api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: toon
dataset:
  id: 2872
  slug: philosophical-traditions
  title: Philosophical Traditions and Schools of Thought
  description: "Major philosophical traditions: ancient Greek philosophy, Eastern philosophy (Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism), Enlightenment rationalism and empiricism, and existentialism."
  summary: "Major philosophical traditions with their period, key thinkers, central questions and legacy: ancient Greek philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, Confucianism, rationalism, empiricism and existentialism."
  use_when[2]: "You need a map of a tradition's period, thinkers and central questions.",You are comparing how different traditions approached similar questions.
  caveats[2]: Traditions overlap and internal disagreement is large; labels such as 'rationalism' are simplifications.,"The list is a selection and omits many traditions, such as Indian orthodox schools, African and Islamic philosophy."
  related[4]: major-philosophers,ethics-moral-philosophy,epistemology-terms,literary-movements
  entry_count: 6
  fields[15]{section,field,type,example}:
    traditions,name,string,Ancient Greek Philosophy
    traditions,period,string,6th century BCE - 6th century CE
    traditions,key_thinkers,array,"[5 items]"
    traditions,central_questions,array,"[3 items]"
    traditions,legacy,string,"Foundation of Western philosophy; logic, ethics…"
    traditions,key_concepts,array,"[4 items]"
    traditions,schools,array,"[3 items]"
    traditions,core_virtues,array,"[4 items]"
    traditions,social_structure,string,"Five relationships: ruler-subject, father-son, …"
    traditions,core_belief,string,Reason is the primary source of knowledge; cert…
    traditions,method,string,Deductive reasoning from self-evident first pri…
    traditions,famous_argument,string,"Descartes' method of doubt → 'I think, therefor…"
    traditions,hume_skepticism,string,Causation is not observable; we only see consta…
    traditions,core_themes,array,"[5 items]"
    traditions,famous_quote,string,"Sartre: 'Man is condemned to be free; because o…"
  category: Philosophy
  category_slug: philosophy
  tags: "philosophy,greek,eastern,buddhism,confucianism,existentialism,rationalism,empiricism,ethics,metaphysics"
  view_count: 55
  created_at: 1778695229
  updated_at: 1778695229
data:
  traditions[6]:
    - name: Ancient Greek Philosophy
      period: 6th century BCE - 6th century CE
      key_thinkers[5]: "Socrates (Socratic method, ethics, 'know thyself')","Plato (Theory of Forms, philosopher-kings, The Republic)","Aristotle (logic, virtue ethics, metaphysics, empiricism)","Epicurus (hedonism as absence of pain, atomism)","Zeno (Stoicism: virtue as living in accordance with nature)"
      central_questions[3]: What is the nature of reality?,What is the good life?,What can we know?
      legacy: "Foundation of Western philosophy; logic, ethics, metaphysics, political theory"
    - name: Buddhist Philosophy
      period: 5th century BCE - present
      key_concepts[4]{concept,description}:
        Four Noble Truths,Life is suffering (dukkha); cause is craving; cessation is possible; path leads to cessation
        Eightfold Path,"Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration"
        Anatta (No-Self),"No permanent, unchanging self; self is a collection of aggregates (skandhas)"
        Dependent Origination,All phenomena arise in dependence on conditions; nothing exists independently
      schools[3]: "Theravada (early teachings, Pali Canon)","Mahayana (bodhisattva ideal, emptiness/sunyata)","Zen (direct insight, meditation, koans)"
    - name: Confucianism
      period: 6th century BCE - present
      key_thinkers[3]: "Confucius (Analects: ren/benevolence, li/ritual propriety)",Mencius (human nature is inherently good),Xunzi (human nature is inherently selfish; requires cultivation)
      core_virtues[4]{virtue,description}:
        Ren (仁),"Benevolence, humaneness, empathy for others"
        Li (禮),"Ritual propriety, proper conduct in social relationships"
        Xiao (孝),Filial piety; respect for parents and ancestors
        Yi (義),Righteousness; doing what is morally right
      social_structure: "Five relationships: ruler-subject, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother, friend-friend"
    - name: Rationalism (17th-18th century)
      key_thinkers[3]: René Descartes (Cogito ergo sum; mind-body dualism; innate ideas),Baruch Spinoza (monism; God = Nature; determinism),Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (monads; pre-established harmony; best of all possible worlds)
      core_belief: Reason is the primary source of knowledge; certain truths are innate or deducible by pure reason
      method: Deductive reasoning from self-evident first principles (like mathematics)
      famous_argument: "Descartes' method of doubt → 'I think, therefore I am' as indubitable foundation"
    - name: Empiricism (17th-18th century)
      key_thinkers[3]: John Locke (tabula rasa; all knowledge from experience),George Berkeley (esse est percipi; to be is to be perceived),"David Hume (skepticism about causation, induction, and the self)"
      core_belief: All knowledge originates in sensory experience; no innate ideas
      method: Inductive reasoning from observation and experiment
      hume_skepticism: Causation is not observable; we only see constant conjunction. Induction cannot be rationally justified. Self is just a 'bundle of perceptions'.
    - name: Existentialism (19th-20th century)
      key_thinkers[5]: Søren Kierkegaard (leap of faith; anxiety of freedom; subjective truth),Friedrich Nietzsche (death of God; will to power; eternal recurrence; Übermensch),Jean-Paul Sartre (existence precedes essence; radical freedom; bad faith),Martin Heidegger (Being and Time; Dasein; being-toward-death),Albert Camus (absurdism; revolt against meaninglessness)
      core_themes[5]: Individual existence and freedom,Authenticity vs. bad faith,Anxiety and responsibility of choice,"Meaning created by the individual, not given by God or nature",Confrontation with mortality and absurdity
      famous_quote: "Sartre: 'Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.'"