Philosophy TL: ALL > Big Picture > 2. Ideas > 3. Philosophers > 4. Publications
ALL Edition: Includes all entries minus descriptions for the great philosophers and their ideas and publications. This timeline focuses on the empirical, rational, and irrational as well as understanding their philosophical context. Philosophical context includes understanding the timing of discoveries and rediscoveries as well as the philosophers behind them and their publications. For the companion timeline for the book: “30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas,” go to Book Timeline: 30 Philosophers.
The Natural Philosophy Timeline
- 1-Prehistory Age
- 2-Cognitive Age
- 3-Symbolic Age
- 4-Cultural Age
- 5-Fire Age
- Africa/Middle East
- Americas
- Amphibians
- Ancient History
- Ancient Humans
- Area
- Art
- Asia
- Bacteria
- Big Bang Big Picture
- Big Bang Predictions
- Big Picture 30
- Big Picture Philosophy
- Cephlapods
- ch01
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- ch22
- ch23
- ch24
- ch25
- ch26
- ch27
- ch28
- ch29
- ch30
- ch31
- City
- Classical Physics
- Consciousness Evolves
- Dinosaurs & Birds
- Docs in Book
- Document
- Earth
- Empirical
- Europe/Mediterranean
- Fish
- Fungi
- Futurism
- Great Apes
- History
- Hominid (Not Us)
- Hominin: Not Us
- Homo sapiens
- Human Ancestors
- Insects
- Irrational
- Journalism
- Land: Africa and Middle East
- Land: Asia
- Land: Europe and Mediterranean
- Land: Oceana, Australasia, and the Polar Regions
- Math
- Medieval
- Music
- Oceana
- Our Solar System
- Our Time
- Paper
- Particle Physics
- People in Book
- Personal
- Philosophers
- Political Theory
- Pre-LUCA Evolution
- Prehistory
- Relativitiy
- Reptiles
- Roger Williams
- Science
- Synapsids & Mammals
- Touchstones
- Unified
13.8 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Big Bang Expansion
How predetermined are our choices?
Free Will
Our true origin story.
Evolution
What separates humans from animals.
Cultural Transmission
13.7 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
First Atoms
13.6 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Population III Stars: Heavier Elements
4.6 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Birth of the Sun
4.5 Billion Years Ago
Verified. Empirically supported and rationally deduced.
Earth is Born
4.48 Billion Years Ago
4.49 to 4.6 Billion Years Ago
First Atmosphere: Hydrogen & Helium
3.75 Billion years ago (+/- 100 million)
DNA, Ribosomes, and ATP
LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor
2.4 Billion Years Ago (+/- 300 million years)
The First True Eukaryotes
1.65 Billion Yeas Ago (+/- 50 million)
Life that later leads to these kingdoms separates.
Plant Ancestors Split from Animal and Fungi Ancestors
18 Million Years Ago, ± 3 million years
Causal reasoning, Early prefrontal integration
Great Apes: Medicine Emerges
16.5 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 Million Years)
Tool potential begins, Neocortical expansion
Emergence of the Great Apes (Great Apes LCA)
7.5 Million Years Ago
Advanced coalition politics and tool precursors
Chimpanzees Branch Off (CHLCA)
3.3 Million BCE (Hominins)
Prefrontal Cortex Expansion, Internal 3D modeling
Early Stone Tools
3.3 Million Years Ago
Collective Learning Emerges
2 Million Years Ago (Up to about 15,000 years ago)
Olduvai Gorge Site: A Glimpse into Early Organizational Behavior
1.76 Million BCE
Hand Axe
790,000 BCE
Genus Homo
Fire-Altered Stone Tools
Circa 640,000 Years Ago
Homo heidelbergensis on Earth from about 640,000 to 200,000 BCE.
Homo heidelbergensis
440,000 Years Ago (+/- 40,000 years)
Neanderthal-Sapien LCA
350,000 BCE
400,000 to 300,000 BCE
Oldest Surviving Spear
300,000 BCE
Africa; 300,000 to 500,000 years ago
Venus of Tan-Tan
Before 290,000 BCE
Hominins; 290,000 to 700,000 years ago
Bhimbetka Petroglyphs, Cupules
275,000 BCE
Adam: Haplogroup A
175,000 BCE
200,000 to 150,000 BCE
Eve: Haplogroup L
125,000 BCE
125,000 to 60,000 BCE
Seasonal Settlements at Klasies River Caves
76,000 BCE
Earliest Known Prepared Burial, “Mtoto”
75,000 BCE
Blombos Cave Engravings
70,000 BCE
2,800 Generations Ago
“The” Human DNA
70,000 BCE
2,880 Generations Ago
Oldest Known Bracelet
By 70,000 BCE
World Population: 1.5 Million
Before 64000 BCE
Upper Paleolithic
Neanderthal Art: Symbolic Thought
50,000 BCE
Speculative: 20 to more than 50 thousand years ago.
Cuban Underwater City: More Research Needed
48,000 BCE (+/- 2,000 years)
Neanderthal Rope!
42,200 BCE
44,200 to 43,000 years old according to 24 radiocarbon tests
Lebombo bone: First Lunar Phase Counter
circa 41,900 BCE
Sulawesi Cave Art
circa 40,000 BCE
Spain & France
Upper Paleolithic Cave Art with Symbols
38,000 BCE
38,000 to 33,000 BCE
Venus of Hohle Fels
38,000 BCE
38,000 to 33,000 BCE
Bone Flute
30,000 BCE
Chauvet Cave Paintings
30,000 BCE
29 to 32 thousand years ago.
Czeck: Dolní Věstonice Community
30,000 BCE
32,000 Years Ago
Sunghir Burial Site
28,000 BCE
28,000 to 21,000 BCE
Advanced Sewing Needles
20,000 BCE
From circa 20,000 to 3,000 BCE
Seasonal Settlements at Franchthi Cave
18,000 BCE
15 to 20 Thousand Years Agao
Ukraine: Mezhyrich Community
circa 14,800 BCE
Seasonal Settlements at Monte Verde
circa 13000 BCE
The Clovis Culture
Before 14,400 BCE
Middle East
The Invention of Bread
circa 11,500 BCE
Evidence of farming: rye seeds
Tell Abu Hureyra
9,700 BCE
Start of "our" Holocene geological epoch
Neolithic Revolution
Start of heyday: circa 9600 BCE
Initial construction circa 11,000 BCE (13,000 years ago)
Göbekli Tepe Culture (11000 BCE to 8000 BCE)
Before 9000 BCE
Mexico
Corn
before 9000 BCE
Plaster Invented
9000 BCE
Jericho Founded
circa 8000 BCE
China
The Domestication of Rice
8000 BCE
Genetic Mutation from the Neolithic Era
Phenotype Variation: Blue Eyes
circa 8000 BCE (speculative)
Under Investigation: Yonaguni Monument
Circa 8000-7000 BCE
Fuxi (伏羲)
Circa 8000-7000 BCE
Nüwa (女娲)
circa 7200 BCE
Jordan
Ain Ghazal Statues: Early Plaster Art
7,100 BCE
7,100 to 5,700 BCE
City of Catalhoyuk
circa 7000 BCE
9,000 Years Ago
Beer, Ale, Wine
7000 BCE
7000-6001 BCE
Neolithic Symbols: China
Before 5500 BCE
Poland
Cheese
circa 5,260 BCE
7,260 Years Ago
Dispilio Tablet: European Proto-Writing
4900 BCE
Up to 7,900 Years Ago (Neolithic)
Vinor Circular Building: a roundel
3500 BCE
Man Made Glass
3400 BCE
3400 BCE to 100 CE (end of use for scholarly work)
Cuneiform Writing
3000 BCE
South America: 5,000 Years Ago
Fuente Magna Bowl: Forgery or Real?
circa 2800 BCE
The Divine Farmer
Shennong (神农)
King of Uruk
Gilgamesh, circa 2700 BCE
circa 2650 BCE (+/- 50 years)
The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)
circa 2600 BCE
The Wise King
King Shuruppak
circa 2600 BCE
Indus Valley Script: Northwest India
A network of ideas.
New Look
Knowledge Framework
The what, why, and how of life.
Philosophy
Before 1900 BCE
Mesoamerica
Chocolate
1755 BCE
Code of Hammurabi
1,700 BCE
148 Generations Ago
Rigveda Samhita, Veda Book 1 of 4
By 1600 BCE
Dragons: Early Dinosaur Fossils
1344 BCE
circa 1340 to 1320 BCE
Oldest Known Monotheistic Religion: Atenism
1100 BCE (+/- 300 years)
125 Generations Ago
Major Religion: Hinduism
circa 800 BCE
Gargi Vachaknavi
The Nature of Being.
We are more than self-aware.
Ontology
Nature is the master plan.
Holism
624 BCE
Circa 624-546 BCE
The Birth of Logic
Early or "First" Science
The Grandfather of Western Philosophy
Thales of Miletus (624 – 546 BCE)
Built circa 700 BCE, destroyed 612 BCE.
Library of Ashurbanipal
b. circa 604 BCE
By tradition, 604-517 BCE
Laozi
600 BCE
Spherical Earth
600 BCE
New Look
New Look: The Flood Stories
Go with the flow of nature.
Wu-wei or “non-action”
Let life unfold organically.
Ziran, Authenticity, or Authentic Self
A good life is a balanced life.
Yin and Yang
We can only describe nature.
Unknowable Dao
Pythagoreanism
Father of Mathematics
Pythagoras (570-495 BCE)
b. 551 BCE
551 to 479 BCE, aged 72
Confucius
Normal is our current experiences.
New Look
Normalcy, Normal, and Abnormal
The abstractions of life.
Schemas
b. circa 563
circa 563 to 486 BCE
Gautama Buddha
Your idea of "self" does not exist.
Non-Self or Anatman and Self or Atman
The separation of mind and body is an illusion.
Nondualism and Dualism
born circa 535 BCE
circa 535 to 475 BCE, likely aged about 60 years old
Heraclitus
Change is the only constant.
Impermanence and Flux
Your sub-culture and choices.
Worldview
Existence before essence.
Crafting yourself from your given traits.
Identity
500 BCE
circa 450 BCE
Anaxagoras (circa 500-428 BCE)
Socratic Questioning
Father of Western Ethics
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)
Atomist
The Laughing Philosopher
Democritus (460 BCE – circa 370 BCE)
451 BCE
Law of the Twelve Tables
b. 428 BCE
428 to 347 BCE
Plato
A constant state of self-assessment.
Reflective Inquiry
Strategic ignorance.
Ignorance is Bliss
New Look
Plato and Aristotle’s Relationship
b. 384 BCE
384 to 322 BCE
Aristotle
Logically connect things.
Syllogisms
Prioritize your ideas over reality.
Rationalism
Prioritize reality over your ideas.
Empiricism
Reality is organized and mathematical.
Logic
Flaws in reasoning.
Logical Fallacies
Flourish now and into the future.
Eudaimonia
Daoism
Chuang Tzu (369-286 BCE)
b. 360 BCE
360 to 270 BCE
Pyrrho of Elis
Question your beliefs and avoid dogmatism.
Skepticism
Shared, not natural agreements.
Social Constructs 101
New Look
Epicurean Happiness Toolkit: A 4-Step Structure
b. 341 BCE
341 to 270 BCE
Epicurus
Don't waste time on the unknowable.
Live in the present.
Agnosticism
Prefer long term pleasures over short.
Dichotomy of Pleasure
Stoicism
Father of Stoicism
Zeno of Citium (334-262 BCE)
106 BCE
84 Generations Ago
Cicero (106-43 BCE)
b. circa 20 BCE
circa 20 BCE to circa 55 CE
Philo of Alexandria
Stories have complex meanings.
Allegorical Interpretation
Stoic Tradition
Roman Stoic Statesman
Seneca the Younger (4 BCE – 65 CE)
65 CE
Earliest Known Magnification
circa 100 CE
78 Generations Ago
Epictetus (50-135 CE)
New Look
Marcus Aurelius: An Explorative Agnostic
New Look
Stoic Virtue Framework: A 4-Step Structure
born 121
121 to 180 CE
Marcus Aurelius
Emotions are judgements.
Cognitive Reframing
Contemplate the future.
Negative Visualization
Step outside your reality.
Cognitive Distancing
circa 300 BCE to 200 CE
Badarayana
Karma
Cause and Effect
Maya, Illusion.
Cognitive Biases
New Look
The “Dark” Middle Ages
New Look
Holistic Eudaimonia
born 354
354 to 430 CE
Augustine of Hippo
Spacetime
Chronoception
Block Theory of the Universe
New Look
Eternity
born 872
872 to 950
Al-Farabi
Blank slate filled with impressions
Intellect
You exist, then you mold your essence.
Essence and Existence
New Look
The Floating Man Thought Experiment
born 965
965 to 1040
Alhazen
Circa 1020
New Look
The Five Senses of Humans
Interpretation
Touchstone: Perception
Mike's Spacetime Game
New Look
Time Trail Game: Mindful Time Travel
Neoplatonist
French Philosopher
Bernard of Chartres (circa 1070 – 1130)
born 1079
1079 to 1141
Peter Abelard
Good Intent vs Good Results
Intent
Abstraction brings understanding and illusion
New Look
Object-Oriented Nature
Patterns in Nature
Pattern Recognition
New Look
The Problem of Universals
New Look
The Idea of Ideas
New Look
Grand Rational Framework
1215
Magna Carta
12 Nov 1216
The First Great Charter of King Henry III
1400
Hourglass
1440
Germany
Printing Press Invented
born 1469
1469 to 1539
Guru Nanak
born 1473
Lived 1473 to 1543, aged 70.
Nicolas Copernicus
5 ethical guideposts
The Five Thieves
28 Feb 1533
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
born 1561
1561 to 1626
Francis Bacon
born 1564
1564 to 1642
Galileo Galilei
1590 to 1640 CE
Microscope Invented = Microworld Discovered!
1596-1649
Rene Descartes
How new ideas become.
New Look
Idea Modeling
3 Types: Empirical, Rational, & Irrational
New Look
Pragmatism
born circa 1602
circa 1602 to Mar 1683
Roger Williams
1748 with Montesquieu
Evolved from 1640 through 1748
Separation of Church and State
Everyone is equal.
Liberalism
1608
Modern Cosmology
The Idea of the Unknowable Dao
New Look
Absolute Truth
Processes that uncover truth.
New Look
Truth Hammers
1629
Modern science started in the 1600s.
The Scientific Method
New Look
Idea Theory Framework
born 1632
1632 to 1704
John Locke
Jul 1632
Relativity Principle
Law protects.
Modern law emerges after the Middle Ages.
Law
Life, Liberty, & Property Rights
Natural Rights
Protection against authority.
Emerged in the 1600s.
Due Process
born 1632
1632-1677, aged 44
Baruch Spinoza
1638
Infinitesimal
1641 - Two Substances: Body & Soul
Cartesian Dualism
Mind-Body Dualism
New Look
Descartes Thought Experiment
7 Sep 1643
Book: A Key Into the Language of America
1644
Book: The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution
14 Mar 1644
Patent for Providence Plantations, Roger Williams
Jul 1663
Founder, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
God is nature, nature is everything.
Western monism emerged with Spinoza in the 1600s.
Monism
Spirituality is exploration.
New Look
Material-Spiritual Framework
New Look
Open Viewpoint Method (OVM)
1674
Protozoa Discovered: Microbiology Founded
1679
Roger’s Last Known Essay
5 Jul 1687
The Invention of Calculus
Citizens consent to be governed.
Emerged about 1689.
The Social Contract
The force of public opinion.
The fourth emerged in the 18th & 19th centuries.
Fourth Estate
Storytelling for the people.
Modern journalism started in the early 1700s.
Journalism
born 1694
1694-1778
Voltaire
born 1711
1711-1776
David Hume
Our Ideas are Not Reality
The Eastern unknowable Dao emerged in the West in the late 1700s.
Transcendental Idealism
Live by universal values.
Emerged in late 1700s.
Categorical Imperative
born 1724
1724-1804
Immanuel Kant
Knowledge is experience.
Skeptical Empiricism
Patterns might mislead.
The Problem of Induction
Life is definitions & observations.
New Look
Hume’s Fork
Instincts and Impressions
New Look
Modern Innate Knowledge
New Look
Fear-Based Ethics
New Look
Ethical Roadmap
Separation of Powers
Matured about 1748.
Checks and Balances
4 Jul 1776
Declaration of Independence
Oct 1776
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Nov 1783
Black Holes Proposed
17 Sep 1787
The Constitution of the United States
b. 1788
1788 to 1860, aged 72
Arthur Schopenhauer
3 Dec 1791
Bill of Rights
born 1806
1806-1873
John Stuart Mill
British Naturalist
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
b. 1813
1813 to 1855, aged 42
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
British Naturalist and Explorer
Father of Biogeography
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
1824
The Birth of Paleontology
Fossils: From Myth to Science
1842
Doppler Effect for Sound and Light
Use angst to guide your life.
1843: “Fear and Trembling” by Kierkegaard.
Anxiety “Angst”
New Look
Leap of Faith
born 1844
1844-1900
Friedrich Nietzsche
1848
Doppler Effect Observed for Stars
1853
Discovery: The Sumerian Flood Story
1858
Lived from 1858 to 1947, aged 89.
Max Planck
Cause no harm.
In "On Liberty," pub. 1859.
Harm Principle
1862: Ivan Turgenev novel "Fathers and Sons"
New Look
Nihilism
1864
Electromagnetic Radiation Theory
Born 1864.
Lived from 1864 to 1920, aged 56 years.
Max Weber (1864–1920)
Born 1879.
Lived from 1879 to 1950, aged 70
Alfred Korzybski
Live Your Authentic Self
1883, 1885: From "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Übermensch
Live in the now.
1882/3/5: Refined in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Eternal Recurrence
New Look
Authentic Recipe: Nietzsche’s Five-step Approach
Nietzsche Mustache
b. 1899
1899 to 1990, aged 90
Peter Zapffe
born 1905
1905-1980
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jun 1905
Special Relativity
The experience of living.
New Look
Consciousness
1905 CE
Radiometric Dating
24 Dec 1906
First Analog Radio Transmission
b. 1913
1913 to 1960, aged 46
Albert Camus
Nov 1915
General Relativity
Confront life head on.
1927: "Being and Time"
Heidegger’s Existentialism
1929
Galaxies Discovered! Doppler Effect used to measure distance!!
1931
Electron Microscope = Nanoworld Discovered!
1932
Oort Cloud
Don't live in bad-faith, be authentic.
1943: "Being and Nothingness" by Sartre.
Bad Faith
Existence precedes essence.
1943: "Being and Nothingness"
Sartre’s Existentialism
1946 CE
Radiocarbon Dating
1958
Rediscovery: City of Catalhoyuk, circa 7100 BCE
1960
Hand Axes 1.7 Million Years Ago
20 May 1965
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
1975
Rediscovery of the Library of Ebla: circa 2350 BCE
Chapter 1 Quote Attribution Clarification
1994
Ancient Spears 350,000 Years Ago
2018
Discovery: Neanderthal Symbolic Thought
2018
Bread Making Pushed Back
Apr 2019
Black Holes Confirmed
Featuring Mike's mantra.
Final Word
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Philosophy TL: ALL > Big Picture > 2. Ideas > 3. Philosophers > 4. Publications