Western philosophy

Western philosophy dates to the Greek philosophers, who were active in Ancient Greece beginning in the 6th century BC. Pythagoras distinguished himself from other "wise ones" by calling himself a mere lover of wisdom, suggesting that he was not wise. Socrates used this title and insisted that he possessed no wisdom but was a pursuer of wisdom.

Socrates' student Plato is often credited as the founder of Western philosophy. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said of Plato: "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them."

For the Gaudia Vaisnava view on Western philosophy, read the book Dialectic Spiritualism A VEDIC VIEW ON WESTERN PHILOSOPHY by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada. Download the book (scanned) here or go to the website: http://dialecticspiritualism.com/