Study Guide to The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
I have been interested in self-studying philosophy for a long time, and I am now taking it up as my minor in college. I have compiled this systematic guide to philosophy for my own benefit, however, it may prove beneficial to others as well.
Obviously, I am talking about Western philosophy, and not Eastern philosophy, which is a subject all of its own (and a very interesting one at that).
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent source of philosophical articles that are both thorough, and accessible. However, I have not been able to find any systematic index of articles from the SEP which make reading through it chronologically possible. Therefore, I have written an outline of important thinkers beginning with the pre-socratics, and I am linking them to respective entries in the SEP.
This guide is a work in progress, and currently has the major disadvantage of not categorizing various philosophers into specific schools of thought. I may try to work these in at a later time, but for now I am focusing on chronology rather than fitting them into categories. The SEP should do that by itself.
(These three thinkers are extremely important, and intimately connected to one another)
Ancient Non-Socratic Schools of Philosophy
Democritus (although a pre-socratic, he is often associated with this school)
Zeno of Citium (NOT to be confused with Zeno of Elea, a pre-socratic)
Marcus Aurelius (although he came significantly later)
St. Augustine (although he came much later, he is a very important and influential figure)
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great)
Roger Bacon (Okay, technically, Bacon was a Franciscan Friar in the 14th century, so he doesn’t belong here. But he definitely doesn’t belong with the Scholastics, so he goes here.)
Islamic Philosophers (no SEP links :( )
Early Modern Philosophy (it isn’t medieval, but it also isn’t modern)
Two competing schools of thought, and those who did not strictly belong to either school.
Non-Aligned (Not strictly empiricist or rationalist)
Immanuel Kant (signaled the shift from early modern to 19th century philosophy)
Karl Marx (of course he gets his own category)
Characterized once again by two large and competing traditions.
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