1. Introduction: Recapitulation of some hitherto underlying philosophical problems that linger on in subsequent development of the history of philosophy
   1. The notion of "history of philosophy" revisited: (Begriffsgeschichte and Problemgeschichte)
   2. The Ionian tradition vs. the Eleatic tradition
   3. The double criteria of truth: reason and belief
   4. Theodicy and the problem of evil
   5. Controversy over the primacy of will and intellect
   6. Problem of universals - controversy between realism and nominalism
   7. Problem of individuals- peras, tode ti, principium individuationis, haeccitas, existential solus ipse
   8. Subject and person in antiquity and in modern philosophy
   9. Natural law vs. positive law - the physis/nomoi distinction
   10. Questions concerning periodization and nomenclature in the historiography of philosophy

   

2. René Descartes (*1596, †1650)
   1. A brief sketch of Descartes' life
   2. Philosophical doctrines
      1. Concept of method
      2. Sources of error
      3. Discovery of the "ego"
      4. Proof of the existence of God
      5. Existence of external things
      6. Mind-Body problem
      7. Mind-Body Interaction
         1. The Passions of the Soul
         2. Controversy with William Harvey
         3. Occasionalism: Geulinux' and Malebranche's feedback
   3. Descartes and the origin of modernity

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3. Baruch [Benedictus] de Spinoza (*1632, †1677)
   1. A brief sketch of Spinoza's life
   2. Philosophical doctrines
      1. Some preliminary ideas for the understanding of Spinoza
         1. Critique of Cartesianism (Letter to Oldenburg)
         2. 1^st vs. 3^rd person perspective
         3. Concept of "adaequate knowledge"
      2. Structure and detail analysis of the Ethics
         1. Of God
         2. Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind
         3. Of the Original Nature of the Affects
         4. Of Human Bondage, or the Strength of the Affects
         5. Of the Power of the Intellect, or of Human Freedom
      3. Religious-Political doctrines: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
   3. Spinoza as rationalist, as pantheist, and as sage
   4. The place of Spinoza in the history of western philosophy: predecessors and influence

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4. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (*1646, †1716)
   1. A brief sketch of Leibniz' life
   2. Leibniz' "motto"
   3. Leibniz as "renaissance man": Interests and contributions of Leibniz other than philosophy
   4. Philosophical doctrines
      1. Classification of knowledge
      2. Concept of substance - "force"
      3. Concept of substance - "metaphysical point"
      4. Concept of substance - "monads"
      5. Doctrine of truth
      6. Law of sufficient reason
      7. Principle of the best
      8. Pre-established harmony and divine retribution
      9. Tranquility of the mind -reminiscence of Spinoza
   5. Individualism and universalism in Leibniz: Russell, Heimsoeth, Mahnke

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5. John Locke (*1632, †1704)
   1. A brief sketch of Locke's life - Locke as philosopher and as statesman
   2. Theory of knowledge and of mind
      1. Epistemological vs. metaphysical approaches
      2. Criteria of knowledge
      3. Doctrine of "ideas"
      4. Doctrine of external things
      5. Doctrine of the mind
      6. Primary and secondary qualities
      7. "Representational realism"
   3. Locke's Political legacy: The Glorius Revolution
   4. Locke's Political ideas
      1. Essay on the Law of Nature
      2. Two Treatises on Government
      3. Letters Concerning Toleration (1689-1692)
   5. The Influence of Locke

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6. George Berkeley (*1685, †1753)
   1. A brief sketch of Berkeley's life
   2. Theory of knowledge and of the mind
      1. Berkeley's theory of vision and its philosophical implications
      2. Berkeley's reiterations on secondary and primary qualities
      3. Material substance
      4. Doctrine of the mind
      5. Notion of God
      6. Immaterialism
      7. Philosophy of language and common sense philosophy
   3. Political and economic thoughts
      1. The Querists
      2. Theory of money
      3. International Trade vs. national economy
      4. Criticism of mercantilism

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7. David Hume (*1711, †1776)
   1. A brief sketch of Hume's life
   2. Theory of knowledge and mind
      1. The Origin of human perception - impressions and ideas
      2. Derivation of complex ideas
      3. Concept of substance
      4. Cause and effect
      5. Problem of mind and personal identity
      6. Scepticism
   3. Theory of passions and morality
      1. Passions and intellect
      2. Moral sentiments
      3. Personality and the moral being
   4. Theory of religion
      1. Natural History of Religion
      2. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion
   5. Kant on Hume: homage and critique

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8. Immanuel Kant (*1724, †1804)
   1. A brief sketch of Kant's life
   2. Philosophical doctrines
      1. Philosophia in sensu scholastico vs. philosophia in sensu cosmico
      2. Concept of "Crtique" (Kritik)
      3. Idea of transcendental philosophy (Transzendentalphilosophie)
      4. Kant's concept of experience (Erfahrung)
      5. Main tenets of Kant's problem of knowledge
      6. The two major issues in Kant's philosophy of practice
      7. Kant's theory of taste
      8. Kant's position toward metaphysics
      9. Kant's philosophy of religion
      10. Kant and philosophical anthropology
   3. Kant's influence and contemporary criticisms

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9. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (*1770, †1831)
   1. A brief sketch of Hegel's life
   2. Philosophical doctrines
      1. Hegel's concept of "experience"
      2. Different models of Hegelian dialectics
         1. Love
         2. Negation:- pure negativity, specific negation, negation of the negation
         3. Abstract and Concrete
         4. An-sich, Für-sich, and An-und-für-sich
         5. Immediacy and Mediation (Unmittelbarkeit und Vermittlung)
         6. Reflexion
         7. Aufhebung: (tollere, elevare and conservare)
         8. Three Moments of the Logical
      3. The notion of "system" and Hegel's system thinking
      4. Hegel's Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences
         1. Hegel's Logic
         2. Realphilosophie as "Applied Logic"
      5. Hegel's philosophy of history
      6. Hegel's philosophy of right
      7. Hegel and "German Idealism"
   3. Hegel's place in the history of Western philosophy and contemporary criticisms

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10. Karl Marx (*1818, †1883)
    1. A brief sketch of Marx's life: Marx as philosopher or as political activist?
    2. Major doctrines as related to major writings
       1. A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
       2. The 1844 Paris Manuscripts
       3. Marx's controversy with his contemporaries
          1. Holy Family
          2. German Ideology
          3. The Poverty of Philosophy
       4. Manifesto of the Communist Party
       5. The Capital as a theoretical programme
    3. Marx's influence and contemporary criticisms

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11. Friedrich Nietzsche (*1844, †1900)
    1. A brief sketch of Nietzsche's life
    2. Philosophical doctrines
       1. Primacy of will over intellect: Schopenhauer's influence
       2. Greek tragedies and the "yes" attitude towards life
       3. Attack of Christianity as cultural critique
       4. Some major conceptions
          1. Resentiment
          2. Revaluation of values
          3. The Overman and "will to power"
          4. European nihilism
          5. Eternal recurrence of the same (das ewige Wiederkehr des Gleichen)
          6. Love of Fate (Amor fati)
          7. The "malady of history" (die Krankheit der Geschichte)
       5. Nietzsche's influence and contemporary criticisms

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Bibliographies:

1. Text for History of Western Philosophy
   1. Mathias Bertram, (ed.) Geschichte der Philosophie. Darstellungen, Handbücher, Lexika, ausgewählt von Mathias Bertram. Digitale Bibliothek Band 3 (Berlin: Directmedia, 1998)
   2. Rüdiger Bubner, ed., Geschichte der Philosophie in Text und Darstellung, hrsg. von 8 Bände (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1995)
   3. François Châtelet, (ed.) Geschichte der Philosophie (Histoire de la philosophie). Translated into German (Frankfurt/Main: Ullstein, 1974)
   4. Frederick Copleston SJ, A History of Philosophy, in 8 vol. (New York: Image Books, 1964) (*)
   5. Otfried Höffe, Kleine Geschichte der Philosophie (München: C.H. Beck, 2001)
   6. Julían Marías, History of Philosophy, transl. from the Spanish by Stanley Appelbaum and Clarence C. Strowbridge (New York: Dover, 1967)
   7. John C. Plott with James Michael Dolin et al., Global History of Philosophy. Vol. 1-5 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1963-1989)
   8. Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy and its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (London: Allen & Unwin, 1946/61) (*)
   9. Friedrich Ueberweg, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. Völig neubearbeitete Ausgabe, Band 2, 4/1, 4/2 (Basel: Schwabe & Co. 1998ff)
   10. Karl Vorländer, Geschichte der Philosophie, 2 Bände (Leipzig: Felix Meiner, 1911).
   11. Alfred Weber, History of Philosophy, tranl. By Frank Thilly (New York: Scribners & Sons, 1908)
   12. Wilhelm Windelband, History of Philosophy : with especial reference to the formation and development of its problems and conceptions. (Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Philosophie) (New York: Dover, 1905) (*)
   13. Eduard Zeller, Grundriss der Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie. English. Outlines of the history of Greek philosophy. 13th ed., rev. by Wilhelm Nestle and translated by L. R. Palmer (New York : Meridian Books, 1955)

   

2. Other related references
   1. Ernst Bloch, Zwischenwelten in der Philosophiegeschichte (Stuttgart: Suhrkamp, 1977)
   2. Ernst Bloch, Neuzeitliche Philosophie (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1985)
   3. Jacques Brunschwig and Geoffrey Lloyd, Das Wissen der Griechen. Eine Enzyklopädie (München, Wilhelm Fink, 2000), being a german translation by Volker Breidecker et al. of the French original Le savoir grec. Dictionnaire critique (Paris:Flammarion, 1996)
   4. Ernst Cassirer, Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit. 4 Bände (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1973 - 1974; Reprint of 2nd edition), [Written between 1906 & 1941]
   5. Heinz Heimsoeth, Die Methode der Erkenntnis bei Descartes und Leibniz (Giessen: Verlag von Alfred Töpelmann, 1912-14)
   6. Heinz Heimsoeth, Studien zur Philosophiegeschichte. Kant-Studien Ergänzungsheft, Nr. 82 (Köln: Kölner Universität-Verlag, 1961)
   7. Heinz Heimsoeth, Die sechs großen Themen der abendländischen Metaphysik (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1981). Now also in English: The six great themes of western metaphysics and the end of the Middle Ages (Wayne State University Press, 1994)
   8. Elmar Holenstein, Philosophie-Atlas: Orte und Wege des Denkens (Zürich: Ammann Verlag, 2004)
   9. T.W. Hutchison, "Berkeley's Querist and Its Place in the Economic Thought of the Eighteenth Century", in: The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 4, No. 13, George Berkeley Bicentenary, pp. 52-77.
   10. Richard Kroner, Von Kant bis Hegel. 2. Auflage (Tübingen: Mohr- P. Siebeck, 1961)
   11. Richard Kroner, Speculation and revelation in modern philosophy. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961)
   12. Karl Löwith, From Hegel to Nietzsche : the Revolution in nineteenth-century Thought. Translated from the German by D.E. Green (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964)
   13. John C. Plott with James Michael Dolin et al., Global History of Philosophy. Vol. 1-5 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1963-1989)
   14. Otto Pöggeler (ed.), Hegel: Einführung in seine Philosophie. In Zusammenarbeit mit Manfred Baum ... [et al.] (Freiburg [Breisgau]/München: Alber, 1977)
   15. Joachim Ritter und Karlfried Gründer (ed.), Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Basel: Schwabe, 1985ff)
   16. Wilhelm Weischedel, Die philosophische Hintertreppe. 5th ed. (München: DTV, 1979).
   17. Tze-wan Kwan, "Subject and Person as two Self-images of Western Man: Some Cross-Cultural Perspectives", paper presented at the international conference "Issues Confronting the Post-European World", a conference dedicated to Jan Patocka (1907-1977) on the occasion of the foundation of the Organization of Phenomenological Organizations (OPO). Held November 6-10, 2002, at the Center for Phenomenological Research Prague at the Charles University and the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Prague. Now available at http://www.o-p-o.net/essays/KwanArticle.pdf
   18. Tze-wan Kwan, "Kant's Possible Contribution to Natural Law Debates", in Responsibility and Commitment: Eighteen Essays in Honor of Gerhold K. Becker, (ed.) Tze-wan Kwan (Waldkirch: Edition-Gorz, 2008.7), pp. 197-224.
   19. Tze-wan Kwan, "Hegelian and Heideggerian Tautologies". Analecta Husserliana, Vol. 88 (Dordrecht: Springer, 2005), pp. 317-336. This paper was presented 1) first at the Third World Phenomenology Congress, organized by the World Phenomenology Institute. Held August 16-21, 2004, at Wadham College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. The same paper, with subsequent amendments was presented again 2) at National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland on 21 October 2005.
   20. 關子尹著：『西方哲學史撰作的分期與標名問題』[Periodization and Nomenclature in the Historiography of Western Philosophy]. Paper presented at the Philosophy Department, Zhongsan University, Guangzhou, China, December 18, 2003. Printed in《現代哲學》(Xiandai Zhexue), No. 81, (No. 2, 2005) Guangzhou, Zhongshan University, 2005.04, pp. 69-90. Now also available as a chapter in:
       關子尹著：《語默無常－尋找定向中的哲學反思》, (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2008), 增訂重校簡體字版：(北京：北京大學出版社，2009.12)
   21. 關子尹著：『虛己以遊世──早期希臘哲學的非自然哲學解讀』 [Man’s Place in Nature: A Non-Physicalistic Reading of Early Greek Philosophy], 《中山大學學報》社會科學版，廣州，2010-4期（總第226期），pp. 124-150。 Journal of Sun Yat-Sen University, Social Science Edition, Guangzhou, 2010, issue 4, pp. 124-150. (Chinese)
   22. Tze-wan Kwan, "The Role of the Historian of Philosophy: Some Phenomenological Reflections", paper presented at the international conference "Phenomenology & History of Philosophy", Inaugural Conference of the Archive for Phenomenology & Contemporary Philosophy, held January 23-24, 2006, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Pending publication.

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   Please note that, for a thorough understanding of the history of philosophy, students are always encouraged to go through the original texts of the respective philosophers as much as possible. For more detail information please look up the Philosophy Page of the Humanum Web Site.  Of particular interest is our Kant Page, now featuring Norman Kemp Smith's translation of the Critique of Pure Reason (with an online searchable index). The Humanum server is also keeping a host of images related to the history of philosophy. Please look up our Image Archive if interested.Furthermore, an online information platform "CU Philosophy Information Databases (CUPID)" has been made available since summer 2001. Students are encouraged to make good use of the resources put there.

   Page last updated on 7 January 2014 by Tze-wan Kwan.

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