spheres of life. Art and

architecture, literature, music, philosophy, and science

flourished as never before

Pantheism: God was also present in his creation

New view of

mankind

• Resurgence of

humanism

• New belief in

man and his

worth

• Man was now

considered

infinitely great

and valuable

Greater

individualism

• Not mere beings, but

unique individuals

• Ideal of Renaissance

man, a man of

universal genius

embracing all aspects

of life, art, and

science

• Emphasis on

individual and his

personal relationship

to God

Nothing to be

ashamed of

• Renewed interest in

human anatomy

• After thousand

years of prudery, it

once again became

usual for works of

art to depict the

nude

• Man was bold

enough to be

himself again

Life in here and

now

• Man did not exist

purely for God’s sake

• He felt at home in the

world

• Life is not solely a

preparation for afterlife

- whole new approach

to physical world

• Freedom to develop –

limitless possibilities -

aim was now to

exceed all boundaries

Science...empiricism New method of scientific investigation - observation, experiment,

experience

Measure what can be measured, and make measurable what cannot be

measured : Galileo

Emphasize on practical value of knowledge

Starting to intervene in nature and beginning to control it

Nicolas Copernicus: Earth moved around the Sun and not vice versa

(1543) - Heliocentric world picture

Kepler - Planets move in elliptical orbits. Earth is a planet like any

other (1600s) . Same physical laws apply everywhere in the universe

Law of Inertia: A body remains in the state which it is in, at rest or in

motion, as long as no external force compels it to change its state.

Isaac Newton: Final description of the solar system and the planetary

orbits – Law of Universal Gravitation

Baroque...such stuff as dreams are made of (17th century)

Irregularity and richness was typical of Baroque art than the plainer and more

harmonious Renaissance art.

Baroque favorite sayings : ‘Carpe diem’—‘seize the day', ‘memento mori' -

‘Remember that you must die.’

Age of conflict, class differences, and irreconcilable contrasts - between

Renaissance’s unremitting optimism and life of religious seclusion and self-

denial; between rich and the poor; between magnificence and mendicancy;

between Protestants and Catholics; wars between countries

Birth of modern theater

Philosophy of Baroque: Characterized by powerful struggles between diametrically

opposed modes of thought

Contours between Idealism and Materialism never so clearly present at the same time as in the

Baroque.

Great philosophers of this period – Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibiniz

Descartes

Father of modern philosophy: Assembled contemporary thought

into one coherent philosophical system

Socrates-Plato-St. Augustine-Descartes: Rationalists - reason as

the only path to knowledge

Main concerns:

What we can know, in other words, certain knowledge

What was the relationship between body and mind.

Discourse on Philosophical Method: Philosophy should go from

the simple to the complex to construct a new insights. Ensure by

constant enumeration and control that nothing was left out. Then, a

philosophical conclusion would be within reach

Favorite line: Cogito, ergo sum: I think therefore I am

Dualist: Man is a dual creature-with a mind and body (matter –

extension of mind)

These

questions -

substance of

philosophical

argument for

next 150 years

Baruch Spinoza First to apply historic-critical interpretation of Bible: Critical

reading of Bible bearing in mind the period it was written in

Spinoza interpreted this as meaning both love of God and love of

humanity

Monist: Does not have dualistic view of reality as Descartes.

Everything that exists can be reduced to one single reality

Substance which may be God or nature.

God speaking through the laws of nature is the inner cause of everything that happens

Everything in the material world happens through necessity. Spinoza

had a determinist view of the material, or natural, world

From Rationalists to Empiricists

John Locke David Hume

George Berkeley

John Locke (1632-1704)

Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Attempt to clarify two questions:

Where we get our ideas from: Mind at birth is an empty slate. Only source of

genuine knowledge is sensory experience. Knowledge that cannot be traced back to a

sensation is therefore false knowledge and must consequently be rejected. There’s

nothing in the intellect that wasn’t previously in the senses

Can we rely on our sense: Senses objectively reproduce primary qualities

(extension, weight, motion and number) world as it is. Senses only reproduce the

effect of the outer reality of secondary qualities (color, smell, taste, sound) on our

senses – subjective – world as it appears to us . Everyone agrees on primary

qualities, secondary qualities vary from person to person - relativism

"There is nothing in the mind except what was first in the senses" (Aristotle)

Inconsistent in empiricism: It is inherent in human reason to be able to know that

God exists

Forerunner of many liberal ideas: He spoke out for intellectual liberty and tolerance

and equality of the sexes, division of powers

David Hume (1711-1776) A Treatise of Human Nature: We sometimes form complex ideas for which there

is no corresponding object in the physical world. Example – Batman or Superman.

Each element was once sensed, and entered the theater of the mind in the form

of a real ‘impression.’ Mind puts things together and constructs false ‘ideas

Hume sought to tidy up thoughts and notions: critical analysis of ideas

Investigate every single idea to see whether it was compounded in a way that

does not correspond to reality

Opposed all thoughts and ideas that could not be traced back to

corresponding sense perceptions

"Dismiss all this meaningless nonsense which long has dominated

metaphysical thought and brought it into disrepute"

With Hume’s philosophy, the final link between faith and knowledge was

broken

Hume also rebelled against rationalist thought in the area of ethics that the ability

to distinguish between right and wrong is inherent in human reason. “It is not

reason that determines what we say and do”

Berkeley (1685-1753)

Felt that current philosophies and science were a threat to

the Christian way of life

Material reality doesnot exist. We percieve only ideas. we

never have direct experience of things themselves.

Everything we see and feel is ‘an effect of God’s power.We

exist only in the mind of god

Our own perception of time and space can also be merely

figments of the mind Denied existence of a material world

beyond the human mind. Our sense perceptions proceed

from God.

The Enlightenment

...from the way needles are made to the way cannons are founded

Montesquieu Voltaire

Rousseau

Seven key words

Opposition to authority : Of French philosophers inspired by the English philosophy and liberal political establishment

Rationalism: Unshakable faith in human reason- Age of Reason.

Enlightenment movement: Greatest monument- huge encyclopedia. All the great philosophers and men of letters contributed to it. ‘Everything is to be found here, 'from the way needles are made to the way cannons are founded

Cultural optimism: Once reason and knowledge became widespread, humanity would make great progress. It could only be a question of time before irrationalism and ignorance would give way to an ‘enlightened’ humanity

Return to nature: Emphasized intrinsic value of childhood

Natural religion: Religion also had to be brought into harmony with ‘natural’ reason. Deism - God only reveals himself to mankind through nature and natural laws, never in any ‘supernatural’ way

Human rights: Not content themselves with theoretical views on man’s place in society - fought actively for ‘natural rights’ (lights that everybody was entitled to simply by being born) of the citizen. Campaign against censorship, for freedom of expression in religion, morals, and politics, for abolition of slavery and for a more humane treatment of criminals

Immanuel Kant

Showed the way out of the philosophical impasse in the struggle

between rationalism and empiricism

All our knowledge of the world comes from our sensations. But in our

reason there are decisive factors that determine how we perceive the world

around us

We have no freedom if we lived only as creatures of the senses. But if we

obey universal reason we are free and independent

There are clear limits to what we can know. Mind’s ‘glasses’ set these limits

It is not only mind which conforms to things. Things also conform to the

mind.

Greatest contribution to philosophy : Dividing line between things in

themselves and things as they appear to us

Kant: Both views are partly right and partly wrong

Rationalists: Basis for all human knowledge

lay in the mind

Empiricists: Knowledge of the world

proceeded from senses

Romanticism...Europe's last great cultural epoch

‘Feeling,” imagination,” experience,’ ‘yearning

All of nature - human soul and physical reality - is the expression

of one world spirit - Schelling

Features:

Yearning for something distant and unattainable like bygone

eras; for nature and nature's mysteries

Artists can provide something philosophers can’t express

Urban phenomenon, youth

Romanticism helped strengthen the feeling of national identity

Two forms of Romanticism

Universal Romanticism: Romantics who were

preoccupied with nature, world soul, and artistic genius

National Romanticism : Interested in the history, language

and culture of ‘the people’

Hegel ... the reasonable is that which is viable…

First philosopher who tried to salvage philosophy when the 'Romantics had

dissolved everything into spirit'

Hegel’s philosophy – Historicism - A method to understand the progress

of history

Any human society and all human activities (science, art, or philosophy), are

defined by their history, so their essence can be sought only through

understanding that

There are no eternal truths. Only fixed point philosophy can hold onto is

history itself. The current of past traditions and present material conditions

determine what you think. No thought is true forever. (Aristotle - woman is

incomplete man)

Dialectic process -Three stages of knowledge:

Thesis: A thought is proposed on the basis of other, previously proposed thoughts

Antithesis: As soon as one thought is proposed, it will be contradicted by another

Synthesis: Tension between these two opposite ways of thinking is resolved by the

proposal of a third thought which accommodates the best of both points of view

"Philosophy is the history of philosophy"

Kierkegaard …Europe is on the road to bankruptcy…

Critique of Romantic idealism and Hegelian historicism - "Both have obscured the individual’s responsibility for his own life"

Sharp eye for the significance of the individual: We are more than ‘children of our time.’ Every single one of us is a unique individual who only lives once

Three stages in the way of life:

Aesthetic stage: Lives for the moment and

grasps every opportunity of enjoyment. Slave

to ones senses desires and moods.

Ethical stage: Seriousness and consistency of

moral choices. Living by the moral laws (Kant)

Religious stage: Jumping into the abyss’ of

Faith’s in preference to aesthetic pleasure and

reason’s call of duty. Although it can be ‘terrible

to jump into the open arms of the living God,

it is the only path to redemption

Three concepts

Existentialism: Exist for the moment. Instead of searching for 'The Truth', we should focus on truths that are important to our individual life, our existence.

Subjective truth: Objective truths are totally irrelevant to personal life. Really important truths are personal and subjective. Only these truths are ‘true for me'

Faith: Fundamental questions in life can only be approached through faith; not through knowledge or reason

Marx "Until now, ‘philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it

Historical materialist

Material changes are the ones that affect history

It is the economic forces in society that create change and drive history forward

Material, economic, and social relations are the basis of society

This base determines the answers to questions of what was morally right (Peasant society - marriage)

Society’s ruling class sets the norms for what is right or wrong

History of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles. Between those who own the means of production and those who do not. In other words, history is principally a matter of who is to own the means of production

Marx

Criticism of the capitalist method of production

Worker alienation:

Way you think is closely connected to the job you do

Under capitalist system, worker labors for someone else

Worker becomes alien to his work - but at the same time also alien to himself

Revolution:

Capitalist system is marching toward its own destruction; paving way to

communism.

Since ‘upper classes’ do not voluntarily relinquish power, change can only come

through revolution

Dictatorship of the proletariat : For a period, we get a new ‘class

society’ in which the proletarians suppress the bourgeoisie by force

Classless society: After the transition period, the dictatorship of the

proletariat is replaced by a ‘classless society,’ - means of production are

owned ‘by all’. From each according to his abilities, to each according to his

needs.’

Darwin

Biologist and natural scientist

Most openly challenged the Biblical

view of man’s place in Creation

through 'The Origin of Species'.

Darwin advanced two theories:

All existing vegetable and animal

forms were descended from earlier,

more primitive forms through

biological evolution.

Evolution was the result of natural

selection

In the struggle for life, those that

were best adapted to their

surroundings would survive and

perpetuate the race

Developed psychoanalysis

Constant tension between man and his

surroundings - between his drives and

needs and the demands of society

Man is not really such a rational

creature

Irrational impulses often determine

what we think, what we dream, and

what we do

Archaeology of soul: As we store the

memory of all our experiences deep

inside us, psychoanalyst can dig deep

into the patient’s mind and bring to

light the experiences that have caused

the patient’s psychological disorder

Freud

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Reacted against Hegel’s ‘historicism.’

Proposed life itself as a counterweight to the anemic interest in history and Christian ‘slave morality.’

Both Christianity and traditional philosophy had turned away from the real world and pointed toward ‘heaven’ or ‘the world of ideas.’

Sought to effect a ‘revaluation of all values,’ - life force of the strongest should not be hampered by the weak.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 to 1980)

Leading light among existentialists

Especially popular in the forties after the war

Existentialism is humanism

Man is the only living creature that is conscious of its own existence

Man’s existence takes priority over whatever he might otherwise be. ‘Existence takes priority over essence.’ “

Man has no such eternal ‘nature’ to fall back on. We must decide for ourselves how to live

Renaissance humanists had drawn attention, almost triumphantly, to man’s freedom

and independence

Sartre : Man’s freedom is a curse. ‘Man is condemned to be free. Because having once

been hurled into the world, he is responsible for everything he does"

Twentieth Century Renewal of philosophical currents : Neo-Thomism, logical

empiricism, Neo-Marxism

Materialism: Search for the indivisible ‘elemental particle’ of

which all matter is composed

Ecophilosophy : Western civilization as a whole is on a

fundamentally wrong track, racing toward a head-on collision

with the limits of what our planet can tolerate. There is

something basically wrong with western thought. Our whole

mode of scientific thought is facing a ‘paradigm shift.’ Rise of

‘alternative movements’ advocating holism and a new lifestyle

In the Renaissance, the world began to explode. Beginning

with the great voyages of discovery, Europeans started to

travel all over the world.

Today it’s the opposite, an explosion in reverse.

World is becoming drawn together into one great

communications network.

The question is whether history is coming to an end

— or whether on the contrary we are on the threshold

of a completely new age

We are no longer simply citizens of a city—or of a

particular country.

We live in a planetary civilization