Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Reference Philosophy

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• Identity Theory - Form of monistic materialism which maintains that mental states and brain activities are identical.
  
• Protagoras - Early Greek sophist.
  
• Bakhtin Circle - School of Russian thought centered on the work of Bakhtin which focused on questions of signification in artistic creation.
  
• Vienna Circle - Organised the development of logical positivism in the 1920s. Included Carnap, Feigl, Frank, Gödel, Hahn, Kraft, Neurath, Waismann. Popper and Wittgenstein also had association with the Vienna Circle.
  
• Bacon, Francis - 16th century philosopher and politician.
  
• Interventionism - Examines the nature and justifications of interfering with another polity or choices made by individuals.
  
• Anaxagoras - Greek philosopher born about 500 BCE, responsible for giving philosophy a home at Athens and the first philosopher to introduce a spiritual principle which gives matter life and form.
  
• Chinese Room Argument - John Searle's thought experiment is one of the best known counters to claims of artificial intelligence.
  
• Theophrastus - Philosopher of the Peripatetic school, successor to Aristotle at the Lyceum.
  
• Bentham, Jeremy - Extensive article on the 18th century 'founder' of utilitarianism.
  
• Emanation - The theory that all derived or secondary things flow from the primary.
  
• Encyclopedists - Group of French philosophers and men of letters who collaborated in the production of the famous Encyclopedie.
  
• Bolingbroke, Henry St. John - 18th century Tory disciple of Locke.
  
• Diderot, Denis - The most prominent of the French Encyclopedists and one of the leaders of the Enlightenment.
  
• Hempel, Carl Gustav - A leading member of logical positivism, the German philosopher died in 1997.
  
• Anaximander - Greek philosopher of Miletus, born 611 BCE who thought it unnecessary to fix upon air, water, or fire as the original and primary form of body.
  
• Academy - Description of the philosophical institution founded by Plato, which advocated skepticism in succeeding generations.
  
• Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich - 18th century German philosopher, famous for effective criticism of Kant.
  
• Cumberland, Richard - 17th century critic of Hobbes and the neo-Platonists.
  
• Hume, David - Enormously influential 18th century Scottish philosopher. Author of Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740).
  
• Stoicism - Description of the system of ethics, popular in Ancient Greece, which has physics as its foundation.
  
• Parmenides - Greek philosopher and poet.
  
• Cicero, Marcus Tullius - 1st century BCE Roman orator and philosopher of the New Academy.
  
• Huxley, Thomas Henry - 19th century zoologist and advocate of Darwinism.
  
• Leucippus - 5th century BCE founder of atomism.
  
• Lotze, Rudolf Hermann - 19th century German philosopher who criticised the pantheism of Hegel.
  
• Shaftesbury, Earl of - Patron of John Locke
  
• Locke, John - Article on the life and work of the influential philosopher.
  
• Humanism - Brief article on Erasmus and the Italian humanist movement.
  
• God, Western Concepts of - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on God from Socrates to Nietzsche.
  
• Virtue Theory - View that morality is the development of or virtues.
  
• Diogenes of Apollonia - Pupil of Anaximenes and contemporary of Anaxagoras in the 6th cn. BCE.
  
• Hartmann, Karl Robert Eduard Von - 19th century German philosopher who attempted to combine the idea of Hegel with the will of Schopenhauer in 'spiritual monism.'
  
• Rights, Human - A treatment of the origins and development of the theory of human rights, with philosophical analysis, justifications, and criticisms.
  
• Diogenes Laertius - 3rd century biographer of ancient Greek philosophers.
  
• Lombard, Peter - French scholastic theologian of the 12th century, influenced by Abelard.
  
• Cyrenaics - Description of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, which flourished from the 5th-3rd centuries BCE. The Cyrenaics were skeptics and hedonists.
  
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig - Detailed essay on the life and work of the 20th century philosopher.
  
• Renaissance - Brief article on the transition between Middle Ages and modernity.
  
• Epicurus - 4th century BCE materialist, empiricist, and hedonist. One of the major philosophers of the Hellenistic period.
  
• Truth - Philosophical theories on the nature of truth, by Bradley Dowden and Norman Swartz.
  
• Pythagoras - The 6th century BCE philosopher.
  
• Herbert of Cherbury, Edward - 17th century historian, poet (brother of George), and philosopher. Sought to determine the nature and standard of truth, and conditions of knowledge. Precursor of the philosophy of Common Sense.
  
• Sophists - Teachers of philosophy in Ancient Greece, including Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus and Hippias.
  
• Skepticism, Contemporary - Introduction to the current discussion of skepticism.
  
• Gorgias - Greek sophist and rhetorician, known as "the Nihilist," born in 483 BCE.
  
• Solovyov, Vladimir - 19th century Russian philosopher.
  
• Just War Theory - Some of those who have attempted to justify war include Aquinas, Grotius, and Pufendorf.
  
• Synderesis - Scholastic philosophy describes this as the principle in moral consciousness which directs an agent to good.
  
• Evolution - Introduces evolution through the ages, from the ancient Greeks, through Leibniz and Descartes to Darwin and Spencer.
  
• Plotinus - 3rd century CE founder of Neo-Platonism.
  
• Peripatetics - Brief history of the Peripatetic doctrines.
  
• Prodicus - 5th century BCE sophist, possibly a mentor of Socrates
  
• Moral Luck - Andrew Latus, St. Francis Xavier University, summarizes the discussion between Thomas Nagel and Bernard Williams on the question: Can luck ever make a moral difference?
  
• Solipsism - The doctrine of the solipsist is that existence means my existence and that of my mental states.
  
• Hobbes, Thomas - 17th century British philosopher. Author of Leviathan (1651).
  
• Social Contract Theory - View that morality is based on social agreements that serve the interests of those who make the agreement.
  
• Plato - Biography and description of the philosophy of Plato.
  
• Stephen, Leslie - 19th century British academic.
  
• Husserl, Edmund - Leader of the German phenomenological movement.
  
• Lucretius - Roman poet and advocate of Epicurean philosophy.
  
• Timon - 3rd century BCE disciple of Pyrrho.
  
• Empedocles - 5th century BCE philosopher who combined medical study with Orphic mysticism.
  
• Damon - 5th century BCE Pythagorean philosopher of Syracuse.
  
• Thales - Detailed biographical essay on the Ancient Greek philosopher.
  
• Xenophon - Pupil of Socrates, who contributed to the record of his life.
  
• Demonax - Philosopher of the second century CE. who tried to revive the philosophy of the Cynic School.
  
• Paley, William - 18th century British theologian.
  
• Stilpo - 4th century BCE member of the Megarean school.
  
• Menippus - Third century BCE Greek philosopher and satirist.
  
• Aristotle - The life and work of the 4th century BCE Greek philosopher.
  
• Anselm - 11th century English prelate who developed views of atonement and satisfaction which are still held by orthodox theologians.
  
• Descartes, René - Early modern philosopher who rejected religious authority in the quest for scientific and philosophical knowledge.
  
• Poincaré, Jules Henri - 19th century French philosopher of science.
  
• Anaxarchus - 4th century BCE philosopher of Abdera, from the school of Democritus.
  
• Berkeley, George - Influential 18th century Irish philosopher.
  
• Reichenbach, Hans - Leading German philosopher of science, and logical positivist.
  
• Shpet, Gustav - Leading proponent of Russian transcendental phenomenology.
  
• Epictetus - Eminent Stoic philosopher, born as a slave at Hieropolis in Phyrgia in 55 CE.
  
• Ferrier, James Frederick - The earliest absolute idealist in English philosophy.
  
• Warburton, William - 18th century Church of England bishop, and critic of the Deists.
  
• Deism, French - The deism of Voltaire and Rousseau.
  
• Fichte, Johann Gottlieb - One of the major figures in German philosophy in the period between Kant and Hegel.
  
• Behaviorism - Theory in philosophy of mind which maintains that talk of mental events should be translated into talk about observable behavior.
  
• Beccaria, Cesare - 18th century aristocrat whose work 'On Crimes and Punishments (1764)' inspired reform in the Italian criminal justice system.
  
• Origen - Father of the early Church, born around 182.
  
• Animals and Ethics - Consideration of moral status of non-human animals.
  
• Neoplatonism - The revival of Greek philosophy in 3rd century BCE, led by Plotinus and his disciple, Porphyry. Influenced by both Pythagoras and Plato.
  
• Euclides - 4th century BCE native of Megara, and founder of the Megarian or Eristic sect.
  
• Hippias - Hippias was a sophist, a contemporary of Socrates, and an enthusiast for universality.
  
• Cleanthes - Stoic philosopher of Assus in Lydia, disciple of Zeno of Citium.
  
• Symposium - Drinking-parties in Ancient Greece where the guests reclined on couches, and were crowned with garlands of flowers.
  
• Berlin Circle - Group of academics who gathered round Hans Reichenbach in late 1920s and later joined up with the Vienna Circle.
  
• Aquinas, Thomas - The life and work of the major figure in scholastic philosophy.
  
• Stirling, James Hutchison - 19th century British Idealist, Hegelian academic.
  
• Aenesidemus - Biography of the 1st century philosopher who defended the ten tropes of skepticism.
  
• Pyrrho - 4th century BCE founder of the Greek school of skepticism.
  
• Eckhart, Meister - 13th century Dominican mystic who was almost forgotten until Franz von Baader revived his memory in the nineteenth century.
  
• Ockham, William of - Detailed biography of the 14th century Franciscan.
  
• Rousseau, Jean Jacques - 18th century French author of the Social Contract, influential during the French Revolution.
  
• German Idealism - The German reaction to empiricism, including related theories of Kant, Fichte, Hegel and others.
  
• Mill, John Stuart - 19th leader and prophet of utilitarianism, heir to the Hume-Bentham line, and influential force in modern political theory. Author of On Liberty (1859), and Utilitarianism (1863).
  
• Anaximenes - 5th century BCE Greek philosopher of Miletus who regarded 'air' as the primary form of body.
  
• Cudworth, Ralph - 17th century 'Cambridge Platonist' who fought for preservation of religious ideals, including divine illumination.
  
• Roman Philosophy - Short introduction to Roman philosophy from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  
• Hölderlin, Johann Christian Friedrich - Examines the poet's role in the development of German Idealism.
  
• Helvetius, Claude Adrien - One of the 18th century Encyclopedists who held the skeptical and materialistic views common to that school of philosophy.
  
• Davidson, Donald - Introduction to one of the most significant philosophers concerned with philosophy of mind and action of the 20th/21st century.
  
• Deism, English - Explores the deism of Hobbes, Locke, Tindal, and the influence of Hume.
  
• Caird, Edward - Nineteenth century Scottish philosopher who was one of the key figures of the idealist movement that dominated British philosophy from 1870 until the mid 1920s.
  
• Spinoza, Benedict - 17th century pantheist, critic of Descartes.
  
• Voluntarism - Theory that God or the ultimate nature of reality is conceived as some form of will.
  
• Chrysippus - Prolific stoic of Soli, and disciple of Cleanthes.
  
• Hegelians, St. Louis - 19th century group of amateur American philosophers founded and led by William Torrey Harris.
  
• Augustine - Extensive article on the life and work of the 4th century ecclesiastical author.
  
• Freud, Sigmund - Lenghty article on the father of psychoanalysis who is generally recognised as one of the most influential and authoritative thinkers of the twentieth century.
  
• Hamilton, William - 19th century exponent of the Scottish common-sense philosophy.
  
• Democritus - 4th century BCE philosopher of Abdera who expanded the atomic theory of Leucippus.
  
• Egoism, Psychological and Ethical - Maintains that the individual self is the motivating moral force and the end of moral action.
  
• Russell's Paradox - Examines self-referential linguistics used to describe properties and sets.
  
• Heraclitus - 5th century BCE. Presocratic Greek philosopher.
  
• Stoic Philosophy of Mind - Description of the philosophy of Mind of the Stoics, including the relationship between mind and body, perception, action-theory, and emotion.
  
• Moral Philosophy - Introduction to ethics, with links to other articles at the IEP.
  
• Carnap, Rudolf - Extensive article about his life and work, by Mauro Murzi.
  
• Positivism, Legal - Theory that law is manufactured according to certain social conventions.
  
• Greek Philosophy - The philosophical currents of Ancient Greek philosophy are introduced, from the Presocratic philosophers through to Proclus.
  
• Aristippus - Description of the life and teachings of the philosopher Aristippus, founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.
  
• Time - Long article about questions of time discussed throughout the history of philosophy.
  
• Skepticism, Ancient Greek - A description of skepticism in Ancient Greece, led by Pyrrho.
  
• Antisthenes - Athenian philosopher and founder of the Cynic sect who was born around 440 BCE.
  
• Butler, Joseph - 18th century icon of a highly intellectualized theology.
  
• Dewey, John - Leading light of the 20th century American school of thought known as pragmatism.
  
• Zeno of Elea - 5th century BCE Eleatic philosopher.
  
• Eclecticism - Group of ancient philosophers who sought to reach by selection the highest degree of probability in the search for truth.
  
• Natural Law - Standards that govern human behavior objectively derived from the nature of human beings.
  
• Active Powers - The capacities of impulse and desire which lead to or determine human action, as described by 18th and 19th century Scottish common sense philosophy.
  
• Xenophanes - Eleatic school, powerful 6th century BCE critic of polytheism.
  
• Fichte, Immanuel Hermann - Aimed to secure a philosophical basis for the personality of God.
  
• Diogenes of Sinope - 4th cn. BCE cynic philosopher of Sinope.
  
• Hodgson, Shadworth - Follower of Kant, founder of the Aristotelian Society.
  
  

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