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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.

[[Image:Thomas_Hobbes_(portrait).jpg|right|thumb|"Portrait of Thomas Hobbes"]]

[[Image:Thomas_Hobbes_(portrait).jpg|right|thumb|"Thomas Hobbes"]]

A broad overview would then have [[Erasmus]], [[Francis Bacon]], [[Niccolò Machiavelli]], and [[Galileo Galilei]] represent the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition. [[17th-century philosophy]] is dominated by the need to organize philosophy on rational, skeptical, logical and axiomatic grounds, such as the work of [[René Descartes]], [[Blaise Pascal]], and [[Thomas Hobbes]]. This type of philosophy attempts to integrate religious belief into philosophical frameworks, and, often to combat atheism or other unbeliefs, by adopting the idea of material reality, and the [[dualism]] between spirit and material. The extension, and reaction, against this would be the monism of [[George Berkeley]] ([[Idealism#George_Berkeley|idealism]]) and [[Benedict de Spinoza]] ([[Double-aspect theory|dual aspect theory]]).  It was during this time period that the empiricism was developed as an alternative to skepticism by [[John Locke]], [[George Berkeley]] and others.  It should be mentioned that [[John Locke]], [[Thomas Hobbes]] and [[Edmund Burke]] developed their well known political philosophies during this time, as well.

A broad overview would then have [[Erasmus]], [[Francis Bacon]], [[Niccolò Machiavelli]], and [[Galileo Galilei]] represent the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition. [[17th-century philosophy]] is dominated by the need to organize philosophy on rational, skeptical, logical and axiomatic grounds, such as the work of [[René Descartes]], [[Blaise Pascal]], and [[Thomas Hobbes]]. This type of philosophy attempts to integrate religious belief into philosophical frameworks, and, often to combat atheism or other unbeliefs, by adopting the idea of material reality, and the [[dualism]] between spirit and material. The extension, and reaction, against this would be the monism of [[George Berkeley]] ([[Idealism#George_Berkeley|idealism]]) and [[Benedict de Spinoza]] ([[Double-aspect theory|dual aspect theory]]).  It was during this time period that the empiricism was developed as an alternative to skepticism by [[John Locke]], [[George Berkeley]] and others.  It should be mentioned that [[John Locke]], [[Thomas Hobbes]] and [[Edmund Burke]] developed their well known political philosophies during this time, as well.