European Philosophy

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to analyze how modern philosophy has broken away from many of ancient philosophy's basic roots. It looks at how ancient philosophy proposed an art of living and how, in contrast, modern philosophy emerges as structured technical jargon, in the positive sense, reserved for an elite inside academic institutions. However, it shows that philosophy students of all ages and classes must possess a knowledge of ancient philosophy if they want to understand the work of a whole series of modern philosophers and the debates to which they have contributed. Thus, while modern philosophy is perceived as evolved, it has much to learn from its predecessors.

From the Paper:

"Both modern and ancient philosophy focuses on the idea of politics. However, modern philosophy does not embrace the idea of peace as classical philosophy conceived it (Fromm, 1949). On the contrary, modern philosophy focuses on the idea of security or stability within the borders of nation-state. This concern with stability or security is actually more of a legal dimension than an individual-related issue. Thus, both classical philosophy and ancient philosophers foresaw a significant dimension within humanity, individual peace within city, which could, from their perspective, be amended and improved, without disregarding the political dimension."

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