1400 – 1700
Early Modern
Printing, exploration and the new science shook every old certainty. Philosophers asked the question again from scratch — what can I actually know? — and split into rival camps of reason and experience.
The Renaissance1400s–1500sHumans, art, and science took center stage as Europe ‘rediscovered’ itself.The Baroque1600sA dramatic age torn between ‘seize the day’ and ‘remember you will die.’
Descartes1596–1650Doubted everything — until he found one thing he couldn't doubt.
Spinoza1632–1677Said God and Nature are two names for the very same single reality.
Locke1632–1704Said your mind starts empty and is filled in by experience.
Hume1711–1776Warned that a lot of what we ‘know’ is really just habit.
Berkeley1685–1753Wondered whether things exist only as ideas in a mind.
Descartes1596–1650Doubted everything — until he found one thing he couldn't doubt.Spinoza1632–1677Said God and Nature are two names for the very same single reality.Locke1632–1704Said your mind starts empty and is filled in by experience.Hume1711–1776Warned that a lot of what we ‘know’ is really just habit.Berkeley1685–1753Wondered whether things exist only as ideas in a mind.