Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions.
Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western, Arabic–Persian, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the spiritual problem of how to reach enlightenment with the exploration of the nature of reality and the ways of arriving at knowledge. Chinese philosophy focuses principally on practical issues about right social conduct, government, and self-cultivation.
Major branches of philosophy are epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epistemology studies what knowledge is and how to acquire it. Ethics investigates moral principles and what constitutes right conduct. Logic is the study of correct reasoning and explores how good arguments can be distinguished from bad ones. Metaphysics examines the most general features of reality, existence, objects, and properties. Other subfields are aesthetics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of history, and political philosophy. Within each branch, there are competing schools of philosophy that promote different principles, theories, or methods.
Philosophers use a great variety of methods to arrive at philosophical knowledge. They include conceptual analysis, reliance on common sense and intuitions, use of thought experiments, analysis of ordinary language, description of experience, and critical questioning. Philosophy is related to many other fields, including the sciences, mathematics, business, law, and journalism. It provides an interdisciplinary perspective and studies the scope and fundamental concepts of these fields. It also investigates their methods and ethical implications. (Full article...)
Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia., is a 1792
feministessay written by British philosopher and women's rights advocate
Mary Wollstonecraft(1759–1797), and is one of the earliest works of
feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the eighteenth century who did not believe women should receive a rational education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men.
Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the Rights of Woman after reading Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly, which stated that women should only receive domestic education. From her reaction to this specific event, she launched a broad attack against double standards, indicting men for encouraging women to indulge in excessive emotion. Wollstonecraft hurried to complete the work in direct response to ongoing events; she intended to write a more thoughtful second volume but died before completing it. (Full article...)
The title-page of the 1759 edition published by Cramer in Geneva, which reads, "Candide, or Optimism, translated from the German of Dr. Ralph."
(
kon-DEED,
French: [kɑ̃did] ⓘ) is a French
satirewritten by
Voltaire, a
philosopherof the
Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The
novellahas been widely translated, with English versions titled
Candide: or, All for the Best(1759);
Candide: or, The Optimist(1762); and
Candide: Optimism(1947). A young man, Candide, lives a sheltered life in an
Edenic paradise, being indoctrinated with
Leibnizian optimismby his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This lifestyle is abruptly ended, followed by Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes
Candidewith, if not rejecting Leibnizian optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "
best of all possible worlds".
Candide is characterized by its tone as well as its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story akin to a serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, in a tone that is bitter and matter-of-fact. The events discussed are often based on historical happenings. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so does Candide, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. (Full article...)
(
; 3 June 1903 – 4 April 1988) was a British
classicistwho spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the
University of Torontoand was active in the Canadian socialist movement during the 1930s. In the 1960s and 1970s, he served as chair of the classics departments at both
Harvardand
Yale. Although he was trained in the turn-of-the-20th-century
Oxbridgetradition of classical studies, which saw
Greek intellectual historyas an unbroken chain of related ideas, Havelock broke radically with his own teachers and proposed an entirely new model for understanding the classical world, based on a sharp division between literature of the 6th and 5th centuries BC on the one hand, and that of the 4th on the other.
Much of Havelock's work was devoted to addressing a single thesis: that all of Western thought is informed by a profound shift in the kinds of ideas available to the human mind at the point that Greek philosophy converted from an oral to a literate form. The idea has been controversial in classical studies, and has been rejected outright both by many of Havelock's contemporaries and modern classicists. Havelock and his ideas have nonetheless had far-reaching influence, both in classical studies and other academic areas. He and Walter J. Ong (who was himself strongly influenced by Havelock) essentially founded the field that studies transitions from orality to literacy, and Havelock has been one of the most frequently cited theorists in that field; as an account of communication, his work profoundly affected the media theories of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan. Havelock's influence has spread beyond the study of the classical world to that of analogous transitions in other times and places. (Full article...)
"
Lisa the Skeptic" is the eighth episode of the
ninth seasonof the American animated television series
The Simpsons. It first aired on
Foxin the United States on November 23, 1997. On an
archaeological digwith her class,
Lisadiscovers a skeleton that resembles an
angel. All of the townspeople believe that the skeleton actually came from an angel, but
skepticalLisa attempts to persuade them that there must be a
rational scientificexplanation. The episode's writer,
David X. Cohen, developed the idea after visiting the
American Museum of Natural History, and decided to loosely parallel themes from the
Scopes Monkey Trial. The episode also makes allusions to actual hoaxes, such as the
Cardiff Giant.
It has been discussed in the context of ontology, existentialism, and skepticism; it has also been used in Christian religious education classes to initiate discussion about angels, science, and faith. (Full article...)
(8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English
naturalist, explorer,
geographer,
anthropologist,
biologistand illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of
evolutionthrough
natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year
alongside extractsfrom
Charles Darwin's earlier writings on the topic. It spurred Darwin to set aside the
"big species book"he was drafting and to quickly write an
abstractof it, which was published in 1859 as
On the Origin of Species.
Wallace did extensive fieldwork, starting in the Amazon River basin. He then did fieldwork in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion in which the animals are largely of Asian origin, and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect Australasia. He was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species, and is sometimes called the "father of biogeography", or more specifically of zoogeography. (Full article...)
The
Augustinian theodicy, named for the 4th- and 5th-century theologian and philosopher
Augustine of Hippo, is a type of
Christian theodicythat developed in response to the
evidential problem of evil. As such, it attempts to explain the probability of an
omnipotent(all-powerful) and
omnibenevolent(all-loving)
Godamid evidence of evil in the world. A number of variations of this kind of theodicy have been proposed throughout history; their similarities were first described by the 20th-century philosopher
John Hick, who classified them as "Augustinian". They typically assert that God is perfectly (ideally)
good, that he created the world
out of nothing, and that evil is the result of humanity's
original sin. The entry of evil into the world is generally explained as consequence of original sin and its continued presence due to humans' misuse of
free willand
concupiscence. God's goodness and benevolence, according to the Augustinian theodicy, remain perfect and without responsibility for evil or suffering.
Augustine of Hippo was the first to develop the theodicy. He rejected the idea that evil exists in itself, instead regarding it as a corruption of goodness, caused by humanity's abuse of free will. Augustine believed in the existence of a physical Hell as a punishment for sin, but argued that those who choose to accept the salvation of Jesus Christ will go to Heaven. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas – influenced by Augustine – proposed a similar theodicy based on the view that God is goodness and that there can be no evil in him. He believed that the existence of goodness allows evil to exist, through the fault of humans. Augustine also influenced John Calvin, who supported Augustine's view that evil is the result of free will and argued that sin corrupts humans, requiring God's grace to give moral guidance. (Full article...)
(22 April [
O.S.10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as
Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first
head of governmentof
Soviet Russiafrom 1917 until
his deathin 1924, and of the
Soviet Unionfrom 1922 until his death. As the founder and leader of the
Bolsheviks, Lenin led the
October Revolutionwhich established the world's first
socialist state. His government won the
Russian Civil Warand created a
one-party stateunder the
Communist Party. Ideologically a
Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called
Leninism.
Born into a middle-class family in Simbirsk in the Russian Empire, Lenin embraced revolutionary socialist politics after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate the tsar. He was expelled from Kazan Imperial University for participating in student protests, and earned a law degree before moving to Saint Petersburg in 1893 and becoming a prominent Marxist activist. In 1897, Lenin was arrested and exiled to Siberia for three years, after which he moved to Western Europe and became a leading figure in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1903, the party split between Lenin's Bolshevik faction and the Mensheviks, with Lenin advocating for a vanguard party to lead the proletariat in overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism. Lenin briefly returned to Russia during the Revolution of 1905. (Full article...)
(
Chinese:
沈括; 1031–1095) or
Shen Gua,
courtesy name Cunzhong(存中) and
pseudonym Mengqi(now usually given as
Mengxi)
Weng(夢溪翁), was a Chinese
polymath, scientist, and statesman of the
Song dynasty(960–1279). Shen was a master in many fields of study including
mathematics,
optics, and
horology. In his career as a civil servant, he became a
finance minister, governmental state inspector, head official for the
Bureau of Astronomyin the Song court, Assistant Minister of Imperial Hospitality, and also served as an
academic chancellor. At court his political allegiance was to the Reformist faction known as the
New Policies Group, headed by
Chancellor Wang Anshi(1021–1085).
In his Dream Pool Essays or Dream Torrent Essays (夢溪筆談; Mengxi Bitan) of 1088, Shen was the first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for navigation (first described in Europe by Alexander Neckam in 1187). Shen discovered the concept of true north in terms of magnetic declination towards the north pole, with experimentation of suspended magnetic needles and "the improved meridian determined by Shen's [astronomical] measurement of the distance between the pole star and true north". This was the decisive step in human history to make compasses more useful for navigation, and may have been a concept unknown in Europe for another four hundred years (evidence of German sundials made circa 1450 show markings similar to Chinese geomancers' compasses in regard to declination). (Full article...)
Portrait of Priestley, 1801
(
; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English
chemist, Unitarian,
natural philosopher,
separatist theologian,
grammarian, multi-subject educator and
classical liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in several areas of science.
Priestley is credited with his independent discovery of oxygen by the thermal decomposition of mercuric oxide, having isolated it in 1774. During his lifetime, Priestley's considerable scientific reputation rested on his invention of carbonated water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery of several "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated air" (oxygen). Priestley's determination to defend phlogiston theory and to reject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated within the scientific community. (Full article...)
(
LURN-id; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and
judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New Yorkfrom 1909 to 1924 and as a federal appellate judge on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuitfrom 1924 to 1961.
Born and raised in Albany, New York, Hand majored in philosophy at Harvard College and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. After a relatively undistinguished career as a lawyer in Albany and New York City, he was appointed at the age of 37 as a Manhattan federal district judge in 1909. The profession suited his detached and open-minded temperament, and his decisions soon won him a reputation for craftsmanship and authority. Between 1909 and 1914, under the influence of Herbert Croly's social theories, Hand supported New Nationalism. He ran unsuccessfully as the Progressive Party's candidate for chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1913, but withdrew from active politics shortly afterwards. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge elevated Hand to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which he went on to lead as the senior circuit judge (later retitled chief judge) from 1939 until his semi-retirement in 1951. Scholars have recognized the Second Circuit under Hand as one of the finest appeals courts in American history. Friends and admirers often lobbied for Hand's promotion to the Supreme Court, but circumstances and his political past conspired against his appointment. (Full article...)
by
Fetti(1620)
(
AR-kih-MEE-deez;
c. 287– c.
212 BC) was an
Ancient Greek mathematician,
physicist,
engineer,
astronomer, and
inventorfrom the ancient city of
Syracusein
Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, based on his surviving work, he is considered one of the leading scientists in
classical antiquity, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Archimedes anticipated modern
calculusand
analysisby applying the concept of the
infinitesimalsand the
method of exhaustionto derive and rigorously prove many
geometrical theorems, including the
area of a circle, the
surface areaand
volumeof a
sphere, the area of an
ellipse, the area under a
parabola, the volume of a segment of a
paraboloid of revolution, the volume of a segment of a
hyperboloid of revolution, and the area of a
spiral.
Archimedes' other mathematical achievements include deriving an approximation of pi (π), defining and investigating the Archimedean spiral, and devising a system using exponentiation for expressing very large numbers. He was also one of the first to apply mathematics to physical phenomena, working on statics and hydrostatics. Archimedes' achievements in this area include a proof of the law of the lever, the widespread use of the concept of center of gravity, and the enunciation of the law of buoyancy known as Archimedes' principle. In astronomy, he made measurements of the apparent diameter of the Sun and the size of the universe. He is also said to have built a planetarium device that demonstrated the movements of the known celestial bodies, and may have been a precursor to the Antikythera mechanism. He is also credited with designing innovative machines, such as his screw pump, compound pulleys, and defensive war machines to protect his native Syracuse from invasion. (Full article...)
Cover of the first edition
is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author
Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young
architectwho battles against conventional standards and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. Roark embodies what Rand believed to be the ideal man, and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that
individualismis superior to
collectivism.
Roark is opposed by what he calls "second-handers", who value conformity over independence and integrity. These include Roark's former classmate, Peter Keating, who succeeds by following popular styles but turns to Roark for help with design problems. Ellsworth Toohey, a socialist architecture critic who uses his influence to promote his political and social agenda, tries to destroy Roark's career. Tabloid newspaper publisher Gail Wynand seeks to shape popular opinion; he befriends Roark, then betrays him when public opinion turns in a direction he cannot control. The novel's most controversial character is Roark's lover, Dominique Francon. She believes that non-conformity has no chance of winning, so she alternates between helping Roark and working to undermine him. (Full article...)
(
;
Middle French:
Jehan Cauvin; French:
Jean Calvin [ʒɑ̃ kalvɛ̃]; 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French
theologian, pastor and
reformerin Geneva during the
Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of
Christian theologylater called
Calvinism, including its doctrines of
predestinationand of God's
absolute sovereigntyin the
salvationof the human soul from death and
eternal damnation. Calvinist doctrines were
influenced by and elaborated upon the Augustinianand other Christian traditions. Various
Reformed Churchlike
Continental Reformed,
Congregationalism,
Presbyterianism,
Waldensians,
Baptist Reformed,
Calvinist Methodism, and
Reformed AnglicanChurches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world.
Calvin was a tireless polemicist and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Heinrich Bullinger. In addition to his seminal Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible, confessional documents, and various other theological treatises. (Full article...)
The
problem of religious languageconsiders whether it is possible to talk about
Godmeaningfully if the traditional conceptions of God as being incorporeal, infinite, and timeless, are accepted. Because these traditional conceptions of God make it difficult to describe God, religious language has the potential to be meaningless. Theories of religious language either attempt to demonstrate that such language is meaningless, or attempt to show how religious language can still be meaningful.
One prevalent position in Islamic philosophy holds that religious language is meaningful and positive, demonstrating the shared attributes of God and His creatures. According to this view, the semantic commonality of attributes between God and humans indicates ontological commonalities between them. This is because factual concepts refer to and are abstracted from realities in the external world. (Full article...)
(
Sanskrit:
अनेकान्तवाद, "many-sidedness") is the
Jaindoctrine about metaphysical truths that emerged in ancient
India. It states that the ultimate truth and reality is complex and has multiple aspects and viewpoints.
According to Jainism, no single, specific statement can describe the nature of existence and the absolute truth. This knowledge (Kevala Jnana), it adds, is comprehended only by the Arihants. Other beings and their statements about absolute truth are incomplete, and at best a partial truth. All knowledge claims, according to the anekāntavāda doctrine must be qualified in many ways, including being affirmed and denied. Anekāntavāda is a fundamental doctrine of Jainism. (Full article...)
Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28, 1942) is a prominent American philosopher. Dennett's research centers on philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
Daniel Dennett received his B.A. in philosophy from Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) in 1963. In 1965, he received his D.Phil. in philosophy from University of Oxford (Oxford, England), where he studied under the famed philosopher Gilbert Ryle. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987.
Dennett is the author of several major books on evolution and consciousness. He is a leading proponent of the theory known by some as Neural Darwinism (see also greedy reductionism). Dennett is also well known for his argument against qualia, which claims that the concept is so confused that it cannot be put to any use or understood in any non-contradictory way, and therefore does not constitute a valid refutation of physicalism. This argument was presented most comprehensively in his book Consciousness Explained.
This great philosopher is a prize, is a treasure for American literature. Tech. Luis E. Ysabel
Selected article of the weekDualism is the view that two fundamental concepts exist, such as good and evil, light and dark, or male and female. Often, they oppose each other. The word's origin is the Latin dualis, meaning "two" (as an adjective).
Moral dualism is the belief of the coexistence (in eastern and naturalistic religions) or conflict (in western religions) between the "benevolent" and the "malignant". Most religious systems have some form of moral dualism - in western religions, for instance, a conflict between good and evil.
Like ditheism/bitheism, moral dualism does not imply the absence of monist or monotheistic principles. Moral dualism simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be "moral" and - unlike ditheism/bitheism - independent of how these may be represented.
These are Good articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards., also known as
early Greek philosophy, is
ancient Greek philosophybefore
Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in
cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the
universe, but the inquiries of these early philosophers spanned the workings of the natural world as well as
human society,
ethics, and
religion. They sought explanations based on
natural lawrather than the
actions of gods. Their work and writing has been almost entirely lost. Knowledge of their views comes from
testimonia, i.e. later authors' discussions of the work of pre-Socratics. Philosophy found fertile ground in the ancient Greek world because of the close ties with neighboring civilizations and the rise of
autonomouscivil entities,
poleis.
Pre-Socratic philosophy began in the 6th century BC with the three Milesians: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. They all attributed the arche (a word that could take the meaning of "origin", "substance" or "principle") of the world to, respectively, water, apeiron (the unlimited), and air. Another three pre-Socratic philosophers came from nearby Ionian towns: Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Pythagoras. Xenophanes is known for his critique of the anthropomorphism of gods. Heraclitus, who was notoriously difficult to understand, is known for his maxim on impermanence, ta panta rhei, and for attributing fire to be the arche of the world. Pythagoras created a cult-like following that advocated that the universe was made up of numbers. The Eleatic school (Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, and Melissus) followed in the 5th century BC. Parmenides claimed that only one thing exists and nothing can change. Zeno and Melissus mainly defended Parmenides' opinion. Anaxagoras and Empedocles offered a pluralistic account of how the universe was created. Leucippus and Democritus are known for their atomism, and their views that only void and matter exist. The Sophists advanced philosophical relativism. The Pre-Socratics have had significant impact on several concepts of Western philosophy, such as naturalism and rationalism, and paved the way for scientific methodology. (Full article...)
The
universeis all of
spaceand
timeand their contents. It comprises all of
existence, any
fundamental interaction,
physical processand
physical constant, and therefore all forms of
matterand
energy, and the structures they form, from
sub-atomic particlesto entire
galactic filaments. Since the early 20th century, the field of
cosmologyestablishes that
space and timeemerged together at the
Big Bang 13.787±0.020 billion yearsago and that the
universe has been expandingsince then. The
portion of the universe that can be seen by humansis approximately 93 billion
light-yearsin diameter at present, but the total size of the universe is not known.
Some of the earliest cosmological models of the universe were developed by ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, placing Earth at the center. Over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing the law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton built upon Copernicus's work as well as Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion and observations by Tycho Brahe. (Full article...)
is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in
phenotype. It is a key mechanism of
evolution, the change in the
heritable traitscharacteristic of a
populationover generations.
Charles Darwinpopularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with
artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not.
Variation of traits, both genotypic and phenotypic, exists within all populations of organisms. However, some traits are more likely to facilitate survival and reproductive success. Thus, these traits are passed on to the next generation. These traits can also become more common within a population if the environment that favours these traits remains fixed. If new traits become more favoured due to changes in a specific niche, microevolution occurs. If new traits become more favoured due to changes in the broader environment, macroevolution occurs. Sometimes, new species can arise especially if these new traits are radically different from the traits possessed by their predecessors. (Full article...)
,
Arabic:
أبو العلاء المعري,(December 973 – May 1057), also known by his
Latinname
Abulola Moarrensis; was an Arab philosopher, poet, and writer from
Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria. Because of his
irreligiousworldview, he is known as one of the "foremost
atheists" of his time.
Born in the city of al-Ma'arra (present-day Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria) during the later Abbasid era, he became blind at a young age from smallpox but nonetheless studied in nearby Aleppo, then in Tripoli and Antioch. Producing popular poems in Baghdad, he refused to sell his texts. In 1010, he returned to Syria after his mother began declining in health, and continued writing which gained him local respect. (Full article...)
(10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English
jurist,
justice, and
Torypolitician most noted for his
Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became the best-known description of the doctrines of the English
common law. Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at
Charterhouse Schoolbefore matriculating at
Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1738. After switching to and completing a
Bachelor of Civil Lawdegree, he was made a
fellowof
All Souls College, Oxford, on 2 November 1743, admitted to
Middle Temple, and
called to the Barthere in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone was involved heavily in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer, and bursar on 28 November 1746, and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the
Codrington Libraryand the Warton Building, and for simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July, 1753, he formally gave up his practice as a barrister, and embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind. These talks were massively successful, earning him £453 (£89,000 in 2023 terms); they led to the publication of
An Analysis of the Laws of Englandin 1756, which sold out repeatedly. It was used to preface his later works.
On 20 October, 1759, Blackstone was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law, immediately embarking on another series of lectures and publishing a similarly successful second treatise, A Discourse on the Study of the Law. With his growing fame, he successfully returned to the bar and maintained a good practice, also securing election as Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Hindon on 30 March 1761. In November 1765 he published the first of four volumes of Commentaries on the Laws of England, considered his magnum opus; the completed work earned Blackstone £14,000 (£2,459,000 in 2023 terms). After repeated failures, he gained appointment to the judiciary as a justice of the Court of King's Bench on 16 February 1770, leaving to replace Edward Clive as a justice of the Common Pleas on 25 June. He remained in this position until his death, on 14 February 1780. (Full article...)
This portrait attributed to
Francesco Melzi,
c. 1515–1518, is the only certain contemporary depiction of Leonardo.
(15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian
polymathof the
High Renaissancewho was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for
his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and
palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomised the
Renaissance humanistideal, and his
collective workscomprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary
Michelangelo.
Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in, or near, Vinci, he was educated in Florence by the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in the city, but then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time where his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture. (Full article...)
Cynicism (Ancient Greek: κυνισμός) is a school of thought in ancient Greek philosophy, originating in the Classical period and extending into the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. According to Cynicism, people are reasoning animals, and the purpose of life and the way to gain happiness is to achieve virtue, in agreement with nature, following one's natural sense of reason by living simply and shamelessly free from social constraints. The Cynics (Ancient Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici) rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, glory, social recognition, conformity, and worldly possessions and even flouted such conventions openly and derisively in public.
The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes, who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 400s BC. He was followed by Diogenes, who lived in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens. Diogenes took Cynicism to its logical extremes with his famous public demonstrations of non-conformity, coming to be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher. He was followed by Crates of Thebes, who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens. (Full article...)
constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived by the Swiss psychologist
Jean Piaget.
Kohlbergbegan work on this topic as a psychology graduate student at the
University of Chicagoin 1958 and expanded upon the theory throughout his life.
The theory holds that moral reasoning, a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for ethical behavior, has six developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor. Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgment far beyond the ages studied earlier by Piaget, who also claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice and that it continued throughout the individual's life, a notion that led to dialogue on the philosophical implications of such research. (Full article...)
, also known as
Gregory Nyssen(
Ancient Greek:
Γρηγόριος Νύσσηςor Γρηγόριος Νυσσηνός; c. 335 – c. 394), was an early
Roman Christianprelate who served as
Bishop of Nyssafrom 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He is venerated as a
saintin
Eastern Orthodoxy,
Catholicism,
Oriental Orthodoxy,
Anglicanism, and
Lutheranism. Gregory, his elder brother
Basil of Caesarea, and their friend
Gregory of Nazianzusare collectively known as the
Cappadocian Fathers.
Gregory lacked the administrative ability of his brother Basil or the contemporary influence of Gregory of Nazianzus, but he was an erudite Christian theologian who made significant contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity and the Nicene Creed. Gregory's philosophical writings were influenced by Origen. Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been a significant increase in interest in Gregory's works from the academic community, particularly involving universal salvation, which has resulted in challenges to many traditional interpretations of his theology. (Full article...)
A marble head of Socrates in the
Louvre(copy of a lost bronze head by
Lysippus)
(
;
Ancient Greek:
Σωκράτης,
romanized: Sōkrátēs;
c. 470– 399 BC) was a
Greek philosopherfrom
Athenswho is credited as the founder of
Western philosophyand as among the first
moral philosophersof the
ethicaltradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of
classical writers, particularly his students
Platoand
Xenophon. These accounts are written as
dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the
Socratic dialogueliterary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the
Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of
impietyand corrupting the youth. After
a trialthat lasted a day, he was
sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.
Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy including epistemology and ethics. The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomized by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, completely unable to define what they thought they understood. Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of one's ignorance is the first step in philosophizing. (Full article...)
Against Celsus (Greek: Κατὰ Κέλσου, Kata Kelsou; Latin: Contra Celsum), preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writings of Celsus, a pagan philosopher and controversialist who had written a scathing attack on Christianity in his treatise The True Word (Λόγος Ἀληθής, Logos Alēthēs). Among a variety of other charges, Celsus had denounced many Christian doctrines as irrational and criticized Christians themselves as uneducated, deluded, unpatriotic, close-minded towards reason, and too accepting of sinners. He had accused Jesus of performing his miracles using black magic rather than actual divine powers and of plagiarizing his teachings from Plato. Celsus had warned that Christianity itself was drawing people away from traditional religion and claimed that its growth would lead to a collapse of traditional, conservative values.
Origen wrote Contra Celsum at the request of his patron, a wealthy Christian named Ambrose, who insisted that a Christian needed to write a response to Celsus. In the treatise itself, which was aimed at an audience of people who were interested in Christianity but had not yet made the decision to convert, Origen responds to Celsus's arguments point-by-point from the perspective of a Platonic philosopher. After having questioned Celsus's credibility, Origen goes on to respond to Celsus's criticism with regard to the role of faith in Christianity, the identity of Jesus Christ, the allegorical interpretation of the Bible, and the relation between Christianity and traditional Greek religion. (Full article...)
The history of Christian thought has included concepts of both inclusivity and exclusivity from its beginnings, that have been understood and applied differently in different ages, and have led to practices of both persecution and toleration.
Early Christianthought established Christian identity, defined
heresy, separated itself from
polytheismand
Judaismand developed the theological conviction called
supersessionism. In the centuries after Christianity became the
official religion of Rome, some scholars say Christianity became a persecuting
religion. Others say the change to Christian leadership did not cause a persecution of pagans, and that what little violence occurred was primarily directed at non-orthodox Christians.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Christian thought focused more on preservation than origination. This era of thought is exemplified by Gregory the Great, Saint Benedict, Visigothic Spain, illustrated manuscripts, and progress in medical care through monks. Although the roots of supersessionism and deicide can be traced to some second century Christian thought, Jews of the Middle Ages lived mostly peacefully alongside their Christian neighbors because of Augustine of Hippo's teaching that they should be left alone. In the Early Middle Ages, Christian thought on the military and involvement in war shifted to accommodate the crusades by inventing chivalry and new monastic orders dedicated to it. There was no single thread of Christian thought throughout most of the Middle Ages as the church was largely democratic and each order had its own doctrine. (Full article...)
(
German: [ˈkaʁl ˈmaʁks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German
philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and
revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet
The Communist Manifesto(written with
Friedrich Engels), and his three-volume
Das Kapital(1867–1894), a
critique of classical political economywhich employs his theory of
historical materialismin an analysis of
capitalism, in the culmination of his life's work. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as
Marxism, have had enormous influence.
Born in Trier in the Kingdom of Prussia, Marx studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, and received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena in 1841. A Young Hegelian, he was influenced by the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and both critiqued and developed Hegel's ideas in works such as The German Ideology (written 1846) and the Grundrisse (written 1857–1858). While in Paris, Marx wrote his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and met Engels, who became his closest friend and collaborator. After moving to Brussels in 1845, they were active in the Communist League, and in 1848 they wrote The Communist Manifesto, which expresses Marx's ideas and lays out a programme for revolution. Marx was expelled from Belgium and Germany, and in 1849 moved to London, where he wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852) and Das Kapital. From 1864, Marx was involved in the International Workingmen's Association (First International), in which he fought the influence of anarchists led by Mikhail Bakunin. In his Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875), Marx wrote on revolution, the state and the transition to communism. He died stateless in 1883 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. (Full article...)
The following are images from various philosophy-related articles on Wikipedia.
Portrait of
John Locke, by Sir
Godfrey Kneller, 1697 (from
Western philosophy)
Portrait of
René Descartes, after
Frans Hals, second half of 17th century (from
Western philosophy)
, source of early Greek philosophy, in western
Asia Minor(from
Western philosophy)
Map of
Alexander the Great's empire and the route he and
Pyrrho of Elistook to India (from
Western philosophy)
, the Tamil philosopher of the post-
Sangam era(from
Eastern philosophy)
Portrait of
Immanuel Kant,
c. 1790(from
Western philosophy)
St.
Anselm of Canterburyis credited as the founder of
scholasticism. (from
Western philosophy)
, in the 1910s (from
Western philosophy)
The philosopher
Pyrrhoof
Elis, in an anecdote taken from
Sextus Empiricus'
Outlines of Pyrrhonism(upper)PIRRHO • HELIENSIS •
PLISTARCHI • FILIVS
translation (from Latin): Pyrrho • Greek • Son of Plistarchus
(middle)OPORTERE • SAPIENTEM
HANC ILLIVS IMITARI
SECVRITATEMtranslation (from Latin): It is right wisdom then that all imitate this security (Pyrrho pointing at a peaceful pig munching his food)
(lower)Whoever wants to apply the real wisdom, shall not mind
trepidationand misery
(from
Ancient Greek philosophy)
and
DT Suzukiduring his visit to China in 1934 (from
Eastern philosophy)
(1862) a key civil rights activist and liberal thinker (from
Eastern philosophy)
Portrait of
David Hume, by
Allan Ramsay, 1754 (from
Western philosophy)
Sigmund Freud by Max Halberstadt,
c.1921 (from
Western philosophy)
, photograph by Friedrich Hartmann,
c. 1875(from
Western philosophy)
The Buddhist
Nalandauniversity and monastery was a major center of learning in India from the 5th century CE to c. 1200. (from
Eastern philosophy)
(8th century CE) the main exponent of
AdvaitaVedānta (from
Eastern philosophy)
, steel engraving, after 1828 (from
Western philosophy)
Bust of Socrates, Roman copy after a Greek original from the 4th century BCE (from
Western philosophy)
Four Greek philosophers: Socrates, Antisthenes, Chrysippos, Epicurus; British Museum (from
Ancient Greek philosophy)
Portrait by
Philippe de Champaigne, 17th century (from
Medieval philosophy)
is Credited as the Prince of the Humanists (from
Western philosophy)
Saint Augustine. (from
Western philosophy)
(1866–1912) was an American
anarchistknown for being a prolific writer and speaker who opposed
statepower, the
capitalismshe saw as interconnected with it, and
marriage, and the domination of
religionover
sexualityand
women's lives. She is often characterized as a major early
feministbecause of her views.
(
baptised16 June 1723 – died 17 July 1790
[OS: 5 June 1723 – 17 July 1790]) was a
Scottish moral philosopherand a pioneer of
political economics. One of the key figures of the
Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of
The Theory of Moral Sentimentsand
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The latter, usually abbreviated as
The Wealth of Nations, is considered his
magnum opusand the first modern work of
economics. Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics.
(1932–2016) was an Italian novelist,
literary critic,
philosopher,
semiotician, and university professor. He is widely known for his 1980 novel
Il nome della rosa(
The Name of the Rose), a
historical mysterycombining
semioticsin
fictionwith
biblicalanalysis, medieval studies, and
literary theory.
(1885–1962) was a Danish
physicistwho made foundational contributions to understanding
atomic structureand
quantum theory, for which he received the
Nobel Prize in Physicsin 1922. Bohr was also a
philosopherand a promoter of scientific research.
, an 1880 painting by
Frank Dicksee, an 1896
muralby
Robert Lewis Reidin the North Corridor on the Second Floor of the
Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building,
Washington, D.C.. The caption underneath reads: "HOW CHARMING IS DIVINE PHILOSOPHY."
in 1897. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.
reclining with
Poems, by
Napoleon Sarony, in New York in 1882. Wilde often liked to appear idle, though in fact he worked hard; by the late 1880s he was a father, an editor, and a writer.
(1759–1805) was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian and playwright.
(1860–1935) was an American
settlementactivist, reformer,
social worker,
sociologist,
public administratorand author. She was a notable figure in the history of social work and
women's suffrage in the United Statesand an advocate for
world peace.
The center third of
Education(1890), a stained glass window by
Louis Comfort Tiffanyand Tiffany Studios, located in Linsly-Chittenden Hall at
Yale University. It depicts
Science(personified by Devotion, Labor, Truth, Research and Intuition) and
Religion(personified by Purity, Faith, Hope, Reverence and Inspiration) in harmony, presided over by the central personification of "Light·Love·Life".
The statue of
Immanuel Kantin front of the
Immanuel Kant State University of Russiain
Kaliningrad. The statue was made by notable sculptor
Christian Daniel Rauchand unveiled in 1864. The statue was destroyed in 1945, but was remoulded in 1992 on the initiative of
Marion Dönhoff.
(left) and
Aristotle(right), a detail of
The School of Athens, a fresco by
Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through
empirical observationand
experience, while holding a copy of his
Nicomachean Ethicsin his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in
The Forms.
,
Alexander Roslin, 1775 (oil on canvas,
Gripsholm Castle). Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician who formalised
binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy".
is an oil on panel painting attributed to the English artist
Joan Carlile, and probably completed between 1641 and 1650. The painting depicts English physician
Thomas Browneand his wife Dorothy.
Philosophy ponders the most fundamental questions humankind has been able to ask. These are increasingly numerous and over time they have been arranged into the overlapping branches of the philosophy tree:
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