1.
Aristotle
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Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
2.
The School of Athens
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The School of Athens is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphaels commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, the picture has long been seen as Raphaels masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the Renaissance. The School of Athens is one of a group of four main frescoes on the walls of the Stanza that depict distinct branches of knowledge, accordingly, the figures on the walls below exemplify Philosophy, Poetry, Theology, and Law. The traditional title is not Raphaels, indeed, Plato and Aristotle appear to be the central figures in the scene. However, all the philosophers depicted sought knowledge of first causes, many lived before Plato and Aristotle, and hardly a third were Athenians. The architecture contains Roman elements, but the general semi-circular setting having Plato, compounding the problem, Raphael had to invent a system of iconography to allude to various figures for whom there were no traditional visual types. For example, while the Socrates figure is immediately recognizable from Classical busts, aside from the identities of the figures depicted, many aspects of the fresco have been variously interpreted, but few such interpretations are unanimously accepted among scholars. The popular idea that the gestures of Plato and Aristotle are kinds of pointing is very likely. Aristotle, with his four-elements theory, held that all change on Earth was owing to motions of the heavens, in the painting Aristotle carries his Ethics, which he denied could be reduced to a mathematical science. Finally, according to Vasari, the scene includes Raphael himself, however, as Heinrich Wölfflin observed, it is quite wrong to attempt interpretations of the School of Athens as an esoteric treatise. The all-important thing was the motive which expressed a physical or spiritual state. An interpretation of the fresco relating to hidden symmetries of the figures, the identities of some of the philosophers in the picture, such as Plato or Aristotle, are certain. Beyond that, identifications of Raphaels figures have always been hypothetical, to complicate matters, beginning from Vasaris efforts, some have received multiple identifications, not only as ancients but also as figures contemporary with Raphael. Vasari mentions portraits of the young Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, leaning over Bramante with his hands raised near the bottom right and he was writing over 40 years after the painting, and never knew Raphael, but no doubt reflects what was believed in his time. Many other popular identifications of portraits are very dubious, luitpold Dussler counts among those who can be identified with some certainty, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy, Zoroaster, Raphael, Sodoma and Diogenes. Other identifications he holds to be more or less speculative, both figures hold modern, bound copies of their books in their left hands, while gesturing with their right. Plato holds Timaeus, Aristotle his Nicomachean Ethics, Plato is depicted as old, grey, wise-looking, and bare-foot. By contrast Aristotle, slightly ahead of him, is in manhood, handsome, well-shod and dressed with gold
3.
Logos
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Logos is the logic behind an argument. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence, Logos is a persuasive technique often used in writing and rhetoric. Ancient Greek philosophers used the term in different ways, the sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to refer to reasoned discourse or the argument in the field of rhetoric. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the animating principle pervading the Universe. Under Hellenistic Judaism, Philo adopted the term into Jewish philosophy, the Gospel of John identifies the Logos, through which all things are made, as divine, and further identifies Jesus Christ as the incarnate Logos. Despite the conventional translation as word, it is not used for a word in the sense, instead. However, both logos and lexis derive from the same verb legō, meaning count, tell, say, jeanne Fahnestock describes logos as a premise. She states that, to find the reason behind a rhetors backing of a position or stance. The rhetors success, she argues, will come down to objects of agreement. between arguer and audience. Logos is logical appeal, and the logic is derived from it. It is normally used to describe facts and figures that support the speakers topic, furthermore, logos is credited with appealing to the audiences sense of logic, with the definition of “logic” being concerned with the thing as it is known. Philo distinguished between logos prophorikos and the logos endiathetos, the Stoics also spoke of the logos spermatikos, which is not important in the Biblical tradition but is relevant in Neoplatonism. Early translators from Greek, such as Jerome in the 4th century, were frustrated by the inadequacy of any single Latin word to convey the Logos expressed in the Gospel of John. The Vulgate Bible usage of in principio erat verbum was thus constrained to use the noun verbum for word, but later romance language translations had the advantage of nouns such as le mot in French. Martin Luther rejected Zeitwort in favor of Wort, for instance, although later commentators repeatedly turned to a dynamic use involving the living word as felt by Jerome. For Heraclitus, logos provided the link between rational discourse and the rational structure. This logos holds always but humans always prove unable to understand it, but other people fail to notice what they do when awake, just as they forget what they do while asleep. For this reason it is necessary to follow what is common, but although the logos is common, most people live as if they had their own private understanding
4.
Classical philosophy
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This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. Genuinely philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures roughly contemporaneously, karl Jaspers termed the intense period of philosophical development beginning around the 7th century and concluding around the 3rd century BCE an Axial Age in human thought. Chinese philosophy is the dominant philosophical thought in China and other countries within the East Asian cultural sphere share a common language, including Japan, Korea. The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE, the thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war. This period ended with the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent, a main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection. Confucianism holds that one should give up ones life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren, the Legalists exalted the state above all, seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people. Harmony with the Universe, or the source thereof, is the result of many Taoist rules and practices. Mohism, which advocated the idea of love, Mozi believed that everyone is equal before heaven. Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, naturalism, the School of Naturalists or the Yin-yang school, which synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements, Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school. Agrarianism, or the School of Agrarianism, which advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism, the Logicians or the School of Names, which focused on definition and logic. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek sophists or dialecticians, the most notable Logician was Gongsun Longzi. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters and tacticians, the Miscellaneous School, which integrated teachings from different schools, for instance, Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lüshi Chunqiu cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws, the School of Minor-talks, which was not a unique school of thought, but a philosophy constructed of all the thoughts which were discussed by and originated from normal people on the street. Another group is the School of the Military that studied strategy, however, this school was not one of the Ten Schools defined by Hanshu. The founder of the Qin Dynasty, who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy, Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine. These latter two became the forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism. In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language that were so much more reliable
5.
Immanuel Kant
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Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who is considered a central figure in modern philosophy. Kant took himself to have effected a Copernican revolution in philosophy and his beliefs continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political theory, and aesthetics. Politically, Kant was one of the earliest exponents of the idea that peace could be secured through universal democracy. He believed that this will be the outcome of universal history. Kant wanted to put an end to an era of futile and speculative theories of human experience, Kant argued that our experiences are structured by necessary features of our minds. In his view, the shapes and structures experience so that, on an abstract level. Among other things, Kant believed that the concepts of space and time are integral to all human experience, as are our concepts of cause, Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason, the Metaphysics of Morals, which dealt with ethics, and the Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Königsberg, Prussia. His mother, Anna Regina Reuter, was born in Königsberg to a father from Nuremberg. His father, Johann Georg Kant, was a German harness maker from Memel, Immanuel Kant believed that his paternal grandfather Hans Kant was of Scottish origin. Kant was the fourth of nine children, baptized Emanuel, he changed his name to Immanuel after learning Hebrew. Young Kant was a solid, albeit unspectacular, student and he was brought up in a Pietist household that stressed religious devotion, humility, and a literal interpretation of the Bible. His education was strict, punitive and disciplinary, and focused on Latin and religious instruction over mathematics, despite his religious upbringing and maintaining a belief in God, Kant was skeptical of religion in later life, various commentators have labelled him agnostic. Common myths about Kants personal mannerisms are listed, explained, and refuted in Goldthwaits introduction to his translation of Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime. It is often held that Kant lived a strict and disciplined life. He never married, but seemed to have a social life — he was a popular teacher. He had a circle of friends whom he met, among them Joseph Green. A common myth is that Kant never traveled more than 16 kilometres from Königsberg his whole life, in fact, between 1750 and 1754 he worked as a tutor in Judtschen and in Groß-Arnsdorf
6.
Critique of Judgment
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The Critique of Judgment, also translated as the Critique of the Power of Judgment, is a 1790 philosophical work by Immanuel Kant. Sometimes referred to as the third Critique, the Critique of Judgment follows the Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kants Critique of Judgment completes the Critical project begun in the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason. The so-called First Introduction was not published during Kants lifetime, for Kant wrote a replacement for publication. The second position, of spontaneous causality, is adopted by all people as they engage in moral behavior. The Critique of Judgment constitutes a discussion of the place of Judgment itself, the first part of the book, the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment, discusses the four possible reflective judgments, the agreeable, the beautiful, the sublime, and the good. Kant makes it clear that these are the four possible reflective judgments. Reflective judgments differ from determinative judgments. e, a Being which is productive in a way analogous to the causality of an intelligence. Thus the former principle is a proposition for the determinant Judgment. The agreeable is a purely sensory judgment — judgments in the form of This steak is good and these are purely subjective judgments, based on inclination alone. It is in ways the absolute opposite of the agreeable, in that it is a purely objective judgment — things are either moral or they are not. The remaining two judgments — the beautiful and the sublime — differ from both the agreeable and the good and they are what Kant refers to as subjective universal judgments. This apparently oxymoronic term means that, in practice, the judgments are subjective, however, the judgment that something is beautiful or sublime is made with the belief that other people ought to agree with this judgment — even though it is known that many will not. The force of this comes from a reference to a sensus communis — a community of taste. The central concept of Kants analysis of the judgment of beauty is what he called the ″free play″ between the powers of imagination and understanding. We call a beautiful, because its form fits our cognitive powers. We also do not need to have a concept for an object in order to find it beautiful. In this regard, Kant further distinguishes between free and adherent beauty, whereas judgments of free beauty are made without having one determinate concept for the object being judged, a judgment of beauty is adherent if we do have such a determined concept in mind. The main difference between these two judgments is that purpose or use of the object plays no role in the case of free beauty, in contrast, adherent judgments of beauty are only possible if the object is not ill-suited for its purpose
7.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
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Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism. He achieved wide renown in his day and, while primarily influential within the tradition of philosophy, has become increasingly influential in the analytic tradition as well. Although he remains a figure, his canonical stature within Western philosophy is universally recognized. His philosophy of spirit conceptually integrates psychology, the state, history, art, religion and his account of the master–slave dialectic has been highly influential, especially in 20th-century France. Hegel has been seen in the 20th century as the originator of the thesis, antithesis, synthesis triad, however, as an explicit phrase, Hegel has influenced many thinkers and writers whose own positions vary widely. Hegel was born on August 27,1770 in Stuttgart, in the Duchy of Württemberg in southwestern Germany, christened Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, he was known as Wilhelm to his close family. His father, Georg Ludwig, was Rentkammersekretär at the court of Karl Eugen, Hegels mother, Maria Magdalena Louisa, was the daughter of a lawyer at the High Court of Justice at the Württemberg court. She died of a fever when Hegel was thirteen. Hegel and his father caught the disease but narrowly survived. Hegel had a sister, Christiane Luise, and a brother, Georg Ludwig, at the age of three Hegel went to the German School. When he entered the Latin School two years later, he knew the first declension, having been taught it by his mother. In 1776, Hegel entered Stuttgarts gymnasium illustre, during his adolescence Hegel read voraciously, copying lengthy extracts in his diary. Authors he read include the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and writers associated with the Enlightenment, such as Christian Garve, Hegels studies at the Gymnasium were concluded with his Abiturrede entitled The abortive state of art and scholarship in Turkey. At the age of eighteen Hegel entered the Tübinger Stift, where he had as roommates the poet Friedrich Hölderlin, sharing a dislike for what they regarded as the restrictive environment of the Seminary, the three became close friends and mutually influenced each others ideas. All greatly admired Hellenic civilization, and Hegel additionally steeped himself in Jean-Jacques Rousseau and they watched the unfolding of the French Revolution with shared enthusiasm. Schelling and Hölderlin immersed themselves in theoretical debates on Kantian philosophy, Hegel at this time envisaged his future as that of a Popularphilosoph, i. e. Having received his certificate from the Tübingen Seminary, Hegel became Hofmeister to an aristocratic family in Bern. During this period he composed the text which has known as the Life of Jesus
8.
Thomas Nagel
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Thomas Nagel is an American philosopher, currently University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University in the NYU Department of Philosophy, where he has taught since 1980. His main areas of philosophical interest are philosophy of mind, political philosophy, Nagel was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to a Jewish family. He is the son of Carolyn and Walter Nagel and he received a BA in philosophy from Cornell University in 1958 where he was introduced to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. He then attended the University of Oxford on a Fulbright Scholarship and received a BPhil in 1960, while there, he studied with J. L. Austin and he received his PhD in philosophy from Harvard University in 1963. At Harvard, Nagel studied under John Rawls, whom Nagel later called the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century. Nagel is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and he has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2008, he was awarded a Rolf Schock Prize for his work in philosophy, the Balzan prize, Nagel began to publish philosophy at the age of twenty-two, his career now spans over fifty years of publication. It can, however, all be understood as structured around a central distinction between subjective and objective points of view of a subject matter, Nagel thinks that each person, owing to his or her capacity to reason, instinctively seeks a unified world view. For contingent, limited and finite creatures, no such unified world view is possible and that is because ways of understanding are not always better when they are more objective. Like the British philosopher Bernard Williams, Nagel believes that the rise of science has permanently changed how people think of the world. A modern scientific understanding is one way of thinking about the world and it is more objective because it is less dependent on our peculiarities as the kinds of thinkers that people are. Our modern scientific understanding involves the understanding of the world represented by modern physics. Understanding this bleached out view of the draws on our capacities as purely rational thinkers. Contrary to this seeming skepticism about the claims of science. His contention, rather, is that a way of understanding a subject matter should not be regarded as better simply for being more objective. Importantly, the viewpoint is fundamentally unable to help people fully understand themselves. Taking the proper methods of a scientific understanding and applying them to the mind leaves out something essential. Nagel argues in What Is it Like to Be a Bat. Nagel argues that some phenomena are not best grasped from a more objective perspective
9.
Consciousness
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Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. Despite the difficulty in definition, many believe that there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is. Western philosophers, since the time of Descartes and Locke, have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness, the majority of experimental studies assess consciousness in humans by asking subjects for a verbal report of their experiences. The origin of the concept of consciousness is often attributed to John Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke defined consciousness as the perception of what passes in a mans own mind and his essay influenced the 18th-century view of consciousness, and his definition appeared in Samuel Johnsons celebrated Dictionary. Consciousness is also defined in the 1753 volume of Diderot and dAlemberts Encyclopédie, the earliest English language uses of conscious and consciousness date back, however, to the 1500s. This phrase had the meaning of knowing that one knows. In its earliest uses in the 1500s, the English word conscious retained the meaning of the Latin conscius. For example, Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan wrote, Where two, or more men, know of one and the fact, they are said to be Conscious of it one to another. The Latin phrase conscius sibi, whose meaning was more related to the current concept of consciousness, was rendered in English as conscious to oneself or conscious unto oneself. For example, Archbishop Ussher wrote in 1613 of being so conscious unto myself of my great weakness, Lockes definition from 1690 illustrates that a gradual shift in meaning had taken place. A related word was conscientia, which primarily means moral conscience, in the literal sense, conscientia means knowledge-with, that is, shared knowledge. The word first appears in Latin juridical texts by such as Cicero. Here, conscientia is the knowledge that a witness has of the deed of someone else, rené Descartes is generally taken to be the first philosopher to use conscientia in a way that does not fit this traditional meaning. Descartes used conscientia the way modern speakers would use conscience, in Search after Truth he says conscience or internal testimony. The dictionary meaning of the word consciousness extends through several centuries, B. inward awareness of an external object, state, or fact. The philosophy of mind has given rise to many stances regarding consciousness, something within ones mind is introspectively conscious just in case one introspects it. Introspection is often thought to deliver ones primary knowledge of ones mental life, an experience or other mental entity is phenomenally conscious just in case there is something it is like for one to have it
10.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
11.
Christian von Wolff
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Christian Wolff was a German philosopher. The mountain Mons Wolff on the Moon is named in his honor, Wolff was the most eminent German philosopher between Leibniz and Kant. Wolff was also the creator of German as the language of instruction and research, although he also wrote in Latin, so that an international audience could. Wolff was born in Breslau, Silesia, into a modest family and he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Jena, soon adding philosophy. In 1703, he qualified as Privatdozent at Leipzig University, where he lectured until 1706, by this time he had made the acquaintance of Leibniz, of whose philosophy his own system is a modified version. At Halle, Wolff at first restricted himself to mathematics, but on the departure of a colleague, he added physics, however, the claims Wolff advanced on behalf of philosophical reason appeared impious to his theological colleagues. Halle was the headquarters of Pietism, which, after a struggle against Lutheran dogmatism, had assumed the characteristics of a new orthodoxy. Wolffs professed ideal was to base theological truths on mathematically certain evidence, on 12 July 1723 Wolff held a lecture for students and the magistrates at the end of his term as a rector. Wolff compared, based on books by the Belgian missionaries François Noël and Philippe Couplet, Moses, Christ, according to Voltaire professor August Hermann Francke had been teaching in an empty classroom but Wolff attracted with his lectures around 1,000 students from all over. In the following up Wolff was accused by Francke of fatalism and atheism, as a consequence, Wolff was ousted in 1723 from his first chair at Halle in one of the most celebrated academic dramas of the 18th century. His successors were Joachim Lange, a pietist, and his son and this so enraged the king that he immediately deprived Wolff of his office, and commanded him to leave Prussian territory within 48 hours or be hanged. The same day Wolff passed into Saxony, and presently proceeded to Marburg, Hesse-Kassel, to university he had received a call even before this crisis. The Landgrave of Hesse received him with every mark of distinction, and it was everywhere discussed, and over two hundred books and pamphlets appeared for or against it before 1737, not reckoning the systematic treatises of Wolff and his followers. In 1726 Wolff published his Discours, in which he mentioned the importance of listening to music put on pregnant Chinese women. At the University of Marburg, as one of the most popular and fashionable university teachers in Europe, Frederick proposed to send a copy of Logique ou réflexions sur les forces de lentendement humain to Voltaire in his first letter to the philosopher from 8 August 1736. In 1737 Wolffs Metafysica was translated into French by Ulrich Friedrich von Suhm, Voltaire got the impression Frederick had translated the book himself. In 1738 Frederick William begun the hard labour of trying to read Wolff, in 1740 Frederick William died, and one of the first acts of his son and successor, Frederick the Great, was to acquire him for the Prussian Academy. Wolff refused, but accepted on 10 September 1740 an appointment in Halle and his entry into the town on 6 December 1740 took on the character of a triumphal procession
12.
Plato
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Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted, the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. In addition to being a figure for Western science, philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, Platonism for the people, Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy, which originate with him. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied, few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range, perhaps only Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank. Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Platos early life, the philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies, the exact time and place of Platos birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BCE. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus. Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker, besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children, these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus. The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons of Ariston, and presumably brothers of Plato, but in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, went to Euclides in Megara, as Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth to 424/423, another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping, an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy. Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the dating of his death is difficult. Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother, who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato and these and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree
13.
Phaedo
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Phædo or Phaedo, also known to ancient readers as On The Soul, is one of the best-known dialogues of Platos middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Platos fourth and last dialogue to detail the final days, following Euthyphro, Apology. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock, Socrates has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by an Athenian jury for not believing in the gods of the state and for corrupting the youth of the city. The dialogue is told from the perspective of one of Socrates students, having been present at Socrates death bed, Phaedo relates the dialogue from that day to Echecrates, a Pythagorean philosopher. Phaedo tells the story following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates. One of the themes in the Phaedo is the idea that the soul is immortal. As the body is mortal and is subject to physical death, plato then suggests the analogy of fire and cold. If the form of cold is imperishable, and fire, its opposite, was close proximity. This could be likened to the idea of the charges of magnets. The Theory of Recollection explains that we possess some non-empirical knowledge at birth, another account of the theory is found in Platos Meno, although in that case Socrates implies anamnesis whereas he is not so bold in Phaedo. The Affinity Argument, explains that invisible, immortal, and incorporeal things are different from visible, mortal and our soul is of the former, while our body is of the latter, so when our bodies die and decay, our soul will continue to live. The Argument from Form of Life, or The Final Argument explains that the Forms, incorporeal and static entities, are the cause of all things in the world, and all things participate in Forms. For example, beautiful things participate in the Form of Beauty, the soul, by its very nature, participates in the Form of Life, which means the soul can never die. The Phaedo was first translated into Latin from Greek by Henry Aristippus in 1160, today, it is generally considered one of Platos great works. The scene is set in Phlius where Echecrates who, meeting Phaedo, Phaedo explains why a delay occurred between his trial and his death, and describes the scene in a prison at Athens on the final day, naming those present. He tells how he had visited Socrates early in the morning with the others, Socrates wife Xanthippe was there, but was very distressed and Socrates asked that she be taken away. Socrates relates how, bidden by a dream to make and cultivate music, he wrote a hymn. Socrates tells Cebes to bid him farewell from me, say that I would have him come after me if he be a wise man Simmias expresses confusion as to why they ought hasten to follow Socrates to death
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Socrates
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Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is a figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon. Platos dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is hidden behind his best disciple, nothing written by Socrates remains extant. As a result, information about him and his philosophies depends upon secondary sources, furthermore, close comparison between the contents of these sources reveals contradictions, thus creating concerns about the possibility of knowing in-depth the real Socrates. This issue is known as the Socratic problem, or the Socratic question, to understand Socrates and his thought, one must turn primarily to the works of Plato, whose dialogues are thought the most informative source about Socrates life and philosophy, and also Xenophon. These writings are the Sokratikoi logoi, or Socratic dialogues, which consist of reports of conversations apparently involving Socrates, as for discovering the real-life Socrates, the difficulty is that ancient sources are mostly philosophical or dramatic texts, apart from Xenophon. There are no straightforward histories, contemporary with Socrates, that dealt with his own time, a corollary of this is that sources that do mention Socrates do not necessarily claim to be historically accurate, and are often partisan. For instance, those who prosecuted and convicted Socrates have left no testament, historians therefore face the challenge of reconciling the various evidence from the extant texts in order to attempt an accurate and consistent account of Socrates life and work. The result of such an effort is not necessarily realistic, even if consistent, amid all the disagreement resulting from differences within sources, two factors emerge from all sources pertaining to Socrates. It would seem, therefore, that he was ugly, also, Xenophon, being an historian, is a more reliable witness to the historical Socrates. It is a matter of debate over which Socrates it is whom Plato is describing at any given point—the historical figure. As British philosopher Martin Cohen has put it, Plato, the idealist, offers an idol, a Saint, a prophet of the Sun-God, a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic. It is also clear from other writings and historical artefacts, that Socrates was not simply a character, nor an invention, the testimony of Xenophon and Aristotle, alongside some of Aristophanes work, is useful in fleshing out a perception of Socrates beyond Platos work. The problem with discerning Socrates philosophical views stems from the perception of contradictions in statements made by the Socrates in the different dialogues of Plato and these contradictions produce doubt as to the actual philosophical doctrines of Socrates, within his milieu and as recorded by other individuals. Aristotle, in his Magna Moralia, refers to Socrates in words which make it patent that the virtue is knowledge was held by Socrates. Within the Metaphysics, he states Socrates was occupied with the search for moral virtues, however, in The Clouds, Aristophanes portrays Socrates as accepting payment for teaching and running a sophist school with Chaerephon. Also, in Platos Apology and Symposium, as well as in Xenophons accounts, more specifically, in the Apology, Socrates cites his poverty as proof that he is not a teacher. Two fragments are extant of the writings by Timon of Phlius pertaining to Socrates, although Timon is known to have written to ridicule, details about the life of Socrates can be derived from three contemporary sources, the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of Aristophanes
15.
Four causes
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The four causes are elements of an influential principle in Aristotelian thought whereby explanations of change or movement are classified into four fundamental types of answer to the question why. Aristotle wrote that we do not have knowledge of a thing until we have grasped its why, while there are cases where identifying a cause is difficult, or in which causes might merge, Aristotle was convinced that his four causes provided an analytical scheme of general applicability. The translation of Aristotles αἰτία that is nearest to current ordinary language is explanation, for a table, that might be wood, for a statue, that might be bronze or marble. Form, a change or movements formal cause, is a change or movement caused by the arrangement, Aristotle says for example that the ratio 2,1, and number in general, is the cause of the octave. Agent, a change or movements efficient or moving cause, consists of things apart from the thing being changed or moved, which interact so as to be an agency of the change or movement. For example, the efficient cause of a table is a carpenter, or a working as one. End or purpose, a change or movements final cause, is that for the sake of which a thing is what it is, for a seed, it might be an adult plant. For a sailboat, it might be sailing, for a ball at the top of a ramp, it might be coming to rest at the bottom. The four causes are not mutually exclusive, for Aristotle, several answers to the question why have to be given to explain a phenomenon and especially the actual configuration of an object. In his philosophical writings, Aristotle used the Greek word αἴτιον, aition, the appropriation of this word by Aristotle and other philosophers reflects how the Greek experience of legal practice influenced the concern in Greek thought to determine what is responsible. The word developed other meanings, including its use in philosophy in an abstract sense. In the present context, Aristotle used the four causes to provide different answers to the question, the four answers to this question illuminate different aspects of how a thing comes into being or an event takes place. Aristotle considers the material cause of an object is equivalent to the nature of the raw material out of which the object is composed, whereas modern physics looks to simple bodies, Aristotles physics instead treated living things as exemplary. However, he felt that natural bodies such as earth, fire, air, and water also showed signs of having their own innate sources of motion, change. Fire, for example, carries things upwards, unless stopped from doing so, things like beds and cloaks, formed by human artifice, have no innate tendency to become beds or cloaks. In Aristotelian terminology, material is not the same as substance, matter has parallels with substance in so far as primary matter serves as the substratum for simple bodies which are not substance, sand and rock, rivers and seas, atmosphere and wind. Only individuals are said to be substance in the primary sense, secondary substance, in a different sense, also applies to man-made artifacts. Aristotle considers the formal cause as describing the pattern or form which when present makes matter into a type of thing
16.
Democritus
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Democritus was an influential Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. Democritus was born in Abdera, Thrace, around 460 BC, although and his exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from those of his mentor Leucippus, as they are often mentioned together in texts. Largely ignored in ancient Athens, Democritus is said to have been disliked so much by Plato that the latter wished all of his books burned and he was nevertheless well known to his fellow northern-born philosopher Aristotle. Many consider Democritus to be the father of modern science, none of his writings have survived, only fragments are known from his vast body of work. Democritus was said to be born in the city of Abdera in Thrace and he was born in the 80th Olympiad according to Apollodorus of Athens, and although Thrasyllus placed his birth in 470 BC, the later date is probably more likely. John Burnet has argued that the date of 460 is too early since, according to Diogenes Laërtius ix.41 and it was said that Democrituss father was from a noble family and so wealthy that he received Xerxes on his march through Abdera. Democritus spent the inheritance which his father left him on travels into distant countries and he traveled to Asia, and was even said to have reached India and Ethiopia. It is known that he wrote on Babylon and Meroe, he visited Egypt and he himself declared that among his contemporaries none had made greater journeys, seen more countries, and met more scholars than himself. He particularly mentions the Egyptian mathematicians, whose knowledge he praises, theophrastus, too, spoke of him as a man who had seen many countries. During his travels, according to Diogenes Laërtius, he acquainted with the Chaldean magi. Ostanes, one of the magi accompanying Xerxes, was said to have taught him. After returning to his land he occupied himself with natural philosophy. He traveled throughout Greece to acquire a knowledge of its cultures. He mentions many Greek philosophers in his writings, and his wealth enabled him to purchase their writings, Leucippus, the founder of atomism, was the greatest influence upon him. Diogenes Laertius says that he was friends with Hippocrates and he may have been acquainted with Socrates, but Plato does not mention him and Democritus himself is quoted as saying, I came to Athens and no one knew me. Aristotle placed him among the natural philosophers. The many anecdotes about Democritus, especially in Diogenes Laërtius, attest to his disinterest, modesty, and simplicity, one story has him deliberately blinding himself in order to be less disturbed in his pursuits, it may well be true that he lost his sight in old age. He was cheerful, and was ready to see the comical side of life
17.
Platonic form
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As universals were considered by Plato to be ideal forms, this stance is ambiguously also called Platonic idealism. Platos Forms include numbers and geometrical figures, making them a theory of realism, they also include the Form of the Good. Plato expounded his own articulation of realism regarding the existence of universals in his dialogue The Republic and elsewhere, notably in the Phaedo, the Phaedrus, the Meno and the Parmenides. In Platonic realism, universals do not exist in the way that physical objects exist. More modern versions of the seek to avoid applying potentially misleading descriptions to universals. Instead, such versions maintain that it is meaningless to apply the categories of space, regardless of their description, Platonic realism holds that universals do exist in a broad, abstract sense, although not at any spatial or temporal distance from peoples bodies. Thus, people see or otherwise come into sensory contact with universals. Theories of universals, including Platonic realism, are challenged to satisfy certain constraints on theories of universals, Platonic realism satisfies one of those constraints, in that it is a theory of what general terms refer to. Forms are ideal in supplying meaning to referents for general terms and that is, to understand terms such as wikt, Applehood and redness, Platonic realism says that they refer to forms. Some contemporary linguistic philosophers construe Platonism to mean the proposition that universals exist independently of particulars, similarly, a form of modern Platonism is found in the predominant philosophy of mathematics, especially regarding the foundations of mathematics. The Platonic interpretation of this includes the thesis that mathematics is discovered rather than created. Platos interpretation of universals is linked to his Theory of Forms in which he uses both the terms εἶδος and ἰδέα to describe his theory, Forms are mind independent abstract objects or paradigms of which particular objects and the properties and relations present in them are copies. Form is inherent in the particulars and these are said to participate in the form, classically idea has been translated as idea, but secondary literature now typically employs the term form to avoid confusion with the English word connoting thought. Platonic form can be illustrated by contrasting a material triangle with an ideal triangle, the Platonic form is the ideal triangle — a figure with perfectly drawn lines whose angles add to 180 degrees. Any form of triangle that we experience will be a representation of the ideal triangle. Regardless of how precise your measuring and drawing tools you will never be able to recreate this perfect shape, even drawn to the point where our senses cannot perceive a defect, in its essence the shape will still be imperfect, forever unable to match the ideal triangle. Some versions of Platonic realism, like that of Proclus, regard Platos forms as thoughts in the mind of God, most consider forms not to be mental entities at all. In Platonic realism, forms are related to particulars in that a particular is regarded as a copy of its form, for example, a particular apple is said to be a copy of the form of applehood and the apples redness is an instance of the form of Redness
18.
Physics (Aristotle)
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The Physics of Aristotle is one of the foundational books of Western science and philosophy. As Martin Heidegger once wrote, The Physics is a lecture in which he seeks to determine beings that arise on their own, τὰ φύσει ὄντα, with regard to their being. This book determines the warp and woof of the whole of Western thinking, even at that place where it, as modern thinking, but opposition is invariably comprised of a decisive, and often even perilous, dependence. Without Aristotles Physics there would have been no Galileo, bertrand Russell, however, says of Physics and On the Heavens that they were. extremely influential, and dominated science until the time of Galileo. The historian of philosophy, accordingly, must study them, in spite of the fact that hardly a sentence in either can be accepted in the light of modern science. The chief purpose of the work is to discover the principles and causes of change, or movement, or motion, the Physics is composed of eight books, which are further divided into chapters. In this article, books are referenced with Roman numerals, chapters with Arabic numerals, additionally, the Bekker numbers give the page and line numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of Aristotles works. Book I discusses the scientists approach to nature and the world of changing things, Topics include, remarks on method, a discussion of how some ancestors viewed nature, and the basic elements of change. Change elements include, a lack, which is overcome by its opposite, the 1966 monograph by Connell is a particularly good expansion and defense of the contents of this book. Aristotles approach to the world as summarized in chapter 1 is to start with the most general albeit vague aspects of the world before proceeding to specifics. This approach contrasts sharply with that of science, which starts with particulars before advancing to generalities. Chapter 2 begins his consideration of the first principles of motion by initiating a review of the opinions of previous thinkers, chapters 3 and 4 are among the most difficult in all of Aristotles works and involve subtle refutations of the thought of Parmenides, Melissus and Anaxagoras. In chapter 5, he continues his review of his predecessors, chapter 6 narrows down the number of principles to two or three. He presents his own account of the subject in chapter 7, Aristotles concept of matter is rather different from what we moderns might expect from the use of the word in modern mathematical science. Descartes axiomatically redefined the concept of matter in the Enlightenment to exclude any characteristics that would make it unsuitable for abstract, mathematical treatment, the matter is not specifically described, but consists of whatever remains in the change of substance from grass to horse. Matter in this understanding does not exist independently, but exists interdependently with form, Matter and form are analogical terms. It is helpful to conceive of the relationship of matter and form as very similar to that between parts and whole, parts existing separately do not remain parts, but become new wholes. Book II introduces the term nature as a source or cause of being moved, thus, those entities are natural which are capable of starting to move, e. g. growing, acquiring qualities, displacing themselves, and finally being born and dying
19.
Lucretius
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Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism. Lucretius has been credited with originating the concept of the system which was formalised from 1834 by C. J. Thomsen. Very little is known about Lucretiuss life, the certain fact is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius. De rerum natura was an influence on the Augustan poets, particularly Virgil. Virtually nothing is known about the life of Lucretius and he was probably a member of the aristocratic gens Lucretia, and his work shows an intimate knowledge of the luxurious lifestyle in Rome. In a letter by Cicero to his brother Quintus in February 54 BC, Cicero said, The poems of Lucretius are as you write, they exhibit many flashes of genius, and yet show great mastership. By this time, both Cicero and his brother had read De rerum natura, and so might have many other Romans, a literary evaluation of Lucretiuss work, however, reveals some repetition and a sudden end to Book 6 during a description of the plague at Athens. The poem appears to have been published without a final revision, if this is true, Lucretius must have been dead by 54 BC. A brief biographical note is found in Aelius Donatuss Life of Virgil, the two consuls of 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus, stood together as consuls again in 55, not 53. There is insufficient basis for a confident assertion of the date of Lucretiuss birth or death in other sources, another yet briefer note is found in the Chronicon of Donatuss pupil, Jerome. Writing four centuries after Lucretiuss death, he enters under the 171st Olympiad the following line, Titus Lucretius the poet is born. The claim that he was driven mad by a potion, although defended by such scholars as Reale and Catan, often is dismissed as the result of historical confusion. In some accounts the administration of the toxic aphrodisiac is attributed to his wife Lucilia, jeromes image of Lucretius as a lovesick, mad poet continued to have significant influence on modern scholarship until quite recently, although it now is accepted that such a report is inaccurate. Similarly, the statement that Cicero emended the work prior to publication is doubtful, the exact date of his birth varies by manuscript, in most it is recorded under 94 BC, but in others under 93 or 96. Lucretius and Jerome wrote for opposing purposes, and whether or not Jerome attempted to disparage Lucretiuss work as the work of a madman is an open question. If 55 BC is Lucretiuss most likely year of death, however and his poem De rerum natura transmits the ideas of Epicureanism, which includes Atomism, and psychology. Lucretius was the first writer to introduce Roman readers to Epicurean philosophy, the poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors
20.
De rerum natura
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De rerum natura is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, the universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, chance, and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities. To Epicurus, the unhappiness and degradation of humans arose largely from the dread which they entertained of the power of the deities, from terror of their wrath. This wrath was supposed to be displayed by the misfortunes inflicted in this life, to remove these fears, and thus to establish tranquility in the heart, was the purpose of his teaching. Lucretius identifies the supernatural with the notion that the deities created our world or interfere with its operations in some way. He argues against fear of such deities by demonstrating, through observations and arguments and these phenomena are the regular, but purposeless motions and interactions of tiny atoms in empty space. Meanwhile, he argues against the fear of death by stating that death is the dissipation of a beings material mind, Lucretius uses the analogy of a vessel, stating that the physical body is the vessel that holds both the mind and spirit of a human being. Neither the mind nor spirit can survive independent of the body, thus Lucretius states that once the vessel shatters its contents can no longer exist. So, as a simple ceasing-to-be, death can be neither good nor bad for this being, being completely devoid of sensation and thought, a dead person cannot miss being alive. According to Lucretius, fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced in life, Lucretius also puts forward the symmetry argument against the fear of death. The poem consists of six untitled books, in dactylic hexameter, the fourth book is devoted to the theory of the senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, of sleep and of dreams, ending with a disquisition upon love and sex. The fifth book is described by Ramsay as the most finished and impressive, while Stahl considers that its puerile conceptions indicate that Lucretius should be judged as a poet, not as a scientist. This in its turn introduces a description of the great pestilence which devastated Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The abrupt ending suggests that Lucretius had not finished editing the poem before his death. Lucretius wrote this poem to Memmius, who may be Gaius Memmius, who in 58 BC was a praetor. There are over a dozen references to Memmius scattered throughout the poem in a variety of contexts in translation, such as Memmius mine, my Memmius. However, the purpose of the poem is subject to ongoing scholarly debate, Lucretius refers to Memmius by name four times in the first book, three times in the second, five in the fifth, and not at all in the third, fourth, or sixth books. However, Memmius name is central to several verses in the poem
21.
Novum Organum
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The Novum Organum, fully Novum Organum Scientiarum, is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon, written in Latin and published in 1620. The title is a reference to Aristotles work Organon, which was his treatise on logic, in Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method, for Bacon, finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction, and the use of inductive reasoning. In finding the cause of a nature such as heat. Then another list should be drawn up, listing situations that are similar to those of the first list except for the lack of heat, a third table lists situations where heat can vary. The Pillars, as the boundary of the Mediterranean, have been smashed through opening a new world for exploration, Bacon hopes that empirical investigation will, similarly, smash the old scientific ideas and lead to greater understanding of the world and heavens. The Latin tag across the bottom – Multi pertransibunt & augebitur scientia – is taken from Daniel 12,4 and it means, Many will travel and knowledge will be increased. Bacons work was instrumental in the development of the scientific method. His technique bears a resemblance to the formulation of the scientific method in the sense that it is centered on experimental research. Bacons emphasis on the use of experiments to provide additional observances of a phenomenon is one reason that he is often considered the Father of the Experimental Philosophy. Bacon begins the work with a rejection of pure a priori deduction as a means of discovering truth in natural philosophy, of his philosophy, he states, Now my plan is as easy to describe as it is difficult to effect. The emphasis on beginning with observation pervades the entire work, Novum organum was actually published as part of a much larger work, Instauratio magna—the great restoration. Originally intending Instauratio magna to contain six parts, Bacon did not come close to completing this series, as parts V, Bacon titled this first book Aphorismi de Interpretatione Naturae et Regno Hominis. In the first book of aphorisms, Bacon criticises the current state of natural philosophy, thus if the notions themselves are confused, and recklessly abstracted from things, nothing built on them is sound. The only hope lies in true Induction. In many of his aphorisms, Bacon reiterates the importance of inductive reasoning, Induction, methodologically opposed to deduction, entails beginning with particular cases observed by the senses and then attempting to discover the general axioms from those observations. In other words, induction presupposes nothing, deduction, on the other hand, begins with general axioms, or first principles, by which the truth of particular cases is extrapolated. Bacon emphasises the strength of the process that is inherent in induction, There are
22.
Francis Bacon
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Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, PC KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author. He served both as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England, after his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism and his works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued this could be achieved by use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. This marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, Bacon was generally neglected at court by Queen Elizabeth, but after the accession of King James I in 1603, Bacon was knighted. He was later created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Alban in 1621, because he had no heirs, both titles became extinct upon his death in 1626, at 65 years of age. Bacon died of pneumonia, with one account by John Aubrey stating that he had contracted the condition while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon by his wife, Anne Bacon. His mothers sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a leaning toward Puritanism. Bacons education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum and he was also educated at the University of Poitiers. It was at Cambridge that he first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect and his studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, on 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Grays Inn. A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the state of government and society in France under Henry III afforded him valuable political instruction. For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain, during his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to England for Walsingham, Burghley, the sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so. Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt, Bacon stated that he had three goals, to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church
23.
Ludwig von Mises
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Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was a theoretical Austrian School economist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on behalf of classical liberalism and he is best known for his work on praxeology, a study of human choice and action. Mises emigrated from Austria to the United States in 1940, since the mid-20th century, the libertarian movement in the United States has been strongly influenced by Misess writings. Misess student, Friedrich Hayek, viewed Mises as one of the figures in the revival of liberalism in the post-war era. Hayeks work, The Transmission of the Ideals of Freedom pays high tribute to the influence of Mises in the twentieth century liberal movement, Misess Austrian School was a leading group of economists. Many of its alumni, including Hayek and Oskar Morgenstern, emigrated from Austria to the United States, Mises has been described as having approximately seventy close students in Austria, and the Austrians as the insiders of the Chicago School of economics. The Ludwig von Mises Institute was founded in the United States to continue his teachings, Ludwig von Mises was born to Jewish parents in the city of Lemberg, in Galicia, Austria-Hungary. The family of his father Arthur Edler von Mises had been elevated to the Austrian nobility in the 19th century, ludwigs mother, Adele, was a niece of Dr. Joachim Landau, a Liberal Party deputy to the Austrian Parliament. Arthur von Mises was stationed in Lemberg as an engineer with the Czernowitz railway company. By the age of twelve, Ludwig spoke fluent German, Polish and French, read Latin, Mises had a younger brother, Richard von Mises, who became a mathematician and a member of the Vienna Circle, and a probability theorist. When Ludwig and Richard were still children, their family moved back to Vienna, in 1900, Ludwig Von Mises attended the University of Vienna, becoming influenced by the works of Carl Menger. Three years later, Mises was awarded his doctorate from the school of law in 1906, in the years from 1904 to 1914, Mises attended lectures given by Austrian economist Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. He graduated in February 1906 and started a career as a servant in Austrias financial administration. After a few months, he left to take a position in a Vienna law firm. During that time, Mises began lecturing on economics, and in early 1909, he joined the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, during World War I, Mises served as a front officer in the Austro-Hungarian artillery and as an economic adviser to the War Department. Mises was chief economist for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and was an adviser of Engelbert Dollfuss. Later he was adviser to Otto von Habsburg, the Christian democratic politician. In 1934, Mises left Austria for Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940, while in Switzerland, Mises married Margit Herzfeld Serény, a former actress and widow of Ferdinand Serény
24.
Aristotelianism
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Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotles writings. Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from the Islamic scholars and based his famous Guide for the Perplexed on it, scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas interpreted and systematized Aristotles works in accordance with Christian theology. Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as non-Aristotelian, postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianisms claim to reveal important theoretical truths. In this, they follow Heideggers critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the tradition of Western philosophy. Recent Aristotelian ethical and practical philosophy, such as that of Gadamer, the most famous contemporary Aristotelian philosopher is Alasdair MacIntyre. Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly revolutionary Aristotelianism and this may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr. in politics, the original followers of Aristotle were the members of the Peripatetic school. The most prominent members of the school after Aristotle were Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus, during the Roman era the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in this regard was Alexander of Aphrodisias who commentated on Aristotles writings, in the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were constructed, and scholars were welcomed. Under the caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son Al-Mamun, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad flourished, Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, into Syriac, al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world. He incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework and this was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim intellectual world. The philosopher Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries and his work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Avicenna. Avicenna was one of the interpreters of Aristotle. The school of thought he founded became known as Avicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks that are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonist. At the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, during the reign of Al-Hakam II in Córdoba, a massive effort was undertaken. Averroes, who spent much of his life in Cordoba and Seville, was distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle
25.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
26.
Karl Marx
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Karl Marx was a Prussian-born philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Born in Trier to a family, he later studied political economy. His work has influenced subsequent intellectual, economic, and political history. These economic critiques were set out in works such as the three volumes, published between 1867 and 1894, that comprise Das Kapital. According to Marx, states are run in the interests of the class but are nonetheless represented as being in favor of the common interest of all. He predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the class should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism. Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and his work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought. Many intellectuals, labour unions, artists and political parties worldwide have been influenced by Marxs work, Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology and social science. Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 to Heinrich Marx and he was born at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, a town then part of the Kingdom of Prussias Province of the Lower Rhine. Marx was ancestrally Jewish, his grandfather was a Dutch rabbi, while his paternal line had supplied Triers rabbis since 1723. Marx was also a cousin once removed of German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine, also born to a German Jewish family in the Rhineland. Largely non-religious, Heinrich was a man of the Enlightenment, interested in the ideas of the philosophers Immanuel Kant, a classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, then governed by an absolute monarchy. In 1815 Heinrich Marx began work as an attorney, in 1819 moving his family to a property near the Porta Nigra. Her sister Sophie Pressburg, was Marxs aunt and was married to Lion Philips Marxs uncle through this marriage, Lion Philips was a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer and industrialist, upon whom Karl and Jenny Marx would later often come to rely for loans while they were exiled in London. Little is known of Karl Marxs childhood, the third of nine children, he became the oldest son when his brother Moritz died in 1819. Young Karl was baptised into the Lutheran Church in August 1824 along with his siblings, Sophie, Hermann, Henriette, Louise, Emilie. Young Karl was privately educated, by Heinrich Marx, until 1830, by employing many liberal humanists as teachers, Wyttenbach incurred the anger of the local conservative government
27.
Friedrich Engels
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Friedrich Engels was a German philosopher, social scientist, journalist, and businessman. He founded Marxist theory together with Karl Marx, in 1845, he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research in Manchester. In 1848, he co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Marx, though he also authored and co-authored many other works, after Marxs death, Engels edited the second and third volumes. Additionally, Engels organised Marxs notes on the Theories of Surplus Value and he also made contributions to family economics. Friedrich Engels was born on 28 November 1820 in Barmen, Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Barmen was an expanding industrial metropolis, and Friedrich was the eldest son of a wealthy German cotton textile manufacturer. His father, Friedrich, Sr. was a Pietistic Protestant, as he grew up, however, he developed atheistic beliefs and his relationship with his parents became strained. His mother wrote to him of her concerns, She said that he had gone too far. She continued, You have paid more heed to other people, to strangers, God alone knows what I have felt and suffered of late. I was trembling when I picked up the newspaper and saw therein that a warrant was out for my sons arrest, when his mother wrote, Engels was in hiding in Brussels, Belgium, soon to make his way to Switzerland. In 1849, he returned to the Kingdom of Bavaria for the Baden, at 17, Friedrich had dropped out of high school due to family circumstances. He spent a year in Barmen, in 1838, his father sent the young man to work as a nonsalaried office clerk at a commercial house in Bremen. His parents expected that he would follow his father into a career in business and it would be some years before he joined the family firm. Whilst at Bremen, Engels began reading the philosophy of Hegel, in September 1838, he published his first work, a poem entitled The Bedouin, in the Bremisches Conversationsblatt No.40. He also engaged in literary and journalistic work. Also while at Bremen, Engels began writing newspaper articles critiquing the societal ills of industrialisation and he wrote under a pseudonym, Friedrich Oswald, to avoid connecting his life in a Pietist industrialist family with his provocative writings. In 1841, Engels joined the Prussian Army as a member of the Household Artillery and he was assigned to Berlin, where he attended university lectures at the University of Berlin and began to associate with groups of Young Hegelians. He anonymously published articles in the Rheinische Zeitung, exposing the poor employment, the editor of the Rheinische Zeitung was Karl Marx. Engels did not meet Marx until late November 1842, Engels acknowledged the influence of German philosophy on his intellectual development throughout his life
28.
Analytic philosophy
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Analytic philosophy is a style of philosophy that became dominant in English-speaking countries at the beginning of the 20th century. In the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia, as a historical development, analytical philosophy refers to certain developments in early 20th-century philosophy that were the historical antecedents of the current practice. Central figures in historical development are Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. E. Moore, Gottlob Frege. This may be contrasted with the traditional foundationalism, which considers philosophy to be a science that investigates the fundamental reasons. Consequently, many philosophers have considered their inquiries as continuous with, or subordinate to. This is an attitude that begins with John Locke, who described his work as that of an underlabourer to the achievements of scientists such as Newton. During the twentieth century, the most influential advocate of the continuity of philosophy with science was Willard Van Orman Quine, the principle that the logical clarification of thoughts can be achieved only by analysis of the logical form of philosophical propositions. The logical form of a proposition is a way of representing it, to reduce it to simpler components if necessary, however, analytic philosophers disagree widely about the correct logical form of ordinary language. The neglect of generalized philosophical systems in favour of more restricted inquiries stated rigorously and it is thus able, in regard to certain problems, to achieve definite answers, which have the quality of science rather than of philosophy. Its methods, in respect, resemble those of science. Analytic philosophy is often understood in contrast to other traditions, most notably continental philosophies such as existentialism and phenomenology. British idealism, as taught by such as F. H. Bradley and Thomas Hill Green. With reference to this basis the initiators of analytic philosophy, G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell. Inspired by developments in logic, the early Russell claimed that the problems of philosophy can be solved by showing the simple constituents of complex notions. An important aspect of British idealism was logical holism — the opinion that the aspects of the world cannot be wholly without also knowing the whole world. This is closely related to the opinion that relations between items are actually internal relations, that is, properties internal to the nature of those items. Russell, along with Wittgenstein, in response promulgated logical atomism, Frege was also influential as a philosopher of mathematics in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Like Frege, Russell attempted to show that mathematics is reducible to logical fundamentals in The Principles of Mathematics, later, his book written with Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, encouraged many philosophers to renew their interest in the development of symbolic logic
29.
Hegelianism
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Hegelianism is the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel which can be summed up by the dictum that the rational alone is real, which means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories. His goal was to reality to a more synthetic unity within the system of absolute idealism. Hegels method in philosophy consists of the development in each concept. Thus, he hopes, philosophy will not contradict experience, but will give data of experience to the philosophical, which is the ultimately true explanation. Next, we find that the savage has given up this freedom in exchange for its opposite, the restraint, or, as he considers it, the tyranny, of civilization and law. In this triadic process, the stage is the direct opposite. The third stage is the first returned to itself in a higher, truer, richer, the three stages are, therefore, styled, in itself out of itself in and for itself. In logic – which, according to Hegel, is really metaphysic – we have to deal with the process of development applied to reality in its most abstract form. According to Hegel, in logic, we deal in concepts robbed of their content, in logic we are discussing the process in vacuo. Thus, at the beginning of Hegels study of reality. Now, being is not a static concept according to Hegel and it is essentially dynamic, because it tends by its very nature to pass over into nothing, and then to return to itself in the higher concept, becoming. For Aristotle, there was nothing more certain than that being equaled being, or, in words, that being is identical with itself. Hegel does not deny this, but, he adds, it is certain that being tends to become its opposite, nothing. For instance, the truth about this table, for Aristotle, is that it is a table, for Hegel, the equally important truth is that it was a tree, and it will be ashes. The whole truth, for Hegel, is that the tree became a table, thus, becoming, not being, is the highest expression of reality. But one cannot help asking what is it that develops or is developed and its name, Hegel answers, is different in each stage. In the lowest form it is being, higher up it is life, the only thing always present is the process. We may, however, call the process by the name of spirit or idea and we may even call it God, because at least in the third term of every triadic development the process is God
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
31.
Postmodernism
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Postmodernism describes a broad movement that developed in the mid to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture and criticism which marked a departure from modernism. Accordingly, postmodern thought is characterized by tendencies to epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, irreverence. The term postmodernism has been applied both to the era following modernity, and to a host of movements within that era that reacted against tendencies in modernism. Postmodernism includes skeptical critical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, linguistics, economics, architecture, fiction, feminist theory, and literary criticism. Postmodernism is often associated with schools of such as deconstruction and post-structuralism, as well as philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard. The term postmodern was first used around the 1880s, John Watkins Chapman suggested a Postmodern style of painting as a way to depart from French Impressionism. In 1921 and 1925, postmodernism had been used to new forms of art. In 1942 H. R. Hays described it as a new literary form, however, as a general theory for a historical movement it was first used in 1939 by Arnold J. Toynbee, Our own Post-Modern Age has been inaugurated by the general war of 1914–1918. Peter Drucker suggested the transformation into a post modern world happened between 1937 and 1957, post-structuralism resulted similarly to postmodernism by following a time of structuralism. It is characterized by new ways of thinking through structuralism, contrary to the original form, postmodernist describes part of a movement, Postmodern places it in the period of time since the 1950s, making it a part of contemporary history. Martin Heidegger rejected the philosophical basis of the concepts of subjectivity and objectivity, instead of resisting the admission of this paradox in the search for understanding, Heidegger requires that we embrace it through an active process of elucidation he called the hermeneutic circle. He stressed the historicity and cultural construction of concepts while simultaneously advocating the necessity of an atemporal, in this latter premise, Heidegger shares an affinity with the late Romantic philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, another principal forerunner of post-structuralist and postmodernist thought. Instead, Foucault focused on the ways in which such constructs can foster cultural hegemony, violence and his writings have had a major influence on the larger body of postmodern academic literature. These metanarratives still remain in Western society but are now being undermined by rapid Informatization, Richard Rorty argues in Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature that contemporary analytic philosophy mistakenly imitates scientific methods. For Baudrillard, “simulation is no longer that of a territory and it is the generation by models of a real without origin or a reality, a hyperreal. In Analysis of the Journey, a journal birthed from postmodernism, Douglas Kellner insists that the assumptions and his terms defined in the depth of postmodernism are based on advancement, innovation, and adaptation. Extensively, Kellner analyzes the terms of theory in real-life experiences and examples. Kellner used science and technology studies as a part of his analysis
32.
Alasdair MacIntyre
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Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a Scottish philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but also known for his work in history of philosophy and theology. During his lengthy career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University. MacIntyres After Virtue is widely recognised as one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century, MacIntyre was born on 12 January 1929 in Glasgow, to John and Emily MacIntyre. He was educated at Queen Mary, University of London, and has a Master of Arts from the University of Manchester and he began his teaching career in 1951 at Manchester University. He taught at the University of Leeds, the University of Essex, MacIntyre has been something of an intellectual nomad, having taught at many universities in the US. He has also been a professor at Princeton University, and is a former president of the American Philosophical Association. In 2010, he was awarded the Aquinas Medal by the American Catholic Philosophical Association, from 2000 he was the Rev. John A. OBrien Senior Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana USA. He is also Professor Emerit and Emeritus at Duke University, since his retirement from active teaching in 2010, he remains the Senior Distinguished Research Fellow of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, where he retains an office. He continues to make presentations, including an annual keynote as part of the Center for Ethics. He has been married 3 times, from 1953 to 1963 he was married to Ann Peri, with whom he had two daughters. From 1963 to 1977 he was married to Susan Willans, with whom he had a son, since 1977 he has been married to philosopher Lynn Joy, who is also on the Philosophy faculty at Notre Dame. MacIntyres approach to moral philosophy has a number of strains that inform it. This peculiarly modern understanding largely concerns MacIntyres approach to moral disputes. e, notions whose value can not be reduced to a common measure. This Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition, he proposes, presents the best theory so far, probably his most widely read work, After Virtue was written when MacIntyre was already in his fifties. Specifically, MacIntyre argues that rival and largely incompatible conceptions of justice are the outcome of rival and these competing forms of practical rationality and their attendant ideas of justice are in turn the result of socially embodied traditions of rational inquiry. As MacIntyre puts it, It is most often to others that we owe our survival and his approach seeks to demonstrate that good judgment emanates from good character. Being a good person is not about seeking to follow formal rules, in elaborating this approach, MacIntyre understands himself to be reworking the Aristotelian idea of an ethical teleology. Before its recent resurgence, virtue ethics in European/American academia had been associated with pre-modern philosophers
33.
After Virtue
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After Virtue is a book on moral philosophy by Alasdair MacIntyre. MacIntyre provides a view of the state of modern moral discourse, regarding it as failing to be rational. He claims that older forms of moral discourse were in better shape, after Virtue is among the most important texts in the recent revival of virtue ethics. The book was first published in 1981 and has gone through two subsequent editions, which have added to, but not changed, the original text. MacIntyre holds that After Virtue makes seven central claims and it begins with an allegory suggestive of the premise of the science-fiction novel A Canticle for Leibowitz, a world where all sciences have been dismantled quickly and completely. MacIntyre asks what the sciences would look if they were re-assembled from the remnants of scientific knowledge that survived the catastrophe. He claims that the new sciences, though similar to the old, would in fact be devoid of real scientific content, because the key suppositions. MacIntyre claims that this failure encompasses the work of many significant Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment moral philosophers, including Kierkegaard, Marx, Kant and these philosophers fail because of certain shared characteristics deriving from their highly specific historical background. That background is the Enlightenments abandonment of Aristotelianism, and in particular the Aristotelian concept of teleology, Renaissance science rejected Aristotles teleological physics as an incorrect and unnecessary account, which led Renaissance philosophy to make a similar rejection in the realm of ethics. But shorn of teleology, ethics as a body of knowledge was expurgated of its content, and only remained as, essentially. With such a framework on which to base their moral understanding. King Kamehameha II removed the taboos of the people in order to modernize their society, the fact that Kamehameha II could abolish them so easily and without opposition is evidence, MacIntyre argues, of their incoherence. A similar incoherence, he argues, bedevils the ethical project since the Enlightenment, another reason MacIntyre gives for the doomed nature of the Enlightenment is the fact that it ascribed moral agency to the individual. He claims this made morality no more than one mans opinion and, thus, MacIntyre offers a critique of Friedrich Nietzsche, whom he calls the King Kamehameha II of the European tradition, in reference to the Polynesian allegory above. His critique of capitalism, and its liberal ideology and bureaucratic state is not expressed in traditional Marxist terms. Instead, it is written as a defence of social practices. MacIntyre seeks to find an alternative to Nietzsches philosophy and eventually concludes that only classic Aristotelian thought can hope to save Western humanity and these include, Aristotles assumption that man is as-he-happens-to-be and that this is distinct from man-as-he-should-be. The Enlightenment, on the hand, offers no metaphysical framework whatsoever in place of teleology
34.
Ethics
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Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The term ethics derives from the Ancient Greek word ἠθικός ethikos, the branch of philosophy axiology comprises the sub-branches of ethics and aesthetics, each concerned with values. As a branch of philosophy, ethics investigates the questions What is the best way for people to live, and What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances. In practice, ethics seeks to resolve questions of morality by defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice. As a field of enquiry, moral philosophy also is related to the fields of moral psychology, descriptive ethics. Richard William Paul and Linda Elder define ethics as a set of concepts, the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy states that the word ethics is commonly used interchangeably with morality. And sometimes it is used narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition. Paul and Elder state that most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs, the word ethics in English refers to several things. It can refer to philosophical ethics or moral philosophy—a project that attempts to use reason in order to various kinds of ethical questions. As bioethicist Larry Churchill has written, Ethics, understood as the capacity to think critically about moral values, Ethics can also be used to describe a particular persons own idiosyncratic principles or habits. For example, Joe has strange ethics, the English word ethics is derived from an Ancient Greek word êthikos, which means relating to ones character. The Ancient Greek adjective êthikos is itself derived from another Greek word, meta-ethics asks how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong. An ethical question fixed on some particular practical question—such as, Should I eat this particular piece of chocolate cake. —cannot be a meta-ethical question, a meta-ethical question is abstract and relates to a wide range of more specific practical questions. For example, Is it ever possible to have knowledge of what is right. Meta-ethics has always accompanied philosophical ethics, meta-ethics is also important in G. E. In it he first wrote about what he called the naturalistic fallacy, moore was seen to reject naturalism in ethics, in his Open Question Argument. This made thinkers look again at second order questions about ethics, earlier, the Scottish philosopher David Hume had put forward a similar view on the difference between facts and values. Studies of how we know in ethics divide into cognitivism and non-cognitivism, non-cognitivism is the claim that when we judge something as right or wrong, this is neither true nor false
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Business ethics
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Business ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. Business ethics refers to contemporary standards, principles, sets of values and norms that govern the actions. Business ethics has normative and descriptive dimensions, as a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods, the range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns. Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, for example, most major corporations today promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters. Adam Smith said, People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, governments use laws and regulations to point business behavior in what they perceive to be beneficial directions. Ethics implicitly regulates areas and details of behavior that lie beyond governmental control, the emergence of large corporations with limited relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated the development of formal ethics regimes. Business ethical norms reflect the norms of each historical period, as time passes, norms evolve, causing accepted behaviors to become objectionable. Business ethics and the resulting behavior evolved as well, Business was involved in slavery, colonialism, and the cold war. The term business ethics came into use in the United States in the early 1970s. The Society for Business Ethics was founded in 1980, European business schools adopted business ethics after 1987 commencing with the European Business Ethics Network. In 1982 the first single-authored books in the field appeared, the concept of business ethics caught the attention of academics, media and business firms by the end of the Cold War. However, criticism of business practices was attacked for infringing the freedom of entrepreneurs and this scuttled the discourse of business ethics both in media and academia. The Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct was created to support corporate ethical conduct and this era began the belief and support of self-regulation and free trade, which lifted tariffs and barriers and allowed businesses to merge and divest in an increasing global atmosphere. Business ethics reflects the philosophy of business, of one aim is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. If a companys purpose is to maximize returns, then sacrificing profits to other concerns is a violation of its fiduciary responsibility. Corporate entities are considered as persons in USA and in most nations. The corporate persons are entitled to the rights and liabilities due to citizens as persons
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Stakeholder (corporate)
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The theory was later developed and championed by R. Edward Freeman in the 1980s. Since then it has gained acceptance in business practice and in theorizing relating to strategic management, corporate governance, business purpose. A corporate stakeholder can affect or be affected by the actions of a business as a whole, any action taken by any organization or any group might affect those people who are linked with them in the private sector. For examples these are parents, children, customers, owners, employees, associates, partners, contractors, primary Stakeholders – usually internal stakeholders, are those that engage in economic transactions with the business. Secondary Stakeholders – usually external stakeholders, are those who – although they do not engage in direct economic exchange with the business – are affected by or can affect its actions. Excluded Stakeholders – those such as children or the disinterested public, now as the concept takes an anthropocentric perspective, while some groups like the general public may be recognized as stakeholders others remain excluded. Such a perspective does not give plants, animals or even geology a voice as stakeholders and this includes not only its vendors, employees, and customers, but even members of a community where its offices or factory may affect the local economy or environment. In this context, stakeholder includes not only the directors or trustees on its governing board but also all persons who paid in to the figurative stake, other stakeholders would be funders and the design-and-construction team. In that usage, constituent is a synonym for stakeholder, in the field of corporate governance and corporate responsibility, a major debate is ongoing about whether the firm or company should be managed for stakeholders, stockholders, or customers. Proponents in favour of stakeholders may base their arguments on the four key assertions. There is even evidence that the effects of such a policy are not only additive. For instance, by simultaneously addressing customer wishes in addition to employee and stockholder interests, 2) Supporters also take issue with the preeminent role given to stockholders by many business thinkers, especially in the past. The argument is that debt holders, employees, and suppliers also make contributions, 3) These normative arguments would matter little if stockholders had complete control in guiding the firm. However, many believe that due to certain kinds of board of directors structures, 4) The greatest value of a company is its image and brand. Post, Preston, Sachs, use the definition of the term stakeholder, A person. Stakeholders can affect or be affected by the actions, objectives and policies. Some examples of key stakeholders are creditors, directors, employees, government, owners, suppliers, unions, a companys customers are entitled to fair trading practices but they are not entitled to the same consideration as the companys employees. This definition differs from the definition of the term stakeholder in Stakeholder theory that also includes competitors as stakeholders of a corporation
37.
Medical ethics
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Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of clinical medicine and in scientific research. Medical ethics allow for people, regardless of race, gender, or religion to be guaranteed quality and it creates an obvious guideline to follow. Medical Ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict and these values include the respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. With the help of these values it allows doctors, care providers and it is important to note that these four values are of equal worth. The Code of Ethics was then adapted in 1847, relying heavily on Percival’s words, over the years in 1903,1912, and 1947 revisions have been made to the original document. The practice of Medical Ethics is widely accepted and practiced throughout the world, both The Declaration of Helsinki and The Nuremberg Code are two well-known and well respected documents contributing to medical ethics. Other important markings in the history of Medical Ethics include Roe v. Wade in 1973, Medical Ethics continues to develop and change throughout history, yet always keeping the focus on fair, balanced, and moral thinking. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, and sociology. Historically, Western medical ethics may be traced to guidelines on the duty of physicians in antiquity, such as the Hippocratic Oath, and early Christian teachings. The first code of ethics, Formula Comitis Archiatrorum, was published in the 5th century. These intellectual traditions continue in Catholic, Islamic and Jewish medical ethics, by the 18th and 19th centuries, medical ethics emerged as a more self-conscious discourse. In England, Thomas Percival, a physician and author, crafted the first modern code of medical ethics and he drew up a pamphlet with the code in 1794 and wrote an expanded version in 1803, in which he coined the expressions medical ethics and medical jurisprudence. However, there are some who see Percivals guidelines that relate to physician consultations as being protective of the home physicians reputation. Jeffrey Berlant is one critic who considers Percivals codes of physician consultations as being an early example of the anti-competitive. In 1815, the Apothecaries Act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and it introduced compulsory apprenticeship and formal qualifications for the apothecaries of the day under the license of the Society of Apothecaries. This was the beginning of regulation of the profession in the UK. In 1847, the American Medical Association adopted its first code of ethics, while the secularized field borrowed largely from Catholic medical ethics, in the 20th century a distinctively liberal Protestant approach was articulated by thinkers such as Joseph Fletcher. In the 1960s and 1970s, building upon liberal theory and procedural justice, much of the discourse of medical ethics went through a dramatic shift and largely reconfigured itself into bioethics
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Consequentialism
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Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of ones conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a right act is one that will produce a good outcome. Consequentialist theories differ in how they define moral goods, some argue that consequentialist and deontological theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, T. M. Scanlon advances the idea that human rights, similarly, Robert Nozick argues for a theory that is mostly consequentialist, but incorporates inviolable side-constraints which restrict the sort of actions agents are permitted to do. It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful, what benefits he will carry out, what does not benefit men he will leave alone. Mohist consequentialism, also known as state consequentialism, is a theory which evaluates the moral worth of an action based on how much it contributes to the welfare of a state. Unlike utilitarianism, which views utility as the moral good. Order, material wealth, and increase in population, during Mozis era, war and famines were common, and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society. If people have plenty, they would be good, filial, kind, the Mohists believed that morality is based on promoting the benefit of all under heaven and eliminating harm to all under heaven. In contrast to Jeremy Benthams views, state consequentialism is not utilitarian because it is not hedonistic or individualistic, the importance of outcomes that are good for the community outweigh the importance of individual pleasure and pain. The term state consequentialism has also applied to the political philosophy of the Confucian philosopher Xunzi. On the other hand, the Legalist Han Fei is motivated almost totally from the point of view. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure and it is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think. Happiness on this account is defined as the maximization of pleasure, historically, hedonistic utilitarianism is the paradigmatic example of a consequentialist moral theory. This form of utilitarianism holds that what matters is the aggregate happiness, however, some contemporary utilitarians, such as Peter Singer, are concerned with maximizing the satisfaction of preferences, hence preference utilitarianism. Other contemporary forms of utilitarianism mirror the forms of consequentialism outlined below, ethical egoism can be understood as a consequentialist theory according to which the consequences for the individual agent are taken to matter more than any other result. Thus, egoism will prescribe actions that may be beneficial, detrimental, ethical altruism can be seen as a consequentialist ethic which prescribes that an individual take actions that have the best consequences for everyone except for himself
Quotations related to Teleology at Wikiquote
