| The definition of the word "philosophy" in English has changed over the centuries -- in medieval times, any research outside the fields of [[theology]] or [[medicine]] was called "philosophy", hence the [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] is a scientific journal dating from [[1665]], the [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.) degree covers a wide range of subjects, and the [[Cambridge Philosophical Society]] is actually concerned with what we would now call [[science]] and not modern philosophy. | | The definition of the word "philosophy" in English has changed over the centuries -- in medieval times, any research outside the fields of [[theology]] or [[medicine]] was called "philosophy", hence the [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] is a scientific journal dating from [[1665]], the [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.) degree covers a wide range of subjects, and the [[Cambridge Philosophical Society]] is actually concerned with what we would now call [[science]] and not modern philosophy. |
| As with many periodizations, there are multiple current usages for the term "Modern Philosophy" that exist in practice. One usage is to date modern philosophy from the "[[Age of Reason]]", where systematic philosophy became common, excluding [[Erasmus]] and [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] as "modern philosophers". Another is to date it, the way the entire larger modern period is dated, from the [[Renaissance]]. In some usages, "Modern Philosophy" ended in 1800, with the rise of Hegelianism and Idealism. There is also the [[lumpers/splitters]] problem, namely that some works split philosophy into more periods than others: one author might feel a strong need to differentiate between "The Age of Reason" or "Early Modern Philosophers" and "The Enlightenment", another author might write from the perspective that 1600-1800 is essentially one continuous evolution, and therefore a single period. Wikipedia's philosophy section therefore hews more closely to centuries as a means of avoiding long discussions over periods, but it is important to note the variety of practice that occurs. | | As with many periodizations, there are multiple current usages for the term "Modern Philosophy" that exist in practice. One usage is to date modern philosophy from the "[[Age of Reason]]", where systematic philosophy became common, excluding [[Erasmus]] and [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] as "modern philosophers". Another is to date it, the way the entire larger modern period is dated, from the [[Renaissance]]. In some usages, "Modern Philosophy" ended in 1800, with the rise of Hegelianism and Idealism. There is also the [[lumpers/splitters]] problem, namely that some works split philosophy into more periods than others: one author might feel a strong need to differentiate between "The Age of Reason" or "Early Modern Philosophers" and "The Enlightenment", another author might write from the perspective that 1600-1800 is essentially one continuous evolution, and therefore a single period. Wikipedia's philosophy section therefore hews more closely to centuries as a means of avoiding long discussions over periods, but it is important to note the variety of practice that occurs. |