major intellectual periods of Western civilization
each one a shift in worldview, values, and the nature of truth:
Pre-Socratic / Mythic Age (Before 800 BCE)
Myth, Ritual, and Sacred Order
• Oral traditions, epic poetry (e.g., Gilgamesh, Homer), and mythopoetic worldviews.
• The cosmos as sacred drama. Kings and priests as divine mediators.
• Not “philosophical” in the rational sense, but deeply symbolic and foundational.
Ancient (c. 800 BCE – 500 CE)
Greece & Rome
• Birth of philosophy (Plato, Aristotle), logic, ethics, metaphysics.
• Logos, order, virtue, and reason as guiding principles.
• Stoicism, Epicureanism, Neoplatonism arise.
• Roman law and governance shaped civilization.
Late Antiquity / Early Christian (c. 200–500 CE)
Mystery, Syncretism, and Transformation
• Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, early Christian theology, and Gnosticism converge.
• The fall of Rome births a mystical inward turn—soul over city, eternity over empire.
• Seeds of esotericism and monasticism are sown.
Medieval (c. 500 – 1300)
Christian Synthesis
• Integration of Greek reason with Christian revelation (e.g. Augustine, Aquinas).
• Hierarchical cosmos: God, angels, man, nature.
• Faith above reason, scholasticism, divine teleology.
Renaissance (c. 1300 – 1600)
Humanism & Classical Revival
• Rebirth of Greek and Roman ideals: dignity of man, proportion, harmony.
• Art, science, and philosophy awaken under humanist spirit.
• Fusion of beauty, nature, and intellect.
Enlightenment (c. 1600 – 1800)
Reason, Progress, and Universal Truth
• Rationality over tradition, empirical science over dogma.
• Liberty, rights, and secular ethics rise.
• Philosophes challenge monarchy and church.
Baroque / Counter-Enlightenment (c. 1600–1750)
Splendor, Symbol, and Sacred Drama
• Reaction to early modern rationalism and Protestant austerity.
• Emphasis on emotional grandeur, art as spiritual spectacle (e.g., Bach, Bernini).
• Catholic mysticism, courtly magic, and early Rosicrucianism bloom.
Romanticism (c. 1800 – 1850)
Emotion, Nature, and the Sublime
• Reaction to Enlightenment rationalism.
• Exalts passion, intuition, and the wildness of nature.
• Celebrates the individual soul and poetic vision.
Modernism (c. 1850 – 1950)
Fragmentation, Innovation, Crisis
• Faith in progress fractured by war and alienation.
• Avant-garde art, existentialism, psychoanalysis.
• Seeks new forms, new truths in a disenchanted world.
Postmodernism (c. 1950 – 2000+)
Relativism, Deconstruction, Irony
• Truth is contextual, narratives are constructed.
• Distrust of meta-narratives, authority, and objective meaning.
• Playfulness, pastiche, and skepticism rule.
Late/Post-Postmodern / Metamodern (2000–Present)
Integration, Paradox, and Sacred Re-enchantment
• Simultaneous irony and sincerity, tradition and innovation.
• Rebirth of myth, meaning, and esoteric inquiry amid collapse and uncertainty.
• Often described as metamodernism, integral thinking, or the “meaning crisis” response