NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: Thinkers and Schools
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Thinker | Epistemology | Metaphysics | Theory | School |
Thales | N/A | Water | N/A | Milesian |
Anaximander | N/A | Boundless Something | N/A | Milesian |
Anaximenes | N/A | Air | Rarefaction, Conden | Milesian |
Heraclitus | N/A | Fire, Change | N/A | N/A |
Pythagoras | N/A | Numbers | N/A | N/A |
Parmenides | N/A | Being | N/A | Eleatics |
Zeno | N/A | No plurality & Paradoxes of Motion | Eleatics | Empedocles |
N/A | 4 earth, water, fire & Air | Love-Hate for union disunion of elements | Eleatics | Anaxagoras |
N/A | Infinite | Relative change, Nous | Eleatics | Democritus |
N/A | Atom | N/A | Eleatics | Plato |
Knowledge of Ideas only. 2 kinds of knowledge episteme (know.) and doxa (opinion) | Ideas. Demiurge creating the world & Soul rational, spirited, appetitive | N/A | Idealism | Aristotle |
Sciences- (logic, theoretical, practical, productive) , No platonic ideas. | Form + Matter, 4 causes (material, formal, efficient, final) | God Unmoved Mover | Active-Passive Intellect, Eudaimonia (self-realization) , Golden Mean. | N/A |
Descartes | No innate ideas, Primary-Secondary Qualities | God = Mind, Body | Cogito ergo sum | Dualism |
Spinoza | Know. As adequate ideas, Coherence theory of truth, 3 grades-inadequate ideas, clear ideas, intuitive knowledge | God ⇾ (Mind-Body) , attributes ⇾ thought-extension (modes) Natura naturata atemporal Natura naturans-temporal | Parallelism | Pantheism & Spiritual Monism |
Leibnitz | Innate ideas, Truths of reason and matters of fact. | Monads-forces, metaphysical points, infinite, windowless, kinds sleeping (material) , dreaming (living) , waking (human) . Activities of monads perception & appetition & God Monas Monadum | Principle of sufficient reason, Principle of Continuity, Law of identity of indiscernibles, Pre-established Harmony | N/A |
Locke | No innate ideas, Abstract ideas-yes, simple-complex ideas, Primary-Secondary qualities (SI) , Modes-Substances-Relations (CI) , Degrees of know. intuitive, demonstrative, sensitive (sensation & reflection) | N/A | Agreement & disagreement between ideas. | Representative Realism, Scientific Realism |
Berkeley | No abstract ideas, No distinction between primary-secondary qualities. | Only ideas, no matter, God-ultimate substance | Esse ist percipi | Subjective Idealism |
Hume | Impression-Ideas (relations of ideas, matters of facts) , No abstract ideas. | No God, No Self. | N/A | Skepticism |
Kant | Knowledge Of synthetic a priori judgments, conditions of know space-time. | Noumenon-phenomenon | 12 Categories of Understanding & Transcendental Unity of Apperception | Transcendental Idealism |
Hegel | Ideas as objective, 3 levels of knowledge general, ideational and philosophical | Absolute Idea | Dialectical Evolution of Idea thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis | Objective Idealism |