The Ancient philosophy reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Ancient philosophy

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This article is a part of the
History of Philosophy series.
Overview
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Ancient philosophy
Medieval philosophy
Renaissance Philosophy
17th century philosophy
18th century philosophy
19th Century Philosophy
20th Century Philosophy
Postmodern philosophy
Contemporary philosophy
Eastern philosophy

This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Europe, the spread of Christianity through the Roman world marked the end of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of Mediaeval Philosophy.

Table of contents
1 Classical Greece
2 Later Hellenistic Philosophers
3 Schools of thought in the Hellenistic period
4 Vedic philosophy
5 Classical Indian philosophy
6 Chinese philosophy

Classical Greece

Later Hellenistic Philosophers

Schools of thought in the Hellenistic period

Vedic philosophy

In the east, Indian philosophy begins with the Vedas where questions related to laws of nature, the origin of the universe and the place of man in it are asked. In the famous Rigvedic Hymn of Creation the poet says:

"Whence all creation had its origin, he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not, he, who surveys it all from highest heaven, he knows--or maybe even he does not know."

In the Vedic view, creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being (Purusha). This leads to the inquiry into the one being that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things. Cosmic order is termed rta and causal law by karma. Nature (prakriti) is taken to have three qualities (sattva, rajas, and tamas).

Classical Indian philosophy

In classical times, these inquiries were systematized in six schools of philosophy. The questions asked were:

The six schools of Indian philosophy are:

Chinese philosophy

In China, less emphasis was put upon materialism as a basis for reflecting upon the world and more on conduct, manners and social behaviour, as evidenced by Taoism and Confucianism.