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1500 BCE
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1000 CE
1500 CE
1500 BCE - 1100 BCE: The Rig Veda written, mentioning the god Rudra (Shiva) and goddess Tara (among others) for the first time.
1500 BCE - 500 BCE: Indian scholars of the so-called Vedic Period commit the Vedas to written form; basic tenets of Hinduism are established.
610 BCE - 546 BCE: Dates of Anaximander who develops the cosmic theory of the apeiron as the First Cause of existence.
600 BCE: Development of the Charvaka school of philosophy in India.
599 BCE - 527 BCE: Traditional dating of the life of Vardhamana, according to Jain tradition.
585 BCE: Time in which Thales of Miletus lived.
570 BCE - 478 BCE: Life of Xenophanes of Colophon; claim of One God as the First Cause of existence.
563 BCE - 483 BCE: The life of Siddhartha Gautama according to modern scholarly consensus.
546 BCE: Date of Anaximenes' work; air is claimed as the First Cause of existence.
500 BCE: Life of the Chinese Relativist Philosopher Teng Shih (probable date of death 522 or 502 BCE).
500 BCE: Probable life of the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu, founder of Taoism and author of the Tao-Te-Ching.
500 BCE: Probable life of Sun-Tzu, Military Strategist, author of The Art of War.
492 BCE - 432 BCE: Life of the philosopher Empidocles of Agrigento.
485 BCE - 415 BCE: Life of the Sophist Protagoras of Abdera; claim that "man is the measure of all things".
470 BCE - 391 BCE: Life of the Chinese pacifist philosopher Mo Ti, founder of Mohism.
469 BCE - 399 BCE: Life of Socrates.
460 BCE - 370 BCE: Life of Democritus, pupil of Leucippus; development of the concept of the atomic universe.
450 BCE - 370 BCE: Life of Antisthenes, found of the Cynic school of philosophy.
440 BCE - 360 BCE: Life of Chinese Hedonist Philosopher Yang Zhu.
430 BCE - 354 BCE: Life of Xenophon of Athens.
427 BCE - 347 BCE: Life of Plato.
424 BCE - 423 BCE: Plato is born at Athens, Greece.
407 BCE: Plato meets Socrates, abandons aspiration to be playwright.
404 BCE - 323 BCE: Life of Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope.
403 BCE: Plato turns away from politics toward philosophy.
399 BCE: Trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, who taught in the court of the Agora.
384 BCE - 322 BCE: Life of Aristotle.
380 BCE: Plato founds his Academy outside of Athens.
372 BCE - 289 BCE: Life of the Confucian philosopher Mencius (Mang-Tze).
361 BCE - 360 BCE: Plato's second trip to Syracuse.
343 BCE: King Philip II of Macedon summons Aristotle to tutor his young son Alexander (later 'The Great').
336 BCE - 265 BCE: Life of the philosopher Zeno of Citium.
314 BCE: Zeno of Citium is shipwrecked and stranded in Athens.
213 BCE: The Burning of the Books and the Burying of Philosophers Period in China.
1 CE - 100 CE: The Mahayana movement begins in India with its belief in bodhisattva - saintly souls who helped the living.
204 CE - 270 CE: Life of Plotinus.
380 CE - 418 CE: Life time of Paulus Orosius.
470 CE - 385 CE: Life of the philosopher Philolaus, active in Magna Graecia.
500 CE - 600 CE: In India the Tantric expands the number of deities to include helpful demons, contactable through ritual.
524 CE - 525 CE: Boethius writes The Consolation of Philosophy while imprisoned by Theodoric in Pavia.
617 CE - 686 CE: Life of the Korean Buddhist philosopher Wonhyo.
1651 CE: Thomas Hobbes publishes his Leviathan.
1689 CE: John Locke publishes his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Two Treatises on Government, and Letters on Toleration.
1726 CE: Francis Hutcheson coins the term "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" in his Inquiry Concerning Moral Good and Evil.
1776 CE: Jeremy Bentham publishes his A Fragment on Government.
1789 CE: Jeremy Bentham publishes his thoughts on utilitarianism in his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
1859 CE: John Stuart Mill publishes his On Liberty.
1863 CE: John Stuart Mill publishes his Utilitarianism.