For the traditional periodization of ancient philosophy, it is common to begin with Thales of Miletus (624/546 BC) and end with Plotinus (204/270 AD). This is followed by the period of nascent Christian philosophy - patristics - up until the death of St. Augustine (430 AD), which practically coincides with the end of the Ancient Age.

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         From the 5th century AD onwards, thinkers found themselves under a philosophical tradition divided into two linguistic worlds: the Latin-speaking Western world and the Greek-speaking Eastern world. On the Western side, medieval philosophy was practically a Christian philosophy both in terms of its intentions and by its own representatives. On the Eastern side, Greek patristics paved the way for the reception of ancient philosophy in the Arabic-Islamic world.

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              The reception of ancient philosophy by Al-Kindi, the theses of Al-Farabi, the systematization of Avicenna's work and the reformulations of Averroes were carried out in the following period between the 8th and 12th centuries AD. This is, therefore, the classical period in which falsafa is located in the history of philosophy.

 

        The growing contact between the Latin West and the Arab-Islamic world was one of the factors responsible for the increase of science and philosophy in Europe from the 12th century AD onwards. At that time, a large volume of treatises and new knowledge found fertile soil among Western thinkers and laid the foundations for the European Renaissance.

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