Course XXX - Teaching 1: Origin and Development of Philosophy

Philosophy is the science of thought applied to know and solve universal phenomena.
Philosophy emerged from the first “why” that man asked. It is a science so united to man and his way of thinking that one could call it daughter of his thought.
When the idea is fixed in a law, its subsequent development leaves the field of philosophy.
In ancient texts, Philosophy was divided in three main branches:

1. Cosmodicy;
2. Andrology; and
3. Rasika Philosophy.
   Ancient Initiates just called Philosophy to mental questions that eventually solved universal super-physical phenomena.
   The study and observation of human development was something secondary and ever subject to the cosmic phenomenon; later the problems of very man, his internal phenomena became so transcendent that the Initiates strove to study the science of man.
   Their advances and new observations about the Divinity and Humanity were the foundation of History of the Philosophy.
   The Cosmodicy was used to explain the Universe as a whole from three fundamental viewpoints about three basic postulates: Non-Being; and Being and Non-Being; Being.
   In the course of the times, the three branches of Philosophy came into being from these three foundations that survive until now and could be named: BRANCH OF PANTHEISTS, BRANCH OF EVOLUTIONISTS and BRANCH OF DUALISTS.
   The ancient Cosmodicy developed its theory from matter, from molecule and from atom to reach the Primary Essence and the Non-manifested aspect. Of course, man was not considered in particular but in the speculative frame of his different stages of conceptual thoughts. This development, seeking the Unique Truth ever-forward, gave rise to certain especial branches of Philosophy that later formed a separate school.
   The study of natural laws resulted in Physics.
   The study of atmospheric and cosmic forces resulted in Energetic or Atomistic Philosophy.
   The study and speculation on substantial things not within the reach of man resulted in the ancient Substantial School, later called Metaphysical School.
   The study of power and occult forces that rule the Universe gave rise to Cosmology.
   The speculation about the unique principle from which all these powers emanated became Theodicy.
   The numeration and measure of the Cosmos gave rise to sciences such as Astronomy, Archaic Relativism and others.
   As the reader can deduce, Andrology emerged from the characteristic study of powers of man and his internal problems; this study was the purpose of thought in certain man, and later entire schools dealt with it.
   Psychology studies the human soul in its different aspects.
   Psychology came into being through discernment to think properly; and through his own procedures, man succeeded in thinking and discerning better; this gave rise to the school of Good Thinking.
   The effective value of this school was the materialization of thoughts through language. Necessarily the Word had to become Flesh.
   Besides, man wanted to convey what he had understood, not only through acts but also through word. This gave rise to many schools dedicated to different aspects of the human language: Linguistics.
   But a thought properly expressed not always expresses the truth; it has necessary to know when the thought was exact; and a new school came into being: the school of Criticism of Thought.
   Excessive criticism led to Sophistry; and from this a beautiful school came into being for a correct thought concatenation, the School of Logic.
   Just as previously man had thought of those relationships that the Universe could have with him, the andrologic philosopher thought of those relationships that he could have with the Universe and gave rise to other specialized schools:
   Philosophy of Instinct;
   Philosophy of Reasoning;
   Philosophy of Intuition;
   Ethics, or Moral;
   Philosophy of Religion; and
   Aesthetics.
   The soul in its relationship with the cosmos tried by making use of the thought to get more and more considerable mental force to grasp through the human mind the Divine Idea; the result of it was the Search for God, or Mystical Asceticism.
   In Andrology, the most difficult aspect is to find the exact place in which individual man, unlike the rest of men, is placed in the Cosmos. This branch of Philosophy, intensely studied by the ancient, was abandoned by the modern and now is just a remainder.
   History of Philosophy, Rasika, studies stages of evolution of the Universe or Macrocosm, and the evolution of man since his appearance on the Earth, Microcosm.
   It can be divided into several branches:
4. History in the strict sense, according to the thought value of the author to co-ordinate and unite documented facts within his reach.
5. Applied Philosophy in all its branches:
6. Relationship of the Cosmos with the Earth according to paleontological, archeological and geological documents.
7. Inter-relationship of Races: their birth, development, supremacy, fights and decadence.
8. Stages of science development in peoples, with their three characteristic Philosophical branches: Music, Writing and Mathematics.
9. Physical inter-relationships of peoples. These relationships gave rise to great schools of Philosophy, which were very useful to develop and unfold Mankind: Geography, Cosmography, Cartography, Migrations, Discoveries and Expeditionary Journeys.
10. Philosophical stages, principal schools and main exemplars.