Period
Ancient Greek and Roman
c. 600 BCE – 529 CE
From the first Greek natural philosophers to the closure of the Athenian schools, the era that laid the foundations of Western logic, ethics and metaphysics.
Western philosophy is conventionally said to begin in the Greek cities of Ionia in the sixth century BCE, when thinkers such as Thales sought natural explanations for the world. Athens became its centre in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and the Hellenistic schools — Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics — carried philosophy across the Roman world.
The end date of 529 CE, when the emperor Justinian is reported to have barred pagans from teaching in Athens, is a symbolic marker rather than a sharp break.
- Traditions
- Western
Philosophers
- Thalesc. 624 – c. 546 BCE
- Anaximanderc. 610 – c. 546 BCE
- Pythagorasc. 570 – c. 490 BCE
- Xenophanesfl. 540–480 BCE
- Heraclitusfl. 510–490 BCE
- Anaxagorasc. 500 – 428 BCE
- Parmenidesfl. 500–450 BCE
- Protagorasc. 490 – c. 420 BCE
- Empedoclesfl. 470–430 BCE
- Socratesc. 470 – 399 BCE
- Zeno of Eleafl. 465–440 BCE
- Democritusc. 460 – after 400 BCE
- Platoc. 429 – 347 BCE
- Diogenes of Sinopec. 404 – c. 323 BCE
- Aristotle384–322 BCE
- Epicurus341–270 BCE
- Chrysippusc. 280 – c. 207 BCE
- Cicero106–43 BCE
- Lucretiusc. 95 – c. 55 BCE
- Senecac. 1 BCE – 65 CE
- Epictetusc. 55 – c. 135 CE
- Sextus Empiricusfl. 100–250 CE
- Marcus Aurelius121–180 CE
- Plotinusc. 204 – 270 CE
- Augustine354–430 CE
- Proclus412–485 CE
- Boethiusc. 476 – c. 526 CE
Sources
- Anthony Kenny, A New History of Western Philosophy, vol. 1: Ancient Philosophy, Oxford University Press