Modern philosophy facts for kids

Modern philosophy is a way of thinking about big questions that became popular in the modern era. It's not just one idea or group, but many different ways of thinking. However, these ideas often share some common starting points. This helps us tell modern philosophy apart from older ways of thinking.

Modern philosophy generally began around the 1600s and continued into the early 1900s. People sometimes disagree about whether the Renaissance (a time of great change before the 1600s) counts as part of modern philosophy. Also, some wonder if modern philosophy has ended and been replaced by something called postmodernity. How we answer these questions changes how we use the term "modern philosophy."

Exploring Modern Western Philosophy

It's debated how much of the Renaissance is truly "modern" philosophy. The early Renaissance often feels more like the Middle Ages. But by the 1600s and 1700s, thinkers in the West started to group into two main camps. These groups focused on how we gain knowledge and what reality is made of.

Rationalists: Knowledge from Within

The "Rationalists," mostly from France and Germany, believed that all knowledge starts with certain "innate ideas" already in our minds. They thought we could use logic and reason to figure things out.

• Key Rationalist Thinkers:

* René Descartes * Baruch Spinoza * Gottfried Leibniz * Nicolas Malebranche

Empiricists: Knowledge from Experience

The "Empiricists," on the other hand, argued that knowledge must begin with what we learn through our senses. They believed we learn by experiencing the world around us.

• Key Empiricist Thinkers:

* John Locke * George Berkeley * David Hume

These categories (Rationalism and Empiricism) were actually named later, largely by Immanuel Kant. Even though these philosophers focused on knowledge, many also wrote about ethics (how we should live) and political philosophy (how societies should be governed). Other important thinkers in political philosophy include Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Kant's New Ideas

In the late 1700s, Immanuel Kant created a new way of thinking. He tried to combine the ideas of rationalism and empiricism. He believed that our minds help shape how we experience the world. Kant's ideas led to a lot of new philosophical work in Germany in the early 1800s. This period is known as German idealism.

German Idealism and Beyond

German idealism focused on the idea that the world and our minds are connected and understood using the same rules. This reached its peak with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. He famously said, "The real is rational; the rational is real," meaning that everything that exists can be understood by reason.

Hegel's ideas influenced many thinkers.

• Karl Marx used Hegel's ideas about history but focused on how societies change based on materials and economics. This helped create the idea of a science of society.
• Søren Kierkegaard disagreed with complex systems of philosophy. He believed life was meant to be lived, not just solved like a puzzle.
• Arthur Schopenhauer thought the world was full of endless desires and suffering. He believed in atheism and a pessimistic view of life.
• Friedrich Nietzsche took Schopenhauer's ideas and turned them around. He famously declared "God is dead" and rejected fixed truths. Nietzsche saw this as a chance for new freedom, not sadness.

In the 1800s, British philosophy was influenced by Hegel. But then, thinkers like Bertrand Russell and George Edward Moore started a new movement called analytic philosophy. This was a modern version of empiricism, using new ideas from logic developed by the German mathematician Gottlob Frege.

Renaissance Philosophy: A New Start

Renaissance humanism was a big part of this time. It focused on the importance of human beings and their abilities. It went against old, strict rules and ways of thinking. This new interest in human activities led to the development of political science with books like The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.

Renaissance thinkers also saw the natural world as organized by math and having many different parts. This was different from medieval scholars who thought of the world in terms of purposes.

Two ideas from Leonardo da Vinci help explain Renaissance philosophy:

• All our knowledge starts with what we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell.
• We can only be sure about things if we can use math or sciences based on math to understand them.

Similarly, Galileo Galilei used experiments for his scientific method. He also used math to solve problems in physics. These two ways of thinking about knowledge laid the groundwork for Empiricism (knowledge from experience) and Rationalism (knowledge from reason).

• Some Renaissance Philosophers:

* Pico della Mirandola * Galileo Galilei * Niccolò Machiavelli

Rationalism: Thinking from Scratch

Modern philosophy often starts with René Descartes and his famous saying, "I think, therefore I am." In the early 1600s, much of philosophy was based on old religious teachings. Descartes wanted to start philosophy from the very beginning.

In his book Meditations on First Philosophy, he tried to doubt everything he believed to find something he knew for sure. He found he could doubt almost everything – physical objects, God, memories, science, even math. But he couldn't doubt that he was doubting. He knew he was thinking, even if his thoughts weren't true. From this one certain point, he rebuilt his knowledge. He argued that some ideas must come from God, proving God's existence. Then he showed that God wouldn't trick him about everything, making science and reasoning trustworthy, even if they can sometimes be wrong.

• Key Rationalist Philosophers:

* René Descartes * Baruch Spinoza * Gottfried Leibniz

Empiricism: Learning from the World

Empiricism is a theory about how we get knowledge. It says that knowledge comes mainly from our experience through our senses. This is different from rationalism, which says knowledge can also come from pure thinking.

Empiricism is about letting what we observe "speak for itself." It's one of several ways people think about how to gain knowledge, especially in science. Today, most researchers agree that studies should be "empirical," meaning they should be based on observations and evidence.

• Key Empiricist Philosophers:

* Francis Bacon * John Locke * George Berkeley * David Hume

Political Philosophy: How Societies Work

Political philosophy looks at big ideas like politics, liberty (freedom), justice (fairness), property, rights, and law. It asks questions like:

• What makes a government legitimate (rightful)?
• What rights and freedoms should a government protect?
• What duties do citizens owe to their government?
• When is it okay to overthrow a government?

Sometimes, "political philosophy" can just mean someone's general ideas about politics, not necessarily a deep philosophical study.

• Some Political Philosophers:

* Thomas Hobbes (United Kingdom) * John Locke (United Kingdom) * Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France) * Karl Marx (Germany)

Idealism: The Mind's Role in Reality

Idealism is a group of philosophies that say reality, or at least the reality we can know, is mostly created by our minds or is not physical. It suggests that we might not be able to know anything that exists completely separate from our minds. In a social sense, idealism highlights how human ideas, beliefs, and values shape society. Some extreme forms of idealism even suggest that only one's own mind is certain to exist.

• Key Idealist Philosophers:

* Immanuel Kant * Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel * Arthur Schopenhauer

Existentialism: The Individual's Journey

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that believes thinking about philosophy must start with the individual person and their experiences. Existentialists argue that moral rules and scientific facts alone aren't enough to understand human life. They believe we need other ideas, like "authenticity" (being true to oneself), to truly understand what it means to be human.

• Key Existentialist Philosophers:

* Søren Kierkegaard * Friedrich Nietzsche * Jean-Paul Sartre * Simone de Beauvoir

Phenomenology: The Structure of Experience

Phenomenology is the study of how we experience things. It's a big philosophical movement started in the early 1900s by Edmund Husserl in Germany. It then spread to other countries like France and the United States.

• Key Phenomenologists:

* Edmund Husserl * Martin Heidegger * Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Pragmatism: Connecting Ideas and Action

Pragmatism is a philosophy that focuses on linking ideas (theory) with real-world actions (practice). It describes a process where ideas come from what we do, and then those ideas are used to make our actions smarter. Pragmatists generally agree that philosophy should consider the methods and discoveries of modern science.

Charles Sanders Peirce is often given the most credit for starting pragmatism. Later, William James and John Dewey also made important contributions.

• Key Pragmatist Philosophers:

* Charles Sanders Peirce * William James * John Dewey

Analytic Philosophy: Clarity and Logic

Analytic philosophy became very popular in English-speaking countries during the 1900s. Most university philosophy departments in places like the United States and the United Kingdom identify as "analytic." This type of philosophy focuses on being very clear and logical in arguments. It often uses modern formal logic and careful analysis of language. It also respects the natural sciences.

• Key Analytic Philosophers:

* Gottlob Frege * George Edward Moore * Bertrand Russell * Ludwig Wittgenstein

Modern Asian Philosophy

Many philosophical movements also developed in Asia during the modern period. Some examples include:

• New Confucianism
• Maoism
• Buddhist modernism
• Kyoto school

See also

In Spanish: Filosofía moderna para niños