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Companion Timeline: “30 Philosophers”
This timeline encapsulates the lives and contributions of the philosophers discussed within “30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas,” offering a curated overview aligned with the book’s content. Included below are three additional timelines that extend the exploration begun in “30 Philosophers.” They serve as bridges between the philosophical discussions within “30 Philosophers” and the broader scientific context that frames our quest for understanding.
- The Philosophy Timeline: An expanded exploration of philosophical history.
- The Big Bang Timeline: Chapter 1 delves into humanity’s origin story, beginning with the Big Bang. This timeline expands on that narrative, tracing the cosmic events that set the stage for our existence.
- The Evolution Timeline: Although Charles Darwin does not serve as the anchor of a specific chapter, his ideas and their implications permeate the book. This timeline highlights key moments in the story of evolution, underscoring our understanding of life’s complexity and diversity.
Note on Generations: Within this timeline, a ‘generation’ is defined as spanning 25 years, aiding in the chronological arrangement and understanding of historical progressions.
30 Philosophers Timeline: By Chapter
Big Bang Expansion
13.8 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Free Will
How predetermined are our choices?
Evolution
Our true origin story.
Cultural Transmission
What separates humans from animals.
First Atoms
13.7 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Population III Stars: Heavier Elements
13.6 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Birth of the Sun
4.6 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Earth is Born
4.5 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
First Atmosphere: Hydrogen & Helium
4.48 Billion Years Ago
4.49 to 4.6 Billion Years Ago
LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor
3.6 Billion BCE
Spedulative guess: 3.5 to 3.8 Billion Years Ago
The First True Eukaryotes
2.4 Billion Years Ago (+/- 300 million years)
Animals, Plants, and Fungi Split
1.7 Billion BCE
Emergence of the Great Apes (Great Apes LCA)
16.5 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 Million Years)
Chimpanzees Branch Off (CHLCA)
7.5 Million Years Ago
Hominini Tribe: Chimpanzee Branch Off
Collective Learning Emerges
3.3 Million Years Ago
Homo heidelbergensis
Circa 640,000 Years Ago
Homo heidelbergensis on Earth from about 640,000 to 200,000 BCE.
Neanderthal-Sapien LCA
440,000 Years Ago
Oldest Surviving Spear
350,000 BCE
400,000 to 300,000 BCE
Adam: Haplogroup A
275,000 BCE
Eve: Haplogroup L
175,000 BCE
200,000 to 150,000 BCE
Oldest Known Bracelet
70,000 BCE
2,880 Generations Ago
“The” Human DNA
60,000 BCE
2,400 Generations Ago
Advanced Sewing Needles
28,000 BCE
28,000 to 21,000 BCE
Phenotype Variation: Blue Eyes
8000 BCE
Genetic Mutation from the Neolithic Era
Cuneiform Writing
3400 BCE
3400 BCE to 100 CE (end of use for scholarly work)
Gilgamesh, circa 2700 BCE
King of Uruk
King Shuruppak (circa 2600 BCE)
Sumerian Tradition
The Wise King
Indus Valley Script: Northwest India
circa 2600 BCE
Knowledge Framework
A network of ideas.
New Look
Philosophy
The what, why, and how of life.
Rigveda Samhita, Veda Book 1 of 4
1,700 BCE
148 Generations Ago
Major Religion: Hinduism
1100 BCE (+/- 300 years)
125 Generations Ago
Gargi Vachaknavi (circa 800 BCE)
Vedic Tradition
The "woman" Vedic sage
Ontology
The Nature of Being.
We are more than self-aware.
Holism
Nature is the master plan.
Thales of Miletus (624 – 546 BCE)
Early or "First" Science
The Grandfather of Western Philosophy
The Birth of Logic
624 BCE
Circa 624-546 BCE
Library of Ashurbanipal
Built circa 700 BCE, destroyed 612 BCE.
Laozi (604-517 BCE)
Daoism
Old Master
Spherical Earth
600 BCE
New Look: The Flood Stories
600 BCE
New Look
Wu-wei or “non-action”
Go with the flow of nature.
Ziran, Authenticity, or Authentic Self
Let life unfold organically.
Yin and Yang
A good life is a balanced life.
Unknowable Dao
We can only describe nature.
Pythagoras (570-495 BCE)
Pythagoreanism
Father of Mathematics
Confucius (551-479 BCE, died age 72)
Confucianism
The "Great Sage" or the "First Teacher."
Normalcy, Normal, and Abnormal
Normal is our current experiences.
New Look
Schemas
The abstractions of life.
Gautama Buddha (circa 563-486 BCE)
Buddhism
The "Buddha"
Non-Self or Anatman and Self or Atman
Your idea of "self" does not exist.
Nondualism and Dualism
The separation of mind and body is an illusion.
Heraclitus (circa 535-475 BCE)
Pre-Socratic Philosophy
Weeping or "Dark" Philosopher
Impermanence and Flux
Change is the only constant.
Worldview
Your sub-culture and choices.
Identity
Existence before essence.
Crafting yourself from your given traits.
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)
Socratic Questioning
Father of Western Ethics
Democritus (460 BCE – circa 370 BCE)
Atomist
The Laughing Philosopher
Plato (428-347 BCE)
Platonism
Father of Idealism
Reflective Inquiry
A constant state of self-assessment.
Ignorance is Bliss
Strategic ignorance.
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)
Aristotelianism
Father of Western Philosophy
Plato and Aristotle’s Relationship
New Look
Syllogisms
Logically connect things.
Rationalism
Prioritize your ideas over reality.
Empiricism
Prioritize reality over your ideas.
Logic
Reality is organized and mathematical.
Logical Fallacies
Flaws in reasoning.
Eudaimonia
Flourish now and into the future.
Pyrrho (360-270 BCE)
Skepticism
Father of Skepticism
Skepticism
Question your beliefs and avoid dogmatism.
Social Constructs
Shared, not natural agreements.
Epicurus (341-270 BCE)
Epicureanism
The Garden Philosopher
Epicurean Happiness Toolkit: A 4-Step Structure
New Look
Agnosticism
Don't waste time on the unknowable.
Live in the present.
Dichotomy of Pleasure
Prefer long term pleasures over short.
Zeno of Citium (334-262 BCE)
Stoicism
Father of Stoicism
Philo of Alexandria (circa 20 BCE to circa 55 CE)
Hellenistic Judaism
Allegorical Interpretation
Stories have complex meanings.
Seneca the Younger (4 BCE – 65 CE)
Stoic Tradition
Roman Stoic Statesman
Epictetus (50-135 CE)
circa 100 CE
78 Generations Ago
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 CE)
Stoic Tradition
The Philosopher King
Marcus Aurelius: An Explorative Agnostic
New Look
Stoic Virtue Framework: A 4-Step Structure
New Look
Cognitive Reframing
Emotions are judgements.
Negative Visualization
Contemplate the future.
Cognitive Distancing
Step outside your reality.
Badarayana, circa 200 CE (+/- 300 years)
Vedanta / Hinduism
Author of the Brahma Sutras
Cause and Effect
Karma
Cognitive Biases
Maya, Illusion.
The “Dark” Middle Ages
New Look
Holistic Eudaimonia
New Look
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE)
Christian Neoplatonism
Saint Augustine
Chronoception
Spacetime
Eternity
Block Theory of the Universe
New Look
Al-Farabi (872-950)
Islamic Neoplatonism
Second Teacher
Intellect
Blank slate filled with impressions
Essence and Existence
You exist, then you mold your essence.
The Floating Man Thought Experiment
New Look
Alhazen (965-1040)
Islamic Polymath
Father of Optics
The Five Senses of Humans
Circa 1020
New Look
Touchstone: Perception
Interpretation
Time Trail Game: Mindful Time Travel
Mike's Spacetime Game
New Look
Bernard of Chartres (circa 1070 – 1130)
Neoplatonist
French Philosopher
Peter Abelard (1079-1141)
Scholasticism
Intent
Good Intent vs Good Results
Object-Oriented Nature
Abstraction brings understanding and illusion
New Look
Pattern Recognition
Patterns in Nature
The Problem of Universals
New Look
The Idea of Ideas
New Look
Grand Rational Framework
New Look
Printing Press Invented
1440
Germany
Guru Nanak (1469-1539)
Sikhism
The Five Thieves
5 ethical guideposts
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Scientific Method
Father of Empiricism
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Observational Empiricism
Father of Modern Physics
Rene Descartes (1596-1649)
Cartesian Dualism
Father of Modern Philosophy
Idea Modeling
How new ideas become.
New Look
Pragmatism
3 Types: Empirical, Rational, & Irrational
New Look
Roger Williams (1602ish-1683)
Liberalism
Grandfather of Liberalism
Separation of Church and State
No government church.
Liberalism
Everyone is equal.
Modern Cosmology
1608
Absolute Truth
The Idea of the Unknowable Dao
New Look
Truth Hammers
Processes that uncover truth.
New Look
The Scientific Method
Empirical observations of the material world.
Idea Theory Framework
New Look
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677, aged 44)
Monism
Radical Dutch Thinker
John Locke (1632-1704)
Natural Rights
Father of Liberalism
Relativity Principle
Jul 1632
Law
Law protects.
Modern law emerges after the Middle Ages.
Natural Rights
Life, Liberty, & Property Rights
Due Process
Protection against authority.
Emerged in the 1600s.
Infinitesimal
1638
Mind-Body Dualism
1641 - Two Substances: Body & Soul
Cartesian Dualism
Descartes Thought Experiment
New Look
Book: The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution
1644 CE
Monism
God is nature, nature is everything.
Western monism emerged with Spinoza in the 1600s.
Material-Spiritual Framework
Spirituality is exploration.
New Look
Open Viewpoint Method (OVM)
New Look
The Social Contract
Citizens consent to be governed.
Emerged about 1689.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Enlightenment
Champion of Free Thought
Fourth Estate
The force of public opinion.
The fourth emerged in the 18th & 19th centuries.
Journalism
Storytelling for the people.
Modern journalism started in the early 1700s.
David Hume (1711-1776)
Skeptical Empiricism
Scottish Enlightenment Philosopher
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Transcendental Idealism
Transcendental Idealism
Our Ideas are Not Reality
The Eastern unknowable Dao emerged in the West in the late 1700s.
Categorical Imperative
Live by universal values.
Emerged in late 1700s.
Skeptical Empiricism
Knowledge is experience.
The Problem of Induction
Patterns might mislead.
Hume’s Fork
Life is definitions & observations.
New Look
Modern Innate Knowledge
Instincts and Impressions
New Look
Fear-Based Ethics
New Look
Ethical Roadmap
New Look
Checks and Balances
Separation of Powers
Matured about 1748.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860, age 72)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Utilitarianism
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
British Naturalist
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855, age 42)
First Christian Existentialist
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
British Naturalist and Explorer
Father of Biogeography
Anxiety “Angst”
Use angst to guide your life.
1843: “Fear and Trembling” by Kierkegaard.
Leap of Faith
New Look
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Nihilism
Critic of Traditional Morality
Discovery: The Sumerian Flood Story
1853
Harm Principle
Cause no harm.
In "On Liberty," pub. 1859.
Nihilism
1862: Ivan Turgenev novel "Fathers and Sons"
New Look
Übermensch
Live Your Authentic Self
1883, 1885: From "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Eternal Recurrence
Live in the now.
1882/3/5: Refined in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Authentic Recipe: Nietzsche’s Five-step Approach
New Look
Nietzsche Mustache
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Existentialism
The Public Intellectual
Consciousness
The experience of living.
New Look
Heidegger’s Existentialism
Confront life head on.
1927: "Being and Time"
Bad Faith
Don't live in bad-faith, be authentic.
1943: "Being and Nothingness" by Sartre.
Sartre’s Existentialism
Existence precedes essence.
1943: "Being and Nothingness"
Chapter 1 Quote Attribution Clarification
Final Word
Featuring Mike's mantra.
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