The Historical Development of Philosophy

New Philosophy

Cultural Conditions and Key Periods of New Philosophy

The development of new philosophy is prepared by two significant events: the revival of classical antiquity in art and science and the ecclesiastical reform. After art began to flourish at the start of the 14th century under the influence of preserved ancient models, the ancient Greek world reemerged on the horizon of the Western world in the form of its great literary monuments by the mid-15th century. The Greek language, along with its poets and thinkers, commenced a triumphant march from Italy. Among ancient philosophers, Plato, with his artistic prose and bold conception of the theory of ideas, profoundly impacts the minds of his contemporaries, fostering a departure from Aristotle, whom Scholasticism held in canonical reverence. Thus, the scientific renaissance begins with an enthusiastic Platonism, which uncritically associates Neoplatonic teachings with Plato's doctrine—teachings that resonate with the imaginative thinking characteristic of the Renaissance. Following this early Platonism, which was initially centered around the Platonic Academy established by Greek theologians and Italian scholars in Florence, a deeper current gradually emerged by the early 16th century, influenced by the spread of classical studies. This new current was not confined to the examination of the entire philosophical literature of the Greeks and Romans; rather, it approached the study of Eastern antiquity, shrouded in the traditional allure of mystical esoteric teachings, with equal curiosity, as permitted by the scholarly horizons of that era. However, the initial Platonism, along with the eclecticism that followed during the Renaissance, lacked a positive significance for the development of philosophy. Its preparatory importance lies not merely in its total dismantling of the outdated Scholastic character of science but primarily in its liberation of thought from the shackles of authority, thereby setting forth a model of independent thinking. Yet, the eclecticism of the later Renaissance period proved even more beneficial in this regard than the Platonism of emerging humanism, which simply replaced the authority of Aristotle, revered by Scholasticism, with another, more aligned with contemporary thought. While the frequent assertion during this time that all ancient sages are equally commendable and therefore fundamentally teach the same truth in different forms is often uncritical, the emergence of awareness regarding the differences among philosophers gradually led to independent investigations of ancient teachings.

Alongside the revival of classical science, the second liberating force of thought is the ecclesiastical reform. In its return to the sources of Christian faith, it intertwines with the humanist movement, even drawing motivation for this return from the study of ancient languages and literature that emerged during this time. However, like the initial period of Platonism, the ecclesiastical reform, in its struggle against the oppression of tradition and hierarchy, merely substitutes one authority for another, relying on the Bible. Yet, due to its evident practical orientation from the outset against entrenched abuses, the externality of religious life, and the vanity of the church, which it counters by proclaiming a purely internal relationship between the Christian and God, it becomes a force that liberates thought from its chains and gradually allocates a free field of activity for science, no longer confined within the initially imposed boundaries of thought constrained by specific religious norms.

By promoting the study of ancient philosophy in its original form, humanism introduces various methods that human thought has proposed in resolving universal problems. Since ancient philosophy addressed these issues under relatively simpler conditions, the revival of ancient philosophy holds a preparatory significance for the development of modern thought. Furthermore, as the ecclesiastical reform stripped the clergy of its privileges concerning science, philosophy gradually emerged as a secular discipline. In contrast to the medieval worldview, the philosophy of the new era often deliberately shuns theological questions to secure greater independence in the realm of secular knowledge.

The prototype influence of ancient philosophy, as a science encompassing the entirety of human knowledge and exploring all problems concerning both the world and humanity from a unified perspective, on one hand, and the recognition of philosophy as a secular science resulting from the combined influence of humanism and ecclesiastical reform, on the other, both fundamentally shaped the course of new philosophy's development from the outset. However, their combination soon gave rise to a third force that would prove decisive for the initial steps of new philosophy: the influence of the scientific discipline that first achieved independence from both ecclesiastical guidance and the authority of ancient philosophy—natural science. Under its guidance, new philosophy undertook its first independent endeavors. Given that the development of new philosophy coincided with significant discoveries in the natural sciences and geography, Copernicus's new worldview, and the foundational physical inquiries of Stevin, Galileo, Kepler, Gilbert, and others, along with the closely related advancement of mathematical methods, it becomes evident that the guiding realm of natural scientific knowledge, being better developed and significantly more distant from the preparatory scientific efforts of antiquity, emerged as paramount for philosophical thought. In this context, the influence of natural science, along with the thought methods it contained, branches into two directions. On one side, mathematics, supported by the precise sciences, impacts philosophy and seeks to transform it into an abstract discipline grounded in strictly rational fundamental laws. On the other, philosophical thought borrows its essential laws from the empirical study of nature.

These diverse influences of natural science, alongside the effects of humanism and revived ancient philosophy, partially intertwined with theology and the always-united system of ecclesiastical philosophy, lead to the fragmentation of new philosophy into a multitude of directions from the very beginning, more so than ancient and medieval philosophy. Consequently, various influences governed the spiritual life of the new era. Nonetheless, based on the distinct characteristics of individual time periods, the development of new philosophy can be divided into several stages. Considering the phenomena that prepared and accompanied the revival of ancient science, which are essential for the historical understanding of subsequent developments, we can outline four main periods:

1. the period of liberation of thought (15th and 16th centuries);
2. the period of competing worldviews (the first half of the 17th century);
3. the period of dogmatic systems (the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century);
4. the period of critical philosophy and the emerging influence of the sciences of the spirit (from the late 18th century).