Claim: Socrates was a classical Athenian philosopher.

Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western world . Historically , the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture , beginning with Hellenic -LRB- i.e. Greek -RRB- philosophy of the Pre-Socratics such as Thales -LRB- c. 624 -- c. 546 BC -RRB- and Pythagoras -LRB- c. 570 -- c. 495 BC -RRB- , and eventually covering a large area of the globe . The word philosophy itself originated from the Hellenic : philosophia , literally , `` the love of wisdom '' -LRB- φιλεῖν philein , `` to love '' and σοφία sophia , `` wisdom '' -RRB- .   The scope of philosophy in the ancient understanding , and the writings of -LRB- at least some of -RRB- the ancient philosophers , were all intellectual endeavors . This included the problems of philosophy as they are understood today ; but it also included many other disciplines , such as pure mathematics and natural sciences such as physics , astronomy , and biology -LRB- Aristotle , for example , wrote on all of these topics . -RRB-