The birth pangs of philosophy

Even a cursory glance at human history would reveal that philosophy came very much later than religion. The prehistoric man did not have an organised religion or religious places for worship. Massive trees, mountains, fire, the sun and moon became part of his religion. He treated them as gods or goddesses as they were beyond his comprehension.

Even in his primitive state man used to question about the world and his place in it. He found the answers in the primitive religions. He considered thunder and lightning as the work of angry gods. To appease gods he sometimes made animal or human sacrifices. Human civilisation marched forward despite man’s ignorance of what the universe was all about.

After many centuries, man found that ancient religious explanations were thoroughly inadequate. In his search for convincing answers, he stumbled on reason more than faith. When man began to reason, it led to the birth of philosophy. The first noteworthy pre-Socratic philosopher was Thales of Miletus, a Greek settlement in modern-day Turkey. Thales goes down in history as the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of the universe.

Basic question

Thales’ basic question was, “What is the world made of?” The answers provided by him formed the foundations of scientific thought. This led to a strong relationship between science and philosophy. Pythagoras tried to explain the world in terms of mathematics. Even today mathematics is an important component of philosophy. Pythagoras’ mathematical explanations of the cosmos had a profound influence on scientific thought.

With the gradual expansion of Greece, philosophy too spread to other areas. At the time Athens was the hub of Greek civilisation. It was a fertile ground for budding philosophers to expand their horizon. Athens eventually produced three eminent philosophers. One was Socrates, the wisest man in the ancient world. He was the forerunner of classical Greek philosophy. His ideas led to the future course of philosophy.

Socrates’ best pupil Plato founded a philosophical school called the Academy in Athens. He propagated his master’s ideas sometimes embellishing or criticising them. Plato’s best pupil Aristotle spent 20 years at the Academy.

So, today we know that Socrates, Plato and Aristotle laid the foundation of western philosophy. What is noteworthy is that all of them were independent thinkers in their own right. Sometimes, the pupils disagreed with their masters. That is the nature of real philosophy.

Disintegration

With the death of Alexander the Great, the classical period of ancient Greece came to an end. The death of Alexander saw the gradual disintegration of Greek city states. On the death of Aristotle, philosophy too branched out into different schools of thought. Cynics, Sceptics, Epicureans and Stoics began to compete among themselves for supremacy.

After a few centuries, Greek civilisation found itself on the wane. In its place, the Roman Empire spread its tentacles. As can be expected, the Romans did not pay much attention to Greek philosophy. However, Greek philosophical ideas were very much in vogue because they had been committed to writing. As a result, there was a resurgence of Greek philosophical ideas during the medieval period.

While the western philosophy was in the making, eastern thinkers too were busy questioning conventional wisdom. Early Chinese philosophers were more concerned with organising a just society than questioning the nature of the universe. They laid down moral guidelines. Many schools of thought flourished in China. Notably, Confucianism and Taoism dominated Chinese philosophy until the 20th century.

Buddhism

India produced an equally or more eminent philosopher and religious teacher at this time. He was the Buddha. His teachings spread far and wide in India and Asia. Millions of people practise Buddhism in many parts of the world today.

In the modern world Buddhism has been embraced as a religion and philosophy as well. In eastern countries, most people consider Buddhism as a religion. They put up huge statues of the Buddha, temples for bhikkhus and other places of religious worship.

It is a moot point to consider whether Asians have lost the philosophical significance of Buddhism. However, the Western world seems to value Buddhism more as philosophy than a religion. They study the Tripitaka and discuss philosophical concepts found in Buddhism.

During his lifetime, the Buddha was an archetype unto himself. Today the archetype of the Buddha is a major source of meaning and purpose for billions of people. He was a sage, yet more than a sage.