Philosophy is a word that literally means "love of wisdom" in Greek. This teaching arose many thousands of years ago and gained special popularity in Hellas. Greek (and later Roman) philosophy developed under the influence of both mythology and the science that was emerging at the time.
However, not only in the ancient world such a system of worldview developed. Its philosophy was also the ancient inhabitants of India and the Chinese. In particular, Buddhism first arose as the teaching of Prince Gautama and only later acquired the form of religion. The reflections of Lao Tzu and the sage Confucius still influence the minds of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire.
The history of philosophy is a discipline that studies the stages of the development of this science. It reveals the links between the individual schools of this teaching. The history of philosophy as a separate discipline arose in the period of antiquity and was a critical analysis of the views of thinkers-predecessors. The first such descriptions are the works of Aristotle. He left to his descendants a wide panorama of the views and reflections of his compatriots. After him, such philosophers as skeptics, such as Sextus Empiricus and Diogenes Laertius, engaged in similar work . The works of these authors are outstanding monuments of literature of the time, but they are neither systematic nor chronological in the description of events.
The history of philosophy received a new impetus in the development of the Middle Ages and especially in the subsequent Renaissance. At first it was a work with the writings of the first apologists of Christianity, the reconstruction of their ideas. Subsequently, special interest began to evoke the views of the ancient sages, Plato and Aristotle. Since in the Middle Ages philosophy was closely associated with the teaching of the church, Aristotle was even elevated to the rank of saint, despite the fact that he was a pagan. However, during the Renaissance, religion was gradually losing its position. Philosophy at that time developed in close connection with art. The formation of the views of humanists was dominated by the aesthetic approach. And the philosophy of the so-called New Time (the seventeenth century) was based largely on science. This, in particular, determined the approach of the humanists of the Enlightenment, whose activities were often aimed at criticizing theology and religion.
Gradually, new disciplines appeared in European universities. In particular, the training courses on the history of philosophy. However, they were superficial and did not give the right amount of knowledge. The most systematic history of philosophy in a brief presentation appeared from the pen of the famous thinker Hegel. The ideas of this scientist influenced in no small measure the development of the entire discipline. Hegel believed that, on the whole, the history of philosophy is a reflection of a systematic and consistent process in which the best thinkers of the past and present participated. His ideas were picked up by a new pleiad of researchers. By the end of the nineteenth century, the history of philosophy was finally shaped into a separate, full-fledged discipline. In particular, this is the achievement of such scientists as Fisher, Erdmann, Zeller.
The modern history of Western philosophy involves not only the systematization of ancient works, but also the exploration of Renaissance philosophers and our time. This discipline ensures the accumulation and preservation of knowledge that has survived to the present day. In particular, she studies Indian, Chinese, ancient philosophy. In addition, it provides a kind of connection of generations. The thinkers of the past, as well as their works, become the subject of intellectual research for the newest philosophers.