Now almost all the hypotheses that have dominated modern philosophy were first thought of by the Greeks; their imaginative inventiveness in abstract matters can hardly be too highly praised,” said Bertrand Russell. Russell acknowledged that some of these theories, in their early days, were “somewhat infantile” – nevertheless philosophers have developed and refined them.
These theories gained influence over the last two thousand years, and we still feel their influence today. You will be stunned at how their work has filtered through to modern times. You will recognise modern thinking in their thought and ideas that sometimes seem crazy, and at other times, incredibly perceptive and far ahead of their time.
Most of these early philosophers are men but that's not because women were inactive - as we know stories about the work and lives of the few fortunate enough to access education were not always preserved for posterity. I have, however, included an amazing woman, Aspasia, who was a rhetorician, a philosopher, a politician and a teacher, and who spent time debating with than Socrates and Plato. You can find more great women in my other book, Eighteen Amazing Women Philosophers. But those ancient male thinkers were pretty smart too!
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