Periods
Western
- Ancient Greek and RomanFrom the first Greek natural philosophers to the closure of the Athenian schools, the era that laid the foundations of Western logic, ethics and metaphysics.Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and 25 more
- MedievalPhilosophy in Latin Christendom, shaped by the recovery of Aristotle and the rise of the universities, and culminating in the scholastic syntheses of the thirteenth century.John Scottus Eriugena, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas and 5 more
- Early modernThe age of the new science, rationalism and empiricism, from Descartes to Kant.René Descartes, John Locke, David Hume and 40 more
- Late modernThe nineteenth century, from German idealism after Kant to Marx, Mill, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.G. W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and 16 more
- ContemporaryPhilosophy from 1900 to the present, including the analytic tradition of Russell and Wittgenstein and the phenomenology and existentialism of Heidegger and Beauvoir.Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and 44 more
Jewish
- Judaeo-ArabicJewish philosophy in the Islamic world, written mostly in Arabic, from Saadia Gaon in Baghdad to Maimonides in Cairo, in dialogue with kalam theology and Greek philosophy.Saadia Gaon, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Maimonides and 3 more
- Provence and SpainAfter Maimonides, Jewish philosophy in Hebrew in Christian Provence and Spain, which absorbed Averroes' Aristotle and argued over it, until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.Samuel Ibn Tibbon, Gersonides, Hasdai Crescas and 6 more
Arabic and Islamic
- Classical IslamicThe era of the great falsafa philosophers, who built on Greek philosophy translated into Arabic, from al-Kindi to Averroes.Avicenna, al-Ghazali, Averroes and 12 more
- Later IslamicPhilosophy in the Islamic world after the classical period, from the Illuminationist tradition to Mulla Sadra's school in Safavid Iran and beyond.Ibn Arabi, Nasir al-Din Tusi, Rumi and 5 more
Tibetan
- First DiffusionFrom the seventh century Buddhism first spread in Tibet, and Indian treatises were translated, with the Indian master Śāntarakṣita invited to the country.
- Later DiffusionWith the Later Diffusion of Buddhism, Tibetans translated Dharmakīrti and began writing commentaries and treatises of their own, led by Ngok Loden Sherab's tradition.Ngok Loden Sherab and Chapa Chökyi Sengé
- ClassicalSakya Paṇḍita's Treasure of Reasoning of 1219 opened a classical age centred on Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇavārttika and on commentaries on Tibetan works themselves.Sakya Paṇḍita, Dolpopa and Tsongkhapa
- Post-classicalFrom the fifteenth century Tibetan scholars reappraised earlier ideas, attacked or defended Sakya Paṇḍita, and debated Tsongkhapa's reading of Madhyamaka.Gorampa
Chinese
- Classical ChineseThe 'Hundred Schools of Thought' of the late Zhou dynasty, ending with the unification of China under the Qin in 221 BCE.Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and 5 more
- Song–MingThe Song and Ming dynasties, when Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming renewed Confucianism in dialogue with Buddhism and Daoism.Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Zhu Xi and 11 more
Japanese
- Classical JapaneseFrom Prince Shōtoku's constitution to the end of aristocratic rule, when Buddhism came to dominate Japanese thought and Kūkai founded Shingon esoteric Buddhism.Kūkai and Hōnen
- Medieval JapaneseThe age of military rule, war and disaster, when new Buddhist movements such as Pure Land, Zen and Nichiren each selected a single practice as the way to liberation.Shinran, Dōgen and Sen no Rikyū
- EdoThe peace of the Tokugawa shogunate, when a new Neo-Confucianism became Japan's leading philosophy, alongside Buddhist and Shintō thought.Hayashi Razan, Itō Jinsai, Motoori Norinaga and 6 more
- Modern JapaneseFrom the Meiji Restoration, as Japan took up Western philosophy and Nishida Kitarō and the Kyoto School brought it into dialogue with Buddhist thought.Nishida Kitarō, Suzuki Daisetsu, Tanabe Hajime and 7 more
Korean
- Three Kingdoms and SillaBuddhism reached Korea from China in the fourth century, and under Unified Silla monks such as Wonhyo and Uisang made it the first great age of Korean philosophy.Wonhyo and Uisang
- GoryeoUnder the Goryeo dynasty Buddhism flourished, and Jinul shaped Korean Seon, while by its end Neo-Confucianism had begun to take hold among scholars.Uicheon, Jinul and Jeong Dojeon
- JoseonThe Joseon dynasty made Neo-Confucianism Korea's dominant thought, home to the Four-Seven Debate of Yi Hwang and Yi I and to Jeong Yakyong's later critique.Yi Hwang, Yi I, Jeong Yakyong and 4 more
- Modern KoreaFrom the end of the Joseon dynasty Korean philosophers met modernity, colonial rule and Western thought, among them the Buddhist nun and feminist Kim Iryeop.Bak Jungbin and Kim Iryeop
African
- Ethnophilosophy and nationalismThe first period of systematic African philosophy, which set out to recover an African identity that colonialism had denied, through ethnophilosophy and nationalist thought.Alain Locke, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Aimé Césaire
- The Great DebateThe period of the "Great Debate" over whether Africa has a philosophy in the strict sense, between traditionalists who built on African culture and universalists who rejected ethnophilosophy.Julius Nyerere, Frantz Fanon and Kwasi Wiredu
- Critical reconstructionA period that moved from tearing down ethnophilosophy to rebuilding African thought, whether free of it or by reconciling traditional and modern African philosophy.Paulin Hountondji and Henry Odera Oruka
- Conversational philosophyThe newest period of African philosophy, in which thinkers developed original systems and methods of their own, notably the "conversational" philosophy of the Calabar School.
