Summarized History of Philosophy

The history of philosophy as a long a varied one. It is often hard to both grasp and describe the shifts and turns the make up the history which has led philosophy to where it is today.

Here we tried to provide a brief outline of the history of philosophy with main figures and ideas explained short and simple. Every article below will provide a short summary of a certain philosopher, period or movement. Moving through the summaries will give you a good overview of the history of philosophy and a basis for expanding your knowledge or organization what you already know. Summaries here are based on the book "Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy" which is an excellent place to start if you want a wider perspective on the history of philosophy. Other highly recommended options are "A History of Western Philosophy" and "A Little History of Philosophy". 

Chapters

Natural Philosophers

Classic Greek Philosophers

Hellenism and the Middle Age

Renaissance, Reformation and Baroque

Rene Descartes

Spinoza

John Locke

David Hume and George Berkeley

Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Immanuel Kant

Romanticism

Georg Hegel 

Soren Kierkegaard

Soon to come: philosophy of the 20th century

For more summaries and explanations on other philosophers not included in this short review you can check out our "Thinkers" category for reviews of philosophers such as Karl Marx, Michel Foucault and many more