@@988 Applied ethics is the philosophical examination , from a moral standpoint , of particular issues in private and public life that are matters of moral judgment . It is thus the attempts to use philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of human life . Bioethics , for example , is concerned with identifying the correct approach to matters such as euthanasia , or the allocation of scarce health resources , or the use of human embryos in research . Environmental ethics is concerned with questions such as the duties or duty of ' whistleblowers ' to the general public as opposed to their loyalty to their employers . As such , it is an area of professional philosophy that is relatively well paid and highly valued both within and outside of academia . Applied ethics is distinguished from normative ethics , which concerns what people should believe to be right and wrong , and from meta-ethics , which concerns the nature of moral statements . An emerging typology for applied ethics ( Porter , 2006 ) uses seven domains to help improve organizations and social issues at the national and global level :  Decision ethics , or ethical theories and ethical decision processes  Professional ethics , or ethics to improve professionalism  Clinical ethics , or ethics to improve our basic health needs  Business ethics , or individual based morals to improve ethics in a business environment  Organizational ethics , or ethics among organizations  Social ethics , or ethics among nations and as one global unit  Sexual ethics , or ethics based around sexual acts # Modern approach # Much of applied ethics is concerned with just three theories : # Utilitarianism , where the practical consequences of various policies are evaluated on the assumption that the right policy will be the one which results in the greatest happiness . This theories main developments came from Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill who distinguished between an act and rule utilitarianist morality . Later developments have also adjusted the theory , most notably Henry Sidgwick who introduced the idea of motive or intent in morality , and Peter Singer who introduced the idea of preference in to moral decision making . # Deontological ethics , notions based on ' rules ' i.e. that there is an obligation to perform the ' right ' action , regardless of actual consequences ( epitomized by Immanuel Kant 's notion of the Categorical Imperative which was the centre to Kant 's ethical theory based on duty ) . Another key deontological theory is Natural Law , which was heavily developed by Thomas Aquinas and is the basis of the Roman Catholic Church . # Virtue ethics , derived from Aristotle 's and Confucius 's notions , which asserts that the right action will be that chosen by a suitably ' virtuous ' agent . One modern approach which attempts to overcome the seemingly impossible divide between deontology and utilitarianism ( of which the divide is caused by the opposite takings of an absolute and relativist moral view ) is case-based reasoning , also known as casuistry . Casuistry does not begin with theory , rather it starts with the immediate facts of a real and concrete case . While casuistry makes use of ethical theory , it does not view ethical theory as the most important feature of moral reasoning . Casuists , like Albert Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin ( ' ' The Abuse of Casuistry ' ' 1988 ) , challenge the traditional paradigm of applied ethics . Instead of starting from theory and applying theory to a particular case , casuists start with the particular case itself and then ask what morally significant features ( including both theory and practical considerations ) ought to be considered for that particular case . In their observations of medical ethics committees , Jonsen and Toulmin note that a consensus on particularly problematic moral cases often emerges when participants focus on the facts of the case , rather than on ideology or theory . Thus , a Rabbi , a Catholic priest , and an agnostic might agree that , in this particular case , the best approach is to withhold extraordinary medical care , while disagreeing on the reasons that support their individual positions . By focusing on cases and not on theory , those engaged in moral debate increase the possibility of agreement . 
@@1167 This page lists some links to ancient philosophy . In Western philosophy , the spread of Christianity through the Roman Empire marked the ending of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of Medieval philosophy , whereas in Eastern philosophy , the spread of Islam through the Arab Empire marked the end of Old Iranian philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of early Islamic philosophy . # Introduction # 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 . # Ancient Chinese philosophy # Chinese philosophy is the dominant philosophical thought in China and other countries within the East Asian cultural sphere that share a common language , including Japan , Korea , and Vietnam . # Schools of thought # # #Hundred Schools of Thought# # The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE , an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China . Even though this period known in its earlier part as the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles , it is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely . 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 often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government , war , and diplomacy . This period ended with the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent . The Book of Han lists ten major schools , they are :  Confucianism , which teaches that human beings are teachable , improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including self-cultivation and self-creation . A main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection . Confucianism holds that one should give up one 's life , if necessary , either passively or actively , for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ' ' ren ' ' and ' ' yi ' ' .  Legalism , which maintained that human nature was incorrigibly selfish ; accordingly , the only way to preserve the social order was to impose discipline from above , and to see to a strict enforcement of laws . The Legalists exalted the state above all , seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people .  Taoism , a philosophy which emphasizes the Three Jewels of the Tao : compassion , moderation , and humility , while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature , the relationship between humanity and the cosmos ; health and longevity ; and wu wei ( action through inaction ) . Harmony with the Universe , or the source thereof ( Tao ) , is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices .  Mohism , which advocated the idea of universal love : Mozi believed that everyone is equal before heaven , and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love . His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist empiricism ; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one 's perceptions &ndash ; one 's sensory experiences , such as sight and hearing &ndash ; instead of imagination or internal logic , elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction . Mozi advocated frugality , condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music , which he denounced as extravagant .  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 Agrarians believed that Chinese society should be modeled around that of the early sage king Shen Nong , a folk hero which was portrayed in Chinese literature as working in the fields , along with everyone else , and consulting with everyone else when any decision had to be reached .  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.  The School of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal Alliances , which focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle , so it stressed political and diplomatic tactics , and debate and lobbying skill . Scholars from this school were good orators , debaters and tacticians.  The Miscellaneous School , which integrated teachings from different schools ; for instance , L Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lshi 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 and the philosophy of war ; Sunzi and Sun Bin were influential leaders . However , this school was not one of the Ten Schools defined by Hanshu. # #Early Imperial China# # The founder of the Qin Dynasty , who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy , quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools . Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine . These latter two became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism . Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty , whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu , who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements . He also was a promoter of the New Text school , which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China , who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace . In contrast , there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language ( from this comes the denomination ' ' Old Text ' ' ) that were so much more reliable . In particular , they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage , but simply a human and mortal . The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the ' ' Xuanxue ' ' ( mysterious learning ) , also called ' ' Neo-Taoism ' ' . The most important philosophers of this movement were Wang Bi , Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang . The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being ( in Chinese , ' ' ming ' ' and ' ' wuming ' ' ) . A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers , like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove , was the concept of ' ' feng liu ' ' ( lit. wind and flow ) , a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse . Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD , but it was not until the Northern and Southern , Sui and Tang Dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement . At the beginning , it was considered a sort of Taoist sect , and there was even a theory about Laozi , founder of Taoism , who went to India and taught his philosophy to Buddha . Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rival Hinayana , and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century . Two chiefly important monk philosophers were Sengzhao and Daosheng . But probably the most influential and original of these schools was the Chan sect , which had an even stronger impact in Japan as the Zen sect. # Philosophers #  Taoism * Laozi ( 5th4th century BCE ) * Zhuangzi ( 4th century BCE ) * Zhang Daoling * Zhang Jue ( died 184 CE ) * Ge Hong ( 283 343 CE )  Confucianism * Confucius * Mencius * Xun Zi ( c. 312 230 BCE )  Legalism * Li Si * Li Kui * Han Fei * Mi Su Yu * Shang Yang * Shen Buhai * Shen Dao  Mohism * Mozi * Song Xing  Logicians * Deng Xi * Hui Shi ( 380305 BCE ) * Gongsun Long ( c. 325 c. 250 BCE )  Agrarianism * Xu Xing  Naturalism * Zou Yan ( 305 240 BCE )  Neotaoism * Wang Bi * Guo Xiang * Xiang Xiu  School of Diplomacy * Guiguzi * Su Qin ( 380 284 BCE ) * Zhang Yi ( bef . 329 309 BCE ) * Yue Yi * Li Yiji ( 268 204 BCE )  School of the Military * Sunzi ( c. 500 BCE ) * Sun Bin ( died 316 BCE ) # Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy # # Philosophers # # #Presocratic philosophers# #  Milesian School : Thales ( 624 c 546 BCE ) : Anaximander ( 610 546 BCE ) : Anaximenes of Miletus ( c. 585 c. 525 BCE )  Pythagoreans : Pythagoras ( 582 496 BCE ) : Philolaus ( 470 380 BCE ) : Alcmaeon of Croton : Archytas ( 428 347 BCE )  Heraclitus ( 535 475 BCE )  Eleatic School : Xenophanes ( 570 470 BCE ) : Parmenides ( 510 440 BCE ) : Zeno of Elea ( 490 430 BCE ) : Melissus of Samos ( c. 470 BCE ? )  Pluralists : Empedocles ( 490 430 BCE ) : Anaxagoras ( 500 428 BCE )  Atomists : Leucippus ( first half of 5th century BCE ) : Democritus ( 460 370 BCE ) : Metrodorus of Chios ( 4th century BCE )  Pherecydes of Syros ( 6th century BCE )  Sophists : Protagoras ( 490 420 BCE ) : Gorgias ( 487 376 BCE ) : Antiphon ( 480 411 BCE ) : Prodicus ( 465/450 after 399 BCE ) : Hippias ( middle of the 5th century BCE ) : Thrasymachus ( 459 400 BCE ) : Callicles : Critias : Lycophron  Diogenes of Apollonia ( c. 460 BCE ? ) # #Classical Greek philosophers# #  Socrates ( 469 399 BCE )  Euclid of Megara ( 450 380 BCE )  Antisthenes ( 445 360 BCE )  Aristippus ( 435 356 BCE )  Plato ( 428 347 BCE )  Speusippus ( 407 339 BCE )  Diogenes of Sinope ( 400 325 BCE )  Xenocrates ( 396 314 BCE )  Aristotle ( 384 322 BCE )  Stilpo ( 380 300 BCE )  Theophrastus ( 370 288 BCE ) # #Hellenistic philosophy# #  Pyrrho ( 365 275 BCE )  Epicurus ( 341 270 BCE )  Metrodorus of Lampsacus ( the younger ) ( 331 278 BCE )  Zeno of Citium ( 333 263 BCE )  Cleanthes ( 331 232 BCE )  Timon ( 320 230 BCE )  Arcesilaus ( 316 232 BCE )  Menippus ( 3rd century BCE )  Archimedes ( c. 287 212 BCE )  Chrysippus ( 280 207 BCE )  Carneades ( 214 129 BCE )  Clitomachus ( 187 109 BCE )  Metrodorus of Stratonicea ( late 2nd century BCE )  Philo of Larissa ( 160 80 BCE )  Posidonius ( 135 51 BCE )  Antiochus of Ascalon ( 130 68 BCE )  Aenesidemus ( 1st century BCE )  Agrippa ( 1st century CE ) # Hellenistic schools of thought #  Cynicism  Eclecticism  Epicureanism  Middle Platonism  Neo-Platonism  Neopythagoreanism  Peripatetic School  Pyrrhonism  Stoicism  Sophism # Early Roman and Christian philosophy # See also : ' ' Christian philosophy ' ' # Philosophers during Roman times #  Cicero ( 106 43 BCE )  Lucretius ( 94 55 BCE )  Seneca ( 4 BCE 65 CE )  Musonius Rufus ( 30 100 CE )  Plutarch ( 45 120 CE )  Epictetus ( 55 135 CE )  Marcus Aurelius ( 121 180 CE )  Clement of Alexandria ( 150 215 CE )  Alcinous ( philosopher ) ( 2nd century CE )  Sextus Empiricus ( 3rd century CE )  Alexander of Aphrodisias ( 3rd century CE )  Ammonius Saccas ( 3rd century CE )  Plotinus ( 205 270 CE )  Porphyry ( 232 304 CE )  Iamblichus ( 242 327 CE )  Themistius ( 317 388 CE )  Augustine of Hippo ( 354 430 CE )  Proclus ( 411 485 CE )  Damascius ( 462 540 CE )  Boethius ( 472 524 CE )  Simplicius of Cilicia ( 490 560 CE )  John Philoponus ( 490 570 CE ) # Ancient Indian philosophy # The ancient Indian philosophy is a fusion of two ancient traditions : Sramana tradition and Vedic tradition . # Vedic philosophy # Indian philosophy begins with the ' ' Vedas ' ' where questions related to laws of nature , the origin of the universe and the place of man in it are asked . In the famous Rigvedic ' ' Hymn of Creation ' ' ( Nasadiya Sukta ) the poet says : : Whence all creation had its origin , : he , whether he fashioned it or whether he did not , : he , who surveys it all from highest heaven , : he knowsor maybe even he does not know . In the Vedic view , creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being ( ' ' Purusha ' ' ) . This leads to the inquiry into ' ' the one being ' ' that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things . Cosmic order is termed ' ' rta ' ' and causal law by ' ' karma ' ' . Nature ( ' ' prakriti ' ' ) is taken to have three qualities ( ' ' sattva ' ' , ' ' rajas ' ' , and ' ' tamas ' ' ) .  Vedas  Upanishads  Hindu philosophy # Sramana philosophy # Jainism and Buddhism are continuation of the Sramana school of thought . The Sramanas cultivated a pessimistic worldview of the samsara as full of suffering and advocated renunciation and austerities . They laid stress on philosophical concepts like Ahimsa , Karma , Jnana , Samsara and Moksa . Crvka ( Sanskrit : ) ( atheist ) philosophy , also known as Lokyata , it is a system of Hindu philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference . It is named after its founder , Crvka , author of the Brhaspatya-stras. # Classical Indian philosophy # In classical times , these inquiries were systematized in six schools of philosophy . Some of the questions asked were :  What is the ontological nature of consciousness ?  How is cognition itself experienced ?  Is mind ( ' ' chit ' ' ) intentional or not ?  Does cognition have its own structure ? The Six schools of Indian philosophy are :  Nyaya  Vaisheshika  Samkhya  Yoga  Mimamsa ( Purva Mimamsa )  Vedanta ( Uttara Mimamsa ) # Ancient Indian philosophers # # #3rd millennium - 2nd millennium BCE# #  Parashara -- writer of Viu Pura.  Vyasa -- author of the Mahabharata , as well as a character in it . # #Philosophers of Vedic Age ( 2000600 BCE ) # #  Rishi Narayana -- seer of the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda.  Seven Rishis -- Atri , Bharadwaja , Gautama , Jamadagni , Kasyapa , Vasishtha , Viswamitra.  Other Vedic Rishis -- Gritsamada , Sandilya , Kanva etc.  Rishaba -- Rishi mentioned in Rig Veda and later in several Puranas , and believed by Jains to be the first official religious guru of Jainism , as accredited by later followers .  Yajnavalkya -- one of the Vedic sages , greatly influenced Buddhistic thought .  Angiras -- one of the seers of the Atharva Veda and author of Mundaka Upanishad.  Uddalaka Aruni -- an Upanishadic sage who authored major portions of Chndogya Upaniad.  Ashvapati -- a King in the Later Vedic age who authored Vaishvanara Vidya of Chndogya Upaniad.  Ashtavakra -- an Upanishadic Sage mentioned in the Mahabharata , who authored Ashtavakra Gita. # #Philosophers of Axial Age ( 600185 BCE ) # #  Kanada ( c. 600 BCE ) , founded the philosophical school of Vaisheshika , gave theory of atomism  Mahavira ( 599&ndash ; 527 BCE ) -- heavily influenced Jainism , the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism.  Pini ( 520460 BCE ) , grammarian , author of Ashtadhyayi  Kapila ( c. 500 BCE ) , proponent of the Samkhya system of philosophy .  Badarayana ( lived between 500 BCE and 400 BCE ) -- Author of Brahma Sutras.  Pingala ( c. 500 BCE ) , author of the ' ' Chandas shastra ' '  Gautama Buddha ( c. 480 c. 400 BCE ) , founder of Buddhist school of thought  Chanakya ( c. 350 c. 275 BCE ) , author of Arthashastra , professor ( acharya ) of political science at the Takshashila University  Patajali ( c. 200 BCE ) , developed the philosophy of Raja Yoga in his Yoga Sutras.  Shvetashvatara -- Author of earliest textual exposition of a systematic philosophy of Shaivism. # #Philosophers of Golden Age ( 184 BCE 600 CE ) # #  Gotama ( c. 2nd3rd century CE ) , wrote Jaimini , author of Purva Mimamsa Sutras.  Dignga ( c. 500 ) , one of the founders of Buddhist school of Indian logic .  Asanga ( c. 300 ) , exponent of the Yogacara  Bhartrihari ( c 450510 CE ) , early figure in Indic linguistic theory  Bodhidharma ( c. 440528 CE ) , founder of the Zen school of Buddhism  Siddhasena Divkara ( 5th Century CE ) , Jain logician and author of important works in Sanskrit and Prakrit , such as , Nyyvatra ( on Logic ) and Sanmatistra ( dealing with the seven Jaina standpoints , knowledge and the objects of knowledge )  Vasubandhu ( c. 300 CE ) , one of the main founders of the Indian Yogacara school .  Kundakunda ( 2nd Century CE ) , exponent of Jain mysticism and Jain nayas dealing with the nature of the soul and its contamination by matter , author of Pacstikyasra ( Essence of the Five Existents ) , the Pravacanasra ( Essence of the Scripture ) and the Samayasra ( Essence of the Doctrine )  Nagarjuna ( c. 150 250 CE ) , the founder of the Madhyamaka ( Middle Path ) school of Mahyna Buddhism .  Umsvti or Umasvami ( 2nd Century CE ) , author of first Jain work in Sanskrit , Tattvrthastra , expounding the Jain philosophy in a most systematized form acceptable to all sects of Jainism. # Ancient Iranian philosophy # See also : ' ' Dualism , Dualism ( philosophy of mind ) ' ' While there are ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta , the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences in their implications for the human being 's position in society and their view of man 's role in the universe . The first charter of human rights by Cyrus the Great as understood in the Cyrus cylinder is often seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zarathustra and developed in Zoroastrian schools of thought of the Achaemenid Era of Iranian history . # Schools of thought # Ideas and tenets of Zoroastrian schools of Early Persian philosophy are part of many works written in Middle Persian and of the extant scriptures of the zoroastrian religion in Avestan language . Among these are treatises such as the Shikand-gumanic Vichar by Mardan-Farrux Ohrmazddadan , selections of Denkard , Wizidagh- Ztspram ( Selections of Ztspram ) as well as older passages of the book Avesta , the Gathas which are attributed to Zarathustra himself and regarded as his direct teachings .  Zoroastrianism * Zarathustra * Jamasp * Ostanes * Mardan-Farrux Ohrmazddadan * Adurfarnbag Farroxzadan * Adurbad Emedan * ' ' Avesta ' ' * ' ' Gathas ' '  Anacharsis  Pre-Manichaean thought * Bardesanes  Manichaeism * Mani ( c. 216 276 CE ) * Ammo  Mazdakism * Mazdak the Elder * Mazdak ( died c. 524 or 528 CE )  Zurvanism * Aesthetic Zurvanism * Materialist Zurvanism * Fatalistic Zurvanism # Philosophy and the empire #  Political philosophy * Tansar  University of Gundishapur * Borzouye * Bakhtshooa Gondishapuri  Emperor Khosrau 's philosophical discourses * Paul the Persian # Literature #  Pahlavi literature # Ancient Jewish philosophy # See also : ' ' Jewish philosophy ' ' # First Temple ( c. 900 BCE to 587 BCE ) #  Joel ( 9th5th century BCE )  Amos ( 8th century BCE )  Hosea ( 8th century BCE )  Micah ( 8th century BCE )  Proto-Isaiah ( 8th century BCE )  Ezekiel ( 7th century BCE )  Habbakuk ( 7th century BCE )  Jeremiah ( 7th century BCE )  Nahum ( 7th century BCE )  Zephaniah ( 7th century BCE ) # Assyrian exile ( 587 BCE to 516 BCE ) #  Deutero-Isaiah ( 6th century BCE )  Haggai ( 6th century BCE )  Obadiah ( 6th century BCE )  Trito-Isaiah ( 6th century BCE )  Zechariah ( 6th century BCE ) # Second Temple ( 516 BCE to 70 CE ) #  Malachi ( 5th century BCE )  Koheleth ( 5th 2nd century BCE )  Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira ( 2nd century BCE )  Hillel the Elder ( c. 110 BCE 10CE )  Philo of Alexandria ( 30 BCE 45 CE ) # Early Roman exile ( 70 CE to c. 600 CE ) #  Akiva ben Joseph ( c. 40 c. 137 CE ) 
@@4468 Buddhist philosophy is the elaboration and explanation of the delivered teachings of the Buddha as found in the Tripitaka and Agama . Its main concern is with explicating the dharmas constituting reality . A recurrent theme is the reification of concepts , and the subsequent return to the Buddhist middle way . Early Buddhism avoided speculative thought on metaphysics , phenomenology , ethics , and epistemology , but was based instead on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs ( ' ' ayatana ' ' ) . Nevertheless , Buddhist scholars have addressed ontological and metaphysical issues subsequently . Particular points of Buddhist philosophy have often been the subject of disputes between different schools of Buddhism . These elaborations and disputes gave rise to various schools in early Buddhism of Abhidhamma , and to the Mahayana traditions and schools of the prajnaparamita , Madhyamaka , buddha-nature and Yogacara. # Indian background # The historical Buddha lived during a time of spiritual and philosophical revival in Northern India when the overly ritualistic practices of the vedas came under rational scrutiny . As well as the Buddha 's own teachings , new ethical and spiritual philosophies such as those of Mahavira became established during this period when alternatives to the mainstream religion arose in an atmosphere of freethought and renewed vitality in spiritual endeavour . This general cultural movement is today known as the Sramanic tradition and the epoch of new thought as the axial era . These heterodox groups held widely divergent opinions but were united by a critical attitude towards the established religion whose explanations they found unsatisfactory and whose animal sacrifices increasingly distasteful and irrelevant . In Greece , China and India there was a return to fundamental questions and a new interest in the question of how humans should live . # Life and teachings of the Buddha # # Biography # According to the traditional accounts , Gautama , the future Buddha , born into a Vedic Kshatriya family , was a prince who grew up in an environment of luxury and opulence . He became convinced that sense-pleasures and wealth did not provide the satisfaction that human beings longed for deep within . He abandoned worldly life to live as a mendicant . He studied under a number of teachers , developing his insight into the problem of suffering . After his awakening he regarded himself as a physician rather than a philosopher . Whereas philosophers merely had views about things , he taught the Noble Eightfold Path which liberates from suffering . # Philosophy # The Buddha discouraged his followers from indulging in intellectual disputation for its own sake , which is fruitless , and distracting from true awakening . Nevertheless , the delivered sayings of the Buddha contain a philosophical component , in its teachings on the working of the mind , and its criticisms of the philosophies of his contemporaries . According to the scriptures , during his lifetime the Buddha remained silent when asked several metaphysical questions . These regarded issues such as whether the universe is eternal or non-eternal ( or whether it is finite or infinite ) , the unity or separation of the body and the self , the complete inexistence of a person after Nirvana and death , and others . # #Emphasis on awakening# # One explanation for this silence is that such questions distract from activity that is practical to realizing enlightenment and bring about the danger of substituting the experience of liberation by conceptual understanding of the doctrine or by religious faith . # #Attachments to the skandhas# # Another explanation is that both affirmative and negative positions regarding these questions are based on attachment to and misunderstanding of the aggregates and senses . That is , when one sees these things for what they are , the idea of forming positions on such metaphysical questions simply does not occur . # #Emptiness# # Another closely related explanation is that reality is devoid of sensory mediation and conception , or empty , and therefore language itself is ' ' a priori ' ' inadequate without direct experience . Thus , the Buddha 's silence does not indicate misology or disdain for philosophy . Rather , it indicates that he viewed the answers to these questions as not understandable by the unenlightened . Dependent arising provides a framework for analysis of reality that is not based on metaphysical assumptions regarding existence or non-existence , but instead on imagining direct cognition of phenomena as they are presented to the mind . This informs and supports the Buddhist approach to liberation from adventitious distortion and engaging in the Noble Eightfold Path . The Buddha of the earliest Buddhists texts describes Dharma ( in the sense of truth ) as beyond reasoning or transcending logic , in the sense that reasoning is a subjectively introduced aspect of the way unenlightened humans perceive things , and the conceptual framework which underpins their cognitive process , rather than a feature of things as they really are . Going beyond reasoning means in this context penetrating the nature of reasoning from the inside , and removing the causes for experiencing any future stress as a result of it , rather than functioning outside of the system as a whole . # Early Buddhism # # Basic teachings # Certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts , so most scholars conclude that the Buddha must at least have taught these teachings :  Three marks of existence  Five aggregates  Dependent arising  Karma and rebirth  The four noble truths  The Noble Eightfold Path  Nirvana According to these scholars , there was something they variously call earliest Buddhism , original Buddhism or pre-canonical Buddhism . Some scholars disagree , and have proposed other theories . According to some scholars , the philosophical outlook of earliest Buddhism was primarily negative , in the sense that it focused on what doctrines to ' ' reject ' ' more than on what doctrines to ' ' accept ' ' . Only knowledge that is useful in achieving enlightenment is valued . According to this theory , the cycle of philosophical upheavals that in part drove the diversification of Buddhism into its many schools and sects only began once Buddhists began attempting to make explicit the implicit philosophy of the Buddha and the early suttas . Other scholars reject this theory . After the death of the Buddha , attempts were made to gather his teachings and transmit them in a commonly agreed form , first orally , then also in writing ( the ' ' Tripiaka ' ' ) . # #Dukkha# # Dukkha , often translated as ' ' suffering ' ' , is the inherent unsatisfactoriness of life . This unsatisfactoriness drives our yearning for a better way of life , yet keeps us imprisoned in wordly existence and rebirth . # #Dependent origination# # The working of the rising and ceasing of suffering is explained by Pratitya-samutpada , ' ' dependent origination ' ' . It states that events are not predetermined , nor are they random . It rejects notions of direct causation , which are necessarily undergirded by a substantialist metaphysics . Instead , it posits the arising of events under certain conditions which are inextricable , such that the processes in question at no time , are considered to be entities . Dependent origination posits that certain specific events , concepts , or realities are always dependent on other specific things . Craving , for example , is always dependent on , and caused by , emotion . Emotion is always dependent on contact with our surroundings . This chain of causation purports to show that the cessation of decay , death , and sorrow is indirectly dependent on the cessation of craving . This concept leaves no room for the existence of everlasting , absolute entities . The world must be thought of in procedural terms , not in terms of things or substances . Likewise , # #Anatta# # The Buddha asserted the non inherently existent concept of the ego , in opposition to the Upanishadic concept of an unchanging ultimate self . The Buddha held that attachment to the appearance of a permanent self in this world of change is the cause of suffering , and the main obstacle to liberation . The apparent ego is merely the result of identification with the temporary aggregates , the components of the individual human being 's body and consciousness at any given moment in time . # Ethics # # #Eightfold Path# # Although there are many ethical tenets in Buddhism that differ depending on whether one is a monk or a layman , and depending on individual schools , the Buddhist system of ethics can be summed up in the eightfold path : The purpose of living an ethical life is to escape the suffering inherent in samsara . Skillful actions condition the mind in a positive way and lead to future happiness , while the opposite is true for unskillful actions . Ethical discipline also provides the mental stability and freedom to embark upon mental cultivation via meditation . The part of the Noble Eightfold path that covers morality/ethics is right speech , right action and right livelihood . The other parts cover concentration and wisdom , with wisdom being covered by right view and right intention and the remaining three belonging to concentration . # #Precepts# # While the precepts for monks and nuns differ somewhat depending on which tradition one has ordained in ( Tibetan , Thai Theravadan , etc. ) , the precepts for laymen and laywomen followers of the Buddha are the same . There are the five precepts that all followers of the Buddha must observe if they hope to be reborn as a human being . Eight precepts are practiced by anagarikas and lay-followers staying in temples . Ten precepts are followed by bhikkhus or other serious practitioners . # Refrain from killing living things . # Refrain from stealing . # Refrain from unchastity ( sensuality , sexuality , lust ) . # Refrain from lying . # Refrain from taking intoxicants. # Refrain from taking food at inappropriate times ( after noon ) . # Refrain from singing , dancing , playing music or attending entertainment programs ( performances ) . # Refrain from wearing perfume , cosmetics and garland ( decorative accessories ) . # Refrain from sitting on high chairs and sleeping on luxurious , soft beds. # Refrain from accepting money . # Textual authority # Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called Hinduism is the issue of epistemological justification . All schools of Indian logic recognize various sets of valid justifications for knowledge , or ' ' pramana Thus , in the Hindu schools , if a claim was made that could not be substantiated by appeal to the textual canon , it would be considered as ridiculous as a claim that the sky was green and , conversely , a claim which could not be substantiated via conventional means might still be justified through textual reference , differentiating this from the epistemology of scientific method # Early Buddhist schools # The main early Buddhist philosophical schools are the ' ' Abhidharma ' ' schools , particularly Sarvstivda and Theravda. # Sarvastivadin realism # Early Buddhist philosophers and exegetes of the Sarvstivdins created a pluralist metaphysical and phenomenological system , in which all experiences of people , things and events can be broken down into smaller and smaller perceptual or perceptual-ontological units called ' ' dharmas ' ' . Other schools incorporated some parts of this theory and criticized others . The Sautrntikas , another early school , and the Theravdins , now the only modern survivor of the early Buddhist schools , criticized the realist standpoint of the Sarvstivdins. # Theravada # Theravada promotes the concept of vibhajjavada ( Pli , literally Teaching of Analysis ) to non-Buddhists . This doctrine says that insight must come from the aspirant 's experience , critical investigation , and reasoning instead of by blind faith . As the Buddha said according to the canonical scriptures : # Mahayana # Mahayana often adopts a pragmatic concept of truth : doctrines are regarded as conditionally true in the sense of being spiritually beneficial . In modern Chinese Buddhism , all doctrinal traditions are regarded as equally valid . Main Mahayana philosophical schools and traditions include the prajnaparamita , Madhyamaka , Tathagatagarbha , Yogcra , Huayan , and Tiantai schools . # Indian Mahayana # # #Prajnaparamita# # The Prajanaparamita-sutras emphasize the emptiness of the five skandhas . The Heart sutra , a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras , articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be empty : Oh , Sariputra , Form Does not Differ From the Void , And the Void Does Not Differ From Form . Form is Void and Void is Form ; The Same is True For Feelings , Perceptions , Volitions and Consciousness . # #Madhyamaka# # The Mahynist Ngrjuna , one of the most influential Buddhist thinkers , promoted classical Buddhist emphasis on phenomena and attacked Sarvstivda realism and Sautrntika nominalism in his magnum opus , ' ' The Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way ' ' ( ' ' Mlamadhyamakakrik ' ' ) . Nagarjuna asserted a direct connection between , even identity of , dependent origination , selflessness ( ' ' anatta ' ' ) , and emptiness ( ' ' nyat ' ' ) . He pointed out that implicit in the early Buddhist concept of dependent origination is the lack of any substantial being ( ' ' anatta ' ' ) underlying the participants in origination , so that they have no independent existence , a state identified as emptiness ( ' ' nyat ' ' ) , or emptiness of a nature or essence ( ' ' svabhva ' ' ) . # #Tathagatagarbha# # The ' ' tathgathagarbha sutras ' ' , in a departure from mainstream Buddhist language , insist that the potential for awakening is inherent to every sentient being . They marked a shift from a largely apophatic ( negative ) philosophical trend within Buddhism to a decidedly more cataphatic ( positive ) modus . Prior to the period of these scriptures , Mahyna metaphysics had been dominated by teachings on emptiness in the form of Madhyamaka philosophy . The language used by this approach is primarily negative , and the ' ' tathgatagarbha ' ' genre of sutras can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of dependent origination using positive language instead , to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism . In these sutras the perfection of the wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true self ; the ultimate goal of the path is then characterized using a range of positive language that had been used previously in Indian philosophy by essentialist philosophers , but which was now transmuted into a new Buddhist vocabulary to describe a being who has successfully completed the Buddhist path . The word self ( ' ' atman ' ' ) is used in a way idiosyncratic to these sutras ; the true self is described as the perfection of the wisdom of not-self in the ' ' Buddha-Nature Treatise ' ' , for example . Language that had previously been used by essentialist non-Buddhist philosophers was now adopted , with new definitions , by Buddhists to promote orthodox teachings . The ' ' tathgatagarbha ' ' does not , according to some scholars , represent a substantial self ; rather , it is a positive language expression of emptiness and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices . In this interpretation , the intention of the teaching of ' ' tathgatagarbha ' ' is soteriological rather than theoretical . The ' ' tathgathagarbha ' ' , the Theravda doctrine of ' ' bhavaga ' ' , and the Yogcra store consciousness were all identified at some point with the luminous mind of the Nikyas . In the Mahayana ' ' Mahaparinirvana Sutra ' ' , the Buddha insists that while pondering upon Dharma is vital , one must then relinquish fixation on words and letters , as these are utterly divorced from liberation and the Buddha-nature. # #Yogacara# # The Yogacara # Chinese Buddhism # # #Tiantai and the Lotus School# # The schools of Buddhism that had existed in China prior to the emergence of the Tiantai are generally believed to represent direct transplantations from India , with little modification to their basic doctrines and methods . However , Tiantai grew and flourished as a natively Chinese Buddhist school under the 4th patriarch , Zhiyi , who developed a hierarchy Buddhist sutras that asserted the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching , as well as a system of meditation and practices around it . # #Huayan and Avatamsaka-sutra# # The Huayan developed the doctrine of interpenetration or coalescence ( Wylie : ' ' zung-'jug ' ' ; Sanskrit : ' ' yuganaddha ' ' ) , based on the ' ' Avatasaka Stra ' ' , a Mahyna scripture . It holds that all phenomena ( Sanskrit : ' ' dharmas ' ' ) are intimately connected ( and mutually arising ) . Two images are used to convey this idea . The first is known as Indra 's net . The net is set with jewels which have the extraordinary property that they reflect all of the other jewels . The second image is that of the world text . This image portrays the world as consisting of an enormous text which is as large as the universe itself . The words of the text are composed of the phenomena that make up the world . However , every atom of the world contains the whole text within it . It is the work of a Buddha to let out the text so that beings can be liberated from suffering . The doctrine of interpenetration influenced the Japanese monk Kkai , who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism . Interpenetration and essence-function are mutually informing in the East Asian Buddhist traditions , especially the Korean Buddhist tradition . In Tibetan Buddhism , it is iconographically represented by ' ' yab-yum ' ' . # Tibetan Buddhism # The Tibetan tantra entitled the All-Creating King ( ' ' Kunjed Gyalpo Tantra ' ' ) also emphasizes how Buddhist realization lies beyond the range of discursive/verbal thought and is ultimately mysterious . Samantabhadra , states there : Also later , the famous Indian Buddhist practitioner and teacher , mahasiddha Tilopa discouraged any intellectual activity in his six words of advice . # Comparison with other philosophies # Baruch Spinoza , though he argued for the existence of a permanent reality , asserts that all phenomenal existence is transitory . In his opinion sorrow is conquered by finding an object of knowledge which is not transient , not ephemeral , but is immutable , permanent , everlasting . The Buddha taught that the only thing which is eternal is Nirvana . David Hume , after a relentless analysis of the mind , concluded that consciousness consists of fleeting mental states . Hume 's Bundle theory is a very similar concept to the Buddhist ' ' skandhas ' ' , though his skepticism about causation lead him to opposite conclusions in other areas . Arthur Schopenhauer 's philosophy parallels Buddhism in his affirmation of asceticism and renunciation as a response to suffering and desire . Ludwig Wittgenstein 's language-game closely parallel the warning that intellectual speculation or papaca is an impediment to understanding , as found in the Buddhist ' ' Parable of the Poison Arrow ' ' . Friedrich Nietzsche , although himself dismissive of Buddhism as yet another nihilism , had a similar impermanent view of the self . Heidegger 's ideas on being and nothingness have been held by some to be similar to Buddhism today . An alternative approach to the comparison of Buddhist thought with Western philosophy is to use the concept of the Middle Way in Buddhism as a critical tool for the assessment of Western philosophies . In this way Western philosophies can be classified in Buddhist terms as eternalist or nihilist . In a Buddhist view all philosophies are considered non-essential views ( ditthis ) and not to be clung to . 
@@4770 Business ethics ( also corporate 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 . It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations . Business ethics has both 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 , both within major corporations and within academia . For example , today most major corporations 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 , but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public , or in some contrivance to raise prices . 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 . # History # 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 common use in the United States in the early 1970s . By the mid-1980s at least 500 courses in business ethics reached 40,000 students , using some twenty textbooks and at least ten casebooks along supported by professional societies , centers and journals of business ethics . The Society for Business Ethics was started in 1980 . European business schools adopted business ethics after 1987 commencing with the European Business Ethics Network ( EBEN ) . In 1982 the first single-authored books in the field appeared . Firms started highlighting their ethical stature in the late 1980s and early 1990s , possibly trying to distance themselves from the business scandals of the day , such as the savings and loan crisis . The idea of business ethics caught the attention of academics , media and business firms by the end of the Cold War . However , legitimate criticism of business practices was attacked for infringing the freedom of entrepreneurs and critics were accused of supporting communists . This scuttled the discourse of business ethics both in media and academia . # Overview # Business ethics reflects the philosophy of business , one of whose aims is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company . If a company 's purpose is to maximize shareholder returns , then sacrificing profits to other concerns is a violation of its fiduciary responsibility . Corporate entities are legally considered as persons in USA and in most nations . The ' corporate persons ' are legally entitled to the rights and liabilities due to citizens as persons . Economist Milton Friedman writes that corporate executives ' responsibility .. generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to their basic rules of the society , both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom . In the US and most other nations corporate entities are legally treated as persons in some respects . For example , they can hold title to property , sue and be sued and are subject to taxation , although their free speech rights are limited . This can be interpreted to imply that they have independent ethical responsibilities . Duska argues that stakeholders have the right to expect a business to be ethical ; if business has no ethical obligations , other institutions could make the same claim which would be counterproductive to the corporation . Ethical issues include the rights and duties between a company and its stakeholder theory According to / research published in late 2012 , the three major areas of public concern regarding business ethics in Britain are executive pay , corporate tax avoidance and bribery and corruption . # Functional business areas # # Finance # Fundamentally , finance is a social science discipline . The discipline borders behavioral economics , sociology , economics , accounting and management . It concerns technical issues such as the mix of debt and equity , dividend policy , the evaluation of alternative investment projects , options , futures , swaps , and other derivatives , portfolio diversification and many others . It is often mistaken to be a discipline free from ethical burdens . The 2008 financial crisis caused critics to challenge the ethics of the executives in charge of U.S. and European financial institutions and financial regulatory bodies . Finance ethics is overlooked for another reasonissues in finance are often addressed as matters of law rather than ethics . # #Finance paradigm# # Aristotle said , the end and purpose of the polis is the good life . Adam Smith characterized the good life in terms of material goods and intellectual and moral excellences of character . Smith in his ' ' The Wealth of Nations ' ' commented , All for ourselves , and nothing for other people , seems , in every age of the world , to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind . However , a section of economists influenced by the ideology of neoliberalism , interpreted the objective of economics to be maximization of economic growth through accelerated consumption and production of goods and services . Neoliberal ideology promoted finance from its position as a component of economics to its core . Proponents of the ideology hold that unrestricted financial flows , if redeemed from the shackles of financial repressions , best help impoverished nations to grow . The theory holds that open financial systems accelerate economic growth by encouraging foreign capital inows , thereby enabling higher levels of savings , investment , employment , productivity and welfare , The claim that deregulation and the opening up of economies would reduce corruption was also contested . Dobson observes , a rational agent is simply one who pursues personal material advantage ad infinitum . In essence , to be rational in finance is to be individualistic , materialistic , and competitive . Business is a game played by individuals , as with all games the object is to win , and winning is measured in terms solely of material wealth . Within the discipline this rationality concept is never questioned , and has indeed become the theory-of-the-firm 's sine qua non . Financial ethics is in this view a mathematical function of shareholder wealth . Such simplifying assumptions were once necessary for the construction of mathematically robust models . However signalling theory and agency theory extended the paradigm to greater realism . # Other issues # Fairness in trading practices , trading conditions , financial contracting , sales practices , consultancy services , tax payments , internal audit , external audit and executive compensation also fall under the umbrella of finance and accounting . Particular corporate ethical/legal abuses include : creative accounting , earnings management , misleading financial analysis , insider trading , securities fraud , bribery/kickbacks and facilitation payments . Outside of corporations , bucket shop ( stock market ) # Human resource management # Human resource management occupies the sphere of activity of recruitment selection , orientation , performance appraisal , training and development , industrial relations and health and safety issues . Business Ethicists differ in their orientation towards labour ethics . Some assess human resource policies according to whether they support an egalitarian workplace and the dignity of labor . Issues including employment itself , privacy , compensation in accord with comparable worth , collective bargaining ( and/or its opposite ) can be seen either as inalienable rights or as negotiable . Discrimination by age ( preferring the young or the old ) , gender/sexual harassment , race , religion , disability , weight and attractiveness . A common approach to remedying discrimination is affirmative action . Once hired , employees have the right to occasional cost of living increases , as well as raises based on merit . Promotions , however , are not a right , and there are often fewer openings than qualified applicants . It may seem unfair if an employee who has been with a company longer is passed over for a promotion , but it is not unethical . It is only unethical if the employer did not give the employee proper consideration or used improper criteria for the promotion . Potential employees have ethical obligations to employers , involving intellectual property protection and whistle-blowing . Employers must consider workplace safety , which may involve modifying the workplace , or providing appropriate training or hazard disclosure . Larger economic issues such as immigration , trade policy , globalization and trade unionism affect workplaces and have an ethical dimension , but are often beyond the purview of individual companies . # #Trade unions# # Unions for example , may push employers to establish due process for workers , but may also cost jobs by demanding unsustainable compensation and work rules . Unionized workplaces may confront union busting and strike breaking and face the ethical implications of work rules that advantage some workers over others . # #Management strategy# # Among the many people management strategies that companies employ are a soft approach that regards employees as a source of creative energy and participants in workplace decision making , a hard version explicitly focused on control and Theory Z that emphasizes philosophy , culture and consensus . Marketing ethics was approached from ethical perspectives of virtue or virtue ethics , deontology , consequentialism , pragmatism and relativism . Ethics in marketing deals with the principles , values and/or ideals by which marketers ( and marketing institutions ) ought to act . Marketing ethics is also contested terrain , beyond the previously described issue of potential conflicts between profitability and other concerns . Ethical marketing issues include marketing redundant or dangerous products/services transparency about environmental risks , transparency about product ingredients such as genetically modified organisms possible health risks , financial risks , security risks , etc. , respect for consumer privacy and autonomy , advertising truthfulness and fairness in pricing & distribution . According to Borgerson , and Schroeder ( 2008 ) , marketing can influence individuals ' perceptions of and interactions with other people , implying an ethical responsibility to avoid distorting those perceptions and interactions . Marketing ethics involves pricing practices , including illegal actions such as price fixing and legal actions including price discrimination and price skimming . Certain promotional activities have drawn fire , including greenwashing , bait and switch , shilling , viral marketing , spam ( electronic ) , pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing . Advertising has raised objections about attack ads , subliminal messages , sex in advertising and marketing in schools . # Production # This area of business ethics usually deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and production processes do not needlessly cause harm . Since few goods and services can be produced and consumed with zero risk , determining the ethical course can be problematic . In some case consumers demand products that harm them , such as tobacco products . Production may have environmental impacts , including pollution , habitat destruction and urban sprawl . The downstream effects of technologies nuclear power , genetically modified food and mobile phones may not be well understood . While the precautionary principle may prohibit introducing new technology whose consequences are not fully understood , that principle would have prohibited most new technology introduced since the industrial revolution . Product testing protocols have been attacked for violating the rights of both clinical trials # Property # The etymological root of property is the Latin ' proprius ' which refers to ' nature ' , ' quality ' , ' one 's own ' , ' special characteristic ' , ' proper ' , ' intrinsic ' , ' inherent ' , ' regular ' , ' normal ' , ' genuine ' , ' thorough , complete , perfect ' etc . The word property is value loaded and associated with the personal qualities of propriety and respectability , also implies questions relating to ownership . A ' proper ' person owns and is true to herself or himself , and is thus genuine , perfect and pure . # #Modern history of property rights# # Modern discourse on property emerged by the turn of 17th century within theological discussions of that time . For instance , John Locke justified property rights saying that God had made the earth , and all inferior creatures , in common to all men . In 1802 Utilitarian Jeremy Bentham stated , property and law are born together and die together . One argument for property ownership is that it enhances individual liberty by extending the line of non-interference by the state or others around the person . Seen from this perspective , property right is absolute and property has a special and distinctive character that precedes its legal protection . Blackstone conceptualized property as the sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world , in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe . # #Slaves as property# # During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries , slavery spread to European colonies including America , where colonial legislatures defined the legal status of slaves as a form of property . During this time settlers began the centuries-long process of dispossessing the natives of America of millions of acres of land . Ironically , the natives lost about 200000 sqmi of land in the Louisiana Territory under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson , who championed property rights . Combined with theological justification , property was taken to be essentially natural ordained by God . Property , which later gained meaning as ownership and appeared natural to Locke , Jefferson and to many of the 18th and 19th century intellectuals as land , labour or idea and property right over slaves had the same theological and essentialized justification It was even held that the property in slaves was a sacred right . Wiecek noted , slavery was more clearly and explicitly established under the Constitution as it had been under the Articles . Accordingly , US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in his 1857 judgment stated , The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution . # #Natural right vs social construct# # Neoliberals hold that private property rights are a non-negotiable natural right . Davies counters with property is no different from other legal categories in that it is simply a consequence of the significance attached by law to the relationships between legal persons . Singer claims , Property is a form of power , and the distribution of power is a political problem of the highest order . Rose finds , ' Property ' is only an effect , a construction , of relationships between people , meaning that its objective character is contestable . Persons and things , are ' constituted ' or ' fabricated ' by legal and other normative techniques . . Singer observes , A private property regime is not , after all , a Hobbesian state of nature ; it requires a working legal system that can define , allocate , and enforce property rights . Davis claims that common law theory generally favors the view that property is not essentially a ' right to a thing ' , but rather a separable bundle of rights subsisting between persons which may vary according to the context and the object which is at stake . In common parlance property rights involve a ' bundle of rights ' including occupancy , use and enjoyment , and the right to sell , devise , give , or lease all or part of these rights . Custodians of property have obligations as well as rights . Michelman writes , A property regime thus depends on a great deal of cooperation , trustworthiness , and self-restraint among the people who enjoy it . Menon claims that the autonomous individual , responsible for his/her own existence is a cultural construct moulded by Western culture rather than the truth about the human condition . Penner views property as an illusion a normative phantasm without substance . In the neoliberal literature , property is part of the private side of a public/private dichotomy and acts a counterweight to state power . Davies counters that any space may be subject to plural meanings or appropriations which do not necessarily come into conflict . Private property has never been a universal doctrine , although since the end of the Cold War is it has become nearly so . Some societies , e.g. , Native American bands , held land , if not all property , in common . When groups came into conflict , the victor often appropriated the loser 's property . The rights paradigm tended to stabilize the distribution of property holdings on the presumption that title had been lawfully acquired . Property does not exist in isolation , and so property rights too . Bryan claimed that property rights describe relations among people and not just relations between people and things Singer holds that the idea that owners have no legal obligations to others wrongly supposes that property rights hardly ever conflict with other legally protected interests . Singer continues implying that legal realists did not take the character and structure of social relations as an important independent factor in choosing the rules that govern market life . Ethics of property rights begins with recognizing the vacuous nature of the notion of property . # Intellectual property # Intellectual property ( IP ) encompasses expressions of ideas , thoughts , codes and information . Intellectual property rights ( IPR ) treat IP as a kind of real property , subject to analogous protections , rather than as a reproducible good or service . Boldrin and Levine argue that government does not ordinarily enforce monopolies for producers of other goods . This is because it is widely recognized that monopoly creates many social costs . Intellectual monopoly is no different in this respect . The question we address is whether it also creates social benefits commensurate with these social costs . International standards relating to Intellectual Property Rights are enforced through Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPS ) . In the US , IP other than copyrights is regulated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office . The US Constitution included the power to protect intellectual property , empowering the Federal government ' ' to promote the progress of science and useful arts , by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries ' ' . Boldrin and Levine see no value in such state-enforced monopolies stating , we ordinarily think of innovative monopoly as an oxymoron . Further they comment , ' intellectual property ' is not like ordinary property at all , but constitutes a government grant of a costly and dangerous private monopoly over ideas . We show through theory and example that intellectual monopoly is not necessary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth , prosperity , and liberty . Steelman defends patent monopolies , writing , Consider prescription drugs , for instance . Such drugs have benefited millions of people , improving or extending their lives . Patent protection enables drug companies to recoup their development costs because for a specific period of time they have the sole right to manufacture and distribute the products they have invented . The court cases by 39 pharmaceutical companies against South Africa 's 1997 Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act , which intended to provide affordable HIV medicines has been cited as a harmful effect of patents . One attack on IPR is moral rather than utilitarian , claiming that inventions are mostly a collective , cumulative , path dependent , social creation and therefore , no one person or rm should be able to monopolize them even for a limited period . The opposing argument is that the benefits of innovation arrive sooner when patents encourage innovators and their investors to increase their commitments . Roderick Long , a libertarian philosopher , observes , Ethically , property rights of any kind have to be justified as extensions of the right of individuals to control their own lives . Thus any alleged property rights that conflict with this moral basislike the right to own slavesare invalidated . In my judgment , intellectual property rights also fail to pass this test . To enforce copyright laws and the like is to prevent people from making peaceful use of the information they possess . If you have acquired the information legitimately ( say , by buying a book ) , then on what grounds can you be prevented from using it , reproducing it , trading it ? Is this not a violation of the freedom of speech and press ? It may be objected that the person who originated the information deserves ownership rights over it . But information is not a concrete thing an individual can control ; it is a universal , existing in other people 's minds and other people 's property , and over these the originator has no legitimate sovereignty . You can not own information without owning other people . Machlup concluded that patents do not have the intended effect of enhancing innovation . Self-declared anarchist Proudhon , in his 1847 seminal work noted , Monopoly is the natural opposite of competition , and continued , Competition is the vital force which animates the collective being : to destroy it , if such a supposition were possible , would be to kill society Mindeli and Pipiya hold that the knowledge economy is an economy of abundance because it relies on the infinite potential of knowledge and ideas rather than on the limited resources of natural resources , labor and capital . Allison envisioned an egalitarian distribution of knowledge . Kinsella claims that IPR create artificial scarcity and reduce equality . Bouckaert wrote , Natural scarcity is that which follows from the relationship between man and nature . Scarcity is natural when it is possible to conceive of it before any human , institutional , contractual arrangement . Artificial scarcity , on the other hand , is the outcome of such arrangements . Artificial scarcity can hardly serve as a justification for the legal framework that causes that scarcity . Such an argument would be completely circular . On the contrary , artificial scarcity itself needs a justification Corporations fund much IP creation and can acquire IP they do not create , to which Menon and others object . Andersen claims that IPR has increasingly become an instrument in eroding public domain . Ethical and legal issues include : Patent infringement , copyright infringement , trademark infringement , patent and copyright misuse , submarine patents , biological patents , patent , copyright and trademark trolling , Employee raiding and monopolizing talent , Bioprospecting , biopiracy and industrial espionage , digital rights management . Notable IP copyright cases include Napster , Eldred v. Ashcroft and Air Pirates . # International issues # While business ethics emerged as a field in the 1970s , international business ethics did not emerge until the late 1990s , looking back on the international developments of that decade . Many new practical issues arose out of the international context of business . Theoretical issues such as cultural relativity of ethical values receive more emphasis in this field . Other , older issues can be grouped here as well . Issues and subfields include :  The search for universal values as a basis for international commercial behaviour .  Comparison of business ethical traditions in different countries . Also on the basis of their respective GDP and Corruption rankings .  Comparison of business ethical traditions from various religious perspectives .  Ethical issues arising out of international business transactions ; e.g. , bioprospecting and biopiracy in the pharmaceutical industry ; the fair trade movement ; transfer pricing .  Issues such as globalization and cultural imperialism .  Varying global standardse.g. , the use of child labor .  The way in which multinationals take advantage of international differences , such as outsourcing production ( e.g. clothes ) and services ( e.g. call centres ) to low-wage countries .  The permissibility of international commerce with pariah states . The success of any business depends on its financial performance . Financial accounting helps the management to report and also control the business performance . The information regarding the financial performance of the company plays an important role in enabling people to take right decision about the company . Therefore , it becomes necessary to understand how to record based on accounting conventions and concepts ensure unambling and accurate records . Foreign countries often use dumping as a competitive threat , selling products at prices lower than their normal value . This can lead to problems in domestic markets . It becomes difficult for these markets to compete with the pricing set by foreign markets . In 2009 , the International Trade Commission has been researching anti-dumping laws . Dumping is often seen as an ethical issue , as larger companies are taking advantage of other less economically advanced companies . # Economic systems # Political economy and political philosophy have ethical implications , particularly regarding the distribution of economic benefits . John Rawls and Robert Nozick are both notable contributors . For example , Rawls has been interpreted as on social contract grounds , whereas Nozick 's libertarian philosophy rejects the notion of any positive corporate social obligation . # Law and regulation # Very often it is held that business is not bound by any ethics other than abiding by the law . Milton Friedman is the pioneer of the view . He held that corporations have the obligation to make a profit within the framework of the legal system , nothing more . Friedman made it explicit that the duty of the business leaders is , to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society , both those embodied in the law and those embodied in ethical custom . Ethics for Friedman is nothing more than abiding by ' customs ' and ' laws ' . The reduction of ethics to abidance to laws and customs however have drawn serious criticisms . Counter to Friedman 's logic it is observed that legal procedures are technocratic , bureaucratic , rigid and obligatory where as ethical act is conscientious , voluntary choice beyond normativity . Law is retroactive . Crime precedes law . Law against a crime , to be passed , the crime must have happened . Laws are blind to the crimes undefined in it . Further , as per law , Impossibility defenseconduct is not criminal unless forbidden by law which gives advance warning that such conduct is criminal ' ' . Also , law presumes the accused is innocent until proven guilty and that the state must establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt . As per liberal laws followed in most of the democracies , until the government prosecutor proves the firm guilty with the limited resources available to her , the accused is considered to be innocent . Though the liberal premises of law is necessary to protect individuals from being persecuted by Government , it is not a sufficient mechanism to make firms morally accountable . # Implementation # # Corporate policies # As part of more comprehensive compliance and ethics programs , many companies have formulated internal policies pertaining to the ethical conduct of employees . These policies can be simple exhortations in broad , highly generalized language ( typically called a corporate ethics statement ) , or they can be more detailed policies , containing specific behavioural requirements ( typically called corporate ethics codes ) . They are generally meant to identify the company 's expectations of workers and to offer guidance on handling some of the more common ethical problems that might arise in the course of doing business . It is hoped that having such a policy will lead to greater ethical awareness , consistency in application , and the avoidance of ethical disasters . An increasing number of companies also require employees to attend seminars regarding business conduct , which often include discussion of the company 's policies , specific case studies , and legal requirements . Some companies even require their employees to sign agreements stating that they will abide by the company 's rules of conduct . Many companies are assessing the environmental factors that can lead employees to engage in unethical conduct . A competitive business environment may call for unethical behaviour . Lying has become expected in fields such as trading . An example of this are the issues surrounding the unethical actions of the Saloman Brothers . Not everyone supports corporate policies that govern ethical conduct . Some claim that ethical problems are better dealt with by depending upon employees to use their own judgment . Others believe that corporate ethics policies are primarily rooted in utilitarian concerns , and that they are mainly to limit the company 's legal liability , or to curry public favour by giving the appearance of being a good corporate citizen . Ideally , the company will avoid a lawsuit because its employees will follow the rules . Should a lawsuit occur , the company can claim that the problem would not have arisen if the employee had only followed the code properly . Sometimes there is disconnection between the company 's code of ethics and the company 's actual practices . Thus , whether or not such conduct is explicitly sanctioned by management , at worst , this makes the policy duplicitous , and , at best , it is merely a marketing tool . Jones and Parker write , Most of what we read under the name business ethics is either sentimental common sense , or a set of excuses for being unpleasant . Many manuals are procedural form filling exercises unconcerned about the real ethical dilemmas . For instance , US Department of Commerce ethics program treats business ethics as a set of instructions and procedures to be followed by ' ethics officers ' . , some others claim being ethical is just for the sake of being ethical . Business ethicists may trivialize the subject , offering standard answers that do not reflect the situation 's complexity . Author of ' Business Ethics , ' Richard DeGeorge writes in regard to the importance of maintaining a corporate code , Corporate codes have a certain usefulness and there are several advantages to developing them . First , the very exercise of doing so in itself is worthwhile , especially if it forces a large number of people in the firm to think through , in a fresh way , their mission and the important obligations they as a group and as individuals have to the firm , to each other , to their clients and customers , and to society as a whole . Second , once adopted a code can be used to generate continuing discussion and possible modification to the code . Third , it could help to inculcate in new employees at all levels the perspective of responsibility , the need to think in moral terms about their actions , and the importance of developing the virtues appropriate to their position . # Ethics officers # Ethics officers ( sometimes called compliance or business conduct officers ) have been appointed formally by organizations since the mid-1980s . One of the catalysts for the creation of this new role was a series of fraud , corruption , and abuse scandals that afflicted the U.S. defense industry at that time . This led to the creation of the Defense Industry Initiative ( DII ) , a pan-industry initiative to promote and ensure ethical business practices . The DII set an early benchmark for ethics management in corporations . In 1991 , the ( ECOA ) originally the Ethics Officer Association ( EOA ) was founded at the ( at Bentley College , Waltham , MA ) as a professional association for those responsible for managing organizations ' efforts to achieve ethical best practices . The membership grew rapidly ( the ECOA now has over 1,200 members ) and was soon established as an independent organization . Another critical factor in the decisions of companies to appoint ethics/compliance officers was the passing of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations in 1991 , which set standards that organizations ( large or small , commercial and non-commercial ) had to follow to obtain a reduction in sentence if they should be convicted of a federal offense . Although intended to assist judges with sentencing , the influence in helping to establish best practices has been far-reaching . In the wake of numerous corporate scandals between 2001 and 2004 ( affecting large corporations like Enron , WorldCom and Tyco ) , even small and medium-sized companies have begun to appoint ethics officers . They often report to the Chief Executive Officer and are responsible for assessing the ethical implications of the company 's activities , making recommendations regarding the company 's ethical policies , and disseminating information to employees . They are particularly interested in uncovering or preventing unethical and illegal actions . This trend is partly due to the SarbanesOxley Act in the United States , which was enacted in reaction to the above scandals . A related trend is the introduction of risk assessment officers that monitor how shareholders ' investments might be affected by the company 's decisions . The effectiveness of ethics officers is not clear . If the appointment is made primarily as a reaction to legislative requirements , one might expect little impact , at least over the short term . In part , this is because ethical business practices result from a corporate culture that consistently places value on ethical behaviour , a culture and climate that usually emanates from the top of the organization . The mere establishment of a position to oversee ethics will most likely be insufficient to inculcate ethical behaviour : a more systemic programme with consistent support from general management will be necessary . The foundation for ethical behaviour goes well beyond corporate culture and the policies of any given company , for it also depends greatly upon an individual 's early moral training , the other institutions that affect an individual , the competitive business environment the company is in and , indeed , society as a whole . # Academic discipline # As an academic discipline , business ethics emerged in the 1970s . Since no academic business ethics journals or conferences existed , researchers published in general management journals , and attended general conferences . Over time , specialized peer-reviewed journals appeared , and more researchers entered the field . Corporate scandals in the earlier 2000s increased the field 's popularity . As of 2009 , sixteen academic journals devoted to various business ethics issues existed , with Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics Quarterly considered the leaders . The International Business Development Institute is a global non-profit organization that represents 217 nations and all 50 United States . It offers a Charter in Business Development ( CBD ) that focuses on ethical business practices and standards . The Charter is directed by Harvard , MIT , and Fulbright Scholars , and it includes graduate-level coursework in economics , politics , marketing , management , technology , and legal aspects of business development as it pertains to business ethics . IBDI also oversees the International Business Development Institute of Asia which provides individuals living in 20 Asian nations the opportunity to earn the Charter . # Religious views # In Sharia law , followed by many Muslims , banking specifically prohibits charging interest on loans . Traditional Confucian thought discourages profit-seeking . Christianity offers the Golden Rule command , Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets. according to the article Theory of the real economy , there is a more narrow point of view from the Christianity faith towards the relationship between ethics and religious traditions . This article stresses about how capable is Christianity of establishing reliable boundaries for financial institutions . One criticism comes from Pope Benedict by describing the damaging effects of the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing . It is mentioned that Christianity has the potential to transform the nature of finance and investment but only if theologians and ethicist provide more evidence of what is real in the economic life . Business ethics receives an extensive treatment in Jewish thought and Rabbinic literature , both from an ethical ( ' ' Mussar ' ' ) and a legal ( ' ' Halakha ' ' ) perspective ; see article ' ' Jewish business ethics ' ' for further discussion . # Related disciplines # Business ethics is part of the philosophy of business , the branch of philosophy that deals with the philosophical , political , and ethics The philosophy of business also deals with questions such as what , if any , are the social responsibility Business ethics is also related to political economy , which is economic analysis from political and economic history # See also #  Bribery  Business culture  ' ' Business Ethics Quarterly ' '  ' ' Business and Professional Ethics Journal ' '  Business law  Corporate behaviour  Corporate crime  Corporate social entrepreneurship  Corporate social responsibility  Corruption  Ethicism  Ethics  Ethical implications in contracts  Ethical consumerism  Ethical code  Ethical job  Fiduciary  ' ' Journal of Business Ethics ' '  ' ' Journal of Business Ethics Education ' '  Management  Organizational ethics  Optimism bias  Penny stock scam  Strategic misrepresentation  Strategic planning 
@@5822 The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras , during a period known as the Hundred Schools of Thought , which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments . Although much of Chinese philosophy begins in the Warring States period , elements of Chinese philosophy have existed for several thousand years ; some can be found in the Yi Jing ( the ' ' Book of Changes ' ' ) , an ancient compendium of divination , which dates back to at least 672 BCE . It was during the Warring States era that the major philosophies of China , Confucianism , Mohism , Legalism , and Daoism , arose , along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity , like Agriculturalism , Chinese Naturalism , and the Logicians . Following the Qin Dynasty , Confucianism became the dominant philosophical school of China . The largest philosophical rivals to Confucianism were Legalism and Mohism before the Han dynasty . Legalism as a coherent philosophy disappeared largely due to its relationship with the unpopular authoritarian rule of Qin Shi Huang , however , many of its ideas and institutions would continue to influence Chinese philosophy until the end of Imperial rule during the Xinhai Revolution . Mohism though popular at first due to its emphasis on brotherly love versus harsh Qin Legalism , fell out of favour during the Han Dynasty due to the efforts of Confucians in establishing their views as political orthodoxy . The Six Dynasties era saw the rise of the Xuanxue philosophical school and the maturation of Chinese Buddhism , which had entered China from India during the Late Han Dynasties . By the time of the Tang Dynasty five-hundred years after Buddhism 's arrival into China , it had transformed into a thoroughly Chinese religious philosophy dominated by the school of Zen Buddhism . Neo-Confucianism became highly popular during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty due in large part to the eventual combination of Confucian and Zen Philosophy . Confucianism represents the collected teachings of the Chinese sage Confucius , who lived from 551 to 479 BCE . His philosophy concerns the fields of ethics and politics , emphasizing personal and governmental morality , correctness of social relationships , justice , traditionalism , and sincerity . The Analects stress the importance of ritual , but also the importance of ' ren ' , which loosely translates as ' human-heartedness , Confucianism , along with Legalism , is responsible for creating the worlds first meritocracy , which holds that one 's status should be determined by education and character rather than ancestry , wealth , or friendship . Confucianism was and continues to be a major influence in Chinese culture , the state of China and the surrounding areas of Southeast Asia . During the 19th and 20th centuries , Chinese philosophy integrated concepts from Western philosophy . Anti-Qing Dynasty revolutionaries , involved in the Xinhai Revolution , saw Western philosophy as an alternative to traditional philosophical schools ; students in the May Fourth Movement called for completely abolishing the old imperial institutions and practices of China . During this era , Chinese scholars attempted to incorporate Western philosophical ideologies such as democracy , Marxism , socialism , liberalism , republicanism , anarchism and nationalism into Chinese philosophy . The most notable examples are Sun Yat-Sen 's Three Principles of the People ideology and Mao Zedong 's Maoism , a variant of MarxismLeninism . In the modern People 's Republic of China , the official ideology is Deng Xiaoping 's market economy socialism . Although the People 's Republic of China has been historically hostile to the philosophy of ancient China , the influences of past are still deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture . In the post-Chinese economic reform era , modern Chinese philosophy has reappeared in forms such as the ' ' New Confucianism ' ' . As in Japan , philosophy in China has become a melting pot of ideas . It accepts new concepts , while attempting also to accord old beliefs their due . Chinese philosophy still carries profound influence amongst the people of East Asia , and even Southeast Asia . # Ancient philosophy # # History # # #Early beliefs# # Early Shang Dynasty thought was based upon cycles . This notion stems from what the people of the Shang Dynasty could observe around them : day and night cycled , the seasons progressed again and again , and even the moon waxed and waned until it waxed again . Thus , this notion , which remained relevant throughout Chinese history , reflects the order of nature . In juxtaposition , it also marks a fundamental distinction from western philosophy , in which the dominant view of time is a linear progression . During the Shang , fate could be manipulated by great deities , commonly translated as gods . Ancestor worship was present and universally recognized . There was also human and animal sacrifice . When the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou , a new political , religious and philosophical concept was introduced called the Mandate of Heaven . This mandate was said to be taken when rulers became unworthy of their position and provided a shrewd justification for Zhou rule . During this period , archaeological evidence points to an increase in literacy and a partial shift away from the faith placed in Shangdi ( the Supreme Being in traditional Chinese religion ) , with ancestor worship becoming commonplace and a more worldly orientation coming to the fore . # # Hundred Schools of Thought # # In around 500 BCE , after the Zhou state weakened and China moved into the Spring and Autumn Period , the classic period of Chinese philosophy began ( it is an interesting fact that this date nearly coincides with the emergence of the first Greek philosophers ) . This is known as the Hundred Schools of Thought ( ; ' ' zhz biji ' ' ; various scholars , hundred schools ) . This period is considered the golden age of Chinese philosophy . Of the many schools founded at this time and during the subsequent Warring States period , the four most influential ones were Confucianism , Daoism ( often spelled Taoism ) , Mohism and Legalism . # Schools of thought # # # Confucianism # # Confucianism is a philosophical school developed from the teachings of the sage collected in the ' ' Analects of Confucius ' ' . It is a system of moral , social , political , and religious thought that has had tremendous influence on Chinese history , thought , and culture down to the 21st century . Some Westerners have considered it to have been the state religion of imperial China . Its influence also spread to Korea and Japan . The major Confucian concepts include ' ' rn ' ' ( humanity or humaneness ) , ' ' zhngmng ' ' ( rectification of names ; e.g. a ruler who rules unjustly is no longer a ruler and may be dethroned ) , ' ' zhng ' ' ( loyalty ) , ' ' xio ' ' ( filial piety ) , and ' ' l ' ' ( ritual ) . Confucius taught both positive and negative versions of the Golden Rule . The concepts Yin and Yang represent two opposing forces that are permanently in conflict with each other , leading to perpetual contradiction and change . The Confucian idea of Rid of the two ends , take the middle is a Chinese equivalent of Hegel 's idea of thesis , antithesis , and synthesis , which is a way of reconciling opposites , arriving at some middle ground combining the best of both . # # Daoism # # Daoism is a philosophy and later also developed into a religion based on the texts the ' ' Dao Te Ching ' ' ( Do D Jng ; ascribed to Laozi ) and the ' ' Zhuangzi ' ' ( partly ascribed to Zhuangzi ) . The character ' ' Dao ' ' ( ' ' Dao ' ' ) literally means path or way . However in Daoism it refers more often to a meta-physical term that describes a force that encompasses the entire universe but which can not be described nor felt . All major Chinese philosophical schools have investigated the correct ' ' Way ' ' to go about a moral life , but in Taoism it takes on the most abstract meanings , leading this school to be named after it . It advocated nonaction ( ' ' wu wei ' ' ) , the strength of softness , spontaneity , and relativism . Although it serves as a rival to Confucianism , a school of active morality , this rivalry is compromised and given perspective by the idiom practise Confucianism on the outside , Taoism on the inside . Most of Taoism 's focus is on what is perceived to be the undeniable fact that human attempts to make the world better actually make the world worse . Therefore it is better to strive for harmony , minimising potentially harmful interference with nature or in human affairs . # # Legalism # # Legalism is a political philosophy synthesized by a philosopher named Han Fei . With an essential principle like when the epoch changed , the ways changed , it upholds the rule of law and is thus a theory of jurisprudence . A ruler should govern his subjects by the following trinity : #Fa ( fa3 ) : law or principle . #Shu ( sh ) : method , tactic , art , or statecraft . #Shi ( sh ) : legitimacy , power , or charisma . Legalism was the chosen philosophy of the Qin Dynasty . It was blamed for creating a totalitarian society and thereby experienced decline . Its main motto is : Set clear strict laws , or deliver harsh punishment . Both Shang Yang and Han Fei promoted the absolute adherence to the rule of law , regardless of the circumstances or the person . The ruler , alone , would possess the authority to dispense with rewards and punishments . Ministers were only to be rewarded if their words matched the results of their proposals , and punished if it did not ; regardless if the results were worse or better than the claims . Legalism , in accordance with Han Fei 's interpretation , could encourage the state to be a militaristic autarky . The philosophy was highly progressive , and extremely critical of the Confucian and Mohist schools . This would be used to justify Li Si 's large scale persecutions of the other schools of thought during the Qin dynasty , and the invariable denunciation by Confucian scholars from the Han dynasty and onwards . # #Naturalists# # The School of Naturalists or the School of Yin-yang ( / ; ' ' Ynyngji ' ' ; ' ' Yin-yang-chia ' ' ; School of Yin-Yang ) was a Warring States era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements ; Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school . His theory attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature : the complementary agents of yin ( dark , cold , female , negative ) and yang ( light , hot , male , positive ) and the Five Elements or Five Phases ( water , fire , wood , metal , and earth ) . In its early days , this theory was most strongly associated with the states of Yan and Qi . In later periods , these epistemological theories came to hold significance in both philosophy and popular belief . This school was absorbed into Taoism 's alchemic and magical dimensions as well as into the Chinese medical framework . The earliest surviving recordings of this are in the Ma Wang Dui texts and Huang Di Nei Jing. # # Mohism # # Mohism ( Moism ) , founded by Mozi ( ) , promotes universal love with the aim of mutual benefit . Everyone must love each other equally and impartially to avoid conflict and war . Mozi was strongly against Confucian ritual , instead emphasizing pragmatic survival through farming , fortification , and statecraft . Tradition is inconsistent , and human beings need an extra-traditional guide to identify which traditions are acceptable . The moral guide must then promote and encourage social behaviors that maximize general benefit . As motivation for his theory , Mozi brought in the ' ' Will of Heaven ' ' , but rather than being religious his philosophy parallels utilitarianism. # # Logicians # # The logicians ( School of Names ) were concerned with logic , paradoxes , names and actuality ( similar to Confucian rectification of names ) . The logician Hui Shi was a friendly rival to Zhuang Zhou # # Agriculturalists # # Agriculturalism was an early agrarian social and political philosophy that advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism . The philosophy is founded on the notion that human society originates with the development of agriculture , and societies are based upon people 's natural prospensity to farm . The Agriculturalists believed that the ideal government , modeled after the semi-mythical governance of Shennong , is led by a benevolent king , one who works alongside the people in tilling the fields . The Agriculturalist king is not paid by the government through its treasuries ; his livelihood is derived from the profits he earns working in the fields , not his leadership . Unlike the Confucians , the Agriculturalists did not believe in the division of labour , arguing instead that the economic policies of a country need to be based upon an egalitarian self sufficiency . The Agriculturalists supported the fixing of prices , in which all similar goods , regardless of differences in quality and demand , are set at exactly the same , unchanging price . # Early Imperial era philosophy # # History # # # Qin and Han Dynasties # # The short founder Qin Dynasty , where Legalism was the official philosophy , quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools . Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine . These latter two became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism . Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han Dynasty , whose greatest thinker was Dong Zhongshu , who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements . He also was a promoter of the New Text school , which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China , who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace . In contrast , there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language ( from this comes the denomination ' ' Old Text ' ' ) that were so much more reliable . In particular , they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage , but simply a human and mortal # # Six Dynasties # # The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the ' ' Xuanxue ' ' ( mysterious learning ) , also called ' ' Neo-Taoism ' ' . The most important philosophers of this movement were Wang Bi , Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang . The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being ( in Chinese , ' ' ming ' ' and ' ' wuming ' ' ) . A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers , like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove , was the concept of ' ' feng liu ' ' ( lit. wind and flow ) , a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse . Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD , but it was not until the Northern and Southern , Sui and Tang Dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement . At the beginning , it was considered a sort of Taoist sect , and there was even a theory about Laozi , founder of Taoism , who went to India and taught his philosophy to Buddha . Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rival Hinayana , and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century . Two chiefly important monk philosophers were Sengzhao and Daosheng . But probably the most influential and original of these schools was the Chan sect , which had an even stronger impact in Japan as the Zen sect . In the mid-Tang Buddhism reached its peak , and reportedly there were 4,600 monasteries , 40,000 hermitages and 260,500 monks and nuns . The power of the Buddhist clergy was so great and the wealth of the monasteries so impressive , that it instigated criticism from Confucian scholars , who considered Buddhism as a foreign religion . In 845 Emperor Wuzong ordered the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution , confiscating the riches and returning monks and nuns to lay life . From then on , Buddhism lost much of its influence . # Schools of thought # # #Xuanxue# # Xuanxue was a philosophical school that combined elements of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the ' ' Yijing , ' ' ' ' Daodejing , ' ' and ' ' Zhuangzi . ' ' The most important philosophers of this movement were Wang Bi , Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang . The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being ( in Chinese , ' ' ming ' ' and ' ' wuming ' ' ) . A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers , like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove , was the concept of ' ' feng liu ' ' ( lit. wind and flow ) , a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse . # # Zen # # Buddhism is a religion , a practical philosophy , and arguably a psychology , focusing on the teachings of Gautama Buddha , who lived on the Indian subcontinent most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE . When used in a generic sense , a Buddha is generally considered to be someone who discovers the true nature of reality . Buddhism until the 4th century A.D had it little impact on China but in the 4th century its teachings hybridized with those of Taoism . Buddhism brought to China the idea of many hells , where sinners went , but the deceased sinners souls could be saved by pious acts . Since Chinese traditional thought focused more on ethics rather than metaphysics , the merging of Buddhist and Taoist concepts developed several schools distinct from the originating Indian schools . The most prominent examples with philosophical merit are Sanlun , Tiantai , Huayan , and Chn ( a.k.a . Zen ) . They investigate consciousness , levels of truth , whether reality is ultimately empty , and how enlightenment is to be achieved . Buddhism has a spiritual aspect that compliments the action of Neo-Confucianism , with prominent Neo-Confucians advocating certain forms of meditation . # Mid to Late Imperial era philosophy # # History # Neo-Confucianism was a revived version of old Confucian principles that appeared around the Song Dynasty , with Buddhist , Taoist , and Legalist features . The first philosophers , such as Shao Yong , Zhou Dunyi and Chang Zai , were cosmologists and worked on the Yi Jing . The Cheng brothers , Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao , are considered the founders of the two main schools of thought of Neo-Confucianism : the School of Principle the first , the School of Mind the latter . The School of Principle gained supremacy during the Song Dynasty with the philosophical system elaborated by Zhu Xi , which became mainstream and officially adopted by the government for the Imperial examinations under the Yuan Dynasty . The School of Mind was developed by Lu Jiuyuan , Zhu Xi 's main rival , but was soon forgotten . Only during the Ming Dynasty was the School of Mind revived by Wang Shouren , whose influence is equal to that of Zhu Xi . This school was particularly important in Japan . During the Qing Dynasty many philosophers objected against Neo-Confucianism and there was a return to the Han Dynasty Confucianism , and also the reprise of the controversy between Old Text and New Text . In this period also started the penetration of Western culture , but most Chinese thought that the Westerners were maybe more advanced in technology and warfare , but that China had primacy in moral and intellectual fields . # Schools of thought # # # Neo-Confucianism # # Despite Confucianism losing popularity to Taoism and Buddhism , Neo-Confucianism combined those ideas into a more metaphysical framework . Its concepts include ' ' li ' ' ( principle , akin to Plato 's forms ) , ' ' qi ' ' ( vital or material force ) , ' ' taiji ' ' ( the Great Ultimate ) , and ' ' xin ' ' ( mind ) . # Modern era # During the Industrial and Modern Ages , Chinese philosophy had also begun to integrate concepts of Western philosophy , as steps toward modernization . Notably , Chinese philosophy never developed the concept of rights , let alone human rights , so that classical Chinese lacked words for them . In 1864 , W.A.P. Martin had to invent the word ' ' quanli ' ' to translate the Western concept of rights in the process of translating Henry Wheaton 's ' ' Elements of International Law ' ' into classical Chinese . By the time of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 , there were many calls , such as the May Fourth Movement , to completely abolish the old imperial institutions and practices of China . There have been attempts to incorporate democracy , republicanism , and industrialism into Chinese philosophy , notably by Sun Yat-Sen ( ' ' Sn Yxin ' ' , in one Mandarin form of the name ) at the beginning of the 20th century . Mao Zedong ( ' ' Mo Zdng ' ' ) added Marxism , Stalinism , and other communist thought . When the Communist Party of China took over power , previous schools of thought , excepting notably Legalism , were denounced as backward , and later even purged during the Cultural Revolution . Their influence on Chinese thought , however , remains . The current government of the People 's Republic of China is trying to encourage a form of market socialism . Since the radical movement of the Cultural Revolution , the Chinese government has become much more tolerant with the practice of traditional beliefs . The 1978 Constitution of the People 's Republic of China guarantees freedom of religion with a number of restrictions . Spiritual and philosophical institutions have been allowed to be established or re-established , as long they are not perceived to be a threat to the power of the CPC . ( However , it should be noted that those organizations are heavily monitored by the state . ) The influences of the past are still deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture . As in Japan , philosophy in China has become a melting pot of ideas . It accepts new concepts , while attempting also to accord old beliefs their due . # New Confucianism # New Confucianism is an intellectual movement of Confucianism that began in the early 20th century in Republican China , and revived in post-Mao era contemporary China . It is deeply influenced by , but not identical with , the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties . # Great philosophical figures #  Confucius , seen as the Great Master but sometimes ridiculed by Taoists. * Mencius , Confucius ' follower having idealist inspiration * Xun Zi , another Confucius ' follower , closer to realism , teacher of Han Fei and Li Si * Zhu Xi , founder of Neo-Confucianism * Wang Yangming , most influential proponent of ' ' xinxue ' ' or state of mind .  Lao Zi , the chief of Taoist school . * Zhuangzi , said to be the author of the ' ' Zhuangzi ' ' . * Liezi , said to be the author of the ' ' Liezi ' ' .  Mozi , the founder of Mohist school .  Shang Yang , Legalist founder and pivotal Qin reformer  Han Fei , one of the most notable theoreticians of Legalism  Li Si , major proponent and practitioner of Legalism  Huineng , The 6th buddhist patriarch of the Chan ( Zen ) School in China , he established the concept of no mind . # Concepts within Chinese philosophy # Although the individual philosophical schools differ considerably , they nevertheless share a common vocabulary and set of concerns . Among the terms commonly found in Chinese philosophy are :  Dao ( the Way , or one 's doctrine )  De ( virtue , power )  Li ( principle )  Qi ( vital energy or material force )  The ' ' Taiji ' ' ( ' ' Great Heavenly Axis ' ' ) forms a unity of the two complimentary polarities , ' ' Yin and Yang ' ' . The word ' ' Yin ' ' originally referred to a hillside facing away from the sun . Philosophically , it stands the dark , passive , feminine principle ; whereas ' ' Yang ' ' ( the hillside facing the sun ) stands for the bright , active , masculine principle . Yin and Yang are not antagonistic , they alternate in inverse proportion to one anotherlike the rise and fall of a wave . Among the commonalities of Chinese philosophies are :  The tendency not to view man as separate from nature .  Questions about the nature and existence of a monotheistic deity , which have profoundly influenced Western philosophy , have not been important in Chinese philosophies or a source of great conflict in Chinese traditional religion .  The belief that the purpose of philosophy is primarily to serve as an ethical and practical guide .  The political focus : most scholars of the Hundred Schools were trying to convince the ruler to behave in the way they defended . # See also # valign=top style= font-size:95% ; -  Chinese classic texts  Chinese history  Chinese philosophers  Confucianism  Culture of China  Eastern philosophy  Five Elements  Hun and po  List of Chinese philosophers  Taoism  Thirteen Classics # References # # Further reading #  ' ' A History of Chinese Philosophy ' ' ( Princeton Paperbacks ) , Feng Youlan , tr . Derk Bodde , 1983.  ' ' Disputers of the Tao ; Philosophical Argument in Ancient China ' ' , A. C. Graham , 1989.  ' ' Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China ' ' , Arthur Waley , 1983.  ' ' Chinese Thought , from Confucius to Mao Zedong ' ' , Herrlee Glessner Creel , 1971.  ' ' The Importance of Living ' ' , Lin Yutang , 1996.  ' ' Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy ' ' , Antonio S. Cua ( Editor ) , Routledge , 2003.  Fung Yu-lan , ' ' A Short History of Chinese Philosophy ' ' ( Macmillan , 1948 ) .  , Karyn Lai , Cambridge University Press , 2008.  ' ' Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy ' ' , Bryan W. Van Norden ( Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing , 2011 ) . 
@@9247 Epistemology ( ) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge and is also referred to as theory of knowledge . It questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired , and the extent to which knowledge pertinent to any given subject or entity can be acquired . Much of the debate in this field has focused on the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and how it relates to connected notions such as truth , belief , and justification . The term epistemology was introduced by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier ( 18081864 ) . # Background and meaning # Epistemology is a neologism derived from the Greek ' ' epistm ' ' meaning knowledge and ' ' logos ' ' meaning study of . It translates the German concept Wissenschaftslehre , which was used by Fichte and Bolzano for different projects before it was taken up again by Husserl . J.F. Ferrier coined the word on the model of ' ontology ' , to designate that branch of philosophy afrmed to be the latter 's ' true beginning ' to discover the meaning of knowledge . The term passed into French as pistmologie , with , however , a generally narrower meaning than the original , the import of which is covered by ' theory of knowledge thorie de la connaissance . ' Thus mile Meyerson opened his Identity and Reality , written in 1908 , with the remark that the word ' is becoming current ' as equivalent to ' the philosophy of the sciences philosophie des sciences . ' # Knowledge # # Knowledge that , knowledge how , and knowledge by acquaintance # In epistemology in general , the kind of knowledge usually discussed is propositional knowledge , also known as knowledge that . This is distinguished from knowledge how and acquaintance-knowledge . For example : in mathematics , it is known ' ' that ' ' 2 + 2 = 4 , but there is also knowing ' ' how ' ' to add two numbers and knowing a ' ' person ' ' ( e.g. , oneself ) , ' ' place ' ' ( e.g. , one 's hometown ) , ' ' thing ' ' ( e.g. , cars ) , or ' ' activity ' ' ( e.g. , addition ) . Some philosophers think there is an important distinction between knowing that , knowing how , and acquaintance-knowledge , with epistemology being primarily concerned with the first of these . In his paper ' ' On Denoting ' ' and his later book ' ' Problems of Philosophy ' ' Bertrand Russell stressed the distinction between knowledge by description and knowledge by acquaintance . Gilbert Ryle is also credited with stressing the distinction between knowing how and knowing that in ' ' The Concept of Mind . ' ' In ' ' Personal Knowledge , ' ' Michael Polanyi argues for the epistemological relevance of knowledge how and knowledge that ; using the example of the act of balance involved in riding a bicycle , he suggests that the theoretical knowledge of the physics involved in maintaining a state of balance can not substitute for the practical knowledge of how to ride , and that it is important to understand how both are established and grounded . This position is essentially Ryle 's , who argued that a failure to acknowledge the distinction between knowledge that and knowledge how leads to infinite regress . In recent times , some epistemologists ( Ernest Sosa # Belief # In common speech , a statement of belief is typically an expression of faith and/or trust in a person , power or other entity a paradigmatic example of such a statement of belief would be a declaration or affirmation of religious faith ( as in , e.g. , the Nicene Creed ) . While it addresses belief of ' ' this ' ' kind , epistemology is also concerned with belief in a very much broader sense of the word . In this broader sense belief simply means the acceptance as true of any cognitive content . To believe is to accept as true . # Truth # Whether someone 's belief is true is not a prerequisite for ( its ) belief . On the other hand , if something is actually ' ' known ' ' , then it categorically can not be false . For example , if a person believes that a bridge is safe enough to support him , and attempts to cross it , but the bridge then collapses under his weight , it could be said that he ' ' believed ' ' that the bridge was safe but that his belief was mistaken . It would ' ' not ' ' be accurate to say that he ' ' knew ' ' that the bridge was safe , because plainly it was not . By contrast , if the bridge actually supported his weight , then he might say that he had believed that the bridge was safe , whereas now , after proving it to himself ( by crossing it ) , he ' ' knows ' ' it to be safe . Epistemologists argue over whether belief is the proper truth-bearer . Some would rather describe knowledge as a system of justified true propositions , and others as a system of justified true sentences . Plato , in his Gorgias , argues that belief is the most commonly invoked truth-bearer. # Justification # In many of Plato 's dialogues , such as the ' ' Meno ' ' and , in particular , the ' ' Theaetetus ' ' , Socrates considers a number of theories as to what knowledge is , the last being that knowledge is true belief that has been given an account of ( meaning explained or defined in some way ) . According to the theory that knowledge is justified true belief , in order to know that a given proposition is true , one must not only believe the relevant true proposition , but one must also have a good reason for doing so . One implication of this would be that no one would gain knowledge just by believing something that happened to be true . For example , an ill person with no medical training , but with a generally optimistic attitude , might believe that he will recover from his illness quickly . Nevertheless , even if this belief turned out to be true , the patient would not have ' ' known ' ' that he would get well since his belief lacked justification . The definition of knowledge as justified true belief was widely accepted until the 1960s . At this time , a paper written by the American philosopher Edmund Gettier provoked major widespread discussion . ( See theories of justification for other views on the idea. ) # The Gettier problem # Edmund Gettier is best known for a short paper entitled ' Is Justified True Belief Knowledge ? ' published in 1963 , which called into question the theory of knowledge that had been dominant among philosophers for thousands of years . In a few pages , Gettier argued that there are situations in which one 's belief may be justified and true , yet fail to count as knowledge . That is , Gettier contended that while justified belief in a true proposition is necessary for that proposition to be known , it is not sufficient . As in the diagram , a true proposition can be believed by an individual ( purple region ) but still not fall within the knowledge category ( yellow region ) . According to Gettier , there are certain circumstances in which one does not have knowledge , even when all of the above conditions are met . Gettier proposed two thought experiments , which have come to be known as Gettier cases , as counterexamples to the classical account of knowledge . One of the cases involves two men , Smith and Jones , who are awaiting the results of their applications for the same job . Each man has ten coins in his pocket . Smith has excellent reasons to believe that Jones will get the job and , furthermore , knows that Jones has ten coins in his pocket ( he recently counted them ) . From this Smith infers , the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket . However , Smith is unaware that he also has ten coins in his own pocket . Furthermore , Smith , not Jones , is going to get the job . While Smith has strong evidence to believe that Jones will get the job , he is wrong . Smith has a justified true belief that a man with ten coins in his pocket will get the job ; however , according to Gettier , Smith does not ' ' know ' ' that a man with ten coins in his pocket will get the job , because Smith 's belief is ... true by virtue of the number of coins in ' ' Jones 's ' ' pocket , while Smith does not know how many coins are in Smith 's pocket , and bases his belief ... on a count of the coins in Jones 's pocket , whom he falsely believes to be the man who will get the job . ( see p. 122 . ) These cases fail to be knowledge because the subject 's belief is justified , but only happens to be true by virtue of luck . In other words , he made the correct choice ( in this case predicting an outcome ) for the wrong reasons . This example is similar to those often given when discussing belief and truth , wherein a person 's belief of what will happen can coincidentally be correct without his or her having the actual knowledge to base it on . # #Responses to Gettier# # The responses to Gettier have been varied . Usually , they have involved substantial attempts to provide a definition of knowledge different from the classical one , either by recasting knowledge as justified true belief with some additional fourth condition , or as something else altogether . # #Infallibilism , indefeasibility# # In one response to Gettier , the American philosopher Richard Kirkham has argued that the only definition of knowledge that could ever be immune to all counterexamples is the infallibilist one . To qualify as an item of knowledge , goes the theory , a belief must not only be true and justified , the justification of the belief must ' ' necessitate ' ' its truth . In other words , the justification for the belief must be infallible . Yet another possible candidate for the fourth condition of knowledge is ' ' indefeasibility . ' ' Defeasibility theory maintains that there should be no overriding or defeating truths for the reasons that justify one 's belief . For example , suppose that person ' ' S ' ' believes he saw Tom Grabit steal a book from the library and uses this to justify the claim that Tom Grabit stole a book from the library . A possible defeater or overriding proposition for such a claim could be a true proposition like , Tom Grabit 's identical twin Sam is currently in the same town as Tom . When no defeaters of one 's justification exist , a subject would be epistemically justified . The Indian philosopher B K Matilal has drawn on the Navya-Nyya fallibilism tradition to respond to the Gettier problem . Nyaya theory distinguishes between ' ' know p ' ' and ' ' know that one knows p ' ' these are different events , with different causal conditions . The second level is a sort of implicit inference that usually follows immediately the episode of knowing p ( knowledge ' ' simpliciter ' ' ) . The Gettier case is examined by referring to a view of Gangesha Upadhyaya ( late 12th century ) , who takes any true belief to be knowledge ; thus a true belief acquired through a wrong route may just be regarded as knowledge simpliciter on this view . The question of justification arises only at the second level , when one considers the knowledgehood of the acquired belief . Initially , there is lack of uncertainty , so it becomes a true belief . But at the very next moment , when the hearer is about to embark upon the venture of ' ' knowing whether he knows p ' ' , doubts may arise . If , in some Gettier-like cases , I am wrong in my inference about the knowledgehood of the given occurrent belief ( for the evidence may be pseudo-evidence ) , then I am mistaken about the truth of my belief and this is in accordance with Nyaya fallibilism : not all knowledge-claims can be sustained . # #Reliabilism# # Reliabilism has been a significant line of response to the Gettier problem among philosophers , originating with work by Alvin Goldman in the 1960s . According to reliabilism , a belief is justified ( or otherwise supported in such a way as to count towards knowledge ) only if it is produced by processes that typically yield a sufficiently high ratio of true to false beliefs . In other words , this theory states that a true belief counts as knowledge only if it is produced by a reliable belief-forming process . Reliabilism has been challenged by Gettier cases . Another argument that challenges reliabilism , like the Gettier cases ( although it was not presented in the same short article as the Gettier cases ) , is the case of Henry and the barn faades . In the thought experiment , a man , Henry , is driving along and sees a number of buildings that resemble barns . Based on his perception of one of these , he concludes that he has just seen barns . While he has seen one , and the perception he based his belief that the one he saw was of a real barn , all the other barn-like buildings he saw were faades . Theoretically , Henry does not know that he has seen a barn , despite both his belief that he has seen one being true and his belief being formed on the basis of a reliable process ( i.e. his vision ) , since he only acquired his true belief by accident . # #Other responses# # Robert Nozick has offered the following definition of knowledge : ' ' S ' ' knows that ' ' P ' ' if and only if :  ' ' P ' ' ;  ' ' S ' ' believes that ' ' P ' ' ; if ' ' P ' ' were false , ' ' S ' ' would not believe that ' ' P ' ' ; if ' ' P ' ' is true , ' ' S ' ' will believe that ' ' P ' ' . Nozick argues that the third of these conditions serves to address cases of the sort described by Gettier . Nozick further claims this condition addresses a case of the sort described by D. M. Armstrong : A father believes his daughter innocent of committing a particular crime , both because of faith in his baby girl and ( now ) because he has seen presented in the courtroom a conclusive demonstration of his daughter 's innocence . His belief via the method of the courtroom satisfies the four subjunctive conditions , but his faith-based belief does not . If his daughter were guilty , he would still believe her innocent , on the basis of faith in his daughter ; this would violate the third condition . The British philosopher Simon Blackburn has criticized this formulation by suggesting that we do not want to accept as knowledge beliefs , which , while they track the truth ( as Nozick 's account requires ) , are not held for appropriate reasons . He says that we do not want to award the title of knowing something to someone who is only meeting the conditions through a defect , flaw , or failure , compared with someone else who is not meeting the conditions . In addition to this , externalist accounts of knowledge , such as Nozick 's , are often forced to reject closure in cases where it is intuitively valid . Timothy Williamson has advanced a theory of knowledge according to which knowledge is not justified true belief plus some extra condition(s) . In his book ' ' Knowledge and its Limits , ' ' Williamson argues that the concept of knowledge can not be broken down into a set of other concepts through analysisinstead , it is ' ' sui generis . ' ' Thus , though knowledge requires justification , truth , and belief , the word knowledge ca n't be , according to Williamson 's theory , accurately regarded as simply shorthand for justified true belief . Alvin Goldman writes in his Causal Theory of Knowing that in order for knowledge to truly exist there must be a causal chain between the proposition and the belief of that proposition . # Externalism and internalism # Part of the debate over the nature of knowledge is a debate between epistemological externalists on the one hand , and epistemological internalists on the other . Externalists hold that factors deemed external , meaning outside of the psychological states of those who gain knowledge , can be conditions of knowledge . For example , an externalist response to the Gettier problem is to say that , in order for a justified true belief to count as knowledge , there must be a link or dependency between the belief and the state of the external world . Usually this is understood to be a causal link . Such causation , to the extent that it is outside the mind , would count as an external , knowledge-yielding condition . Internalists , on the other hand , assert that all knowledge-yielding conditions are within the psychological states of those who gain knowledge . Though unfamiliar with the internalist/externalist debate himself , many point to Ren Descartes as an early example of the internalist path to justification . He wrote that , because the only method by which we perceive the external world is through our senses , and that , because the senses are not infallible , we should not consider our concept of knowledge to be infallible . The only way to find anything that could be described as indubitably true , he advocates , would be to see things clearly and distinctly . He argued that if there is an omnipotent , good being who made the world , then it 's reasonable to believe that people are made with the ability to know . However , this does not mean that man 's ability to know is perfect . God gave man the ability to know , but not omniscience . Descartes said that man must use his capacities for knowledge correctly and carefully through methodological doubt . The dictum Cogito ergo sum ( I think , therefore I am ) is also commonly associated with Descartes ' theory , because in his own methodological doubt , doubting everything he previously knew in order to start from a blank slate , the first thing that he could not logically bring himself to doubt was his own existence : I do not exist would be a contradiction in terms ; the act of saying that one does not exist assumes that someone must be making the statement in the first place . Though Descartes could doubt his senses , his body and the world around him , he could not deny his own existence , because he was able to doubt and must exist in order to do so . Even if some evil genius were to be deceiving him , he would have to exist in order to be deceived . This one sure point provided him with what he would call his Archimedean point , in order to further develop his foundation for knowledge . Simply put , Descartes ' epistemological justification depended upon his indubitable belief in his own existence and his clear and distinct knowledge of God . # The Value problem # A formulation of the value problem in epistemology first occurs in Plato 's Meno . The problem is to identify what is it about knowledge ( if anything ) that makes it more valuable than mere true belief , or that makes knowledge more valuable than a more minimal conjunction of its components on a particular analysis of knowledge . The value problem re-emerged in the philosophical literature on epistemology in the twenty-first century following the rise of virtue epistemology in the 1980s , partly because of the obvious link with the concept of value in ethics . The value problem has been presented as an argument against epistemic reliabilism by philosophers including Linda Zagzebski , Wayne Riggs and Richard Swinburne . Zagzebski gives a thought experiment to illustrate the unimportance of the belief being produced by a reliable process : imagine you go to a coffee machine and attempt to have it produce you a cup of coffee . The machine you use might reliably produce coffee , or it might not . Imagine one machine had a 90% chance of producing you coffee while another only had a 40% chance . If you happen to choose the 40% chance machine and it produces you a cup of coffee , the fact that it does not ' ' reliably ' ' produce coffee does not change the value that the coffee has to you . Similarly , if you have a true belief achieved through an unreliable process , Zagzebski argues that there 's no particular reason that has ' ' less ' ' value than one produced through a reliable process . Advocates of virtue epistemology have argued that the value of knowledge comes from an internal relationship between the knower and the mental state of believing . One of the more influential responses to the problem is that knowledge is not particularly valuable and is not what ought to be the main focus of epistemology . Instead , epistemologists ought to focus on other mental states , such as understanding . # Acquiring knowledge # The second question that will be dealt with is the question of how knowledge is acquired . This area of epistemology covers : #Issues concerning epistemic distinctions such as that between empirical and non-empirical methods of formulating knowledge . #Distinguish between synthesis and analysis used as means of proof #Debates such as the one between empiricists and rationalists. #What is called the regress problem # ' ' A priori ' ' and ' ' a posteriori ' ' knowledge # The nature of this distinction has been disputed by various philosophers ; however , the terms may be roughly defined as follows :  ' ' A priori ' ' knowledge is knowledge that is known independently of experience ( that is , it is non-empirical , or arrived at beforehand , usually by reason ) . It will henceforth be acquired through anything that is independent from experience .  ' ' A posteriori ' ' knowledge is knowledge that is known by experience ( that is , it is empirical , or arrived at afterward ) . Evolutionary psychology takes a novel approach to the problem . It says that there is an innate predisposition for certain types of learning . Only small parts of the brain resemble a tabula rasa ; this is true even for human beings . The remainder is more like an exposed negative waiting to be dipped into a developer fluid # Analyticsynthetic distinction # Immanuel Kant , in his ' ' Critique of Pure Reason ' ' , drew a distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions . He contended that some propositions are such that we can know them to be true just by understanding their meaning . For example , consider , My father 's brother is my uncle . We can know it to be true solely by virtue of our understanding what its terms mean . Philosophers call such propositions analytic . Synthetic propositions , on the other hand , have distinct subjects and predicates . An example of a synthetic proposition would be , My father 's brother has black hair . Kant stated that all mathematical and scientific statements are synthetic a priori propositions because they are necessarily true but our knowledge about the attributes of the mathematical or physical subjects we can only get by logical inference . The American philosopher W. V. O. Quine , in his Two Dogmas of Empiricism , famously challenged the distinction , arguing that the two have a blurry boundary . Some contemporary philosophers have offered more sustainable accounts of the distinction . # Branches or ' tendencies ' within epistemology # # #Historical# # The historical study of philosophical epistemology is the historical study of efforts to gain philosophical understanding or knowledge of the nature and scope of human knowledge . Since efforts to get that kind of understanding have a history , the questions philosophical epistemology asks today about human knowledge are not necessarily the same as they once were . But that does not mean that philosophical epistemology is itself a historical subject , or that it pursues only or even primarily historical understanding . # #Empiricism# # In philosophy , empiricism is generally a theory of knowledge focusing on the role of experience , especially experience based on perception There are many variants of empiricism , positivism and realism being among the most commonly expounded but central to all empiricist epistemologies is the notion of the epistemologically privileged status of sense data . # #Idealism# # Many idealists believe that knowledge is primarily ( at least in some areas ) acquired by ' ' a priori ' ' processes or is innatefor example , in the form of concepts not derived from experience . The relevant theoretical processes often go by the name intuition . The relevant theoretical concepts may purportedly be part of the structure of the human mind ( as in Kant 's theory of transcendental idealism ) , or they may be said to exist independently of the mind ( as in Plato 's theory of Forms ) . # #Rationalism# # By contrast with empiricism and idealism , which centres around the epistemologically privileged status of sense data ( empirical ) and the primacy of Reason ( theoretical ) respectively , modern rationalism adds a third ' system of thinking ' , ( as Gaston Bachelard has termed these areas ) and holds that all three are of equal importance : The empirical , the theoretical and the ' ' abstract ' ' . For Bachelard , rationalism makes equal reference to all three systems of thinking . An example of abstract thinking is Pythagoras ' concept of ' pure ' geometric forms : perfect triangles , squares , circles , etc . Another example is imaginary numbers , in mathematics . # #Constructivism# # Constructivism is a view in philosophy according to which all knowledge is a compilation of human-made constructions , not the neutral discovery of an objective truth . Whereas objectivism is concerned with the object of our knowledge , constructivism emphasises how we construct knowledge . Constructivism proposes new definitions for knowledge and truth that form a new paradigm , based on inter-subjectivity instead of the classical objectivity , and on viability instead of truth . Piagetian constructivism , however , believes in objectivityconstructs can be validated through experimentation . The constructivist point of view is pragmatic ; as Vico said : The norm of the truth is to have made it . # The regress problem # .. to justify a belief one must appeal to a further justified belief . This means that one of two things can be the case . Either there are some epistemologically basic beliefs that we can be justified for holding , without being able to justify them on the basis of any other belief , or else for each justified belief there is an infinite regress of ( potential ) justification the nebula theory . On this theory there is no rock bottom of justification . Justification just meanders in and out through our network of beliefs , stopping nowhere . The apparent impossibility of completing an infinite chain of reasoning is thought by some to support skepticism . Socrates said , The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing . # #Response to the regress problem# # Many epistemologists studying justification have attempted to argue for various types of chains of reasoning that can escape the regress problem . # #Infinitism# # It is not impossible for an infinite justificatory series to exist . This position is known as infinitism . Infinitists typically take the infinite series to be merely potential , in the sense that an individual may have indefinitely many reasons available to him , without having consciously thought through all of these reasons when the need arises . This position is motivated in part by the desire to avoid what is seen as the arbitrariness and circularity of its chief competitors , foundationalism and coherentism . In mathematics , an infinite series will sometimes converge ( this is the basis of calculus ) one can therefore have an infinite series of logical arguments and analyze it for a convergent ( or non-convergent ) solution . # #Foundationalism# # Foundationalists respond to the regress problem by asserting that certain foundations or basic beliefs support other beliefs but do not themselves require justification from other beliefs . These beliefs might be justified because they are self-evident , infallible , or derive from reliable cognitive mechanisms . Perception , memory , and a priori intuition are often considered to be possible examples of basic beliefs . The chief criticism of foundationalism is that if a belief is not supported by other beliefs , accepting it may be arbitrary or unjustified , though foundationalism is based upon the principle that these beliefs are infallible enough to be recognised as such in practice . # #Coherentism# # Another response to the regress problem is coherentism , which is the rejection of the assumption that the regress proceeds according to a pattern of linear justification . To avoid the charge of circularity , coherentists hold that an individual belief is justified circularly by the way it fits together ( coheres ) with the rest of the belief system of which it is a part . This theory has the advantage of avoiding the infinite regress without claiming special , possibly arbitrary status for some particular class of beliefs . Yet , since a system can be coherent while also being wrong , coherentists face the difficulty of ensuring that the whole system corresponds to reality . Additionally , most logicians agree that any argument that is circular is trivially valid . That is , to be illuminating , arguments must be linear with conclusions that follow from stated premises . However , Warburton writes in ' Thinking from A to Z , ' Circular arguments are not invalid ; in other words , from a logical point of view there is nothing intrinsically wrong with them . However , they are , when viciously circular , spectacularly uninformative . ( Warburton 1996 ) . # #Foundherentism# # A position known as foundherentism , advanced by Susan Haack , is meant to be a unification of foundationalism and coherentism . One component of this theory is what is called the analogy of the crossword puzzle . Whereas , for example , infinitists regard the regress of reasons as shaped like a single line , Susan Haack has argued that it is more like a crossword puzzle , with multiple lines mutually supporting each other . # What do people know ? # The last question that will be dealt with is the question of what people know . At the heart of this area of study is skepticism , with many approaches involved trying to disprove some particular form of it . # Skepticism # Skepticism is related to the question of whether a certain knowledge is possible . If point B can not be proven before point A , and if in order to prove point A it must be established with absolute certainty , then skepticism argues that it is difficult to prove any point at all . Skeptics argue that the belief in something does not necessarily justify an assertion of knowledge of it . In this skeptics oppose foundationalism , which states that there have to be some basic beliefs that are justified without reference to others . The skeptical response to this can take several approaches . First , claiming that basic beliefs must exist , amounts to the logical fallacy of argument from ignorance combined with the slippery slope . While a foundationalist would use Mnchhausen trilemma as a justification for demanding the validity of basic beliefs , a skeptic would see no problem with admitting the result . # Developments from skepticism # Early in the 20th century , the notion that belief had to be justified as such to count as knowledge lost favour . Fallibilism is the view that knowing something does not entail certainty regarding it . Charles Sanders Peirce was a fallibilist and the most developed form of fallibilism can be traced to Karl Popper ( 19021994 ) whose first book ' ' Logik Der Forschung ' ' ( ' ' The Logic of Scientific Discovery ' ' ) , 1934 introduced a conjectural turn into the philosophy of science and epistemology at large . He adumbrated a school of thought that is known as Critical Rationalism with a central tenet being the rejection of the idea that knowledge can ever be justified in the strong form that is sought by most schools of thought . His two most helpful exponents are the late William W Bartley and David Miller , recently retired from the University of Warwick . A major source of on-line material is the Critical Rationalist website and also the Rathouse of Rafe Champion . # Epistemic culture # Epistemic culture distinguishes between various settings of knowledge production and stresses their contextual aspects . Coined by Karin Knorr-Cetina in her book ' ' Epistemic Cultures ' ' ; she defines epistemic cultures as an amalgam of arrangements and mechanismsbonded through affinity , necessity and historical coincidencewhich in a given field , make up how we know what we know . The term provides the conceptual framework used to demonstrate that different laboratories do not share the same scientific knowledge production model , but rather each is endowed with a different epistemic culture prescribing what is adequate knowledge and how it is obtained . Since its introduction , the term has been picked up and used by various researchers engaging in science and technology studies . # Practical applications # Far from being purely academic , the study of epistemology is useful for a great many applications . It is particularly commonly employed in issues of law where proof of guilt or innocence may be required , or when it must be determined whether a person knew a particular fact before taking a specific action ( e.g. , whether an action was premeditated ) . Another practical application is to the design of user interfaces . For example , the skills , rules , and knowledge taxonomy of human behavior has been used by designers to develop systems that are compatible with multiple ways of knowing : abstract analytic reasoning , experience-based ' gut feelings ' , and ' craft ' sensorimotor skills . Other common applications of epistemology include : Archaeology Artificial intelligence Cognitive science Economics Education theory Educational technology Information gathering ( or Intelligence gathering ) Knowledge management Medicine ( diagnosis of disease ) Neurology *Behavioral neuroscience Product testing ( how can we know that the product will not fail ? ) Psychology Testimony Software testing 
@@9258 Ethics , sometimes known as philosophical ethics , ethical theory , moral theory , and moral philosophy , is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing , defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct , often addressing disputes of moral diversity . The term comes from the Greek word ' ' ethikos ' ' from ' ' ethos ' ' , which means custom , habit . The superfield within philosophy known as axiology includes both ethics and aesthetics and is unified by each sub-branch 's concern with value . Philosophical ethics investigates what is the best way for humans to live , and what kinds of actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances . Ethics may be divided into three major areas of study : Meta-ethics , about the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions and how their truth values ( if any ) may be determined Normative ethics , about the practical means of determining a moral course of action Applied ethics draws upon ethical theory in order to ask what a person is obligated to do in some very specific situation , or within some particular domain of action ( such as business ) Related fields are moral psychology , descriptive ethics , and value theory . Ethics seeks to resolve questions dealing with human moralityconcepts such as good and evil , right and wrong , virtue and vice , justice and crime . # Defining ethics # Dino Lobaton states that standard definitions of ' ' ethics ' ' have typically included such phrases as ' the science of the ideal human character ' or ' the science of moral duty ' &thinsp ; . Richard William Paul and Linda Elder define ethics as a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures . The ' ' Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy ' ' states that the word ethics is commonly used interchangeably with ' morality ' .. and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition , group or individual . Paul and Elder state that most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions , religious beliefs and the law and do n't treat ethics as a stand-alone concept . The word ethics in English can mean several things . # Meta-ethics # 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 questionsuch as , Should I eat this particular piece of chocolate cake ? can not 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 secure knowledge of what is right and wrong ? would be a meta-ethical question . Meta-ethics has always accompanied philosophical ethics . For example , Aristotle implies that less precise knowledge is possible in ethics than in other spheres of inquiry , and he regards ethical knowledge as depending upon habit and acculturation in a way that makes it distinctive from other kinds of knowledge . Meta-ethics is also important in G.E . Moore 's ' ' Principia Ethica ' ' from 1903 . 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 ; this is similar to the contrast between descriptivists and non-descriptivists . Non-cognitivism is the claim that when we judge something as right or wrong , this is neither true nor false . We may for example be only expressing our emotional feelings about these things . Cognitivism can then be seen as the claim that when we talk about right and wrong , we are talking about matters of fact . The ontology of ethics is about value-bearing things or properties , i.e. the kind of things or stuff referred to by ethical propositions . Non-descriptivists and non-cognitivists believe that ethics does not need a specific ontology , since ethical propositions do not refer . This is known as an anti-realist position . Realists on the other hand must explain what kind of entities , properties or states are relevant for ethics , how they have value , and why they guide and motivate our actions . # Normative ethics # Normative ethics is the study of ethical action . It is the branch of ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act , morally speaking . Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions , while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts . Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics , as the latter is an empirical investigation of people 's moral beliefs . To put it another way , descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining what proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong , while normative ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold such a belief . Hence , normative ethics is sometimes called prescriptive , rather than descriptive . However , on certain versions of the meta-ethical view called moral realism , moral facts are both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time . Traditionally , normative ethics ( also known as moral theory ) was the study of what makes actions right and wrong . These theories offered an overarching moral principle one could appeal to in resolving difficult moral decisions . At the turn of the 20th century , moral theories became more complex and are no longer concerned solely with rightness and wrongness , but are interested in many different kinds of moral status . During the middle of the century , the study of normative ethics declined as meta-ethics grew in prominence . This focus on meta-ethics was in part caused by an intense linguistic focus in analytic philosophy and by the popularity of logical positivism . In 1971 John Rawls published ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' , noteworthy in its pursuit of moral arguments and eschewing of meta-ethics . This publication set the trend for renewed interest in normative ethics . # Virtue ethics # Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior , and is used to describe the ethics of Socrates , Aristotle , and other early Greek philosophers . Socrates ( 469399 BC ) was one of the first Greek philosophy Aristotle ( 384323 BC ) posited an ethical system that may be termed self-realizationism . In Aristotle 's view , when a person acts in accordance with his nature and realizes his full potential , he will do good and be content . At birth , a baby is not a person , but a potential person . To become a real person , the child 's inherent potential must be realized . Unhappiness and frustration are caused by the unrealized potential of a person , leading to failed goals and a poor life . Aristotle said , Nature does nothing in vain . Therefore , it is imperative for people to act in accordance with their nature and develop their latent talents in order to be content and complete . Happiness was held to be the ultimate goal . All other things , such as civic duty Aristotle asserted that man had three natures : vegetable ( physical/metabolism ) , animal ( emotional/appetite ) and rational ( mental/conceptual ) . Physical nature can be assuaged through exercise and care , emotional nature through indulgence of instinct and urges , and mental through human reason and developed potential . Rational development was considered the most important , as essential to philosophical self-awareness and as uniquely human . Moderation was encouraged , with the extremes seen as degraded and immoral . For example , courage is the moderate virtue between the extremes of cowardice and recklessness ( psychology ) # #Stoicism# # The Stoicism # Hedonism # Hedonism posits that the principal ethic is maximizing pleasure and minimizing suffering # Cyrenaic hedonism # Founded by Aristippus of Cyrene , Cyrenaics supported immediate gratification or pleasure . Eat , drink and be merry , for tomorrow we die . Even fleeting desires should be indulged , for fear the opportunity should be forever lost . There was little to no concern with the future , the present dominating in the pursuit for immediate pleasure . Cyrenaic hedonism encouraged the pursuit of enjoyment and indulgence without hesitation , believing pleasure to be the only good . # #Epicureanism# # Epicurean ethics is a hedonist form of virtue ethics . Epicurus presented a sustained argument that pleasure , correctly understood , will coincide with virtue . He rejected the extremism of the Cyrenaics , believing some pleasures and indulgences to be detrimental to human beings . Epicureanism # State consequentialism # State consequentialism , also known as Mohist consequentialism , is an ethical theory that evaluates the moral worth of an action based on how much it contributes to the basic goods of a state . The ' ' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ' ' describes Mohist consequentialism , dating back to the 5th century BC , as a remarkably sophisticated version based on a plurality of intrinsic goods taken as constitutive of human welfare . Unlike utilitarianism , which views pleasure as a moral good , the basic goods in Mohist consequentialist thinking are .. order , material wealth , and increase in population . During Mozi 's era , war and famines were common , and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society . The material wealth of Mohist consequentialism refers to basic needs like shelter and clothing , and the order of Mohist consequentialism refers to Mozi 's stance against warfare and violence , which he viewed as pointless and a threat to social stability . Stanford sinologist David Shepherd Nivison , in the ' ' The Cambridge History of Ancient China ' ' , writes that the moral goods of Mohism are interrelated : more basic wealth , then more reproduction ; more people , then more production and wealth .. if people have plenty , they would be good , filial , kind , and so on unproblematically . 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 Bentham 's 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 . # Consequentialism # Consequentialism refers to moral theories that hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action ( or create a structure for judgment , see rule consequentialism ) . Thus , from a consequentialist standpoint , a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome , or consequence . This view is often expressed as the aphorism ' ' The ends justify the means ' ' . The term consequentialism was coined by G.E.M . Anscombe in her essay Modern Moral Philosophy in 1958 , to describe what she saw as the central error of certain moral theories , such as those propounded by Mill and Sidgwick . Since then , the term has become common in English-language ethical theory . The defining feature of consequentialist moral theories is the weight given to the consequences in evaluating the rightness and wrongness of actions . In consequentialist theories , the consequences of an action or rule generally outweigh other considerations . Apart from this basic outline , there is little else that can be unequivocally said about consequentialism as such . However , there are some questions that many consequentialist theories address : What sort of consequences count as good consequences ? Who is the primary beneficiary of moral action ? How are the consequences judged and who judges them ? One way to divide various consequentialisms is by the types of consequences that are taken to matter most , that is , which consequences count as good states of affairs . According to utilitarianism , a good action is one that results in an increase in a positive effect , and the best action is one that results in that effect for the greatest number . Closely related is eudaimonic consequentialism , according to which a full , flourishing life , which may or may not be the same as enjoying a great deal of pleasure , is the ultimate aim . Similarly , one might adopt an aesthetic consequentialism , in which the ultimate aim is to produce beauty . However , one might fix on non-psychological goods as the relevant effect . Thus , one might pursue an increase in material equality or political liberty instead of something like the more ephemeral pleasure . Other theories adopt a package of several goods , all to be promoted equally . Whether a particular consequentialist theory focuses on a single good or many , conflicts and tensions between different good states of affairs are to be expected and must be adjudicated . # #Utilitarianism# # Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that argues the proper course of action is one that maximizes a positive effect , such as happiness , welfare , or the ability to live according to personal preferences . Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are influential proponents of this school of thought . In ' ' A Fragment on Government ' ' Bentham says ' it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong ' and describes this as a fundamental axiom . In ' ' An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation ' ' he talks of ' the principle of utility ' but later prefers the greatest happiness principle . Utilitarianism is the paradigmatic example of a consequentialist moral theory . This form of utilitarianism holds that what matters is the aggregate positive effect of everyone and not only of any one person . John Stuart Mill , in his exposition of utilitarianism , proposed a hierarchy of pleasures , meaning that the pursuit of certain kinds of pleasure is more highly valued than the pursuit of other pleasures . Another noteworthy proponent of utilitarianism is the philosopher Sam Harris , author of The Moral Landscape . There are two types of utilitarianism , act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism . In act utilitarianism the principle of utility is applied directly to each alternative act in a situation of choice . The right act is then defined as the one which brings about the best results ( or the least amount of bad results ) . In rule utilitarianism the principle of utility is used to determine the validity of rules of conduct ( moral principles ) . A rule like promise-keeping is established by looking at the consequences of a world in which people broke promises at will and a world in which promises were binding . Right and wrong are then defined as following or breaking those rules . # Deontology # Deontological ethics or deontology ( from Greek , ' ' deon ' ' , obligation , duty ; and , ' ' -logia ' ' ) is an approach to ethics that determines goodness or rightness from examining acts , or the rules and duties that the person doing the act strove to fulfill . This is in contrast to consequentialism , in which rightness is based on the consequences of an act , and not the act by itself . In deontology , an act may be considered right even if the act produces a bad consequence , if it follows the ' ' rule ' ' that one should do unto others as they would have done unto them , and even if the person who does the act lacks virtue and had a bad intention in doing the act . According to deontology , we have a ' ' duty ' ' to act in a way that does those things that are inherently good as acts ( truth-telling for example ) , or follow an objectively obligatory rule ( as in rule utilitarianism ) . For deontologists , the ends or consequences of our actions are not important in and of themselves , and our intentions are not important in and of themselves . Immanuel Kant 's theory of ethics is considered deontological for several different reasons . First , Kant argues that to act in the morally right way , people must act from duty ( ' ' deon ' ' ) . Second , Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives ( maxime ) of the person who carries out the action . Kant 's argument that to act in the morally right way , one must act from duty , begins with an argument that the highest good must be both good in itself , and good without qualification . Something is ' good in itself ' when it is intrinsically good , and ' good without qualification ' when the addition of that thing never makes a situation ethically worse . Kant then argues that those things that are usually thought to be good , such as intelligence , perseverance and pleasure , fail to be either intrinsically good or good without qualification . Pleasure , for example , appears to not be good without qualification , because when people take pleasure in watching someone suffering , this seems to make the situation ethically worse . He concludes that there is only one thing that is truly good : # Nothing in the worldindeed nothing even beyond the worldcan possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a ' ' good will ' ' . # # Contemporary virtue ethics # Modern virtue ethics was popularized during the late 20th Century in large part as a response to G.E.M . Anscombe 's ' ' Modern Moral Philosophy . ' ' Anscombe argues that Consequentialist and Deontological ethics are only feasible as universal theories if the two schools ground themselves in divine law . As a deeply devoted Christian herself , Anscombe proposed that either those who do not give ethical credence to notions of divine law take up virtue ethics , which does not necessitate universal laws as agents themselves are investigated for virtue or vice and held up to universal standards , or that those who wish to be utilitarian or consequentialist ground their theories in religious conviction . Alasdair MacIntyre , who wrote the book ' ' After Virtue ' ' , was a key contributor and proponent of modern virtue ethics , although MacIntyre supports a relativistic account of virtue based on cultural norms , not objective standards . Martha Nussbaum , a contemporary virtue ethicist , objects to MacIntyre 's relativism , among that of others , and responds to relativist objections to form an objective account in her work Non-Relative Virtues : An Aristotelian Approach . ' ' Complete Conduct Principles for the 21st Century ' ' blended the Eastern virtue ethics and the Western virtue ethics , with some modifications to suit the 21st Century , and formed a part of contemporary virtue ethics . # Pragmatic ethics # Associated with the pragmatists , Charles Sanders Peirce , William James , and especially John Dewey , pragmatic ethics holds that moral correctness evolves similarly to scientific knowledge : socially over the course of many lifetimes . Thus , we should prioritize social reform over attempts to account for consequences , individual virtue or duty ( although these may be worthwhile attempts , provided social reform is provided for ) . # Role ethics # Role ethics is an ethical theory based on family roles . Unlike virtue ethics , role ethics is not individualistic . Morality is derived from a person 's relationship with their community . Confucian ethics is an example of role ethics . Confucian roles center around the concept of filial piety or ' ' xiao ' ' , a respect for family members . According to Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont , Confucian normativity is defined by living one 's family roles to maximum effect . Morality is determined through a person 's fulfillment of a role , such as that of a parent or a child . Confucian roles are not rational , and originate through the ' ' xin ' ' , or human emotions . # Anarchist ethics # Anarchist ethics is an ethical theory based on the studies of anarchist thinkers . The biggest contributor to the anarchist ethics is the Russian zoologist , geographer , economist and political activist Peter Kropotkin . The anarchist ethics is a big and vague field which can depends upon different historical situations and different anarchist thinkers , but as Peter Kropotkin explains , any bourgeois or proletarian ethics rests , after all , on the common basis , on the common ethnological foundation , which at times exerts a very strong inuence on the principles of the class or group morality . Still , most of the anarchist ethics schools are based on three fundamental ideas , which are : solidarity , equality and justice . Kropotkin argues that Ethics is evolutionary and is inherited as a sort of a social instinct trough History , and by so , he rejects any religious and transcendental explanation of ethics . # Postmodern ethics # The 20th century saw a remarkable expansion and evolution of critical theory , following on earlier Marxist Theory efforts to locate individuals within larger structural frameworks of ideology and action . Antihumanists such as Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault and structuralists such as Roland Barthes challenged the possibilities of individual agency and the coherence of the notion of the ' individual ' itself . As critical theory developed in the later 20th century , post-structuralism sought to problematize human relationships to knowledge and ' objective ' reality . Jacques Derrida argued that access to meaning and the ' real ' was always deferred , and sought to demonstrate via recourse to the linguistic realm that there is nothing outside context ( ' ' il n'y a pas de hors-texte ' ' is often mistranslated as there is nothing outside the text ) ; at the same time , Jean Baudrillard theorised that signs and symbols or simulacra mask reality ( and eventually the absence of reality itself ) , particularly in the consumer world . Post-structuralism and postmodernism argue that ethics must study the complex and relational conditions of actions . A simple alignment of ideas of right and particular acts is not possible . There will always be an ethical remainder that can not be taken into account or often even recognized . Such theorists find narrative ( or , following Nietzsche and Foucault , genealogy ) to be a helpful tool for understanding ethics because narrative is always about particular lived experiences in all their complexity rather than the assignment of an idea or norm to separate and individuated actions . Zygmunt Bauman says Postmodernity is best described as Modernity without illusion . The illusion being the belief that humanity can be repaired by some ethic principle . Postmodernity can be seen in this light as accepting the messy nature of humanity as unchangeable . David Couzens Hoy states that Emmanuel Levinas 's writings on the face of the Other and Derrida 's meditations on the relevance of death to ethics are signs of the ethical turn in Continental philosophy that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s . Hoy describes post-critique ethics as the obligations that present themselves as necessarily to be fulfilled but are neither forced on one or are enforceable ( 2004 , p. 103 ) . Hoy 's post-critique model uses the term ' ' ethical resistance ' ' . Examples of this would be an individual 's resistance to consumerism in a retreat to a simpler but perhaps harder lifestyle , or an individual 's resistance to a terminal illness . Hoy describes Levinas 's account as not the attempt to use power against itself , or to mobilize sectors of the population to exert their political power ; the ethical resistance is instead the resistance of the powerless ( 2004 , p. 8 ) . Hoy concludes that In present day terms the powerless may include the unborn , the terminally sick , the aged , the insane , and non-human animals . It is in these areas that ethical action in Hoy 's sense will apply . Until legislation or the state apparatus enforces a moral order that addresses the causes of resistance these issues will remain in the ethical realm . For example , should animal experimentation become illegal in a society , it will no longer be an ethical issue on Hoy 's definition . Likewise one hundred and fifty years ago , not having a black slave in America would have been an ethical choice . This later issue has been absorbed into the fabric of an enforceable social order and is therefore no longer an ethical issue in Hoy 's sense . # Applied ethics # Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life situations . The discipline has many specialized fields , such as Engineering Ethics , bioethics , geoethics , public service ethics and business ethics . # Specific questions # Applied ethics is used in some aspects of determining public policy , as well as by individuals facing difficult decisions . The sort of questions addressed by applied ethics include : Is getting an abortion immoral ? Is euthanasia immoral ? Is affirmative action right or wrong ? What are human rights , and how do we determine them ? Do animals have rights as well ? and Do individuals have the right of self determination ? A more specific question could be : If someone else can make better out of his/her life than I can , is it then moral to sacrifice myself for them if needed ? Without these questions there is no clear fulcrum on which to balance law , politics , and the practice of arbitration in fact , no common assumptions of all participantsso the ability to formulate the questions are prior to rights balancing . But not all questions studied in applied ethics concern public policy . For example , making ethical judgments regarding questions such as , Is lying always wrong ? and , If not , when is it permissible ? is prior to any etiquette . People in-general are more comfortable with dichotomies ( two opposites ) . However , in ethics the issues are most often multifaceted and the best proposed actions address many different areas concurrently . In ethical decisions the answer is almost never a yes or no , right or wrong statement . Many buttons are pushed so that the overall condition is improved and not to the benefit of any particular faction . # Particular fields of application # # #Bioethics# # Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine . Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences , biotechnology , medicine , politics , law , and philosophy . It also includes the study of the more commonplace questions of values ( the ethics of the ordinary ) that arise in primary care and other branches of medicine . Bioethics also needs to address emerging biotechnologies that affect basic biology and future humans . These developments include cloning , gene therapy , human genetic engineering , astroethics and life in space , and manipulation of basic biology through altered DNA , XNA and proteins . Correspondingly , new bioethics also need to address life at its core . For example , biotic ethics value organic gene/protein life itself and seek to propagate it . With such life-centered principles , ethics may secure a cosmological future for life . # #Business ethics# # Business ethics ( also corporate 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 . It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations . Business ethics has both 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 , both within major corporations and within academia . For example , today most major corporations 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 , but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public , or in some contrivance to raise prices . 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 . # #Relational ethics# # Relational ethics are related to an ethics of care . They are used in qualitative research , especially ethnography and authoethnography . Researchers who employ relational ethics value and respect the connection between themselves and the people they study , and between researchers and the communities in which they live and work ( Ellis , 2007 , p. 4 ) . Relational ethics also help researchers understand difficult issues such as conducting research on intimate others that have died and developing friendships with their participants . Relational ethics in close personal relationships form a central concept of contextual therapy . # #Machine ethics# # In ' ' Moral Machines : Teaching Robots Right from Wrong ' ' , Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen conclude that issues in machine ethics will likely drive advancement in understanding of human ethics by forcing us to address gaps in modern normative theory and by providing a platform for experimental investigation . The effort to actually program a machine or artificial agent to behave as though instilled with a sense of ethics requires new specificity in our normative theories , especially regarding aspects customarily considered common-sense . For example , machines , unlike humans , can support a wide selection of learning algorithms , and controversy has arisen over the relative ethical merits of these options . This may reopen classic debates of normative ethics framed in new ( highly technical ) terms . # #Military ethics# # Military ethics are concerned with questions regarding the application of force and the ethos of the soldier and are often understood as applied professional ethics . Just war theory is generally seen to set the background terms of military ethics . However individual countries and traditions have different fields of attention . Military ethics involves multiple subareas , including the following among others : #what , if any , should be the laws of war #justification for the initiation of military force #decisions about who may be targeted in warfare #decisions on choice of weaponry , and what collateral effects such weaponry may have #standards for handling military prisoners #methods of dealing with violations of the laws of war # #Political ethics# # Political ethics ( also known as political morality or public ethics ) is the practice of making moral judgements about political action and political agents . # #Public sector ethics# # Public sector ethics is a set of principles that guide public officials in their service to their constituents , including their decision-making on behalf of their constituents . Fundamental to the concept of public sector ethics is the notion that decisions and actions are based on what best serves the public 's interests , as opposed to the official 's personal interests ( including financial interests ) or self-serving political interests . # Moral psychology # Moral psychology is a field of study that began as an issue in philosophy and that is now properly considered part of the discipline of psychology . Some use the term moral psychology relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development . However , others tend to use the term more broadly to include any topics at the intersection of ethics and psychology ( and philosophy of mind ) . Such topics are ones that involve the mind and are relevant to moral issues . Some of the main topics of the field are moral responsibility , moral development , moral character ( especially as related to virtue ethics ) , altruism , psychological egoism , moral luck , and moral disagreement . # Evolutionary ethics # Evolutionary ethics concerns approaches to ethics ( morality ) based on the role of evolution in shaping human psychology and behavior . Such approaches may be based in scientific fields such as evolutionary psychology or sociobiology , with a focus on understanding and explaining observed ethical preferences and choices . # Descriptive ethics # Descriptive ethics is on the less philosophical end of the spectrum , since it seeks to gather particular information about how people live and draw general conclusions based on observed patterns . Abstract and theoretical questions that are more clearly philosophicalsuch as , Is ethical knowledge possible ? are not central to descriptive ethics . Descriptive ethics offers a value-free approach to ethics , which defines it as a social science rather than a humanity . Its examination of ethics does n't start with a preconceived theory , but rather investigates observations of actual choices made by moral agents in practice . Some philosophers rely on descriptive ethics and choices made and unchallenged by a society or culture to derive categories , which typically vary by context . This can lead to situational ethics and situated ethics . These philosophers often view aesthetics , etiquette , and arbitration as more fundamental , percolating bottom up to imply the existence of , rather than explicitly prescribe , theories of value or of conduct . The study of descriptive ethics may include examinations of the following :  Ethical codes applied by various groups . Some consider aesthetics itself the basis of ethics and a personal moral core developed through art and storytelling as very influential in one 's later ethical choices .  Informal theories of etiquette that tend to be less rigorous and more situational . Some consider etiquette a simple negative ethics , i.e. , where can one evade an uncomfortable truth without doing wrong ? One notable advocate of this view is Judith Martin ( Miss Manners ) . According to this view , ethics is more a summary of common sense social decisions .  Practices in arbitration and law , e.g. , the claim that ethics itself is a matter of balancing right versus right , i.e. , putting priorities on two things that are both right , but that must be traded off carefully in each situation .  Observed choices made by ordinary people , without expert aid or advice , who vote , buy , and decide what is worth valuing . This is a major concern of sociology , political science , and economics . 
@@18917 Meta-ethics is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties , statements , attitudes , and judgments . Meta-ethics is one of the four branches of ethics generally recognized by philosophers , the others being descriptive ethics , normative ethics and applied ethics . While normative ethics addresses such questions as What should I do ? , thus endorsing some ethical evaluations and rejecting others , meta-ethics addresses questions such as What ' ' is ' ' goodness ? and How can we tell what is good from what is bad ? , seeking to understand the nature of ethical properties and evaluations . Some theorists argue that a metaphysical account of morality is necessary for the proper evaluation of actual moral theories and for making practical moral decisions ; others reason from opposite premises and suggest that we must impart ideas of moral intuition onto proper action before we can give a proper account of morality 's metaphysics. # Meta-ethical questions # According to Richard Garner and Bernard Rosen , there are three kinds of meta-ethical problems , or three general questions : #What is the meaning of moral terms or judgments ? #What is the nature of moral judgments ? #How may moral judgments be supported or defended ? A question of the first type might be , What do the words ' good ' , ' bad ' , ' right ' and ' wrong ' mean ? ( see value theory ) . The second category includes questions of whether moral judgments are universal or relative , of one kind or many kinds , etc . Questions of the third kind ask , for example , how we can know if something is right or wrong , if at all . Garner and Rosen say that answers to the three basic questions are not unrelated , and sometimes an answer to one will strongly suggest , or perhaps even entail , an answer to another . A meta-ethical theory , unlike a normative ethical theory , does not attempt to evaluate specific choices as being better , worse , good , bad , or evil ; although it may have profound implications as to the validity and meaning of normative ethical claims . An answer to any of the three example questions above would not itself be a normative ethical statement . # Semantic theories # These theories mainly put forward a position on the first of the three questions above , What is the meaning of moral terms or judgments ? They may however imply or even entail answers to the other two questions as well .  Cognitivist theories hold that evaluative moral sentences express propositions ( that is , they are truth apt or truth bearers , capable of being true or false ) , as opposed to non-cognitivism. * Most forms of cognitivism hold that some such propositions are true , as opposed to error theory , which asserts that all are erroneous . ** Moral realism ( in the ' ' robust ' ' sense ; see moral universalism for the ' ' minimalist ' ' sense ) holds that such propositions are about ' ' robust ' ' or mind-independent facts , that is , not facts about any person or group 's subjective opinion , but about objective features of the world . Meta-ethical theories are commonly categorized as either a form of realism or as one of three forms of anti-realism regarding moral facts : ethical subjectivism , error theory , or non-cognitivism . Realism comes in two main varieties : *** Ethical naturalism holds that there are objective moral properties and that these properties are reducible or stand in some metaphysical relation ( such as supervenience ) to entirely non-ethical properties . Most ethical naturalists hold that we have empirical knowledge of moral truths . Ethical naturalism was implicitly assumed by many modern ethical theorists , particularly utilitarians . Contemporary meta-ethical research continues to debate more recent instantiations of ethical naturalism like the Science of morality . *** Ethical non-naturalism , as put forward by G.E . Moore , holds that there are objective and ' ' irreducible ' ' moral properties ( such as the property of ' goodness ' ) , and that we sometimes have intuitive or otherwise ' ' a priori ' ' awareness of moral properties or of moral truths . Moore 's open question argument against what he considered the naturalistic fallacy was largely responsible for the birth of meta-ethical research in contemporary analytic philosophy . ** Ethical subjectivism is one form of moral anti-realism . It holds that moral statements are made true or false by the attitudes and/or conventions of people , either those of each society , those of each individual , or those of some particular individual . Most forms of ethical subjectivism are relativist , but there are notable forms that are universalist : *** Ideal observer theory holds that what is right is determined by the attitudes that a hypothetical ' ' ideal observer ' ' would have . An ideal observer is usually characterized as a being who is perfectly rational , imaginative , and informed , among other things . Though a subjectivist theory due to its reference to a particular ( albeit hypothetical ) subject , Ideal Observer Theory still purports to provide universal answers to moral questions . *** Divine command theory holds that for a thing to be right is for a unique being , God , to approve of it , and that what is right for non-God beings is obedience to the divine will . This view was criticized by Plato in the ' ' Euthyphro ' ' ( see the Euthyphro problem ) but retains some modern defenders ( Robert Adams , Philip Quinn , and others ) . Like Ideal Observer Theory , Divine Command Theory purports to be universalist despite its subjectivism. * Error theory , another form of moral anti-realism , holds that although ethical claims do express propositions , all such propositions are false . Thus , both the statement Murder is bad and the statement Murder is good are false , according to error theory . J. L. Mackie is probably the best-known proponent of this view . Since error theory denies that there are moral truths , error theory entails moral nihilism and , thus , moral skepticism ; however , neither moral nihilism nor moral skepticism conversely entails error theory .  Non-cognitivist theories hold that ethical sentences are neither true nor false because they do not express genuine propositions . Non-cognitivism is another form of moral anti-realism . Most forms of non-cognitivism are also forms of expressivism , however some such as Mark Timmons and Terrence Horgan distinguish the two and allow the possibility of cognitivist forms of expressivism. * Emotivism , defended by A.J. Ayer and C.L. Stevenson , holds that ethical sentences serve merely to express emotions . Ayer argues that ethical sentences are expressions of approval or disapproval , not assertions . So Killing is wrong means something like Boo on killing ! . * Quasi-realism , defended by Simon Blackburn , holds that ethical statements behave linguistically like factual claims and can be appropriately called true or false , even though there are no ethical facts for them to correspond to . Projectivism and moral fictionalism are related theories . * Universal prescriptivism , defended by R.M. Hare , holds that moral statements function like universalized imperative sentences . So Killing is wrong means something like Do n't kill ! Hare 's version of prescriptivism requires that moral prescriptions be universalizable , and hence actually have objective values , in spite of failing to be indicative statements with truth-values per se. # Centralism and non-centralism # Yet another way of categorizing meta-ethical theories is to distinguish between centralist and non-centralist theories . The debate between centralism and non-centralism revolves around the relationship between the so-called thin and thick concepts of morality . Thin moral concepts are those such as good , bad , right , and wrong ; thick moral concepts are those such as courageous , inequitable , just , or dishonest . While both sides agree that the thin concepts are more general and the thick more specific , centralists hold that the thin concepts are antecedent to the thick ones and that the latter are therefore dependent on the former . That is , centralists argue that one must understand words like right and ought before understanding words like just and unkind . Non-centralism rejects this view , holding that thin and thick concepts are on par with one another and even that the thick concepts are a sufficient starting point for understanding the thin ones . Non-centralism has been of particular importance to ethical naturalists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as part of their argument that normativity is a non-excisable aspect of language and that there is no way of analyzing thick moral concepts into a purely descriptive element attached to a thin moral evaluation , thus undermining any fundamental division between facts and norms . Allan Gibbard , R.M. Hare , and Simon Blackburn have argued in favor of the fact/norm distinction , meanwhile , with Gibbard going so far as to argue that , even if conventional English has only mixed normative terms ( that is , terms that are neither purely descriptive nor purely normative ) , we could develop a nominally English metalanguage that still allowed us to maintain the division between factual descriptions and normative evaluations. # Substantial theories # These theories attempt to answer the second of the above questions : What is the nature of moral judgments ?  Amongst those who believe there to be some standard(s) of morality ( as opposed to moral nihilists ) , there are two divisions : universalists , who hold that the same moral facts or principles apply to everyone everywhere ; and relativists , who hold that different moral facts or principles apply to different people or societies . * Moral universalism ( or universal morality ) is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics , or a universal ethic , applies universally , that is to all people regardless of culture , race , sex , religion , nationality , sexuality , or other distinguishing feature . The source or justification of this system may be thought to be , for instance , human nature , shared vulnerability to suffering , the demands of universal reason , what is common among existing moral codes , or the common mandates of religion ( although it can be argued that the latter is not in fact moral universalism because it may distinguish between Gods and mortals ) . Moral universalism is the opposing position to various forms of moral relativism . Universalist theories are generally forms of moral realism , though exceptions exists , such as the subjectivist ideal observer and divine command theories , and the non-cognitivist universal prescriptivism of R.M. Hare . ** Value monism is the common form of universalism , which holds that all goods are commensurable on a single value scale . ** Value pluralism contends that there are two or more genuine scales of value , knowable as such , yet incommensurable , so that any prioritization of these values is either non-cognitive or subjective . A value pluralist might , for example , contend that both a life as a nun and a life as a mother realize genuine values ( in a universalist sense ) , yet they are incompatible ( nuns may not have children ) , and there is no purely rational way to measure which is preferable . A notable proponent of this view is Isaiah Berlin . * Moral relativism maintains that all moral judgments have their origins either in societal or in individual standards , and that no single objective standard exists by which one can assess the truth of a moral proposition . Meta-ethical relativists , in general , believe that the descriptive properties of terms such as good , bad , right , and wrong do not stand subject to universal truth conditions , but only to societal convention and personal preference . Given the same set of verifiable facts , some societies or individuals will have a fundamental disagreement about what one ' ' ought ' ' to do based on societal or individual norms , and one can not adjudicate these using some independent standard of evaluation . The latter standard will always be societal or personal and not universal , unlike , for example , the scientific standards for assessing temperature or for determining mathematical truths . Some philosophers maintain that moral relativism entails non-cognitivism . Some but not all relativist theories are forms of moral subjectivism , although not all subjectivist theories are relativistic.  Moral nihilism , also known as ethical nihilism , is the meta-ethical view that nothing is morally preferable to anything else . For example , a moral nihilist would say that killing someone , for whatever reason , is neither morally right nor morally wrong . Moral nihilism must be distinguished from moral relativism , which does allow for moral statements to be true or false in a non-universal sense , but does not assign any static truth-values to moral statements . Insofar as only true statements can be known , moral nihilists are moral skeptics . Most forms of moral nihilism are non-cognitivist and vice versa , though there are notable exceptions such as universal prescriptivism ( which is semantically non-cognitive but substantially universal ) . # Justification theories # These are theories that attempt to answer questions like , How may moral judgments be supported or defended ? or Why should I be moral ? If one presupposes a cognitivist interpretation of moral sentences , morality is justified by the moralist 's knowledge of moral facts , and the theories to justify moral judgements are epistemological theories .  Most moral epistemologies , of course , posit that moral knowledge is somehow possible , as opposed to moral skepticism. * Amongst them , there are those who hold that moral knowledge is gained inferentially on the basis of some sort of non-moral epistemic process , as opposed to ethical intuitionism. ** Empiricism is the doctrine that knowledge is gained primarily through observation and experience . Meta-ethical theories that imply an empirical epistemology include ethical naturalism , which holds moral facts to be reducible to non-moral facts and thus knowable in the same ways ; and most common forms of ethical subjectivism , which hold that moral facts reduce to facts about individual opinions or cultural conventions and thus are knowable by observation of those conventions . There are exceptions within subjectivism however , such as ideal observer theory , which implies that moral facts may be known through a rational process , and individualist ethical subjectivism , which holds that moral facts are merely personal opinions and so may be known only through introspection . Empirical arguments for ethics run into the is-ought problem , which assert that the way the world ' ' is ' ' can not alone instruct people how they ' ' ought ' ' to act . ** Moral rationalism , also called ethical rationalism , is the view according to which moral truths ( or at least general moral principles ) are knowable ' ' a priori ' ' , by reason alone . Some prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have defended moral rationalism are Plato and Immanuel Kant . Perhaps the most prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have rejected moral rationalism are David Hume and Friedrich Nietzsche . Recent philosophers who defended moral rationalism include R. M. Hare , Christine Korsgaard , Alan Gewirth , and Michael Smith ( 1994 ) . A moral rationalist may adhere to any number of different semantic theories as well ; moral realism is compatible with rationalism , and the subjectivist ideal observer theory and noncognitivist universal prescriptivism both entail it . * Ethical intuitionism , on the other hand , is the view according to which some moral truths can be known without inference . That is , the view is at its core a foundationalism about moral beliefs . Of course , such an epistemological view implies that there are moral beliefs with propositional contents ; so it implies cognitivism . Ethical intuitionism commonly suggests moral realism , the view that there are objective facts of morality and , to be more specific , ethical non-naturalism , the view that these evaluative facts can not be reduced to natural fact . However , neither moral realism nor ethical non-naturalism is essential to the view ; most ethical intuitionists simply happen to hold those views as well . Ethical intuitionism comes in both a rationalist variety , and a more empiricist variety known as moral sense theory .  Moral skepticism is the class of meta-ethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge . Many moral skeptics also make the stronger , modal , claim that moral knowledge is impossible . Forms of moral skepticism include , but are not limited to , error theory and most but not all forms of non-cognitivism. 
@@18930 A subject is a being who has a subjective consciousness The sharp distinction between subject and object corresponds to the distinction , in the philosophy of Ren Descartes , between thought and extension . Descartes believed that thought ( subjectivity ) was the essence of the mind , and that extension ( the occupation of space ) was the essence of matter . In the modern continental tradition , which may plausibly be said to date from Descartes , debates over the nature of the Subject play a role comparable to debates over personhood within the distinct Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy . In critical theory and psychology , subjectivity is also the actions or discourses that produce individuals or ' I ' the ' I ' is the ' ' subject ' ' . # The subject in German idealism # ' ' Subject ' ' as a key-term in thinking about human consciousness began its career with the German Idealists , in response to David Hume 's radical skepticism . The idealists ' starting point was Hume 's conclusion that there is nothing to the self over and above a big , fleeting bundle of perceptions . The next step was to ask how this undifferentiated bundle comes to be experienced as a unity as a single ' ' subject ' ' . Hume had offered the following proposal : : ' ' ... the imagination must by long custom acquire the same method of thinking , and run along the parts of space and time in conceiving its objects . ' ' Immanuel Kant Hegel begins his definition of the subject at a standpoint derived from Aristotelian physics : the unmoved which is also ' ' self-moving ' ' ( Preface , pgph. 22 ) . That is , what is not moved by an outside force , but which propels itself , has a ' ' prima facie ' ' case for subjectivity . Hegel 's next step , however , is to identify this power to move , this unrest that is the subject , as ' ' pure negativity ' ' . Subjective self-motion , for Hegel , comes not from any pure or simple kernel of authentic individuality , but rather , it is : : ... the bifurcation of the simple ; it is the doubling which sets up opposition , and then again the negation of this indifferent diversity and of its anti-thesis ( Preface , pgph. 18 ) . The Hegelian subject 's ' ' modus operandi ' ' is therefore cutting , splitting and introducing distinctions by injecting negation into the flow of sense-perceptions . Subjectivity is thus a kind of structural effect what happens when Nature is diffused , refracted around a field of negativity and the unity of the subject for Hegel , is in fact a second-order effect , a negation of negation . The subject experiences itself as a unity only by purposively negating the very diversity it itself had produced . The Hegelian subject may therefore be characterized either as self-restoring sameness or else as reflection in otherness within itself ( ibid . ) In short , a subject in the Hegelian sense is subjected to subjection . # Postmodern subjects # The thinking of Marx and Freud provided a point of departure for questioning the notion of a unitary , autonomous Subject , which for many thinkers in the Continental tradition is seen as the foundation of the liberal theory of the social contract . These thinkers opened up the way for the deconstruction of the subject as a core-concept of metaphysics . Sigmund Freud 's explorations of the unconscious mind added up to a wholesale indictment of Enlightenment notions of subjectivity . Among the most radical re-thinkers of human self-consciousness was Heidegger , whose concept of ' ' Dasein ' ' or Being-there displaces traditional notions of the personal subject altogether . Jacques Lacan , inspired by Heidegger and Saussure , built on Freud 's psychoanalytic model of the subject , in which the split subject is constituted by a double bind : alienated from jouissance when he or she leaves the Real , enters into the Imaginary ( during the mirror stage ) , and separates from the Other when he or she comes into the realm of language , difference , and demand in the Symbolic or the Name of the Father . Thinkers such as Althusser , Foucault , or Bourdieu theorize the subject as a social construction . According to Althusser , the subject is an ideological construction ( more exactly , constructed by the Ideological State Apparatuses ) . One 's subjectivity exists , always already and is discovered through the process of interpellation . Ideology inaugurates one into being a subject , and every ideology is intended to maintain and glorify its idealized subject , as well as the metaphysical category of the subject itself . According to Foucault , it is the effect of power and disciplines ( ' ' See Discipline and Punish ' ' : construction of the subject as student , soldier , criminal , etc . ) . Foucault believed it was possible to transform oneself , he used the word ' ' ethopoiein ' ' from the word ' ' ethos ' ' to describe the process . # Subjectivity in analytic philosophy # In contemporary analytic philosophy , the issue of subjectand more specifically the point of view of the subject , or subjectivity has received attention as one of the major intractable problems in philosophy of mind ( a related issue being the mind-body problem ) . In the essay ' ' What is it like to be a bat ? ' ' , Thomas Nagel famously argued that explaining subjective experiencethe what it is like to be somethingis currently beyond the reach of scientific inquiry , because scientific understanding by definition requires an objective perspective , which , according to Nagel , is diametrically opposed to the subjective first-person point of view . These additional features of subjective experience are often referred to as qualia ( see Frank Cameron Jackson and Mary 's room ) . 
@@22081 Normative ethics is the study of ethical action . It is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act , morally speaking . Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics because it examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions , while meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts . Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics , as the latter is an empirical investigation of peoples moral beliefs . To put it another way , descriptive ethics would be concerned with determining what proportion of people believe that killing is always wrong , while normative ethics is concerned with whether it is correct to hold such a belief . Hence , normative ethics is sometimes called prescriptive , rather than descriptive . However , on certain versions of the meta-ethical view called moral realism , moral facts are both descriptive and prescriptive at the same time . Most traditional moral theories rest on principles that determine whether an action is right or wrong . Classical theories in this vein include utilitarianism , Kantianism , and some forms of contractarianism . These theories mainly offered overarching moral principles to use to resolve difficult moral decisions . # Normative ethical theories # There are disagreements about what precisely gives an action , rule , or disposition its ethical force . Broadly speaking , there are three competing views on how moral questions should be answered , along with hybrid positions that combine some elements of each . Virtue ethics focuses on the character of those who are acting , while both deontological ethics and consequentialism focus on the status of the action , rule , or disposition itself . The latter two conceptions of ethics themselves come in various forms .  Virtue ethics , advocated by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas , focuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on specific actions . There has been a significant revival of virtue ethics in the past half-century , through the work of such philosophers as G. E. M. Anscombe , Philippa Foot , Alasdair Macintyre , Mortimer J. Adler , Jacques Maritain , Yves Simon , and Rosalind Hursthouse.  Deontology argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one 's duties and others ' rights . Some deontological theories include : * Immanuel Kant 's Categorical Imperative , which roots morality in humanity 's rational capacity and asserts certain inviolable moral laws . * The contractualism of John Rawls , which holds that the moral acts are those that we would all agree to if we were unbiased. * Natural rights theories , such that of John Locke or Robert Nozick , which hold that human beings have absolute , natural rights .  Consequentialism ( Teleology ) argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action 's outcome or result . Consequentialist theories , differing in what they consider valuable ( Axiology ) , include : * Utilitarianism , which holds that an action is right if it leads to the most ' ' happiness ' ' for the greatest number of people . ' ' ( Historical Note : Prior to the coining of the term consequentialism by Anscombe in 1958 and the adoption of that term in the literature that followed , utilitarianism was the generic term for consequentialism , referring to all theories that promoted maximizing ' ' any ' ' form of utility , not just those that promoted maximizing happiness. ) ' ' * State consequentialism or Mohist consequentialism , which holds that an action is right if it leads to ' ' state welfare ' ' , through ' ' order ' ' , ' ' material wealth ' ' , and ' ' population growth ' ' * Egoism , the belief that the moral person is the self-interested person , holds that an action is right if it maximizes ' ' good for the self ' ' . * Situation Ethics , which holds that the correct action is the one that creates the most loving result , and that ' ' love ' ' should always be our goal . * Intellectualism , which dictates that the best action is the one that best fosters and promotes ' ' knowledge ' ' . * Welfarism , which argues that the best action is the one that most increases ' ' economic well-being or welfare ' ' . * Preference utilitarianism , which holds that the best action is the one that leads to the most overall ' ' preference satisfaction ' ' .  Ethics of care or relational ethics , founded by feminist theorists , notably Carol Gilligan , argues that morality arises out of the experiences of empathy and compassion . It emphasizes the importance of interdependence and relationships in achieving ethical goals .  Pragmatic ethics is difficult to classify fully within any of the four preceding conceptions . This view argues that moral correctness evolves similarly to scientific knowledge : socially over the course of many lifetimes . Thus , we should prioritize social reform over concern with consequences , individual virtue or duty ( although these may be worthwhile concerns , provided social reform is also addressed ) . Charles Sanders Peirce , William James , and John Dewey , are known as the founders of pragmatism .  Role ethics is based on the concept of family roles . # Binding force # It can be unclear what it means to say that a person ought to do X because it is moral , whether they like it or not . Morality is sometimes presumed to have some kind of special binding force on behaviour , but some philosophers think that , used this way , the word ought seems to wrongly attribute magic powers to morality . For instance , G. E. M. Anscombe worries that ought has become a word of mere mesmeric force . British ethicist Phillipa Foot elaborates that morality does not seem to have any special binding force , and she clarifies that people only behave morally when motivated by other factors . Foot says People talk , for instance , about the ' binding force ' of morality , but it is not clear what this means if not that we feel ourselves unable to escape . The idea is that , faced with an opportunity to steal a book because we can get away with it , moral obligation itself has no power to stop us unless we ' ' feel ' ' an obligation . Morality may therefore have no binding force beyond regular human motivations , and people must be motivated to behave morally . The question then arises : what role does reason play in motivating moral behaviour ? # Motivating morality # : ' ' See also Causes of good behaviour ' ' The categorical imperative perspective suggests that proper reason always leads to particular moral behaviour . As mentioned above , Foot instead believes that humans are actually motivated by desires . Proper reason , on this view , allows humans to discover actions that get them what they want ( i.e. , hypothetical imperatives ) not necessarily actions that are moral . Social structure and motivation can make morality binding in a sense , but only because it makes moral norms feel inescapable , according to Foot . *55;34209;TOOLONG like shame and love are sometimes considered the only meaningful sense in which morality is binding . Absent those feelings , a person could behave immorally without remorse. -- John Stuart Mill adds that external pressures , to please others for instance , also influence this felt binding force , which he calls human conscience . Mill says that humans must first reason about what is moral , then try to bring the feelings of our conscience in line with our reason . At the same time , Mill says that a good moral system ( in his case , utilitarianism ) ultimately appeals to aspects of human nature which , must themselves be nurtured during upbringing . Mill explains : # This firm foundation is that of the social feelings of mankind ; the desire to be in unity with our fellow creatures , which is already a powerful principle in human nature , and happily one of those which tend to become stronger , even without express inculcation , from the influences of advancing civilisation . # Mill thus believes that it is important to appreciate that it is feelings that drive moral behavior , but also that they may not be present in some people ( e.g. psychopaths ) . Mill goes on to describe factors that help ensure people develop a conscience and behave morally , and thinkers like Joseph Daleiden describe how societies can use science to figure out how to make people more likely to be good . 
@@23003 Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding religion , including the nature and existence of God , the examination of religious experience , analysis of religious vocabulary and texts , and the relationship of religion and science . It is an ancient discipline , being found in the earliest known manuscripts concerning philosophy , and relates to many other branches of philosophy and general thought , including metaphysics , logic , and history . Philosophy of religion is frequently discussed outside of academia through popular books and debates , mostly regarding the existence of God and problem of evil . The philosophy of religion differs from religious philosophy in that it seeks to discuss questions regarding the nature of religion as a whole , rather than examining the problems brought forth by a particular belief system . It is designed such that it can be carried out dispassionately by those who identify as believers or non-believers. # As a part of metaphysics # Philosophy of religion has classically been regarded as a part of metaphysics . In Aristotle 's ' ' Metaphysics ' ' , the necessarily prior cause of eternal motion was an unmoved mover , who , like the object of desire , or of thought , inspires motion without itself being moved . This , according to Aristotle , is God , the subject of study in theology . Today , however , philosophers have adopted the term ' ' philosophy of religion ' ' for the subject , and typically it is regarded as a separate field of specialization , although it is also still treated by some , particularly Catholic philosophers , as a part of metaphysics. # Questions asked # Theology Other questions studied in the philosophy of religion include what , if anything , would give us good reason to believe that a miracle has occurred , what is the relationship between faith and reason , what is the relationship between morality and religion , what is the status of religious language , and does petitionary prayer ( sometimes still called ' ' impetratory prayer ' ' ) make sense ? Going beyond metaphysics , the philosophy of religion also addresses questions in areas such as epistemology , philosophy of language , philosophical logic , and moral philosophy . See also world view . # What is God ? # Among theists , some believe there is just one God ( monotheism ) , while others believe in many gods ( polytheism ) . Some Hindus have a widely followed monistic philosophy that can be said to be neither monotheistic nor polytheistic . Within these two broad categories ( monotheism and polytheism ) there is a wide variety of possible beliefs . For example , among the monotheists deists believe that the one God is like a watchmaker who wound up the universe and does not intervene further in the universe , and some theists believe that God continues to be active in the universe . Ignostics object that a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed . # Rationality of belief # # Positions # The second question , Do we have any good reason to think that God does or does not exist ? , is equally important in the philosophy of religion . There are several main positions with regard to the existence of God that one might take : # Theism - the belief in the existence of one or more divinities or deities . @2 Pantheism - the belief that God exists ' ' as ' ' all things of the cosmos , that God is one and all is God ; God is immanent . @2 Panentheism - the belief that God encompasses all things of the cosmos but that God is greater than the cosmos ; God is both immanent and transcendent. @2 Deism - the belief that God does exist but does not interfere with human life and the laws of the universe ; God is transcendent. @2 Monotheism - the belief that a single deity exists which rules the universe as a separate and individual entity . @2 Polytheism - the belief that multiple deities exist which rule the universe as separate and individual entities . @2 Henotheism - the belief that multiple deities may or may not exist , though there is a single supreme deity . @2 Henology - believing that multiple avatars of a deity exist , which represent unique aspects of the ultimate deity . # Agnosticism - the belief that the existence or non-existence of deities or God is currently unknown or unknowable and can not be proven . A weaker form of this might be defined as simply a lack of certainty about gods ' existence or nonexistence. # Atheism - the rejection of belief in the existence of deities . @2Strong atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities . @2Weak atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist . # Apatheism - the lack of caring whether any supreme being exists , or lack thereof # Possibilianism These are not mutually exclusive positions . For example , agnostic theists choose to believe God exists while asserting that knowledge of God 's existence is inherently unknowable . Similarly , agnostic atheists reject belief in the existence of all deities , while asserting that whether any such entities exist or not is inherently unknowable. # Natural theology # The attempt to provide proofs or arguments for the existence of God is one aspect of what is known as ' ' natural theology ' ' or the ' ' natural theistic project ' ' . This strand of natural theology attempts to justify belief in God by independent grounds . There is plenty of philosophical literature on faith ( especially fideism ) and other subjects generally considered to be outside the realm of natural theology . Perhaps most of philosophy of religion is predicated on natural theology 's assumption that the existence of God can be justified or warranted on rational grounds . There has been considerable philosophical and theological debate about the kinds of proofs , justifications and arguments that are appropriate for this discourse . The philosopher Alvin Plantinga has shifted his focus to justifying belief in God ( that is , those who believe in God , for whatever reasons , are rational in doing so ) through Reformed epistemology , in the context of a theory of warrant and proper cognitive function . Other reactions to natural theology are those of Wittgensteinian philosophers of religion , most notably D. Z. Phillips . Phillips rejects natural theology and its evidentialist approach as confused , in favor of a grammatical approach which investigates the meaning of belief in God . For Phillips , belief in God is not a proposition with a particular truth value , but a form of life . Consequently , the question of whether God exists confuses the logical categories which govern theistic language with those that govern other forms of discourse ( most notably , scientific discourse ) . According to Phillips , the question of whether or not God exists can not be objectively answered by philosophy because the categories of truth and falsity , which are necessary for asking the question , have no application in the religious contexts wherein religious belief has its sense and meaning . In other words , the question can not be answered because it can not be asked without entering into confusion . As Phillips sees things , the job of the philosopher is not to investigate the rationality of belief in God but to elucidate its meaning . # Analytic philosophy of religion # In ' ' Analytic Philosophy of Religion ' ' , Harris noted that analytic philosophy has been a very heterogeneous ' movement ' ... some forms of analytic philosophy have proven very sympathetic to the philosophy of religion and have actually provided a philosophical mechanism for responding to other more radical and hostile forms of analytic philosophy . The collapse of logical positivism renewed interest in philosophy of religion , prompting philosophers like William Alston , John Mackie , Alvin Plantinga , Robert Merrihew Adams , Richard Swinburne , and Antony Flew not only to introduce new problems , but to re-open classical topics such as the nature of miracles , theistic arguments , the problem of evil , ( see existence of God ) the rationality of belief in God , concepts of the nature of God , and many more . Plantinga , Mackie and Flew debated the logical validity of the ' ' free will defense ' ' as a way to solve the problem of evil . Alston , grappling with the consequences of analytic philosophy of language , worked on the nature of religious language . Adams worked on the relationship of faith and morality . Analytic epistemology and metaphysics has formed the basis for a number of *29;0;TOOLONG theistic arguments , like those of the reformed epistemologists like Plantinga . Analytic philosophy of religion has also been preoccupied with Ludwig Wittgenstein , as well as his interpretation of Sren Kierkegaard 's philosophy of religion . Using first-hand remarks ( which would later be published in ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , ' ' Culture and Value ' ' , and other works ) , philosophers such as Peter Winch and Norman Malcolm developed what has come to be known as ' ' contemplative philosophy ' ' , a Wittgensteinian school of thought rooted in the Swansea tradition and which includes Wittgensteinians such as Rush Rhees , Peter Winch and D. Z. Phillips , among others . The name contemplative philosophy was first coined by D. Z. Phillips in ' ' Philosophy 's Cool Place ' ' , which rests on an interpretation of a passage from Wittgenstein 's Culture and Value . This interpretation was first labeled , Wittgensteinian Fideism , by Kai Nielsen but those who consider themselves Wittgensteinians in the Swansea tradition have relentlessly and repeatedly rejected this construal as a caricature of Wittgenstein 's considered position ; this is especially true of D. Z. Phillips . Responding to this interpretation , Kai Nielsen and D.Z. Phillips became two of the most prominent philosophers on Wittgenstein 's philosophy of religion . # The Problem of Discussing Religion # Religion is a difficult subject to discuss since it would be difficult to be objective about because it is such a personal topic , meaning subjective claims are always expressed . An Objective claim to test the existence of a supernatural all powerful deity/deities would be the law of non-contradiction meaning that such a belief is either real or imaginary . Due to the fact , that there can not be a middle ground between the two possibilities of existence versus non-existence . This means that a Supernatural all powerful deity/deities can only be real or imaginary , not both . Throughout articles Authors would start with an objective claim and relate them back to validate their individual subjective claim . Furthermore this could explain the obvious bias illustrated throughout this page . Elaine Howard Ecklund , Ph.D . survey of 1700 natural and social scientists in the university environment shows fifty- four percent of university scientists claim that Religion in the Academic life would be dangerous if it went wrong , particularly in the science department . She concludes her article with her difficulty with the upbringing of religious studies , as the director of the religion and public life program at Rice University . # Problem of evil # # Major philosophers of religion # The burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material . All quotations and any material challenged or likely to be challenged must be attributed to a reliable , published source using an inline citation . - wp:v width=100% Abhinavagupta Adi Shankara Avicenna ( also known as Ibn Sina ) Ramanuja Madhvacharya Marilyn McCord Adams Robert Adams William Alston Anselm of Canterbury Averroes ( also known as Ibn Rushd ) Thomas Aquinas Augustine of Hippo Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius Giordano Bruno Joseph Butler Gordon Clark Samuel Clarke Sarah Coakley Anne Conway William Lane Craig Ren Descartes Pseudo-Dionysius Herman Dooyeweerd Paul Draper Mircea Eliade Desiderius Erasmus Al-Farabi ( also known as Alpharabius ) Siddartha Gautama Confucius Lao Tzu Al Ghazali ( also known as Algazel ) Yehuda Halevi Charles Hartshorne Ibn al-Haytham ( also known as Alhazen ) Heraclitus John Hick Mohamed Osman Elkhosht David Hume Peter van Inwagen Allama Iqbal William James Immanuel Kant Walter Kaufmann Anthony Kenny Ibn Khaldun Marcus Borg Sren Kierkegaard Al-Kindi ( also known as Alkindus ) Nishida Kitaro Ruhollah Khomeini Nishitani Keiji Harold Kushner Swami Krishnananda C . S. Lewis Gottfried Leibniz Knud Ejler Lgstrup J . L. Mackie Maimonides Nicolas Malebranche Jean-Luc Marion Michael Martin Herbert McCabe Alister E. McGrath Thomas V. Morris Nagarjuna Milarepa Dogen Zenji Ibn al-Nafis Friedrich Nietzsche William of Ockham Rudolph Otto William Paley Blaise Pascal D . Z. Phillips Philo of Alexandria Alvin Plantinga Plotinus John Polkinghorne Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Fakhr al-Din al-Razi William L. Rowe Bertrand Russell Mulla Sadra Duns Scotus Swami Sivananda Ninian Smart Abdolkarim Soroush Baruch Spinoza Melville Y. Stewart Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi Richard Swinburne Denys Turner Peter Vardy Vasubandhu Keith Ward William Whewell Nicholas Wolterstorff Keith Yandell Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ren Gunon Ren Girard Frithjof Schuon Seyyed Hossein Nasr F.W.J . Schelling Paul Tillich Ahmad Rafique Ibn Arabi Zarathustra 
@@23040 Political philosophy is the study of topics such as politics , liberty , justice , property , rights , law , and the enforcement of a legal code by authority : what they are , why ( or even if ) they are needed , what , if anything , makes a government legitimate , what rights and freedoms it should protect and why , what form it should take and why , what the law is , and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government , if any , and when it may be legitimately overthrown , if ever . In a vernacular sense , the term political philosophy often refers to a general view , or specific ethic , political belief or attitude , about politics that does not necessarily belong to the technical discipline of philosophy . In short , political philosophy is the activity , as with all philosophy , whereby the conceptual apparatus behind such concepts as aforementioned are analyzed , in their history , intent , evolution and the like . Political philosophy is considered by some to be a sub-discipline of political science ; however , the name generally attributed to this form of political enquiry is political theory , a discipline which has a closer methodology to the theoretical fields in the social sciences - like economic theory - than to philosophical argumentation - like that of moral philosophy or aesthetics . philosphy focuses on the study of logic ethics and maoraliity. by RAJ # History # # Ancient Philosophies # # #Ancient China# # Chinese political philosophy dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period , specifically with Confucius in the 6th century BC . Chinese political philosophy developed as a response to the social and political breakdown of the country characteristic of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period . The major philosophies during the period , Confucianism , Legalism , Mohism , Agrarianism and Taoism , each had a political aspect to their philosophical schools . Philosophers such as Confucius , Mencius , and Mozi , focused on political unity and political stability as the basis of their political philosophies . Confucianism advocated a hierarchical , meritocratic government based on empathy , loyalty , and interpersonal relationships . Legalism advocated a highly authoritarian government based on draconian punishments and laws . Mohism advocated a communal , decentralized government centered on frugality and ascetism . The Agrarians advocated a peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism . Taoism advocated a proto-anarchism . Legalism was the dominant political philosophy of the Qin Dynasty , but was replaced by State Confucianism in the Han Dynasty . Prior to China 's adoption of communism , State Confucianism remained the dominant political philosophy of China up to the 20th century . # #Ancient Greece# # Western political philosophy originates in the philosophy of ancient Greece , where political philosophy begins with Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' in the 4th century BC . Ancient Greece was dominated by city-states , which experimented with various forms of political organization , grouped by Plato into four categories : timocracy , tyranny , democracy and oligarchy . One of the first , extremely important classical works of political philosophy is Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' , which was followed by Aristotle 's ' ' Nichomachean Ethics ' ' and ' ' Politics ' ' . Roman political philosophy was influenced by the Stoics , including the Roman statesman Cicero. # #Ancient India# # Indian political philosophy evolved in ancient times and demarcated a clear distinction between ( 1 ) nation and state ( 2 ) religion and state . The constitutions of Hindu states evolved over time and were based on political and legal treatises and prevalent social institutions . The institutions of state were broadly divided into governance , administration , defense , law and order . ' ' Mantranga , ' ' the principal governing body of these states , consisted of the King , Prime Minister , Commander in chief of army , Chief Priest of the King . The Prime Minister headed the committee of ministers along with head of executive ( Maha Amatya ) . Chanakya , 4th Century BC Indian political philosopher , exerted influence on many later thinkers , including Niccol Machiavelli through his treatise Arthashastra . The Arthashastra provides an account of the science of politics for a wise ruler , policies for foreign affairs and wars , the system of a spy state and surveillance and economic stability of the state . Chanakya quotes several authorities including Bruhaspati , Ushanas , Prachetasa Manu , Parasara , and Ambi , and described himself as a descendant of a lineage of political philosophers , with his father Chanaka being his immediate predecessor . Another influential extant Indian treatise on political philosophy is the Sukra Neeti . An example of a code of law in ancient India is the Manusmti or Laws of Manu # Medieval Christianity # Saint Augustine The early Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo was heavily influenced by Plato . The main change that Christian thought brought was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world , and emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example . Augustine also preached that one was not a member of his or her city , but was either a citizen of the City of God ( Civitas Dei ) or the City of Man ( Civitas Terrena ) . Augustine 's ' ' City of God ' ' is an influential work of this period that attacked the thesis , held by many Christian Romans , that the Christian view could be realized on Earth . Saint Thomas Aquinas Aquinas meticulously dealt with the varieties of law . According to Aquinas , there are four different kinds of laws : # God 's cosmic law # God 's scriptural law # Natural law or rules of conduct universally applicable within reason # Human law or specific rules applicable to specific circumstances . # Islamic Golden Age # Mutazilite vs Asharite The rise of Islam , based on both the Qur'an and the prophet Muhammad strongly altered the power balances and perceptions of origin of power in the Mediterranean region . Early Islamic philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion , and the process of ijtihad to find truthin effect ' ' all ' ' philosophy was political as it had real implications for governance . This view was challenged by the rationalist Mutazilite philosophers , who held a more Hellenic view , reason above revelation , and as such are known to modern scholars as the first speculative theologians of Islam ; they were supported by a secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the Caliphate . By the late ancient period , however , the traditionalist Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed . According to the Asharites , reason must be subordinate to the Quran and the Sunna . Islamic political philosophy , was , indeed , rooted in the very sources of Islami.e. , the Qur'an and the Sunnah , the words and practices of Muhammadthus making it essentially theocratic . However , in the Western thought , it is generally supposed that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam : al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) , al-Farabi ( Abunaser ) , bn Sina ( Avicenna ) , Ibn Bajjah ( Avempace ) , Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ) , and Ibn Khaldun . The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah ( power ) , sultan , ummah , cemaa ( obligation ) -and even the core terms of the Qur'ani.e. , ibadah , din ( religion ) , rab ( master ) and ilahis taken as the basis of an analysis . Hence , not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories . For example , the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah , or that of Shia Islam on the concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought . The clashes between the Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character . Ibn Khaldun The 14th century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists . The British *26;169;TOOLONG Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun 's definition of government , ... an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself , the best in the history of political theory . For Ibn Khaldun , government should be restrained to a minimum for as a necessary evil , it is the constraint of men by other men . # Medieval Europe # Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking . It had much in common with the Mutazalite Islamic thinking in that the Roman Catholics though subordinating philosophy to theology did not subject reason to revelation but in the case of contradictions , subordinated reason to faith as the Asharite of Islam . The Scholastics by combining the philosophy of Aristotle with the Christianity of St. Augustine emphasized the potential harmony inherent in reason and revelation . Perhaps the most influential political philosopher of medieval Europe was St. Thomas Aquinas who helped reintroduce Aristotle 's works , which had only been transmitted to Catholic Europe through Muslim Spain , along with the commentaries of Averroes . Aquinas 's use of them set the agenda , for scholastic political philosophy dominated European thought for centuries even unto the Renaissance . Medieval political philosophers , such as Aquinas in ' ' Summa Theologica ' ' , developed the idea that a king who is a tyrant is no king at all and could be overthrown . Magna Carta , viewed by many as a cornerstone of Anglo-American political liberty , explicitly proposes the right to revolt against the ruler for justice sake . Other documents similar to Magna Carta are found in other European countries such as Spain and Hungary . # European Renaissance # During the Renaissance secular political philosophy began to emerge after about a century of theological political thought in Europe . While the Middle Ages did see secular politics in practice under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire , the academic field was wholly scholastic and therefore Christian in nature . Niccol Machiavelli One of the most influential works during this burgeoning period was Niccol Machiavelli 's ' ' The Prince ' ' , written between 151112 and published in 1532 , after Machiavelli 's death . That work , as well as ' ' The Discourses ' ' , a rigorous analysis of the classical period , did much to influence modern political thought in the West . A minority ( including Jean-Jacques Rousseau ) interpreted The Prince as a satire meant to be given to the Medici after their recapture of Florence and their subsequent expulsion of Machiavelli from Florence . Though the work was written for the di Medici family in order to perhaps influence them to free him from exile , Machiavelli supported the Republic of Florence rather than the oligarchy of the di Medici family . At any rate , Machiavelli presents a pragmatic and somewhat consequentialist view of politics , whereby good and evil are mere means used to bring about an endi.e. , the secure and powerful state . Thomas Hobbes , well known for his theory of the social contract , goes on to expand this view at the start of the 17th century during the English Renaissance . Although neither Machiavelli nor Hobbes believed in the divine right of kings , they both believed in the inherent selfishness of the individual . It was necessarily this belief that led them to adopt a strong central power as the only means of preventing the disintegration of the social order . John Locke John Locke in particular exemplified this new age of political theory with his work ' ' Two Treatises of Government ' ' . In it Locke proposes a state of nature theory that directly complements his conception of how political development occurs and how it can be founded through contractual obligation . Locke stood to refute Sir Robert Filmer 's paternally founded political theory in favor of a natural system based on nature in a particular given system . The theory of the divine right of kings became a passing fancy , exposed to the type of ridicule with which John Locke treated it . Unlike Machiavelli and Hobbes but like Aquinas , Locke would accept Aristotle 's dictum that man seeks to be happy in a state of social harmony as a social animal . Unlike Aquinas 's preponderant view on the salvation of the soul from original sin , Locke believes man 's mind comes into this world as tabula rasa . For Locke , knowledge is neither innate , revealed nor based on authority but subject to uncertainty tempered by reason , tolerance and moderation . According to Locke , an absolute ruler as proposed by Hobbes is unnecessary , for natural law is based on reason and seeking peace and survival for man . # European Age of Enlightenment # These theorists were driven by two basic questions : one , by what right or need do people form states ; and two , what the best form for a state could be . These fundamental questions involved a conceptual distinction between the concepts of state and government . It was decided that state would refer to a set of enduring institutions through which power would be distributed and its use justified . The term government would refer to a specific group of people who occupied the institutions of the state , and create the laws and ordinances by which the people , themselves included , would be bound . This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political science , although some political scientists , philosophers , historians and cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any given society occurs outside of its state , and that there are societies that are not organized into states that nevertheless must be considered in political terms . As long as the concept of natural order was not introduced , the social sciences could not evolve independently of theistic thinking . Since the cultural revolution of the 17th century in England , which spread to France and the rest of Europe , society has been considered subject to natural laws akin to the physical world . Political and economic relations were drastically influenced by these theories as the concept of the guild was subordinated to the theory of free trade , and Roman Catholic dominance of theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to each nation-state , which also ( in a fashion the Roman Catholic Church often decried angrily ) preached in the vulgar or native language of each region . However , the enlightenment was an outright attack on religion , particularly Christianity . The most outspoken critic of the church in France was Franois Marie Arouet de Voltaire , a representative figure of the enlightenment . After Voltaire , religion would never be the same again in France . In the Ottoman Empire , these ideological reforms did not take place and these views did not integrate into common thought until much later . As well , there was no spread of this doctrine within the New World and the advanced civilizations of the Aztec , Maya , Inca , Mohican , Delaware , Huron and especially the Iroquois . The Iroquois philosophy in particular gave much to Christian thought of the time and in many cases actually inspired some of the institutions adopted in the United States : for example , Benjamin Franklin was a great admirer of some of the methods of the Iroquois Confederacy , and much of early American literature emphasized the political philosophy of the natives . # Industrialization and the Modern Era # The Marxist critique of capitalism developed with Friedrich Engels was , alongside liberalism and fascism , one of the defining ideological movements of the Twentieth Century . The industrial revolution produced a parallel revolution in political thought . Urbanization and capitalism greatly reshaped society . During this same period , the socialist movement began to form . In the mid-19th century , Marxism was developed , and socialism in general gained increasing popular support , mostly from the urban working class . Without breaking entirely from the past , Marx established principles that would be used by future revolutionaries of the 20th century namely Vladimir Lenin , Mao Zedong , Ho Chi Minh , and Fidel Castro . Though Hegel 's philosophy of history is similar to Immanuel Kant 's , and Karl Marx 's theory of revolution towards the common good is partly based on Kant 's view of historyMarx declared that he was turning Hegel 's dialectic , which was standing on its head , the right side up again . Unlike Marx who believed in historical materialism , Hegel believed in the ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' . By the late 19th century , socialism and trade unions were established members of the political landscape . In addition , the various branches of anarchism , with thinkers such as Mikhail Bakunin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon or Peter Kropotkin , and syndicalism also gained some prominence . In the Anglo-American world , anti-imperialism and pluralism began gaining currency at the turn of the 20th century . World War I was a watershed event in human history , changing views of governments and politics . The Russian Revolution of 1917 ( and similar , albeit less successful , revolutions in many other European countries ) brought communism - and in particular the political theory of Leninism , but also on a smaller level Luxemburgism ( gradually ) - on the world stage . At the same time , social democratic parties won elections and formed governments for the first time , often as a result of the introduction of universal suffrage . However , a group of central European economists led by Austrian School economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek identified the collectivist underpinnings to the various new socialist and fascist doctrines of government power as being different brands of political totalitarianism. # Contemporary political philosophy # From the end of World War II until 1971 , when John Rawls published ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' , political philosophy declined in the Anglo-American academic world , as analytic philosophers expressed skepticism about the possibility that normative judgments had cognitive content , and political science turned toward statistical methods and behavioralism . In continental Europe , on the other hand , the postwar decades saw a huge blossoming of political philosophy , with Marxism dominating the field . This was the time of Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser , and the victories of Mao Zedong in China and Fidel Castro in Cuba , as well as the events of May 1968 led to increased interest in revolutionary ideology , especially by the New Left . A number of continental European migrs to Britain and the United Statesincluding Hannah Arendt , Karl Popper , Friedrich Hayek , Leo Strauss , Isaiah Berlin , Eric Voegelin and Judith Shklarencouraged continued study in political philosophy in the Anglo-American world , but in the 1950s and 1960s they and their students remained at odds with the analytic establishment . Communism remained an important focus especially during the 1950s and 1960s . Colonialism and racism were important issues that arose . In general , there was a marked trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues , rather than a philosophical one . Much academic debate regarded one or both of two pragmatic topics : how ( or whether ) to apply utilitarianism to problems of political policy , or how ( or whether ) to apply economic models ( such as rational choice theory ) to political issues . The rise of feminism , LGBT social movements and the end of colonial rule and of the political exclusion of such minorities as African Americans and sexual minorities in the developed world has led to feminist , postcolonial , and multicultural thought becoming significant . This led to a challenge to the social contract by philosophers Charles W. Mills in his book ' ' The Racial Contract ' ' and Carole Patemen in her book ' ' The Sexual Contract ' ' that the social contract excluded persons of colour and women respectively . In Anglo-American academic political philosophy , the publication of John Rawls 's ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' in 1971 is considered a milestone . Rawls used a thought experiment , the original position , in which representative parties choose principles of justice for the basic structure of society from behind a veil of ignorance . Rawls also offered a criticism of utilitarian approaches to questions of political justice . Robert Nozick 's 1974 book ' ' Anarchy , State , and Utopia ' ' , which won a National Book Award , responded to Rawls from a libertarian perspective and gained academic respectability for libertarian viewpoints . Contemporaneously with the rise of analytic ethics in Anglo-American thought , in Europe several new lines of philosophy directed at critique of existing societies arose between the 1950s and 1980s . Most of these took elements of Marxist economic analysis , but combined them with a more cultural or ideological emphasis . Out of the Frankfurt School , thinkers like Herbert Marcuse , Theodor W. Adorno , Max Horkheimer , and Jrgen Habermas combined Marxian and Freudian perspectives . Along somewhat different lines , a number of other continental thinkersstill largely influenced by Marxismput new emphases on structuralism and on a return to Hegel . Within the ( post- ) structuralist line ( though mostly not taking that label ) are thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze , Michel Foucault , Claude Lefort , and Jean Baudrillard . The Situationists were more influenced by Hegel ; Guy Debord , in particular , moved a Marxist analysis of commodity fetishism to the realm of consumption , and looked at the relation between consumerism and dominant ideology formation . Another debate developed around the ( distinct ) criticisms of liberal political theory made by Michael Sandel and Charles Taylor . The liberal-communitarian debate is often considered valuable for generating a new set of philosophical problems , rather than a profound and illuminating clash of perspectives . There is fruitful interaction between political philosophers and international relations theorists . The rise of globalization has created the need for an international normative framework , and political theory has moved to fill the gap . One of the most prominent subjects in recent political philosophy has been the theory of deliberative democracy . The seminal work is by Jurgen Habermas in Germany but the most extensive literature has been in English , led by theorists such as Jane Mansbridge , Joshua Cohen , Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson . # Influential political philosophers # A larger list of political philosophers is intended to be closer to exhaustive . Listed below are some of the most canonical or important thinkers , and especially philosophers whose central focus was in political philosophy and/or who are good representatives of a particular school of thought .  Thomas Aquinas : In synthesizing Christian theology and Peripatetic ( Aristotelian ) teaching , Aquinas contends that God 's gift of higher reasonmanifest in human law by way of the divine virtuesgives way to the assembly of righteous government .  Aristotle : Wrote his ' ' Politics ' ' as an extension of his ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' . Notable for the theories that humans are social animals , and that the polis ( Ancient Greek city state ) existed to bring about the good life appropriate to such animals . His political theory is based upon an ethics of perfectionism ( as is Marx 's , on some readings ) .  Mikhail Bakunin : After Pierre Joseph Proudhon , Bakunin became the most important political philosopher of anarchism . His specific version of anarchism is called collectivist anarchism.  Jeremy Bentham : The first thinker to analyze social justice in terms of maximization of aggregate individual benefits . Founded the philosophical/ethical school of thought known as utilitarianism.  Isaiah Berlin : Developed the distinction between positive and negative liberty .  Edmund Burke : Irish member of the British parliament , Burke is credited with the creation of conservative thought . Burke 's Reflections on the Revolution in France is the most popular of his writings where he denounced the French revolution . Burke was one of the biggest supporters of the American Revolution .  Confucius : The first thinker to relate ethics to the political order .  William E. Connolly : Helped introduce postmodern philosophy into political theory , and promoted new theories of pluralism Pluralism and agonistic democracy .  John Dewey : Co-founder of pragmatism and analyzed the essential role of education in the maintenance of democratic government .  Han Feizi : The major figure of the Chinese Fajia ( Legalist ) school , advocated government that adhered to laws and a strict method of administration .  Michel Foucault : Critiqued the modern conception of power on the basis of the prison complex and other prohibitive institutions , such as those that designate sexuality , madness and knowledge as the roots of their infrastructure , a critique that demonstrated that subjection is the power formation of subjects in any linguistic forum and that revolution can not just be thought as the reversal of power between classes .  Antonio Gramsci : Instigated the concept of ' ' hegemony ' ' . Argued that the state and the ruling class uses culture and ideology to gain the consent of the classes it rules over .  Thomas Hill Green : Modern liberal thinker and early supporter of positive freedom .  Jrgen Habermas : Contemporary democratic theorist and sociologist . He has pioneered such concepts as the public sphere , communicative action , and deliberative democracy . His early work was heavily influenced by the Frankfurt School .  Friedrich Hayek : He argued that central planning was inefficient because members of central bodies could not know enough to match the preferences of consumers and workers with existing conditions . Hayek further argued that central economic planninga mainstay of socialismwould lead to a total state with dangerous power . He advocated free-market capitalism in which the main role of the state is to maintain the rule of law and let spontaneous order develop .  G. W. F. Hegel : Emphasized the cunning of history , arguing that it followed a rational trajectory , even while embodying seemingly irrational forces ; influenced Marx , Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , and Oakeshott.  Thomas Hobbes : Generally considered to have first articulated how the concept of a social contract that justifies the actions of rulers ( even where contrary to the individual desires of governed citizens ) , can be reconciled with a conception of sovereignty .  David Hume : Hume criticized the social contract theory of John Locke and others as resting on a myth of some actual agreement . Hume was a realist in recognizing the role of force to forge the existence of states and that consent of the governed was merely hypothetical . He also introduced the concept of utility , later picked up on and developed by Jeremy Bentham .  Thomas Jefferson : Politician and political theorist during the American Enlightenment . Expanded on the philosophy of Thomas Paine by instrumenting republicanism in the United States . Most famous for the United States Declaration of Independence .  Immanuel Kant : Argued that participation in civil society is undertaken not for self-preservation , as per Thomas Hobbes , but as a moral duty . First modern thinker who fully analyzed structure and meaning of obligation . Argued that an international organization was needed to preserve world peace .  Peter Kropotkin : One of the classic anarchist thinkers and the most influential theorist of anarcho-communism.  John Locke : Like Hobbes , described a social contract theory based on citizens ' fundamental rights in the state of nature . He departed from Hobbes in that , based on the assumption of a society in which moral values are independent of governmental authority and widely shared , he argued for a government with power limited to the protection of personal property . His arguments may have been deeply influential to the formation of the United States Constitution .  Niccol Machiavelli : First systematic analyses of : ( 1 ) how consent of a populace is negotiated between and among rulers rather than simply a naturalistic ( or theological ) given of the structure of society ; ( 2 ) precursor to the concept of ideology in articulating the epistemological structure of commands and law .  James Madison : American politician and protege of Jefferson considered to be Father of the Constitution and Father of the Bill of Rights of the United States . As a political theorist , he believed in separation of powers and proposed a comprehensive set of checks and balances that are necessary to protect the rights of an individual from the tyranny of the majority .  Herbert Marcuse : Called the father of the new left . One of the principal thinkers within the Frankfurt School , and generally important in efforts to fuse the thought of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx . Introduced the concept of repressive desublimation , in which social control can operate not only by direct control , but also by manipulation of desire . His work Eros and Civilization and notion of a non-repressive society was influential on the 1960s and its counter-cultural social movements .  Karl Marx : In large part , added the historical dimension to an understanding of society , culture and economics . Created the concept of ' ' ideology ' ' in the sense of ( true or false ) beliefs that shape and control social actions . Analyzed the fundamental nature of class as a mechanism of governance and social interaction . Profoundly influenced world politics with his theory of communism .  Mencius : One of the most important thinkers in the Confucian school , he is the first theorist to make a coherent argument for an obligation of rulers to the ruled .  John Stuart Mill : A utilitarian , and the person who named the system ; he goes further than Bentham by laying the foundation for liberal democratic thought in general and modern , as opposed to classical , liberalism in particular . Articulated the place of individual liberty in an otherwise utilitarian framework .  Baron de Montesquieu : Analyzed protection of the people by a balance of powers in the divisions of a state .  Mozi ( Mo-tze ) : Eponymous founder of the Mohist school , advocated a form of consequentialism.  Friedrich Nietzsche : Philosopher who became a powerful influence on a broad spectrum of 20th-century political currents in Marxism , anarchism , fascism , socialism , libertarianism , and conservatism . His interpreters have debated the content of his political philosophy .  Robert Nozick : Criticized Rawls , and argued for libertarianism , by appeal to a hypothetical history of the state and of property .  Thomas Paine : Enlightenment writer who defended liberal democracy , the American Revolution , and French Revolution in ' ' Common Sense ' ' and The ' ' Rights of Man ' ' .  Plato : Wrote a lengthy dialog ' ' The Republic ' ' in which he laid out his political philosophy : citizens should be divided into three categories . One category of people are the rulers : they should be philosophers , according to Plato , this idea is based on his Theory of Forms .  Pierre-Joseph Proudhon : Commonly considered the father of modern anarchism , specifically mutualism.  John Rawls : Revitalized the study of normative political philosophy in Anglo-American universities with his 1971 book A Theory of Justice , which uses a version of social contract theory to answer fundamental questions about justice and to criticise utilitarianism.  Murray Rothbard : The central theorist of anarcho-capitalism and an Austrian School economist .  Jean-Jacques Rousseau : Analyzed the social contract as an expression of the general will , and controversially argued in favor of absolute democracy where the people at large would act as sovereign .  Ayn Rand : Founder of Objectivism and prime mover of the Objectivist and Libertarian movements in mid-twentieth century America . Advocated a complete , laissez-faire capitalism . Rand held that the proper role of government was exclusively the protection of individual rights without economic interference . The government was to be separated from economics the same way and for the same reasons it was separated from religion . Any governmental action not directed at the defense of individual rights would constitute the initiation of force ( or threat of force ) , and therefore a violation not only of rights but also of the legitimate function of government .  Carl Schmitt : German political theorist , tied to the Nazis , who developed the concepts of the Friend/Enemy Distinction and the State of exception . Though his most influential books were written in the 1920s , he continued to write prolifically until his death ( in academic quasi-exile ) in 1985 . He heavily influenced 20th century political philosophy both within the Frankfurt School and among others as diverse as Jacques Derrida , Hannah Arendt , and Giorgio Agamben.  Adam Smith : Often said to have founded modern economics ; explained emergence of economic benefits from the self-interested behavior ( the invisible hand ) of artisans and traders . While praising its efficiency , Smith also expressed concern about the effects of industrial labor ( e.g. , repetitive activity ) on workers . His work on moral sentiments sought to explain social bonds which enhance economic activity .  Socrates : Widely considered the founder of Western political philosophy , via his spoken influence on Athenian contemporaries ; since Socrates never wrote anything , much of what we know about him and his teachings comes through his most famous student , Plato .  Baruch Spinoza : Set forth the first analysis of ' ' rational egoism ' ' , in which the rational interest of self is conformance with pure reason . To Spinoza 's thinking , in a society in which each individual is guided of reason , political authority would be superfluous .  Max Stirner : Important thinker within anarchism and the main representative of the anarchist current known as individualist anarchism  Leo Strauss : Famously rejected modernity , mostly on the grounds of what he perceived to be modern political philosophy 's excessive self-sufficiency of reason and flawed philosophical grounds for moral and political normativity . He argued instead we should return to pre-modern thinkers for answers to contemporary issues . His philosophy was influential on the formation of Neo-Conservativism , and a number of his students later were members of the Bush administration .  Henry David Thoreau : Influential American thinker on such diverse later political positions and topics such as pacifism , anarchism , environmentalism and civil disobedience who influenced later important political activists such as Martin Luther King , Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy .  Franois-Marie Arouet ( Voltaire ) : French Enlightenment writer , poet , and philosopher famous for his advocacy of civil liberties , including freedom of religion and free trade .  Bernard Williams : A British moral philosopher whose posthumously published work on political philosophy ' ' In the Beginning was the Deed ' ' has been seenalong with the works of Raymond Geussas a key foundational work on political realism . 
@@23276 A philosopher , in a broad sense , is someone who studies philosophy . The word philosopher comes from the Ancient Greek ( ' ' philosophos ' ' ) , which literally means lover of wisdom . The introduction of the terms philosopher and philosophy has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras . A philosopher is any intellectual who has made contributions in one or more current fields of philosophy , such as aesthetics , ethics , epistemology , logic , metaphysics , social theory , and political philosophy . A philosopher may also be one who worked in the humanities or other sciences which have since split from philosophy proper over the centuries , such as the arts , history , economics , sociology , psychology , linguistics , anthropology , theology , and politics . They may relate this knowledge to the discussion of philosophical problems . In the classical sense , a philosopher is someone who lives according to a way of life , whose focus is upon resolving existential questions about the human condition . Typically , these particular brands of philosophy are Hellenistic ones and those who most arduously commit themselves to this lifestyle may be considered a philosopher . An example of the expected standards of this definition is Marcus Aurelius , who is widely regarded as a philosopher in the modern sense , but personally refuses to call himself by such a title , since he had a duty to live as an emperor . In both definitions , philosophers address these questions through critical , systematic and reasoned approaches . # Modern academia # In the modern era , those attaining advanced degrees in philosophy often choose to stay in careers within the educational system . According to a 1993 study by the National Research Council ( as reported by the American Philosophical Association ) , 77.1% of the 7,900 holders of a Ph.D . in philosophy who responded were employed in educational institutions ( academia ) . Non-academic philosophers can employ their skills in a great number of other careers , such as medicine , bioethics , business , publishing , free-lance writing , media , and law . # Women in philosophy # Historically , philosophy has been dominated by male thinkers . This has become less true in the modern era as more women enter the field , and some female philosophers have come to prominence , such as Marilyn McCord Adams , Patricia Churchland , Ayn Rand , Elizabeth Anscombe , and Susan Haack. # Prizes in philosophy # Prominent prizes in Philosophy include the Avicenna Prize , the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy and the Rolf Schock Prizes . # References # 
@@23674 ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' ( ' ' Philosophische Untersuchungen ' ' ) is a highly influential work by the 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein . In it , Wittgenstein discusses numerous problems and puzzles in the fields of semantics , logic , philosophy of mathematics , philosophy of psychology , philosophy of action , and the philosophy of mind . He puts forth the view that conceptual confusions surrounding language use are at the root of most philosophical problems , contradicting or discarding much of what he argued in his earlier work , the ' ' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ' ' . He alleges that the problems are traceable to a set of related assumptions about the nature of language , which themselves presuppose a particular conception of the essence of language . This conception is considered and ultimately rejected for being too general ; that is , as an essentialist account of the nature of language it is simply too narrow to be able to account for the variety of things we do with language . Wittgenstein begins the book with a quotation from St. Augustine , whom he cites as a proponent of the generalized and limited conception that he then summarizes : # The individual words in language name objectssentences are combinations of such names . In this picture of language we find the roots of the following idea : Every word has a meaning . This meaning is correlated with the word . It is the object for which the word stands . # He then sets out throughout the rest of the book to demonstrate the limitations of this conception , including , he argues , many traditional philosophical puzzles and confusions that arise as a result of this limited picture . Within the Anglo-American tradition , the book is considered by many as being one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century , and it continues to influence contemporary philosophers , especially those studying mind and language . # The text # # Editions # The book was not ready for publication when Wittgenstein died in 1951 . G. E. M. Anscombe translated Wittgenstein 's manuscript , and it was first published in 1953 . There are two popular editions of ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , both translated by Anscombe : Prentice Hall , 1999 ( ISBN 0-02-428810-1 ) Blackwell Publishers , 2001 ( ISBN 0-631-23127-7 ) . This edition includes the original German text in addition to the English translation . The text is divided into two parts , consisting of what Wittgenstein calls , in the preface , ' ' Bemerkungen ' ' , translated by Anscombe as remarks . In the first part , these remarks are rarely more than a paragraph long and are numbered sequentially . In the second part , the remarks are longer and numbered using Roman numerals . In the index , remarks from the first part are referenced by their number rather than page ; however , references from the second part are cited by page number . The comparatively unusual nature of the second part is due to the fact that it comprises notes that Wittgenstein may have intended to re-incorporate into the first part . Subsequent to his death it was published as a Part II in the first , second and third editions . However , in light of continuing uncertainty about Wittgenstein 's intentions regarding this material , the fourth edition ( 2009 ) re-titles Part I as Philosophical Investigations proper , and Part II as Philosophy of Psychology A Fragment . # Method and presentation # ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' is unique in its approach to philosophy . A typical philosophical text presents a philosophical problem , summarizes and critiques various alternative approaches to solving it , presents its own approach , and then argues in favour of that approach . In contrast , Wittgenstein 's book treats philosophy as an activity , rather along the lines of Socrates 's famous method of maieutics ; he has the reader work through various problems , participating actively in the investigation . Rather than presenting a philosophical problem and its solution , Wittgenstein engages in a dialogue , where he provides a thought experiment ( a hypothetical example or situation ) , describes how one might be inclined to think about it , and then shows why that inclination suffers from conceptual confusion . The following is an excerpt from the first entry in the book that exemplifies this method : # ... think of the following use of language : I send someone shopping . I give him a slip marked ' five red apples ' . He takes the slip to the shopkeeper , who opens the drawer marked ' apples ' , then he looks up the word ' red ' in a table and finds a colour sample opposite it ; then he says the series of cardinal numbersI assume that he knows them by heartup to the word ' five ' and for each number he takes an apple of the same colour as the sample out of the drawer . It is in this and similar ways that one operates with words But how does he know where and how he is to look up the word ' red ' and what he is to do with the word ' five ' ? Well , I assume that he ' ' acts ' ' as I have described . Explanations come to an end somewhere . But what is the meaning of the word ' five ' ? No such thing was in question here , only how the word ' five ' is used . # This example is typical of the book 's style . We can see each of the steps in Wittgenstein 's method :  The reader is presented with a thought experiment : someone is sent shopping with an order on a slip .  Wittgenstein supplies the response of an imagined interlocutor . He usually puts these statements in quotes to distinguish them from his own : But how does he know where and how he is to look up the word ' red ' and what he is to do with the word ' five ' ? Or Wittgenstein may indicate such a response by beginning with a long dash , as he does before the question above : But what is the meaning of the word ' five ' ?  Wittgenstein shows why the reader 's reaction was misguided : No such thing was in question here , only how the word ' five ' is used . Similarly , Wittgenstein often uses the device of framing many of the remarks as a dialogue between himself and a disputant . For example , Remark 258 proposes a thought experiment in which a certain sensation is associated with the sign ' ' S ' ' written in a calendar . He then sets up a dialogue in which the disputant offers a series of ways of defining ' ' S ' ' , and he meets each with a suitable objection , so drawing the conclusion that in such a case there is no ' ' right ' ' definition of ' ' S ' ' . Through such thought experiments , Wittgenstein attempts to get the reader to come to certain difficult philosophical conclusions independently ; he does not simply argue in favor of his own theories . # Language , meaning , and use # The ' ' Investigations ' ' deals largely with the difficulties of language and meaning . Wittgenstein viewed the tools of language as being fundamentally simple , and he believed that philosophers had obscured this simplicity by misusing language and by asking meaningless questions . He attempted in the ' ' Investigations ' ' to make things clear : ' ' Der Fliege den Ausweg aus dem Fliegenglas zeigen ' ' to show the fly the way out of the fly bottle . # Meaning is use # A common summary of his argument is that meaning is usewords are not defined by reference to the objects they designate , nor by the mental representations one might associate with them , but by how they are used . For example , this means there is no need to postulate that there is something called ' ' good ' ' that exists independently of any good deed . This anthropological perspective contrasts with Platonic realism and with Gottlob Frege 's notions of sense and reference . This argument has been labeled by some authors as anthropological holism. # Meaning and definition # Wittgenstein rejects a variety of ways of thinking about what the meaning of a word is , or how meanings can be identified . He shows how , in each case , the ' ' meaning ' ' of the word presupposes our ability to use it . He first asks the reader to perform a thought experiment : to come up with a definition of the word game . While this may at first seem a simple task , he then goes on to lead us through the problems with each of the possible definitions of the word game . Any definition which focuses on amusement leaves us unsatisfied since the feelings experienced by a world class chess player are very different from those of a circle of children playing Duck Duck Goose . Any definition which focuses on competition will fail to explain the game of catch , or the game of solitaire . And a definition of the word game which focuses on rules will fall on similar difficulties . The essential point of this exercise is often missed . Wittgenstein 's point is not that it is impossible to define game , but that ' ' we do n't have a definition , and we do n't need one ' ' , because even without the definition , we ' ' use ' ' the word successfully . Everybody understands what we mean when we talk about playing a game , and we can even clearly identify and correct inaccurate uses of the word , all without reference to any definition that consists of necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of the concept of a game . The German word for game , Spiele/Spiel , has a different sense than in English ; the meaning of Spiele also extends to the concept of play and playing . This German sense of the word may help readers better understand Wittgenstein 's context in the remarks regarding games . Wittgenstein argues that definitions emerge from what he termed forms of life , roughly the culture and society in which they are used . Wittgenstein stresses the social aspects of cognition ; to see how language works for most cases , we have to see how it functions in a specific social situation . It is this emphasis on becoming attentive to the social backdrop against which language is rendered intelligible that explains Wittgenstein 's elliptical comment that If a lion could talk , we could not understand him . However , in proposing the thought experiment involving the fictional character , Robinson Crusoe , a captain shipwrecked on a desolate island with no other inhabitant , Wittgenstein shows that language is not in all cases a social phenomenon ( although , they are for most case ) ; instead the criterion for a language is grounded in a set of interrelated normative activities : teaching , explanations , techniques and criteria of correctness . In short , it is essential that a language is shareable , but this does not imply that for a language to function that it is in fact already shared . Wittgenstein rejects the idea that ostensive definitions can provide us with the meaning of a word . For Wittgenstein , the thing that the word stands for does ' ' not ' ' give the meaning of the word . Wittgenstein argues for this making a series of moves to show that to understand an ostensive definition presupposes an understanding of the way the word being defined is used . So , for instance , there is no difference between pointing to a piece of paper , to its colour , or to its shape ; but understanding the difference is crucial to using the paper in an ostensive definition of a shape or of a colour . # Family resemblances # Why is it that we are sure a particular activity e.g. Olympic target shooting is a game while a similar activity e.g. military sharp shooting is not ? Wittgenstein 's explanation is tied up with an important analogy . How do we recognize that two people we know are related to one another ? We may see similar height , weight , eye color , hair , nose , mouth , patterns of speech , social or political views , mannerisms , body structure , last names , etc . If we see enough matches we say we 've noticed a family resemblance . It is perhaps important to note that this is not always a conscious process generally we do n't catalog various similarities until we reach a certain threshold , we just intuitively ' ' see ' ' the resemblances . Wittgenstein suggests that the same is true of language . We are all familiar ( i.e. socially ) with enough things which ' ' are games ' ' and enough things which ' ' are not games ' ' that we can categorize new activities as either games or not . This brings us back to Wittgenstein 's reliance on indirect communication , and his reliance on thought-experiments . Some philosophical confusions come about because we are n't able to ' ' see ' ' family resemblances . We 've made a mistake in understanding the vague and intuitive rules that language uses , and have thereby tied ourselves up in philosophical knots . He suggests that an attempt to untangle these knots requires more than simple deductive arguments pointing out the problems with some particular position . Instead , Wittgenstein 's larger goal is to try to divert us from our philosophical problems long enough to become aware of our intuitive ability to ' ' see ' ' the family resemblances. # Language-games # Wittgenstein develops this discussion of games into the key notion of a ' ' language-game ' ' . Wittgenstein introduces the term using simple examples , but intends it to be used for the many ways in which we use language . The central component of language games is that they are uses of language , and language is used in multifarious ways . For example , in one language-game , a word might be used to stand for ( or refer to ) an object , but in another the same word might be used for giving orders , or for asking questions , and so on . The famous example is the meaning of the word game . We speak of various kinds of games : board games , betting games , sports , war games . These are all different uses of the word games . Wittgenstein also gives the example of Water ! , which can be used as an exclamation , an order , a request , or as an answer to a question . The meaning the word has depends on the language-game in which it is used . Another way Wittgenstein puts the point is that the word water has no meaning apart from its use within a language-game . One might use the word as an order to have someone else bring you a glass of water . But it can also be used to warn someone that the water has been poisoned . One might even use the word as code by members of a secret society . Wittgenstein does not limit the application of his concept of language games to word-meaning . He also applies it to sentence-meaning . For example , the sentence Moses did not exist ( 79 ) can mean various things . Wittgenstein argues that independently of use the sentence does not yet ' say ' anything . It is ' meaningless ' in the sense of being insignificant for a particular purpose . It only acquires significance if we fix it within some context of use . Thus , it fails to say anything because the sentence as such does not yet determine some particular use . The sentence is only meaningful when it is used to say something . For instance , it can be used so as to say that no person or historical figure fits the set of descriptions attributed to the person that goes by the name of Moses . But it can also mean that the leader of the Israelites was not called Moses . Or that there can not have been anyone who accomplished all that the Bible relates of Moses . Etc . What the sentence means thus depends on its context of use . # Rules # One general characteristic of games that Wittgenstein considers in detail is the way in which they consist in following rules . Rules constitute a family , rather than a class that can be explicitly defined . As a consequence , it is not possible to provide a definitive account of what it is to follow a rule . Indeed , he argues that ' ' any ' ' course of action can be made out to accord with some particular rule , and that therefore a rule can not be used to explain an action . Rather , that one is following a rule or not is to be decided by looking to see if the actions conform to the expectations in the particular ' ' form of life ' ' in which one is involved . Following a rule is a social activity . # Private language # Wittgenstein also ponders the possibility of a language which talks about those things which are known only to the user , whose content is inherently private . The usual example is that of a language in which one names one 's sensations and other subjective experiences , such that the meaning of the term is decided by the individual alone . For example , the individual names a particular sensation , on some occasion , ' S ' , and intends to use that word to refer to that sensation . Such a language Wittgenstein calls a ' ' private language ' ' . Wittgenstein presents several perspectives on the topic . One point he makes is that it is incoherent to talk of ' ' knowing ' ' that one is in some particular mental state . Whereas others can learn of my pain , for example , I simply ' ' have ' ' my own pain ; it follows that one does not ' ' know ' ' of one 's own pain , one simply ' ' has ' ' a pain . For Wittgenstein , this is a grammatical point , part of the way in which the language-game involving the word pain is played . Although Wittgenstein certainly argues that the notion of private language is incoherent , because of the way in which the text is presented the exact nature of the argument is disputed . First , he argues that a private language is not really a language at all . This point is intimately connected with a variety of other themes in his later works , especially his investigations of meaning . For Wittgenstein , there is no single , coherent sample or object that we can call meaning . Rather , the supposition that there are such things is the source of many philosophical confusions . Meaning is a complicated phenomenon that is woven into the fabric of our lives . A good first approximation of Wittgenstein 's point is that meaning is a ' ' social ' ' event ; meaning happens ' ' between ' ' language users . As a consequence , it makes no sense to talk about a private language , with words that ' ' mean ' ' something in the absence of other users of the language . Wittgenstein also argues that one could n't possibly ' ' use ' ' the words of a private language . He invites the reader to consider a case in which someone decides that each time she has a particular sensation she will place a sign S in a diary . Wittgenstein points out that in such a case one could have no criteria for the correctness of one 's use of S . Again , several examples are considered . One is that perhaps using S involves mentally consulting a table of sensations , to check that one has associated S correctly ; but in this case , how could the mental table be checked for its correctness ? It is as if someone were to buy several copies of the morning paper to assure himself that what it said was true , as Wittgenstein puts it . One common interpretation of the argument is that while one may have direct or privileged access to one 's ' ' current ' ' mental states , there is no such infallible access to identifying previous mental states that one had in the past . That is , the only way to check to see if one has applied the symbol S correctly to a certain mental state is to introspect and determine whether the current sensation is identical to the sensation previously associated with S . And while identifying one 's current mental state of remembering may be infallible , whether one remembered correctly is not infallible . Thus , for a language to be used at all it must have some public criterion of identity . Often , what is widely regarded as a deep philosophical problem will vanish , argues Wittgenstein , and eventually be seen as a confusion about the significance of the words that philosophers use to frame such problems and questions . It is only in this way that it is interesting to talk about something like a private language i.e. , it is helpful to see how the problem results from a misunderstanding . To sum up : Wittgenstein asserts that , if something is a language , it ' ' can not ' ' be ( logically ) private ; and if something ' ' is ' ' private , it is not ( and can not be ) a language . # Wittgenstein 's beetle # Another point that Wittgenstein makes against the possibility of a private language involves the beetle-in-a-box thought experiment . He asks the reader to imagine that each person has a box , inside of which is something that everyone intends to refer to with the word beetle . Further , suppose that no one can look inside another 's box , and each claims to know what a beetle is only by examining their own box . Wittgenstein suggests that , in such a situation , the word beetle could not be the name of a thing , because supposing that each person has something completely different in their boxes ( or nothing at all ) does not change the meaning of the word ; the beetle as a private object drops out of consideration as irrelevant . Thus , Wittgenstein argues , if we can talk about something , then it is not ' ' private ' ' , in the sense considered . And , contrapositively , if we consider something to be indeed private , it follows that we ' ' can not talk about it ' ' . # Kripke 's account # The discussion of private languages was revitalized in 1982 with the publication of Saul Kripke 's book ' ' Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language ' ' . In this work , Kripke uses Wittgenstein 's text to develop a particular type of skepticism about rules which stresses the ' ' communal ' ' nature of language-use as grounding meaning . Kripke 's version of Wittgenstein , although philosophically interesting , has been facetiously called Kripkenstein , with some scholars such as Gordon Baker , Peter Hacker , Colin McGinn , and John McDowell seeing it as a radical misinterpretation of Wittgenstein 's text . # Mind # Wittgenstein 's investigations of language lead to several issues concerning the mind . His key target of criticism is any form of extreme mentalism which posits mental states that are entirely unconnected to the subject 's environment . For Wittgenstein , thought is inevitably tied to language , which is inherently social ; therefore , there is no ' inner ' space in which thoughts can occur . Part of Wittgenstein 's credo is captured in the following proclamation : An ' inner process ' stands in need of outward criteria . This follows primarily from his conclusions about private languages : similarly , a private mental state ( a sensation of pain , for example ) can not be adequately discussed without public criteria for identifying it . According to Wittgenstein , those who insist that consciousness ( or any other apparently subjective mental state ) is conceptually unconnected to the external world are mistaken . Wittgenstein explicitly criticizes so-called conceivability arguments : Could one imagine a stone 's having consciousness ? And if anyone can do sowhy should that not merely prove that such image-mongery is of no interest to us ? He considers and rejects the following reply as well : # But if I suppose that someone is in pain , then I am simply supposing that he has just the same as I have so often had . That gets us no further . It is as if I were to say : You surely know what ' It is 5 o'clock here ' means ; so you also know what ' It 's 5 o'clock on the sun ' means . It means simply that it is just the same there as it is here when it is 5 o'clock . The explanation by means of ' ' identity ' ' does not work here . # Thus , according to Wittgenstein , mental states are intimately connected to a subject 's environment , especially their linguistic environment , and conceivability or imaginability arguments that claim otherwise are misguided . Wittgenstein has also said that language is inherent and transcendental , which is also not difficult to understand , since we can only comprehend and explain transcendental affairs through language . # Wittgenstein and behaviorism # From his remarks on the importance of public , observable behavior ( as opposed to private experiences ) , it may seem that Wittgenstein is simply a behavioristone who thinks that mental states are nothing over and above certain behavior . However , Wittgenstein resists such a characterization ; he writes ( considering what an objector might say ) : # Are you not really a behaviourist in disguise ? Are n't you at bottom really saying that everything except human behaviour is a fiction ? If I do speak of a fiction , then it is of a ' ' grammatical ' ' fiction . # Clearly , Wittgenstein did not want to be a behaviorist , nor did he want to be a Cognitivism ( psychology ) # ' ' Seeing that ' ' vs. ' ' seeing as ' ' # *45;262929;div In addition to ambiguous sentences , Wittgenstein discussed figures which can be seen and understood in two different ways . Often one can see something in a straightforward way seeing ' ' that ' ' it is a rabbit , perhaps . But , at other times , one notices a particular aspect seeing it ' ' as ' ' something . An example Wittgenstein uses is the duckrabbit , an ambiguous image that can be ' ' seen as ' ' either a duck or a rabbit . When one looks at the duck-rabbit and sees a rabbit , one is not ' ' interpreting ' ' the picture as a rabbit , but rather ' ' reporting ' ' what one sees . One just sees the picture as a rabbit . But what occurs when one sees it first as a duck , then as a rabbit ? As the gnomic remarks in the ' ' Investigations ' ' indicate , Wittgenstein is n't sure . However , he is sure that it could not be the case that the external world stays the same while an ' internal ' cognitive change takes place . # Relation to the ' ' Tractatus ' ' # According to the standard reading , in the ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' Wittgenstein repudiates many of his own earlier views , expressed in the ' ' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ' ' . The ' ' Tractatus ' ' , as Bertrand Russell saw it ( though it should be noted that Wittgenstein took strong exception to Russell 's reading ) , had been an attempt to set out a logically perfect language , building on Russell 's own work . In the years between the two works Wittgenstein came to reject the idea that underpinned logical atomism , that there were ultimate simples from which a language should , or even could , be constructed . In remark #23 of ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' he points out that the practice of human language is more complex than the simplified views of language that have been held by those who seek to explain or simulate human language by means of a formal system . It would be a disastrous mistake , according to Wittgenstein , to see language as being in any way analogous to formal logic . Besides stressing the Investigation 's opposition to the ' ' Tractatus ' ' , there are critical approaches which have argued that there is much more continuity and similarity between the two works than supposed . One of these is the New Wittgenstein approach . Norman Malcolm credits Piero Sraffa with providing Wittgenstein with the conceptual break that founded the ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , by means of a rude gesture on Sraffa 's part : # Wittgenstein was insisting that a proposition and that which it describes must have the same ' logical form ' , the same ' logical multiplicity ' , Sraffa made a gesture , familiar to Neapolitans as meaning something like disgust or contempt , of brushing the underneath of his chin with an outward sweep of the finger-tips of one hand . And he asked : ' What is the logical form of that ? ' # 
@@24269 Process philosophy ( or ontology of becoming ) identifies metaphysical reality with change and development . Since the time of Plato and Aristotle , philosophers have posited true reality as timeless , based on permanent substances , while processes are denied or subordinated to timeless substances . If Socrates changes , becoming sick , Socrates is still the same ( the substance of Socrates being the same ) , and change ( his sickness ) only glides over his substance : change is accidental , whereas the substance is essential . Therefore , classic ontology denies any full reality to change , which is conceived as only accidental and not essential . This classical ontology is what made knowledge and a theory of knowledge possible , as it was thought that a science of something in becoming was an impossible feat to achieve . In opposition to the classical model of change as accidental ( as by Aristotle ) or illusory , process philosophy regards change as the cornerstone of reality the cornerstone of the Being thought as Becoming . Modern philosophers who appeal to process rather than substance include Nietzsche , Heidegger , Charles Peirce , Alfred North Whitehead , Alan Watts , Robert M. Pirsig , Charles Hartshorne , Arran Gare and Nicholas Rescher . In physics Ilya Prigogine distinguishes between the physics of being and the physics of becoming . Process philosophy covers not just scientific intuitions and experiences , but can be used as a conceptual bridge to facilitate discussions among religion , philosophy , and science . # History # # In Ancient Greek thought # An early expression of this viewpoint is in Heraclitus 's fragments . He posits strife , ' ' ' ' ( strife , conflict ) , as the underlying basis of all reality defined by change . The balance and opposition in strife were the foundations of change and stability in the flux of existence . # Twentieth century # In early twentieth century philosophy of mathematics , it was undertaken to develop mathematics as an airtight axiomatic system , in which every truth could be derived logically from a set of axioms . In the foundations of mathematics , this project is variously understood as logicism or as part of the formalist program of David Hilbert . Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell attempted to complete , or at least greatly facilitate , this program with their seminal book Principia Mathematica , which purported to build a logically consistent set theory on which to found mathematics . After this , Whitehead extended his interest to natural science , which needs a deeper philosophical basis . He intuited that natural science was struggling to overcome a traditional ontology of timeless material substances , because it does not suit natural phenomena . They are more properly understood as ' process ' . This resulted in the most famous work of process philosophy , Alfred North Whitehead 's ' ' Process and Reality ' ' , 1929 , a work which continues that begun by Hegel but describing a more complex and fluid dynamic ontology . Process thought describes truth as movement in and through determinates ( Hegelian truth ) , rather than describing these determinates as fixed concepts or things ( Aristotelian truth ) . Since Whitehead , process thought is distinguished from Hegel in that it describes entities which arise or coalesce in ' ' becoming ' ' , rather than being simply dialectically determined from prior posited determinates . These entities are referred to as ' ' complexes of occasions of experience ' ' . It is also distinguished in being not necessarily conflictual or oppositional in operation . Process may be integrative , destructive or both together , allowing for aspects of interdependence , influence , and confluence , and addressing coherence in universal as well as particular developments , which aspects are not condign to Hegel 's system . Additionally , instances of determinate occasions of experience , while always ephemeral , are nonetheless seen as important to define the type and continuity of those occasions of experience that flow from or relate to them . # Whitehead 's ' ' Process and Reality ' ' # Alfred North Whitehead began teaching and writing on process and metaphysics when he joined Harvard at 63 years of age . In his book ' ' Science and the Modern World ' ' ( 1925 ) , Whitehead noted that the human intuitions and experiences of science , aesthetics , ethics , and religion influence the worldview of a community , but that in the last several centuries science dominates Western culture . Whitehead sought a holistic , comprehensive cosmology that provides a systematic descriptive theory of the world which can be used for the diverse human intuitions gained through ethical , aesthetic , religious , and scientific experiences , and not just the scientific . Whitehead 's influences were not restricted to philosophers or physicists or mathematicians . He was influenced by the French philosopher Henri Bergson ( 18591941 ) # Process metaphysics # The process metaphysics elaborated in ' ' Process and Reality ' ' posits an ontology which is based on the two kinds of existence of entity , that of actual entity and that of abstract entity or abstraction . Actual entity is a term coined by Whitehead to show the basic realities that shape all things . Actual entities are clusters of events that shape reality . Actual entities do not discuss the substance of anything but talk about how something is happening . The universe is the case based on a series of actual entities intermingled with one another . The ultimate abstract principle of actual existence for Whitehead is creativity . Creativity is a term coined by Whitehead to show a force in the universe that allows the presence of actual entity a new one based on actual entity , others actual entities . It is manifest in what can be called ' singular causality ' . This term may be contrasted with the term ' nomic causality ' . An example of singular causation is that I woke this morning because my alarm clock rang . An example of nomic causation is that alarm clocks generally wake people in the morning . Aristotle recognizes singular causality as efficient causality . For Whitehead , there are many contributory singular causes for an event . A further contributory singular cause of my being awoken by my alarm clock this morning was that I was lying asleep near it till it rang . An actual entity is a general philosophical term for an utterly determinate and completely concrete individual particular of the actually existing world or universe of changeable entities considered in terms of singular causality , about which categorical statements can be made . Whitehead 's most far-reaching and profound and radical contribution to metaphysics is his invention of a better way of choosing the actual entities . Whitehead chooses a way of defining the actual entities that makes them all alike , ' ' qua ' ' actual entities , with a single exception . For example , for Aristotle , the actual entities were the substances , such as Socrates . Besides Aristotle 's ontology of substances , another example of an ontology that posits actual entities is in the monads of Leibniz , which are said to be ' windowless ' . # #Whitehead 's actual entities# # For Whitehead , the actual entities exist as the only foundational elements of reality . The actual entities are of two kinds , temporal and atemporal . With one exception , all actual entities for Whitehead are temporal and are occasions of experience ( which are not to be confused with consciousness ) . An entity that people commonly think of as a simple concrete object , or that Aristotle would think of as a substance , is , in this ontology , considered to be a composite of indefinitely many occasions of experience . A human being is thus composed of indefinitely many occasions of experience . The one exceptional actual entity is at once both temporal and atemporal : God . He is objectively immortal , as well as being immanent in the world . He is objectified in each temporal actual entity ; but He is not an eternal object . The occasions of experience are of four grades . The first grade comprises processes in a physical vacuum such as the propagation of an electromagnetic wave or gravitational influence across empty space . The occasions of experience of the second grade involve just inanimate matter . The occasions of experience of the third grade involve living organisms . Occasions of experience of the fourth grade involve experience in the mode of presentational immediacy , which means more or less what are often called the qualia of subjective experience . So far as we know , experience in the mode of presentational immediacy occurs in only more evolved animals . That some occasions of experience involve experience in the mode of presentational immediacy is the one and only reason why Whitehead makes the occasions of experience his actual entities ; for the actual entities must be of the ultimately general kind . Consequently , it is inessential that an occasion of experience have an aspect in the mode of presentational immediacy ; occasions in the grades one , two , and three , lack that aspect . There is no mind-matter duality in this ontology , because mind is simply seen as an abstraction from an occasion of experience which has also a material aspect , which is of course simply another abstraction from it ; thus the mental aspect and the material aspect are abstractions from one and the same concrete occasion of experience . The brain is part of the body , both being abstractions of a kind known as ' ' persistent physical objects ' ' , neither being actual entities . Though not recognized by Aristotle , there is biological evidence , written about by Galen , that the human brain is an essential seat of human experience in the mode of presentational immediacy . We may say that the brain has a material and a mental aspect , all three being abstractions from their indefinitely many constitutive occasions of experience , which are actual entities . Inherent in each actual entity is its respective dimension of time . Potentially , each Whiteheadean occasion of experience is causally consequential on every other occasion of experience that precedes it in time , and has as its causal consequences every other occasion of experience that follows it in time ; thus it has been said that Whitehead 's occasions of experience are ' all window ' , in contrast to Leibniz 's ' windowless ' monads . In time defined relative to it , each occasion of experience is causally influenced by prior occasions of experiences , and causally influences future occasions of experience . An occasion of experience consists of a process of prehending other occasions of experience , reacting to them . This is the process in process philosophy . Such process is never deterministic . Consequently , free will is essential and inherent to the universe . The causal outcomes obey the usual well-respected rule that the causes precede the effects in time . Some pairs of processes can not be connected by cause-and-effect relations , and they are said to be spatially separated . This is in perfect agreement with the viewpoint of the Einstein theory of special relativity and with the Minkowski geometry of spacetime . It is clear that Whitehead respected these ideas , as may be seen for example in his 1919 book ' ' An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge ' ' as well as in ' ' Process and Reality ' ' . Time in this view is relative to an inertial reference frame , different reference frames defining different versions of time . The actual entities , the occasions of experience , are logically atomic in the sense that an occasion of experience can not be cut and separated into two other occasions of experience . This kind of logical atomicity is perfectly compatible with indefinitely many spatio-temporal overlaps of occasions of experience . One can explain this kind of atomicity by saying that an occasion of experience has an internal causal structure that could not be reproduced in each of the two complementary sections into which it might be cut . Nevertheless , an actual entity can completely contain each of indefinitely many other actual entities . Whitehead 's theory of extension was concerned with the spatio-temporal features of his occasions of experience . Fundamental to both Newtonian and to quantum theoretical mechanics is the concept of velocity . The measurement of a velocity requires a finite spatiotemporal extent . Because it has no finite spatiotemporal extent , a single point of Minkowski space can not be an occasion of experience , but is an abstraction from an infinite set of overlapping or contained occasions of experience , as explained in ' ' Process and Reality ' ' . Though the occasions of experience are atomic , they are not necessarily separate in extension , spatiotemporally , from one another . Indefinitely many occasions of experience can overlap in Minkowski space . Nexus is a term coined by Whitehead to show the network actual entity from universe . In the universe of actual entities spread actual entity . Actual entities are clashing with each other and form other actual entities . The birth of an actual entity based on an actual entity , actual entities around him referred to as nexus . An example of a nexus of temporally overlapping occasions of experience is what Whitehead calls an enduring physical object , which corresponds closely with an Aristotelian substance . An enduring physical object has a temporally earliest and a temporally last member . Every member ( apart from the earliest ) of such a nexus is a causal consequence of the earliest member of the nexus , and every member ( apart from the last ) of such a nexus is a causal antecedent of the last member of the nexus . There are indefinitely many other causal antecedents and consequences of the enduring physical object , which overlap , but are not members , of the nexus . No member of the nexus is spatially separate from any other member . Within the nexus are indefinitely many continuous streams of overlapping nexs , each stream including the earliest and the last member of the enduring physical object . Thus an enduring physical object , like an Aristotelian substance , undergoes changes and adventures during the course of its existence . Another aspect of the atomicity of occasions of experience is that they do not change . An actual entity is what it is . An occasion of experience can be described as a process of change , but it is itself unchangeable. # #Whitehead 's abstractions# # Whitehead 's abstractions are conceptual entities that are abstracted from or derived from and founded upon his actual entities . Abstractions are themselves not actual entities . They are the only entities that can be real but are not actual entities . An abstraction is a conceptual entity that involves more than one single actual entity . Whitehead 's ontology refers to importantly structured collections of actual entities as nexuses of actual entities . Collection of actual entities into a nexus emphasizes some aspect of those entities , and that emphasis is an abstraction , because it means that some aspects of the actual entities are emphasized or dragged away from their actuality , while other aspects are de-emphasized . Eternal objects is a term coined by Whitehead to show the possibilities of pure ( pure ' ' potentials ' ' ) which will be the principle of forming or giver particular form of actual entity . Each form of the actual entity presupposes the existence of a principle that gives a certain shape to it . The principle that gives a particular form of this is the eternal objects . Whitehead admitted indefinitely many eternal objects . An example of an eternal object is a number , such as the number ' two ' . Whitehead held that eternal objects are abstractions of a very high degree of abstraction . Many abstractions , including eternal objects , are potential ingredients of processes . # #Relation between actual entities and abstractions stated in the ontological principle# # For Whitehead , besides its temporal generation by the actual entities which are its contributory causes , a process may be considered as a concrescence of abstract ingredient eternal objects . God enters into every temporal actual entity . Whitehead 's ontological principle is that whatever reality pertains to an abstraction is derived from the actual entities upon which it is founded or of which it is comprised . # #Causation and concrescence of a process# # Concrescence is a term coined by Whitehead to show the process of jointly forming an actual entity that was without form , but about to manifest itself into an entity Actual full ( ' ' satisfaction ' ' ) based on datums or for information on the universe . The process of forming an actual entity is the case based on the existing datums . Concretion process can be regarded as ' ' subjectification process . ' ' Datum is a term coined by Whitehead to show the different variants of information possessed by actual entity . In process philosophy , datum is obtained through the events of concrescence . Every actual entity has a variety of datum . # Commentary on Whitehead and on process philosophy # Whitehead is not an idealist in the strict sense . Whitehead 's ideas were a significant development of the idea of panpsychism ( also known as panexperientialism , because of Whiteheads emphasis on experience ) . # On God # Process philosophy , for some , gives God a special place in the universe of occasions of experience . God encompasses all the other occasions of experience but also transcends them ; thus Whitehead embraces panentheism . Since , it is argued , free will is inherent to the nature of the universe , God is not omnipotent in Whitehead 's metaphysics . God 's role is to offer enhanced occasions of experience . God participates in the evolution of the universe by offering possibilities , which may be accepted or rejected . Whitehead 's thinking here has given rise to process theology , whose prominent advocates include Charles Hartshorne , John B. Cobb , Jr. , and Hans Jonas , who was also influenced by the non-theological philosopher Martin Heidegger . However , other process philosophers have questioned Whitehead 's theology , seeing it as a regressive Platonism . Whitehead enumerated three essential natures of God . The primordial nature of God consists of all potentialities of existence for actual occasions , which Whitehead dubbed eternal objects . God can offer possibilities by ordering the relevance of eternal objects . The consequent nature of God prehends everything that happens in reality . As such , God experiences all of reality in a sentient manner . The last nature is the superjective . This is the way in which Gods synthesis becomes a sense-datum for other actual entities . In some sense , God is prehended by existing actual entities . # Legacy and applications # # Medicine # Several fields of science and especially medicine seem to make liberal use of ideas in process philosophy , notably the theory of pain and healing of the late 20th century . The philosophy of medicine began to deviate somewhat from scientific method and an emphasis on repeatable results in the very late 20th century by embracing population thinking , and a more pragmatic approach to issues in public health , environmental health and especially mental health . In this latter field , R. D. Laing , Thomas Szasz and Michel Foucault were instrumental in moving medicine away from emphasis on cures and towards concepts of individuals in balance with their society , both of which are changing , and against which no benchmarks or finished cures were very likely to be measurable . # Psychology # In psychology , the subject of imagination was again explored more extensively since Whitehead , and the question of feasibility or eternal objects of thought became central to the impaired theory of mind explorations that framed postmodern cognitive science . A biological understanding of the most eternal object , that being the emerging of similar but independent cognitive apparatus , led to an obsession with the process embodiment , that being , the emergence of these cognitions . Like Whitehead 's God , especially as elaborated in J. J. Gibson 's perceptual psychology emphasizing affordances , by ordering the relevance of eternal objects ( especially the cognitions of other such actors ) , the world becomes . Or , it becomes simple enough for human beings to begin to make choices , and to prehend what happens as a result . These experiences may be summed in some sense but can only approximately be shared , even among very similar cognitions with identical DNA . An early explorer of this view was Alan Turing who sought to prove the limits of expressive complexity of human genes in the late 1940s , to put bounds on the complexity of human intelligence and so assess the feasibility of artificial intelligence emerging . Since 2000 , Process Psychology has progressed as an independent academic and therapeutic discipline . # Mathematics # In the philosophy of mathematics , some of Whitehead 's ideas re-emerged in combination with cognitivism as the cognitive science of mathematics and embodied mind theses . Somewhat earlier , exploration of mathematical practice and quasi-empiricism in mathematics from the 1950s to 1980s had sought alternatives to metamathematics in social behaviours around mathematics itself : for instance , Paul Erds 's simultaneous belief in Platonism and a single big book in which all proofs existed , combined with his personal obsessive need or decision to collaborate with the widest possible number of other mathematicians . The process , rather than the outcomes , seemed to drive his explicit behaviour and odd use of language , e.g. , he called God the Supreme Fascist , echoing the role Whitehead assigned , as if the synthesis of Erds and collaborators in seeking proofs , creating sense-datum for other mathematicians , was itself the expression of a divine will . Certainly , Erds behaved as if nothing else in the world mattered , including money or love , as emphasized in his biography ' ' The Man Who Loved Only Numbers ' ' . # Botany # In plant morphology , Rolf Sattler developed a process morphology ( dynamic morphology ) that overcomes the structure/process ( or structure/function ) dualism that is commonly taken for granted in biology . According to process morphology , structures such as leaves of plants do not have processes , they ' ' are ' ' processes . 
@@24694 Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy and jurisprudence which studies basic questions about law and legal systems , such as what is law ? , what are the criteria for legal validity ? , what is the relationship between law and morality ? , and many other similar questions . # What is law ? # The question that has received the most attention from philosophers of law is ' ' What is law ? ' ' Several schools of thought have provided rival answers to this question , the most influential of which are : Natural law theory asserts that there are laws that are immanent in nature , to which enacted laws should correspond as closely as possible . This view is frequently summarized by the maxim : an unjust law is not a true law , in which ' unjust ' is defined as contrary to natural law . Legal positivism is the view that the law is defined by the social rules or practices that identify certain norms as laws . One of the early positivists was Jeremy Bentham , whose views influenced the major non-positivist thinker of the nineteenth century , John Austin . Both held that the law is the command of the sovereign backed by the threat of punishment . Contemporary legal positivism has long abandoned this view . In the twentieth century , two positivists had a profound influence on the philosophy of law . On the continent , Hans Kelsen was the most influential , where his notion of a Grundnorm or a presupposed ultimate and basic legal norm , still retains some influence . In the Anglophone world , the pivotal writer was H. L. A. Hart , who argued that the law should be understood as a system of social rules . Hart rejected Kelsen 's views that sanctions were essential to law and that a normative social phenomenon , like law , can not be grounded in non-normative social facts . According to Hart , law is essentially a system of primary social rules that guide the conduct of law 's subjects , and secondary rules that regulate how the primary rules may be changed , how disputes about them are to be adjudicated and , especially , how the primary rules are to be identified . Hart argues that this last function is performed by a rule of recognition , a customary practice of the officials ( especially judges ) that identifies certain acts and decisions as sources of law . Hart 's theory , although widely admired , has also been criticized by a variety of late twentieth century philosophers of law , including Ronald Dworkin , John Finnis , and Joseph Raz. Legal realism was a view popular with some Scandinavian and American writers . Sceptical in tone , it held that the law should be understood as being determined by the actual practices of courts , law offices , and police stations , rather than as the rules and doctrines set forth in statutes or learned treatises . It had some affinities with the sociology of law . Legal interpretivism is the view , espoused mainly by Ronald Dworkin , that law is not entirely based on social facts , but includes the morally best justification for the institutional facts and practices that we intuitively regard as legal . It follows on Dworkin 's view that one can not know whether a society has a legal system in force , or what any of its laws are , until one knows some moral truths about the justifications for the practices in that society . It is consistent with Dworkin 's viewin contrast with the views of legal positivists or legal realiststhat no one* in a society may know what its laws are ( because no one may know the best justification its practices . ) In recent years , debates about the nature of law have become increasingly fine-grained . One important debate is within legal positivism . One school is sometimes called ' ' exclusive legal positivism ' ' , and it is associated with the view that the legal validity of a norm can never depend on its moral correctness . A second school is labeled ' ' inclusive legal positivism ' ' , and it is associated with the view that moral considerations ' ' may ' ' determine the legal validity of a norm , but that it is not necessary that this is the case . Some philosophers used to contend that positivism was the theory that there is no necessary connection between law and morality ; but influential contemporary positivists , including Joseph Raz , John Gardner , and Leslie Green , reject that view . As Raz points out , it is a necessary truth that there are vices that a legal system can not possibly have ( for example , it can not commit rape or murder ) . In fact , it is even unclear whether Hart himself held this view in its broad form , for he insisted both that to be a legal system rules must have a certain minimum content , which content overlaps with moral concerns , and that it must attain at least some degree of justice in the administration of laws . A second important debate in recent years concerns interpretivism , a view that is associated mainly with Ronald Dworkin . An interpretivist theory of law holds that legal rights and duties are determined by the best interpretation of the political practices of a particular community . Interpretation , according to Dworkin 's law as integrity theory , has two dimensions . To count as an interpretation , the reading of a text must meet the criterion of ' ' fit ' ' . But of those interpretations that fit , Dworkin maintains that the correct interpretation is the one that puts the political practices of the community in their best light , or makes of them ' ' the best that they can be ' ' . But many writers have doubted whether there ' ' is ' ' a single best justification for the complex practices of any given community , and others have doubted whether , even if there are , they should be counted as part of the law of that community . # Normative theories of law # In addition to the question , What is law ? , legal philosophy is also concerned with normative theories of law . What is the goal or purpose of law ? What moral or political theories provide a foundation for the law ? Three approaches have been influential in contemporary moral and political philosophy , and these approaches are reflected in normative theories of law :  Utilitarianism is the view that the laws should be crafted so as to produce the best consequences . Historically , utilitarian thinking about law is associated with the great philosopher , Jeremy Bentham . In contemporary legal theory , the utilitarian approach is frequently championed by scholars who work in the law and economics tradition .  Deontology is the view that the laws should protect individual autonomy , liberty , or rights . The philosopher Immanuel Kant formulated a deontological theory of law ( but not the only possible ) . A contemporary deontological approach can be found in the work of the legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin.  Aretaic moral theories such as contemporary virtue ethics emphasize the role of character in morality . Virtue jurisprudence is the view that the laws should promote the development of virtuous characters by citizens . Historically , this approach is associated with Aristotle . Contemporary virtue jurisprudence is inspired by philosophical work on virtue ethics . There are many other normative approaches to the philosophy of law , including critical legal studies and libertarian theories of law . Studies of evaluative diversity recognize adherence to law as one of several alternative symbiotic forms of evaluation . # Philosophical approaches to legal problems # Philosophers of law are also concerned with a variety of philosophical problems that arise in particular legal subjects , such as constitutional law , contract law , criminal law , and torts . Thus , philosophy of law addresses such diverse topics as theories of contract law , theories of criminal punishment , theories of tort liability , and the question of whether judicial review is justified . # Notable philosophers of law # Plato Aristotle Thomas Aquinas Francisco Suarez Francisco de Vitoria Hugo Grotius Benedict de Spinoza John Locke John Austin ( legal philosophy ) Frederic Bastiat Jeremy Bentham Emilio Betti Antnio Castanheira Neves Jules Coleman Ronald Dworkin Francisco Elas de Tejada y Spnola Miguel Reale John Finnis Lon L. Fuller Leslie Green ( philosopher ) Robert P. George Germain Grisez H . L. A. Hart Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Oliver Wendell Holmes , Jr . Rudolf Jhering Immanuel Kant Hans Kelsen Kenneth Kipnis Joel Feinberg David Lyons Neil MacCormick Karl Marx William E. May Adolf Merkl Jeffrie Murphy Gustav Radbruch Joseph Raz Jeremy Waldron Friedrich Karl von Savigny Robert Summers Roberto Unger John Rawls Pierre Schlag Ellis Washington 
@@24983 Philosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education , and/or which examine the definition , goals and meaning of education . As an academic field , philosophy of education is the philosophical study of education and its problems ... its central subject matter is education , and its methods are those of philosophy . The philosophy of education may be either the philosophy of the process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of education . That is , it may be part of the discipline in the sense of being concerned with the aims , forms , methods , or results of the process of educating or being educated ; or it may be metadisciplinary in the sense of being concerned with the concepts , aims , and methods of the discipline . As such , it is both part of the field of education and a field of applied philosophy , drawing from fields of metaphysics , epistemology , axiology and the philosophical approaches ( speculative , prescriptive , and/or analytic ) to address questions in and about pedagogy , education policy , and curriculum , as well as the process of learning , to name a few . For example , it might study what constitutes upbringing and education , the values and norms revealed through upbringing and educational practices , the limits and legitimization of education as an academic discipline , and the relation between educational theory and practice . Instead of being taught in philosophy departments , philosophy of education is usually housed in departments or colleges of education , similar to how philosophy of law is generally taught in law schools . The multiple ways of conceiving education coupled with the multiple fields and approaches of philosophy make philosophy of education not only a very diverse field but also one that is not easily defined . Although there is overlap , philosophy of education should not be conflated with educational theory , which is not defined specifically by the application of philosophy to questions in education . Philosophy of education also should not be confused with philosophy education , the practice of teaching and learning the subject of philosophy . Philosophy of education can also be understood not as an academic discipline but as a normative educational theory that unifies pedagogy , curriculum , learning theory , and the purpose of education and is grounded in specific metaphysical , epistemological , and axiological assumptions . These theories are also called educational philosophies . For example , a teacher might be said to follow a perennialist educational philosophy or to follow a perennialist philosophy of education . # Philosophy of Education # # Idealism # # #Plato# # Date : 424/423 BC - 348/347 BC Plato 's educational philosophy was grounded in his vision of the ideal ' ' Republic ' ' , wherein the individual was best served by being subordinated to a just society . He advocated removing children from their mothers ' care and raising them as wards of the state , with great care being taken to differentiate children suitable to the various castes , the highest receiving the most education , so that they could act as guardians of the city and care for the less able . Education would be holistic , including facts , skills , physical discipline , and music and art , which he considered the highest form of endeavor . Plato believed that talent was distributed non-genetically and thus must be found in children born in any social class . He builds on this by insisting that those suitably gifted are to be trained by the state so that they may be qualified to assume the role of a ruling class . What this establishes is essentially a system of selective public education premised on the assumption that an educated minority of the population are , by virtue of their education ( and inborn educability ) , sufficient for healthy governance . Plato 's writings contain some of the following ideas : Elementary education would be confined to the guardian class till the age of 18 , followed by two years of compulsory military training and then by higher education for those who qualified . While elementary education made the soul responsive to the environment , higher education helped the soul to search for truth which illuminated it . Both boys and girls receive the same kind of education . Elementary education consisted of music and gymnastics , designed to train and blend gentle and fierce qualities in the individual and create a harmonious person . At the age of 20 , a selection was made . The best students would take an advanced course in mathematics , geometry , astronomy and harmonics . The first course in the scheme of higher education would last for ten years . It would be for those who had a flair for science . At the age of 30 there would be another selection ; those who qualified would study dialectics and metaphysics , logic and philosophy for the next five years . After accepting junior positions in the army for 15 years , a man would have completed his theoretical and practical education by the age of 50. # #Immanuel Kant# # Date : 17241804 Immanuel Kant believed that education differs from training in that the former involves thinking whereas the latter does not . In addition to educating reason , of central importance to him was the development of character and teaching of moral maxims . Kant was a proponent of public education and of learning by doing . The empiricist theory of ' tabula rasa ' was also developed by Ibn Sina . He argued that the human intellect at birth is rather like a ' ' tabula rasa ' ' , a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know and that knowledge is attained through empirical familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts which is developed through a syllogistic method of reasoning ; observations lead to prepositional statements , which when compounded lead to further abstract concepts . He further argued that the intellect itself possesses levels of development from the material intellect ( ' ' al-aql al-hayulani ' ' ) , that potentiality that can acquire knowledge to the active intellect ( ' ' al-aql al-fail ' ' ) , the state of the human intellect in conjunction with the perfect source of knowledge . # #Ibn Tufail# # Date : c. 1105 - 1185 In the 12th century , the Andalusian-Arabian philosopher and novelist Ibn Tufail ( known as Abubacer or Ebn Tophail in the West ) demonstrated the empiricist theory of ' tabula rasa ' as a thought experiment through his Arabic philosophical novel , ' ' Hayy ibn Yaqzan ' ' , in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child from a tabula rasa to that of an adult , in complete isolation from society on a desert island , through experience alone . The Latin translation of his philosophical novel , ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' , published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671 , had an influence on John Locke 's formulation of tabula rasa in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding . # #John Locke# # Date : 1632-1704 In ' ' Some Thoughts Concerning Education ' ' and ' ' Of the Conduct of the Understanding ' ' Locke composed an outline on how to educate this mind in order to increase it 's powers and activity : # The business of education is not , as I think , to make them perfect in any one of the sciences , but so to open and dispose their minds as may best make them capable of any , when they shall apply themselves to it . # # If men are for a long time accustomed only to one sort or method of thoughts , their minds grow stiff in it , and do not readily turn to another . It is therefore to give them this freedom , that I think they should be made to look into all sorts of knowledge , and exercise their understandings in so wide a variety and stock of knowledge . But I do not propose it as a variety and stock of knowledge , but a variety and freedom of thinking , as an increase of the powers and activity of the mind , not as an enlargement of its possessions . # Locke expressed the belief that education maketh the man , or , more fundamentally , that the mind is an empty cabinet , with the statement , I think I may say that of all the men we meet with , nine parts of ten are what they are , good or evil , useful or not , by their education . Locke also wrote that the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences . He argued that the associations of ideas that one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of the self : they are , put differently , what first mark the ' ' tabula rasa ' ' . In his ' ' Essay ' ' , in which is introduced both of these concepts , Locke warns against , for example , letting a foolish maid convince a child that goblins and sprites are associated with the night for darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas , and they shall be so joined , that he can no more bear the one than the other . Associationism , as this theory would come to be called , exerted a powerful influence over eighteenth-century thought , particularly educational theory , as nearly every educational writer warned parents not to allow their children to develop negative associations . It also led to the development of psychology and other new disciplines with David Hartley 's attempt to discover a biological mechanism for associationism in his ' ' Observations on Man ' ' ( 1749 ) . # #Jean-Jacques Rousseau# # Date : 1712-1778 Rousseau , though he paid his respects to Plato 's philosophy , rejected it as impractical due to the decayed state of society . Rousseau also had a different theory of human development ; where Plato held that people are born with skills appropriate to different castes ( though he did not regard these skills as being inherited ) , Rousseau held that there was one developmental process common to all humans . This was an intrinsic , natural process , of which the primary behavioral manifestation was curiosity . This differed from Locke 's ' tabula rasa ' in that it was an active process deriving from the child 's nature , which drove the child to learn and adapt to its surroundings . Rousseau wrote in his book ' ' Emile ' ' that all children are perfectly designed organisms , ready to learn from their surroundings so as to grow into virtuous adults , but due to the malign influence of corrupt society , they often fail to do so . Rousseau advocated an educational method which consisted of removing the child from society -- for example , to a country home -- and alternately conditioning him through changes to his environment and setting traps and puzzles for him to solve or overcome . Rousseau was unusual in that he recognized and addressed the potential of a problem of legitimation for teaching . He advocated that adults always be truthful with children , and in particular that they never hide the fact that the basis for their authority in teaching was purely one of physical coercion : I 'm bigger than you . Once children reached the age of reason , at about 12 , they would be engaged as free individuals in the ongoing process of their own . He once said that a child should grow up without adult interference and that the child must be guided to suffer from the experience of the natural consequences of his own acts or behaviour . When he experiences the consequences of his own acts , he advises himself . Rousseau divides development into five stages ( a book is devoted to each ) . Education in the first two stages seeks to the senses : only when mile is about 12 does the tutor begin to work to develop his mind . Later , in Book 5 , Rousseau examines the education of Sophie ( whom mile is to marry ) . Here he sets out what he sees as the essential differences that flow from sex . ' The man should be strong and active ; the woman should be weak and passive ' ( Everyman edn : 322 ) . From this difference comes a contrasting education . They are not to be brought up in ignorance and kept to housework : Nature means them to think , to will , to love to cultivate their minds as well as their persons ; she puts these weapons in their hands to make up for their lack of strength and to enable them to direct the strength of men . They should learn many things , but only such things as suitable ' ( Everyman edn. : 327 ) . # #Mortimer Jerome Adler# # Date : 1902-2001 Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher , educator , and popular author . As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions . He lived for the longest stretches in New York City , Chicago , San Francisco , and San Mateo , California . He worked for Columbia University , the University of Chicago , Encyclopdia Britannica , and Adler 's own Institute for Philosophical Research . Adler was married twice and had four children . Adler was a proponent of educational perennialism. # #Harry S. Broudy# # Date : 1905-1998 Broudy 's philosophical views were based on the tradition of classical realism , dealing with truth , goodness , and beauty . However he was also influenced by the modern philosophy existentialism and instrumentalism . In his textbook Building a Philosophy of Education he has two major ideas that are the main points to his philosophical outlook : The first is truth and the second is universal structures to be found in humanity 's struggle for education and the good life . Broudy also studied issues on society 's demands on school . He thought education would be a link to unify the diverse society and urged the society to put more trust and a commitment to the schools and a good education . # Scholasticism # # #Thomas Aquinas# # Date : c. 1225 - 1274 See Religious perennialism # #John Milton# # Date : 1608-1674 The objective of medieval education was an overtly religious one , primarily concerned with uncovering transcendental truths that would lead a person back to God through a life of moral and religious choice ( Kreeft 15 ) . The vehicle by which these truths were uncovered was dialectic : # To the medieval mind , debate was a fine art , a serious science , and a fascinating entertainment , much more than it is to the modern mind , because the medievals believed , like Socrates , that dialectic could uncover truth . Thus a scholastic disputation was not a personal contest in cleverness , nor was it sharing opinions ; it was a shared journey of discovery ( Kreeft 14-15 ) . # # Pragmatism # # #John Dewey# # Date : 1859-1952 In ' ' Democracy and Education : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education ' ' , Dewey stated that education , in its broadest sense , is the means of the social continuity of life given the primary ineluctable facts of the birth and death of each one of the constituent members in a social group . Education is therefore a necessity , for the life of the group goes on . Dewey was a proponent of Educational Progressivism and was a relentless campaigner for reform of education , pointing out that the authoritarian , strict , pre-ordained knowledge approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge , and not enough with understanding students ' actual experiences . # #William James# # Date : 18421910 # #William Heard Kilpatrick# # Date : 1871-1965 William Heard Kilpatrick was a US American philosopher of education and a colleague and a successor of John Dewey . He was a major figure in the progressive education movement of the early 20th century . Kilpatrick developed the Project Method for early childhood education , which was a form of Progressive Education organized curriculum and classroom activities around a subject 's central theme . He believed that the role of a teacher should be that of a guide as opposed to an authoritarian figure . Kilpatrick believed that children should direct their own learning according to their interests and should be allowed to explore their environment , experiencing their learning through the natural senses . Proponents of Progressive Education and the Project Method reject traditional schooling that focuses on memorization , rote learning , strictly organized classrooms ( desks in rows ; students always seated ) , and typical forms of assessment . # #Nel Noddings# # Date : 1929 Noddings ' first sole-authored book ' ' Caring : A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education ' ' ( 1984 ) followed close on the 1982 publication of Carol Gilligans ground-breaking work in the ethics of care ' ' In a Different Voice ' ' . While her work on ethics continued , with the publication of ' ' Women and Evil ' ' ( 1989 ) and later works on moral education , most of her later publications have been on the philosophy of education and educational theory . Her most significant works in these areas have been ' ' Educating for Intelligent Belief or Unbelief ' ' ( 1993 ) and ' ' Philosophy of Education ' ' ( 1995 ) . # #Richard Rorty# # Date : 19312007 # Analytic Philosophy # # #Richard Stanley Peters# # Date : 1919- # #Paul H. Hirst# # # Existentialism # # #Karl Jaspers# # Date : 1883-1969 # #Martin Buber# # Date : 1878-1965 # #Maxine Greene# # Date : ? - # Critical Theory # # #Paulo Freire# # Date : 1921-1997 A Brazilian committed to the cause of educating the impoverished peasants of his nation and collaborating with them in the pursuit of their liberation from what he regarded as oppression , Freire is best known for his attack on what he called the banking concept of education , in which the student was viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher . Freire also suggests that a deep reciprocity be inserted into our notions of teacher and student ; he comes close to suggesting that the teacher-student dichotomy be completely abolished , instead promoting the roles of the participants in the classroom as the teacher-student ( a teacher who learns ) and the student-teacher ( a learner who teaches ) . In its early , strong form this kind of classroom has sometimes been criticized on the grounds that it can mask rather than overcome the teacher 's authority . Aspects of the Freirian philosophy have been highly influential in academic debates over participatory development and development more generally . Freire 's emphasis on what he describes as emancipation through interactive participation has been used as a rationale for the participatory focus of development , as it is held that ' participation ' in any form can lead to empowerment of poor or marginalised groups . Freire was a proponent of critical pedagogy . He participated in the import of European doctrines and ideas into Brazil , assimilated them to the needs of a specific socio-economic situation , and thus expanded and refocused them in a thought-provoking way # Postmodernism # # #Martin Heidegger# # Date : 1889-1976 Heidegger 's philosophizing about education was primarily related to higher education . He believed that teaching and research in the university should be unified and aim towards testing and interrogating the ontological assumptions presuppositions which implicitly guide research in each domain of knowledge . # #Hans-Georg Gadamer# # Date : 1900-2002 # #Jean-Franois Lyotard# # Date : 1924-1998 # #Michel Foucault# # Date : 1926-1984 # Normative Educational Philosophies # Normative philosophies or theories of education may make use of the results of philosophical thought and of factual inquiries about human beings and the psychology of learning , but in any case they propound views about what education should be , what dispositions it should cultivate , why it ought to cultivate them , how and in whom it should do so , and what forms it should take . In a full-fledged philosophical normative theory of education , besides analysis of the sorts described , there will normally be propositions of the following kinds : 1 . Basic normative premises about what is good or right ; 2 . Basic factual premises about humanity and the world ; 3 . Conclusions , based on these two kinds of premises , about the dispositions education should foster ; 4 . Further factual premises about such things as the psychology of learning and methods of teaching ; and 5 . Further conclusions about such things as the methods that education should use . # Perennialism # Perennialists believe that one should teach the things that one deems to be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere . They believe that the most important topics develop a person . Since details of fact change constantly , these can not be the most important . Therefore , one should teach principles , not facts . Since people are human , one should teach first about humans , not machines or techniques . Since people are people first , and workers second if at all , one should teach liberal topics first , not vocational topics . The focus is primarily on teaching reasoning and wisdom rather than facts , the liberal arts rather than vocational training . # #Allan Bloom# # Date : 1930-1992 Bloom , a professor of political science at the University of Chicago , argued for a traditional Great Books-based liberal education in his lengthy essay ' ' The Closing of the American Mind ' ' . # Progressivism # Educational progressivism is the belief that education must be based on the principle that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people . Progressivists , like proponents of most educational theories , claim to rely on the best available scientific theories of learning . Most progressive educators believe that children learn as if they were scientists , following a process similar to John Dewey 's model of learning : 1 ) Become aware of the problem . 2 ) Define the problem . 3 ) Propose hypotheses to solve it . 4 ) Evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses from one 's past experience . 5 ) Test the likeliest solution . # #Jean Piaget# # Date : 1896-1980 Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children . His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called genetic epistemology . Piaget placed great importance on the education of children . As the Director of the International Bureau of Education , he declared in 1934 that only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse , whether violent , or gradual . Piaget created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva in 1955 and directed it until 1980 . According to Ernst von Glasersfeld , Jean Piaget is the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing . Jean Piaget described himself as an epistemologist , interested in the process of the qualitative development of knowledge . As he says in the introduction of his book Genetic Epistemology ( ISBN 978-0-393-00596-7 ) : ' ' What the genetic epistemology proposes is discovering the roots of the different varieties of knowledge , since its elementary forms , following to the next levels , including also the scientific knowledge . ' ' # #Jerome Bruner# # Date : 1915- Another important contributor to the inquiry method in education is Bruner . His books ' ' The Process of Education ' ' and ' ' Toward a Theory of Instruction ' ' are landmarks in conceptualizing learning and curriculum development . He argued that any subject can be taught in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development . This notion was an underpinning for his concept of the spiral curriculum which posited the idea that a curriculum should revisit basic ideas , building on them until the student had grasped the full formal concept . He emphasized intuition as a neglected but essential feature of productive thinking . He felt that interest in the material being learned was the best stimulus for learning rather than external motivation such as grades . Bruner developed the concept of discovery learning which promoted learning as a process of constructing new ideas based on current or past knowledge . Students are encouraged to discover facts and relationships and continually build on what they already know . # Essentialism # Educational essentialism is an educational philosophy whose adherents believe that children should learn the traditional basic subjects and that these should be learned thoroughly and rigorously . An essentialist program normally teaches children progressively , from less complex skills to more complex . # #William Chandler Bagley# # Date : 1874-1946 William Chandler Bagley taught in elementary schools before becoming a professor of education at the University of Illinois , where he served as the Director of the School of Education from 1908 until 1917 . He was a professor of education at Teachers College , Columbia , from 1917 to 1940 . An opponent of pragmatism and progressive education , Bagley insisted on the value of knowledge for its own sake , not merely as an instrument , and he criticized his colleagues for their failure to emphasize systematic study of academic subjects . Bagley was a proponent of educational essentialism. # Social Reconstructionism and Critical Pedagogy # Critical pedagogy is an educational movement , guided by passion and principle , to help students develop consciousness of freedom , recognize authoritarian tendencies , and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive action . Based in Marxist theory , critical pedagogy draws on radical democracy , anarchism , feminism , and other movements for social justice . # #George Counts# # Date : 18891974 # #Maria Montessori# # Date : 1870-1952 The Montessori method arose from Dr. Maria Montessori 's discovery of what she referred to as the child 's true normal nature in 1907 , which happened in the process of her experimental observation of young children given freedom in an environment prepared with materials designed for their self-directed learning activity . The method itself aims to duplicate this experimental observation of children to bring about , sustain and support their true natural way of being . # Waldorf # Waldorf education ( also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education ) is a humanistic approach to pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner , the founder of anthroposophy . Learning is interdisciplinary , integrating practical , artistic , and conceptual elements . The approach emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning , developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component . The educational philosophy 's overarching goals are to provide young people the basis on which to develop into free , morally responsible and integrated individuals , and to help every child fulfill his or her unique destiny , the existence of which anthroposophy posits . Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula within collegial structures . # #Rudolf Steiner# # Date : 1861-1925 Steiner founded a holistic educational impulse on the basis of his spiritual philosophy ( anthroposophy ) . Now known as Steiner or Waldorf education , his pedagogy emphasizes a balanced development of cognitive , affective/artistic , and practical skills ( head , heart , and hands ) . Schools are normally self-administered by faculty ; emphasis is placed upon giving individual teachers the freedom to develop creative methods . Steiner 's theory of child development divides education into three discrete developmental stages predating but with close similarities to the stages of development described by Piaget . Early childhood education occurs through imitation ; teachers provide practical activities and a healthy environment . Steiner believed that young children should meet only goodness . Elementary education is strongly arts-based , centered on the teacher 's creative authority ; the elementary school-age child should meet beauty . Secondary education seeks to develop the judgment , intellect , and practical idealism ; the adolescent should meet truth . # Democratic Education # Democratic education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in a school democracy . In a democratic school , there is typically shared decision-making among students and staff on matters concerning living , working , and learning together . # #A . S. Neill# # Date : 1883-1973 Neill founded Summerhill School , the oldest existing democratic school in Suffolk , England in 1921 . He wrote a number of books that now define much of contemporary democratic education philosophy . Neill believed that the happiness of the child should be the paramount consideration in decisions about the child 's upbringing , and that this happiness grew from a sense of personal freedom . He felt that deprivation of this sense of freedom during childhood , and the consequent unhappiness experienced by the repressed child , was responsible for many of the psychological disorders of adulthood . # Classical Education # The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture , with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages . The term classical education has been used in English for several centuries , with each era modifying the definition and adding its own selection of topics . By the end of the 18th century , in addition to the trivium and quadrivium of the Middle Ages , the definition of a classical education embraced study of literature , poetry , drama , philosophy , history , art , and languages . In the 20th and 21st centuries it is used to refer to a broad-based study of the liberal arts and sciences , as opposed to a practical or pre-professional program . Classical Education can be described as rigorous and systematic , separating children and their learning into three rigid categories , Grammar , Dialectic , and Rhetoric . # #Charlotte Mason# # Date : 1842-1923 Mason was a British educator who invested her life in improving the quality of children 's education . Her ideas led to a method used by some homeschoolers . Mason 's philosophy of education is probably best summarized by the principles given at the beginning of each of her books . Two key mottos taken from those principles are Education is an atmosphere , a discipline , a life and Education is the science of relations . She believed that children were born persons and should be respected as such ; they should also be taught the Way of the Will and the Way of Reason . Her motto for students was I am , I can , I ought , I will . Charlotte Mason believed that children should be introduced to subjects through living books , not through the use of compendiums , abstracts , or selections . She used abridged books only when the content was deemed inappropriate for children . She preferred that parents or teachers read aloud those texts ( such as Plutarch and the Old Testament ) , making omissions only where necessary . # Unschooling # Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences , including child directed play , game play , household responsibilities , work experience , and social interaction , rather than through a more traditional school curriculum . Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the children themselves , facilitated by the adults . Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods , as well as other features of traditional schooling , are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child . # #John Holt# # In 1964 Holt published his first book , ' ' How Children Fail ' ' , asserting that the academic failure of schoolchildren was not ' ' despite ' ' the efforts of the schools , but actually ' ' because ' ' of the schools . Not surprisingly , ' ' How Children Fail ' ' ignited a firestorm of controversy . Holt was catapulted into the American national consciousness to the extent that he made appearances on major TV talk shows , wrote book reviews for ' ' Life ' ' magazine , and was a guest on the ' ' To Tell The Truth ' ' TV game show . In his follow-up work , ' ' How Children Learn ' ' , published in 1967 , Holt tried to elucidate the learning process of children and why he believed school short circuits that process . # #Contemplative education# # Contemplative education focuses on bringing spiritual awareness into the pedagogical process . Contemplative approaches may be used in the classroom , especially in tertiary or ( often in modified form ) in secondary education . Parker Palmer is a recent pioneer in contemplative methods . The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society founded a branch focusing on education , The Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education . Contemplative methods may also be used by teachers in their preparation ; Waldorf education was one of the pioneers of the latter approach . In this case , inspiration for enriching the content , format , or teaching methods may be sought through various practices , such as consciously reviewing the previous day 's activities ; actively holding the students in consciousness ; and contemplating inspiring pedagogical texts . Zigler suggested that only through focusing on their own spiritual development could teachers positively impact the spiritual development of students . # Professional organizations and associations # 
@@30062 country = Germany pubdate = 1921 The ' ' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ' ' ( Latin for Logical-Philosophical Treatise ) is the only book-length philosophical work published by the German-Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his lifetime . It was an ambitious project to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science and is recognized as a significant philosophical work of the twentieth century . G. E. Moore originally suggested the work 's Latin title as homage to the ' ' Tractatus Theologico-Politicus ' ' by Baruch Spinoza . Wittgenstein wrote the notes for the ' ' Tractatus ' ' while he was a soldier during World War I and completed it when a prisoner of war at Como and later Cassino in August 1918 . It was first published in German in 1921 as ' ' Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung ' ' . The ' ' Tractatus ' ' was influential chiefly amongst the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle , such as Rudolf Carnap and Friedrich Waismann . Bertrand Russell 's article The Philosophy of Logical Atomism is presented as a working out of ideas that he had learned from Wittgenstein . The ' ' Tractatus ' ' employs a notoriously austere and succinct literary style . The work contains almost no arguments as such , but rather consists of declarative statements which are meant to be self-evident . The statements are hierarchically numbered , with seven basic propositions at the primary level ( numbered 17 ) , with each sub-level being a comment on or elaboration of the statement at the next higher level ( e.g. , 1 , 1.1 , 1.11 , 1.12 ) . Wittgenstein 's later works , notably the posthumously published ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , criticised many of the ideas in the ' ' Tractatus ' ' . # Main theses # There are seven main propositions in the text . These are : # The world is everything that is the case . # What is the case ( a fact ) is the existence of states of affairs . # A logical picture of facts is a thought . # A thought is a proposition with a sense . # A proposition is a truth-function of elementary propositions . ( An elementary proposition is a truth-function of itself. ) # The general form of a proposition is the general form of a truth function , which is : <math> bar p , barxi , N(barxi) </math> . This is the general form of a proposition . # Whereof one can not speak , thereof one must be silent . # Proposition 1 # The first chapter is very brief : This along with the beginning of two can be taken to be the relevant parts of Wittgenstein 's metaphysical view that he will use to support his picture theory of language . # Propositions 2 and 3 # These sections concern Wittgenstein 's view that the sensible , changing world we perceive does not consist of substance but of facts . Proposition two begins with a discussion of objects , form and substance . This epistemic notion is further clarified by a discussion of objects or things as metaphysical substances . His use of ' composite ' in 2.021 can be taken to mean a combination of form and matter , in the Platonic sense . The notion of a static unchanging Form and its identity with Substance represents the metaphysical view that has come to be held as an assumption by the vast majority of the Western philosophical tradition since Plato and Aristotle , as it was something they agreed on . what is called a form or a substance is not generated . ( Z.8 1033b13 ) The opposing view states that unalterable Form does not exist , or at least if there is such a thing , it contains an ever changing , relative substance in a constant state of flux . Although this view was held by Greeks like Heraclitus , it has existed only on the fringe of the Western tradition since then . It is commonly known now only in Eastern metaphysical views where the primary concept of substance is Qi , or something similar , which persists through and beyond any given Form . The former view is shown to be held by Wittgenstein in what follows ... Although Wittgenstein largely disregarded Aristotle ( Ray Monk 's biography suggests that he never read Aristotle at all ) it seems that they shared some anti-Platonist views on the universal/particular issue regarding primary substances . He attacks universals explicitly in his Blue Book . The idea of a general concept being a common property of its particular instances connects up with other primitive , too simple , ideas of the structure of language . It is comparable to the idea that properties are ingredients of the things which have the properties ; e.g. that beauty is an ingredient of all beautiful things as alcohol is of beer and wine , and that we therefore could have pure beauty , unadulterated by anything that is beautiful . And Aristotle agrees : The universal can not be a substance in the manner in which an essence is ( Z.13 1038b17 ) as he begins to draw the line and drift away from the concepts of universal Forms held by his teacher Plato . The concept of Essence , taken alone is a potentiality , and its combination with matter is its actuality . First , the substance of a thing is peculiar to it and does not belong to any other thing . ( Z.13 1038b10 ) , i.e. not universal and we know this is essence . This concept of form/substance/essence , which we 've now collapsed into one , being presented as potential is also , apparently , held by Wittgenstein : Here ends what Wittgenstein deems to be the relevant points of his metaphysical view and he begins in 2.1 to use said view to support his Picture Theory of Language . The Tractatus 's notion of substance is the modal analogue of Kant 's temporal notion . Whereas for Kant , substance is that which persists , ( i.e. , exists at all times ) , for Wittgenstein it is that which , figuratively speaking , persists through a space of possible worlds . Whether the Aristotelian notions of substance came to Wittgenstein via Immanuel Kant , or via Bertrand Russell , or even whether Wittgenstein arrived at his notions intuitively , one can not but see them . The further thesis of 2. &amp; 3. and their subsidiary propositions is Wittgensteins ' ' picture theory ' ' of language . This can be summed up as follows :  The world consists of a totality of interconnected atomic facts , and propositions make pictures of the world .  In order for a picture to represent a certain fact it must in some way possess the same logical structure as the fact . The picture is a standard of reality . In this way , linguistic expression can be seen as a form of geometric projection , where language is the changing form of projection but the logical structure of the expression is the unchanging geometric relationships .  We can not ' ' say ' ' with language what is common in the structures , rather it must be ' ' shown ' ' , because any language we use will also rely on this relationship , and so we can not step out of our language ' ' with ' ' language . # Propositions 4 . ' ' N ' ' to 5 . ' ' N ' ' # The 4s are significant as they contain some of Wittgenstein 's most explicit statements concerning the nature of philosophy and the distinction between what can be said and what can only be shown . It is here , for instance , that he first distinguishes between material and grammatical propositions , noting : A philosophical treatise attempts to ' ' say ' ' something where nothing can properly be said . It is predicated upon the idea that philosophy should be pursued in a way analogous to the natural sciences ; that philosophers are looking to construct true theories . This sense of philosophy does not coincide with Wittgenstein 's conception of philosophy . Wittgenstein is to be credited with the invention or at least the popularization of truth tables ( 4.31 ) and truth conditions ( 4.431 ) which now constitute the standard semantic analysis of first-order sentential logic . The philosophical significance of such a method for Wittgenstein was that it alleviated a confusion , namely the idea that logical inferences are justified by rules . If an argument form is valid , the conjunction of the premises will be logically equivalent to the conclusion and this can be clearly seen in a truth table ; it is ' ' displayed ' ' . The concept of tautology is thus central to Wittgenstein 's Tractarian account of logical consequence , which is strictly deductive . # Proposition 6 . ' ' N ' ' # At the beginning of Proposition 6 , Wittgenstein postulates the essential form of all sentences . He uses the notation <math> bar p , barxi , N(barxi) </math> , where  <math> bar p </math> stands for all atomic propositions ,  <math> barxi </math> stands for any subset of propositions , and  <math> N(barxi) </math> stands for the negation of all propositions making up <math> barxi </math> . What proposition 6. really says is that any logical sentence can be derived from a series of nand operations on the totality of atomic propositions . This is in fact a well-known logical theorem produced by Henry M. Sheffer , of which Wittgenstein makes use . Sheffer 's result was , however , restricted to the propositional calculus , and so , of limited significance . Wittgenstein 's N-operator is however an infinitary analogue of the Sheffer stroke , which applied to a set of propositions produces a proposition that is equivalent to the denial of every member of that set . Wittgenstein shows that this operator can cope with the whole of predicate logic with identity , defining the quantifiers at 5.52 , and showing how identity would then be handled at 5.53-5.532 . The subsidiaries of 6. contain more philosophical reflections on logic , connecting to ideas of knowledge , thought , and the ' ' a priori ' ' and transcendental . The final passages argue that logic and mathematics express only tautologies and are transcendental , i.e. they lie outside of the metaphysical subjects world . In turn , a logically ideal language can not supply meaning , it can only reflect the world , and so , sentences in a logical language can not remain meaningful if they are not merely reflections of the facts . In the final pages , Wittgenstein veers towards what might be seen as religious considerations . This is founded on the gap between propositions 6.5 and 6.4 . A logical positivist might accept the propositions of the ' ' Tractatus ' ' before 6.4 . But 6.51 and the succeeding propositions argue that ethics is also transcendental , and thus we can not examine it with language , as it is a form of aesthetics and can not be expressed . He begins talking of the will , life after death , and God . In his examination of these issues he argues that all discussion of them is a misuse of logic . Specifically , since logical language can only reflect the world , any discussion of the ' ' mystical ' ' , that which lies outside of the metaphysical subject 's world , is meaningless . This suggests that many of the traditional domains of philosophy , e.g. ethics and metaphysics , can not in fact be discussed meaningfully . Any attempt to discuss them immediately loses all sense . This also suggests that his own project of trying to explain language is impossible for exactly these reasons . He suggests that the project of philosophy must ultimately be abandoned for those logical practices which attempt to reflect the world , not what is outside of it . The natural sciences are just such a practice , he suggests . At the very end of the text he borrows an analogy from Arthur Schopenhauer , and compares the book to a ladder that must be thrown away after one has climbed it . # Proposition 7 # As the last line in the book , proposition 7 has no supplementary propositions . It ends the book with the proposition Whereof one can not speak , thereof one must be silent . ( ' ' Wovon man nicht sprechen kann , darber muss man schweigen . ' ' ) Both the first and the final proposition have acquired something of a proverbial quality in German , employed as aphorisms independently of discussion of Wittgenstein . Wittgenstein 's conclusion in Proposition 7 echoes the Old Testament words of Jesus ben Sirach ( , ' ' Yewa ven Sira ' ' ) : ' ' What is too sublime for you , do not seek ; do not reach into things that are hidden from you . What is committed to you , pay heed to ; what is hidden is not your concern . ' ' ( Sirach 3 : 21-22 ) . Saint Thomas Aquinas addressed ben Sirachand , by extension , Wittgensteinin the First Article , First Part , of his ' ' Summa Theologica ' ' : Following Aquinas , moral philosophers and theologians have addressed the problem of religious language for centuries . Moreover , there has been extensive commentary on the relationship between the respective treatises of Wittgenstein ( the ' ' Tractatus ' ' ) and Aquinas ( ' ' Summa Theologica ' ' ) . In addition , Fergus Gordon Kerr , a Roman Catholic priest of the Order of Preachers founded by Saint Dominic , notes that theological questions lie between the lines of all of Wittgenstein 's writing . It is hard to think of a great philosopher , at least since Nietzsche , whose work is equally pervaded by theological considerations . # The picture theory # A prominent view set out in the ' ' Tractatus ' ' is the picture theory . The picture theory is a proposed description of the relation of representation . This view is sometimes called the picture theory of language , but Wittgenstein discusses various representational picturing relationships , including non-linguistic pictures such as photographs and sculptures ( TLP 2.12.225 ) . According to the theory , propositions can picture the world , and thus accurately represent it . If someone thinks the proposition , There is a tree in the yard , then that proposition accurately pictures the world if and only if there is a tree in the yard . If there is no tree in the yard , the proposition does not accurately picture the world . Although something need not be a proposition to represent something in the world , Wittgenstein was largely concerned with the way propositions function as representations . Wittgenstein was inspired for this theory by the way that traffic courts in Paris reenact automobile accidents . A toy car is a representation of a real car , a toy truck is a representation of a real truck , and dolls are representations of people . In order to convey to a judge what happened in an automobile accident , someone in the courtroom might place the toy cars in a position like the position the real cars were in , and move them in the ways that the real cars moved . In this way , the elements of the picture ( the toy cars ) are in spatial relation to one another , and this relation itself pictures the spatial relation between the real cars in the automobile accident . When writing about these picturing situations , Wittgenstein used the word ' ' Bild ' ' , which may be translated as picture or model . Although the theory is commonly known as the picture theory , model is probably a more appropriate way of thinking of what Wittgenstein meant by ' ' Bild ' ' . Pictures have what Wittgenstein calls ' ' Form der Abbildung ' ' , or pictorial form , in virtue of their being similar to what they picture . The fact that the toy car has four wheels , for example , is part of its pictorial form , because the real car had four wheels . The fact that the toy car is significantly smaller than the real car is part of its representational form , or the differences between the picture and what it pictures , which Wittgenstein is interpreted to mean by ' ' Form der Darstellung ' ' . This picturing relationship , Wittgenstein believed , was our key to understanding the relationship a proposition holds to the world . We ca n't ' ' see ' ' a proposition like we can a toy car , yet he believed a proposition must still have a pictorial form . The pictorial form of a proposition is best captured in the pictorial form of a thought , as thoughts consist only of pictorial form . This pictorial form is logical structure . Wittgenstein believed that the parts of the logical structure of thought must somehow correspond to words as parts of the logical structure of propositions , although he did not know exactly how . Here , Wittgenstein ran into a problem he acknowledged widely : we can not think about a picture outside of its representational form . Recall that part of the representational form of toy cars is their sizespecifically , the fact that they are necessarily smaller than the actual cars . Just so , a picture can not express its own pictorial form . One outcome of the picture theory is that ' ' a priori ' ' truth does not exist . Truth comes from the accurate representation of a state of affairs ( i.e. , some aspect of the real world ) by a picture ( i.e. , a proposition ) . The totality of true thoughts is a picture of the world ( TLP 3.01 ) . Thus without holding a proposition up against the real world , we can not tell whether the proposition is true or false . # Logical atomism # Although Wittgenstein did not use the term himself , his metaphysical view throughout the ' ' Tractatus ' ' is commonly referred to as logical atomism . While his logical atomism resembles that of Bertrand Russell , the two views are not strictly the same . Russell 's theory of descriptions is a way of logically analyzing objects in a meaningful way regardless of that object 's existence . According to the theory , a statement like There is a man to my left is made meaningful by analyzing it into : There is some ' ' x ' ' such that ' ' x ' ' is a man and ' ' x ' ' is to my left , and for any ' ' y ' ' , if ' ' y ' ' is a man and ' ' y ' ' is to my left , ' ' y ' ' is identical to ' ' x ' ' . If the statement is true , ' ' x ' ' refers to the man to my left . Whereas Russell believed the names ( like ' ' x ' ' ) in his theory should refer to things we can know epistemically , Wittgenstein thought they should refer to the objects that make up his metaphysics . By ' ' objects ' ' , Wittgenstein did not mean physical objects in the world , but the absolute base of logical analysis , that can be combined but not divided ( TLP 2.022.0201 ) . According to Wittgenstein 's logical-atomistic metaphysical system , objects each have a nature , which is their capacity to combine with other objects . When combined , objects form states of affairs . A state of affairs that obtains is a fact . Facts make up the entirety of the world . Facts are logically independent of one another , as are states of affairs . That is , one state of affair 's ( or fact 's ) existence does not allow us to infer whether another state of affairs ( or fact ) exists or does not exist . Within states of affairs , objects are in particular relations to one another . This is analogous to the spatial relations between toy cars discussed above . The structure of states of affairs comes from the arrangement of their constituent objects ( TLP 2.032 ) , and such arrangement is essential to their intelligibility , just as the toy cars must be arranged in a certain way in order to picture the automobile accident . A fact might be thought of as the obtaining state of affairs that Madison is in Wisconsin , and a possible ( but not obtaining ) state of affairs might be Madison 's being in Utah . These states of affairs are made up of certain arrangements of objects ( TLP 2.023 ) . However , Wittgenstein does not specify what objects are . Madison , Wisconsin , and Utah can not be atomic objects : they are themselves composed of numerous facts . Instead , Wittgenstein believed objects to be the things in the world that would correlate to the smallest parts of a logically analyzed language , such as names like ' ' x ' ' . Our language is not sufficiently ( i.e. , not completely ) analyzed for such a correlation , so one can not ' ' say ' ' what an object is . We can , however , talk about them as indestructible and common to all possible worlds . Wittgenstein believed that the philosopher 's job was to discover the structure of language through analysis . Anthony Kenny provides a useful analogy for understanding Wittgenstein 's logical atomism : a slightly modified game of chess . Just like objects in states of affairs , the chess pieces do not alone constitute the gametheir arrangements , together with the pieces ( objects ) themselves , determine the state of affairs . Through Kenny 's chess analogy , we can see the relationship between Wittgenstein 's logical atomism and his picture theory of representation . For the sake of this analogy , the chess pieces are objects , they and their positions constitute states of affairs and therefore facts , and the totality of facts is the entire particular game of chess . We can communicate such a game of chess in the exact way that Wittgenstein says a proposition represents the world . We might say WR/KR1 to communicate a white rook 's being on the square commonly labeled as king 's rook 1 . Or , to be more thorough , we might make such a report for every piece 's position . The logical form of our reports must be the same logical form of the chess pieces and their arrangement on the board in order to be meaningful . Our communication about the chess game must have as many possibilities for constituents and their arrangement as the game itself . Kenny points out that such logical form need not strictly resemble the chess game . The logical form can be had by the bouncing of a ball ( for example , twenty bounces might communicate a white rook 's being on the king 's rook 1 square ) . One can bounce a ball as many times as one wishes , which means the ball 's bouncing has logical multiplicity , and can therefore share the logical form of the game . A motionless ball can not communicate this same information , as it does not have logical multiplicity . # Distinction between saying and showing # According to the picture theory , when a proposition is thought or expressed , each of its constituent parts correspond ( if the proposition is true ) to some aspect of the world . However , the correspondence itself is something Wittgenstein believed we could not ' ' say ' ' anything about . We can say ' ' that ' ' there is correspondence , but the correspondence itself can only be ' ' shown ' ' . His logical-atomistic metaphysical view led Wittgenstein to believe that we could not ' ' say ' ' anything about the relationship that pictures bear to what they picture . Thus the picture theory allows us to be ' ' shown ' ' that some things can be ' ' said ' ' while others are ' ' shown ' ' . Our language is not sufficient for expressing its own logical structure . Wittgenstein believed that the philosopher 's job was to discover the structure of language through analysis . Something ' ' sayable ' ' must have content that is fully intelligible to a person without that person 's knowing if it is true or false . In the case of something 's inability to be said , such as the logical structure of language , it can only be ' ' shown ' ' . A proposition can ' ' say ' ' something , such as George is tall , but it can not express ( ' ' say ' ' ) this function of itself . It can only ' ' show ' ' that it says that George is tall . # Reception and influence # Wittgenstein concluded that the ' ' Tractatus ' ' had resolved all philosophical problems . The book was translated into English by C. K. Ogden with help from the teenaged Cambridge mathematician and philosopher Frank P. Ramsey . Ramsey later visited Wittgenstein in Austria . Translation issues make the concepts hard to pinpoint , especially given Wittgenstein 's usage of terms and difficulty in translating ideas into words . The ' ' Tractatus ' ' caught the attention of the philosophers of the Vienna Circle ( 19211933 ) , especially Rudolf Carnap and Moritz Schlick . The group spent many months working through the text out loud , line by line . Schlick eventually convinced Wittgenstein to meet with members of the circle to discuss the ' ' Tractatus ' ' when he returned to Vienna ( he was then working as an architect ) . Although the Vienna Circle 's logical positivists appreciated the ' ' Tractatus ' ' , they argued that the last few passages , including Proposition 7 , are confused . Carnap hailed the book as containing important insights , but encouraged people to ignore the concluding sentences . Wittgenstein responded to Schlick , commenting : ... I can not imagine that Carnap should have so completely misunderstood the last sentences of the book and hence the fundamental conception of the entire book . A more recent interpretation comes from the New Wittgenstein family of interpretations under development since 2000 . This so-called resolute reading is controversial and much debated . The main contention of such readings is that Wittgenstein in the ' ' Tractatus ' ' does not provide a theoretical account of language that relegates ethics and philosophy to a mystical realm of the unsayable . Rather , the book has a therapeutic aim . By working through the propositions of the book the reader comes to realize that language is perfectly suited to all his needs , and that philosophy rests on a confused relation to the logic of our language . The confusion that the ' ' Tractatus ' ' seeks to dispel is not a confused theory , such that a correct theory would be a proper way to clear the confusion , rather the need of any such theory is confused . The method of the ' ' Tractatus ' ' is to make the reader aware of the logic of our language as he is already familiar with it , and the effect of thereby dispelling the need for a theoretical account of the logic of our language spreads to all other areas of philosophy . Thereby the confusion involved in putting forward e.g. ethical and metaphysical theories is cleared in the same ' ' coup ' ' . Wittgenstein would not meet the Vienna Circle proper , but only a few of its members , including Schlick , Carnap , and Waissman . Often , though , he refused to discuss philosophy , and would insist on giving the meetings over to reciting the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore with his chair turned to the wall . He largely broke off formal relations even with these members of the circle after coming to believe Carnap had used some of his ideas without permission . The ' ' Tractatus ' ' was the theme of a 1992 film by the Hungarian filmmaker Peter Forgacs . The 32-minute production , named ' ' Wittgenstein Tractatus ' ' , features citations from the ' ' Tractatus ' ' and other works by Wittgenstein . # Editions # The ' ' Tractatus ' ' is the English translation of :  ' ' Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung ' ' , Wilhelm Ostwald ( ed . ) , Annalen der Naturphilosophie , 14 ( 1921 ) . A notable German Edition of the works of Wittgenstein is :  ' ' Werkausgabe ' ' ( Vol. 1 includes the ' ' Tractatus ' ' ) . Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Verlag . Both English translations of the ' ' Tractatus ' ' include an introduction by Bertrand Russell . Wittgenstein revised the Ogden translation .  C. K. Ogden ( 1922 ) , prepared with assistance from G. E. Moore , F. P. Ramsey , and Wittgenstein . Routledge &amp; Kegan Paul , parallel edition including the German text on the facing page to the English text : 1981 printing : ISBN 0-415-05186-X , 1999 Dover reprint  David Pears and Brian McGuinness ( 1961 ) , Routledge , hardcover : ISBN 0-7100-3004-5 , 1974 paperback : ISBN 0-415-02825-6 , 2001 hardcover : ISBN 0-415-25562-7 , 2001 paperback : ISBN 0-415-25408-6 A manuscript version of the ' ' Tractatus ' ' , dubbed and published as the ' ' Prototractatus ' ' , was discovered in 1965 by Georg Henrik von Wright . # Notes # # References #     Ray Monk , ' ' Ludwig Wittgenstein , the Duty of Genius ' ' , Jonathan Cape , 1990. 
@@30340 Pre-Socratic philosophy is Greek philosophy before Socrates ( and includes schools contemporary with Socrates that were not influenced by him ) . In Classical antiquity , the Presocratic philosophers were called physiologoi ( ; in English , physical or natural philosophers ) . Aristotle called them ' ' physikoi ' ' ( physicists , after ' ' physis ' ' , nature ) because they sought natural explanations for phenomena , as opposed to the earlier ' ' theologoi ' ' ( theologians ) , whose philosophical basis was supernatural . Diogenes Lartius divides the ' ' physiologoi ' ' into two groups , Ionian and Italiote , led by Anaximander and Pythagoras , respectively . Hermann Diels popularized the term ' ' pre-socratic ' ' in ' ' Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker ' ' ( ' ' The Fragments of the Pre-Socratics ' ' ) in 1903 . However , the term ' ' pre-Sokratic ' ' was in use as early as George Grote 's ' ' Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates ' ' in 1865 . Major analyses of pre-Socratic thought have been made by Gregory Vlastos , Jonathan Barnes , and Friedrich Nietzsche in his ' ' Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks ' ' . It may sometimes be difficult to determine the actual line of argument some Presocratics used in supporting their particular views . While most of them produced significant texts , none of the texts has survived in complete form . All that is available are quotations by later philosophers ( often biased ) and historians , and the occasional textual fragment . The Presocratic philosophers rejected traditional mythological explanations of the phenomena they saw around them in favor of more rational explanations . These philosophers asked questions about the essence of things : From where does everything come ? From what is everything created ? How do we explain the plurality of things found in nature ? How might we describe nature mathematically ? Others concentrated on defining problems and paradoxes that became the basis for later mathematical , scientific and philosophic study . Later philosophers rejected many of the answers the early Greek philosophers provided , but continued to place importance on their questions . Furthermore , the cosmologies proposed by them have been updated by later developments in science . # History # Western philosophy began in ancient Greece in the 6th century BCE . The Presocratics were mostly from the eastern or western fringes of the Greek world . Their efforts were directed to the investigation of the ultimate basis and essential nature of the external world . They sought the material principle ( ' ' arch ' ' ) of things , and the method of their origin and disappearance . As the first philosophers , they emphasized the rational unity of things , and rejected mythological explanations of the world . Only fragments of the original writings of the presocratics survive . The knowledge we have of them derives from accounts of later philosophical writers ( especially Aristotle , Plutarch , Diogenes Lartius , Stobaeus and Simplicius ) , and some early theologians ( especially Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome ) . The Presocratic thinkers present a discourse concerned with key areas of philosophical inquiry such as being and the cosmos , the primary stuff of the universe , the structure and function of the human soul , and the underlying principles governing perceptible phenomena , human knowledge and morality . # Milesian school # The first Presocratic philosophers were from Miletus on the western coast of Anatolia . Thales ( 624-546 BCE ) is reputedly the father of Greek philosophy ; he declared water to be the basis of all things . Next came Anaximander ( 610-546 BCE ) , the first writer on philosophy . He assumed as the first principle an undefined , unlimited substance without qualities , out of which the primary opposites , hot and cold , moist and dry , became differentiated . His younger contemporary , Anaximenes ( 585-525 BCE ) , took for his principle air , conceiving it as modified , by thickening and thinning , into fire , wind , clouds , water , and earth . # Pythagoreanism # The practical side of philosophy was introduced by Pythagoras of Samos ( 582-496 BCE ) . Regarding the world as perfect harmony , dependent on number , he aimed at inducing humankind likewise to lead a harmonious life . His doctrine was adopted and extended by a large following of Pythagoreans who gathered at his school in south Italy in the town of Croton . His followers included Philolaus ( 470-380 BCE ) , Alcmaeon of Croton , and Archytas ( 428-347 BCE ) . # Ephesian school # Heraclitus of Ephesus on the western coast of Anatolia in modern Turkey ( 535-475 BCE ) posited that all things in nature are in a state of perpetual flux , connected by logical structure or pattern , which he termed ' ' Logos ' ' . To Heraclitus , fire , one of the four classical elements , motivates and substantiates this eternal pattern . From fire all things originate , and return to it again in a process of eternal cycles . # Eleatic school # The Eleatic School , called after the town of Elea ( modern name Velia in south Italy ) , emphasized the doctrine of the One . Xenophanes of Colophon ( 570-470 BCE ) declared God to be the eternal unity , permeating the universe , and governing it by his thought . Parmenides of Elea ( 510-440 BCE ) affirmed the one unchanging existence to be alone true and capable of being conceived , and multitude and change to be an appearance without reality . This doctrine was defended by his younger countryman Zeno of Elea ( 490-430 BCE ) in a polemic against the common opinion which sees in things multitude , becoming , and change . Zeno propounded a number of celebrated paradoxes , much debated by later philosophers , which try to show that supposing that there is any change or multiplicity leads to contradictions . Melissus of Samos ( born c. 470 BCE ) was another eminent member of this school . # Pluralist school # Empedocles of Agrigentum ( 490-430 BCE ) was from the ancient Greek city of Akragas ( ) , Agrigentum in Latin , modern Agrigento , in Sicily . He appears to have been partly in agreement with the Eleatic School , partly in opposition to it . On the one hand , he maintained the unchangeable nature of substance ; on the other , he supposes a plurality of such substances - i.e. four classical elements , earth , water , air , and fire . Of these the world is built up , by the agency of two ideal motive forces - love as the cause of union , strife as the cause of separation . Anaxagoras of Clazomenae ( 500-428 BCE ) in Asia Minor also maintained the existence of an ordering principle as well as a material substance , and while regarding the latter as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary elements , he conceived divine reason or Mind ( ' ' nous ' ' ) as ordering them . He referred all generation and disappearance to mixture and resolution respectively . To him belongs the credit of first establishing philosophy at Athens . # Atomist school # The first explicitly materialistic system was formed by Leucippus ( 5th century BCE ) and his pupil Democritus of Abdera ( 460-370 BCE ) from Thrace . This was the doctrine of atoms - small primary bodies infinite in number , indivisible and imperishable , qualitatively similar , but distinguished by their shapes . Moving eternally through the infinite void , they collide and unite , thus generating objects which differ in accordance with the varieties , in number , size , shape , and arrangement , of the atoms which compose them . # Others # The last of the Presocratic natural philosophers was Diogenes of Apollonia from Thrace ( born c. 460 BCE ) . He was an eclectic philosopher who adopted many principles of the Milesian school , especially the single material principle , which he identified as air . He explained natural processes in reference to the rarefactions and condensations of this primary substance . He also adopted Anaxagoras ' cosmic thought . # Sophism # The Sophists held that all thought rests solely on the apprehensions of the senses and on subjective impression , and that therefore we have no other standards of action than convention for the individual . Specializing in rhetoric , the Sophists were more professional educators than philosophers . They flourished as a result of a special need at that time for Greek education . Prominent Sophists include Protagoras ( 490-420 BCE ) from Abdera in Thrace , Gorgias ( 487-376 BCE ) from Leontini in Sicily , Hippias ( 485-415 BCE ) from Elis in the Peloponnesos , and Prodicus ( 465-390 BCE ) from the island of Ceos. # Other early Greek philosophers # This list includes several men , particularly the Seven Sages , who appear to have been practical politicians and sources of epigrammatic wisdom , rather than speculative thinkers or philosophers in the modern sense . Seven Sages of Greece : Solon ( c. 594 BCE ) : Chilon of Sparta ( c. 560 BCE ) : Thales ( c. 585 BCE ) : Bias of Priene ( c. 570 BCE ) : Cleobulus of Rhodes ( c. 600 BCE ) : Pittacus of Mitylene ( c. 600 BCE ) : Periander ( 625-585 BCE ) Aristeas of Proconnesus ( 7th century BCE ? ) Pherecydes of Syros ( c. 540 BCE ) Anacharsis ( c. 590 BCE ) # Legacy #  The Pre-Socratic method of critical reasoning deployed in the examination of the natural world was applied by Socrates to an examination of the human individual and his social institutions .  Karl Marx 's doctoral thesis The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature evaluates the thought of the Pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus , one of the founders of Atomic theory .  Within the Marxist philosophical tradition the Pre-Socratics are recognized as the first Materialists.  Nietzsche described the Pre-Socratics as ' ' The tyrants of the spirit ' ' , and says of Socrates that the hitherto so wonderfully regular , although certainly too rapid , development of the philosophical science was destroyed in one night.  Karl Popper , one of the 20th Century 's most influential philosophers of science , placed great importance on the critical tradition embodied in the development of Pre-Socratic thought , the analysis of which contributed to his own epistemological theories . His well-known essay on the subject Back to the Pre-Socratics can be found in the anthology of his essays , Conjectures and Refutations - The Growth of Scientific Knowledge , 2nd Edition . Routledge Publishing . 2002. # Editions #  Daniel W. Graham ( ed . ) , ' ' The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy : the Complete Fragments and Selected Testimonies of the Major Presocratics , ' ' 2 vols . ( Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press , 2010 ) . # Notes # 
@@37010 Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations , methods , and implications of science . The central questions concern what counts as science , the reliability of scientific theories , and the purpose of science . This discipline overlaps with metaphysics , ontology and epistemology , for example , when it explores the relationship between science and truth . There is no consensus on many central problems in philosophy of science , including whether science can reveal the truth about unobservable things and whether scientific reasoning can be justified at all . In addition to these general questions about science as a whole , philosophers of science consider problems that apply to particular sciences such as biology or physics . Some philosophers of science also use contemporary results in science to reach conclusions about philosophy . While the relevant history of philosophy dates back at least to Aristotle , philosophy of science emerged as a distinct discipline only in the middle of the 20th century in the wake of logical positivism , a movement that aimed to formulate criteria to ensure all philosophical statements ' meaningfulness and objectively assess them . Thomas Kuhn 's book ' ' The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ' ' brought the word paradigm into the mainstream , meaning the set of practices that define a scientific discipline in a particular period . Kuhn challenged the established view that science achieves clear progress over time . Today , some thinkers seek to ground science in axiomatic assumptions such as the uniformity of nature . The majority of philosophers of science , however , take a coherentist approach to science in which a theory is validated if it makes sense of observations as part of a coherent whole . Still others , and Paul Feyerabend in particular , argue that there is no such thing as the scientific method , so all approaches to science should be allowed , including explicitly supernatural ones . Another approach to thinking about science is to study how knowledge is created from a sociological perspective . Finally , there is a tradition in Continental philosophy which approaches science from the perspective of a rigorous analysis of human experience . Philosophy of the particular sciences ranges from questions about the nature of time raised by Einstein 's general relativity to the implications of economics for public policy . A central theme is whether one scientific discipline can be reduced to the terms of another . That is , can chemistry be reduced to physics , or can sociology be reduced to individual psychology ? The general questions of philosophy of science also arise with greater specificity in the particular sciences . For instance , the question of the validity of scientific reasoning is seen in a different guise in the foundations of statistics . The question of what counts as science and what should be excluded arises as a life-or-death matter in the philosophy of medicine . And philosophies of biology , psychology , and the social sciences explore whether the scientific study of human nature can achieve objectivity or is inevitably shaped by values and social relations . # Introduction # # Defining science # Distinguishing between science and non-science is referred to as the demarcation problem . For example , should psychoanalysis be considered science ? How about so-called creation science , the inflationary multiverse hypothesis , or macroeconomics ? Karl Popper called this the central question in the philosophy of science . However , no unified account of the problem has won acceptance among philosophers , and some regard the problem as unsolvable or uninteresting . Early attempts by the logical positivists grounded science in observation while non-science was non-observational and hence meaningless . Popper argued that the central property of science is falsifiability . That is , every genuinely scientific claim is capable of being proven false , at least in principle . An area of study or speculation that masquerades as science in an attempt to claim a legitimacy that it would not otherwise be able to achieve is referred to as pseudoscience , fringe science , or junk science . Physicist Richard Feynman coined the term cargo cult science for cases in which researchers believe they are doing science because their activities have the outward appearance of it but actually lack the kind of utter honesty that allows their results to be rigorously evaluated . Various types of commercial advertising , ranging from hype to fraud , may fall into these categories . # Scientific explanation # A closely related question is what counts as a good scientific explanation . In addition to providing predictions about future events , society often takes scientific theories to provide explanations for events that occur regularly or have already occurred . Philosophers have investigated the criteria by which a scientific theory can be said to have successfully explained a phenomenon , as well as what it means to say a scientific theory has explanatory power . One early and influential theory of scientific explanation is the Deductive-Nomological model . It says that a successful scientific explanation must deduce the occurrence of the phenomena in question from a scientific law . For example , a chicken observes that each morning the farmer comes and gives it food , for hundreds of days in a row . The chicken may therefore use inductive reasoning to infer that the farmer will bring food ' ' every ' ' morning . However , one morning , the farmer comes and kills the chicken . How is scientific reasoning more trustworthy than the chicken 's reasoning ? Any argument in favor of induction must avoid the problem of the criterion , in which any justification must in turn be justified , resulting in an infinite regress . The regress argument has been used to justify one way out of the infinite regress , foundationalism . Foundationalism claims that there are some basic statements that do not require justification . Both induction and falsification are forms of foundationalism in that they rely on basic statements that derive directly from immediate sensory experience . Another approach is to acknowledge that induction can not achieve certainty , but observing more instances of a general statement can at least make the general statement more probable . So the chicken would be right to conclude from all those mornings that it is likely the farmer will come with food again the next morning , even if it can not be certain . However , there remain difficult questions about what precise probability any given evidence justifies putting on the general statement . One way out of these particular difficulties is to declare that all beliefs about scientific theories are subjective , or personal , and correct reasoning is merely about how evidence should change one 's subjective beliefs over time . Some argue that what scientists do is not inductive reasoning at all but rather abductive reasoning , or inference to the best explanation . In this account , science is not about generalizing specific instances but rather about hypothesizing explanations for what is observed . As discussed in the previous section , it is not always clear what is meant by the best explanation . Ockham 's razor , which counsels choosing the simplest available explanation , thus plays an important role in some versions of this approach . To return to the example of the chicken , would it be simpler to suppose that the farmer cares about it and will continue taking care of it indefinitely or that the farmer is fattening it up for slaughter ? Philosophers have tried to make this heuristic principle more precise in terms of theoretical parsimony or other measures . Yet , although various measures of simplicity have been brought forward as potential candidates , it is generally accepted that there is no such thing as a theory-independent measure of simplicity . In other words , there appear to be as many different measures of simplicity as there are theories themselves , and the task of choosing between measures of simplicity appears to be every bit as problematic as the job of choosing between theories . # Observation inseparable from theory # When making observations , scientists look through telescopes , study images on electronic screens , record meter readings , and so on . Generally , on a basic level , they can agree on what they see , e.g. , the thermometer shows 37.9 degrees C. But , if these scientists have different ideas about the theories that have been developed to explain these basic observations , they may disagree about what they are observing . For example , before Albert Einstein 's general theory of relativity , observers would have likely interpreted the image at left as five different objects in space . In light of that theory , however , astronomers will tell you that is actually only two objects , one in the center and four different images of the same object around the sides . Alternatively , if other scientists suspect that something is wrong with the telescope and only one object is actually being observed , they are operating under yet another theory . Observations that can not be separated from theoretical interpretation are said to be theory-laden . All observation involves both perception and cognition . That is , one does not make an observation passively , but rather is actively engaged in distinguishing the phenomenon being observed from surrounding sensory data . Therefore , observations are affected by one 's underlying understanding of the way in which the world functions , and that understanding may influence what is perceived , noticed , or deemed worthy of consideration . In this sense , it can be argued that all observation is theory-laden . Moreover , most scientific observation must be done within a theoretical context in order to be useful . For example , when one observes a measured increase in temperature with a thermometer , that observation is based on assumptions about the nature of temperature and its measurement , as well as assumptions about how the thermometer functions . Such assumptions are necessary in order to obtain scientifically useful observations ( such as , the temperature increased by two degrees ) . # The purpose of science # Should science aim to determine ultimate truth , or are there questions that science can not answer ? ' ' Scientific realists ' ' claim that science aims at truth and that one ought to regard scientific theories as true , approximately true , or likely true . Conversely , ' ' scientific anti-realists ' ' argue that science does not aim ( or at least does not succeed ) at truth , especially truth about unobservables like electrons or other universes . Instrumentalists argue that scientific theories should only be evaluated on whether they are useful . In their view , whether theories are true or not is beside the point , because the purpose of science is to make predictions and enable effective technology . Realists often point to the success of recent scientific theories as evidence for the truth ( or near truth ) of current theories . who distinguished the forms of approximate and exact reasoning , set out the threefold scheme of abductive , deductive , and inductive inference , and also analyzed reasoning by analogy . The eleventh century Arab polymath Ibn al-Haytham ( known in Latin as Alhazen ) conducted his research in optics by way of controlled experimental testing ( which he called in Arabic : ' ' al-i'tibar ' ' ) and was guided in this by geometrical studies , especially in his investigations in catoptrics and dioptrics . Roger Bacon ( 12141294 ) , an English thinker and experimenter , is recognized by many to be the father of modern scientific method . His view that mathematics was essential to a correct understanding of natural philosophy was considered to be 400 years ahead of its time . # Modern # In the modern period of science , Francis Bacon was a seminal figure at the time of the Scientific Revolution . In his work ' ' Novum Organum ' ' ( 1620 ) a reference to Aristotle 's ' ' Organon ' ' Bacon outlined a new system of logic to improve upon the old philosophical process of syllogism . Bacon 's method relied on experimental ' ' histories ' ' to eliminate alternative theories . Then , in 1637 , Ren Descartes established a new framework for scientific method 's guiding principles in his treatise , ' ' Discourse on Method ' ' , advocating rationalism . The writings of Alhazen , Bacon and Descartes are considered critical in the historical development of the modern scientific method , as are those of John Stuart Mill . David Hume expressed skepticism about the ability of science to determine causality and gave a definitive formulation of the problem of induction . # Logical positivism # Instrumentalism became popular among physicists around the turn of the 20th century , after which logical positivism defined the field for several decades . Logical positivism accepts only testable statements as meaningful , rejects metaphysical interpretations , and embraces verificationism ( a set of theories of knowledge that combines logicism , empiricism , and linguistics to ground philosophy on a basis consistent with examples from the empirical sciences ) . Seeking to overhaul all of philosophy and convert it to a new ' ' scientific philosophy ' ' , the Berlin Circle and the Vienna Circle propounded logical positivism in the late 1920s . Interpreting Ludwig Wittgenstein 's philosophy of language , logical positivists identified a verifiability principle or criterion of cognitive meaningfulness . From Bertrand Russell 's logicism they sought reduction of mathematics to logic . They also embraced Russell 's logical atomism , Ernst Mach 's phenomenalismwhereby the mind knows only actual or potential sensory experience , which is the content of all sciences , whether physics or psychologyand Percy Bridgman 's operationalism . Thereby , only the ' ' verifiable ' ' was scientific and ' ' cognitively meaningful ' ' , whereas the unverifiable was unscientific , cognitively meaningless pseudostatements metaphysical , emotive , or suchnot worthy of further review by philosophers , who were newly tasked to organize knowledge rather than develop new knowledge . Logical positivism became famed for vigorous scientific antirealism to purge science of talk about unobservable thingsincluding causality , mechanism , and principlesalthough that goal has been exaggerated . Still , talk of such unobservables could be allowed as metaphoricaldirect observations viewed in the abstractor at worst metaphysical or emotional . ' ' Theoretical laws ' ' would be reduced to ' ' empirical laws ' ' , while ' ' theoretical terms ' ' would garner meaning from ' ' observational terms ' ' via ' ' correspondence rules ' ' . Mathematics in physics would reduce to symbolic logic via logicism , while rational reconstruction would convert ordinary language into standardized equivalents , all networked and united by a logical syntax . A scientific theory would be stated with its method of verification , whereby a logical calculus or empirical operation could verify its falsity or truth . In the late 1930s , logical positivists fled Germany and Austria for Britain and America . By then , many had replaced Mach 's phenomenalism with Otto Neurath 's physicalism , and Rudolf Carnap had sought to replace ' ' verification ' ' with simply ' ' confirmation ' ' . With World War II 's close in 1945 , logical positivism became milder , ' ' logical empiricism ' ' , led largely by Carl Hempel , in America , who expounded the covering law model of scientific explanation . The logical positivist movement became a major underpinning of analytic philosophy , and dominated Anglosphere philosophy , including philosophy of science , while influencing sciences , into the 1960s . Yet the movement failed to resolve its central problems , and its doctrines were increasingly assaulted . Nevertheless , it brought about the establishment of philosophy of science as a distinct subdiscipline of philosophy , with Carl Hempel playing a key role . # Thomas Kuhn # In his landmark 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn crystallized the reaction against logical positivism . He argued that the process of observation and evaluation take place within a paradigm . By paradigm he meant , essentially , a logically consistent portrait of the world , one that involves no logical contradictions and that is consistent with observations that are made from its point of view . He described the process of observation and puzzle solving which takes place within a paradigm , which he called normal science . He also explained how one paradigm can overtake another , which process he termed a paradigm shift . Kuhn denied that it is ever possible to isolate the hypothesis being tested from the influence of the theory in which the observations are grounded , and he argued that it is not possible to evaluate competing paradigms independently . More than one logically consistent construct can paint a usable likeness of the world , but there is no common ground from which to pit two against each other , theory against theory . Neither is a standard by which the other can be judged , so there is no clear way to measure scientific progress . For Kuhn , the choice of paradigm was sustained by , but not ultimately determined by , logical processes . An individual 's choice between paradigms involves setting two or more portraits against the world and deciding which likeness is most promising . In the case of a general acceptance of one paradigm or another , Kuhn believed that it represented the consensus of the community of scientists . Acceptance or rejection of some paradigm is , he argued , a social process as much as a logical process . Kuhn 's position , however , is not one of relativism . According to Kuhn , a paradigm shift will occur when a significant number of observational anomalies in the old paradigm have made the new paradigm more useful . That is , the choice of a new paradigm is based on observations , even though those observations are made against the background of the old paradigm . # Current approaches # # Axiomatic assumptions # Some thinkers seek to articulate axiomatic assumptions on which science may be based , a form of Foundationalism . Thomas Kuhn concluded that all science was based on an agreed framework of unprovable assumptions about the nature of the universe , rather than simply on empirical facts . These assumptionsa paradigmcomprise a constellation of beliefs , values and techniques that are shared by a given scientific community , which legitimize their practices and set the boundaries of their research . The objective reality is clearly an essential thing if we are to develop a meaningful perspective of the world . Nevertheless its very existence is assumed . . : # Science deals with Objective Reality . Emeritus Professor of Physics Stanley Sobottka said , The assumption of external reality is necessary for science to function and to flourish . For the most part , science is the discovering and explaining of the external world . Without this assumption , there would be only the thoughts and images in our own mind ( which would be the only existing mind ) and there would be no need of science , or anything else . The basis for rationality is acceptance of an external objective reality . Science attempts to produce knowledge that is as universal and objective as possible within the realm of human understanding . Science , at least today , assumes that the universe obeys to knoweable principles that do n't depend on time or place , nor on subjective parameters such as what we think , know or how we behave . : # Nature has regularity and most if not all things in nature must have at least a natural cause . Biologist Stephen Jay Gould referred to these two closely related propositions as the constancy of nature 's laws and the operation of known processes . Simpson agrees that the axiom of uniformity of law , an unprovable postulate , is necessary in order for scientists to extrapolate inductive inference into the unobservable past in order to meaningfully study it . : # Experimental procedures will be done satisfactorily without any deliberate or unintentional mistakes that will influence the results . : # Experimenters wo n't be significantly biased by their presumptions. : # Random sampling is representative of the entire population . A simple random sample ( SRS ) is the most basic probabilistic option used for creating a sample from a population . Each SRS is made of individuals drawn from a larger population , completely at random . As a result , said individuals have an equal chance of being selected throughout the sampling process . The benefit of SRS is that as a result , the investigator is guaranteed to choose a sample which is representative of the population , which ensures statistically valid conclusions . Other proponents argue that such axiomatic assumptions can be justified . The mathematician and self-taught philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote , All science must start with some assumptions as to the ultimate analysis of the facts with which it deals . These assumptions are justified partly by their adherence to the types of occurrence of which we are directly conscious , and partly by their success in representing the observed facts with a certain generality , devoid of ' ' ad hoc ' ' suppositions . Most facts that scientists accept as givens have not personally been observed , for practical limitations mean that most scientists must rely on the testimony about observed experiments of other persons with access to the equipment . At the heart of science is uncertainty uncertainty that the assumptions are correct uncertainty that the results obtained are correct . At the very least , scientists admit that their discipline is subjected to error . Consequently the foundational assumptions of science are accepted by faith , where faith is defined as belief in something without certainty . Scientists must trust in the truthfulness of other scientists . # Coherentism # In contrast to the view that science rests on foundational assumptions , Coherentism asserts that statements are justified by being a part of a coherent system . Or , rather , individual statements can not be validated on their own , but it is only coherent systems that can be justified . A prediction of a transit of Venus is justified by its being coherent with broader beliefs about celestial mechanics and earlier observations . As explained above , observation is a cognitive act . That is , it relies on a pre-existing understanding , a systematic set of beliefs . An observation of a transit of Venus requires a huge range of auxiliary beliefs , such as those that describe the optics of telescopes , the mechanics of the telescope mount , and an understanding of celestial mechanics . If the prediction fails and a transit is not observed , that is likely to occasion an adjustment in the system , a change in some auxiliary assumption , rather than a rejection of the theoretical system . In fact , according to the Duhem-Quine thesis , after Pierre Duhem and Willard Van Orman Quine , it is impossible to test a theory in isolation . One must always add auxiliary hypotheses in order to make testable predictions . For example , to test Newton 's Law of Gravitation in the solar system , one needs information about the masses and positions of the Sun and all the planets . Famously , the failure to predict the orbit of Uranus in the 19th century led not to the rejection of Newton 's Law but rather to the rejection of the hypothesis that there are only seven planets in the solar system . The investigations that followed led to the discovery of an eighth planet , Neptune . If a test fails , something is wrong . But there is a problem in figuring out what that something is : a missing planet , badly calibrated test equipment , an unsuspected curvature of space , etc . One consequence of the Duhem-Quine thesis is that any theory can be made compatible with any empirical observation by the addition of a sufficient number of suitable ' ' ad hoc ' ' hypotheses . This thesis was accepted by Karl Popper , leading him to reject nave falsification . Instead , he favored a ' survival of the fittest ' view in which the most falsifiable scientific theories are to be preferred . # Anything goes # Austrian philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend argued that no description of scientific method could possibly be broad enough to encompass all the approaches and methods used by scientists . He claimed there are no useful and exception-free methodological rules governing the progress of science . Feyerabend objected to prescriptive scientific method on the grounds that any such method would stifle and cramp scientific progress . Feyerabend claimed , the only principle that does not inhibit progress is : ' ' anything goes ' ' . Feyerabend felt that science started as a liberating movement , but over time it had become increasingly dogmatic and rigid , and therefore had become increasingly an ideology , and , despite its successes , science had started to attain some oppressive features . He argued it was not possible to come up with an unambiguous way to distinguish science from religion , magic , or mythology . He felt the exclusive dominance of science as a means of directing society was authoritarian and ungrounded . Promulgation of this epistemological anarchism earned Feyerabend the title of the worst enemy of science from his detractors. # Sociology of scientific knowledge # ' A paradigm is what the members of a community of scientists share , and , conversely , a scientific community consists of men who share a paradigm ' . On Kuhn 's account , science can be done only as a part of a community , and is inherently a communal activity . The fundamental difference between science and other disciplines is in the way in which the communities function . Others , especially Feyerabend and some post-modernist thinkers , have argued that there is insufficient difference between social practices in science and other disciplines to maintain this distinction . It is apparent that social factors play an important and direct role in scientific method , but that they do not serve to differentiate science from other disciplines . Furthermore , although on this account science is socially constructed , it does not follow that reality is a social construct . ( See Science studies and the links there . ) There ' ' are ' ' , however , those who maintain that scientific reality is indeed a social construct , to quote Quine : # Physical objects are conceptually imported into the situation as convenient intermediaries not by definition in terms of experience , but simply as irreducible posits comparable , epistemologically , to the gods of Homer .. For my part I do , qua lay physicist , believe in physical objects and not in Homer 's gods ; and I consider it a scientific error to believe otherwise . But in point of epistemological footing , the physical objects and the gods differ only in degree and not in kind . Both sorts of entities enter our conceptions only as ' ' cultural posits ' ' # The public backlash of scientists against such views , particularly in the 1990s , came to be known as the science wars . A major development in recent decades has been the study of the formation , structure , and evolution of scientific communities by sociologists and anthropologists including David Bloor , Barry Barnes , Harry Collins , Michel Callon , Bruno Latour , John Law , Anselm Strauss , Lucy Suchman , and others . Concepts and methods ( such as rational choice , social choice or game theory ) from economics have also been applied for understanding the efficiency of scientific communities in the production of knowledge . This interdisciplinary field has come to be known as Science and Technology Studies . Here the approach to the philosophy of science is to study how scientific communities actually operate . # Continental philosophy # Philosophers in the Continental philosophical tradition are not traditionally categorized as philosophers of science . However , they have much to say about science , some of which has anticipated themes in the analytical tradition . For example , Nietzsche advanced the thesis in his The Genealogy of Morals that the motive for search of truth in sciences is a kind of ascetic ideal . In general , science in continental philosophy is viewed from a world-historical perspective . One of the first philosophers who supported this view was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . Philosophers such as Pierre Duhem and Gaston Bachelard also wrote their works with this world-historical approach to science , predating Kuhn by a generation or more . All of these approaches involve a historical and sociological turn to science , with a priority on lived experience ( a kind of Husserlian life-world ) , rather than a progress-based or anti-historical approach as done in the analytic tradition . This emphasis can be traced through Edmund Husserl 's phenomenology , the late works of Merleau-Ponty ( ' ' Nature : Course Notes from the Collge de France ' ' , 19561960 ) , and Martin Heidegger 's hermeneutics . The largest effect on the continental tradition with respect to science was Martin Heidegger 's critique of the theoretical attitude in general which of course includes the scientific attitude . For this reason the Continental tradition has remained much more skeptical of the importance of science in human life and philosophical inquiry . Nonetheless , there have been a number of important works : especially a Kuhnian precursor , Alexandre Koyr . Another important development was that of Foucault 's analysis of the historical and scientific thought in ' ' The Order of Things ' ' and his study of power and corruption within the science of madness . Post-Heideggerian authors contributing to the Continental philosophy of science in the second half of the 20th century include Jrgen Habermas ( e.g. , Truth and Justification , 1998 ) , Carl Friedrich von Weizscker ( The Unity of Nature , 1980 ) , and Wolfgang Stegmller ( Probleme und Resultate der Wissenschafttheorie und Analytischen Philosophie , 19731986 ) . # Other topics # # Reductionism # Analysis is the activity of breaking an observation or theory down into simpler concepts in order to understand it . Analysis is as essential to science as it is to all rational activities . For example , the task of describing mathematically the motion of a projectile is made easier by separating out the force of gravity , angle of projection and initial velocity . After such analysis it is possible to formulate a suitable theory of motion . Reductionism can refer to one of several philosophical positions related to this approach . One type of reductionism is the belief that all fields of study are ultimately amenable to scientific explanation . Perhaps a historical event might be explained in sociological and psychological terms , which in turn might be described in terms of human physiology , which in turn might be described in terms of chemistry and physics . Daniel Dennett invented the term ' ' greedy reductionism ' ' to describe the assumption that such reductionism was possible . He claims that it is just ' bad science ' , seeking to find explanations which are appealing or eloquent , rather than those that are of use in predicting natural phenomena . # Social accountability # A broad issue affecting the neutrality of science concerns the areas which science chooses to explore , that is , what part of the world and man is studied by science . Philip Kitcher in his Science , Truth , and Democracy argues that scientific studies that attempt to show one segment of the population as being less intelligent , successful or emotionally backward compared to others have a political feedback effect which further excludes such groups from access to science . Thus such studies undermine the broad consensus required for good science by excluding certain people , and so proving themselves in the end to be unscientific. # Philosophy of particular sciences # In addition to addressing the general questions regarding science and induction , many philosophers of science are occupied by investigating foundational problems in particular sciences . They also examine the implications of particular sciences for broader philosophical questions . The late 20th and early 21st century has seen a rise in the number of practitioners of philosophy of a particular science . # Philosophy of statistics # The problem of induction discussed above is seen in another form in debates over the foundations of statistics . The standard approach to statistical hypothesis testing avoids claims about whether evidence supports a hypothesis or makes it more probable . Instead , the typical test yields a p-value , which is the probability of the ' ' evidence ' ' being such as it is , under the assumption that the hypothesis being tested is true . If the ' ' p ' ' -value is too low , the hypothesis is rejected , in a way analogous to falsification . In contrast , Bayesian inference seeks to assign probabilities to hypotheses . Related topics in philosophy of statistics include probability interpretations , overfitting , and the difference between correlation and causation . # Philosophy of mathematics # Philosophy of mathematics is concerned with the philosophical foundations and implications of mathematics . The central questions are whether numbers , triangles , and other mathematical entities exist independently of the human mind and what is the nature of mathematical propositions . Is asking whether 1+1=2 is true fundamentally different from asking whether a ball is red ? Was calculus invented or discovered ? A related question is whether learning mathematics requires experience or reason alone . What does it mean to prove a mathematical theorem and how does one know whether a mathematical proof is correct ? Philosophers of mathematics also aim to clarify the relationships between mathematics and logic , human capabilities such as intuition , and the material universe . # Philosophy of physics # Philosophy of physics is the study of the fundamental , philosophical questions underlying modern physics , the study of matter and energy and how they interact . The main questions concern the nature of space and time , atoms and atomism . Also included are the predictions of cosmology , the results of the interpretation of quantum mechanics , the foundations of statistical mechanics , causality , determinism , and the nature of physical laws . Classically , several of these questions were studied as part of metaphysics ( for example , those about causality , determinism , and space and time ) . # Philosophy of chemistry # Philosophy of chemistry is the philosophical study of the methodology and content of the science of chemistry . It is explored by philosophers , chemists , and philosopher-chemist teams . It includes research on general philosophy of science issues as applied to chemistry . For example , can all chemical phenomena be explained by quantum mechanics or is it not possible to reduce chemistry to physics ? For another example , chemists have discussed the philosophy of how theories are confirmed in the context of confirming reaction mechanisms . Determining reaction mechanisms is difficult because they can not be observed directly . Chemists can use a number of indirect measures as evidence to rule out certain mechanisms , but they are often unsure if the remaining mechanism is correct because there are many other possible mechanisms that they have not tested or even thought of . Philosophers have also sought to clarify the meaning of chemical concepts which do not refer to specific physical entities , such as chemical bonds . # Philosophy of biology # Philosophy of biology deals with epistemological , metaphysical , and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences . Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long been interested in biology ( e.g. , Aristotle , Descartes , Leibniz and even Kant ) , philosophy of biology only emerged as an independent field of philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s . Philosophers of science began to pay increasing attention to developments in biology , from the rise of the Modern synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s to the discovery of the structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) in 1953 to more recent advances in genetic engineering . Other key ideas such as the reduction of all life processes to biochemical reactions as well as the incorporation of psychology into a broader neuroscience are also addressed . Research in current philosophy of biology includes investigation of the foundations of evolutionary theory . # Philosophy of medicine # Beyond medical ethics and bioethics , the philosophy of medicine is a branch of philosophy that includes the epistemology and ontology/metaphysics of medicine . Within the epistemology of medicine , evidence-based medicine ( EBM ) ( or evidence-based practice ( EBP ) has attracted attention , most notably the roles of randomisation , blinding and placebo controls . Related to these areas of investigation , ontologies of specific interest to the philosophy of medicine include Cartesian dualism , the monogenetic conception of disease and the conceptualization of ' placebos ' and ' placebo effects ' . There is also a growing interest in the metaphysics of medicine , particularly the idea of causation . Philosophers of medicine might not only be interested in how medical knowledge is generated , but also in the nature of such phenomena . Causation is of interest because the purpose of much medical research is to establish causal relationships , e.g. what causes disease , or what causes people to get better . # Philosophy of psychology # Philosophy of psychology refers to issues at the theoretical foundations of modern psychology . Some of these issues are epistemological concerns about the methodology of psychological investigation . For example , is the best method for studying psychology to focus only on the response of behavior to external stimuli or should psychologists focus on mental perception and thought processes ? If the latter , an important question is how the internal experiences of others can be measured . Self-reports of feelings and beliefs may not be reliable because , even in cases in which there is no apparent incentive for subjects to intentionally deceive in their answers , self-deception or selective memory may affect their responses . Then even in the case of accurate self-reports , how can responses be compared across individuals ? Even if two individuals respond with the same answer on a Likert scale , they may be experiencing very different things . Other issues in philosophy of psychology are philosophical questions about the nature of mind , brain , and cognition , and are perhaps more commonly thought of as part of cognitive science , or philosophy of mind . For example , are humans rational creatures ? Is there any sense in which they have free will , and how does that relate to the experience of making choices ? Philosophy of psychology also closely monitors contemporary work conducted in cognitive neuroscience , evolutionary psychology , and artificial intelligence , questioning what they can and can not explain in psychology . Philosophy of psychology is a relatively young field , because psychology only became a discipline of its own in the late 1800s . In particular , neurophilosophy has just recently become its own field with the works of Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland . Philosophy of mind , by contrast , has been a well-established discipline since before psychology was a field of study at all . It is concerned with questions about the very nature of mind , the qualities of experience , and particular issues like the debate between dualism and monism . Another related field is philosophy of language . # Philosophy of economics # Philosophy of economics is the branch of philosophy which studies philosophical issues relating to economics . It can also be defined as the branch of economics which studies its own foundations and morality . It can be categorized into three central topics . The first concerns the definition and scope of economics and by what methods it should be studied . For example , is it possible to research economics in such a way that it is value-free , establishing facts that are independent of the normative views of the researcher ? The second topic is the meaning and implications of rationality . For example , can buying lottery tickets ( increasing the riskiness of your income ) at the same time as buying insurance ( decreasing the riskiness of your income ) be rational ? The third topic is the normative evaluation of economic policies and outcomes . What criteria should be used to determine whether a given public policy is beneficial for society ? # Philosophy of social science # The philosophy of social science is the study of the logic and method of the social sciences , such as sociology , anthropology , and political science . Philosophers of social science are concerned with the differences and similarities between the social and the natural sciences , causal relationships between social phenomena , the possible existence of social laws , and the ontological significance of structure and agency . The French philosopher , Auguste Comte ( 17981857 ) , established the epistemological perspective of positivism in ' ' The Course in Positivist Philosophy ' ' , a series of texts published between 1830 and 1842 . The first three volumes of the ' ' Course ' ' dealt chiefly with the physical sciences already in existence ( mathematics , astronomy , physics , chemistry , biology ) , whereas the latter two emphasised the inevitable coming of social science : ' ' sociologie ' ' . For Comte , the physical sciences had necessarily to arrive first , before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging and complex Queen science of human society itself . Comte offers an evolutionary system proposing that society undergoes three phases in its quest for the truth according to a general ' law of three stages ' . These are ( 1 ) the ' ' theological ' ' , ( 2 ) the ' ' metaphysical ' ' , and ( 3 ) the ' ' positive ' ' . Comte 's positivism established the initial philosophical foundations for formal sociology and social research . Durkheim , Marx , and Weber are more typically cited as the fathers of contemporary social science . In psychology , a positivistic approach has historically been favoured in behaviourism . Positivism has also been espoused by ' technocrats ' who believe in the inevitability of social progress through science and technology . The positivist perspective has been associated with ' scientism ' ; the view that the methods of the natural sciences may be applied to all areas of investigation , be it philosophical , social scientific , or otherwise . Among most social scientists and historians , orthodox positivism has long since lost popular support . Today , practitioners of both social and physical sciences instead take into account the distorting effect of observer bias and structural limitations . This scepticism has been facilitated by a general weakening of deductivist accounts of science by philosophers such as Thomas Kuhn , and new philosophical movements such as critical realism and neopragmatism . The philosopher-sociologist Jrgen Habermas has critiqued pure instrumental rationality as meaning that scientific-thinking becomes something akin to ideology itself . 
@@46439 The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions , foundations , and implications of mathematics . The aim of the philosophy of mathematics is to provide an account of the nature and methodology of mathematics and to understand the place of mathematics in people 's lives . The logical and structural nature of mathematics itself makes this study both broad and unique among its philosophical counterparts . The terms ' ' philosophy of mathematics ' ' and ' ' mathematical philosophy ' ' are frequently used as synonyms . The latter , however , may be used to refer to several other areas of study . One refers to a project of formalizing a philosophical subject matter , say , aesthetics , ethics , logic , metaphysics , or theology , in a purportedly more exact and rigorous form , as for example the labors of scholastic theologians , or the systematic aims of Leibniz and Spinoza . Another refers to the working philosophy of an individual practitioner or a like-minded community of practicing mathematicians . Additionally , some understand the term mathematical philosophy to be an allusion to the approach to the foundations of mathematics taken by Bertrand Russell in his books ' ' The Principles of Mathematics ' ' and ' ' Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy ' ' . # Recurrent themes # Recurrent themes include : What are the sources of mathematical subject matter ? What is the ontological status of mathematical entities ? What does it mean to refer to a mathematical object ? What is the character of a mathematical proposition ? What is the relation between logic and mathematics ? What is the role of hermeneutics in mathematics ? What kinds of inquiry play a role in mathematics ? What are the objectives of mathematical inquiry ? What gives mathematics its hold on experience ? What are the human traits behind mathematics ? What is mathematical beauty ? What is the source and nature of mathematical truth ? What is the relationship between the abstract world of mathematics and the material universe ? # History # The origin of mathematics is subject to argument . Whether the birth of mathematics was a random happening or induced by necessity duly contingent of other subjects , say for example physics , is still a matter of prolific debates . Many thinkers have contributed their ideas concerning the nature of mathematics . Today , some philosophers of mathematics aim to give accounts of this form of inquiry and its products as they stand , while others emphasize a role for themselves that goes beyond simple interpretation to critical analysis . There are traditions of mathematical philosophy in both Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy . Western philosophies of mathematics go as far back as Plato , who studied the ontological status of mathematical objects , and Aristotle , who studied logic and issues related to infinity ( actual versus potential ) . Ancient Greece These earlier Greek ideas of numbers were later upended by the discovery of the irrationality of the square root of two . Hippasus , a disciple of Pythagoras , showed that the diagonal of a unit square was incommensurable with its ( unit-length ) edge : in other words he proved there was no existing ( rational ) number that accurately depicts the proportion of the diagonal of the unit square to its edge . This caused a significant re-evaluation of Greek philosophy of mathematics . According to legend , fellow Pythagoreans were so traumatized by this discovery that they murdered Hippasus to stop him from spreading his heretical idea . Simon Stevin was one of the first in Europe to challenge Greek ideas in the 16th century . Beginning with Leibniz , the focus shifted strongly to the relationship between mathematics and logic . This perspective dominated the philosophy of mathematics through the time of Frege and of Russell , but was brought into question by developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . # 20th century # A perennial issue in the philosophy of mathematics concerns the relationship between logic and mathematics at their joint foundations . While 20th century philosophers continued to ask the questions mentioned at the outset of this article , the philosophy of mathematics in the 20th century was characterized by a predominant interest in formal logic , set theory , and foundational issues . It is a profound puzzle that on the one hand mathematical truths seem to have a compelling inevitability , but on the other hand the source of their truthfulness remains elusive . Investigations into this issue are known as the foundations of mathematics program . At the start of the 20th century , philosophers of mathematics were already beginning to divide into various schools of thought about all these questions , broadly distinguished by their pictures of mathematical epistemology and ontology . Three schools , formalism , intuitionism , and logicism , emerged at this time , partly in response to the increasingly widespread worry that mathematics as it stood , and analysis in particular , did not live up to the standards of certainty and rigor that had been taken for granted . Each school addressed the issues that came to the fore at that time , either attempting to resolve them or claiming that mathematics is not entitled to its status as our most trusted knowledge . Surprising and counter-intuitive developments in formal logic and set theory early in the 20th century led to new questions concerning what was traditionally called the ' ' foundations of mathematics ' ' . As the century unfolded , the initial focus of concern expanded to an open exploration of the fundamental axioms of mathematics , the axiomatic approach having been taken for granted since the time of Euclid around 300 BCE as the natural basis for mathematics . Notions of axiom , proposition and proof , as well as the notion of a proposition being true of a mathematical object ( see Assignment ( mathematical logic ) ) , were formalized , allowing them to be treated mathematically . The ZermeloFraenkel axioms for set theory were formulated which provided a conceptual framework in which much mathematical discourse would be interpreted . In mathematics , as in physics , new and unexpected ideas had arisen and significant changes were coming . With Gdel numbering , propositions could be interpreted as referring to themselves or other propositions , enabling inquiry into the consistency of mathematical theories . This reflective critique in which the theory under review becomes itself the object of a mathematical study led Hilbert to call such study ' ' metamathematics ' ' or ' ' proof theory ' ' . As the 20th century progressed , however , philosophical opinions diverged as to just how well-founded were the questions about foundations that were raised at the century 's beginning . Hilary Putnam summed up one common view of the situation in the last third of the century by saying : # When philosophy discovers something wrong with science , sometimes science has to be changedRussell 's paradox comes to mind , as does George Berkeley # Philosophy of mathematics today proceeds along several different lines of inquiry , by philosophers of mathematics , logicians , and mathematicians , and there are many schools of thought on the subject . The schools are addressed separately in the next section , and their assumptions explained . # Major themes # # Mathematical realism # ' ' Mathematical realism ' ' , like realism in general , holds that mathematical entities exist independently of the human mind . Thus humans do not invent mathematics , but rather discover it , and any other intelligent beings in the universe would presumably do the same . In this point of view , there is really one sort of mathematics that can be discovered ; triangles , for example , are real entities , not the creations of the human mind . Many working mathematicians have been mathematical realists ; they see themselves as discoverers of naturally occurring objects . Examples include Paul Erds and Kurt Gdel . Gdel believed in an objective mathematical reality that could be perceived in a manner analogous to sense perception . Certain principles ( e.g. , for any two objects , there is a collection of objects consisting of precisely those two objects ) could be directly seen to be true , but the continuum hypothesis conjecture might prove undecidable just on the basis of such principles . Gdel suggested that quasi-empirical methodology could be used to provide sufficient evidence to be able to reasonably assume such a conjecture . Within realism , there are distinctions depending on what sort of existence one takes mathematical entities to have , and how we know about them . Major forms of mathematical realism include Platonism and Empiricism . # Mathematical anti-realism # Mathematical anti-realism generally holds that mathematical statements have truth-values , but that they do not do so by corresponding to a special realm of immaterial or non-empirical entities . Major forms of mathematical anti-realism include Formalism and Fictionalism. # Contemporary schools of thought # # Platonism # ' ' Mathematical Platonism ' ' is the form of realism that suggests that mathematical entities are abstract , have no spatiotemporal or causal properties , and are eternal and unchanging . This is often claimed to be the view most people have of numbers . The term ' ' Platonism ' ' is used because such a view is seen to parallel Plato 's Theory of Forms and a World of Ideas ( Greek : ' ' eidos ' ' ( ) described in Plato 's Allegory of the cave : the everyday world can only imperfectly approximate an unchanging , ultimate reality . Both ' ' Plato 's cave ' ' and ' ' Platonism ' ' have meaningful , not just superficial connections , because Plato 's ideas were preceded and probably influenced by the hugely popular ' ' Pythagoreans ' ' of ancient Greece , who believed that the world was , quite literally , generated by numbers . The major problem of mathematical platonism is this : precisely where and how do the mathematical entities exist , and how do we know about them ? Is there a world , completely separate from our physical one , that is occupied by the mathematical entities ? How can we gain access to this separate world and discover truths about the entities ? One answer might be the Ultimate Ensemble , which is a theory that postulates all structures that exist mathematically also exist physically in their own universe . Plato spoke of mathematics by : I mean , as I was saying , that arithmetic has a very great and elevating effect , compelling the soul to reason about abstract number , and rebelling against the introduction of visible or tangible objects into the argument . You know how steadily the masters of the art repel and ridicule any one who attempts to divide absolute unity when he is calculating , and if you divide , they multiply , taking care that one shall continue one and not become lost in fractions . That is very true . Now , suppose a person were to say to them : O my friends , what are these wonderful numbers about which you are reasoning , in which , as you say , there is a unity such as you demand , and each unit is equal , invariable , indivisible , --what would they answer ? In context , chapter 8 , of H.D.P. Lee 's translation , reports the education of a philosopher contains five mathematical disciplines : #mathematics ; #arithmetic , written in unit fraction parts using theoretical unities and abstract numbers ; #plane geometry and solid geometry also considered the line to be segmented into rational and irrational unit parts ; #astronomy #harmonics Translators of the works of Plato rebelled against practical versions of his culture 's practical mathematics . However , Plato himself and Greeks had copied 1,500 older Egyptian fraction abstract unities , one being a hekat unity scaled to ( 64/64 ) in the Akhmim Wooden Tablet , thereby not getting lost in fractions . Gdel 's Platonism postulates a special kind of mathematical intuition that lets us perceive mathematical objects directly . ( This view bears resemblances to many things Husserl said about mathematics , and supports Kant 's idea that mathematics is synthetic ' ' a priori ' ' . ) Davis and Hersh have suggested in their book ' ' The Mathematical Experience ' ' that most mathematicians act as though they are Platonists , even though , if pressed to defend the position carefully , they may retreat to formalism ( see below ) . Some mathematicians hold opinions that amount to more nuanced versions of Platonism . Full-blooded Platonism is a modern variation of Platonism , which is in reaction to the fact that different sets of mathematical entities can be proven to exist depending on the axioms and inference rules employed ( for instance , the law of the excluded middle , and the axiom of choice ) . It holds that all mathematical entities exist , however they may be provable , even if they can not all be derived from a single consistent set of axioms. # Empiricism # ' ' Empiricism ' ' is a form of realism that denies that mathematics can be known ' ' a priori ' ' at all . It says that we discover mathematical facts by empirical research , just like facts in any of the other sciences . It is not one of the classical three positions advocated in the early 20th century , but primarily arose in the middle of the century . However , an important early proponent of a view like this was John Stuart Mill . Mill 's view was widely criticized , because , according to critics , it makes statements like 4 come out as uncertain , contingent truths , which we can only learn by observing instances of two pairs coming together and forming a quartet . Contemporary mathematical empiricism , formulated by Quine and Putnam , is primarily supported by the ' ' indispensability argument ' ' : mathematics is indispensable to all empirical sciences , and if we want to believe in the reality of the phenomena described by the sciences , we ought also believe in the reality of those entities required for this description . That is , since physics needs to talk about electrons to say why light bulbs behave as they do , then electrons must exist . Since physics needs to talk about numbers in offering any of its explanations , then numbers must exist . In keeping with Quine and Putnam 's overall philosophies , this is a naturalistic argument . It argues for the existence of mathematical entities as the best explanation for experience , thus stripping mathematics of being distinct from the other sciences . Putnam strongly rejected the term Platonist as implying an over-specific ontology that was not necessary to mathematical practice in any real sense . He advocated a form of pure realism that rejected mystical notions of truth and accepted much quasi-empiricism in mathematics . Putnam was involved in coining the term pure realism ( see below ) . The most important criticism of empirical views of mathematics is approximately the same as that raised against Mill . If mathematics is just as empirical as the other sciences , then this suggests that its results are just as fallible as theirs , and just as contingent . In Mill 's case the empirical justification comes directly , while in Quine 's case it comes indirectly , through the coherence of our scientific theory as a whole , i.e. consilience after E.O . Wilson . Quine suggests that mathematics seems completely certain because the role it plays in our web of belief is incredibly central , and that it would be extremely difficult for us to revise it , though not impossible . For a philosophy of mathematics that attempts to overcome some of the shortcomings of Quine and Gdel 's approaches by taking aspects of each see Penelope Maddy 's ' ' Realism in Mathematics ' ' . Another example of a realist theory is the embodied mind theory ( below ) . For a modern revision of mathematical empiricism see New Empiricism ( below ) . For experimental evidence suggesting that human infants can do elementary arithmetic , see Brian Butterworth. # Mathematical monism # Max Tegmark 's mathematical universe hypothesis goes further than full-blooded Platonism in asserting that not only do all mathematical objects exist , but nothing else does . Tegmark 's sole postulate is : ' ' All structures that exist mathematically also exist physically ' ' . That is , in the sense that in those worlds complex enough to contain self-aware substructures they will subjectively perceive themselves as existing in a physically ' real ' world . # Logicism # ' ' Logicism ' ' is the thesis that mathematics is reducible to logic , and hence nothing but a part of logic . Logicists hold that mathematics can be known ' ' a priori ' ' , but suggest that our knowledge of mathematics is just part of our knowledge of logic in general , and is thus analytic , not requiring any special faculty of mathematical intuition . In this view , logic is the proper foundation of mathematics , and all mathematical statements are necessary logical truths . Rudolf Carnap ( 1931 ) presents the logicist thesis in two parts : #The ' ' concepts ' ' of mathematics can be derived from logical concepts through explicit definitions . #The ' ' theorems ' ' of mathematics can be derived from logical axioms through purely logical deduction . Gottlob Frege was the founder of logicism . In his seminal ' ' Die Grundgesetze der Arithmetik ' ' ( ' ' Basic Laws of Arithmetic ' ' ) he built up arithmetic from a system of logic with a general principle of comprehension , which he called Basic Law V ( for concepts ' ' F ' ' and ' ' G ' ' , the extension of ' ' F ' ' equals the extension of ' ' G ' ' if and only if for all objects ' ' a ' ' , ' ' Fa ' ' if and only if ' ' Ga ' ' ) , a principle that he took to be acceptable as part of logic . Frege 's construction was flawed . Russell discovered that Basic Law V is inconsistent ( this is Russell 's paradox ) . Frege abandoned his logicist program soon after this , but it was continued by Russell and Whitehead . They attributed the paradox to vicious circularity and built up what they called ramified type theory to deal with it . In this system , they were eventually able to build up much of modern mathematics but in an altered , and excessively complex form ( for example , there were different natural numbers in each type , and there were infinitely many types ) . They also had to make several compromises in order to develop so much of mathematics , such as an axiom of reducibility . Even Russell said that this axiom did not really belong to logic . Modern logicists ( like Bob Hale , Crispin Wright , and perhaps others ) have returned to a program closer to Frege 's . They have abandoned Basic Law V in favor of abstraction principles such as Hume 's principle ( the number of objects falling under the concept ' ' F ' ' equals the number of objects falling under the concept ' ' G ' ' if and only if the extension of ' ' F ' ' and the extension of ' ' G ' ' can be put into one-to-one correspondence ) . Frege required Basic Law V to be able to give an explicit definition of the numbers , but all the properties of numbers can be derived from Hume 's principle . This would not have been enough for Frege because ( to paraphrase him ) it does not exclude the possibility that the number 3 is in fact Julius Caesar . In addition , many of the weakened principles that they have had to adopt to replace Basic Law V no longer seem so obviously analytic , and thus purely logical . # Formalism # ' ' Formalism ' ' holds that mathematical statements may be thought of as statements about the consequences of certain string manipulation rules . For example , in the game of Euclidean geometry ( which is seen as consisting of some strings called axioms , and some rules of inference to generate new strings from given ones ) , one can prove that the Pythagorean theorem holds ( that is , you can generate the string corresponding to the Pythagorean theorem ) . According to formalism , mathematical truths are not about numbers and sets and triangles and the likein fact , they are n't about anything at all . Another version of formalism is often known as deductivism . In deductivism , the Pythagorean theorem is not an absolute truth , but a relative one : ' ' if ' ' you assign meaning to the strings in such a way that the rules of the game become true ( i.e. , true statements are assigned to the axioms and the rules of inference are truth-preserving ) , ' ' then ' ' you have to accept the theorem , or , rather , the interpretation you have given it must be a true statement . The same is held to be true for all other mathematical statements . Thus , formalism need not mean that mathematics is nothing more than a meaningless symbolic game . It is usually hoped that there exists some interpretation in which the rules of the game hold . ( Compare this position to structuralism . ) But it does allow the working mathematician to continue in his or her work and leave such problems to the philosopher or scientist . Many formalists would say that in practice , the axiom systems to be studied will be suggested by the demands of science or other areas of mathematics . A major early proponent of formalism was David Hilbert , whose program was intended to be a complete and consistent axiomatization of all of mathematics . Hilbert aimed to show the consistency of mathematical systems from the assumption that the finitary arithmetic ( a subsystem of the usual arithmetic of the positive integers , chosen to be philosophically uncontroversial ) was consistent . Hilbert 's goals of creating a system of mathematics that is both complete and consistent were dealt a fatal blow by the second of Gdel 's incompleteness theorems , which states that sufficiently expressive consistent axiom systems can never prove their own consistency . Since any such axiom system would contain the finitary arithmetic as a subsystem , Gdel 's theorem implied that it would be impossible to prove the system 's consistency relative to that ( since it would then prove its own consistency , which Gdel had shown was impossible ) . Thus , in order to show that any axiomatic system of mathematics is in fact consistent , one needs to first assume the consistency of a system of mathematics that is in a sense stronger than the system to be proven consistent . Hilbert was initially a deductivist , but , as may be clear from above , he considered certain metamathematical methods to yield intrinsically meaningful results and was a realist with respect to the finitary arithmetic . Later , he held the opinion that there was no other meaningful mathematics whatsoever , regardless of interpretation . Other formalists , such as Rudolf Carnap , Alfred Tarski , and Haskell Curry , considered mathematics to be the investigation of formal axiom systems . Mathematical logicians study formal systems but are just as often realists as they are formalists . Formalists are relatively tolerant and inviting to new approaches to logic , non-standard number systems , new set theories etc . The more games we study , the better . However , in all three of these examples , motivation is drawn from existing mathematical or philosophical concerns . The games are usually not arbitrary . The main critique of formalism is that the actual mathematical ideas that occupy mathematicians are far removed from the string manipulation games mentioned above . Formalism is thus silent on the question of which axiom systems ought to be studied , as none is more meaningful than another from a formalistic point of view . Recently , some formalist mathematicians have proposed that all of our ' ' formal ' ' mathematical knowledge should be systematically encoded in computer-readable formats , so as to facilitate automated proof checking of mathematical proofs and the use of interactive theorem proving in the development of mathematical theories and computer software . Because of their close connection with computer science , this idea is also advocated by mathematical intuitionists and constructivists in the computability tradition ( see below ) . See QED project for a general overview . # Conventionalism # The French mathematician Henri Poincar was among the first to articulate a conventionalist view . Poincar 's use of non-Euclidean geometries in his work on differential equations convinced him that Euclidean geometry should not be regarded as ' ' a priori ' ' truth . He held that axioms in geometry should be chosen for the results they produce , not for their apparent coherence with human intuitions about the physical world . # Psychologism # Psychologism in the philosophy of mathematics is the position that mathematical concepts and/or truths are grounded in , derived from or explained by psychological facts ( or laws ) . John Stuart Mill seems to have been an advocate of a type of logical psychologism , as were many 19th-century German logicians such as Sigwart and Erdmann as well as a number of psychologists , past and present : for example , Gustave Le Bon . Psychologism was famously criticized by Frege in his ' ' The Foundations of Arithmetic ' ' , and many of his works and essays , including his review of Husserl 's ' ' Philosophy of Arithmetic ' ' . Edmund Husserl , in the first volume of his ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' , called The Prolegomena of Pure Logic , criticized psychologism thoroughly and sought to distance himself from it . The Prolegomena is considered a more concise , fair , and thorough refutation of psychologism than the criticisms made by Frege , and also it is considered today by many as being a memorable refutation for its decisive blow to psychologism . Psychologism was also criticized by Charles Sanders Peirce and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. # Intuitionism # In mathematics , intuitionism is a program of methodological reform whose motto is that there are no non-experienced mathematical truths ( L.E.J. Brouwer ) . From this springboard , intuitionists seek to reconstruct what they consider to be the corrigible portion of mathematics in accordance with Kantian concepts of being , becoming , intuition , and knowledge . Brouwer , the founder of the movement , held that mathematical objects arise from the ' ' a priori ' ' forms of the volitions that inform the perception of empirical objects . A major force behind intuitionism was L.E.J. Brouwer , who rejected the usefulness of formalized logic of any sort for mathematics . His student Arend Heyting postulated an intuitionistic logic , different from the classical Aristotelian logic ; this logic does not contain the law of the excluded middle and therefore frowns upon proofs by contradiction . The axiom of choice is also rejected in most intuitionistic set theories , though in some versions it is accepted . Important work was later done by Errett Bishop , who managed to prove versions of the most important theorems in real analysis within this framework . In intuitionism , the term explicit construction is not cleanly defined , and that has led to criticisms . Attempts have been made to use the concepts of Turing machine or computable function to fill this gap , leading to the claim that only questions regarding the behavior of finite algorithms are meaningful and should be investigated in mathematics . This has led to the study of the computable numbers , first introduced by Alan Turing . Not surprisingly , then , this approach to mathematics is sometimes associated with theoretical computer science . # #Constructivism# # Like intuitionism , constructivism involves the regulative principle that only mathematical entities which can be explicitly constructed in a certain sense should be admitted to mathematical discourse . In this view , mathematics is an exercise of the human intuition , not a game played with meaningless symbols . Instead , it is about entities that we can create directly through mental activity . In addition , some adherents of these schools reject non-constructive proofs , such as a proof by contradiction . # #Finitism# # Finitism is an extreme form of constructivism , according to which a mathematical object does not exist unless it can be constructed from natural numbers in a finite number of steps . In her book ' ' Philosophy of Set Theory ' ' , Mary Tiles characterized those who allow countably infinite objects as classical finitists , and those who deny even countably infinite objects as strict finitists . The most famous proponent of finitism was Leopold Kronecker , who said : Ultrafinitism is an even more extreme version of finitism , which rejects not only infinities but finite quantities that can not feasibly be constructed with available resources . # Structuralism # Structuralism is a position holding that mathematical theories describe structures , and that mathematical objects are exhaustively defined by their ' ' places ' ' in such structures , consequently having no intrinsic properties . For instance , it would maintain that all that needs to be known about the number 1 is that it is the first whole number after 0 . Likewise all the other whole numbers are defined by their places in a structure , the number line . Other examples of mathematical objects might include lines and planes in geometry , or elements and operations in abstract algebra . Structuralism is an epistemologically realistic view in that it holds that mathematical statements have an objective truth value . However , its central claim only relates to what ' ' kind ' ' of entity a mathematical object is , not to what kind of ' ' existence ' ' mathematical objects or structures have ( not , in other words , to their ontology ) . The kind of existence mathematical objects have would clearly be dependent on that of the structures in which they are embedded ; different sub-varieties of structuralism make different ontological claims in this regard . The ' ' Ante Rem ' ' , or fully realist , variation of structuralism has a similar ontology to Platonism in that structures are held to have a real but abstract and immaterial existence . As such , it faces the usual problems of explaining the interaction between such abstract structures and flesh-and-blood mathematicians . ' ' In Re ' ' , or moderately realistic , structuralism is the equivalent of Aristotelian realism . Structures are held to exist inasmuch as some concrete system exemplifies them . This incurs the usual issues that some perfectly legitimate structures might accidentally happen not to exist , and that a finite physical world might not be big enough to accommodate some otherwise legitimate structures . The ' ' Post Res ' ' or eliminative variant of structuralism is anti-realist about structures in a way that parallels nominalism . According to this view mathematical ' ' systems ' ' exist , and have structural features in common . If something is true of a structure , it will be true of all systems exemplifying the structure . However , it is merely convenient to talk of structures being held in common between systems : they in fact have no independent existence . # Embodied mind theories # ' ' Embodied mind theories ' ' hold that mathematical thought is a natural outgrowth of the human cognitive apparatus which finds itself in our physical universe . For example , the abstract concept of number springs from the experience of counting discrete objects . It is held that mathematics is not universal and does not exist in any real sense , other than in human brains . Humans construct , but do not discover , mathematics . With this view , the physical universe can thus be seen as the ultimate foundation of mathematics : it guided the evolution of the brain and later determined which questions this brain would find worthy of investigation . However , the human mind has no special claim on reality or approaches to it built out of math . If such constructs as Euler 's identity are true then they are true as a map of the human mind and cognition . Embodied mind theorists thus explain the effectiveness of mathematicsmathematics was constructed by the brain in order to be effective in this universe . The most accessible , famous , and infamous treatment of this perspective is ' ' Where Mathematics Comes From ' ' , by George Lakoff and Rafael E. Nez . In addition , mathematician Keith Devlin has investigated similar concepts with his book ' ' The Math Instinct ' ' , as has neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene with his book ' ' The Number Sense ' ' . For more on the philosophical ideas that inspired this perspective , see cognitive science of mathematics . # #New empiricism# # A more recent empiricism returns to the principle of the English empiricists of the 18th and 19th centuries , in particular John Stuart Mill , who asserted that all knowledge comes to us from observation through the senses . This applies not only to matters of fact , but also to relations of ideas , as Hume called them : the structures of logic which interpret , organize and abstract observations . To this principle it adds a materialist connection : all the processes of logic which interpret , organize and abstract observations , are physical phenomena which take place in real time and physical space : namely , in the brains of human beings . Abstract objects , such as mathematical objects , are ideas , which in turn exist as electrical and chemical states of the billions of neurons in the human brain . This second concept is reminiscent of the social constructivist approach , which holds that mathematics is produced by humans rather than being discovered from abstract , ' ' a priori ' ' truths . However , it differs sharply from the constructivist implication that humans arbitrarily construct mathematical principles that have no inherent truth but which instead are created on a conveniency basis . On the contrary , new empiricism shows how mathematics , although constructed by humans , follows rules and principles that will be agreed on by all who participate in the process , with the result that everyone practicing mathematics comes up with the same answerexcept in those areas where there is philosophical disagreement on the meaning of fundamental concepts . This is because the new empiricism perceives this agreement as being a physical phenomenon , one which is observed by other humans in the same way that other physical phenomena , like the motions of inanimate bodies , or the chemical interaction of various elements , are observed . Combining the materialist principle with Millisian epistemology evades the principal difficulty with classical empiricismthat all knowledge comes from the senses . That difficulty lies in the observation that mathematical truths based on logical deduction appear to be more certainly true than knowledge of the physical world itself . ( The physical world in this case is taken to mean the portion of it lying outside the human brain . ) Kant argued that the structures of logic which organize , interpret and abstract observations were built into the human mind and were true and valid ' ' a priori ' ' . Mill , on the contrary , said that we believe them to be true because we have enough individual instances of their truth to generalize : in his words , From instances we have observed , we feel warranted in concluding that what we found true in those instances holds in all similar ones , past , present and future , however numerous they may be . Although the psychological or epistemological specifics given by Mill through which we build our logical apparatus may not be completely warranted , his explanation still nonetheless manages to demonstrate that there is no way around Kant 's ' ' a priori ' ' logic . To recant Mill 's original idea in an empiricist twist : ' ' Indeed , the very principles of logical deduction are true because we observe that using them leads to true conclusions ' ' , which is itself an ' ' a priori ' ' presupposition . If all this is true , then where do the world senses come in ? The early empiricists all stumbled over this point . Hume asserted that all knowledge comes from the senses , and then gave away the ballgame by excepting abstract propositions , which he called relations of ideas . These , he said , were absolutely true ( although the mathematicians who thought them up , being human , might get them wrong ) . Mill , on the other hand , tried to deny that abstract ideas exist outside the physical world : all numbers , he said , must be numbers of something : there are no such things as numbers in the abstract . When we count to eight or add five and three we are really counting spoons or bumblebees . All things possess quantity , he said , so that propositions concerning numbers are propositions concerning all things whatever . But then in almost a contradiction of himself he went on to acknowledge that numerical and algebraic expressions are not necessarily attached to real world objects : they do not excite in our minds ideas of any things in particular . Mill 's low reputation as a philosopher of logic , and the low estate of empiricism in the century and a half following him , derives from this failed attempt to link abstract thoughts to the physical world , when it may be more plausibly arguable that abstraction consists precisely of separating the thought from its physical foundations . The conundrum created by our certainty that abstract deductive propositions , if valid ( i.e. if we can prove them ) , are true , exclusive of observation and testing in the physical world , gives rise to a further reflection ... What if thoughts themselves , and the minds that create them , are physical objects , existing only in the physical world ? This would reconcile the contradiction between our belief in the certainty of abstract deductions and the empiricist principle that knowledge comes from observation of individual instances . We know that Euler 's equation is true because every time a human mind derives the equation , it gets the same result , unless it has made a mistake , which can be acknowledged and corrected . We observe this phenomenon , and we extrapolate to the general proposition that it is always true . This applies not only to physical principles , like the law of gravity , but to abstract phenomena that we observe only in human brains : in ours and in those of others . # #Aristotelian realism# # Similar to empiricism in emphasizing the relation of mathematics to the real world , Aristotelian realism holds that mathematics studies properties such as symmetry , continuity and order that can be literally realized in the physical world ( or in any other world there might be ) . It contrasts with Platonism in holding that the objects of mathematics , such as numbers , do not exist in an abstract world but can be physically realized . For example , the number 4 is realized in the relation between a heap of parrots and the universal being a parrot that divides the heap into so many parrots . Aristotelian realism is defended by James Franklin and the in the philosophy of mathematics and is close to the view of Penelope Maddy that when an egg carton is opened , a set of three eggs is perceived ( that is , a mathematical entity realized in the physical world ) . A problem for Aristotelian realism is what account to give of higher infinities , which may not be realizable in the physical world . # Fictionalism # Fictionalism in mathematics was brought to fame in 1980 when Hartry Field published ' ' Science Without Numbers ' ' , which rejected and in fact reversed Quine 's indispensability argument . Where Quine suggested that mathematics was indispensable for our best scientific theories , and therefore should be accepted as a body of truths talking about independently existing entities , Field suggested that mathematics was dispensable , and therefore should be considered as a body of falsehoods not talking about anything real . He did this by giving a complete axiomatization of Newtonian mechanics that did n't reference numbers or functions at all . He started with the betweenness of Hilbert 's axioms to characterize space without coordinatizing it , and then added extra relations between points to do the work formerly done by vector fields . Hilbert 's geometry is mathematical , because it talks about abstract points , but in Field 's theory , these points are the concrete points of physical space , so no special mathematical objects at all are needed . Having shown how to do science without using numbers , Field proceeded to rehabilitate mathematics as a kind of useful fiction . He showed that mathematical physics is a conservative extension of his non-mathematical physics ( that is , every physical fact provable in mathematical physics is already provable from Field 's system ) , so that mathematics is a reliable process whose physical applications are all true , even though its own statements are false . Thus , when doing mathematics , we can see ourselves as telling a sort of story , talking as if numbers existed . For Field , a statement like 4 is just as fictitious as Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street but both are true according to the relevant fictions . By this account , there are no metaphysical or epistemological problems special to mathematics . The only worries left are the general worries about non-mathematical physics , and about fiction in general . Field 's approach has been very influential , but is widely rejected . This is in part because of the requirement of strong fragments of second-order logic to carry out his reduction , and because the statement of conservativity seems to require quantification over abstract models or deductions. # Social constructivism or social realism # ' ' Social constructivism ' ' or ' ' social realism ' ' theories see mathematics primarily as a social construct , as a product of culture , subject to correction and change . Like the other sciences , mathematics is viewed as an empirical endeavor whose results are constantly evaluated and may be discarded . However , while on an empiricist view the evaluation is some sort of comparison with reality , social constructivists emphasize that the direction of mathematical research is dictated by the fashions of the social group performing it or by the needs of the society financing it . However , although such external forces may change the direction of some mathematical research , there are strong internal constraintsthe mathematical traditions , methods , problems , meanings and values into which mathematicians are enculturatedthat work to conserve the historically defined discipline . This runs counter to the traditional beliefs of working mathematicians , that mathematics is somehow pure or objective . But social constructivists argue that mathematics is in fact grounded by much uncertainty : as mathematical practice evolves , the status of previous mathematics is cast into doubt , and is corrected to the degree it is required or desired by the current mathematical community . This can be seen in the development of analysis from reexamination of the calculus of Leibniz and Newton . They argue further that finished mathematics is often accorded too much status , and folk mathematics not enough , due to an overemphasis on axiomatic proof and peer review as practices . However , this might be seen as merely saying that rigorously proven results are overemphasized , and then look how chaotic and uncertain the rest of it all is ! The social nature of mathematics is highlighted in its subcultures . Major discoveries can be made in one branch of mathematics and be relevant to another , yet the relationship goes undiscovered for lack of social contact between mathematicians . Social constructivists argue each speciality forms its own epistemic community and often has great difficulty communicating , or motivating the investigation of unifying conjectures that might relate different areas of mathematics . Social constructivists see the process of doing mathematics as actually creating the meaning , while social realists see a deficiency either of human capacity to abstractify , or of human 's cognitive bias , or of mathematicians ' collective intelligence as preventing the comprehension of a real universe of mathematical objects . Social constructivists sometimes reject the search for foundations of mathematics as bound to fail , as pointless or even meaningless . Some social scientists also argue that mathematics is not real or objective at all , but is affected by racism and ethnocentrism . Some of these ideas are close to postmodernism . Contributions to this school have been made by Imre Lakatos and Thomas Tymoczko , although it is not clear that either would endorse the title . More recently Paul Ernest has explicitly formulated a social constructivist philosophy of mathematics . Some consider the work of Paul Erds as a whole to have advanced this view ( although he personally rejected it ) because of his uniquely broad collaborations , which prompted others to see and study mathematics as a social activity , e.g. , via the Erds number . Reuben Hersh has also promoted the social view of mathematics , calling it a humanistic approach , similar to but not quite the same as that associated with Alvin White ; one of Hersh 's co-authors , Philip J. Davis , has expressed sympathy for the social view as well . A criticism of this approach is that it is trivial , based on the trivial observation that mathematics is a human activity . To observe that rigorous proof comes only after unrigorous conjecture , experimentation and speculation is true , but it is trivial and no-one would deny this . So it 's a bit of a stretch to characterize a philosophy of mathematics in this way , on something trivially true . The calculus of Leibniz and Newton was reexamined by mathematicians such as Weierstrass in order to rigorously prove the theorems thereof . There is nothing special or interesting about this , as it fits in with the more general trend of unrigorous ideas which are later made rigorous . There needs to be a clear distinction between the objects of study of mathematics and the study of the objects of study of mathematics . The former does n't seem to change a great deal ; the latter is forever in flux . The latter is what the social theory is about , and the former is what Platonism ' ' et al . ' ' are about . However , this criticism is rejected by supporters of the social constructivist perspective because it misses the point that the very objects of mathematics are social constructs . These objects , it asserts , are primarily semiotic objects existing in the sphere of human culture , sustained by social practices ( after Wittgenstein ) that utilize physically embodied signs and give rise to intrapersonal ( mental ) constructs . Social constructivists view the reification of the sphere of human culture into a Platonic realm , or some other heaven-like domain of existence beyond the physical world , a long-standing category error . # Beyond the traditional schools # Rather than focus on narrow debates about the true nature of mathematical truth , or even on practices unique to mathematicians such as the proof , a growing movement from the 1960s to the 1990s began to question the idea of seeking foundations or finding any one right answer to why mathematics works . The starting point for this was Eugene Wigner 's famous 1960 paper ' ' The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences ' ' , in which he argued that the happy coincidence of mathematics and physics being so well matched seemed to be unreasonable and hard to explain . The embodied-mind or cognitive school and the social school were responses to this challenge , but the debates raised were difficult to confine to those . # #Quasi-empiricism# # One parallel concern that does not actually challenge the schools directly but instead questions their focus is the notion of quasi-empiricism in mathematics . This grew from the increasingly popular assertion in the late 20th century that no one foundation of mathematics could be ever proven to exist . It is also sometimes called postmodernism in mathematics although that term is considered overloaded by some and insulting by others . Quasi-empiricism argues that in doing their research , mathematicians test hypotheses as well as prove theorems . A mathematical argument can transmit falsity from the conclusion to the premises just as well as it can transmit truth from the premises to the conclusion . Quasi-empiricism was developed by Imre Lakatos , inspired by the philosophy of science of Karl Popper . Lakatos ' philosophy of mathematics is sometimes regarded as a kind of social constructivism , but this was not his intention . Such methods have always been part of folk mathematics by which great feats of calculation and measurement are sometimes achieved . Indeed , such methods may be the only notion of proof a culture has . Hilary Putnam has argued that any theory of mathematical realism would include quasi-empirical methods . He proposed that an alien species doing mathematics might well rely on quasi-empirical methods primarily , being willing often to forgo rigorous and axiomatic proofs , and still be doing mathematicsat perhaps a somewhat greater risk of failure of their calculations . He gave a detailed argument for this in ' ' New Directions ' ' . # #Popper 's two senses theory# # Realist and constructivist theories are normally taken to be contraries . However , Karl Popper argued that a number statement such as 4 apples can be taken in two senses . In one sense it is irrefutable and logically true . In the second sense it is factually true and falsifiable . Another way of putting this is to say that a single number statement can express two propositions : one of which can be explained on constructivist lines ; the other on realist lines . # #Unification# # Few philosophers are able to penetrate mathematical notations and culture to relate conventional notions of metaphysics to the more specialized metaphysical notions of the schools above . This may lead to a disconnection in which some mathematicians continue to profess discredited philosophy as a justification for their continued belief in a world-view promoting their work . Although the social theories and quasi-empiricism , and especially the embodied mind theory , have focused more attention on the epistemology implied by current mathematical practices , they fall far short of actually relating this to ordinary human perception and everyday understandings of knowledge . # #Language# # Innovations in the philosophy of language during the 20th century renewed interest in whether mathematics is , as is often said , the ' ' language ' ' of science . Although some mathematicians and philosophers would accept the statement mathematics is a language , linguists believe that the implications of such a statement must be considered . For example , the tools of linguistics are not generally applied to the symbol systems of mathematics , that is , mathematics is studied in a markedly different way than other languages . If mathematics is a language , it is a different type of language than natural languages . Indeed , because of the need for clarity and specificity , the language of mathematics is far more constrained than natural languages studied by linguists . However , the methods developed by Frege and Tarski for the study of mathematical language have been extended greatly by Tarski 's student Richard Montague and other linguists working in formal semantics to show that the distinction between mathematical language and natural language may not be as great as it seems . # Arguments # # Indispensability argument for realism # This argument , associated with Willard Quine and Hilary Putnam , is considered by Stephen Yablo to be one of the most challenging arguments in favor of the acceptance of the existence of abstract mathematical entities , such as numbers and sets . The form of the argument is as follows . #One must have ontological commitments to ' ' all ' ' entities that are indispensable to the best scientific theories , and to those entities ' ' only ' ' ( commonly referred to as all and only ) . #Mathematical entities are indispensable to the best scientific theories . Therefore , #One must have ontological commitments to mathematical entities . The justification for the first premise is the most controversial . Both Putnam and Quine invoke naturalism to justify the exclusion of all non-scientific entities , and hence to defend the only part of all and only . The assertion that all entities postulated in scientific theories , including numbers , should be accepted as real is justified by confirmation holism . Since theories are not confirmed in a piecemeal fashion , but as a whole , there is no justification for excluding any of the entities referred to in well-confirmed theories . This puts the nominalist who wishes to exclude the existence of sets and non-Euclidean geometry , but to include the existence of quarks and other undetectable entities of physics , for example , in a difficult position . # Epistemic argument against realism # The anti-realist epistemic argument against Platonism has been made by Paul Benacerraf and Hartry Field . Platonism posits that mathematical objects are ' ' abstract ' ' entities . By general agreement , abstract entities can not interact causally with concrete , physical entities . ( the truth-values of our mathematical assertions depend on facts involving Platonic entities that reside in a realm outside of space-time ) Whilst our knowledge of concrete , physical objects is based on our ability to perceive them , and therefore to causally interact with them , there is no parallel account of how mathematicians come to have knowledge of abstract objects . ( An account of mathematical truth .. must be consistent with the possibility of mathematical knowledge . ) Another way of making the point is that if the Platonic world were to disappear , it would make no difference to the ability of mathematicians to generate proofs , etc. , which is already fully accountable in terms of physical processes in their brains . Field developed his views into fictionalism . Benacerraf also developed the philosophy of mathematical structuralism , according to which there are no mathematical objects . Nonetheless , some versions of structuralism are compatible with some versions of realism . The argument hinges on the idea that a satisfactory naturalistic account of thought processes in terms of brain processes can be given for mathematical reasoning along with everything else . One line of defense is to maintain that this is false , so that mathematical reasoning uses some special intuition that involves contact with the Platonic realm . A modern form of this argument is given by Sir Roger Penrose . Another line of defense is to maintain that abstract objects are relevant to mathematical reasoning in a way that is non-causal , and not analogous to perception . This argument is developed by Jerrold Katz in his book ' ' Realistic Rationalism ' ' . A more radical defense is denial of physical reality , i.e. the mathematical universe hypothesis . In that case , a mathematician 's knowledge of mathematics is one mathematical object making contact with another . # Aesthetics # Many practicing mathematicians have been drawn to their subject because of a sense of beauty they perceive in it . One sometimes hears the sentiment that mathematicians would like to leave philosophy to the philosophers and get back to mathematicswhere , presumably , the beauty lies . In his work on the divine proportion , H.E . Huntley relates the feeling of reading and understanding someone else 's proof of a theorem of mathematics to that of a viewer of a masterpiece of artthe reader of a proof has a similar sense of exhilaration at understanding as the original author of the proof , much as , he argues , the viewer of a masterpiece has a sense of exhilaration similar to the original painter or sculptor . Indeed , one can study mathematical and scientific writings as literature . Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh have commented that the sense of mathematical beauty is universal amongst practicing mathematicians . By way of example , they provide two proofs of the irrationality of the . The first is the traditional proof by contradiction , ascribed to Euclid ; the second is a more direct proof involving the fundamental theorem of arithmetic that , they argue , gets to the heart of the issue . Davis and Hersh argue that mathematicians find the second proof more aesthetically appealing because it gets closer to the nature of the problem . Paul Erds was well known for his notion of a hypothetical Book containing the most elegant or beautiful mathematical proofs . There is not universal agreement that a result has one most elegant proof ; Gregory Chaitin has argued against this idea . Philosophers have sometimes criticized mathematicians ' sense of beauty or elegance as being , at best , vaguely stated . By the same token , however , philosophers of mathematics have sought to characterize what makes one proof more desirable than another when both are logically sound . Another aspect of aesthetics concerning mathematics is mathematicians ' views towards the possible uses of mathematics for purposes deemed unethical or inappropriate . The best-known exposition of this view occurs in G.H. Hardy 's book ' ' A Mathematician 's Apology ' ' , in which Hardy argues that pure mathematics is superior in beauty to applied mathematics precisely because it can not be used for war and similar ends . Some later mathematicians have characterized Hardy 's views as mildly dated , with the applicability of number theory to modern-day cryptography. 
@@47353 An object ( ' ' something ' ' - some of ' ' Everything ' ' , the ' ' face of it ' ' ) is a technical term in ( modern ) philosophy often used in contrast to the term ' ' pragmatist Charles S. Peirce defines the broad notion of an object as anything that we can think or talk about . In a general sense it is any entity : the pyramids , Alpha Centauri , the number seven , a disbelief in predestination or the fear of cats . In a strict sense it refers to any definite being . A related notion is objecthood . Objecthood is the state of being an object . One approach to defining it is in terms of objects ' properties and relations . Descriptions of all bodies , minds , and persons must be in terms of their properties and relations . The philosophical question of the nature of objecthood concerns how objects are related to their properties and relations . For example it seems that the only way to describe an apple is by describing its properties and how it is related to other things . Its properties may include its redness , its size and its composition , while its relations may include on the table , in the room and being bigger than other apples . The notion of an object must address two problems : the change problem and the problem of substance . Two leading theories about objecthood are substance theory , wherein substances ( objects ) are distinct from their properties , and bundle theory , wherein objects are no more than bundles of their properties . # Change # An attribute of an object is called a property if it can be experienced ( e.g. its color , size , weight , smell , taste , and location ) . Objects manifest themselves through their properties . These manifestations seem to change in a regular and unified way , suggesting that something underlies the properties . The change problem asks what that underlying thing is . According to substance theory , the answer is a substance , that which stands under the change . # The problem of substance # Because substances are only experienced through their properties a substance itself is never directly experienced . The problem of substance asks on what basis can one conclude the existence of a substance that can not be seen or scientifically verified . According to bundle theory , the answer is : none ; thus an object is merely its properties . Some philosophies include theories of both bodies ( physical substances ) and minds ( mental substances ) . So the problem of substance arises in both the physical and the mental realms . In the ' ' Mlamadhyamakakrik ' ' Nagarjuna seizes the dichotomy between objects as collections of properties or as separate from those properties to demonstrate that both assertions fall apart under analysis . By uncovering this paradox he then provides a solution ( ' ' prattyasamutpda ' ' - dependent origination ) that lies at the very root of Buddhist praxis . Although ' ' prattyasamutpda ' ' is normally limited to caused objects , Nagarjuna extends his argument to objects in general by differentiating two distinct ideas - dependent designation and dependent origination . He proposes that all objects are dependent upon designation , and therefore any discussion regarding the nature of objects can only be made in light of context . The validity of objects can only be established within those conventions that assert them . # Etymology # In English the word ' ' object ' ' is derived from the Latin ' ' objectus ' ' ( pp. of ' ' obicere ' ' ) with the meaning to throw , or put before or against , from ' ' ob ' ' - ( pref. ) and ' ' jacere ' ' , to throw . As such it is a root for several important words used to derive meaning , such as objectify ( to materialize ) , objective ( a future reference ) , and objectivism ( a philosophical doctrine that knowledge is based on objective reality ) . # Reality theory # Bertrand Russell updated the classical terminology with one more term , the ' ' fact ' ' ; Everything that there is in the world I call a fact . Facts , objects , are opposed to beliefs , which are subjective and may be errors on the part of the subject , the knower who is their source and who is certain of himself and little else . All doubt implies the possibility of error and therefore admits the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity . The knower is limited in ability to tell fact from belief , false from true objects and engages in reality testing , an activity that will result in more or less certainty regarding the reality of the object . According to Russell , we need a description of the fact which would make a given belief true where Truth is a property of beliefs . Knowledge is true beliefs . This framework of presumptions is termed the Theory of the Real . Until the true-false distinction can be made , every object must be viewed as possibly true , a quasi-object . This extends even to those objects that are known to be subjective ; individuals may determine to create a logical or rational entity that they treat as if real , a corporation , a fund , a population of elves , etc . These are typically the subjects of cultural anthropology . # Applications # # Value theory # Value theory concerns the value of objects . When it concerns economic value , it generally deals with physical objects . However , when concerning philosophic or ethic value , an object may be both a physical object and an abstract object ( e.g. an action ) . # Physics # Limiting discussions of objecthood to the realm of physical objects may simplify them . However , defining physical objects in terms of fundamental particles ( e.g. quarks ) leaves open the question of what is the philosophy of physics # Semantics # Symbols represent objects ; how they do so , the map-territory relation , is the basic problem of semantics . 
@@48648 ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' is the first novel in the ' ' Harry Potter ' ' series , written by J. K. Rowling . The plot follows Harry Potter , a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage , as he makes close friends and a few enemies in his first year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . With the help of his friends , Harry faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort , who killed Harry 's parents , but failed to kill Harry when he was just one year old . The book , which was Rowling 's debut novel , was published on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London . In 1998 , Scholastic Corporation published an edition for the United States market under the title ' ' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone ' ' . The novel won most of the British book awards that were judged by children , and other awards in the US . The book reached the top of the ' ' New York Times ' ' list of best-selling fiction in August 1999 , and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000 . It has been translated into several other languages and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name . Most reviews were very favourable , commenting on Rowling 's imagination , humour , simple , direct style and clever plot construction , although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed . The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen , one of Rowling 's favourite authors , or Roald Dahl , whose works dominated children 's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter , and of the Ancient Greek story-teller Homer . While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories , others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues . ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' , along with the rest of the ' ' Harry Potter ' ' series , has been attacked by several religious groups and banned in some countries because of accusations that the novels promote witchcraft , but some Christian commentators have written that the book exemplifies important Christian viewpoints , including the power of self-sacrifice and the ways in which people 's decisions shape their personalities . Educators regard ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' and its sequels as an important aid in improving literacy because of the books ' popularity . The series has also been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques , sociological analysis and marketing . # Synopsis # # Plot # Before the start of the novel , Lord Voldemort , considered to be the most evil and powerful dark wizard in history murders married couple James and Lily Potter but mysteriously disappears after attempting to kill their infant son , Harry . While the wizarding world celebrates Voldemort 's downfall , Professor Dumbledore , Professor McGonagall and half-giant , Rubeus Hagrid place the one-year-old orphan in the care of his surly and cold Muggle ( non-wizard ) aunt and uncle : Vernon and Petunia Dursley with their spoiled and bullying son , Dudley . Ten years later while living in Four Privet Drive , Harry is tormented by the Dursleys , treated more as a slave than a member of the family . Shortly before his eleventh birthday , a series of letters addressed to Harry arrive but Vernon destroys them before Harry can read them , leading only to an influx of more letters . In order to evade the pursuit of the letters , Vernon first takes the family to a hotel and , when the letters arrive there too , he drives them all to a small island . On Harry 's eleventh birthday at midnight , Hagrid bursts through the door to deliver Harry 's letter and tells him what the Dursleys have kept from him : Harry is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts . Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley , a magically concealed shopping precinct in London , where Harry is bewildered to discover how famous he is among witches and wizards as the boy who lived . He also finds that he is quite wealthy , since a bequest from his parents has remained on deposit at Gringotts Wizarding Bank . Guided by Hagrid , he buys the equipment he will need for his first year at Hogwarts . One of the many materials Harry needs to purchase for his upcoming year at Hogwarts is a wand . At the wand shop , he finds that the wand that suits him best is the twin of Voldemort 's ; both wands contain feathers from the same phoenix . Harry also leaves with a new pet ( and birthday gift from Hagrid ) , an owl he names Hedwig who is to become one of his most loyal companions and friends . A month later , Harry leaves the Dursleys ' home to catch the Hogwarts Express from King 's Cross railway station . There he meets the Weasley family , who show him how to pass through the magical wall to Platform 9 , where the train that will take them to Hogwarts is waiting . While on the train , Harry quickly befriends Ron Weasley , who tells him that someone tried to rob a vault at Gringotts . They discuss the upcoming school year , which Harry is both anxious and excited for . During the ride , they meet Hermione Granger , who is later to become one of their best friends . Harry also makes an enemy on this trip , fellow first-year , Draco Malfoy . Draco , accompanied by his dim-witted companions Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle , offers to advise Harry , but Harry dislikes Draco for his arrogance and prejudice and rejects his offer of friendship . Before the term 's first dinner in the school 's Great Hall , the first-years are allocated to houses by the Sorting Hat . While Harry is being sorted , the Hat suggests that he be placed into Slytherin which is known to house potential dark witches and wizards , but when Harry objects , the Hat sends him to Gryffindor , Slytherin 's rival house . Ron and Hermione are also sorted into Gryffindor . Draco is sorted into Slytherin house . During the meal , Harry catches Professor Severus Snape 's eye and feels pain in the scar Voldemort left on his forehead . After a terrible first Potions lesson with Snape , Harry and Ron visit Hagrid ( groundskeeper of Hogwarts ) , who lives in a cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest . There they learn that the attempted robbery at Gringotts occurred the day Harry withdrew money from his vault . Harry remembers that Hagrid had removed a small package from the vault that had been broken into . During the first years ' first broom-flying lesson , fellow Gryffindor Neville Longbottom breaks his wrist and is rushed to the infirmary by their instructor . Draco takes advantage to throw the forgetful Neville 's fragile Remembrall , which Neville dropped because of his accident , high in the air . Harry gives chase on his broomstick , catching the Remembrall inches from the ground . Unbeknownst to Harry , Professor McGonagall , who is head of Gryffindor house , has witnessed his performance on his broom . She dashes out and appoints him as the new Seeker ( Quidditch ) When Draco tricks Harry and Ron , who are accompanied by Neville and Hermione , into a midnight excursion , they accidentally enter a forbidden corridor and find a huge three-headed dog . The group hastily retreats , and Hermione notices that the dog is standing over a trap-door . Harry concludes that the monster is guarding the package Hagrid retrieved from Gringotts . After Ron criticises Hermione 's ostentatious proficiency in Charms , she hides in the girls ' toilet , crying . At the Halloween Feast , Professor Quirinus Quirrell reports that a troll has entered the dungeons . While everyone returns to their dormitories , Harry and Ron rush to warn Hermione , who was not at the feast to hear the announcement . The troll corners Hermione in the toilet but Harry and Ron clumsily save her . Afterwards , Hermione takes the blame for the battle and becomes a firm friend of the two boys . The evening before Harry 's first Quidditch match , he sees Snape receiving medical attention from Filch for a bite on his leg caused by the three-headed dog . During the game , Harry 's broomstick goes out of control , endangering his life , and Hermione notices that Snape is staring at Harry and muttering . Concluding that Snape is responsible for Harry 's out-of-control broom , she dashes over to the Professors ' stand , knocking over Quirrell in her haste , and sets fire to Snape 's robe . Harry regains control of his broom and catches the Golden Snitch , winning the game for Gryffindor . Hagrid refuses to believe that Snape was responsible for putting Harry in danger , but lets slip that he bought the three-headed dog ( named Fluffy ) and that the monster is guarding a secret that belongs to Dumbledore and a wizard named Nicolas Flamel . When Christmas break arrives , Harry and the Weasleys remain at Hogwarts , while Hermione goes back home . One of Harry 's presents , from an anonymous donor , is an Invisibility Cloak that belonged to his father and also a flute by Hagrid . Harry uses the Cloak to search the library 's Restricted Section for information about the mysterious Flamel , and he happens to find a room containing the Mirror of Erised , which shows him his parents and several of their ancestors . Harry becomes addicted to the Mirror 's visions , choosing to spend time with his ' family ' , rather than his friends at Hogwarts , until he is rescued by Professor Dumbledore , who explains that it only shows the viewer what he most desperately longs for . When the rest of the students return for the next term , Draco plays a prank on Neville , and Harry consoles Neville with a sweet . The collectible card wrapped with the sweet identifies Flamel as an alchemist . Hermione soon discovers that he is 665 years old and possesses the only known Philosopher 's Stone , from which an elixir of life can be extracted . A few days later , Harry notices Snape sneaking towards the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest . There he half-hears a furtive conversation about the Philosopher 's Stone between Snape and Quirrell . Harry concludes that Snape is trying to steal the Stone and Quirrell has helped prepare a series of defences for it , which was an almost fatal mistake . The three friends discover that Hagrid is raising a baby dragon in violation of wizarding law , and arranges to smuggle it out of the country around midnight . Draco , hoping to get them into trouble , informs Professor McGonagall . Although the dragon is safely sent away , they are caught outside of their dormitory . Harry , Hermione , Draco , and Neville are punished and assigned the task of assisting Hagrid with saving a badly injured unicorn in the Forbidden Forest . They split into two parties and venture off into the Forest where Harry and Draco come across a hooded figure drinking the blood of an injured unicorn . Aware of their presence , the figure approaches the boys but Harry is rescued by a centaur , named Firenze , who offers to give him a ride back to the school . The centaur tells Harry that drinking a unicorn 's blood will save the life of a mortally injured individual , but at the price of having a cursed life from that moment on . Firenze suggests that it was Voldemort who drank the unicorn 's blood in order to gain enough strength to make the elixir of life ( from the Philosopher 's Stone ) , and regain full health by drinking it . A few weeks later , Harry learns from Hagrid that the dragon egg was given to him by a hooded stranger who had asked him how to get past Fluffy , which Hagrid had admitted was easy : music sends it to sleep . Realizing that one of the Philosopher 's Stone 's defenses is no longer secure , Harry goes to inform Dumbledore , only to find that the headmaster has just left for a meeting in London . Harry concludes that Snape faked the message that called Dumbledore away and will try to steal the Stone that night . Harry decides that they must protect the stone themselves in Dumbledore 's absence . Covered by the Invisibility Cloak , the trio enter Fluffy 's chamber , where Harry sends the beast to sleep by playing the flute , which was sent by Hagrid to Harry as a Christmas present . After lifting the trap-door , they encounter a series of obstacles , each of which requires special skills possessed by one of the three , and one of which requires Ron to sacrifice himself in a life-sized game of wizard 's chess . Despite their reluctance to leave Ron behind , Harry and Hermione arrive at a room with a series of potions of varying sizes and colors . After Hermione figures out the riddle provided , she instructs Harry on which potion to drink . Harry swallows the liquid , allowing him to safely pass through a magical fire and enter the final room , while Hermione returns to collect Ron and notify Dumbledore of the night 's events . In the final room Harry , now alone , finds Quirrell who admits that he allowed the troll into the school and that he tried to kill Harry during the first Quidditch match . Snape had been trying to protect Harry all along . Quirrell serves Voldemort and , after failing to steal the Philosopher 's Stone from Gringotts , allowed his master to possess him in order to improve their chances of success . This , however proves a difficult task because the only other object in the room is the Mirror of Erised , which will not reveal to Quirrell where the Stone is . At Voldemort 's bidding , Quirrell forces Harry to stand in front of the Mirror . The mirror shows Harry finding the stone . Harry feels the Stone drop into his pocket and tries to stall . Quirrell removes his turban , revealing the face of Voldemort on the back of his head . Voldemort/Quirrell tries to grab the Stone from Harry , but simply touching Harry causes Quirrell 's flesh to burn . After the struggle , Harry passes out . He awakes in the school hospital , where Dumbledore explains to him that he survived because his mother sacrificed her life to protect him , and neither Voldemort nor Quirrel could understand the power of love . Voldemort left Quirrell to die and is likely to return by some other means . The Stone has now been destroyed . The school year ends at the final feast , during which Gryffindor wins the House Cup . Harry returns to the Dursleys ' for the summer holiday , but does not tell them that under-age wizards are forbidden to use magic outside of Hogwarts . *72;18393;div After ten years , Harry became an eleven year-old boy . The Dursleys have kept the truth about Harry 's parents from him , but it is revealed in the form of Rubeus Hagrid , who tells Harry that he is a wizard and has been accepted at Hogwarts for the autumn term . Harry takes the train to Hogwarts from King 's Cross Station . On the train , Harry sits with and quickly befriends Ron Weasley ; the two are also briefly visited by Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger . Later on in the journey , Malfoy comes into Harry and Ron 's compartment with his friends Crabbe and Goyle and introduces himself . After Ron laughs at Draco 's name , Draco offers to help Harry distinguish the wrong sort of wizards , but Harry declines . Upon arrival , the Sorting Hat places Harry , Hermione , Neville and Ron into Gryffindor House , one of the school 's four houses , while Draco and his cronies are placed in Slytherin . After a broom-mounted incident to save Neville 's Remembrall , Harry joins Gryffindor 's Quidditch team as their youngest Seeker in over a century . Shortly after school begins , Harry and his friends hear that someone broke into a previously emptied vault at the wizarding bank , Gringotts . The mystery deepens when they discover a monstrous three-headed dog , Fluffy , who guards a trapdoor in the forbidden third floor passageway . On Halloween , a troll enters the castle and traps Hermione in one of the girls ' lavatories . Harry and Ron rescue her , but are caught by Professor McGonagall . Hermione defends the boys and takes the blame , which results in the three becoming close friends . Harry 's broom becomes jinxed during his first Quidditch match , nearly resulting in Harry falling from a great height . Hermione believes that Professor Snape has cursed the broom and distracts him by setting his robes on fire , allowing Harry to catch the Golden Snitch and win the game for Gryffindor . At Christmas , Harry receives his father 's Invisibility Cloak from an unknown source . Later , he discovers the Mirror of Erised , a strange mirror that shows Harry surrounded by his parents and the extended family he never knew . Later , Harry learns that Nicolas Flamel is the maker of the Sorcerer 's Stone , a stone that gives the owner eternal life . Harry sees Professor Snape interrogating Professor Quirrell about getting past Fluffy , seemingly confirming the suspicion that Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher 's Stone in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power . The trio discover that Hagrid is hiding a dragon egg , which hatches ; since dragon breeding is illegal , they convince Hagrid to send the dragon to live with others of its kind . Harry and Hermione are caught returning to their dormitories after sending Norbert off and are forced to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest . In the forest , Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn . Firenze , a centaur , tells Harry that the hooded figure is Voldemort . Hagrid accidentally tells Harry , Ron , and Hermione how to get past Fluffy ; and they rush to tell the headmaster , Albus Dumbledore , what they know , only to find that he has been called away from the school . Convinced that Dumbledore 's summons was a red herring to take him away while the Philosopher 's Stone is stolen , the trio set out to reach the Stone first . They navigate a series of complex magical challenges set up by the school 's faculty , and at the end of these challenges , Harry enters the inner chamber alone , only to find that it 's the timid Professor Quirrell , not Snape , who is after the Stone . The final challenge protecting the Stone is the Mirror of Erised . Quirrell forces Harry to look into the mirror to discover where the Stone is hidden ; and Harry successfully resists , and the Stone drops into his own pocket . Lord Voldemort reveals himself : he has possessed Quirrell and appears as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell 's head . Quirrell tries to attack Harry , but merely touching Harry proves to be agony for him . Voldemort flees and Quirrell dies as Dumbledore arrives back in time to save Harry . As Harry recovers , Dumbledore confirms that Lily had died while trying to protect Harry as an infant . Her pure , loving sacrifice provides her son with an ancient magical protection against Voldemort 's lethal spells . Dumbledore also explains that the Philosopher 's Stone has been destroyed to prevent Voldemort from ever using it . He then tells Harry that only those who wanted to find the Stone , but not ' ' use ' ' it , would be able to retrieve it from the mirror , which is why Harry could acquire it . When Harry asks Dumbledore why Voldemort attempted to kill him when he was an infant , Dumbledore promises to tell Harry when he is older . At the end-of-year feast , where Harry is welcomed as a hero . Dumbledore gives a few last-minute additions , granting enough points to Harry , Ron , Hermione , and Neville Longbottom for Gryffindor to win the House Cup , ending Slytherin 's six-year reign as house champions . </div> # Main characters # Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a scrawny , black-haired , bespectacled boy who did n't know he was a wizard . She developed the series ' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there . Apart from the first chapter , the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry 's eleventh birthday . Voldemort 's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry 's forehead , He is freckled , red-haired and quite tall . He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth-born of seven children . Although his family is quite poor , they still live very comfortably and happy . His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizards Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher 's Stone . Hermione Granger , the daughter of an all-Muggle family , is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term . Rowling described Hermione as a very logical , upright and good character with a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness . Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble , she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll , and her magical and analytical skills play a vital part in finding the Philosopher 's Stone . She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth . Neville Longbottom is a plump , diffident boy , so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall . Neville 's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight . Despite his timidity , Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important . Hagrid , a half-giant nearly 12 ft tall , with tangled black hair and beard , was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was broken , but Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school 's gamekeeper , a job which enables him to lavish affection and pet names on even the most dangerous of magical creatures . Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry , Ron and , later , Hermione , but his carelessness makes him unreliable . Professor Dumbledore , a tall , thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt , is the headmaster of Hogwarts , and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears . Dumbledore , while renowned for his achievements in magic , finds it difficult to resist sweets and has a whimsical sense of humour . Although he shrugs off praise , he is aware of his own brilliance . Rowling described him as the epitome of goodness . Professor McGonagall , a tall , severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun , teaches Transfiguration , and sometimes transforms herself into a cat . She is in charge of Gryffindor House and , according to the author , under that gruff exterior is a bit of an old softy . Petunia Dursley , the sister of Harry 's mother Lily , is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours . She regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed . Her husband Vernon is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual . Their son Dudley is an overweight , spoiled bully . Draco Malfoy is a slim , pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl . He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch , and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views . His parents had supported Voldemort , but changed sides after the dark wizard 's disappearance , claiming they had been bewitched . Draco avoids direct confrontations , and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble . Twitching , stammering Professor Quirrell teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts . Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar , but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires . Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort , whose face appears on the back of Quirrell 's head . Professor Snape , who has a hooked nose , sallow complexion and greasy black hair , teaches Potions , but is eager to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts . Snape praises pupils in Slytherin , his own House , but seizes every opportunity to humiliate others , especially Harry . Several incidents , beginning with the shooting pain in Harry 's scar near the end of the first dinner , lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is a follower of Voldemort . The school 's caretaker , Filch , knows the school 's secret passages better than anyone else except , possibly , the Weasley twins . His cat , Mrs. Norris , aids his hunts for misbehaving pupils . Other members of Hogwarts staff include : the dumpy Herbology teacher Professor Sprout ; Professor Flitwick , the tiny and excitable Charms teacher , who is discreetly friendly towards Harry ; the soporific History of Magic teacher , Professor Binns , a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death ; and Madam Hooch , the Quidditch coach , who is strict but a considerate , methodical teacher . *5274;18467;!-- At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book , leaving it to book trade and library publications such as ' ' Kirkus Reviews ' ' and ' ' Booklist ' ' , which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children 's fiction . However , more penetrating specialist reviews ( such as one by ' ' Cooperative Children 's Book Center Choices ' ' , which pointed out the complexity , depth and consistency of the world Rowling had built ) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers . they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise . However he felt that the story-telling in the last few chapters was poor , and also did not appreciate characters behaving unlike themselves to advance the plot . In 1998 , Publishers Weekly described the novel as A delightful award-winning debut from an author who dances in the footsteps of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl. -- A year later the US edition was selected as an American Library Association Notable Book , a ' ' Publishers Weekly ' ' Best Book of 1998 , and a New York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year , and won ' ' Parenting Magazine s Book of the Year Award for 1998 , and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000 , until the ' ' New York Times ' ' split its list into children 's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings . ' ' Publishers Weekly s report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children 's fiction placed ' ' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone ' ' 19th among hardbacks ( over 5 million copies ) and 7th among paperbacks ( over 6.6 million copies ) . In May 2008 , Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that was released on 1 October 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release . For the fifteenth anniversary of the books , Scholastic re-released ' ' Sorcerer 's Stone ' ' , along with the other six novels in the series , with new cover art by Kazu Kibuishi in 2013. # Translations # By mid-2008 official translations of the book were published in 67 languages . Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek , and the latter was described as one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries . # Style and themes # Philip Nel highlighted the influence of Jane Austen , whom Rowling has greatly admired since the age of twelve . Both novelists encourage re-reading , because details that look insignificant foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story-line for example Sirius Black is briefly mentioned near the beginning of ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' , and then becomes a major character in the third to fifth books . Like Austen 's heroines , Harry often has to re-examine his ideas near the ends of books . Some social behaviour in the ' ' Harry Potter ' ' books is remininiscent of Austen , for example the excited communal reading of letters . Both authors satire Some reviewers compared ' ' Philosopher 's Stone ' ' to the stories of Roald Dahl , who died in 1990 . Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor , but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and , in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of ' ' Philosopher 's Stone ' ' , seven of the ten most popular children 's books were by Dahl , including the one in top place . The only other really popular children 's author of the late 1990s was an American , R. L. Stine . Some of the story elements in ' ' Philosopher 's Stone ' ' resembled parts of Dahl 's stories ; for example , the hero of ' ' James and the Giant Peach ' ' lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant aunts one fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley , who treated Harry as a servant . However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation , able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside . Nicholas Tucker described the early ' ' Harry Potter ' ' books as looking back to Victorian and Edwardian children 's stories : Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated ; characters ' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances , starting with the Dursleys ; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed , including Filch 's cat Mrs Norris ; and the hero , a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life , was charismatic and good at sports , but considerate and protective towards the weak . Several other commentators have stated that the books present a highly stratified society including many social stereotypes . However Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain : a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld ; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts ' students ; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species ; and school bullying . Susan Hall wrote that there is no rule of law in the books , as the actions of Ministry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws , accountability or any kind of legal challenge . This provides an opportunity for Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order . As a side-effect Harry and Hermione , who were brought up in the highly regulated Muggle world , find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards . For example Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher 's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power , and that most wizards have no chance of solving it . Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the extremely conventional , status-conscious , materialistic Dursleys was Rowling 's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s , which treated the married heterosexual couple as the preferred norm , while the author was a single mother . Harry 's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards are based on affection and loyalty . This is reflected in his happiness whenever he is a temporary member of the Weasley family throughout the series , and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as father-figures . ' ' Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ' ' was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999 . ' ' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ' ' is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version . It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003 . ' ' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ' ' was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release . The seventh and final novel , ' ' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ' ' , was published on 21 July 2007 . The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release : 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US. # Film version # In 1999 , Rowling sold the film rights of the first four ' ' Harry Potter ' ' books to Warner Bros. for a reported 1 million ( $1,982,900 ) . Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books . After extensive casting , filming began in October 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London , with production ending in July 2001 . ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' was released in London on 14 November 2001 . Reviewers ' comments were positive , as reflected by an 80% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and by a score of 64% at Metacritic , representing generally favourable reviews . # Video games # Video games loosely based on the book were released between 2001 and 2003 , generally under the American title ' ' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone ' ' . Most were published by Electronic Arts but produced by different developers : # Uses in education and business # Educationalists have found that children 's literacy is directly related to how many words they read per year , and they read much more if they find material they like . A 2001 survey by ' ' The New York Times ' ' estimated that almost 60% of US children aged between 6 and 17 had read at least one Harry Potter book . Surveys in other countries , including India and South Africa , found that children were enthusiastic about the series . Since even the first two books are quite long , a child who has read the first four will have read over four times the number of pages in a year 's worth of school reading texts . This greatly improves children 's skills and their motivation to read . Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class : sociological concepts including culture , society , and socialisation ; stratification and social inequality ; social institutions ; and social theory . For example , a real-world analogue of Bertie Bott 's Every Flavour Beans was introduced under licence in 2000 by toymaker Hasbro. # Release history # # Footnotes # # Notes # = 
@@48781 ' ' Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica ' ' , Latin for Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy , often referred to as simply the ' ' Principia ' ' , is a work in three books by Sir Isaac Newton , in Latin , first published 5 July 1687 . After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition , Newton also published two further editions , in 1713 and 1726 . The ' ' Principia ' ' states Newton 's laws of motion , forming the foundation of classical mechanics , also Newton 's law of universal gravitation , and a derivation of Kepler 's laws of planetary motion ( which Kepler first obtained empirically ) . The ' ' Principia ' ' is justly regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science . The French mathematical physicist Alexis Clairaut assessed it in 1747 : The famous book of ' ' mathematical Principles of natural Philosophy ' ' marked the epoch of a great revolution in physics . The method followed by its illustrious author Sir Newton .. spread the light of mathematics on a science which up to then had remained in the darkness of conjectures and hypotheses . A more recent assessment has been that while acceptance of Newton 's theories was not immediate , by the end of a century after publication in 1687 , no one could deny that ( out of the ' ' Principia ' ' ) a science had emerged that , at least in certain respects , so far exceeded anything that had ever gone before that it stood alone as the ultimate exemplar of science generally . In formulating his physical theories , Newton developed and used mathematical methods now included in the field of calculus . But the language of calculus as we know it was largely absent from the ' ' Principia ' ' ; Newton gave many of his proofs in a geometric form of infinitesimal calculus , based on limits of ratios of vanishing small geometric quantities . In a revised conclusion to the ' ' Principia ' ' ( see ' ' General Scholium ' ' ) , Newton used his expression that became famous , ' ' Hypotheses non fingo ' ' ( I contrive no hypotheses ) . # Contents # # Expressed aim and topics covered # In the preface of the ' ' Principia ' ' , Newton wrote The ' ' Principia ' ' deals primarily with massive bodies in motion , initially under a variety of conditions and hypothetical laws of force in both non-resisting and resisting media , thus offering criteria to decide , by observations , which laws of force are operating in phenomena that may be observed . It attempts to cover hypothetical or possible motions both of celestial bodies and of terrestrial projectiles . It explores difficult problems of motions perturbed by multiple attractive forces . Its third and final book deals with the interpretation of observations about the movements of planets and their satellites . It shows how astronomical observations prove the inverse square law of gravitation ( to an accuracy that was high by the standards of Newton 's time ) ; offers estimates of relative masses for the known giant planets and for the Earth and the Sun ; defines the very slow motion of the Sun relative to the solar-system barycenter ; shows how the theory of gravity can account for irregularities in the motion of the Moon ; identifies the oblateness of the figure of the Earth ; accounts approximately for marine tides including phenomena of spring and neap tides by the perturbing ( and varying ) gravitational attractions of the Sun and Moon on the Earth 's waters ; explains the precession of the equinoxes as an effect of the gravitational attraction of the Moon on the Earth 's equatorial bulge ; and gives theoretical basis for numerous phenomena about comets and their elongated , near-parabolic orbits . The opening sections of the ' ' Principia ' ' contain , in revised and extended form , nearly all of the content of Newton 's 1684 tract ' ' De motu corporum in gyrum ' ' . The ' ' Principia ' ' begins with ' Definitions ' and ' Axioms or Laws of Motion ' and continues in three books : # Book 1 , De motu corporum # Book 1 , subtitled ' ' De motu corporum ' ' ( ' ' On the motion of bodies ' ' ) concerns motion in the absence of any resisting medium . It opens with a mathematical exposition of the method of first and last ratios , a geometrical form of infinitesimal calculus . The second section establishes relationships between centripetal forces and the law of areas now known as Kepler 's second law ( Propositions 13 ) , and relates circular velocity and radius of path-curvature to radial force ( Proposition 4 ) , and relationships between centripetal forces varying as the inverse-square of the distance to the center and orbits of conic-section form ( Propositions 510 ) . Propositions 1131 establish properties of motion in paths of eccentric conic-section form including ellipses , and their relation with inverse-square central forces directed to a focus , and include Newton 's theorem about ovals ( lemma 28 ) . Propositions 4345 are demonstration that in an eccentric orbit under centripetal force where the apse may move , a steady non-moving orientation of the line of apses is an indicator of an inverse-square law of force . Book 1 contains some proofs with little connection to real-world dynamics . But there are also sections with far-reaching application to the solar system and universe : Propositions 5769 deal with the motion of bodies drawn to one another by centripetal forces . This section is of primary interest for its application to the solar system , and includes Proposition 66 along with its 22 corollaries : here Newton took the first steps in the definition and study of the problem of the movements of three massive bodies subject to their mutually perturbing gravitational attractions , a problem which later gained name and fame ( among other reasons , for its great difficulty ) as the three-body problem . Propositions 7084 deal with the attractive forces of spherical bodies . The section contains Newton 's proof that a massive spherically symmetrical body attracts other bodies outside itself as if all its mass were concentrated at its centre . This fundamental result , called the Shell Theorem , enables the inverse square law of gravitation to be applied to the real solar system to a very close degree of approximation . # Book 2 # Part of the contents originally planned for the first book was divided out into a second book , which largely concerns motion through resisting mediums . Just as Newton examined consequences of different conceivable laws of attraction in Book 1 , here he examines different conceivable laws of resistance ; thus *25;25242;span Section 1 </span> discusses resistance in direct proportion to velocity , and *25;25269;span Section 2 </span> goes on to examine the implications of resistance in proportion to the square of velocity . Book 2 also discusses ( in *25;25296;span Section 5 </span> ) hydrostatics and the properties of compressible fluids . The effects of air resistance on pendulums are studied in *25;25323;span Section 6 </span> , along with Newton 's account of experiments that he carried out , to try to find out some characteristics of air resistance in reality by observing the motions of pendulums under different conditions . Newton compares the resistance offered by a medium against motions of bodies of different shape , attempts to derive the speed of sound , and gives accounts of experimental tests of the result . Less of Book 2 has stood the test of time than of Books 1 and 3 , and it has been said that Book 2 was largely written on purpose to refute a theory of Descartes which had some wide acceptance before Newton 's work ( and for some time after ) . According to this Cartesian theory of vortices , planetary motions were produced by the whirling of fluid vortices that filled interplanetary space and carried the planets along with them . Newton wrote at the end of Book 2 his conclusion that the hypothesis of vortices was completely at odds with the astronomical phenomena , and served not so much to explain as to confuse them . # Book 3 , De mundi systemate # Book 3 , subtitled ' ' De mundi systemate ' ' ( ' ' On the system of the world ' ' ) is an exposition of many consequences of universal gravitation , especially its consequences for astronomy . It builds upon the propositions of the previous books , and applies them with further specificity than in Book 1 to the motions observed in the solar system . Here ( introduced by Proposition 22 , and continuing in Propositions 2535 ) are developed several of the features and irregularities of the orbital motion of the Moon , especially the variation . Newton lists the astronomical observations on which he relies , and establishes in a stepwise manner that the inverse square law of mutual gravitation applies to solar system bodies , starting with the satellites of Jupiter and going on by stages to show that the law is of universal application . He also gives starting at Lemma 4 and Proposition 40 ) the theory of the motions of comets , for which much data came from John Flamsteed and Edmond Halley , and accounts for the tides , attempting quantitative estimates of the contributions of the Sun and Moon to the tidal motions ; and offers the first theory of the precession of the equinoxes . Book 3 also considers the harmonic oscillator in three dimensions , and motion in arbitrary force laws . In Book 3 Newton also made clear his heliocentric view of the solar system , modified in a somewhat modern way , since already in the mid-1680s he recognised the deviation of the Sun from the centre of gravity of the solar system . For Newton , the common centre of gravity of the Earth , the Sun and all the Planets is to be esteem 'd the Centre of the World , and that this centre either is at rest , or moves uniformly forward in a right line . Newton rejected the second alternative after adopting the position that the centre of the system of the world is immoveable , which is acknowledg 'd by all , while some contend that the Earth , others , that the Sun is fix 'd in that centre . Newton estimated the mass ratios Sun:Jupiter and Sun:Saturn , and pointed out that these put the centre of the Sun usually a little way off the common center of gravity , but only a little , the distance at most would scarcely amount to one diameter of the Sun . # Commentary on the Principia # The sequence of definitions used in setting up dynamics in the ' ' Principia ' ' is recognisable in many textbooks today . Newton first set out the definition of mass *20;25350;sup 6 </sup> This was then used to define the quantity of motion ( today called momentum ) , and the principle of inertia in which mass replaces the previous Cartesian notion of ' ' intrinsic force ' ' . This then set the stage for the introduction of forces through the change in momentum of a body . Curiously , for today 's readers , the exposition looks dimensionally incorrect , since Newton does not introduce the dimension of time in rates of changes of quantities . He defined space and time not as they are well known to all . Instead , he defined true time and space as absolute and explained : To some modern readers it can appear that some dynamical quantities recognised today were used in the ' ' Principia ' ' but not named . The mathematical aspects of the first two books were so clearly consistent that they were easily accepted ; for example , Locke asked Huygens whether he could trust the mathematical proofs , and was assured about their correctness . However , the concept of an attractive force acting at a distance received a cooler response . In his notes , Newton wrote that the inverse square law arose naturally due to the structure of matter . However , he retracted this sentence in the published version , where he stated that the motion of planets is consistent with an inverse square law , but refused to speculate on the origin of the law . Huygens and Leibniz noted that the law was incompatible with the notion of the aether . From a Cartesian point of view , therefore , this was a faulty theory . Newton 's defence has been adopted since by many famous physicistshe pointed out that the mathematical form of the theory had to be correct since it explained the data , and he refused to speculate further on the basic nature of gravity . The sheer number of phenomena that could be organised by the theory was so impressive that younger philosophers soon adopted the methods and language of the ' ' Principia ' ' . # Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy # Perhaps to reduce the risk of public misunderstanding , Newton included at the beginning of Book 3 ( in the second ( 1713 ) and third ( 1726 ) editions ) a section entitled Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy . In the four rules , as they came finally to stand in the 1726 edition , Newton effectively offers a methodology for handling unknown phenomena in nature and reaching towards explanations for them . The four Rules of the 1726 edition run as follows ( omitting some explanatory comments that follow each ) : Rule 1 : ' ' We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances . ' ' Rule 2 : ' ' Therefore to the same natural effects we must , as far as possible , assign the same causes . ' ' Rule 3 : ' ' The qualities of bodies , which admit neither intensification nor remission of degrees , and which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments , are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever . ' ' Rule 4 : ' ' In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions inferred by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true , not withstanding any contrary hypothesis that may be imagined , till such time as other phenomena occur , by which they may either be made more accurate , or liable to exceptions . ' ' This section of Rules for philosophy is followed by a listing of ' Phenomena ' , in which are listed a number of mainly astronomical observations , that Newton used as the basis for inferences later on , as if adopting a consensus set of facts from the astronomers of his time . Both the ' Rules ' and the ' Phenomena ' evolved from one edition of the ' ' Principia ' ' to the next . Rule 4 made its appearance in the third ( 1726 ) edition ; Rules 13 were present as ' Rules ' in the second ( 1713 ) edition , and predecessors of them were also present in the first edition of 1687 , but there they had a different heading : they were not given as ' Rules ' , but rather in the first ( 1687 ) edition the predecessors of the three later ' Rules ' , and of most of the later ' Phenomena ' , were all lumped together under a single heading ' Hypotheses ' ( in which the third item was the predecessor of a heavy revision that gave the later Rule 3 ) . From this textual evolution , it appears that Newton wanted by the later headings ' Rules ' and ' Phenomena ' to clarify for his readers his view of the roles to be played by these various statements . In the third ( 1726 ) edition of the ' ' Principia ' ' , Newton explains each rule in an alternative way and/or gives an example to back up what the rule is claiming . The first rule is explained as a philosophers ' principle of economy . The second rule states that if one cause is assigned to a natural effect , then the same cause so far as possible must be assigned to natural effects of the same kind : for example respiration in humans and in animals , fires in the home and in the Sun , or the reflection of light whether it occurs terrestrially or from the planets . An extensive explanation is given of the third rule , concerning the qualities of bodies , and Newton discusses here the generalisation of observational results , with a caution against making up fancies contrary to experiments , and use of the rules to illustrate the observation of gravity and space . Isaac Newtons statement of the four rules revolutionised the investigation of phenomena . With these rules , Newton could in principle begin to address all of the worlds present unsolved mysteries . He was able to use his new analytical method to replace that of Aristotle , and he was able to use his method to tweak and update Galileo Galilei # General Scholium # The ' ' General Scholium ' ' is a concluding essay added to the second edition , 1713 ( and amended in the third edition , 1726 ) . It is not to be confused with the ' ' General Scholium ' ' at the end of Book 2 , Section 6 , which discusses his pendulum experiments and resistance due to air , water , and other fluids . Here Newton used what became his famous expression Hypotheses non fingo , I contrive no hypotheses , in response to criticisms of the first edition of the ' ' Principia ' ' . ( <nowiki> Fingo ' </nowiki> ' ' is sometimes nowadays translated ' feign ' rather than the traditional ' frame ' . ) Newton 's gravitational attraction , an invisible force able to act over vast distances , had led to criticism that he had introduced occult agencies into science . Newton firmly rejected such criticisms and wrote that it was enough that the phenomena implied gravitational attraction , as they did ; but the phenomena did not so far indicate the cause of this gravity , and it was both unnecessary and improper to frame hypotheses of things not implied by the phenomena : such hypotheses have no place in experimental philosophy , in contrast to the proper way in which particular propositions are inferr 'd from the phenomena and afterwards rendered general by induction . Newton also underlined his criticism of the vortex theory of planetary motions , of Descartes , pointing to its incompatibility with the highly eccentric orbits of comets , which carry them through all parts of the heavens indifferently . Newton also gave theological argument . From the system of the world , he inferred the existence of a Lord God , along lines similar to what is sometimes called the argument from intelligent or purposive design . It has been suggested that Newton gave an oblique argument for a unitarian conception of God and an implicit attack on the doctrine of the Trinity , but the General Scholium appears to say nothing specifically about these matters . # Writing and publication # # Halley and Newton 's initial stimulus # In January 1684 , Halley , Wren and Hooke had a conversation in which Hooke claimed to not only have derived the inverse-square law , but also all the laws of planetary motion . Wren was unconvinced , Hooke did not produce the claimed derivation although the others gave him time to do it , and Halley , who could derive the inverse-square law for the restricted circular case ( by substituting Kepler 's relation into Huygens ' formula for the centrifugal force ) but failed to derive the relation generally , resolved to ask Newton . Halley 's visits to Newton in 1684 thus resulted from Halley 's debates about planetary motion with Wren and Hooke , and they seem to have provided Newton with the incentive and spur to develop and write what became ' ' Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ' ' ( ' ' Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy ' ' ) . Halley was at that time a Fellow and Council member of the Royal Society in London , ( positions that in 1686 he resigned to become the Society 's paid Clerk ) . Halley 's visit to Newton in Cambridge in 1684 probably occurred in August . When Halley asked Newton 's opinion on the problem of planetary motions discussed earlier that year between Halley , Hooke and Wren , Newton surprised Halley by saying that he had already made the derivations some time ago ; but that he could not find the papers . ( Matching accounts of this meeting come from Halley and Abraham De Moivre to whom Newton confided . ) Halley then had to wait for Newton to ' find ' the results , but in November 1684 Newton sent Halley an amplified version of whatever previous work Newton had done on the subject . This took the form of a 9-page manuscript , ' ' De motu corporum in gyrum ' ' ( ' ' Of the motion of bodies in an orbit ' ' ) : the title is shown on some surviving copies , although the ( lost ) original may have been without title . Newton 's tract ' ' De motu corporum in gyrum ' ' , which he sent to Halley in late 1684 , derived what are now known as the three laws of Kepler , assuming an inverse square law of force , and generalised the result to conic sections . It also extended the methodology by adding the solution of a problem on the motion of a body through a resisting medium . The contents of ' ' De motu ' ' so excited Halley by their mathematical and physical originality and far-reaching implications for astronomical theory , that he immediately went to visit Newton again , in November 1684 , to ask Newton to let the Royal Society have more of such work . The results of their meetings clearly helped to stimulate Newton with the enthusiasm needed to take his investigations of mathematical problems much further in this area of physical science , and he did so in a period of highly concentrated work that lasted at least until mid-1686 . Newton 's single-minded attention to his work generally , and to his project during this time , is shown by later reminiscences from his secretary and copyist of the period , Humphrey Newton . His account tells of Isaac Newton 's absorption in his studies , how he sometimes forgot his food , or his sleep , or the state of his clothes , and how when he took a walk in his garden he would sometimes rush back to his room with some new thought , not even waiting to sit before beginning to write it down . Other evidence also shows Newton 's absorption in the ' ' Principia ' ' : Newton for years kept up a regular programme of chemical or alchemical experiments , and he normally kept dated notes of them , but for a period from May 1684 to April 1686 , Newton 's chemical notebooks have no entries at all . So it seems that Newton abandoned pursuits to which he was normally dedicated , and did very little else for well over a year and a half , but concentrated on developing and writing what became his great work . The first of the three constituent books was sent to Halley for the printer in spring 1686 , and the other two books somewhat later . The complete work , published by Halley at his own financial risk , appeared in July 1687 . Newton had also communicated ' ' De motu ' ' to Flamsteed , and during the period of composition he exchanged a few letters with Flamsteed about observational data on the planets , eventually acknowledging Flamsteed 's contributions in the published version of the ' ' Principia ' ' of 1687. # Preliminary version # The process of writing that first edition of the ' ' Principia ' ' went through several stages and drafts : some parts of the preliminary materials still survive , others are lost except for fragments and cross-references in other documents . Surviving preliminary materials show that Newton ( up to some time in 1685 ) conceived his book as a two-volume work : The first volume was to be ' ' De motu corporum , Liber primus ' ' , with contents that later appeared in extended form as Book 1 of the ' ' Principia ' ' . A fair-copy draft of Newton 's planned second volume ' ' De motu corporum , Liber secundus ' ' still survives , and its completion has been dated to about the summer of 1685 . What it covers is the application of the results of ' ' Liber primus ' ' to the Earth , the Moon , the tides , the solar system , and the universe : in this respect it has much the same purpose as the final Book 3 of the ' ' Principia ' ' , but it is written much less formally and is more easily read . It is not known just why Newton changed his mind so radically about the final form of what had been a readable narrative in ' ' De motu corporum , Liber secundus ' ' of 1685 , but he largely started afresh in a new , tighter , and less accessible mathematical style , eventually to produce Book 3 of the ' ' Principia ' ' as we know it . Newton frankly admitted that this change of style was deliberate when he wrote that he had ( first ) composed this book in a popular method , that it might be read by many , but to prevent the disputes by readers who could not lay aside their prejudices , he had reduced it into the form of propositions ( in the mathematical way ) which should be read by those only , who had first made themselves masters of the principles established in the preceding books . The final Book 3 also contained in addition some further important quantitative results arrived at by Newton in the meantime , especially about the theory of the motions of comets , and some of the perturbations of the motions of the Moon . The result was numbered Book 3 of the ' ' Principia ' ' rather than Book 2 , because in the meantime , drafts of ' ' Liber primus ' ' had expanded and Newton had divided it into two books . The new and final Book 2 was concerned largely with the motions of bodies through resisting mediums . But the ' ' Liber secundus ' ' of 1685 can still be read today . Even after it was superseded by Book 3 of the ' ' Principia ' ' , it survived complete , in more than one manuscript . After Newton 's death in 1727 , the relatively accessible character of its writing encouraged the publication of an English translation in 1728 ( by persons still unknown , not authorised by Newton 's heirs ) . It appeared under the English title ' ' A Treatise of the System of the World ' ' . This had some amendments relative to Newton 's manuscript of 1685 , mostly to remove cross-references that used obsolete numbering to cite the propositions of an early draft of Book 1 of the ' ' Principia ' ' . Newton 's heirs shortly afterwards published the Latin version in their possession , also in 1728 , under the ( new ) title ' ' De Mundi Systemate ' ' , amended to update cross-references , citations and diagrams to those of the later editions of the ' ' Principia ' ' , making it look superficially as if it had been written by Newton after the ' ' Principia ' ' , rather than before . The ' ' System of the World ' ' was sufficiently popular to stimulate two revisions ( with similar changes as in the Latin printing ) , a second edition ( 1731 ) , and a ' corrected ' reprint of the second edition ( 1740 ) . # Halley 's role as publisher # The text of the first of the three books of the ' ' Principia ' ' was presented to the Royal Society at the close of April 1686 . Hooke made some priority claims ( but failed to substantiate them ) , causing some delay . When Hooke 's claim was made known to Newton , who hated disputes , Newton threatened to withdraw and suppress Book 3 altogether , but Halley , showing considerable diplomatic skills , tactfully persuaded Newton to withdraw his threat and let it go forward to publication . Samuel Pepys , as President , gave his imprimatur on 30 June 1686 , licensing the book for publication . The Society had just spent its book budget on a ' ' History of Fishes ' ' , and the cost of publication was borne by Edmund Halley ( who was also then acting as publisher of the ' ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ' ' ) : the book appeared in summer 1687. # Historical context # # Beginnings of the Scientific Revolution # Nicolaus Copernicus had moved the Earth away from the center of the universe with the heliocentric theory for which he presented evidence in his book ' ' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ' ' ( ' ' On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres ' ' ) published in 1543 . The structure was completed when Johannes Kepler wrote the book ' ' Astronomia nova ' ' ( ' ' A new astronomy ' ' ) in 1609 , setting out the evidence that planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus , and that planets do not move with constant speed along this orbit . Rather , their speed varies so that the line joining the centres of the sun and a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times . To these two laws he added a third a decade later , in his book ' ' Harmonices Mundi ' ' ( ' ' Harmonies of the world ' ' ) . This law sets out a proportionality between the third power of the characteristic distance of a planet from the sun and the square of the length of its year . The foundation of modern dynamics was set out in Galileo 's book ' ' Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo ' ' ( ' ' Dialogue on the two main world systems ' ' ) where the notion of inertia was implicit and used . In addition , Galileo 's experiments with inclined planes had yielded precise mathematical relations between elapsed time and acceleration , velocity or distance for uniform and uniformly accelerated motion of bodies . Descartes ' book of 1644 ' ' Principia philosophiae ' ' ( ' ' Principles of philosophy ' ' ) stated that bodies can act on each other only through contact : a principle that induced people , among them himself , to hypothesize a universal medium as the carrier of interactions such as light and gravitythe aether . Newton was criticized for apparently introducing forces that acted at distance without any medium . Not until the development of particle theory was Descartes ' notion vindicated when it was possible to describe all interactions , like the strong , weak , and electromagnetic fundamental interactions , using mediating gauge bosons and gravity through hypothesized gravitons . Although he was mistaken in his treatment of circular motion , this effort was more fruitful in the short term when it led others to identify circular motion as a problem raised by the principle of inertia . Christiaan Huygens solved this problem in the 1650s and published it much later in 1673 in his book ' ' Horologium oscillatorium sive de motu pendulorum ' ' . # Newton 's role # Newton had studied these books , or , in some cases , secondary sources based on them , and taken notes entitled ' ' Quaestiones quaedam philosophicae ' ' ( ' ' Questions about philosophy ' ' ) during his days as an undergraduate . During this period ( 16641666 ) he created the basis of calculus , and performed the first experiments in the optics of colour . At this time , his proof that white light was a combination of primary colours ( found via prismatics ) replaced the prevailing theory of colours and received an overwhelmingly favourable response , and occasioned bitter disputes with Robert Hooke and others , which forced him to sharpen his ideas to the point where he already composed sections of his later book ' ' Opticks ' ' by the 1670s in response . Work on calculus is shown in various papers and letters , including two to Leibniz . He became a fellow of the Royal Society and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics ( succeeding Isaac Barrow ) at Trinity College , Cambridge . # Newton 's early work on motion # In the 1660s Newton studied the motion of colliding bodies , and deduced that the centre of mass of two colliding bodies remains in uniform motion . Surviving manuscripts of the 1660s also show Newton 's interest in planetary motion and that by 1669 he had shown , for a circular case of planetary motion , that the force he called ' endeavour to recede ' ( now called centrifugal force ) had an inverse-square relation with distance from the center . After his 16791680 correspondence with Hooke , described below , Newton adopted the language of inward or centripetal force . According to Newton scholar J Bruce Brackenridge , although much has been made of the change in language and difference of point of view , as between centrifugal or centripetal forces , the actual computations and proofs remained the same either way . They also involved the combination of tangential and radial displacements , which Newton was making in the 1660s . The difference between the centrifugal and centripetal points of view , though a significant change of perspective , did not change the analysis . Newton also clearly expressed the concept of linear inertia in the 1660s : for this Newton was indebted to Descartes ' work published 1644. # Controversy with Hooke # Hooke published his ideas about gravitation in the 1660s and again in 1674 . He argued for an attracting principle of gravitation in ' ' Micrographia ' ' of 1665 , in a 1666 Royal Society lecture ' ' On gravity ' ' , and again in 1674 , when he published his ideas about the ' ' System of the World ' ' in somewhat developed form , as an addition to ' ' An Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth from Observations ' ' . Hooke clearly postulated mutual attractions between the Sun and planets , in a way that increased with nearness to the attracting body , along with a principle of linear inertia . Hooke 's statements up to 1674 made no mention , however , that an inverse square law applies or might apply to these attractions . Hooke 's gravitation was also not yet universal , though it approached universality more closely than previous hypotheses . Hooke also did not provide accompanying evidence or mathematical demonstration . On these two aspects , Hooke stated in 1674 : Now what these several degrees of gravitational attraction are I have not yet experimentally verified ( indicating that he did not yet know what law the gravitation might follow ) ; and as to his whole proposal : This I only hint at present , having my self many other things in hand which I would first compleat , and therefore can not so well attend it ( i.e. , prosecuting this Inquiry ) . In November 1679 , Hooke began an exchange of letters with Newton , of which the full text is now published . Hooke told Newton that Hooke had been appointed to manage the Royal Society 's correspondence , and wished to hear from members about their researches , or their views about the researches of others ; and as if to whet Newton 's interest , he asked what Newton thought about various matters , giving a whole list , mentioning compounding the celestial motions of the planets of a direct motion by the tangent and an attractive motion towards the central body , and my hypothesis of the lawes or causes of springinesse , and then a new hypothesis from Paris about planetary motions ( which Hooke described at length ) , and then efforts to carry out or improve national surveys , the difference of latitude between London and Cambridge , and other items . Newton 's reply offered a fansy of my own about a terrestrial experiment ( not a proposal about celestial motions ) which might detect the Earth 's motion , by the use of a body first suspended in air and then dropped to let it fall . The main point was to indicate how Newton thought the falling body could experimentally reveal the Earth 's motion by its direction of deviation from the vertical , but he went on hypothetically to consider how its motion could continue if the solid Earth had not been in the way ( on a spiral path to the centre ) . Hooke disagreed with Newton 's idea of how the body would continue to move . A short further correspondence developed , and towards the end of it Hooke , writing on 6 January 1680 to Newton , communicated his supposition .. that the Attraction always is in a duplicate proportion to the Distance from the Center Reciprocall , and Consequently that the Velocity will be in a subduplicate proportion to the Attraction and Consequently as Kepler Supposes Reciprocall to the Distance . ( Hooke 's inference about the velocity was actually incorrect . ) In 1686 , when the first book of Newton 's ' ' Principia ' ' was presented to the Royal Society , Hooke claimed that Newton had obtained from him the notion of the rule of the decrease of Gravity , being reciprocally as the squares of the distances from the Center . At the same time ( according to Edmond Halley 's contemporary report ) Hooke agreed that the Demonstration of the Curves generated therby was wholly Newton 's . A recent assessment about the early history of the inverse square law is that by the late 1660s , the assumption of an inverse proportion between gravity and the square of distance was rather common and had been advanced by a number of different people for different reasons . Newton himself had shown in the 1660s that for planetary motion under a circular assumption , force in the radial direction had an inverse-square relation with distance from the center . Newton , faced in May 1686 with Hooke 's claim on the inverse square law , denied that Hooke was to be credited as author of the idea , giving reasons including the citation of prior work by others before Hooke . Newton also firmly claimed that even if it had happened that he had first heard of the inverse square proportion from Hooke , which it had not , he would still have some rights to it in view of his mathematical developments and demonstrations , which enabled observations to be relied on as evidence of its accuracy , while Hooke , without mathematical demonstrations and evidence in favour of the supposition , could only guess ( according to Newton ) that it was approximately valid at great distances from the center . The background described above shows there was basis for Newton to deny deriving the inverse square law from Hooke . On the other hand , Newton did accept and acknowledge , in all editions of the ' ' Principia ' ' , that Hooke ( but not exclusively Hooke ) had separately appreciated the inverse square law in the solar system . Newton acknowledged Wren , Hooke and Halley in this connection in the Scholium to Proposition 4 in Book 1 . Newton also acknowledged to Halley that his correspondence with Hooke in 167980 had reawakened his dormant interest in astronomical matters , but that did not mean , according to Newton , that Hooke had told Newton anything new or original : yet am I not beholden to him for any light into that business but only for the diversion he gave me from my other studies to think on these things &amp; for his dogmaticalness in writing as if he had found the motion in the Ellipsis , which inclined me to try it .. . ) Newton 's reawakening interest in astronomy received further stimulus by the appearance of a comet in the winter of 1680/1681 , on which he corresponded with John Flamsteed . In 1759 , decades after the deaths of both Newton and Hooke , Alexis Clairaut , mathematical astronomer eminent in his own right in the field of gravitational studies , made his assessment after reviewing what Hooke had published on gravitation . One must not think that this idea .. of Hooke diminishes Newton 's glory , Clairaut wrote ; The example of Hooke serves to show what a distance there is between a truth that is glimpsed and a truth that is demonstrated . # Location of copies # Several national rare-book collections contain original copies of Newton 's ' ' Principia Mathematica ' ' , including :  The Martin Bodmer Library keeps a copy of the original edition that was owned by Leibniz . In it , we can see handwritten notes by Leibniz , in particular concerning the controversy of who discovered calculus ( although he published it later , Newton argued that he developed it earlier ) .  The Wren Library , Trinity College Cambridge has Newton 's own copy of the first edition with handwritten annotations.  Cambridge University Library has Newton 's own copy of the first edition , with handwritten notes for the second edition .  The Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge has a first-edition copy which had belonged to Robert Hooke.  The Pepys Library in Magdalene College , Cambridge , has Samuel Pepys ' copy of the third edition .  Fisher Library in the University of Sydney has a first-edition copy , annotated by a mathematician of uncertain identity and corresponding notes from Newton himself .  The University College London library holds a copy in ' Strong Room E ' of its Rare Books collection .  The University of WisconsinMadison Memorial Library at Special Collections  The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds two first edition copies , one with manuscript additions and corrections.  The Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William &amp; Mary has a first edition copy of the Principia . In it , are notes in Latin throughout by a not yet identified hand .  The Frederick E. Brasch Collection of Newton and Newtoniana in Stanford University also has a first edition of the Principia .  A first edition is also located in the archives of the library at the Georgia Institute of Technology . The Georgia Tech library is also home to a second and third edition .  A first edition forms part of the Crawford Collection , housed at the Royal Observatory , Edinburgh . The collection also holds a third edition copy .  The Uppsala University Library owns a first edition copy , which was stolen in the 1960s and returned to the library in 2009.  The University of Michigan Special Collections Library owns several early printings , including the first ( 1687 ) , second ( 1713 ) , second revised ( 1714 ) , unnumbered ( 1723 ) , and third ( 1726 ) editions of the Principia .  The Royal Astronomical Society holds a first edition , and two copies of the third edition .  The Royal Society in London holds John Flamsteed 's first edition copy , and also the manuscript of the first edition . The manuscript is complete containing all three books but does not contain the figures and illustrations for the first edition .  The John J. Burns Library at Boston College contains a first edition as well as a 1723 copy published between the second and third editions .  Yale University owns multiple copies , with a first edition among the collection of Harvey Cushing in the Medical Historical Library of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library , as well as a second edition , housed in the Beinecke Rare Book &amp; Manuscript Library , presented by the author to the Yale College Library in 1714.  The George C. Gordon Library at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute holds a third edition copy .  The Gunnerus Library at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim holds a first edition copy of the Principia .  Haverford College Quaker &amp; Special Collections owns a first edition of the Principia .  The Fellows Library at Winchester College owns a first edition of the Principia .  The Fellows ' Library at Jesus College , Oxford , owns a copy of the first edition .  The Old Library of Magdalen College , Oxford owns a first edition copy .  The Library of New College , Oxford owns a first edition copy .  The Library of Somerville College , Oxford owns a second edition copy .  The Southwest Research Institute in Texas owns a third edition copy dated 1726CE.  The Teleki-Bolyai Library in Trgu-Mures , first edition , 2-line imprint . A facsimile edition ( based on the 3rd edition of 1726 but with variant readings from earlier editions and important annotations ) was published in 1972 by Alexandre Koyr and I. Bernard Cohen . # Later editions # Two later editions were published by Newton : # Second edition , 1713 # Newton had been urged to make a new edition of the ' ' Principia ' ' since the early 1690s , partly because copies of the first edition had already become very rare and expensive within a few years after 1687 . Newton referred to his plans for a second edition in correspondence with Flamsteed in November 1694 : Newton also maintained annotated copies of the first edition specially bound up with interleaves on which he could note his revisions ; two of these copies still survive : but he had not completed the revisions by 1708 , and of two would-be editors , Newton had almost severed connections with one , Fatio de Duillier , and the other , David Gregory seems not to have met with Newton 's approval and was also terminally ill , dying later in 1708 . Nevertheless , reasons were accumulating not to put off the new edition any longer . Richard Bentley , master of Trinity College , persuaded Newton to allow him to undertake a second edition , and in June 1708 Bentley wrote to Newton with a specimen print of the first sheet , at the same time expressing the ( unfulfilled ) hope that Newton had made progress towards finishing the revisions . It seems that Bentley then realised that the editorship was technically too difficult for him , and with Newton 's consent he appointed Roger Cotes , Plumian professor of astronomy at Trinity , to undertake the editorship for him as a kind of deputy ( but Bentley still made the publishing arrangements and had the financial responsibility and profit ) . The correspondence of 17091713 shows Cotes reporting to two masters , Bentley and Newton , and managing ( and often correcting ) a large and important set of revisions to which Newton sometimes could not give his full attention . Under the weight of Cotes ' efforts , but impeded by priority disputes between Newton and Leibniz , and by troubles at the Mint , Cotes was able to announce publication to Newton on 30 June 1713 . Bentley sent Newton only six presentation copies ; Cotes was unpaid ; Newton omitted any acknowledgement to Cotes . Among those who gave Newton corrections for the Second Edition were : Firmin Abauzit , Roger Cotes and David Gregory . However , Newton omitted acknowledgements to some because of the priority disputes . John Flamsteed , the Astronomer Royal , suffered this especially . # Third edition , 1726 # The third edition was published 25 March 1726 , under the stewardship of ' ' Henry Pemberton , M.D. , a man of the greatest skill in these matters ... ' ' ; Pemberton later said that this recognition was worth more to him than the two hundred guinea award from Newton . # Annotated and other editions # In 173942 two French priests , Pres Thomas LeSeur and Franois Jacquier ( of the ' Minim ' order , but sometimes erroneously identified as Jesuits ) produced with the assistance of J-L Calandrini an extensively annotated version of the ' Principia ' in the 3rd edition of 1726 . Sometimes this is referred to as the ' Jesuit edition ' : it was much used , and reprinted more than once in Scotland during the 19th century . milie du Chtelet also made a translation of Newton 's Principia into French . Unlike LeSeur and Jacquier 's edition , hers was a complete translation of Newton 's three books and their prefaces . She also included a Commentary section where she fused the three books into a much clearer and easier to understand summary . She included an analytical section where she applied the new mathematics of calculus to Newton 's most controversial theories . Previously , geometry was the standard mathematics used to analyse theories . Du Chatelet 's translation is the only complete one to have been done in French and hers remains the standard French translation to this day . See Translating Newton 's ' Principia ' : The Marquise du Chtelet 's Revisions and Additions for a French Audience . Author(s) : Judith P. Zinsser Source : Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London , Vol. 55 , No. 2 ( May 2001 ) , pp. 227245. # English translations # Two full English translations of Newton 's ' Principia ' have appeared , both based on Newton 's 3rd edition of 1726 . The first , from 1729 , by Andrew Motte , was described by Newton scholar I. Bernard Cohen ( in 1968 ) as still of enormous value in conveying to us the sense of Newton 's words in their own time , and it is generally faithful to the original : clear , and well written . The 1729 version was the basis for several republications , often incorporating revisions , among them a widely used modernised English version of 1934 , which appeared under the editorial name of Florian Cajori ( though completed and published only some years after his death ) . Cohen pointed out ways in which the 18th-century terminology and punctuation of the 1729 translation might be confusing to modern readers , but he also made severe criticisms of the 1934 modernised English version , and showed that the revisions had been made without regard to the original , also demonstrating gross errors that provided the final impetus to our decision to produce a wholly new translation . The second full English translation , into modern English , is the work that resulted from this decision by collaborating translators I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman ; it was published in 1999 with a guide by way of introduction . William H. Donahue has published a translation of the work 's central argument , published in 1996 , along with expansion of included proofs and ample commentary . The book was developed as a textbook for classes at St. John 's College and the aim of this translation is to be faithful to the Latin text . # Homages # British astronaut Tim Peake has named his 2014 mission to the International Space Station ' ' Principia ' ' after the book , in honour of Britain 's greatest scientist . 
@@76939 Phenomenology ( from Greek : ' ' phainmenon ' ' that which appears and ' ' lgos ' ' study ) is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness . As a philosophical movement it was founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl and was later expanded upon by a circle of his followers at the universities of Gttingen and Munich in Germany . It then spread to France , the United States , and elsewhere , often in contexts far removed from Husserl 's early work . Phenomenology , in Husserl 's conception , is primarily concerned with the systematic reflection on and study of the structures of consciousness and the phenomena that appear in acts of consciousness . This ontology ( study of reality ) can be clearly differentiated from the Cartesian method of analysis which sees the world as objects , sets of objects , and objects acting and reacting upon one another . Husserl 's conception of phenomenology has been criticized and developed not only by himself but also by students , such as Edith Stein , by hermeneutic philosophers , such as Martin Heidegger , by existentialists , such as Max Scheler , Nicolai Hartmann , Maurice Merleau-Ponty , Jean-Paul Sartre , and by other philosophers , such as Paul Ricoeur , Jean-Luc Marion , Emmanuel Lvinas , and sociologists Alfred Schtz and Eric Voegelin. # Overview # Stephen Hicks writes that to understand phenomenology , one must identify its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant ( 17241804 ) . In his ' ' Critique of Pure Reason ' ' , Kant distinguished between phenomena ( objects as interpreted by human sensibility and understanding ) , and noumena ( objects as ' ' things-in-themselves ' ' , which humans can not directly experience ) . According to Hicks , 19th-century Kantianism operated in two broad camps :  structural linguistics and  phenomenology . Hicks writes , In effect , the Structuralists were seeking subjective noumenal categories , and the Phenomenologists were content with describing the phenomena without asking what connection to an external reality those experiences might have . In its most basic form , phenomenology thus attempts to create conditions for the Objectivity ( philosophy ) There are several assumptions behind phenomenology that help explain its foundations . First , it rejects the concept of objective research . Phenomenologists prefer grouping assumptions through a process called phenomenological epoche . Second , phenomenology believes that analyzing daily human behavior can provide one with a greater understanding of nature . The third assumption is that persons , not individuals , should be explored . This is because persons can be understood through the unique ways they reflect the society they live in . Fourth , phenomenologists prefer to gather capta , or conscious experience , rather than traditional data . Finally , phenomenology is considered to be oriented on discovery , and therefore phenomenologists gather research using methods that are far less restricting than in other sciences . Husserl derived many important concepts central to phenomenology from the works and lectures of his teachers , the philosophers and psychologists Franz Brentano and Carl Stumpf . An important element of phenomenology that Husserl borrowed from Brentano is intentionality ( often described as aboutness ) , the notion that consciousness is always consciousness ' ' of ' ' something . The object of consciousness is called the ' ' intentional object ' ' , and this object is constituted for consciousness in many different ways , through , for instance , perception , memory , retention and protention , signification , etc . Throughout these different intentionalities , though they have different structures and different ways of being about the object , an object is still constituted as the identical object ; consciousness is directed at the same intentional object in direct perception as it is in the immediately following retention of this object and the eventual remembering of it . Though many of the phenomenological methods involve various reductions , phenomenology is , in essence , anti-reductionism Although previously employed by Hegel in his ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' , it was Husserls adoption of this term ( circa 1900 ) that propelled it into becoming the designation of a philosophical school . As a philosophical perspective , phenomenology is its method , though the specific meaning of the term varies according to how it is conceived by a given philosopher . As envisioned by Husserl , phenomenology is a method of philosophical inquiry that rejects the rationalist bias that has dominated Western thought since Plato in favor of a method of reflective attentiveness that discloses the individuals lived experience . Loosely rooted in an epistemological device , with Sceptic roots , called epoch , Husserls method entails the suspension of judgment while relying on the intuitive grasp of knowledge , free of presuppositions and intellectualizing . Sometimes depicted as the science of experience , the phenomenological method is rooted in intentionality , Husserls theory of consciousness ( developed from Brentano ) . Intentionality represents an alternative to the representational theory of consciousness , which holds that reality can not be grasped directly because it is available only through perceptions of reality that are representations of it in the mind . Husserl countered that consciousness is not in the mind but rather conscious of something other than itself ( the intentional object ) , whether the object is a substance or a figment of imagination ( i.e. , the real processes associated with and underlying the figment ) . Hence the phenomenological method relies on the description of phenomena as they are given to consciousness , in their immediacy . According to Maurice Natanson ( 1973 , p. 63 ) , ' ' The radicality of the phenomenological method is both continuous and discontinuous with philosophys general effort to subject experience to fundamental , critical scrutiny : to take nothing for granted and to show the warranty for what we claim to know . ' ' In practice , it entails an unusual combination of discipline and detachment to suspend , or bracket , theoretical explanations and second-hand information while determining one 's naive experience of the matter . The phenomenological method serves to momentarily erase the world of speculation by returning the subject to his or her primordial experience of the matter , whether the object of inquiry is a feeling , an idea , or a perception . According to Husserl the suspension of belief in what we ordinarily take for granted or infer by conjecture diminishes the power of what we customarily embrace as objective reality . According to Rdiger Safranski ( 1998 , 72 ) , Husserl and his followers great ambition was to disregard anything that had until then been thought or said about consciousness or the world while on the lookout for a new way of letting the things they investigated approach them , without covering them up with what they already knew . Martin Heidegger modified Husserls conception of phenomenology because of ( what Heidegger perceived as ) Husserl 's subjectivist tendencies . Whereas Husserl conceived humans as having been constituted by states of consciousness , Heidegger countered that consciousness is peripheral to the primacy of ones existence ( i.e. , the mode of being of Dasein ) , which can not be reduced to ones consciousness of it . From this angle , ones state of mind is an effect rather than a determinant of existence , including those aspects of existence that one is not conscious of . By shifting the center of gravity from consciousness ( psychology ) to existence ( ontology ) , Heidegger altered the subsequent direction of phenomenology . As one consequence of Heideggers modification of Husserls conception , phenomenology became increasingly relevant to psychoanalysis . Whereas Husserl gave priority to a depiction of consciousness that was fundamentally alien to the psychoanalytic conception of the unconscious , Heidegger offered a way to conceptualize experience that could accommodate those aspects of ones existence that lie on the periphery of sentient awareness . # Historical overview of the use of the term # Phenomenology has at least two main meanings in philosophical history : one in the writings of G.W.F. Hegel , another in the writings of Edmund Husserl in 1920 , and a third , deriving from Husserl 's work , in the writings of his former research assistant Martin Heidegger in 1927. For G.W.F. Hegel , phenomenology is an approach to philosophy that begins with an exploration of phenomena ( what presents itself to us in conscious experience ) as a means to finally grasp the absolute , logical , ontological and metaphysical Spirit that is behind phenomena . This has been called a ' ' dialectical phenomenology ' ' . For Edmund Husserl , phenomenology is the reflective study of the essence of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view . Phenomenology takes the intuitive experience of phenomena ( what presents itself to us in phenomenological reflexion ) as its starting point and tries to extract from it the essential features of experiences and the essence of what we experience . When generalized to the essential features of any possible experience , this has been called ' ' Transcendental Phenomenology ' ' . Husserl 's view was based on aspects of the work of Franz Brentano and was developed further by philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty , Max Scheler , Edith Stein , Dietrich von Hildebrand and Emmanuel Levinas . Although the term phenomenology was used occasionally in the history of philosophy before Husserl , modern use ties it more explicitly to his particular method . Following is a list of thinkers in rough chronological order who used the term phenomenology in a variety of ways , with brief comments on their contributions :  Friedrich Christoph Oetinger ( 17021782 ) , German pietist , for the study of the divine system of relations  Johann Heinrich Lambert ( 17281777 ) , mathematician , physician and philosopher , known for the theory of appearances underlying empirical knowledge .  Immanuel Kant ( 17241804 ) , in the Critique of Pure Reason , distinguished between objects as phenomena , which are objects as shaped and grasped by human sensibility and understanding , and objects as ' ' things-in-themselves ' ' or noumena , which do not appear to us in space and time and about which we can make no legitimate judgments .  G.W.F. Hegel ( 17701831 ) challenged Kant 's doctrine of the unknowable thing-in-itself , and declared that by knowing phenomena more fully we can gradually arrive at a consciousness of the absolute and spiritual truth of Divinity , most notably in his ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' , published in 1807.  Carl Stumpf ( 18481936 ) , student of Brentano and mentor to Husserl , used phenomenology to refer to an ontology of sensory contents .  Edmund Husserl ( 18591938 ) established phenomenology at first as a kind of descriptive psychology and later as a transcendental and eidetic science of consciousness . He is considered to be the founder of contemporary phenomenology.  Max Scheler ( 18741928 ) developed further the phenomenological method of Edmund Husserl and extended it to include also a reduction of the scientific method . He influenced the thinking of Pope John Paul II , Dietrich von Hildebrand , and Edith Stein.  Martin Heidegger ( 18891976 ) criticized Husserl 's theory of phenomenology and attempted to develop a theory of ontology that led him to his original theory of Dasein , the non-dualistic human being .  Alfred Schtz ( 18991959 ) developed a phenomenology of the social world on the basis of everyday experience that has influenced major sociologists such as Harold Garfinkel , Peter Berger , and Thomas Luckmann.  Francisco Varela ( 19462001 ) , Chilean philosopher and biologist . Developed the basis for experimental phenomenology and neurophenomenology.  Werner Erhard ( born 1935 ) uses the phenomenological methodology to provide actionable access to being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership . Later usage is mostly based on or ( critically ) related to Husserl 's introduction and use of the term . This branch of philosophy differs from others in that it tends to be more descriptive than prescriptive . # Phenomenological terminology # # Intentionality # Intentionality refers to the notion that consciousness is always the consciousness ' ' of ' ' something . The word itself should not be confused with the ordinary use of the word intentional , but should rather be taken as playing on the etymological roots of the word . Originally , intention referred to a stretching out ( in tension , lat. ' ' intendere ' ' ) , and in this context it refers to consciousness ' ' stretching out ' ' towards its object ( although one should be careful with this image , seeing as there is not some consciousness first that , subsequently , stretches out to its object . Rather , consciousness ' ' occurs as ' ' the simultaneity of a conscious act and its object . ) Intentionality is often summed up as aboutness . Whether this ' ' something ' ' that consciousness is about is in direct perception or in fantasy is inconsequential to the concept of intentionality itself ; whatever consciousness is directed at , ' ' that ' ' is what consciousness is conscious of . This means that the object of consciousness does n't ' ' have ' ' to be a ' ' physical ' ' object apprehended in perception : it can just as well be a fantasy or a memory . Consequently , these structures of consciousness , i.e. , perception , memory , fantasy , etc. , are called ' ' intentionalities ' ' . The cardinal principle of phenomenology , the term intentionality originated with the Scholastics in the medieval period and was resurrected by Brentano who in turn influenced Husserls conception of phenomenology , who refined the term and made it the cornerstone of his theory of consciousness . The meaning of the term is complex and depends entirely on how it is conceived by a given philosopher . The term should not be confused with intention or the psychoanalytic conception of unconscious motive or gain. # Intuition # Intuition ( knowledge ) # Evidence # In everyday language , we use the word evidence to signify a special sort of relation between a state of affairs and a proposition : State A is evidence for the proposition A is true . In phenomenology , however , the concept of evidence is meant to signify the subjective achievement of truth . This is not an attempt to reduce the objective sort of evidence to subjective opinion , but rather an attempt to describe the structure of having something present in intuition with the addition of having it present as ' ' intelligible ' ' : Evidence is the successful presentation of an intelligible object , the successful presentation of something whose truth becomes manifest in the evidencing itself . # Noesis and Noema # In Husserl 's phenomenology , which is quite common , this pair of terms , derived from the Greek ' ' nous ' ' ( mind ) , designate respectively the real content , noesis , and the ideal content , noema , of an intentional act ( an act of consciousness ) . The Noesis is the part of the act that gives it a particular sense or character ( as in judging or perceiving something , loving or hating it , accepting or rejecting it , and so on ) . This is real in the sense that it is actually part of what takes place in the consciousness ( or psyche ) of the subject of the act . The Noesis is always correlated with a Noema ; for Husserl , the full Noema is a complex ideal structure comprising at least a noematic sense and a noematic core . The correct interpretation of what Husserl meant by the Noema has long been controversial , but the noematic sense is generally understood as the ideal meaning of the act and the noematic core as the act 's referent or object ' ' as it is meant in the act ' ' . One element of controversy is whether this noematic object is the same as the actual object of the act ( assuming it exists ) or is some kind of ideal object . # Empathy and Intersubjectivity # In phenomenology , empathy refers to the experience of one 's own body ' ' as ' ' another . While we often identify others with their physical bodies , this type of phenomenology requires that we focus on the subjectivity of the other , as well as our intersubjective engagement with them . In Husserl 's original account , this was done by a sort of apperception built on the experiences of your own lived-body . The lived body is your own body as experienced by yourself , ' ' as ' ' yourself . Your own body manifests itself to you mainly as your possibilities of acting in the world . It is what lets you reach out and grab something , for instance , but it also , and more importantly , allows for the possibility of changing your point of view . This helps you differentiate one thing from another by the experience of moving around it , seeing new aspects of it ( often referred to as making the absent present and the present absent ) , and still retaining the notion that this is the same thing that you saw other aspects of just a moment ago ( it is identical ) . Your body is also experienced as a duality , both as object ( you can touch your own hand ) and as your own subjectivity ( you experience being touched ) . The experience of your own body as your own subjectivity is then applied to the experience of another 's body , which , through apperception , is constituted as another subjectivity . You can thus recognise the Other 's intentions , emotions , etc . This experience of empathy is important in the phenomenological account of intersubjectivity . In phenomenology , intersubjectivity constitutes objectivity ( i.e. , what you experience as objective is experienced as being intersubjectively available - available to all other subjects . This does not imply that objectivity is reduced to subjectivity nor does it imply a relativist position , cf. for instance intersubjective verifiability ) . In the experience of intersubjectivity , one also experiences oneself as being a subject among other subjects , and one experiences oneself as existing objectively ' ' for ' ' these Others ; one experiences oneself as the noema of Others ' noeses , or as a subject in another 's empathic experience . As such , one experiences oneself as objectively existing subjectivity . Intersubjectivity is also a part in the constitution of one 's lifeworld , especially as homeworld. # Lifeworld # The lifeworld ( German : ' ' Lebenswelt ' ' ) is the world each one of us ' ' lives ' ' in . One could call it the background or horizon of all experience , and it is that on which each object stands out as itself ( as different ) and with the meaning it can only hold for us . The lifeworld is both personal and intersubjective ( it is then called a homeworld ) , and , as such , it does not enclose each one of us in a solus ipse . # Husserl 's ' ' Logische Untersuchungen ' ' ( 1900/1901 ) # In the first edition of the ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' , still under the influence of Brentano , Husserl describes his position as descriptive psychology . Husserl analyzes the intentional structures of mental acts and how they are directed at both real and ideal objects . The first volume of the ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' , the ' ' Prolegomena to Pure Logic ' ' , begins with a devastating critique of psychologism , i.e. , the attempt to subsume the ' ' a priori ' ' validity of the laws of logic under psychology . Husserl establishes a separate field for research in logic , philosophy , and phenomenology , independently from the empirical sciences . # Transcendental phenomenology after the ' ' Ideen ' ' ( 1913 ) # Some years after the publication of the ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' , Husserl made some key elaborations that led him to the distinction between the act of consciousness ( ' ' noesis ' ' ) and the phenomena at which it is directed ( the ' ' noemata ' ' ) .  noetic refers to the intentional act of consciousness ( believing , willing , etc. )  noematic refers to the object or content ( noema ) , which appears in the noetic acts ( the believed , wanted , hated , and loved ... ) . What we observe is not the object as it is in itself , but how and inasmuch it is given in the intentional acts . Knowledge of essences would only be possible by bracketing all assumptions about the existence of an external world and the inessential ( subjective ) aspects of how the object is concretely given to us . This procedure Husserl called ' ' epoch ' ' . Husserl in a later period concentrated more on the ideal , essential structures of consciousness . As he wanted to exclude any hypothesis on the existence of external objects , he introduced the method of phenomenological reduction to eliminate them . What was left over was the pure transcendental ego , as opposed to the concrete empirical ego . Now Transcendental Phenomenology is the study of the essential structures that are left in pure consciousness : This amounts in practice to the study of the noemata and the relations among them . The philosopher Theodor Adorno criticised Husserl 's concept of phenomenological epistemology in his metacritique ' ' Against Epistemology ' ' , which is anti-foundationalist in its stance . Transcendental phenomenologists include Oskar Becker , Aron Gurwitsch , and Alfred Schutz. # Realist phenomenology # After Husserl 's publication of the ' ' Ideen ' ' in 1913 , many phenomenologists took a critical stance towards his new theories . Especially the members of the Munich group distanced themselves from his new transcendental phenomenology and preferred the earlier realist phenomenology of the first edition of the ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' . Realist phenomenologists include Adolf Reinach , Alexander Pfnder , Johannes Daubert , Max Scheler , Roman Ingarden , Nicolai Hartmann , Dietrich von Hildebrand. # Existential phenomenology # Existential phenomenology differs from transcendental phenomenology by its rejection of the transcendental ego . Merleau-Ponty objects to the ego 's transcendence of the world , which for Husserl leaves the world spread out and completely transparent before the conscious . Heidegger thinks of a conscious being as always already in the world . Transcendence is maintained in existential phenomenology to the extent that the method of phenomenology must take a presuppositionless starting point - transcending claims about the world arising from , for example , natural or scientific attitudes or theories of the ontological nature of the world . While Husserl thought of philosophy as a scientific discipline that had to be founded on a phenomenology understood as epistemology , Heidegger held a radically different view . Heidegger himself states their differences this way : : ' ' For Husserl , the phenomenological reduction is the method of leading phenomenological vision from the natural attitude of the human being whose life is involved in the world of things and persons back to the transcendental life of consciousness and its noetic-noematic experiences , in which objects are constituted as correlates of consciousness . For us , phenomenological reduction means leading phenomenological vision back from the apprehension of a being , whatever may be the character of that apprehension , to the understanding of the Being of this being ( projecting upon the way it is unconcealed ) . ' ' According to Heidegger , philosophy was not at all a scientific discipline , but more fundamental than science itself . According to him science is only one way of knowing the world with no special access to truth . Furthermore , the scientific mindset itself is built on a much more primordial foundation of practical , everyday knowledge . Husserl was skeptical of this approach , which he regarded as quasi-mystical , and it contributed to the divergence in their thinking . Instead of taking phenomenology as ' ' prima philosophia ' ' or a foundational discipline , Heidegger took it as a metaphysical ontology : ' ' being is the proper and sole theme of philosophy ' ' .. this means that philosophy is not a science of beings but of being . . Yet to confuse phenomenology and ontology is an obvious error . Phenomena are not the foundation or Ground of Being . Neither are they appearances , for , as Heidegger argues in ' ' Being and Time ' ' , an appearance is that which shows itself in something else , while a phenomenon is that which shows itself in itself . While for Husserl , in the epoch , being appeared only as a correlate of consciousness , for Heidegger being is the starting point . While for Husserl we would have to abstract from all concrete determinations of our empirical ego , to be able to turn to the field of pure consciousness , Heidegger claims that the possibilities and destinies of philosophy are bound up with man 's existence , and thus with temporality and with historicality . However , ontological being and existential being are different categories , so Heidegger 's conflation of these categories is , according to Husserl 's view , the root of Heidegger 's error . Husserl charged Heidegger with raising the question of ontology but failing to answer it , instead switching the topic to the Dasein , the only being for whom Being is an issue . That is neither ontology nor phenomenology , according to Husserl , but merely abstract anthropology . To clarify , perhaps , by abstract anthropology , as a non-existentialist searching for essences , Husserl rejected the existentialism implicit in Heidegger 's distinction between being ( sein ) as things in reality and Being ( Da-sein ) as the encounter with being , as when being becomes present to us , that is , is unconcealed . Existential phenomenologists include : Martin Heidegger ( 18891976 ) , Hannah Arendt ( 19061975 ) , Emmanuel Levinas ( 19061995 ) , Gabriel Marcel ( 18891973 ) , Jean-Paul Sartre ( 19051980 ) , Paul Ricoeur ( 19132005 ) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty ( 19081961 ) . # Eastern thought # Some researchers in phenomenology ( in particular in reference to Heidegger 's legacy ) see possibilities of establishing dialogues with traditions of thought outside of the so-called Western philosophy , particularly with respect to East-Asian thinking , and despite perceived differences between Eastern and Western . Furthermore , it has been claimed that a number of elements within phenomenology ( mainly Heidegger 's thought ) have some resonance with Eastern philosophical ideas , particularly with Zen Buddhism and Taoism . According to Tomonubu Imamichi , the concept of ' ' Dasein ' ' was inspired -- although Heidegger remained silent on this -- by Okakura Kakuzo 's concept of ' ' das-in-der-Welt-sein ' ' ( being in the world ) expressed in ' ' The Book of Tea ' ' to describe Zhuangzi 's philosophy , which Imamichi 's teacher had offered to Heidegger in 1919 , after having studied with him the year before . There are also recent signs of the reception of phenomenology ( and Heidegger 's thought in particular ) within scholarly circles focused on studying the impetus of metaphysics in the history of ideas in Islam and Early Islamic philosophy ; perhaps under the indirect influence of the tradition of the French Orientalist and philosopher Henri Corbin . In addition , the work of Jim Ruddy in the field of comparative philosophy , combined the concept of Transcendental Ego in Husserl 's phenomenology with the concept of the primacy of self-consciousness in the work of Sankaracharya . In the course of this work , Ruddy uncovered a wholly new eidetic phenomenological science , which he called convergent phenomenology . This new phenomenology takes over where Husserl left off , and deals with the constitution of relation-like , rather than merely thing-like , or intentional objectivity . # Technoethics # # Phenomenological approach to technology # James Moor has argued that computers show up policy vacuums that require new thinking and the establishment of new policies . Others have argued that the resources provided by classical ethical theory such as utilitarianism , consequentialism and deontological ethics is more than enough to deal with all the ethical issues emerging from our design and use of information technology . For the phenomenologist the impact view of technology as well as the constructivist view of the technology/society relationships is valid but not adequate ( Heidegger 1977 , Borgmann 1985 , Winograd and Flores 1987 , Ihde 1990 , Dreyfus 1992 , 2001 ) . They argue that these accounts of technology , and the technology/society relationship , posit technology and society as if speaking about the one does not immediately and already draw upon the other for its ongoing sense or meaning . For the phenomenologist , society and technology co-constitute each other ; they are each other 's ongoing condition , or possibility for being what they are . For them technology is not just the artifact . Rather , the artifact already emerges from a prior technological attitude towards the world ( Heidegger 1977 ) . # Heideggers approach ( pre-technological age ) # For Heidegger the essence of technology is the way of being of modern humansa way of conducting themselves towards the worldthat sees the world as something to be ordered and shaped in line with projects , intentions and desiresa will to power that manifests itself as a will to technology ' . Heidegger claims that there were other times in human history , a pre-modern time , where humans did not orient themselves towards the world in a technological waysimply as resources for our purposes . However , according to Heidegger this pre-technological age ( or mood ) is one where humans relation with the world and artifacts , their way of being disposed , was poetic and aesthetic rather than technological ( enframing ) . There are many who disagree with Heidegger 's account of the modern technological attitude as the enframing of the world . For example Andrew Feenberg argues that Heidegger 's account of modern technology is not borne out in contemporary everyday encounters with technology . # The Hubert Dreyfus approach ( contemporary society ) # In critiquing the artificial intelligence ( AI ) programme Hubert Dreyfus ( 1992 ) argues that the way skill development has become understood in the past has been wrong . He argues , this is the model that the early artificial intelligence community uncritically adopted . In opposition to this view he argues , with Heidegger , that what we observe when we learn a new skill in everyday practice is in fact the opposite . We most often start with explicit rules or preformulated approaches and then move to a multiplicity of particular cases , as we become an expert . His argument draws directly on Heidegger 's account in Being and Time of humans as beings that are always already situated in-the-world . As humans in-the-world we are already experts at going about everyday life , at dealing with the subtleties of every particular situationthat is why everyday life seems so obvious . Thus , the intricate expertise of everyday activity is forgotten and taken for granted by AI as an assumed starting point . What Dreyfus highlighted in his critique of AI was the fact that technology ( AI algorithms ) does not make sense by itself . It is the assumed , and forgotten , horizon of everyday practice that make technological devices and solutions show up as meaningful . If we are to understand technology we need to return to the horizon of meaning that made it show up as the artifacts we need , want and desire . We also need to consider how these technologies reveal ( or disclose ) us. 
@@79432 Will , in philosophy , refers to a property of the mind , and an attribute of acts intentionally committed . Actions made according to a person 's will are called willing or voluntary and sometimes pejoratively willful or at will . In general , will does not refer to one particular or most preferred desire but rather to the general capacity to have such desires and act decisively based on them , according to whatever criteria the willing agent applies . The will is in turn important within philosophy because a person 's will is one of the most distinct parts of their mind , along with reason and understanding . Will is especially important in ethics because it must be present for people to act deliberately . One of the recurring questions discussed in the Western philosophical tradition since Christianization is the question of free will , and the related but more general notion of fate , which asks how will can be truly free if the actions of people have natural or divine causes which determine them , but which are not really under the control of people . The question is directly connected to discussions of what Freedom is , and also the problem of evil , because it brings into question whether people really cause their own acts . # Classical philosophy # The classical treatment of the ethical importance of will is to be found in the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' of Aristotle , in Books III ( chapters 1-5 ) , and Book VII ( chapters 1-10 ) . These discussions have been a major influence in the development of ethical and legal thinking in western civilization . In Book III Aristotle divided actions into three categories instead of two :  Voluntary ( ' ' ekousion ' ' ) acts .  Involuntary or unwilling ( ' ' akousion ' ' ) acts , which are in the simplest case where people do not praise or blame . In such cases a person does not choose the wrong thing , for example if the wind carries a person off , or if a person has a wrong understanding of the particular facts of a situation . Note that ignorance of what aims are good and bad , such as people of bad character always have , is not something people typically excuse as ignorance in this sense . Acting on account of ignorance seems different from acting while being ignorant .  Non-voluntary or non willing actions ( ' ' ouk ekousion ' ' ) which are bad actions done by choice , or more generally ( as in the case of animals and children when desire or spirit causes an action ) whenever the source of the moving of the parts that are instrumental in such actions is in oneself and anything up to oneself either to do or not . However , these actions are not taken because they are preferred in their own right , but rather because all options available are worse . It is concerning this third class of actions that there is doubt about whether they should be praised or blamed or condoned in different cases . Virtue and vice according to Aristotle are up to us . This means that although no one is willingly unhappy , vice by definition always involves actions which were decided upon willingly . Vice comes from bad habits and aiming at the wrong things , not deliberately aiming to be unhappy . The vices then , are voluntary just as the virtues are . He states that people would have to be unconscious not to realize the importance of allowing themselves to live badly , and he dismisses any idea that different people have different innate visions of what is good . In Book VII , Aristotle discusses self-mastery , or the difference between what people decide to do , and what they actually do . For Aristotle , ' ' akrasia ' ' , unrestraint , is distinct from animal-like behavior because it is specific to humans and involves conscious rational thinking about what to do , even though the conclusions of this thinking are not put into practice . When someone behaves in a purely animal-like way , then for better or worse they are not acting based upon any conscious choice . Aristotle also addresses a few questions raised earlier , on the basis of what he has explained : -  Not everyone who stands firm on the basis of a rational and even correct decision has self-mastery . Stubborn people are actually more like a person without self-mastery , because they are partly led by the pleasure coming from victory .  Not everyone who fails to stand firm on the basis of his best deliberations has a true lack of self mastery . As an example he gives the case of Neoptolemus ( in Sophocles ' ' ' Philoctetes ' ' ) refusing to lie despite being part of a plan he agreed with .  A person with practical wisdom ( ' ' phronesis ' ' ) can not have ' ' akrasia ' ' . Instead it might sometimes seem so , because mere cleverness can sometimes recite words which might make them sound wise , like an actor or a drunk person reciting poetry . A person lacking self-mastery can have knowledge , but not an active knowledge that they are paying attention to . For example when someone is in a state such as being drunk or enraged , people may have knowledge , and even show that they have that knowledge , like an actor , but not be using it . # Medieval European philosophy # Inspired by Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Averroes , Aristotelian philosophy became part of a standard approach to all legal and ethical discussion in Europe by the time of Thomas Aquinas . His philosophy can be seen as a synthesis of Aristotle and early Christian doctrine as formulated by Boethius and Augustine of Hippo , although sources such as Maimonides and Plato and the aforementioned Muslim scholars are also cited . With the use of Scholasticism , Thomas Aquinas 's ' ' Summa Theologica ' ' makes a structured treatment of the concept of will . A very simple representation of this treatment may look like this :  Does the will desire nothing ? ( ' ' No. ' ' )  Does it desire all things of necessity , whatever it desires ? ( ' ' No. ' ' )  Is it a higher power than the intellect ? ( ' ' No. ' ' )  Does the will move the intellect ? ( ' ' Yes . ' ' )  Is the will divided into irascible and concupiscible ? ( ' ' No . ' ' ) This is related to the following points on free will :  Does man have free-will ? ( ' ' Yes . ' ' )  What is free-willa power , an act , or a habit ? ( ' ' A power . ' ' )  If it is a power , is it appetitive or cognitive ? ( ' ' Appetitive. ' ' )  If it is appetitive , is it the same power as the will , or distinct ? ( ' ' The same ' ' , with contingencies ) . # Early modern philosophy # The use of English in philosophical publications began in the early modern period , and therefore the English word will became a term used in philosophical discussion . During this same period , Scholasticism , which had largely been a Latin language movement , was heavily criticized . Both Francis Bacon and Ren Descartes described the human intellect or understanding as something which needed to be considered limited , and needing the help of a methodical and skeptical approach to learning about nature . Bacon emphasized the importance analyzing experience in an organized way , for example experimentation , while Descartes , seeing the success of Galileo in using mathematics in physics , emphasized the role of methodical reasoning as in mathematics and geometry . Descartes specifically said that error comes about because the will is not limited to judging things which the understanding is limited to , and described the possibility of such judging or choosing things ignorantly , without understanding them , as free will . Under the influence of Bacon and Descartes , Thomas Hobbes made one of the first attempts to systematically analyze ethical and political matters in a modern way . He defined will in his ' ' Leviathan ' ' , in words which explicitly criticize the medieval scholastic definitions : # In deliberation , the last appetite , or aversion , immediately adhering to the action , or to the omission thereof , is that we call the will ; the act , not the faculty , of willing . And beasts that have deliberation , must necessarily also have will . The definition of the will , given commonly by the Schools , that it is a rational appetite , is not good . For if it were , then could there be no voluntary act against reason . For a voluntary act is that , which proceedeth from the will , and no other . But if instead of a rational appetite , we shall say an appetite resulting from a precedent deliberation , then the definition is the same that I have given here . Will therefore is the last appetite in deliberating . And though we say in common discourse , a man had a will once to do a thing , that nevertheless he forbore to do ; yet that is properly but an inclination , which makes no action voluntary ; because the action depends not of it , but of the last inclination , or appetite . For if the intervenient appetites , make any action voluntary ; then by the same reason all intervenient aversions , should make the same action involuntary ; and so one and the same action , should be both voluntary and involuntary . # # By this it is manifest , that not only actions that have their beginning from covetousness , ambition , lust , or other appetites to the thing propounded ; but also those that have their beginning from aversion , or fear of those consequences that follow the omission , are voluntary actions . # Concerning free will , most early modern philosophers , including Hobbes , Spinoza , Locke and Hume believed that the term was frequently used in a wrong or illogical sense , and that the philosophical problems concerning any difference between will and free will are due to verbal confusion ( because all will is free ) : # a FREEMAN , ' ' is he , that in those things , which by his strength and wit he is able to do , is not hindered to do what he has a will to ' ' . But when the words ' ' free ' ' , and ' ' liberty ' ' , are applied to any thing but bodies , they are abused ; for that which is not subject to motion , is not subject to impediment : and therefore , when it is said , for example , the way is free , no liberty of the way is signified , but of those that walk in it without stop . And when we say a gift is free , there is not meant any liberty of the gift , but of the giver , that was not bound by any law or covenant to give it . So when we ' ' speak freely ' ' , it is not the liberty of voice , or pronunciation , but of the man , whom no law hath obliged to speak otherwise than he did . Lastly , from the use of the word ' ' free-will ' ' , no liberty can be inferred of the will , desire , or inclination , but the liberty of the man ; which consisteth in this , that he finds no stop , in doing what he has the will , desire , or inclination to do . # Spinoza argues that seemingly free actions are n't actually free , or that the entire concept is a chimera because internal beliefs are necessarily caused by earlier external events . The appearance of the internal is a mistake rooted in ignorance of causes , not in an actual volition , and therefore the will is always determined . Spinoza also rejects teleology , and suggests that the causal nature along with an originary orientation of the universe is everything we encounter . Some generations later , David Hume made a very similar point to Hobbes in other words : # But to proceed in this reconciling project with regard to the question of liberty and necessity ; the most contentious question of metaphysics , the most contentious science ; it will not require many words to prove , that all mankind have ever agreed in the doctrine of liberty as well as in that of necessity , and that the whole dispute , in this respect also , has been hitherto merely verbal . For what is meant by liberty , when applied to voluntary actions ? We can not surely mean that actions have so little connexion with motives , inclinations , and circumstances , that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other , and that one affords no inference by which we can conclude the existence of the other . For these are plain and acknowledged matters of fact . By liberty , then , we can only mean a ' ' power of acting or not acting , according to the determinations of the will ' ' ; that is , if we choose to remain at rest , we may ; if we choose to move , we also may . Now this hypothetical liberty is universally allowed to belong to every one who is not a prisoner and in chains . Here , then , is no subject of dispute . # # Rousseau # Jean-Jacques Rousseau added a new type of will to those discussed by philosophers , which he called the General will ( ' ' volont gnrale ' ' ) . This concept developed from Rousseau 's considerations on the social contract theory of Hobbes , and describes the shared will of a whole citizenry , whose agreement is understood to exist in discussions about the legitimacy of governments and laws . # Kant # Kant 's Transcendental Idealism claimed that all objects are mere appearances phenomena . He asserted that nothing whatsoever can ever be said about the thing in itself that may be the basis of these appearances . Kant 's critics responded by saying that Kant had no right , therefore , to assume the existence of a thing in itself . # Schopenhauer # Schopenhauer disagreed with Kant 's critics and stated that it is absurd to assume that phenomena have no basis . Schopenhauer proposed that we can not know the thing in itself as though it is a cause of phenomena . Instead , he said that we can know it by knowing our own body , which is the only thing that we can know at the same time as both a phenomenon and a thing in itself . When we become conscious of ourself , we realize that our essential qualities are endless urging , craving , striving , wanting , and desiring . These are characteristics of that which we call our will . Schopenhauer affirmed that we can legitimately think that all other phenomena are also essentially and basically will . According to him , will is the innermost essence , the kernel , of every particular thing and also of the whole . It appears in every blindly acting force of nature , and also in the deliberate conduct of man&amp;hellip ; . Schopenhauer said that his predecessors mistakenly thought that the will depends on knowledge . According to him , though , the will is primary and uses knowledge in order to find an object that will satisfy its craving . That which , in us , we call will is Kant 's thing in itself , according to Schopenhauer . Arthur Schopenhauer put the puzzle of free will and moral responsibility in these terms : # Everyone believes himself ' ' a priori ' ' to be perfectly free , even in his individual actions , and thinks that at every moment he can commence another manner of life . .. But ' ' a posteriori ' ' , through experience , he finds to his astonishment that he is not free , but subjected to necessity , that in spite of all his resolutions and reflections he does not change his conduct , and that from the beginning of his life to the end of it , he must carry out the very character which he himself condemns .. # In his ' ' On the Freedom of the Will ' ' , Schopenhauer stated , You can do what you will , but in any given moment of your life you can ' ' will ' ' only one definite thing and absolutely nothing other than that one thing . # Nietzsche # Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was influenced by Schopenhauer when younger , but later felt him to be wrong . However , he maintained a modified focus upon will , making the term will to power famous as an explanation of human aims and actions . # In related disciplines # Psychologists also deal with issues of will and willpower the ability to affect will in behavior ; some people are highly intrinsically motivated and do whatever seems best to them , while others are weak-willed and easily suggestible ( extrinsically motivated ) by society or outward inducement . Apparent failures of the will and volition have also been reported associated with a number of mental and neurological disorders . They also study the phenomenon of Akrasia , wherein people seemingly act against their best interests and know that they are doing so ( for instance , restarting cigarette smoking after having intellectually decided to quit ) . Advocates of Sigmund Freud 's psychology stress the importance of the influence of the unconscious mind upon the apparent conscious exercise of will . Abraham Low , a critic of psychoanalysis , stressed the importance of will , the ability to control thoughts and impulses , as fundamental for achieving mental health . # See also # Aboulia Categorical imperative God 's will Neuroscience of free will Vrya 
@@89532 In philosophy , identity , from ( sameness ) , is the relation each thing bears just to itself . The notion of identity gives rise to many philosophical problems , including the identity of indiscernibles ( if ' ' x ' ' and ' ' y ' ' share all their properties , are they one and the same thing ? ) , and questions about change and personal identity over time ( what has to be the case for a person ' ' x ' ' at one time and a person ' ' y ' ' at a later time to be one and the same person ? ) . It is important to distinguish the philosophical concept of identity from the more well-known notion of identity in use in psychology and the social sciences . The philosophical concept concerns a ' ' relation ' ' , specifically , a relation that ' ' x ' ' and ' ' y ' ' stand in if , and only if they are one and the same thing , or ' ' identical to ' ' each other ( i.e. if , and only if ' ' x ' ' = ' ' y ' ' ) . The sociological notion of identity , by contrast , has to do with a person 's self-conception , social presentation , and more generally , the aspects of a person that make them unique , or qualitatively different from others ( e.g. cultural identity , gender identity , national Identity , online identity and processes of identity formation ) . # Metaphysics of identity # Metaphysicians , and sometimes philosophers of language and mind , ask other questions :  What does it mean for an object to be the same as itself ?  If x and y are identical ( are the same thing ) , must they always be identical ? Are they ' ' necessarily ' ' identical ?  What does it mean for an object to be the same , if it changes over time ? ( Is apple <SUB> ' ' t ' ' </SUB> the same as apple <SUB> ' ' t ' ' +1 </SUB> ? )  If an object 's parts are entirely replaced over time , as in the Ship of Theseus example , in what way is it the same ? The Law of identity originates from classical antiquity . The modern formulation of identity is that of Gottfried Leibniz , who held that ' ' x ' ' is the same as ' ' y ' ' if and only if every predicate true of ' ' x ' ' is true of ' ' y ' ' as well . Leibniz 's ideas have taken root in the philosophy of mathematics , where they have influenced the development of the predicate calculus as Leibniz 's law . Mathematicians sometimes distinguish identity from equality . More mundanely , an ' ' identity ' ' in mathematics may be an ' ' equation ' ' that holds true for all values of a variable . Hegel argued that things are inherently self-contradictory and that the notion of something being self-identical only made sense if it were not also not-identical or different from itself and did not also imply the latter . In Hegel 's words , Identity is the identity of identity and non-identity . More recent metaphysicians have discussed trans-world identitythe notion that there can be the same object in different possible worlds . An alternative to trans-world identity is the counterpart relation in Counterpart theory . It is a similarity relation that rejects trans-world individuals and instead defends an objects counterpart - the most similar object . Some philosophers have denied that there is such a relation as identity . Thus Ludwig Wittgenstein writes ( ' ' Tractatus ' ' 5.5301 ) : That identity is not a relation between objects is obvious . At 5.5303 he elaborates : Roughly speaking : to say of two things that they are identical is nonsense , and to say of one thing that it is identical with itself is to say nothing . Bertrand Russell had earlier voiced a worry that seems to be motivating Wittgenstein 's point ( ' ' The Principles of Mathematics ' ' 64 ) : Identity , an objector may urge , can not be anything at all : two terms plainly are not identical , and one term can not be , for what is it identical with ? Even before Russell , Gottlob Frege , at the beginning of Sense and reference , expressed a worry with regard to identity as a relation : Equality gives rise to challenging questions which are not altogether easy to answer . Is it a relation ? More recently , C. J. F. Williams has suggested that identity should be viewed as a second-order relation , rather than a relation between objects , and Kai Wehmeier has argued that appealing to a binary relation that every object bears to itself , and to no others , is both logically unnecessary and metaphysically suspect . 
@@151419 Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of South and East Asia , including Chinese philosophy , Indian philosophy , Japanese philosophy , and Korean philosophy . Sometimes Iranian/Persian philosophy can be considered as eastern philosophy . Broadly speaking the term can also sometimes include Babylonian philosophy , Jewish philosophy , and Islamic philosophy , though these may also be considered Western philosophies . # Classification # Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia , including Indian philosophy , Chinese philosophy , Iranian philosophy , Japanese philosophy , Korean philosophy , Arab philosophy and Jewish philosophy . # Supreme God and the demigods # Because of its origin from within the Abrahamic religions , some Western philosophies have formulated questions on the nature of God and its relationship to the universe based on Monotheistic framework within which it emerged . This has created a dichotomy among some Western philosophies , between secular philosophies and religious philosophies developed within the context of a particular monotheistic religion 's dogmaespecially some creeds of Protestant Christianity , regarding the nature of God and the universe . Eastern religions have not been as concerned by questions relating to the nature of a single God as the universe 's sole creator and ruler . The distinction between the religious and the secular tends to be much less sharp in Eastern philosophy , and the same philosophical school often contains both religious and philosophical elements . Thus , some people accept the so-called metaphysical tenets of Buddhism without going to a temple and worshipping . Some have worshipped the Taoist deities religiously without bothering to delve into the theological underpinnings , while others embrace the Taoist religion while ignoring the mythological aspects . This arrangement stands in marked contrast to some recent philosophy in the West , which has traditionally enforced either a completely unified philosophic/religious belief system ( for example , the various sects and associated philosophies of Christianity , Judaism , and Islam ) , or a sharp and total repudiation of some forms of religion by philosophy ( for example , Nietzsche , Marx , Voltaire , etc. ) . # Comparative religion # A common thread that often differentiates Eastern philosophy from Western is the relationship between the gods ( or God ) and the universe . Some Western schools of thought were animistic or pantheistic , such as the classical Greek tradition , while later religious beliefs , influenced by the monotheism of the Abrahamic religions , portrayed divinity as more transcendent . Much like the classical Greek philosophies , many Eastern schools of thought were more interested in explaining the natural world via universal patterns ; without recourse to capricious agencies like gods ( or God ) . Syncretism allowed various schools of thought such as Yi , Yin yang , Wu xing and Ren to mutually complement one another without threatening traditional religious practice or new religious movements . # Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy # There have been many modern attempts to integrate Western and Eastern philosophical traditions . Arthur Schopenhauer developed a philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism with Western thought . He anticipated that the ' ' Upanishads ' ' ( primary Hindu scriptures ) would have a much greater influence in the West than they have had . However , Schopenhauer was working with heavily flawed early translations ( and sometimes second-degree translations ) , and many feel that he may not necessarily have accurately grasped the Eastern philosophies which interested him . Recent attempts to incorporate Western philosophy into Eastern thought include the Kyoto School of philosophers , who combined the phenomenology of Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism . Watsuji Tetsur , a 20th-century Japanese philosopher attempted to combine the works of Sren Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , and Heidegger with Eastern philosophies . Some have claimed that there is also a definite eastern element within Heidegger 's philosophy . For the most part this is not made explicit within Heidegger 's philosophy , apart from in the dialogue between a Japanese and inquirer . Heidegger did spend time attempting to translate the Tao Te Ching into German , working with his Chinese student Paul Hsaio . It has also been claimed that much of Heidegger 's later philosophy , particularly the sacredness of Being , bears a distinct similarity to Taoist ideas . There are clear parallels between Heidegger and the work of Kyoto School , and ultimately , it may be read that Heidegger 's philosophy is an attempt to ' turn eastwards ' in response to the crisis in Western civilization . However , this is only an interpretation . The 20th century Hindu guru Sri Aurobindo was influenced by German Idealism and his integral yoga is regarded as a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought . The German phenomenologist Jean Gebser 's writings on the history of consciousness referred to a new planetary consciousness that would bridge this gap . Followers of these two authors are often grouped together under the term Integral thought . Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was deeply influenced by the I Ching . The I Ching ( Book of Changes ) is an ancient Chinese text from the Shang Dynasty ( Bronze Age 1700BC-1050BC ) , and uses a system of Yin and Yang , which it places into hexagrams for the purposes of divination . Carl Jung 's idea of synchronicity moves towards an Oriental view of causality , as he states in the to Richard Wilhelm 's translation of the I Ching ( Book of Changes ) . He explains that this Chinese view of the world is based not on science as the West knows it , but on chance . # East Asian philosophies # # Confucianism # Confucianism() , developed around the teachings of Confucius() and is based on a set of Chinese classic texts . # Neo-Confucianism # Neo-Confucianism is a later further development of Confucianism but also went much more differently from the origin of Confucianism . It started developing from the Song Dynasty and was nearly completed in late Ming Dynasty . Its root can be found as early as Tang Dynasty , often attributed to scholar Tang Xie Tian . It has a great influence on the countries of East Asia including China , Japan and Korea as well as Vietnam . Zhu Xi is considered as the biggest master of Song where Neo-Confucianism and Wang Yangming is the one of Ming 's . But there are conflicts between Zhu 's school and Wang's. # Taoism # Taoism ( or Daoism ) is traditionally contrasted with Confucianism in China . Taoism 's central books are the ' ' Dao De Jing ' ' ( ' ' Tao-Te-Ching ' ' ) , traditionally attributed to Laozi ( Lao Tzu ) , and the ' ' Zhuangzi ' ' ( ' ' Chuang Tzu ' ' ) . # Shinto # Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan . It is a sophisticated form of animism that holds that spirits called kami inhabit all things . Worship is at public shrines or in small shrines constructed in one 's home . According to Shinto practice , relationship with the kami that inhabit this world is foremost in a person 's duties ; the kami are to be respected so that they may return our respect . Shinto further holds that the spirit and mundane worlds are one and the same . Of all of the tenets of this philosophy , purity is the most highly stressed . Pure acts are those that promote or contribute to the harmony of the universe , and impure acts are those that are deleterious in this regard . As a faith , Shinto is heavily influenced by Chinese religions , notably Taoism and Buddhism . # Legalism # Legalism advocated a strict interpretation of the law in every respect . No judgment calls . Morality was not important # Maoism # Maoism is a Communist philosophy based on the teachings of 20th century Communist Party of China revolutionary leader Mao Zedong . It is based partially on earlier theories by Marx and Lenin , but rejects the urban proletariat and Leninist emphasis on heavy industrialization in favor of a revolution supported by the peasantry , and a decentralized agrarian economy based on many collectively worked farms . # Indian philosophies # # Hindu philosophy # Hinduism ( ; ' ' Santana Dharma ' ' , roughly Perennial Moral Duty ) is the oldest major world religions . Hinduism is characterized by a diverse array of religious belief systems , practices and scriptures . It has its origin in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 1500 BC . It is the third largest religion with approximately 1.05 billion followers worldwide , 96% of whom live in the Indian subcontinent . Hinduism rests on the spiritual bedrock of the Vedas , hence Veda Dharma , and their mystic issue , the Upanishads , as well as the teachings of many great Hindu gurus through the ages . Many streams of thought flow from the six Vedic/Hindu schools , Bhakti sects and Tantra Agamic schools into the one ocean of Hinduism , the first of the Dharma religions . Also , the sacred book Bhagavad Gita is one of the most revered texts among Hindus . What can be said to be common to many theistic Hindus is belief in Dharma , reincarnation , karma , and moksha ( liberation ) of every soul through a variety of moral , action-based , and meditative yogas . Still more fundamental principles include ahimsa ( non-violence ) , the primacy of the Guru , the Divine Word of Aum and the power of mantras , love of Truth in many manifestations as gods and goddesses , and an understanding that the essential spark of the Divine ( Atman ) is in every human and living being , thus allowing for many spiritual paths leading to the One Unitary Religious Truth ( which Hindus call Brahman ) . This acceptance of various paths leading to the same truth , is also a foundation of Hindu philosophy . However , since the term Hindu is more of an umbrella term for the Indian religions , there may be persons who believe in none of the above concepts and yet consider themselves Hindu . ' ' See Also : Hinduism -- Hindu scripture -- Samkhya -- Yoga -- Nyaya -- Vaisesika -- Vedanta -- Bhakti -- Crvka -- Indian logic ' ' # Buddhist philosophy # Buddhism is a system of religious beliefs based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama . Buddhism is a non-theistic religion , one whose tenets are not especially concerned with the existence or non-existence of a God or gods . The Buddha himself expressly disavowed any special divine status or inspiration , and said that anyone , anywhere could achieve all the insight that he had . The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism , though some sects ( notably Tibetan Buddhism ) do venerate a number of gods drawn in from local indigenous belief systems yet this practice has taken on different meanings and has become a skillful mean within the Tibetan Buddhist practice . Buddhist philosophy has its foundations in the doctrines of :  Anatta , which specifies that all is without substantial metaphysical identity  Pratitya-samutpada , which delineates the Buddhist concept of causality  Buddhist phenomenological analysis of dharmas , or phenomenological constituents Most Buddhist sects believe in karma , a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done . Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events . One effect of karma is rebirth . At death , the karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life 's existence . The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate karma ( both good and bad ) , end the cycle of rebirth and suffering , and attain Nirvana , usually translated as ' ' awakening ' ' or ' ' enlightenment . ' ' ' ' See also : Buddhism -- Outline of Buddhism -- Schools of Buddhism ' ' # Sikh philosophy #  ' ' Simran ' ' and ' ' Sewa ' ' - These are the Foundation of Sikhism . It is the duty of every Sikh to practise ' ' Naam Simran ' ' ( meditation on the Lord 's name ) daily and engage in ' ' Sewa ' ' ( Selfless Service ) whenever there is a possibility , in ' ' Gurdwara ' ' ( Sikh place of worship ) , in community centres , old people 's homes , care centres , major world disasters , etc . Ek ong kar Satanam and Waheguru are some mantras used for this purpose . Ek ong kar Satanam roughly translates to there is one God un-separate from nature and truth is its name . Waheguru is used as a meditative practice on the Lord 's name .  The Three Pillars of Sikhism - Guru Nanak formalised these three important pillars of Sikhism. * ' ' Naam Japna ' ' A Sikh is to engage in a daily practise of meditation and ' ' Nitnem ' ' ( a daily prayer routine ) by reciting and chanting of Gods Name . * ' ' Kirat Karni ' ' - To live honestly and earn by ones physical and mental effort while accepting Gods gifts and blessings . A Sikh has to live as a householders carrying out his or her duties and responsibilities to the full . * ' ' Vand Chakna ' ' - Sikhs are asked to share their wealth within the community and outside by giving ' ' Dasvand ' ' and practising charity ( ' ' Daan ' ' ) . To Share and consume together .  Kill the Five Thieves - The Sikh Gurus tell us that our mind and spirit are constantly being attacked by the Five Evils ' ' Kam ' ' ( Lust ) , ' ' Krodh ' ' ( Rage ) , ' ' Lobh ' ' ( Greed ) , ' ' Moh ' ' ( Attachment ) and ' ' Ahankar ' ' ( Ego ) . A Sikh needs to constantly attack and overcome these five vices ; be always vigilant and on guard to tackle these five thieves all the time .  Positive Human Qualities - The Sikh Gurus taught the Sikhs to develop and harness positive human qualities that lead the soul closer to God and away from evil . These are ' ' Sat ' ' ( Truth ) , ' ' Daya ' ' ( Compassion ) , ' ' Santokh ' ' ( Contentment ) , ' ' Nimrata ' ' ( Humility ) and ' ' Pyare ' ' ( Love ) . ' ' See also Sikhism - Sikh Beliefs - Basic Tenets of the Sikhism - Sikhism Primary Beliefs and Principles ' ' # Jainism # Jain philosophy deals extensively with the problems of metaphysics , reality , cosmology , ontology , epistemology and divinity . Jainism is essentially a transtheistic religion of ancient India . It continues the ancient tradition , which co-existed with the Vedic tradition since ancient times . The distinguishing features of Jain philosophy are its belief on independent existence of soul and matter , denial of creative and omnipotent God , potency of karma , eternal and uncreated universe , a strong emphasis on non-violence , accent on relativity and multiple facets of truth , and morality and ethics based on liberation of soul . Jain philosophy attempts to explain the rationale of being and existence , the nature of the Universe and its constituents , the nature of bondage and the means to achieve liberation . It has often been described as an ascetic movement for its strong emphasis on self-control , austerities and renunciation . It has also been called a model of philosophical liberalism for its insistence that truth is relative and multifaceted and for its willingness to accommodate all possible view-points of the rival philosophies . Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of soul and personal responsibility for one 's decisions ; and that self-reliance and individual efforts alone are responsible for one 's liberation . Throughout its history , the Jain philosophy remained unified and single , although as a religion , Jainism was divided into various sects and traditions . The contribution of Jain philosophy in developing the Indian philosophy has been significant . Jain philosophical concepts like Ahimsa , Karma , Moksa , Samsara and the like are common with other Indian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism in various forms . *21;27204;ref While Jainism traces its philosophy from teachings of Mahavira and other Tirthankaras , various Jain philosophers from Kundakunda and Umasvati in ancient times to in recent times have contributed greatly in developing and refining the Jain and Indian philosophical concepts . # Crvka # Crvka , also frequently transliterated as Charvaka or Crvka , and also known as Lokayata or Lokyta , was a materialist and atheist school of thought with ancient roots in India . It proposed a system of ethics based on rational thought . However , this school has been dead for more than a thousand years . # Iranian philosophy # ' ' See also Ancient Iranian Philosophy ' ' # Zoroastrianism # Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion , which originated in Iran . It has a dualistic nature ( Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu ) , with an additional series of six important divine entities called the Amesha Spentas . In modern Zoroastrianism they are interpreted as aspects or emanations of Ahura Mazda ( the Supreme Being ) , who form a heptad that is good and constructive . They are opposed to another group of seven who are evil and destructive . It is this persistent conflict between good and evil that distinguishes Zoroastrianism from monotheistic frameworks that have only one power as supreme . By requiring its adherents to have faith and belief in ' ' equally opposing ' ' powers Zoroastrianism characterizes itself as dualistic . The teachings of Zarathustra ( Zoroaster ) appeared in Persia at some point during the period 1700-1800 BCE . His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism , and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy . Zarathustra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical terms . He is also believed to be one of the oldest monotheists in the history of religion . He espoused an ethical philosophy based on the primacy of ' ' good thoughts ( pendar-e-nik ) , good words ( goftar-e-nik ) , and good deeds ( kerdar-e-nik ) . ' ' The works of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism had a significant influence on Greek philosophy and Roman philosophy . Several ancient Greek writers such as Eudoxus of Cnidus and Latin writers such as Pliny the Elder praised Zoroastrian philosophy as the most famous and most useful . Plato learnt of Zoroastrian philosophy through Eudoxus and incorporated much of it into his own Platonic realism . In the 3rd century BC , however , Colotes accused Plato 's ' ' The Republic ' ' of plagiarizing parts of Zoroaster 's On Nature , such as the Myth of Er. # Manichaeism # Manichaeism , founded by Mani , was influential from North Africa in the West , to China in the East . Its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo , who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism , which he passionately denounced in his writings , and whose writings continue to be influential among Catholic , Protestant and Orthodox theologians . An important principle of Manichaeism was its dualistic nature . # Mazdakism # The religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism , which its founder , Mazdak , regarded as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism displays remarkable influences from Manichaeism as well . # Zurvanism # Zurvanism is characterized by the element of its ' ' first principle ' ' , which is time ( ' ' Zurvan ' ' ) , as a primordial creator . According to Zaehner , Zurvanism appears to have three schools of thought , all with classical Zurvanism as a foundation : ' ' aesthetic ' ' , ' ' materialist ' ' , and ' ' fatalistic ' ' . # #Aesthetic Zurvanism# # Aesthetic Zurvanismapparently not as popular as the ' ' materialistic ' ' kindviewed Zurvan as undifferentiated time , which , under the influence of desire , divided ' ' reason ' ' ( a male principle ) and ' ' concupiscence ' ' ( a female principle ) . # #Materialist Zurvanism# # While Zoroaster 's Ormuzd created the universe with his thought , materialist Zurvanism challenged the concept that anything could be made out of nothing . # #Fatalistic Zurvanism# # Fatalistic Zurvanism resulted from the doctrine of limited time with the implication that nothing could change this preordained course of the material universe and that the path of the astral bodies of the ' heavenly sphere ' was representative of this preordained course . According to the Middle Persian work Menog-i Khrad : Ohrmazd allotted happiness to man , but if man did not receive it , it was owing to the extortion of these planets . # Avicennism # The Persian polymath Avicenna wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects . Many philosophical works , among them The Book of Healing , have survived . # Iranian Illuminationism # The Philosophy of Illumination founded by Sohrevardi argued that light operates at all levels and hierarchies of reality . Light produces immaterial and substantial lights , including immaterial intellects , human and animal souls and even ' dusky substances ' , such as bodies . Sohrevardi 's works display extensive developments on the basis of Zoroastrian ideas and ancient Iranian thought . # Transcendent Philosophy # Transcendent Philosophy , developed by Sadr Shirazi , is one of two main disciplines of Islamic philosophy that is currently live and active . # Bah ' Philosophy # Concepts of Bahai Philosophy are portrayed in the work by Abdul-Baha , the eldest son of the founder of the Bah ' Faith , Bah'u'llh. # Hebrew and diaspora Jewish philosophy # Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews , both within their original homeland and in the diaspora . # Babylonian philosophy # : ' ' Further information : Babylonian literature : Philosophy ' ' The origins of Babylonian philosophy , in the popular sense of the word , can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia , which embodied certain philosophies of life , particularly ethics , in the forms of dialectic , dialogs , epic poetry , folklore , hymns , lyrics , prose , and proverbs . The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation . It is possible that Babylonian philosophy had an influence on Greek philosophy , and later Hellenistic philosophy , however the textual evidence is lacking . The undated Babylonian text ' ' Dialog of Pessimism ' ' contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists , the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts , and the dialogs of Plato , as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato . The Milesian philosopher Thales is also said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia. # Islamic philosophy # The rise of Islam and the influence of classical Greek thought , especially Aristotle , led to the emergence of various philosophical schools of thought . Amongst them Sufism established esoteric philosophy , Mu'tazili ( partly influenced by Hellenistic philosophy ) reconstructed rationalism , while Ash'ari reshaped logical and rational interpretation of God , justice , destiny and the universe . Early Islamic philosophy was influenced by ( ancient ) Greek philosophy , Hellenistic philosophy , Iranian philosophy , Judaism , Christianity and Indian philosophy , and in turn , Islamic philosophy had a strong influence on ( medieval ) Jewish philosophy , Christian philosophy/Western philosophy , Iranian philosophy and Indian philosophy , hence many consider Islamic philosophy to be both an Eastern philosophy and a Western philosophy . Al-Mu'tazilah ( ) or Mu'tazilite is a popular theological school of philosophy during early Islam . They called themselves Ahl al-'Adl wa al-Tawhid ( People of Justice and Monotheism ) . They ascended dramatically during 8th and 9th century due to the support of intellectuals and elites . Later in the 13th century , they lost official support in favour of the rising Ash'ari school . Most of their valuable works were destroyed during the Crusades and Mongol invasion . One of the most influential Muslim philosophers in the West was Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ) , founder of the Averroism school of philosophy . It is said that other influential Muslim philosophers include al-Jahiz , a pioneer of evolutionary thought and natural selection ; Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) , a pioneer of phenomenology and the philosophy of science and a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Aristotle 's concept of place ( topos ) ; Ab Rayhn al-Brn , a critic of Aristotelian natural philosophy ; Avicenna , a critic of Aristotelian logic ; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi , a critic of Aristotelian logic and a pioneer of inductive logic ; and Ibn Khaldun , considered the father of the philosophy of history and sociology and a pioneer of social philosophy . However , not very much credible evidence to support such claims is forthcoming , at least in the field of Arabic-English translation methodology , with regards to the exact sciences of semantics and hermeneutics . ' ' See Also : Mu'tazili -- Ash'ari -- Sufism -- Illuminationist philosophy # Sufi philosophy # Sufism ( ) is a school of esoteric philosophy in Islam , which is based on the pursuit of spiritual truth as a definite goal to attain . To attain this supreme truth , Sufism has marked ' ' Lataif-e-Sitta ' ' ( the six subtleties ) , ' ' Nafs ' ' , ' ' Qalb ' ' , ' ' Sirr ' ' , ' ' Ruh ' ' ( spirit ) , ' ' Khafi ' ' and ' ' Akhfa ' ' . Apart from conventional religious practices , they also perform Muraqaba ( meditation ) , Dhikr ( Zikr or recitation ) , Chillakashi ( asceticism ) and Sama ( esoteric music and dance ) . # See also #  Babylonian literature : Philosophy  Indian philosophy  Chinese philosophy  Iranian philosophy  Jewish philosophy  Islamic philosophy * Early Islamic philosophy * Modern Islamic philosophy  Japanese philosophy  Korean philosophy 
@@152176 The philosophers ' stone or stone of the philosophers ( ) is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals such as lead into gold ( ) or silver . It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life , useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality . For many centuries , it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy . The philosophers ' stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy , symbolizing perfection at its finest , enlightenment , and heavenly bliss . Efforts to discover the philosophers ' stone were known as the Magnum Opus ( Great Work ) . # History # Mention of the philosophers ' stone in writing can be found as far back as ' ' Cheirokmeta ' ' by Zosimos of Panopolis ( c. 300 AD ) . Alchemical writers assign a longer history . Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of ' ' Gloria Mundi ' ' ( 1620 ) claim that its history goes back to Adam who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God . This knowledge was said to be passed down through biblical patriarchs , giving them their longevity . The legend of the stone was also compared to the biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118 . The theoretical roots outlining the stones creation can be traced to Greek philosophy . Alchemists later used the classical elements , the concept of anima mundi , and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato 's ' ' Timaeus ' ' as analogies for their process . According to Plato , the four elements are derived from a common source or prima materia ( first matter ) , associated with chaos . ' ' Prima materia ' ' is also the name alchemist assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the philosopher 's stone . The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted through the history of alchemy . In the seventeenth century , Thomas Vaughan writes , the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things . # Middle Ages # The 8th-century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan ( Latinized as ' ' Geber ' ' ) analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities . Fire was both hot and dry , earth cold and dry , water cold and moist , and air hot and moist . He theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles , two of them interior and two exterior . From this premise , it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities . This change would presumably be mediated by a substance , which came to be called ' ' al-iksir ' ' in Arabic ( from which the Western term ' ' elixir ' ' is derived ) . It is often considered to exist as a dry red powder ( also known as al-Kibrit al-Ahmar red sulphur ) made from a legendary stonethe philosopher 's stone . Jabir 's theory was based on the concept that metals like gold and silver could be hidden in alloys and ores , from which they could be recovered by the appropriate chemical treatment . Jabir himself is believed to be the inventor of aqua regia , a mixture of hydrochloric acid In the 11th century , there was a debate among Muslim world chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible . A leading opponent was Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) , who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances , stating , Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances , though they can produce the appearance of such change . According to legend , the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the philosopher 's stone and passed it to his pupil , Thomas Aquinas , shortly before his death ' ' circa ' ' 1280 . Magnus does not confirm he discovered the stone in his writings , but he did record that he witnessed the creation of gold by transmutation . # Renaissance to Early Modern period # The 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus ( ' ' Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim ' ' ) believed in the existence of alkahest , which he thought to be an undiscovered element from which all other elements ( earth , fire , water , air ) were simply derivative forms . Paracelsus believed that this element was , in fact , the philosopher 's stone . The English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his spiritual testament Religio Medici ( 1643 ) identified the religious aspect of the quest for the Philosopher 's Stone when declaring - ' ' The smattering I have of the Philosophers stone , ( which is something more then the perfect exaltation of gold ) hath taught me a great deale of Divinity ' ' . ( R.M.Part 1:38 ) A mystical text published in the 17th century called the ' ' Mutus Liber ' ' appears to be a symbolic instruction manual for concocting a philosophers ' stone . Called the wordless book , it was a collection of 15 illustrations . # Contemporary era # ; Creating gold from chemical reactions by living organisms Scientists have discovered that it is possible to obtain gold by living organisms , using compounds with gold atoms . an experiment to see if the natural process of digestion of certain living organisms could tranform compounds with gold atoms in this metal into metallic gold was performed . In this experiment , it was found that by feeding the bacterium ' ' cupriavidus metallidurans ' ' with gold chloride I , this defecating nuggets of said metal . Apparently these organisms are not harmed when this is done . # In Buddhism and Hinduism # The equivalent of the philosophers ' stone in Buddhism and Hinduism is the ' ' Cintamani ' ' . In Buddhism , ' ' Chintamani ' ' is held by the bodhisattvas , Avalokiteshvara and Ksitigarbha . It is also seen carried upon the back of the Lung ta ( wind horse ) which is depicted on Tibetan prayer flags . By reciting the Dharani of Chintamani , Buddhist tradition maintains that one attains the Wisdom of Buddhas , is able to understand the truth of the Buddhas , and turns afflictions into Bodhi . It is said to allow one to see the Holy Retinue of Amitabha and his assembly upon one 's deathbed . In Tibetan Buddhist tradition the Chintamani is sometimes depicted as a luminous pearl and is in the possession of several of different forms of the Buddha . Within Hinduism it is connected with the gods Vishnu and Ganesha . In Hindu tradition it is often depicted as a fabulous jewel in the possession of the Nga king or as on the forehead of the Makara . The ' ' Yoga Vasistha ' ' , originally written in the 10th century AD , contains a story about the philosopher 's stone . A great Hindu sage wrote about the spiritual accomplishment of Gnosis using the metaphor of the philosophers ' stone . Saint Jnaneshwar ( 12751296 ) , wrote a commentary with 17 references to the philosophers ' stone that explicitly transmutes base metal into gold . The seventh century Indian sage Thirumoolar in his classic ' ' Tirumandhiram ' ' explains man 's path to immortal divinity . In verse 2709 he declares that the name of God , Shiva or the god Shambala , is an alchemical vehicle that turns the body into immortal gold . # Properties # The philosophers ' stone has been attributed with many mystical and magical properties . The most commonly mentioned properties are the ability to transmute base metals into gold or silver , and the ability to heal all forms of illness and prolong the life of any person who consumes a small part of the philosophers ' stone . Other mentioned properties include : creation of perpetually burning lamps , transmutation of common crystals into precious stones and diamonds , creation of flexible or malleable glass , or the creation of a clone or homunculus. # Names # Numerous synonyms were used to make oblique reference to the stone , such as white stone ( ' ' calculus albus ' ' , identified with the ' ' calculus candidus ' ' of Revelation 2:17 which was taken as a symbol of the glory of heaven ) , ' ' vitriol ' ' ( as expressed in the backronym ' ' Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem ' ' ) , also ' ' lapis noster ' ' , ' ' lapis occultus ' ' , ' ' in water at the box ' ' , and numerous oblique , mystical or mythological references such as ' ' Adam , Aer , Animal , Alkahest , Antidotus , Antimonium , Aqua benedicta , Aqua volans per aeram , Arcanum , Atramentum , Autumnus , Basilicus , Brutorum cor , Bufo , Capillus , Capistrum auri , Carbones , Cerberus , Chaos , Cinis cineris , Crocus , Dominus philosophorum , Divine quintessence , Draco elixir , Filius ignis , Fimus , Folium , Frater , Granum , Granum frumenti , Haematites , Hepar , Herba , Herbalis , Lac , Melancholia , Ovum philosophorum , Panacea salutifera , Pandora , Phoenix , Philosophic mercury , Pyrites , Radices arboris solares , Regina , Rex regum , Sal metallorum , Salvator terrenus , Talcum , Thesaurus , Ventus hermetis ' ' . Many of the medieval allegories for a Christ were adopted for the ' ' lapis ' ' , and the Christ and the Stone were indeed taken as identical in a mystical sense . The name of Stone or ' ' lapis ' ' itself is informed by early Christian allegory , such as Priscillian ( 4th century ) , who stated ' ' Unicornis est Deus , nobis petra Christus , nobis lapis angularis Jesus , nobis hominum homo Christus ' ' . In some texts it is simply called ' stone ' , or our stone , or in the case of Thomas Norton 's Ordinal , oure delycious stone . The stone was frequently praised and referred to in such terms . It needs to be noted that ' ' philosophorum ' ' does not mean of the philosopher or the philosopher 's in the sense of a single philosopher . It means of the philosophers in the sense of a plurality of philosophers . # Appearance # Descriptions of the Philosophers ' Stone are numerous and various . According to alchemical texts , the stone of the philosophers came in two varieties , prepared by an almost identical method : white ( for the purpose of making silver ) , and red ( for the purpose of making gold ) , the white stone being a less matured version of the red stone . Some ancient and medieval alchemical texts leave clues to the supposed physical appearance of the stone of the philosophers , specifically the red stone . It is often said to be orange ( saffron colored ) or red when ground to powder . Or in a solid form , an intermediate between red and purple , transparent and glass-like . The weight is spoken of as being heavier than gold , and it is said to be soluble in any liquid , yet incombustible in fire . Alchemical authors sometimes suggest that the stone 's descriptors are metaphorical . It is called a stone , not because it is like a stone . The appearance is expressed geometrically in Michael Maier 's Atalanta Fugiens . Make of a man and woman a circle ; then a quadrangle ; out of the this a triangle ; make again a circle , and you will have the Stone of the Wise . Thus is made the stone , which thou canst not discover , unless you , through diligence , learn to understand this geometrical teaching . Rupescissa uses the imagery of the Christian passion , telling us it ascends from the sepulcher of the Most Excellent King , shining and glorious , resuscitated from the dead and wearing a red diadem .. . # Interpretations # The various names and attributes assigned to the philosophers ' stone has led to long-standing speculation on its composition and source . Exoteric candidates have been found in metals , plants , rocks , chemical compounds , and bodily products such as hair , urine , and eggs . Justus von Liebig states that ' it was indispensable that every substance accessible .. should be observed and examined ' . Alchemists once thought a key component in the creation of the stone was a mythical element named carmot . Esoteric hermetic alchemists may reject work on exoteric substances , instead directing their search for the philosophers ' stone inward . Though esoteric and exoteric approaches are sometimes mixed , it is clear that some authors are not concerned with material substances but are employing the language of exoteric alchemy for the sole purpose of expressing theological , philosophical , or mystical beliefs and aspirations . New interpretations continue to be developed around spagyric , chemical , and esoteric schools of thought . # Creation # The philosopher 's stone is created by the alchemical method known as The Magnum Opus or The Great Work . Often expressed as a series of color changes or chemical processes , the instructions for creating the philosopher 's stone are varied . When expressed in colors , the work may pass through phases of nigredo , albedo , citrinitas , and rubedo . When expressed as a series of chemical processes it often includes seven or twelve stages concluding in multiplication , and projection. # Art and entertainment # The Philosophers ' stone has been a focal point in many novels , comics , movies , animations , video games , and musical compositions . The Philosophers ' stone is a crucial element in the plot of Fullmetal Alchemist Manga and Anime , as well as Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone . 
@@159211 Analytic philosophy ( sometimes analytical philosophy ) is a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century . In the United Kingdom , United States , Canada , Scandinavia , Australia , and New Zealand , the vast majority of university philosophy departments identify themselves as analytic departments . The term analytic philosophy can refer to :  A broad philosophical tradition characterized by an emphasis on clarity and argument ( often achieved via modern formal logic and analysis of language ) and a respect for the natural sciences .  The more specific set of developments of early 20th-century philosophy that were the historical antecedents of the broad sense : e.g. , the work of Bertrand Russell , Ludwig Wittgenstein , G. E. Moore , Gottlob Frege , and logical positivists . In this latter , narrower sense , analytic philosophy is identified with specific philosophical commitments ( many of which are rejected by contemporary analytic philosophers ) , such as : The logical positivist principle that there are no specifically philosophical truths and that the object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts . This may be contrasted with the traditional foundationalism , which considers philosophy to be a special science ( i.e. discipline of knowledge ) that investigates the fundamental reasons and principles of everything . Consequently , many analytic philosophers have considered their inquiries as continuous with , or subordinate to , those of the natural sciences . The principle that the logical clarification of thoughts can only be achieved by analysis of the logical form of philosophical propositions . The logical form of a proposition is a way of representing it ( often using the formal grammar and symbolism of a logical system ) to display its similarity with all other propositions of the same type . However , analytic philosophers disagree widely about the correct logical form of ordinary language . The rejection of sweeping philosophical systems in favour of attention to detail , or ordinary language . According to a characteristic paragraph by Bertrand Russell : # Modern analytical empiricism ... differs from that of Locke , Berkeley , and Hume by its incorporation of mathematics and its development of a powerful logical technique . It is thus able , in regard to certain problems , to achieve definite answers , which have the quality of science rather than of philosophy . It has the advantage , in comparison with the philosophies of the system-builders , of being able to tackle its problems one at a time , instead of having to invent at one stroke a block theory of the whole universe . Its methods , in this respect , resemble those of science . I have no doubt that , in so far as philosophical knowledge is possible , it is by such methods that it must be sought ; I have also no doubt that , by these methods , many ancient problems are completely soluble . # Analytic philosophy is often understood in contrast to other philosophical traditions , most notably continental philosophy , and also Indian philosophy , Thomism , and Marxism . # History # Late 19th-century English philosophy was dominated by British idealism , as taught by philosophers like F.H . Bradley and Thomas Hill Green . It was against this intellectual background that the founders of analytic philosophy , G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell , articulated the program of early analytic philosophy . Since its beginning , a basic principle of analytic philosophy has been conceptual clarity , in the name of which Moore and Russell rejected Hegelianism , which they accused of obscurity and idealism . Inspired by developments in modern 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 view that the aspects of the world can not be wholly known without also knowing the whole world . This is closely related to the view that relations between things are actually ' ' internal relations ' ' , that is , properties internal to the nature of those things . Russell , along with Wittgenstein , in response promulgated logical atomism and the doctrine of ' ' external relations ' ' the belief that the world consists of ' ' independent ' ' facts . Russell , during his early career , along with his collaborator Alfred North Whitehead , was much influenced by Gottlob Frege , who developed predicate logic , which allowed a much greater range of sentences to be parsed into logical form than was possible with the ancient Aristotelian logic . Frege was also an influential philosopher of mathematics in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century . In contrast to Husserl 's 1891 book ' ' Philosophie der Arithmetik ' ' , which attempted to show that the concept of the cardinal number derived from psychical acts of grouping objects and counting them , Frege sought to show that mathematics and logic have their own validity , independent of the judgments or mental states of individual mathematicians and logicians ( which were the basis of arithmetic according to the psychologism of Husserl 's ' ' Philosophie ' ' ) . Frege further developed his philosophy of logic and mathematics in ' ' The Foundations of Arithmetic ' ' and ' ' The Basic Laws of Arithmetic ' ' where he provided an alternative to psychologistic accounts of the concept of number . Like Frege , Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead attempted to show that mathematics is reducible to fundamental logical principles . Their ' ' Principia Mathematica ' ' ( 19101913 ) encouraged many philosophers to renew their interest with the development of symbolic logic . Additionally , Bertrand Russell adopted Frege 's predicate logic as his primary philosophical method , a method Russell thought could expose the underlying structure of philosophical problems . For example , the English word is has three distinct meanings which can be parsed in predicate logic as the following :  For the sentence ' the cat ' ' is ' ' asleep ' , the ' ' is ' ' of predication means that x is P ( denoted as P(x)  For the sentence ' there ' ' is ' ' a cat ' , the ' ' is ' ' of existence means that there is an x ( x ) ;  For the sentence ' three ' ' is ' ' half of six ' , the ' ' is ' ' of identity means that x is the same as y ( x=y ) . Russell sought to resolve various philosophical issues by applying such logical distinctions , most famously in his analysis of definite descriptions in On Denoting . # Ideal language analysis # From about 1910 to 1930 , analytic philosophers like Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein emphasized creating an ideal language for philosophical analysis , which would be free from the ambiguities of ordinary language that , in their opinion , often made philosophy invalid . This philosophical trend can be called ideal-language analysis or formalism . During this phase , Russell and Wittgenstein sought to understand language , and hence philosophical problems , by using formal logic to formalize the way in which philosophical statements are made . Ludwig Wittgenstein developed a comprehensive system of logical atomism in his ' ' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ' ' . He thereby argued that the world is the totality of actual states of affairs and that these states of affairs can be expressed by the language of first-order predicate logic . Thus a ' ' picture ' ' of the world can be construed by means of expressing atomic facts in the form of atomic propositions , and linking them using logical operators . # Logical positivism # During the late 1920s , ' 30s , and ' 40s , Russell and Wittgenstein 's formalism was developed by a group of philosophers in Vienna and Berlin , who were known as the Vienna Circle and Berlin Circle respectively , into a doctrine known as logical positivism ( or logical empiricism ) . Logical positivism used formal logical methods to develop an empiricist account of knowledge . Philosophers such as Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach , along with other members of the Vienna Circle , claimed that the truths of logic and mathematics were tautologies , and those of science were verifiable empirical claims . These two constituted the entire universe of meaningful judgments ; anything else was nonsense . The claims of ethics , aesthetics and theology were , accordingly , pseudo-statements , neither true nor false , simply meaningless . Karl Popper 's insistence upon the role of falsification in the philosophy of science was a reaction to the logical positivists . With the coming to power of Adolf Hitler and National Socialism in Germany and Austria , many members of the Vienna and Berlin Circles fled Germany , most commonly to Britain and America , which helped to reinforce the dominance of logical positivism and analytic philosophy in the Anglophone countries . Logical positivists typically considered philosophy as having a very limited function . For them , philosophy concerned the clarification of thoughts , rather than having a distinct subject matter of its own . The positivists adopted the verification principle , according to which every meaningful statement is either analytic or is capable of being verified by experience . This caused the logical positivists to reject many traditional problems of philosophy , especially those of metaphysics or ontology , as meaningless . # Ordinary language analysis # After World War II , during the late 1940s and 1950s , analytic philosophy took a turn toward ordinary-language analysis . This movement had two main strands . One followed in the wake of Wittgenstein 's later philosophy , which departed dramatically from his early work of the ' ' Tractatus ' ' . The other , known as Oxford philosophy , involved J. L. Austin . In contrast to earlier analytic philosophers ( including the early Wittgenstein ) who thought philosophers should avoid the deceptive trappings of natural language by constructing ideal languages , ordinary language philosophers claimed that ordinary language already represented a large number of subtle distinctions that had been unrecognized in the formulation of traditional philosophical theories or problems . While schools such as logical positivism emphasize logical terms , supposed to be universal and separate from contingent factors ( such as culture , language , historical conditions ) , ordinary language philosophy emphasizes the use of language by ordinary people . The best-known ordinary language philosophers during the 1950s were Austin and Gilbert Ryle . Ordinary language philosophy often sought to dissolve philosophical problems by showing them to be the result of misunderstanding ordinary language . See for example Ryle ( who attempted to dispose of Descartes ' myth ) and Wittgenstein , among others . # Contemporary analytic philosophy # Although contemporary philosophers who self-identify as analytic have widely divergent interests , assumptions , and methodsand have often rejected the fundamental premises that defined the analytic movement before 1960analytic philosophy , in its contemporary state , is usually taken to be defined by a particular style characterized by precision and thoroughness about a narrow topic , and resistance to imprecise or cavalier discussions of broad topics . In the 1950s , logical positivism was influentially challenged by Wittgenstein in the ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , Quine in Two Dogmas of Empiricism , and Sellars in ' ' Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind ' ' . Following 1960 , Anglophone philosophy began to incorporate a wider range of interests , views , and methods . Still , many philosophers in Britain and America still consider themselves to be analytic philosophers . Largely , they have done so by expanding the notion of analytic philosophy from the specific programs that dominated Anglophone philosophy before 1960 to a much more general notion of an analytic style . This interpretation of the history is far from universally accepted , and its opponents would say that it grossly downplays the role of Wittgenstein in the sixties and seventies . Many philosophers and historians have attempted to define or describe analytic philosophy . Those definitions often include a focus on conceptual analysis : A.P . Martinich draws an analogy between analytic philosophy 's interest in conceptual analysis and analytic chemistry , which aims at determining chemical compositions . Steven D. Hales described analytic philosophy as one of three types of philosophical method practiced in the West : in roughly reverse order by number of proponents , they are phenomenology , ideological philosophy , and analytic philosophy . Scott Soames agrees that clarity is important : analytic philosophy , he says , has an implicit commitmentalbeit faltering and imperfectto the ideals of clarity , rigor and argumentation and it aims at truth and knowledge , as opposed to moral or spiritual improvement ... the goal in analytic philosophy is to discover what is true , not to provide a useful recipe for living one 's life . Soames also states that analytic philosophy is characterised by a more piecemeal approach . There is , I think , a widespread presumption within the tradition that it is often possible to make philosophical progress by intensively investigating a small , circumscribed range of philosophical issues while holding broader , systematic questions in abeyance . A few of the most important and active fields and subfields in analytic philosophy are summarized in the following sections . # Philosophy of mind and cognitive science # Motivated by the logical positivists ' interest in verificationism , logical behaviorism was the most prominent theory of mind in analytic philosophy for the first half of the twentieth century . Behaviorists tended to hold either that statements about the mind were equivalent to ' ' statements about ' ' behavior and dispositions to behave in particular ways or that mental states were directly equivalent to behavior and dispositions to behave . Behaviorism later became far less popular , in favor of type physicalism or functionalism , theories that identified mental states with brain states . During this period , topics in the philosophy of mind were often in close contact with issues in cognitive science such as modularity or innateness . Finally , analytic philosophy has featured a few philosophers who were dualists , and recently forms of property dualism have had a resurgence , with David Chalmers as the most prominent representative . John Searle suggests that the obsession with the philosophy of language of the last century has been superseded by an emphasis on the philosophy of mind , in which functionalism is currently the dominant theory . In recent years , a central focus for research in the philosophy of mind has been consciousness . And while there is a general consensus for the global neuronal workspace model of consciousness , there are many views as to how the specifics work out . The best known theories are Daniel Dennett 's heterophenomenology , Fred Dretske and Michael Tye 's representationalism , and the higher-order theories of either David M. Rosenthalwho advocates a higher-order thought ( HOT ) modelor David Armstrong and William Lycanwho advocate a higher-order perception ( HOP ) model . An alternative higher-order theory , the higher-order global states ( HOGS ) model , is offered by Robert van Gulick. # Ethics in analytic philosophy # Philosophers working in the analytic tradition have gradually come to distinguish three major branches of moral philosophy .  Meta-ethics whose function is the investigation of moral terms and concepts  Normative ethics whose function is the examination and production of normative ethical judgments  Applied ethics whose function is the investigation of how existing normative principles should be applied in difficult or borderline cases , often cases created by the appearance of new technologies or new scientific knowledge . # #Normative ethics# # The first half of the twentieth century was marked by skepticism toward , and neglect of , normative ethics . Related subjects , such as social and political philosophy , aesthetics , and philosophy of history , moved to the fringes of English-language philosophy during this period . During this time , utilitarianism was the only non-skeptical approach to ethics to remain popular . However , as the influence of logical positivism began to wane mid-century , contemporary analytic philosophers began to have a renewed interest in ethics . G.E.M . Anscombes 1958 Modern Moral Philosophy sparked a revival of Aristotle 's virtue ethical approach and John Rawlss 1971 ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' restored interest in Kantian ethical philosophy . At present , contemporary normative ethics is dominated by three schools : utilitarianism , virtue ethics , and deontology. # #Meta-ethics# # Twentieth-century meta-ethics has two roots . The first is G. E. Moore 's investigation into the nature of ethical terms ( e.g. good ) in his ' ' Principia Ethica ' ' ( 1903 ) , which identified the naturalistic fallacy . Along with Hume 's famous is/ought distinction , the naturalistic fallacy was a central point of investigation for analytical philosophers . The second is in logical positivism and its attitude that statements which are unverifiable are meaningless . Although that attitude was adopted originally as a means to promote scientific investigation of the world by rejecting grand metaphysical systems , it had the side effect of making ( ethical and aesthetic ) value judgments ( as well as religious statements and beliefs ) meaningless . But since value judgments are obviously of major importance in human life , it became incumbent on logical positivism to develop an explanation of the nature and meaning of value judgements . As a result , analytic philosophers avoided normative ethics , and instead began meta-ethical investigations into the nature of moral terms , statements , and judgments . The logical positivists held that statements about valueincluding all ethical and aesthetic judgmentsare non-cognitive ; that is , they make no statements that can be objectively verified or falsified . Instead , the logical positivists adopted an emotivist position , which held that value judgments expressed the attitude of the speaker . Saying , Killing is wrong , they thought , was equivalent to saying , Boo to murder , or saying the word murder with a particular tone of disapproval . While non-cognitivism was generally accepted by analytic philosophers , emotivism had many deficiencies , and evolved into more sophisticated non-cognitivist positions such as the expressivism of Charles Stevenson , and the universal prescriptivism of R. M. Hare , which had its foundations in J. L. Austin 's philosophy of speech acts . These positions were not without their critics . Phillipa Foot contributed several essays attacking all these positions . J. O. Urmson 's article On Grading called the is/ought distinction into question . As non-cognitivism , the is/ought distinction , and the naturalistic fallacy began to be called into question , analytic philosophers began to show a renewed interest in the traditional questions of moral philosophy . Perhaps most influential in this area was Elizabeth Anscombe , whose landmark monograph ' ' Intention ' ' was called by Donald Davidson the most important treatment of action since Aristotle , and is widely regarded as a masterpiece of moral psychology . A favorite student and close friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein , her 1958 article Modern Moral Philosophy introduced the term consequentialism into the philosophical lexicon , declared the is-ought impasse to be a dead end , and led to a revival in virtue ethics . # #Applied ethics# # A significant feature of analytic philosophy since approximately 1970 has been the emergence of applied ethicsan interest in the application of moral principles to specific practical issues . Areas of special interest for applied ethics include environmental issues , animal rights issues , and the many challenges created by advancing medical science . # Analytic philosophy of religion # In ' ' Analytic Philosophy of Religion ' ' , Harris noted that analytic philosophy has been a very heterogeneous ' movement ' ... some forms of analytic philosophy have proven very sympathetic to the philosophy of religion and have actually provided a philosophical mechanism for responding to other more radical and hostile forms of analytic philosophy . The collapse of logical positivism renewed interest in philosophy of religion , prompting philosophers like William Alston , John Mackie , Alvin Plantinga , Robert Merrihew Adams , Richard Swinburne , and Antony Flew not only to introduce new problems , but to re-open classical topics such as the nature of miracles , theistic arguments , the problem of evil , ( see existence of God ) the rationality of belief in God , concepts of the nature of God , and many more . Plantinga , Mackie and Flew debated the logical validity of the ' ' free will defense ' ' as a way to solve the problem of evil . Alston , grappling with the consequences of analytic philosophy of language , worked on the nature of religious language . Adams worked on the relationship of faith and morality . Analytic epistemology and metaphysics has formed the basis for a number of *29;655173;TOOLONG theistic arguments , like those of the reformed epistemologists like Plantinga . Analytic philosophy of religion has also been preoccupied with Ludwig Wittgenstein , as well as his interpretation of Sren Kierkegaard 's philosophy of religion . Using first-hand remarks ( which was later published in ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' , ' ' Culture and Value ' ' , and other works ) , philosophers such as Peter Winch and Norman Malcolm developed what has come to be known as ' ' contemplative philosophy ' ' , a Wittgensteinian school of thought rooted in the Swansea tradition , and which includes Wittgensteinians such as Rush Rhees , Peter Winch , and D. Z. Phillips , among others . The name contemplative philosophy was first coined by D. Z. Phillips in ' ' Philosophy 's Cool Place ' ' , which rests on an interpretation of a passage from Wittgenstein 's Culture and Value . This interpretation was first labeled , Wittgensteinian Fideism , by Kai Nielsen but those who consider themselves Wittgensteinians in the Swansea tradition have relentlessly and repeatedly rejected this construal as a caricature of Wittgenstein 's considered position ; this is especially true of D. Z. Phillips . Responding to this interpretation , Kai Nielsen and D.Z. Phillips became two of the most prominent philosophers on Wittgenstein 's philosophy of religion . # Political philosophy # # #Liberalism# # Current analytic political philosophy owes much to John Rawls , who in a series of papers from the 1950s onward ( most notably Two Concepts of Rules and Justice as Fairness ) and his 1971 book ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' , produced a sophisticated and closely argued defence of a broadly liberal egalitarian account of distributive justice . This was followed in short order by Rawls 's colleague Robert Nozick 's book ' ' Anarchy , State , and Utopia ' ' , a defence of free-market libertarianism . Isaiah Berlin also had a lasting influence on both analytic political philosophy and Liberalism with his lecture the Two Concepts of Liberty . Recent decades have also seen the rise of several critiques of liberalism , including the feminist critiques of Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin , the communitarian critiques of Michael Sandel and Alasdair MacIntyre ( though it should be noted both shy away from the term ) , and the multiculturalist critiques of Amy Gutmann and Charles Taylor . Although not an analytic philosopher , Jrgen Habermas is another importantif controversialfigure in contemporary analytic political philosophy , whose social theory is a blend of social science , Marxism , neo-Kantianism , and American pragmatism . Consequentialist libertarianism also derives from the analytic tradition . # #Analytical Marxism# # Another development in the area of political philosophy has been the emergence of a school known as Analytical Marxism . Members of this school seek to apply the techniques of analytic philosophy , along with tools of modern social science such as rational choice theory to the elucidation of the theories of Karl Marx and his successors . The best-known member of this school is G. A. Cohen , whose 1978 work , ' ' Karl Marx 's Theory of History : A Defence ' ' , is generally taken as representing the genesis of this school . In that book , Cohen applied the tools of logical and linguistic analysis to the elucidation and defense of Marx 's materialist conception of history . Other prominent Analytical Marxists include the economist John Roemer , the social scientist Jon Elster , and the sociologist Erik Olin Wright . The work of these later philosophers have furthered Cohen 's work by bringing to bear modern social science methods , such as rational choice theory , to supplement Cohen 's use of analytic philosophical techniques in the interpretation of Marxian theory . Cohen himself would later engage directly with Rawlsian political philosophy to advance a socialist theory of justice that stands in contrast to both traditional Marxism and the theories advanced by Rawls and Nozick . In particular , he points to Marx 's principle of from each according to his ability , to each according to his need . # #Communitarianism# # Communitarians such as Alasdair MacIntyre , Charles Taylor , Michael Walzer , and Michael Sandel advance a critique of Liberalism that uses analytic techniques to isolate the key assumptions of Liberal individualists , such as Rawls , and then challenges these assumptions . In particular , Communitarians challenge the Liberal assumption that the individual can be viewed as fully autonomous from the community in which he lives and is brought up . Instead , they push for a conception of the individual that emphasizes the role that the community plays in shaping his or her values , thought processes and opinions . # Analytic metaphysics # One striking break with early analytic philosophy was the revival of metaphysical theorizing in the second half of the twentieth century . Philosophers such as David Kellogg Lewis and David Armstrong developed elaborate theories on a range of topics such as universals , causation , possibility and necessity , and abstract objects . Among the developments that led to the revival of metaphysical theorizing were Quine 's attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction , which was generally taken to undermine Carnap 's distinction between existence questions internal to a framework and those external to it . Important also for the revival of metaphysics was the further development of modal logic , including the work of Saul Kripke , who argued in ' ' Naming and Necessity ' ' and elsewhere for the existence of essences and the possibility of necessary , a posteriori truths . Metaphysics remains a fertile area for research , having recovered from the attacks of A.J. Ayer and the logical positivists . And though many discussions are continuations of old ones , inherited from previous decades and centuries , the debate remains fierce . The philosophy of fiction , the problem of empty names , and the debate over existence 's status as a property have all risen out of relative obscurity to become central concerns , while perennial issues such as free will , possible worlds , and the philosophy of time have had new life breathed into them . Science has also played an increasingly significant role in metaphysics . The theory of special relativity has had a profound effect on the philosophy of time , and quantum physics is routinely discussed in the free will debate . The weight given to scientific evidence is largely due to widespread commitments among philosophers to scientific realism and naturalism . # Philosophy of language # Philosophy of language is another area that has slowed down over the course of the last four decades , as evidenced by the fact that few major figures in contemporary philosophy treat it as a primary research area . Indeed , while the debate remains fierce , it is still strongly under the influence of those figures from the first half of the century : Gottlob Frege , Bertrand Russell , Ludwig Wittgenstein , J.L. Austin , Alfred Tarski , and W.V.O. Quine . In ' ' Naming and Necessity ' ' , Kripke influentially argued that flaws in common theories of proper names are indicative of larger misunderstandings of the metaphysics of necessity and possibility . By wedding the tools of modal logic to a causal theory of reference , Kripke was widely regarded as reviving theories of essence and identity as respectable topics of philosophical discussion . Another influential philosopher , Pavel Tich founded Transparent Intensional Logic , an original theory of the logical analysis of natural languages the theory is devoted to the problem of saying exactly what it is that we learn , know and can communicate when we come to understand what a sentence means . # Philosophy of science # Reacting against both the verificationism of the logical positivists on the one hand , and the philosopher of science Karl Popper , who had suggested the falsifiability criterion on which to judge the demarcation between science and non-science , discussions in philosophy of science in the last forty years were dominated by social constructivist and cognitive relativist theories of science . Thomas Samuel Kuhn with his formulation of paradigm shifts and Paul Feyerabend with his epistemological anarchism are significant figures in these discussions . The philosophy of biology has also undergone considerable growth , particularly due to the considerable debate in recent years over the nature of evolution , particularly natural selection . Daniel Dennett and his 1995 book ' ' Darwin 's Dangerous Idea ' ' , which defends Neo-Darwinism , stand at the foreground of this debate . # Epistemology # Owing largely to Gettier 's 1963 paper Is Justified True Belief Knowledge ? , epistemology saw a resurgence within analytic philosophy over the last 50 years . A large portion of current epistemological research aims to resolve the problems that Gettier 's examples presented to the traditional justified true belief model of knowledge , including developing theories of justification in order to deal with Gettier 's examples , or giving alternatives to the justified true belief model . Other and related areas of contemporary research include debates between internalism and externalism , basic knowledge , the nature of evidence , the value of knowledge , epistemic luck , virtue epistemology , the role of intuitions in justification , and treating knowledge as a primitive concept . # Aesthetics # In the wake of attacks on the traditional aesthetic notions of beauty and sublimity from post-modern thinkers , analytic philosophers were slow in taking on analyses of art and aesthetic judgment . Susanne Langer and Nelson Goodman addressed these problems in an analytic style in the 1950s and 60s . Since Goodman , aesthetics as a discipline for analytic philosophers has flourished . Rigorous efforts to pursue analyses of traditional aesthetic concepts were undertaken by Guy Sircello in the 1970s and 80s , resulting in new analytic theories of love , sublimity , and beauty . 
@@166162 Islamic philosophy or Arabic philosophy is the systematic investigation of problems connected with Meaning of life#Western and Middle Eastern religions Early Islamic philosophy began in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar ( early 9th century CE ) and lasted until the 6th century AH ( late 12th century CE ) . The period is known as the Islamic Golden Age , and the achievements of this period had a crucial influence on the development of modern philosophy and science ; for Renaissance Europe , the influence represented one of the largest technology transfers in world history . . This period began with al-Kindi in the 9th century and ended with Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ) at the end of 12th century . The death of Averroes effectively marked the end of a particular discipline of Islamic philosophy usually called the Peripatetic Arabic School , and philosophical activity declined significantly in Western Islamic countries such as Islamic Spain and North Africa . Philosophy persisted for much longer in the Eastern countries , in particular Persia and India where several schools of philosophy continued to flourish : Avicennism , Illuminationist philosophy , Mystical philosophy , and Transcendent theosophy . Ibn Khaldun , in his ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' , founded the disciplines of historiography and sociology and made important contributions to the philosophy of history . Interest in Islamic philosophy revived during the Nahda ( awakening ) movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries , and continues to the present day . Prominent representatives of contemporary Islamic philosophy include Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and Hossein Nasr. # Introduction # Islamic philosophy refers to philosophy produced in an Islamic society . It is not necessarily concerned with religious issues , nor exclusively produced by Muslims . Nor do all schools of thought within Islam admit the usefulness or legitimacy of philosophical inquiry . Some argue that there is no indication that the limited knowledge and experience of humans can lead to truth . It is also important to observe that , while reason ( aql ' ' ) is sometimes recognised as a source of Islamic law , this may have a totally different meaning from reason in philosophy . Islamic philosophy is a generic term that can be defined and used in different ways . In its broadest sense it means the world view of Islam , as derived from the Islamic texts concerning the creation of the universe and the will of the Creator . In another sense it refers to any of the schools of thought that flourished under the Islamic empire or in the shadow of the Arab-Islamic culture and Islamic civilization . In its narrowest sense it is a translation of ' ' Falsafa ' ' , meaning those particular schools of thought that most reflect the influence of Greek systems of philosophy such as Neoplatonism and Aristotelianism . The historiography of Islamic philosophy is marked by disputes as to how the subject should be properly interpreted . Some of the key issues involve the comparative importance of eastern intellectuals such as Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and of western thinkers such as Ibn Rushd , and also whether Islamic philosophy can be read at face value or should be interpreted in an esoteric fashion . Supporters of the latter thesis , like Leo Strauss , maintain that Islamic philosophers wrote so as to conceal their true meaning in order to avoid religious persecution , but scholars such as Oliver Leaman disagree . # Formative influences # Islamic philosophy as the name implies refers to philosophical activity within the Islamic milieu . The main sources of classical or early Islamic philosophy are the religion of Islam itself ( especially ideas derived and interpreted from the Quran ) and Greek philosophy which the early Muslims inherited as a result of conquests , along with pre-Islamic Indian philosophy and Persian philosophy . Many of the early philosophical debates centered around reconciling religion and reason , the latter exemplified by Greek philosophy . # Early Islamic philosophy # In early Islamic thought , which refers to philosophy during the Islamic Golden Age , traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries , two main currents may be distinguished . The first is Kalam , which mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions , and the other is Falsafa , which was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism . There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends , notably by Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) who founded the school of Avicennism , Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) who founded the school of Averroism , and others such as Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) and Ab Rayhn al-Brn , # ' ' Kalam ' ' # ' ' Ilm al-Kalm ' ' ( ) is the philosophy that seeks Islamic theological principles through dialectic . In Arabic , the word literally means speech . One of first debates was that between partisans of the ' ' Qadar ' ' ( meaning to have power ) , who affirmed free will ; and the ' ' Jabarites ' ' ( meaning force , constraint ) , who believed in fatalism . At the 2nd century of the Hijra , a new movement arose in the theological school of Basra , Iraq . A pupil , Wasil ibn Ata , was expelled from the school because his answers were contrary to then Sunni tradition and became leader of a new school . He systematized the radical opinions of preceding sects , particularly those of the Qadarites and Jabarites . This new school was called ' ' Mu'tazilite ' ' ( from ' ' i'tazala ' ' , to separate oneself ) . The Mu'tazilites , compelled to defend their principles against the Sunni Islam of their day , looked for support in philosophy , and represent an early attempt to pursue a rational theology in Islam . A later offshoot of this school , known as Ash'arism , aimed to reconcile critical dialectical thinking with a stricter Islamic orthodoxy . The Mu'tazilite and Ash'arite schools are collectively called ' ' Mutakallimun ' ' ( dialecticians ) , and their type of theology was known as Ilm-al-Kalam ' ' ( Scholastic theology ) . In later times , ' ' Kalam ' ' was used to mean simply theology , i.e. the ' ' duties of the heart ' ' as opposed to ( or in conjunction with ) ' ' fikh ' ' ( jurisprudence ) , the ' ' duties of the body ' ' . # ' ' Falsafa ' ' # ' ' Falsafa ' ' is a Greek loanword meaning philosophy ( the Greek pronunciation ' ' philosophia ' ' became ' ' falsafa ' ' ) . From the 9th century onward , due to Caliph al-Ma'mun and his successor , Ancient Greek philosophy was introduced among the Arabs and the Peripatetic School began to find able representatives . Among them were Al-Kindi , Al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) , all of whose fundamental principles were considered as criticized by the ' ' Mutakallamin ' ' . Another trend , represented by the Brethren of Purity , used Aristotelian language to expound a fundamentally Neoplatonic and Neopythagorean world view . During the Abbasid caliphate , a number of thinkers and scientists , some of them heterodox Muslims or non-Muslims , played a role in transmitting Greek , Hindu and other pre-Islamic knowledge to the Christian West . They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe . Three speculative thinkers , al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and al-Kindi , combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam . # Some differences between ' ' Kalam ' ' and ' ' Falsafa ' ' # Aristotle attempted to demonstrate the unity of God , but from the view which he maintained , that matter was eternal , it followed that God could not be the Creator of the world . He did , however , demonstrate , through causal necessity , the existence of a first cause from which stemmed all of changeable creation , undermining the traditional views of God . Aristotle 's Divine Mind can in fact be a creating principle . According to Aristotelianism , the human soul is simply man 's substantial form , the set of properties that make matter into a living human body . This seems to imply that the human soul can not exist apart from the body . Indeed , Aristotle writes , It is clear that the soul , or at least some parts of it ( if it is divisible ) , can not be separated from the body . ... And thus , those have the right idea who think that the soul does not exist without the body . In Aristotelianism , at least one psychological force , the active intellect , can exist apart from the body . However , according to many interpretations , the active intellect is a superhuman entity emanating from God and enlightening the human mind , not a part of any individual human soul . Thus , Aristotle 's theories seem to deny the immortality of the individual human soul . Wherefore the ' ' Mutakallimun ' ' had , before anything else , to establish a system of philosophy to demonstrate the creation of matter . To that end , they adopted the theory of atoms as enunciated by Democritus . They taught that atoms possess neither quantity nor extension . Originally atoms were created by God , and are created now as occasion seems to require . Bodies come into existence or die , through the aggregation or the sunderance of these atoms . But this theory did not remove the objections of philosophy to a creation of matter . For , indeed , if it be supposed that God commenced His work at a certain definite time by His will , and for a certain definite object , it must be admitted that He was imperfect before accomplishing His will , or before attaining His object . In order to obviate this difficulty , the Motekallamin extended their theory of the atoms to Time , and claimed that just as Space is constituted of atoms and vacuum , Time , likewise , is constituted of small indivisible moments . The creation of the world once established , it was an easy matter for them to demonstrate the existence of a Creator , and that God is unique , omnipotent , and omniscient . # End of the classical period # By the 12th century , ' ' Kalam ' ' , attacked by both the philosophers and the orthodox , perished for lack of champions . At the same time , however , ' ' Falsafa ' ' came under serious critical scrutiny . The most devastating attack came from Al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) , whose work ' ' Tahafut al-Falasifa ' ' ( ' ' The Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' ) effectively demolished the main arguments of the Peripatetic School . Ibn Rushd ( Ibn Roshd , Averros ) , Maimonides ' contemporary , was one of the last of the Islamic Peripatetics and set out to defend the views of the ' ' Falsafa ' ' against al-Ghazali 's criticism . The theories of Ibn Rushd do not differ fundamentally from those of Ibn Bajjah and Ibn Tufail , who only follow the teachings of Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and Al-Farabi . Like all Islamic Peripatetics , Ibn Rushd admits the hypothesis of the intelligence of the spheres and the hypothesis of universal emanation , through which motion is communicated from place to place to all parts of the universe as far as the supreme worldhypotheses which , in the mind of the Arabic philosophers , did away with the dualism involved in Aristotle 's doctrine of pure energy and eternal matter . But while Al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) , and other Persian and Muslim philosophers hurried , so to speak , over subjects that trenched on traditional beliefs , Ibn Rushd delighted in dwelling upon them with full particularity and stress . Thus he says , Not only is matter eternal , but form is potentially inherent in matter ; otherwise , it were a creation ' ' ex nihilo ' ' ( Munk , Mlanges , p. 444 ) . According to this theory , therefore , the existence of this world is not only a possibility , as Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) declared , but also a necessity . # Logic # In early Islamic philosophy , logic played an important role . Islamic law placed importance on formulating standards of argument , which gave rise to a novel approach to logic in Kalam , but this approach was later displaced by ideas from Greek philosophy and Hellenistic philosophy with the rise of the Mu'tazili philosophers , who highly valued Aristotle 's ' ' Organon ' ' . The works of Hellenistic-influenced Islamic philosophers were crucial in the reception of Aristotelian logic in medieval Europe , along with the commentaries on the ' ' Organon ' ' by Averroes . The works of al-Farabi , Avicenna , al-Ghazali and other Muslim logicians who often criticized and corrected Aristotelian logic and introduced their own forms of logic , also played a central role in the subsequent development of European logic during the Renaissance . According to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy : Important developments made by Muslim logicians included the development of Avicennian logic as a replacement of Aristotelian logic . Avicenna 's system of logic was responsible for the introduction of hypothetical syllogism , temporal modal logic and inductive logic . Other important developments in early Islamic philosophy include the development of a strict science of citation , the isnad or backing , and the development of a scientific method of open inquiry to disprove claims , the ijtihad , which could be generally applied to many types of questions . # Logic in Islamic law and theology # Early forms of analogical reasoning , inductive reasoning and categorical syllogism were introduced in Fiqh ( Islamic jurisprudence ) , Sharia ( Islamic law ) and Kalam ( Islamic theology ) from the 7th century with the process of ' ' Qiyas ' ' , before the Arabic translations of Aristotle 's works . Later , during the Islamic Golden Age , there was debate among Islamic philosophers , logicians and theologians over whether the term ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to analogical reasoning , inductive reasoning or categorical syllogism . Some Islamic scholars argued that ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to inductive reasoning . Ibn Hazm ( 994-1064 ) disagreed , arguing that ' ' Qiyas ' ' does not refer to inductive reasoning but to categorical syllogistic reasoning in a real sense and analogical reasoning in a metaphorical sense . On the other hand , al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ; and , in modern times , Abu Muhammad Asem al-Maqdisi ) argued that ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to analogical reasoning in a real sense and categorical syllogism in a metaphorical sense . Other Islamic scholars at the time , however , argued that the term ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to both analogical reasoning and categorical syllogism in a real sense . # Aristotelian logic # The first original Arabic writings on logic were produced by al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ( 805873 ) , who produced a summary on earlier logic up to his time . The first writings on logic with non-Aristotelian elements was produced by al-Farabi ( Alfarabi ) ( 873950 ) , who discussed the topics of future contingents , the number and relation of the categories , the relation between logic and grammar , and non-Aristotelian forms of inference . He is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate groups , the first being idea and the second being proof . Averroes ( 112698 ) , author of the most elaborate commentaries on Aristotelian logic , was the last major logician from al-Andalus. # Avicennian logic # Avicenna ( 980-1037 ) developed his own system of logic known as Avicennian logic as an alternative to Aristotelian logic . By the 12th century , Avicennian logic had replaced Aristotelian logic as the dominant system of logic in the Islamic world . The first criticisms of Aristotelian logic were written by Avicenna ( 9801037 ) , who produced independent treatises on logic rather than commentaries . He criticized the logical school of Baghdad for their devotion to Aristotle at the time . He investigated the theory of definition and classification and the quantification of the predicates of categorical propositions , and developed an original theory on temporal modal syllogism . Its premises included modifiers such as at all times , at most times , and at some time . While Avicenna ( 980-1037 ) often relied on deductive reasoning in philosophy , he used a different approach in medicine . Ibn Sina contributed inventively to the development of inductive logic , which he used to pioneer the idea of a syndrome . In his medical writings , Avicenna was the first to describe the methods of agreement , difference and concomitant variation which are critical to inductive logic and the scientific method . Ibn Hazm ( 994-1064 ) wrote the ' ' Scope of Logic ' ' , in which he stressed on the importance of sense perception as a source of knowledge . Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) ( 10581111 ) had an important influence on the use of logic in theology , making use of Avicennian logic in Kalam . Despite the logical sophistication of al-Ghazali , the rise of the Ash'ari school in the from the 12th century slowly suffocated original work on logic in much of the Islamic world , though logic continued to be studied in some Islamic regions such as Persia and the Levant . Fakhr al-Din al-Razi ( b. 1149 ) criticised Aristotle 's first figure and developed a form of inductive logic , foreshadowing the system of inductive logic developed by John Stuart Mill ( 18061873 ) . Systematic refutations of Greek logic were written by the Illuminationist school , founded by Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi ( 11551191 ) , who developed the idea of decisive necessity , an important innovation in the history of logical philosophical speculation . Another systematic refutation of Greek logic was written by Ibn Taymiyyah ( 1263&amp;ndash ; 1328 ) , the ' ' Ar-Radd ' ala al-Mantiqiyyin ' ' ( ' ' Refutation of Greek Logicians ' ' ) , where he argued against the usefulness , though not the validity , of the syllogism and in favour of inductive reasoning . # Metaphysics # # Cosmological and ontological arguments # Avicenna 's proof for the existence of God was the first ontological argument , which he proposed in the ' ' Metaphysics ' ' section of ' ' The Book of Healing ' ' . This was the first attempt at using the method of a priori proof , which utilizes intuition and reason alone . Avicenna 's proof of God 's existence is unique in that it can be classified as both a cosmological argument and an ontological argument . It is ontological insofar as necessary existence in intellect is the first basis for arguing for a Necessary Existent . The proof is also cosmological insofar as most of it is taken up with arguing that contingent existents can not stand alone and must end up in a Necessary Existent. # Distinction between essence and existence # Islamic philosophy , imbued as it is with Islamic theology , distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism the difference between essence and existence . Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental , essence endures within a being beyond the accidental . This was first described by Avicenna 's works on metaphysics , who was himself influenced by al-Farabi . Some orientalists ( or those particularly influenced by Thomist scholarship ) argued that Avicenna was the first to view existence ( ' ' wujud ' ' ) as an accident that happens to the essence ( ' ' mahiyya ' ' ) . However , this aspect of ontology is not the most central to the distinction that Avicenna established between essence and existence . One can not therefore make the claim that Avicenna was the proponent of the concept of essentialism ' ' per se ' ' , given that existence ( ' ' al-wujud ' ' ) when thought of in terms of necessity would ontologically translate into a notion of the *32;5263;TOOLONG ( ' ' wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi ' ' ) , which is without description or definition and , in particular , without quiddity or essence ( ' ' la mahiyya lahu ' ' ) . Consequently , Avicenna 's ontology is ' existentialist ' when accounting for being ' ' qua ' ' existence in terms of necessity ( ' ' wujub ' ' ) , while it is essentialist in terms of thinking about being ' ' qua ' ' existence in terms of contingency ' ' qua ' ' possibility ( ' ' imkan ' ' or ' ' mumkin al-wujud ' ' , meaning contingent being ) . Some argue that Avicenna anticipated Frege and Bertrand Russell in holding that existence is an accident of accidents and also anticipated Alexius Meinong 's view about nonexistent objects . He also provided early arguments for a necessary being as cause of all other existents . The idea of essence preceding existence is a concept which dates back to Avicenna and his school as well as Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and his Illuminationist philosophy . Existence precedes essenceExistence preceding essence , the opposite ( existentialist ) notion , was developed in the works of Averroes and Mulla Sadra 's transcendent theosophy . More careful approaches are needed in terms of thinking about philosophers ( and theologians ) in Islam in terms of phenomenological methods of investigation in ontology ( or onto-theology ) , or by way of comparisons that are made with Heidegger 's thought and his critique of the history of metaphysics. ----- # Resurrection # Ibn al-Nafis wrote the ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a defense of the system of Islam and the Muslims ' doctrines on the missions of Prophets , the religious laws , the resurrection of the body , and the transitoriness of the world . The book presents rational arguments for bodily resurrection and the immortality of the human soul , using both demonstrative reasoning and material from the hadith corpus as forms of evidence . Later Islamic scholars viewed this work as a response to Avicenna 's metaphysical argument on spiritual resurrection ( as opposed to bodily resurrection ) , which was earlier criticized by al-Ghazali . The mention of all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad in Quraan indicates Islamic philosophy from the days of Adam , whereas it may be not known at that time by the name Islam . # Soul and spirit # The Muslim physician-philosophers , Avicenna and Ibn al-Nafis , developed their own theories on the soul . They both made a distinction between the soul and the spirit , and in particular , the Avicennian doctrine on the nature of the soul was influential among the Scholastics . Some of Avicenna 's views on the soul included the idea that the immortality of the soul is a consequence of its nature , and not a purpose for it to fulfill . In his theory of The Ten Intellects , he viewed the human soul as the tenth and final intellect . Avicenna generally supported Aristotle 's idea of the soul originating from the heart , whereas Ibn al-Nafis on the other hand rejected this idea and instead argued that the soul is related to the entirety and not to one or a few organs . He further criticized Aristotle 's idea that every unique soul requires the existence of a unique source , in this case the heart . Ibn al-Nafis concluded that the soul is related primarily neither to the spirit nor to any organ , but rather to the entire matter whose temperament is prepared to receive that soul and he defined the soul as nothing other than what a human indicates by saying I. # Thought experiments # While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan , Avicenna wrote his famous Floating Man thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality of the soul . He referred to the living human intelligence , particularly the active intellect , which he believed to be the hypostasis by which God communicates truth to the human mind and imparts order and intelligibility to nature . His Floating Man thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in the air , isolated from all sensations , which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies . He argues that , in this scenario , one would still have self-consciousness . He thus concludes that the idea of the self is not logically dependent on any physical thing , and that the soul should not be seen in relative terms , but as a primary given , a substance . This argument was later refined and simplified by Ren Descartes in epistemic terms when he stated : I can abstract from the supposition of all external things , but not from the supposition of my own consciousness . # Time # In contrast to ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning , medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning . This view was inspired by the creation myth shared by the three Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity and Islam . The Christian philosopher , John Philoponus , presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past . However , the most sophisticated medieval arguments against an infinite past were developed by the Islamic philosopher , Al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ; the Jewish philosopher , Saadia Gaon ( Saadia ben Joseph ) ; and the Islamic theologian , Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) . They developed two logical arguments against an infinite past , the first being the argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite , which states : : An actual infinite can not exist . : An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite . : An infinite temporal regress of events can not exist . The second argument , the argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition , states : : An actual infinite can not be completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events can not be an actual infinite . Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians , and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time . # Truth # In metaphysics , Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) defined truth as : Avicenna elaborated on his definition of truth in his ' ' Metaphysics ' ' : In his ' ' Quodlibeta ' ' , Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary on Avicenna 's definition of truth in his ' ' Metaphysics ' ' and explained it as follows : Early Islamic political philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion and emphsized the process of ijtihad to find truth . Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) reasoned that to discover the truth about nature , it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error , and allow the universe to speak for itself . In his ' ' Aporias against Ptolemy ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham further wrote the following comments on truth : # Natural philosophy # # Atomism # Atomistic philosophies are found very early in Islamic philosophy , and represent a synthesis of the Greek and Indian ideas . Like both the Greek and Indian versions , Islamic atomism was a charged topic that had the potential for conflict with the prevalent religious orthodoxy . Yet it was such a fertile and flexible idea that , as in Greece and India , it flourished in some schools of Islamic thought . The most successful form of Islamic atomism was in the Asharite school of philosophy , most notably in the work of the philosopher al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) . In Asharite atomism , atoms are the only perpetual , material things in existence , and all else in the world is accidental meaning something that lasts for only an instant . Nothing accidental can be the cause of anything else , except perception , as it exists for a moment . Contingent events are not subject to natural physical causes , but are the direct result of God 's constant intervention , without which nothing could happen . Thus nature is completely dependent on God , which meshes with other Asharite Islamic ideas on causation , or the lack thereof . Other traditions in Islam rejected the atomism of the Asharites and expounded on many Greek texts , especially those of Aristotle . An active school of philosophers in Spain , including the noted commentator Averroes ( 1126-1198 AD ) explicitly rejected the thought of al-Ghazali and turned to an extensive evaluation of the thought of Aristotle . Averroes commented in detail on most of the works of Aristotle and his commentaries did much to guide the interpretation of Aristotle in later Jewish and Christian scholastic thought . # Cosmology # There are several cosmological verses in the Qur'an ( 610-632 ) which some modern writers have interpreted as foreshadowing the expansion of the universe and possibly even the Big Bang theory : # Do n't those who reject faith see that the heavens and the earth were a single entity then We ripped them apart ? # # And the heavens We did create with Our Hands , and We do cause it to expand . # In contrast to ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning , medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning . This view was inspired by the creation myth shared by the three Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity and Islam . The Christian philosopher , John Philoponus , presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past . His reasoning was adopted by many , most notably ; Muslim philosopher , Al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ; the Jewish philosopher , Saadia Gaon ( Saadia ben Joseph ) ; and the Muslim theologian , Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) . They used two logical arguments against an infinite past , the first being the argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite , which states : : An actual infinite can not exist . : An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite . : . . An infinite temporal regress of events can not exist . The second argument , the argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition , states : : An actual infinite can not be completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition . : . . The temporal series of past events can not be an actual infinite . Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians , and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time . In the 10th century , the Brethren of Purity published the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' , in which a heliocentric view of the universe is expressed in a section on cosmology : # Evolution # # #Struggle for existence# # The Mu'tazili scientist and philosopher al-Jahiz ( c. 776-869 ) was the first of the Muslim biologists and philosophers to develop an early theory of evolution . He speculated on the influence of the environment on animals , considered the effects of the environment on the likelihood of an animal to survive , and first described the struggle for existence , a precursor to natural selection . Al-Jahiz 's ideas on the struggle for existence in the ' ' Book of Animals ' ' have been summarized as follows : In Chapter 47 of ' ' India ' ' , entitled On Vasudeva and the Wars of the Bharata , Abu Rayhan Biruni attempted to give a naturalistic explanation as to why the struggles described in the ' ' Mahabharata ' ' had to take place . He explains it using natural processes that include biological ideas related to evolution , which has led several scholars to compare his ideas to Darwinism and natural selection . This is due to Biruni describing the idea of artificial selection and then applying it to nature : In the 13th century , Nasir al-Din al-Tusi explains how the elements evolved into minerals , then plants , then animals , and then humans . Tusi then goes on to explain how hereditary variability was an important factor for biological evolution of living things : Tusi discusses how organisms are able to adapt to their environments : Tusi then explains how humans evolved from advanced animals : # #Transmutation of species# # Al-Dinawari ( 828-896 ) , considered the founder of Arabic botany for his ' ' Book of Plants ' ' , discussed plant evolution from its birth to its death , describing the phases of plant growth and the production of flowers and fruit . Ibn Miskawayh 's ' ' al-Fawz al-Asghar ' ' and the Brethren of Purity 's ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' ( ' ' The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa ' ' ) developed theories on evolution that possibly had an influence on Charles Darwin and his inception of Darwinism , but has at one time been criticized as overenthusiastic . English translations of the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' were available from 1812 , while Arabic language In the 14th century , Ibn Khaldun further developed the evolutionary ideas found in the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' . The following statements from his 1377 work , the ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' , express evolutionary ideas : Numerous other Islamic scholars and scientists , including the polymaths Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Khazini , discussed and developed these ideas . Translated into Latin , these works began to appear in the West after the Renaissance and may have had an impact on Western philosophy and science . # Phenomenology # The Ash'ari polymath Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) is considered a pioneer of phenomenology . He articulated a relationship between the physical and observable world and that of intuition , psychology and mental functions . His theories regarding knowledge and perception , linking the domains of science and religion , led to a philosophy of existence based on the direct observation of reality from the observer 's point of view . Much of his thought on phenomenology was not further developed until the 20th century . # Philosophy of mind # The philosophy of mind was studied in medieval Islamic psychological thought , which refers to the study of the ' ' nafs ' ' ( literally self or psyche in Arabic ) in the Islamic world , particularly during the Islamic Golden Age ( 8th15th centuries ) as well as modern times ( 20th21st centuries ) , and is related to psychology , psychiatry and the neurosciences. # Place and space # The Arab polymath al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhazen ; died c. 1041 ) presented a thorough mathematical critique and refutation of Aristotle 's conception of place ( ' ' topos ' ' ) in his ' ' Risala/Qawl fil-makan ' ' ( ' ' Treatise/Discourse on Place ' ' ) . Aristotle 's ' ' Physics ' ' ( Book IV - ' ' Delta ' ' ) stated that the place of something is the two-dimensional boundary of the containing body that is at rest and is in contact with what it contains . Ibn al-Haytham disagreed with this definition and demonstrated that place ( ' ' al-makan ' ' ) is the imagined ( three-dimensional ) void ( ' ' al-khala ' al-mutakhayyal ' ' ) between the inner surfaces of the containing body . He showed that place was akin to space , foreshadowing Descartes 's notion of place as space qua ' ' Extensio ' ' or even Leibniz 's ' ' analysis situs ' ' . Ibn al-Haytham 's mathematization of place rested on several geometric demonstrations , including his study on the sphere and other solids , which showed that the sphere ( ' ' al-kura ' ' ) is the largest in magnitude ( volumetric ) with respect to other geometric solids that have equal surface areas . For instance , a sphere that has an equal surface area to that of a cylinder , would be larger in ( volumetric ) magnitude than the cylinder ; hence , the sphere occupies a larger place than that occupied by the cylinder ; unlike what is entailed by Aristotle 's definition of place : that this sphere and that cylinder occupy places that are equal in magnitude . Ibn al-Haytham rejected Aristotle 's philosophical concept of place on mathematical grounds . Later , the philosopher ' Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi ( 13th century ) tried to defend the Aristotelian conception of place in a treatise titled : ' ' Fi al-Radd ala Ibn al-Haytham fi al-makan ' ' ( ' ' A refutation of Ibn al-Haytham 's place ' ' ) , although his effort was admirable from a philosophical standpoint , it was unconvincing from the scientific and mathematical viewpoints . Ibn al-Haytham also discussed space perception and its epistemological implications in his ' ' Book of Optics ' ' ( 1021 ) . His experimental proof of the intromission model of vision led to changes in the way the visual perception of space was understood , contrary to the previous emission theory of vision supported by Euclid and Ptolemy . In tying the visual perception of space to prior bodily experience , Alhacen unequivocally rejected the intuitiveness of spatial perception and , therefore , the autonomy of vision . Without tangible notions of distance and size for correlation , sight can tell us next to nothing about such things . # Philosophy of education # In the medieval Islamic world , an elementary school was known as a ' ' maktab ' ' , which dates back to at least the 10th century . Like madrasahs ( which referred to higher education ) , a maktab was often attached to a mosque . In the 11th century , Ibn Sina ( known as ' ' Avicenna ' ' in the West ) , in one of his books , wrote a chapter dealing with the ' ' maktab ' ' entitled The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children , as a guide to teachers working at ' ' maktab ' ' schools . He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors , and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case , citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils as well as the usefulness of group discussions and debates . Ibn Sina described the curriculum of a ' ' maktab ' ' school in some detail , describing the curricula for two stages of education in a ' ' maktab ' ' school . # Primary education # Ibn Sina wrote that children should be sent to a ' ' maktab ' ' school from the age of 6 and be taught primary education until they reach the age of 14 . During which time , he wrote that they should be taught the Qur'an , Islamic metaphysics , language , literature , Islamic ethics , and manual skills ( which could refer to a variety of practical skills ) . # Secondary education # Ibn Sina refers to the secondary education stage of ' ' maktab ' ' schooling as the period of specialization , when pupils should begin to acquire manual skills , regardless of their social status . He writes that children after the age of 14 should be given a choice to choose and specialize in subjects they have an interest in , whether it was reading , manual skills , literature , preaching , medicine , geometry , trade and commerce , craftsmanship , or any other subject or profession they would be interested in pursuing for a future career . He wrote that this was a transitional stage and that there needs to be flexibility regarding the age in which pupils graduage , as the student 's emotional development and chosen subjects need to be taken into account . # Philosophy of science # # Scientific method # The pioneering development of the scientific method by the Arab Ash'ari polymath Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) was an important contribution to the philosophy of science . In the ' ' Book of Optics ' ' ( c. 1025 AD ) , his scientific method was very similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of the following procedures : #Observation #Statement of problem #Formulation of hypothesis #Testing of hypothesis using experimentation #Analysis of experimental results #Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusion #Publication of findings In ' ' The Model of the Motions ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham also describes an early version of Occam 's razor , where he employs only minimal hypotheses regarding the properties that characterize astronomical motions , as he attempts to eliminate from his planetary model the cosmological hypotheses that can not be observed from Earth . In ' ' Aporias against Ptolemy ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham commented on the difficulty of attaining scientific knowledge : He held that the criticism of existing theories which dominated this book holds a special place in the growth of scientific knowledge : Ibn al-Haytham attributed his experimental scientific method and scientific skepticism to his Islamic faith . He believed that human beings are inherently flawed and that only God is perfect . He reasoned that to discover the truth about nature , it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error , and allow the universe to speak for itself . In ' ' The Winding Motion ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham further wrote that faith should only apply to prophets of Islam and not to any other authorities , in the following comparison between the Islamic prophetic tradition and the demonstrative sciences : Ibn al-Haytham described his search for truth and knowledge as a way of leading him closer to God : His contemporary Ab Rayhn al-Brn also introduced an early scientific method in nearly every field of inquiry he studied . For example , in his treatise on mineralogy , ' ' Kitab al-Jamahir ' ' ( ' ' Book of Precious Stones ' ' ) , he is the most exact of experimental scientists , while in the introduction to his study of India , he declares that to execute our project , it has not been possible to follow the geometric method and develops comparative sociology as a scientific method in the field . He was also responsible for introducing the experimental method into mechanics , the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena , and a pioneer of experimental psychology . Unlike his contemporary Avicenna 's scientific method where general and universal questions came first and led to experimental work , al-Biruni developed scientific methods where universals came out of practical , experimental work and theories are formulated after discoveries . During his debate with Avicenna on natural philosophy , al-Biruni made the first real distinction between a scientist and a philosopher , referring to Avicenna as a philosopher and considering himself to be a mathematical scientist . Al-Biruni 's scientific method was similar to the modern scientific method in many ways , particularly his emphasis on repeated experimentation . Biruni was concerned with how to conceptualize and prevent both systematic errors and random errors , such as errors caused by the use of small instruments and errors made by human observers . He argued that if instruments produce random errors because of their imperfections or idiosyncratic qualities , then multiple observations must be taken , analyzed qualitatively , and on this basis , arrive at a common-sense single value for the constant sought , whether an arithmetic mean or a reliable estimate . # Experimental medicine # Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) is considered the father of modern medicine , for his introduction of experimental medicine and clinical trials , the experimental use and testing of drugs , and a precise guide for practical experimentation in the process of discovering and proving the effectiveness of medical substances , in his medical encyclopedia , ' ' The Canon of Medicine ' ' ( 11th century ) , which was the first book dealing with experimental medicine . It laid out the following rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugs or medications , which still form the basis of modern clinical trials : # The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality . # It must be used on a simple , not a composite , disease . # The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases , because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones . # The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease . For example , there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases , so that they would have no effect on them . # The time of action must be observed , so that essence and accident are not confused . # The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases , for if this did not happen , it was an accidental effect . # The experimentation must be done with the human body , for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man . # Peer review # The first documented description of a peer review process is found in the ' ' Ethics of the Physician ' ' written by Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi ( 854931 ) of al-Raha , Syria , who describes the first medical peer review process . His work , as well as later Arabic medical manuals , state that a visiting physician must always make duplicate notes of a patient 's condition on every visit . When the patient was cured or had died , the notes of the physician were examined by a local medical council of other physicians , who would review the practising physician 's notes to decide whether his/her performance have met the required standards of medical care . If their reviews were negative , the practicing physician could face a lawsuit from a maltreated patient . # Other fields # # Epistemology # Avicenna 's most influential theory in epistemology is his theory of knowledge , in which he developed the concept of tabula rasa . He argued that the human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa , a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know and that knowledge is attained through empirical familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts which is developed through a syllogistic method of reasoning ; observations lead to prepositional statements , which when compounded lead to further abstract concepts . In the 12th century , Ibn Tufail further developed the concept of tabula rasa in his Arabic novel , ' ' Hayy ibn Yaqzan ' ' , in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child from a tabula rasa to that of an adult , in complete isolation from society on a desert island . The Latin translation of his work , entitled ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' , published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671 , had an influence on John Locke 's formulation of tabula rasa in ' ' An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ' ' . # Eschatology # Islamic eschatology is concerned with the ' ' Qiyamah ' ' ( end of the world ; Last Judgement ) and the final judgement of humanity . Eschatology relates to one of the six articles of faith ( ' ' aqidah ' ' ) of Islam . Like the other Abrahamic religions , Islam teaches the bodily resurrection of the dead , the fulfillment of a divine plan for creation , and the immortality of the human soul ( though Jews do not necessarily view the soul as eternal ) ; the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of ' ' Jannah ' ' ( Heaven ) , while the unrighteous are punished in ' ' Jahannam ' ' ( Hell ) . A significant fraction ( one third , in fact ) of the Quran deals with these beliefs , with many ' ' hadith ' ' elaborating on the themes and details . Islamic apocalyptic literature describing the Armageddon is often known as ' ' fitna ' ' ( a test ) and ' ' malahim ' ' ( or ' ' ghayba ' ' in the shi'ite tradition ) . Ibn al-Nafis dealt with Islamic eschatology in some depth in his ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' , where he rationalized the Islamic view of eschatology using reason and science to explain the events that would occur according to Islamic eschatology . He presented his rational and scientific arguments in the form of Arabic fiction , hence his ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' may be considered the earliest science fiction work . # Legal philosophy # Sharia ( ) refers to the body of Islamic law . The term means way or path ; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Islamic principles of jurisprudence . Fiqh is the term for Islamic jurisprudence , made up of the rulings of Islamic jurists . A component of Islamic studies , Fiqh expounds the methodology by which Islamic law is derived from primary and secondary sources . Mainstream Islam distinguish ' ' fiqh ' ' , which means understanding details and inferences drawn by scholars , from ' ' sharia ' ' that refers to principles that lie behind the fiqh . Scholars hope that ' ' fiqh ' ' and ' ' sharia ' ' are in harmony in any given case , but they can not be sure . # Philosophical novels # The Islamic philosophers , Ibn Tufail ( Abubacer ) and Ibn al-Nafis , were pioneers of the philosophical novel . Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel ' ' Hayy ibn Yaqdhan ' ' ( ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' ) as a response to al-Ghazali 's ' ' The Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' , and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional novel ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a response to Ibn Tufail 's ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' . Both of these novels had protagonists ( Hayy in ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' and Kamil in ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' ) who were autodidactic individuals spontaneously generated in a cave and living in seclusion on a desert island , both being the earliest examples of a desert island story . However , while Hayy lives alone on the desert island for most of the story in ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' , the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' , developing into the first example of a science fiction novel . Ibn al-Nafis described his book ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a defense of the system of Islam and the Muslims ' doctrines on the missions of Prophets , the religious laws , the resurrection of the body , and the transitoriness of the world . He presents rational arguments for bodily resurrection and the immortality of the human soul , using both demonstrative reasoning and material from the hadith corpus to prove his case . Later Islamic scholars viewed this work as a response to the metaphysical claim of Avicenna and Ibn Tufail that bodily resurrection can not be proven through reason , a view that was earlier criticized by al-Ghazali . A Latin translation of ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' was published in 1671 , prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger . The first English translation by Simon Ockley was published in 1708 , and German and Dutch translations were also published at the time . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' went on to have a significant influence on European literature , and became an influential best-seller throughout Western Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries . These translations later inspired Daniel Defoe to write ' ' Robinson Crusoe ' ' , which also featured a desert island narrative and was regarded as the first novel in English . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' also had a profound influence on modern Western philosophy . It became one of the most important books that heralded the Scientific Revolution and European Enlightenment , and the thoughts expressed in the novel can be found in different variations and to different degrees in the books of Thomas Hobbes , John Locke , Isaac Newton , and Immanuel Kant . The novel inspired the concept of tabula rasa developed in ' ' An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ' ' ( 1690 ) by Locke , who was a student of Pococke . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' also developed the themes of empiricism , tabula rasa , nature versus nurture , condition of possibility , materialism , and Molyneux 's Problem . The novel also inspired Robert Boyle , another acquaintance of Pococke , to write his own philosophical novel set on an island , ' ' The Aspiring Naturalist ' ' . Other European scholars influenced by ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' include Gottfried Leibniz , Melchisdech Thvenot , John Wallis , Christiaan Huygens , George Keith , Robert Barclay , the Quakers , and Samuel Hartlib. # Political philosophy # Early Islamic political philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion , and the process of ijtihad to find truth - in effect ' ' all ' ' philosophy was political as it had real implications for governance . This view was challenged by the Mutazilite philosophers , who held a more secular view and were supported by secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the Caliphate . The only Greek political treatise known to medieval Muslims at the time was Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' . By the end of the Islamic Golden Age , however , the Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed . Islamic political philosophy , was , indeed , rooted in the very sources of Islam , i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah , the words and practices of Muhammad . However , in the Western thought , it is generally known that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam : al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) , al-Farabi ( Alfarabi ) , bn Sina ( Avicenna ) , Ibn Bajjah ( Avempace ) , Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ) , and Ibn Khaldun . The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah , sultan , ummah , cemaa -and even the core terms of the Qur'an , i.e. ibada , din , rab and ilah- is taken as the basis of an analysis . Hence , not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories . For example , the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah , or that of Shia Islam on the concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought . The clashes between the Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character . The 14th-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists . The British *26;5297;TOOLONG Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun 's definition of government , an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself , the best in the history of political theory . # Philosophy of history # The first detailed studies on the subject of historiography and the first critiques on historical methods appeared in the works of the Arab Ash'ari polymath Ibn Khaldun ( 13321406 ) , who is regarded as the father of historiography , cultural history , and the philosophy of history , especially for his historiographical writings in the ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' ( Latinized as ' ' Prolegomena ' ' ) and ' ' Kitab al-Ibar ' ' ( ' ' Book of Advice ' ' ) . His ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of state , communication , propaganda and systematic bias in history , and he discussed the rise and fall of civilizations . Franz Rosenthal wrote in the ' ' History of Muslim Historiography ' ' : # Social philosophy # The most famous social philosopher was the Ash'ari polymath Ibn Khaldun ( 13321406 ) , who was the last major Islamic philosopher from North Africa . In his ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' , he developed the earliest theories on social philosophy , in formulating theories of social cohesion and social conflict . His ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' was also the introduction to a seven volume analysis of universal history . Ibn Khaldun is considered the father of sociology , father of historiography , and father of the philosophy of history by some , for allegedly being the first to discuss the topics of sociology , historiography and the philosophy of history in detail . # Judeo-Islamic philosophies # Islamic philosophy found an audience with the Jews , to whom belongs the honor of having transmitted it to the Christian world . A series of eminent mensuch as the Ibn Tibbons , Narboni , Gersonidesjoined in translating the Arabic philosophical works into Hebrew and commenting upon them . The works of Ibn Rushd especially became the subject of their study , due in great measure to Maimonides , who , in a letter addressed to his pupil Joseph ben Judah , spoke in the highest terms of Ibn Rushd 's commentary . The oldest Jewish religio-philosophical work preserved in Arabic is that of Saadia Gaon ( 892942 ) , ' ' Emunot ve-Deot ' ' , The Book of Beliefs and Opinions . In this work Saadia treats the questions that interested the Mutakallamin , such as the creation of matter , the unity of God , the divine attributes , the soul , etc . Saadia criticizes other philosophers severely . For Saadia there was no problem as to creation : God created the world ' ' ex nihilo ' ' , just as the Bible attests ; and he contests the theory of the Mutakallamin in reference to atoms , which theory , he declares , is just as contrary to reason and religion as the theory of the philosophers professing the eternity of matter . To prove the unity of God , Saadia uses the demonstrations of the Mutakallamin . Only the attributes of essence ( ' ' sifat al-dhatia ' ' ) can be ascribed to God , but not the attributes of action ( ' ' sifat-al-fi'aliya ' ' ) . The soul is a substance more delicate even than that of the celestial spheres . Here Saadia controverts the Mutakallamin , who considered the soul an accident arad ' ' ( compare Guide for the Perplexed i. 74 ) , and employs the following one of their premises to justify his position : Only a substance can be the substratum of an accident ( that is , of a non-essential property of things ) . Saadia argues : If the soul be an accident only , it can itself have no such accidents as wisdom , joy , love , etc . Saadia was thus in every way a supporter of the Kalam ; and if at times he deviated from its doctrines , it was owing to his religious views . Since no idea and no literary or philosophical movement ever germinated on Persian or Arabian soil without leaving its impress on the Jews , the Persian Ghazali found an imitator in the person of Judah ha-Levi . This poet also took upon himself to free his religion from what he saw as the shackles of speculative philosophy , and to this end wrote the Kuzari , in which he sought to discredit all schools of philosophy alike . He passes severe censure upon the Mutakallimun for seeking to support religion by philosophy . He says , I consider him to have attained the highest degree of perfection who is convinced of religious truths without having scrutinized them and reasoned over them ( Kuzari , v. ) . Then he reduced the chief propositions of the Mutakallamin , to prove the unity of God , to ten in number , describing them at length , and concluding in these terms : Does the Kalam give us more information concerning God and His attributes than the prophet did ? ( Ib. iii . and iv . ) Aristotelianism finds no favor in Judah ha-Levi 's eyes , for it is no less given to details and criticism ; Neoplatonism alone suited him somewhat , owing to its appeal to his poetic temperament . Similarly the reaction in favour of stricter Aristotelianism , as found in Averroes , had its Jewish counterpart in the work of Maimonides . Later Jewish philosophers , such as Gersonides and Elijah Delmedigo , followed the school of Averroes and played a part in transmitting Averroist thought to medieval Europe . In Spain and Italy , Jewish translators such as Abraham de Balmes and Jacob Mantino translated Arabic philosophic literature into Hebrew and Latin , contributing to the development of modern European philosophy . # Later Islamic philosophy # The death of Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) effectively marks the end of a particular discipline of Islamic philosophy usually called the ' ' Peripatetic Arabic School ' ' , and philosophical activity declined significantly in western Islamic countries , namely in Islamic Spain and North Africa , though it persisted for much longer in the Eastern countries , in particular Iran and India . Contrary to the traditional view , Dimitri Gutas and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy consider the period between the 11th and 14th centuries to be the true Golden Age of Arabic and Islamic philosophy , initiated by Al-Ghazali 's successful integration of logic into the Madrasah curriculum and the subsequent rise of Avicennism . Since the political power shift in Western Europe ( Spain and Portugal ) from Muslim to Christian control , the Muslims naturally did not practice philosophy in Western Europe . This also led to some loss of contact between the ' west ' and the ' east ' of the Islamic world . Muslims in the ' east ' continued to do philosophy , as is evident from the works of Ottoman scholars and especially those living in Muslim kingdoms within the territories of present day Iran and India , such as Shah Waliullah and Ahmad Sirhindi . This fact has escaped most pre-modern historians of Islamic ( or Arabic ) philosophy . In addition , logic has continued to be taught in religious seminaries up to modern times . After Ibn Rushd , there arose many later schools of Islamic Philosophy . We can mention just a few , such as the those founded by Ibn Arabi and Mulla Sadra . These new schools are of particular importance , as they are still active in the Islamic world . The most important among them are :  School of Illumination ( ' ' Hikmat al-Ishraq ' ' )  Transcendent Theosophy ( ' ' Hikmat Muta'aliah ' ' )  Sufi philosophy  Traditionalist School # Illuminationist school # Illuminationist philosophy was a school of Islamic philosophy founded by Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi in the 12th century . This school is a combination of Avicenna 's philosophy and ancient Iranian philosophy , with many new innovative ideas of Suhrawardi . It is often described as having been influenced by Neoplatonism . In logic in Islamic philosophy , systematic refutations of Greek logic were written by the Illuminationist school , founded by Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi ( 1155-1191 ) , who developed the idea of decisive necessity , an important innovation in the history of logical philosophical speculation . # Transcendent school # Transcendent theosophy is the school of Islamic philosophy founded by Mulla Sadra in the 17th century . His philosophy and ontology is considered to be just as important to Islamic philosophy as Martin Heidegger 's philosophy later was to Western philosophy in the 20th century . Mulla Sadra bought a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality and created a major transition from essentialism to existentialism in Islamic philosophy , several centuries before this occurred in Western philosophy . The idea of essence precedes existence is a concept which dates back to Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and his school of Avicennism as well as Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and his Illuminationist philosophy . The opposite idea of Existence precedes essence was thus developed in the works of Averroes and Mulla Sadra as a reaction to this idea and is a key foundational concept of existentialism . For Mulla Sadra , existence precedes the essence and is thus principle since something has to exist first and then have an essence . This is primarily the argument that lies at the heart of Mulla Sadra 's Transcendent Theosophy . Sayyid Jalal Ashtiyani later summarized Mulla Sadra 's concept as follows : More careful approaches are needed in terms of thinking about philosophers ( and theologians ) in Islam in terms of phenomenological methods of investigation in ontology ( or onto-theology ) , or by way of comparisons that are made with Heidegger 's thought and his critique of the history of metaphysics. # Contemporary Islamic philosophy # The tradition of Islamic philosophy is still very much alive today despite the belief in many Western circles that this tradition ceased after the golden ages In contemporary Islamic regions , the teaching of ' ' hikmat ' ' or ' ' hikmah ' ' has continued to flourish .  Ruhollah Khomeini , founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran , was a famous teacher of the philosophical school of Hikmat-ul-Mutaliya . Before the Islamic Revolution , he was one of the few who formally taught philosophy at the Religious Seminary at Qum.  Abdollah Javadi-Amoli , Grand Ayatollah is an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja . He is a conservative Iranian politician and one of the prominent Islamic scholars of the Hawza ( seminary ) in Qom .  Geydar Dzhemal , famouos Russian islamic philosopher , author of ' ' Orientation - North . ' ' fnd ideologist of islamic marxism .  the Iranian ( ' ' Allameh Tabatabaei ' ' ) , author of numerous works including the 27-volume Quranic commentary ' ' al-Mizan ' ' ( ) .  Hamka or Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amirullah was a prominent Indonesian author , Ulema politician , philosophical thinker , and author of Tafir Al Azhar . He was head of Indonesia 's mufti council(MUI) . He resigned when his fatwa against the celebration of Christmas by Muslims was condemned by the Suharto regime . Highly respected in his country , he was also appreciated in Malaysia and Singapore .  Murtaza Motahhari , the best student of Allamah Tabatabai , a martyr of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 , and author of numerous books ( an incomplete compilation of his works comprises 25 volumes ) . He , like his teachers Allama Tabatabai and Ayatollah Khomeini , belong to the philosophical schools of Hikmat-ul-Mutaliya  Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi , who is credited with creating modern Islamist political thought in the 20th century , was the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami and spent his life attempting to revive the Islamic intellectual tradition .  Israr Ahmed , ( 1932-2010 ) was a Pakistani Islamic theologian followed particularly in South Asia and also among the South Asian diaspora in the Middle East , Western Europe , and North America . Founder of the Tanzeem-e-islami , an off-shoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami , he was significant scholar of Islam and the Quran.  Muhammad Hamidullah ( 1908-2002 ) belonged to a family of scholars , jurists , writers and sufis . He was a world-renowned scholar of Islam and International Law from India , who was known for contributions to the research of the history of Hadith , translations of the Koran , the advancement of golden age Islamic learning , and to the dissemination of Islamic teachings in the Western world .  Fazlur Rahman was professor of Islamic thought at the University of Chicago .  Wahid Hasyim first Indonesian minister of religious affairs . Former head of Indonesian Nahdwatul Ulema , and founder of Islamic state universities in Indonesia . He is best known for reformation of the Madrasah curriculum .  Seyyed Hossein Nasr , Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University .  Javed Ahmad Ghamidi is a well-known Pakistani Islamic scholar , exegete , and educator . A former member of the Jamaat-e-Islami , who extended the work of his tutor , Amin Ahsan Islahi.  In Malaysia , Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas is a prominent metaphysical thinker.  Ali Shariati Iranian revolutionary thinker and sociologist who focused on Marxism and Islam .  Abu Abd al-Rahman Ibn Aqil al-Zahiri ( born 1942 ) is a Saudi Arabian polymath primarily focused on the reconciliation of reason and revelation .  Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr ( died 1980 ) is a Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah and one of the most influential Islamic philosophers of the 20th century . His two most important contributions to philosophy are his books Our Philosophy and The Logical Foundations of Induction . He is also widely known for his work on economics , including Our Economics and The Non-Usury Banking System which are two of the most influential works in contemporary Islamic economics . # Criticism # Philosophy has not been without criticism amongst Muslims , both contemporary and past . The imam Hanbali , for whom the Hanbali school of thought is named , rebuked philosophical discussion , once telling proponents of it that he was secure in his religion , but that they were in doubt , so go to a doubter and argue with him ( instead ) . Today , Islamic philosophical thought has also been criticized by scholars of the modern Salafi movement . There would be many Islamic thinkers who were not enthusiastic about its potential , but it would be incorrect to assume that they opposed philosophy simply because it was a foreign science . Oliver Leaman , an expert on Islamic philosophy , points out that the objections of notable theologians are rarely directed at philosophy itself , but rather at the conclusions the philosophers arrived at . Even the 11th century al-Ghazali , who is famous for his ' ' Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' critique of philosophers , was himself an expert in philosophy and logic . His criticism was that they arrived at theologically erroneous conclusions . In his view the three most serious of these were believing in the co-eternity of the universe with God , denying the bodily resurrection , and asserting that God only has knowledge of abstract universals , not of particular things , though it should be noted that not all philosophers subscribed to these same views . In recent studies by Muslim contemporary thinkers that aim at renewing the impetus of philosophical thinking in Islam , Nader El-Bizri offers a critical analysis of the conventions that dominate mainstream academic and epistemic approaches in studying Islamic philosophy . These approaches , of methodology and historiography are looked at from archival standpoints within Oriental and Mediaevalist Studies , fail to recognize the fact that philosophy in Islam can still be a living intellectual tradition . He maintains that its renewal requires a radical reform in ontology and epistemology within Islamic thought . # See also #  Early Islamic philosophy  Contemporary Islamic philosophy  Islamic ethics  Islamic metaphysics  List of Islamic studies scholars  Islamic Golden Age  Islamic science  Islam and modernity # Notes and references # ; Notes ---- ; Citations ; Bibliography   ' ' History of Islamic Philosophy ' ' ( Routledge History of World Philosophies ) by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman eds.  ' ' History of Islamic Philosophy ' ' by Majid Fakhry.  by Oliver Leaman.  ' ' The Study of Islamic Philosophy ' ' by Ibrahim Bayyumi Madkour.  ' ' Falsafatuna ' ' ( ' ' Our Philosophy ' ' ) by Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. # Further reading #  McGinnis , Jon &amp; Reisman , David C. ( eds . ) , ' ' Classical Arabic Philosophy . An Anthology of Sources ' ' , Indianapolis : Hackett , 2007.  Schuon , Frithjof . ' ' Islam and the Perennial Philosophy ' ' . Trans. by J. Peter Hobson ; ed. by Daphne Buckmaster . World of Islam Festival Publishing Co. , 1976 , cop . 1975. xii , 217 p . ISBN 0-905035-22-4 pbk bn : 
@@166200 Jewish philosophy ( ; ; ) includes all philosophy carried out by Jews , or in relation to the religion of Judaism . Until modern ' ' Haskalah ' ' ( Jewish Enlightenment ) and Jewish emancipation , Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism ; thus organizing emergent ideas that are not necessarily Jewish into a uniquely Jewish scholastic framework and world-view . With their acceptance into modern society , Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves . Medieval re-discovery of ancient Greek philosophy among the Geonim of 10th century Babylonian academies brought rationalist philosophy into Biblical-Talmudic Judaism . Philosophy was generally in competition with Kabbalah . Both schools would become part of classic Rabbinic literature , though the decline of scholastic rationalism coincided with historical events which drew Jews to the Kabbalistic approach . For Ashkenazi Jews , emancipation and encounter with secular thought from the 18th-century onwards altered how philosophy was viewed . Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities had later and more ambivalent interaction with secular culture than in Western Europe . In the varied responses to modernity , Jewish philosophical ideas were developed across the range of emerging religious religious movements . These developments could be seen as either continuations , or breaks , with the canon of Rabbinic philosophy of the Middle Ages , as well as the other historical dialectic aspects of Jewish thought , and resulted in diverse contemporary Jewish attitudes to philosophical methods . # Ancient Jewish philosophy # # Philosophy in the Bible # Rabbinic literature sometimes views Abraham as a philosopher . Some have suggested that Abraham introduced a philosophy learned from Melchizedek ; Some Jews ascribe the ' ' Sefer Yetzirah ' ' Book of Creation to Abraham . A midrash describes how Abraham understood this world to have a creator and director by comparing this world to a house with a light in it , what is now called the argument from design . Psalms contains invitations to admire the wisdom of God through his works ; from this , some scholars suggest , Judaism harbors a Philosophical under-current . Ecclesiastes is often considered to be the only genuine philosophical work in the Hebrew Bible ; its author seeks to understand the place of human beings in the world and life 's meaning . # Philo of Alexandria # Philo attempted to fuse and harmonize Greek and Jewish philosophy through allegory , which he learned from Jewish exegesis and Stoicism . Philo attempted to make his philosophy the means of defending and justifying Jewish religious ' ' truths ' ' . These ' ' truths ' ' he regarded as fixed and determinate , and philosophy was used as an aid to ' ' truth ' ' , and a means of arriving at it . To this end Philo chose from philosophical tenets of Greeks , refusing those that did not harmonize with Judaism such as Aristotle 's doctrine of the ' ' eternity and indestructibility of the world ' ' . Dr. Bernard Revel , in dissertation on Karaite halakha , points to writings of a 10th-century Karaite , Jacob Qirqisani , who quotes Philo , illustrating how Karaites made use of Philo 's works in development of Karaite Judaism . Philo 's works became important to Medieval Christian scholars who leveraged the work of Karaites to lend credence to their claims that these are the beliefs of Jews - a technically correct , yet mendacious , attribution . # Jewish scholarship after destruction of Second Temple # With the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE , Second Temple Judaism was in disarray , but Jewish traditions were preserved especially thanks to the shrewd maneuvers of Yochanan Ben Zakkai , who saved the Sanhedrin and moved it to Yavne . Philosophical speculation was not a central part of Rabbinic Judaism , although some have seen the Mishnah as a philosophical work . Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph has also been viewed as a philosophical figure : his statements include 1 . ) ' ' How favored is man , for he was created after an image for in an image , Elokim made man ' ' ( Gen. ix . 6 ) ' ' ' ' , 2 . ) ' ' Everything is foreseen ; but freedom ' ' of will ' ' is given to every man ' ' , 3 . ) ' ' The world is governed by mercy .. but the divine decision is made by the preponderance of the good or bad in one 's actions ' ' . After the Bar Kochba Revolt , Rabbinic scholars gathered in Tiberias and Safed to re-assemble and re-assess Judaism , its laws , theology , liturgy , beliefs and leadership structure . In 219 CE , the Sura Academy ( from which Jewish Kalam emerged many centuries later ) was founded by Abba Arika . For the next five centuries , Talmudic academies focused upon reconstituting Judaism and little , if any , philosophic investigation was pursued . # Who influences whom ? # Rabbinic Judaism had limited philosophical activity until it was challenged by Islam , Karaite Judaism , and Christianitywith Tanach , Mishnah , and Talmud , there was no need for a philosophic framework . From an economic viewpoint , Radhanite trade dominance was being usurped by coordinated Christian and Islamic forced-conversions , and torture , compelling Jewish scholars to understand nascent economic threats . These investigations triggered new ideas and intellectual exchange among Jewish and Islamic scholars in the areas of jurisprudence , mathematics , astronomy , logic and philosophy . Jewish scholars influenced Islamic scholars and Islamic scholars influenced Jewish scholars . Contemporary scholars continue to debate who was Muslim and who was Jewsome Islamic scholars were Jewish scholars prior to forced conversion to Islam , some Jewish scholars willingly converted to Islam , such as Abdullah , son of Salam , while others later reverted to Judaism , and still others , born and raised as Jews , were ambiguous in their religious beliefs such as ibn al-Rawandim although they lived according to the customs of their neighbors . Around 700 CE , Amr ibn Ubayd Abu Uthman al-Basri ' ' introduces two streams of thought that influence Jewish , Islamic and Christian scholars : #Qadariyah # Bahshamiyya Mu'tazila The story of the Bahshamiyya Mu'tazila and Qadariyah is as important , if not more so , as the intellectual symbiosis of Judaism and Islam in Islamic Spain . Around 733 CE , Mar Natronai ben Habibai moves to Kairouan , then to Spain , transcribing the Talmud ' ' Bavli ' ' for the Academy at Kairouan from memorylater taking a copy with him to Spain . # # Karaism # # Borrowing from the Mutakallamin of Basra , the Karaites were the first Jewish group to subject Judaism to Mu'tazila . Rejecting the Talmud and Rabbinical tradition , Karaites took liberty to reinterpret the Tanakh . This meant abandoning foundational Jewish belief structures . Some scholars suggest that the major impetus for the formation of Karaism was a reaction to the rapid rise of Shi'i Islam , which recognized Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith but claimed that it detracted from monotheism by deferring to Rabbinic authority . Karaites absorbed certain aspects of Jewish sects such as the followers of Abu Isa ( Shi'ism ) , Maliki ( Sunnis ) and Yudghanites ( Sufis ) , who were influenced by East-Islamic scholarship yet deferred to the Ash'ari when contemplating the sciences . # # Philosophic synthesis begins # # The spread of Islam throughout the Middle East and North Africa rendered Muslim all that was once Jewish . Greek philosophy , science , medicine and mathematics was absorbed by Jewish scholars living in the Arab world due to Arabic translations of those texts ; remnants of the Library of Alexandria . Early Jewish converts to Islam brought with them stories from their heritage , known as ' ' Isra'iliyyat ' ' , which told of the ' ' Banu Isra'il ' ' , the pious men of ancient Israel . One of the most famous early mystics of Sufism , Hasan of Basra , introduced numerous ' ' Isra'iliyyat ' ' legends into Islamic scholarship , stories that went on to become representative of Islamic mystical ideas of piety of Sufism . Hai Gaon , at Pumbedita Academy , begins a new phase in Jewish scholarship and investigation ( ' ' hakirah ' ' ) ; Hai Gaon augments Talmudic scholarship with non-Jewish studies . Hai Gaon was a savant with an exact knowledge of the theological movements of his time so much so that Moses ibn Ezra called him a mutakallim . Hai was competent to argue with followers of Qadariyyah and Mutazilites , sometimes adopting their polemic methods . Through correspondence with Talmudic Academies at Kairouan , Cordoba and Lucena , Hai Gaon passes along his discoveries to Talmudic scholars therein . The teachings of the Brethren of Purity were carried to the West by a Spanish Arab of Madrid , Muhammad Abu'l-Qasim al-Majnti al-Andalusi , who died in A.D. 10041005 . Thanks to Averroes , Spain became a center of philosophical learning as is reflected by the explosion of philosophical inquiry among Jews , Muslims and Christians . # Jewish philosophy before Maimonides # # Hiwi the Heretic # According to Sa'adya Gaon , the Jewish community of Balkh ( Afghanistan ) was divided into two groups : Jews and people that are called Jews ; Hiwi al-Balkhi was a member of the latter . Hiwi is generally considered to be very first Jewish philosopher to subject the Pentateuch to critical analysis . Hiwi is viewed by some scholars as an intellectually conflicted man torn between Judaism , Zoroastrianism , Gnostic Christianity , and Manichaean thought . Hiwi espoused the belief that miraculous acts , described in the Pentateuch , are simply examples of people using their skills of reasoning to undertake , and perform , seemingly miraculous acts . As examples of this position , he argued that the parting of the Red Sea was a natural phenomenon , and that Moses ' claim to greatness lay merely in his ability to calculate the right moment for the crossing . He also emphasized that the Egyptian magicians were able to reproduce several of Moses ' miracles , proving that they could not have been so unique . According to scholars , Hiwi 's gravest mistake was having the Pentateuch redacted to reflect his own views - then had those redacted texts , which became popular , distributed to children . Since his views contradicted the views of both Rabbanite and Karaite scholars , Hiwi was declared a heretic . In this context , however , we can also regard Hiwi , while flawed , as the very first critical biblical commentator ; zealous rationalistic views of Hiwi parallel those of Ibn al-Rawandi . Saadya Gaon dedicated an entire treatise , written in rhyming Hebrew , to a refutation of w 's arguments , two fragments of which , preserved in the Cairo Geniza , have been published ( Davidson , 1915 ; Schirmann , 1965 ) . w 's criticisms are also noted in Abraham ibn Ezra 's commentary on the Pentateuch . Sa'adya Gaon denounced Hiwi as an extreme rationalist , a Mulhidun , or atheist/deviator . Abraham Ibn Daud described HIwi as a sectarian who denied the Torah , yet used it to formulate a new Torah of his liking . # Sa'adya Gaon # Saadia Gaon , son of a proselyte , is considered the greatest early Jewish philosopher . During his early years in Tulunid Egypt , the Fatimid Caliphate ruled Egypt ; the leaders of the Tulunids were Ismaili Imams . Their influence upon the Jewish academies of Egypt resonate in the works of Sa'adya . Sa'adya 's ' ' Emunoth ve-Deoth ' ' ( Beliefs and Opinions ) was originally called ' ' Kitab al-Amanat wal-l'tikadat ' ' ( Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma ) ; it was the first systematic presentation and philosophic foundation of the dogmas of Judaism , completed at Sura Academy in 933 CE . Little known is that Saadia traveled to Tiberias in 915CE to study with Ab ' l-Kathr Yay ibn Zakariyy al-Katib al-Tabari ( Tiberias ) , a Jewish theologian and Bible translator from Tiberias whose main claim to fame is the fact that Saadia Gaon studied with him at some point . He is not mentioned in any Jewish source , and apart from the Andalusian heresiographer and polemicist ibn azm , who mentions him as a Jewish mutakallim ( rational theologian ) , our main source of information is the ' ' Kitb al-Tanbh ' ' by the Muslim historian al-Masd ( d. 956 ) . In his brief survey of Arabic translations of the Bible , al-Masd states that the Israelites rely for exegesis and translation of the Hebrew booksi.e. , the Torah , Prophets , and Psalms , twenty-four books in all , he sayson a number of Israelites whom they praise highly , almost all of whom he has met in person . He mentions Ab l-Kathr as one of them , and also Saadia ( Sad ibn Yaqb al-Fayym ) . Regardless of what we do not know , Saadia traveled to Tiberias ( home of the learned scribes and exegetes ) to learn and he chose Ab ' l-Kathr Yay ibn Zakariyy al-Katib al-Tabariya . The extent of Ab l-Kathr 's influence on Saadia 's thought can not be established , however . Ab l-Kathr 's profession is also unclear . al-Masd calls him a ' ' ktib ' ' , which has been variously interpreted as secretary , government official , ( biblical ) scribe , Masorete , and book copyist . For lack of further information , some scholars have tried to identify Ab l-Kathr with the Hebrew grammarian Ab Al Judah ben Alln , likewise of Tiberias , who seems to have been a Karaite Jew . However , al-Masd unequivocally describes Abu l-Kathr ( as well as his student Saadia ) as an ashmath ( Rabbanite ) . In Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma Saadia declares the rationality of the Jewish religion with the caveat that reason must capitulate wherever it contradicts tradition . Dogma takes precedence over reason . Saadia closely followed the rules of the Mu'tazilah school of Abu Ali al-Jubba'i in composing his works . It was Saadia who laid foundations for Jewish rationalist theology which built upon the work of the Mu'tazila , thereby shifting Rabbinic Judaism from mythical explanations of the Rabbis to reasoned explanations of the intellect . Saadia advanced the criticisms of Mu'tazila by Ibn al-Rawandi. # Dwd ibn Marwn al-Muqammi al-Raqqi # Dwd ibn Marwn al-Muqammi was author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages , a commentary on ' ' Sefer Yetzirah ' ' ( Book of Creation ) ; he is regarded as the father of Jewish medieval philosophy . al-Muqammi was first to introduce the ' ' methods ' ' of Kalam into Judaism and the first Jew to mention Aristotle in his writings . He was a proselyte of Rabbinic Judaism ( not Karaism as some argue ) ; al-Muqammi was a student of physician , and renowned Christian philosopher , Hana . His close interaction with Hana , and his familial affiliation with Islam gave al-Muqammi a unique view of religious belief and theology . In 1898 Abraham Harkavy discovered , in Imperial Library of St. Petersburg , fifteen of the twenty chapters of David 's philosophical work entitled ' ' Ishrun Maalat ' ' ( Twenty Chapters ) of which 15 survive . One of the oldest surviving witnesses to early Kalm , it begins with epistemological investigations , turns to proofs of the creation of the world and the subsequent existence of a Creator , discusses the unity of the Creator ( including the divine attributes ) , and concludes with theodicy ( humanity and revelation ) and a refutation of other religions ( mostly lost ) . In 915CE , Sa'adya Gaon left for Palestine , where , according to al-Masd ( Tanbh , 113 ) , he perfected his education at the feet of Ab ' l-Kathr Yay ibn Zakariyy al-Katib al-Tabari ( d. 320/932 ) . The latter is also mentioned by Ibn azm in his K. al-Filal wa ' l-nial , iii , 171 , as being , together with Dwd ibn Marwn al-Muqammi and Sa'adya himself , one of the mutakallimn of the Jews . Since al-Muqammi made few references to specifically Jewish issues and very little of his work was translated from Arabic into Hebrew , he was largely forgotten by Jewish tradition . Nonetheless , he had a significant impact on subsequent Jewish philosophical followers of the Kalm , such as Saadya Gaon. # Samuel HaNagid # Ab Ibrhim Isml ibn Ysuf ibn Naghrla , born in Mrida - lived in Cordoba , was a child prodigy and student of ' ' Rabbi Hanoch ben Moshe ' ' . Shmuel Ha-Nagid , Hasdai Ibn Shaprut , and ' ' Rabbi Moshe ben Hanoch ' ' founded the Lucena Yeshiva that produced such brilliant scholars as ' ' Rabbi Yitzhak ibn Ghiath ' ' and ' ' Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef ' ' ( father of Maimonides ) . Ha-Nagid 's son , Yosef , provided refuge for two sons of ( Hezekiah Gaon ) ; Daud Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi and Yitzhak Ibn Chizkiya Gaon Ha-Nasi . Though not a philosopher , he did build the infrastructure to allow philosophers to thrive . In 1070 the gaon Isaac ben Moses ibn Sakri , of Denia ( Spain ) , traveled to the East and acted as rosh yeshivah of Baghdad Academy . # Solomon ibn Gabirol # Solomon ibn Gabirol was born in Mlaga then moved to Valencia . Ibn Gabirol was one of the first teachers of Neoplatonism in Europe . His role has been compared to that of Philo . Ibn Gabirol occidentalized Greco-Arabic philosophy and restored it to Europe . The philosophical teachings of Philo and ibn Gabirol were largely ignored by fellow Jews ; the parallel may be extended by adding that Philo and ibn Gabirol both exercised considerable influence in secular circles ; Philo upon early Christianity and Ibn Gabirol upon the scholars of medieval Christianity . Christian scholars , including Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas , defer to him frequently . # Abraham bar-Hiyya Ha-Nasi # Abraham bar Hiyya , of Barcelona and later Arles-Provence , was a student of his father Hiyya al-Daudi and one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence , Spain and Italy the intermediaries between Averroism , Mu'tazila and Christian Europe . He aided this scientific movement by original works , translations and as interpreter for another translator , Plato Tiburtinus . Bar-Hiyya 's best student was v. His philosophical works are Meditation of the Soul , an ethical work written from a rationalistic religious viewpoint , and an apologetic epistle addressed to Judah ben Barzillai. # Hibat Allah # Originally known by his Hebrew name Nethanel Baruch ben Melech al-Balad , Abu'l-Barakt al-Baghdd , known as ' ' Hibat Allah ' ' , was a Jewish philosopher and physicist and father-in-law of Maimonides who converted to Islam in his twilight years - once head of the Baghdad Yeshiva and considered the leading philosopher of Iraq . Historians differ over the motive for his conversion to Islam ; some suggest it was a reaction to a social slight inflicted upon him , because he was a Jew , while others suggest he was forcibly converted at the edge of a sword ( which prompted Maimonides to comment upon Anusim . Despite his conversion to Islam , his works continued to be studied at the Jewish Baghdad Academy , a well-known academy , into the thirteenth century . He was a follower of Avicenna 's teaching , who proposed an explanation of the acceleration of falling bodies by the accumulation of successive increments of power with successive increments of velocity . His writings include ' ' Kitb al-Mutabar ' ' ( The Book of What Has Been Established by Personal Reflection ) ; a philosophical commentary on the Kohelet , written in Arabic using Hebrew aleph bet ; and the treatise On the Reason Why the Stars Are Visible at Night and Hidden in Daytime . According to Hibat Allah , ' ' Kitb al-Mutabar ' ' consists in the main of critical remarks jotted down by him over the years while reading philosophical text , and published at the insistence of his friends , in the form of a philosophical work . Abu al-Ma'ali ' Uzziel , son of Hibat Allah , never converted to Islam and married the sister of Maimonides . Abu al-Ma'ali was the personal physician of Saladin and arranged employment for Maimonides when he fled to Egypt . Maimonides then married the sister of Abu al-Ma'ali. # Nethan'el al-Fayyumi # Natan'el al-Fayyumi , of Yemen , was the twelfth-century author of ' ' Bustan al-Uqul ' ' ( Garden of Intellects ) , a Jewish version of Ismaili Shi'i doctrines . Like the Ismailis , Nethanel al-Fayyumi argued that God sent different prophets to various nations of the world , containing legislations suited to the particular temperament of each individual nation . Ismaili doctrine holds that a single universal religious truth lies at the root of the different religions . Some Jews accepted this model of religious pluralism , leading them to view Prophet Mohammed as a legitimate prophet , though not Jewish , sent to preach to the Arabs , just as the Hebrew prophets had been sent to deliver their messages to Israel ; others refused this notion in entirety . Nethanel 's son Yaqub turned to Maimonides , asking urgently for counsel on how to deal with forced conversions to Islam and religious persecutions at the hand of Saladin . Maimonides ' response was the Epistle to Yemen . # Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda # Bahye ben Yosef Ibn Paquda , of Zaragoza , was author of the first Jewish system of ethics ' ' Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-hulub ' ' , ( Guide to the Duties of the Heart ) . Bahya often followed the method of the Arabian encyclopedists known as the Brethren of Purity but adopts some of Sufi tenets rather than Ismaili . According to Bahya , the Torah appeals to reason and knowledge as proofs of God 's existence . It is therefore a duty incumbent upon every one to make God an object of speculative reason and knowledge , in order to arrive at true faith . Baya borrows from Sufism and Jewish Kalam integrating them into Neoplatonism . Proof that Bahya borrowed from Sufism is underscored by the fact that the title of his eighth gate , ' ' Muasabat al-Nafs ' ' ( Self-Examination ) , is reminiscent of the Sufi ' ' Abu Abd Allah arith Ibn-Asad ' ' , who has been surnamed ' ' El Muasib ' ' ( the self-examiner ) , becausesay his biographers he was always immersed in introspection # Yehuda Ha-Levi and the Kuzari # Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi , of Toledo , defended Rabbinic Judaism against Islam , Christianity and Karaism . He was a student of Moses Ibn Ezra whose education came from Isaac ibn Ghiyyat ; trained as a Rationalist , he shed it in favor of Neoplatonism . Like Al-Ghazali , Judah Ha-Levi attempted to liberate religion from the bondage of philosophical systems . In particular , in a work written in Arabic ' ' Kitab al-ujjah wal-Dalil fi Nur al-Din al-Dhalil ' ' , translated by Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon , by the title Sefer ha-Kuzari he elaborates upon his views of Judaism relative to other religions of the time . # Abraham ibn Daud # Abraham Ibn Daud was a student of ' ' Rabbi Baruch ben Yitzhak Ibn Albalia ' ' , his maternal uncle . Ibn Daud 's philosophical work written in Arabic , ' ' Al-'akidah al-Rafiyah ' ' ( The Sublime Faith ) , has been preserved in Hebrew by the title ' ' Emunah Ramah ' ' . Ibn Daud did not introduce a new philosophy , but he was the first to introduce a more thorough systematic form derived from Aristotle . Accordingly , Hasdai Crescas mentions Ibn Daud as the only Jewish philosopher among the predecessors of Maimonides . Overshadowed by Maimonides , ibn Daud 's ' ' Emunah Ramah ' ' , a work to which Maimonides was indebted , received little notice from later philosophers . True philosophy , according to Ibn Daud , does not entice us from religion ; it tends rather to strengthen and solidify it . Moreover , it is the duty of every thinking Jew to become acquainted with the harmony existing between the fundamental doctrines of Judaism and those of philosophy , and , wherever they seem to contradict one another , to seek a mode of reconciling them . # Other notable Jewish philosophers pre-Maimonides #  Abraham ibn Ezra  Isaac ibn Ghiyyat  Moses ibn Ezra  Yehuda Alharizi  Joseph ibn Tzaddik  Samuel ibn Tibbon # The Rambam - Maimonides # Maimonides wrote ' ' The Guide for the Perplexed ' ' - his most influential philosophic work . He was a student of his father , ' ' Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef ' ' ( a student of Joseph ibn Migash ) in Cordoba , Spain . When his family fled Spain , for Fez , Maimonides enrolled in the Academy of Fez and studied under Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan - a student of Isaac Alfasi . Maimonides strove to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy and science with the teachings of Torah . In some ways his position was parallel to that of Averroes ; in reaction to the attacks on Avicennian Aristotelism , Maimonides embraced and defended a stricter Aristotelism without Neoplatonic additions . The principles which inspired all of Maimonides ' philosophical activity was identical those of Abraham Ibn Daud : there can be no contradiction between the truths which God has revealed and the findings of the human intellect in science and philosophy . Maimonides departed from the teachings of Aristotle by suggesting that the world is not eternal , as Aristotle taught , but was created ' ' ex nihilo ' ' . In Guide for the Perplexed ( 1:17 &amp; 2:11 ) Maimonides explains that Israel lost its Mesorah in exile , and with it we lost our science and philosophy - only to be rejuvenated in Al Andalus within the context of interaction and intellectual investigation of Jewish , Christian and Muslim texts . # Medieval Jewish Philosophy after Maimonides # Maimonides writings almost immediately came under attack from Karaites , Dominican Christians , Tosafists of Provence , Ashkenaz and Al Andalus . His genius was obvious , protests centered around his writings . Scholars suggest that Maimonides instigated the Maimonidean Controversy when he verbally attacked ' ' Samuel ben Ali Ha-Levi al-Dastur ' ' ( Gaon of Baghdad ) as one whom people accustom from his youth to believe that there is none like him in his generation , and he sharply attack the monetary demands of the academies. ' ' al-Dastur ' ' was an anti-Maimonidean operating in Babylon to undermine the works of Maimonides and those of Maimonides ' patrons ( the Al-Constantini Family from North Africa ) . To illustrate the reach of the Maimonidean Controversy , ' ' al-Dastur ' ' , the chief opponent of Maimonides in the East , was excommunicated by ' ' Daud Ibn Hodaya al Daudi ' ' ( Exilarch of Mosul ) . Maimonides ' attacks on Ibn al-Dastur may not have been entirely altruistic given the position of Maimonides ' in-laws in competing Yeshivas . In Western Europe , the controversy was halted by the burning of Maimonides ' works by Christian Dominicans , in 1232 . Avraham son of Rambam , continued fighting for his father 's beliefs in the East ; desecration of Maimonides ' tomb , at Tiberias by Jews , was a profound shock to Jews throughout the Diaspora and caused all to pause and reflect upon what was being done to the fabric of Jewish Culture . This compelled many Anti-Maimonideans to recant their assertions and realize what cooperation with Christians meant to them , their texts and their communities . Maimonidean controversy flared up again at the beginning of the fourteenth century when Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet , under influence from Asher ben Jehiel , issued a cherem on ' ' any member of the community who , being under twenty-five years , shall study the works of the Greeks on natural science and metaphysics . ' ' Contemporary Kabbalists , Tosafists and Rationalists continue to engage in lively , sometimes caustic , debate in support of their positions and influence in the Jewish world . At the center of many of these debates are 1 ) Guide for the Perplexed , 2 ) 13 Principles of Faith , 3 ) Mishnah Torah , and 4 ) his commentary on Anusim. # Yosef ben Yehuda of Ceuta # Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta , of Ceuta , was the son of ' ' Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Ibn Soussan ' ' and a student of Maimonides for whom the ' ' Guide for the Perplexed ' ' is written . Yosef traveled from Alexandria to Fustat to study logic , mathematics , and astronomy under Maimonides . Philosophically , Yosef 's dissertation , in Arabic , on the problem of Creation is suspected to have been written before contact with Maimonides . It is entitled ' ' Ma'amar bimehuyav ha-metsiut ve'eykhut sidur ha-devarim mimenu vehidush ha'olam ' ' ( A Treatise as to ( 1 ) Necessary Existence ( 2 ) The Procedure of Things from the Necessary Existence and ( 3 ) The Creation of the World ) . # Jacob Anatoli # Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli is generally regarded as a pioneer in the application of the Maimonidean Rationalism to the study of Jewish texts . He was the son-in-law of Samuel ibn Tibbon , translator of Maimonides . Due to these family ties Anatoli was introduced to the philosophy of Maimonides , the study of which was such a great revelation to him that he , in later days , referred to it as the beginning of his intelligent and true comprehension of the Scriptures , while he frequently alluded to Ibn Tibbon as one of the two masters who had instructed and inspired him . Anatoli wrote the ' ' Malmad ' ' exhibiting his broad knowledge of classic Jewish exegetes , as well as Plato , Aristotle , Averroes , and the Vulgate , as well as with a large number of Christian institutions , some of which he ventures to criticize , such as celibacy and monastic castigation , as well as certain heretics and he repeatedly appeals to his readers for a broader cultivation of the classic languages and the non-Jewish branches of learning . To Anatoli all men are , in truth , formed in the image of God , though the Jews stand under a particular obligation to further the true cognition of God simply by reason of their election the Greeks had chosen wisdom as their pursuit ; the Romans , power ; and the Jews , religiousness # Hillel ben Samuel # Firstly , Hillel ben Samuel 's importance in the history of medieval Jewish philosophy lies in his attempt to deal , systematically , with the question of the immortality of the soul . Secondly , Hillel played a major role in the controversies of 128990 concerning the philosophical works of Maimonides . Thirdly , Hillel was the first devotee of Jewish learning and Philosophy in Italy , bringing a close to a period of relative ignorance of Hakira in Verona ( Italy ) . And finally , Hillel is one of the early Latin translators of the wise men of the nations ( non-Jewish scholars ) . Defending Maimonides , Hillel addressed a letter to his friend Maestro Gaio asking him to use his influence with the Jews of Rome against Maimonides ' opponents ( Solomon Petit ) . He also advanced the bold idea of gathering together Maimonides ' defenders and opponents in Alexandria , in order to bring the controversy before a court of Babylonian rabbis , whose decision would be binding on both factions . Hillel was certain the verdict would favor Maimonides . Hillel wrote a commentary on the 25 propositions appearing at the beginning of the second part of the Guide of the Perplexed , and three philosophical treatises , which were appended to Tagmulei ha-Nefesh : the first on knowledge and free will ; the second on the question of why mortality resulted from the sin of Adam ; the third on whether or not the belief in the fallen angels is a true belief . # Shemtob Ben Joseph Ibn Falaquera # Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera was a Spanish-born philosopher who pursued reconciliation between Jewish dogma and philosophy . Scholars speculate he was a student of Rabbi David Kimhi whose family fled Spain to Narbonne . Ibn Falaquera lived an ascetic live of solitude . Ibn Falaquera 's two leading philosophic authorities were Averroes and Maimonides . Ibn Falaquera defended the ' ' Guide for the Perplexed ' ' against attacks of anti-Maimonideans . He knew the works of the Islamic philosophers better than any Jewish scholar of his time , and made many of them available to other Jewish scholars often without attribution ( ' ' Reshit Hokhmah ' ' ) . Ibn Falaquera did not hesitate to modify Islamic philosophic texts their texts when it suited his purposes . For example , Ibn Falaquera turned Alfarabi 's account of the origin of philosophic religion into a discussion of the origin of the virtuous city . Ibn Falaquera 's other woirks include , but are not limited to Iggeret Hanhagat ha-Guf we ha-Nefesh , a treatise in verse on the control of the body and the soul .  ' ' Iggeret ha-Wikkua ' ' , a dialogue between a religious Jew and a Jewish philosopher on the harmony of philosophy and religion .  ' ' Reshit okmah ' ' , treating of moral duties , of the sciences , and of the necessity of studying philosophy .  ' ' Sefer ha-Ma'alot ' ' , on different degrees of human perfection .  ' ' Moreh ha-Moreh ' ' , commentary on the philosophical part of Maimonides ' Guide for the Perplexed . # Joseph ben Abba Mari ibn Kaspi # Ibn Kaspi was a fierce advocate of Maimonides to such an extent that he left for Egypt in 1314 in order to hear explanations on the latter 's Guide of the Perplexed from Maimonides ' grandchildren . When he heard that the Guide of the Perplexed was being studied in the Muslim philosophical schools of Fez , he left for that town ( in 1332 ) in order to observe their method of study . Ibn Kaspi began writing when he was 17 years old on topics which included logic , linguistics , ethics , theology , biblical exegesis , and super-commentaries to Abraham Ibn Ezra and Maimonides . Philosophic system he followed Aristotle and Averroes . He defines his aim as not to be a fool who believes in everything , but only in that which can be verified by proof ... and not to be of the second unthinking category which disbelieves from the start of its inquiry , since certain things must be accepted by tradition , because they can not be proven . Scholars continue to debate whether ibn Kaspi was a heretic or one of Judaisms most illustrious scholars . # Gersonides # Rabbi Levi ben Gershon was a student of his father Gerson ben Solomon of Arles , who in turn was a student of Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera . Gersonides is best known for his work ' ' Milhamot HaShem ' ' ( Wars of the Lord ) . ' ' Milhamot HaShem ' ' is modelled after the Guide for the Perplexed . Gersonides and his father were avid students of the works of Alexander of Aphrodisias , Aristotle , Empedocles , Galen , Hippocrates , Homer , Plato , Ptolemy , Pythagoras , Themistius , Theophrastus , Ali ibn Abbas al-Magusi , Ali ibn Ridwan , Averroes , Avicenna , Qusta ibn Luqa , Al-Farabi , Al-Fergani , Chonain , Isaac Israeli , Ibn Tufail , Ibn Zuhr , Isaac Alfasi , and Maimonides . Gersonides held that God does not have complete foreknowledge of human acts . Gersonides , bothered by the old question of how God 's foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom , suggests that what God knows beforehand is all the choices open to each individual . God does not know , however , which choice the individual , in his freedom , will make . # Moses Narboni # Moses ben Joshua composed commentaries on Islamic philosophical works . As an admirer of Averroes ; he devoted a great deal of study to his works and wrote commentaries on a number of them . His best-known work is his ' ' Shelemut ha-Nefesh ' ' ( Treatise on the Perfection of the Soul ) . Moses began studying philosophy with his father when he was thirteen later studying with Moses ben David Caslari and Abraham ben David Caslari - both of whom were students of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus . Moses believed that Judaism was a guide to the highest degree of theoretical and moral truth . He believed that the Torah had both a simple , direct meaning accessible to the average reader as well as a deeper , metaphysical meaning accessible to thinkers . Moses rejected the belief in miracles , instead believing they could be explained , and defended man 's free will by philosophical arguments . # Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet # Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet , of Barcelona , studied under Hasdai Crescas and Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi . Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi , was a steadfast Rationalist who did not hesitate to refute leading authorities , such as Rashi , Rabbeinu Tam , Moses ben Nahman , and Solomon ben Adret . The pogroms of 1391 , against Jews of Spain , forced Isaac to flee to Algiers - where he lived out his life . Isaac 's responsa evidence a profound knowledge of the philosophical writings of his time ; in one of Responsa No. 118 he explains the difference between the opinion of ' ' Gersonides ' ' and that of ' ' Abraham ben David of Posquires ' ' on free will , and gives his own views on the subject . He was an adversary of Kabbalah who never spoke of the Sefirot ; he quotes another philosopher when reproaching kabbalists with ' ' believing in the Ten ( Sefirot ) as the Christians believe in the Trinity ' ' . # Hasdai ben Judah Crescas # Hasdai Crescas , of Barcelona , was a leading rationalist on issues of natural law and free-will . His views can be seen as precursors to Baruch Spinoza . His work , ' ' Or Adonai ' ' , became a classic refutation of medieval Aristotelism , and harbinger of the scientific revolution in the 16th century . Hasdai Crescas was a student of Nissim ben Reuben Gerondi , who in turn was a student of Reuben ben Nissim Gerondi . Crescas was not a Rabbi , yet he was active as a teacher . Among his fellow students and friends , his best friend was Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet . Cresca 's students won accolades as participants in the Disputation of Tortosa. # Simeon ben Zemah Duran # Influenced by the teaching of Rabbi Nissim of Gerona , via Ephraim Vidal 's Yeshiva in Majorca , Duran 's commentary ' ' Magen Avot ' ' ( The Shield of the Fathers ) , which influenced Joseph Albo , is important . He was also a student of philosophy , astronomy , mathematics , and especially of medicine , which he practiced for a number of years at Palma , in Majorca . ' ' Magen Avot ' ' deals with concepts such as the nature of God , the eternity of the Torah , the coming of the Messiah , and the Resurrection of the dead . Duran believed that Judaism has three dogmas only : the existence of God , the Torah 's Divine origin , and Reward and Punishment ; in this regard he was followed by Joseph Albo. # Joseph Albo # Joseph Albo , of Monreal , was a student of Hasdai Crescas . He wrote ' ' Sefer ha-Ikkarim ' ' ( Book of Principles ) , a classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism . Albo narrows the fundamental Jewish principles of faith from thirteen to three - : : : : : :  belief in the existence of God , : : : : : :  belief in revelation , and : : : : : :  belief in divine justice , as related to the idea of immortality . Albo rejects the assumption that creation ex nihilo is essential in belief in God . Albo freely criticizes Maimonides ' thirteen principles of belief and Crescas ' six principles . According to Albo , belief in the Messiah is only a ' twig ' unnecessary to the soundness of the trunk ; not essential to Judaism . Nor is it true , according to Albo , that every law is binding . Though every ordinance has the power of conferring happiness in its observance , it is not true that every law must be observed , or that through the neglect of a part of the law , a Jew would violate the divine covenant or be damned . Contemporary Orthodox Jews , however , vehemently disagree with Albo 's position believing that all Jews are divinely obligated to fulfill every applicable commandment . # Hoter ben Solomon # Hoter ben Shlomo was a scholar and philosopher in Yemen heavily influenced by Nethanel ben al-Fayyumi , Maimonides , Saadia Gaon and al-Ghazali . The connection between the Epistle of the Brethren of Purity and Ismailism suggests the adoption of this work as one of the main sources of what would become known as Jewish Ismailism as found in Late Medieval Yemenite Judaism . Jewish Ismailism consisted of adapting , to Judaism , a few Ismaili doctrines about cosmology , prophecy , and hermeneutics . There are many examples of the Brethren of Purity influencing Yemenite Jewish philosophers and authors in the period 11501550 . Some traces of Brethren of Purity doctrines , as well as of their numerology , are found in two Yemenite philosophical midrashim written in 14201430 : ' ' Midrash ha-hefez ' ' ( The Glad Learning ) by Zerahyah ha-Rof ( a/k/a Yahya al-Tabib ) and the ' ' Siraj al-'uqul ' ' ( Lamp of Intellects ) by Hoter ben Solomon . # Don Isaac Abravanel # Isaac Abravanel , statesman , philosopher , Bible commentator , and financier who commented on Maimonides ' thirteen principles in his ' ' Rosh Amanah ' ' . Isaac Abravanel was steeped in Rationalism by the Ibn Yahya family , who had a residence immediately adjacent to the ' ' Great Synagogue of Lisbon ' ' ( also built by the Ibn Yahya Family ) . His most important work , ' ' Rosh Amanah ' ' ( The Pinnacle of Faith ) , defends Maimonides ' thirteen articles of belief against attacks of Hasdai Crescas and Yosef Albo . ' ' Rosh Amanah ' ' ends with the statement that Maimonides compiled these articles merely in accordance with the fashion of other nations , which set up axioms or fundamental principles for their science . Isaac Abravanel was born and raised in Lisbon ; a student of the Rabbi of Lisbon , ' ' Yosef ben Shlomo Ibn Yahya ' ' . Rabbi Yosef was a poet , religious scholar , rebuilder of ' ' Ibn Yahya Synagogue of Calatayud ' ' , well versed in rabbinic literature and in the learning of his time , devoting his early years to the study of Jewish philosophy . The Ibn Yahya family were renowned physicians , philosophers and accomplished aides to the Portuguese Monarchy for centuries . Isaac 's grandfather , Samuel Abravanel , was forcibly converted to Christianity during the pogroms of 1391 and took the Spanish name ' ' Juan Sanchez de Sevilla ' ' . Samuel fled Castile-Len , Spain , in 1397 for Lisbon , Portugal , and reverted to Judaism - shedding his ' ' Converso ' ' after living among Christians for six years . Conversions outside Judaism , coerced or otherwise , had a strong impact upon young Isaac , later compelling him to forfeit his immense wealth in an attempt to redeem Iberian Jewry from coercion of the Alhambra Decree . There are parallels between what he writes , and documents produced by Inquisitors , that present conversos as ambivalent to Christianity and sometimes even ironic in their expressions regarding their new religion - crypto-jews. # Leone Ebreo # Judah Leon Abravanel was Portuguese physician , poet and philosopher . His work ' ' Dialoghi d'amore ' ' ( Dialogues of Love ) , written in Italian , was one of the most important philosophical works of his time In an attempt to circumvent a plot , hatched by local Catholic Bishops to kidnap his son , Judah sent his son from Castile , to Portugal with a nurse , but by order of the king , the son was seized and baptized . This was a devastating insult to Judah and his family , and was a source of bitterness throughout Judah 's life and the topic of his writings years later ; especially since this was not the first time the Abravanel Family was subjected to such embarrassment at the hands of the Catholic Church . Judah 's ' ' Dialoghi ' ' is regarded as the finest of Humanistic Period works . His neoplatonism is derived from the Hispanic Jewish community , especially the works of Ibn Gabirol . Platonic notions of reaching towards a nearly impossible ideal of beauty , wisdom , and perfection encompass the whole of his work . In ' ' Dialoghi d'amore ' ' , Judah defines love in philosophical terms . He structures his three dialogues as a conversation between two abstract characters : Philo , representing love or appetite , and Sophia , representing science or wisdom , Philo+Sophia ( philosophia ) . # Criticisms of Kabbalah # The word Kabbalah was used in medieval Jewish texts to mean tradition , see Abraham Ibn Daud 's ' ' Sefer Ha-Qabbalah ' ' also known as the Book of our Tradition . Book of our Tradition does not refer to mysticism of any kind - it chronicles our tradition of scholarship and study in two Babylonian Academies , through the Geonim , into Talmudic Yeshivas of Spain . In Talmudic times there was a mystic tradition in Judaism , known as ' ' Maaseh Bereshith ' ' ( the work of creation ) and ' ' Maaseh Merkavah ' ' ( the work of the chariot ) ; Maimonides interprets these texts as referring to Aristotelian physics and metaphysics as interpreted in the light of Torah . In the 13th century , however , a mystical-esoteric system emerged which became known as the Kabbalah . Many of the beliefs associated with Kabbalah had long been rejected by philosophers . Saadia Gaon had taught in his book ' ' Emunot v'Deot ' ' that Jews who believe in gilgul have adopted a non-Jewish belief . Maimonides rejected many texts of ' ' Heichalot ' ' , particularly ' ' Shi'ur Qomah ' ' whose anthropomorphic vision of God he considered heretical . In the 13th century , Meir ben Simon of Narbonne wrote an epistle ( included in ' ' Milhhemet Mitzvah ' ' ) against early Kabbalists , singled out ' ' Sefer Bahir ' ' , rejecting the attribution of its authorship to the tanna R. Nehhunya ben ha-Kanah and describing some of its content as follow - : : ' ' .. And we have heard that a book had already been written for them , which they call Bahir , that is ' bright ' but no light shines through it . This book has come into our hands and we have found that they falsely attribute it to Rabbi Nehunya ben Haqqanah. haShem forbid ! There is no truth in this .. The language of the book and its whole content show that it is the work of someone who lacked command of either literary language or good style , and in many passages it contains words which are out and out heresy . ' ' # Other notable Jewish philosophers post-Maimonides #  Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi  Nissim of Gerona  Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon  Isaac Nathan ben Kalonymus  Judah Messer Leon  David ben Judah Messer Leon  Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno  Judah Moscato  Azariah dei Rossi  Isaac Aboab I  Isaac Campanton a/k/a the gaon of Castile .  Isaac ben Moses Arama  Profiat Duran a Converso , Duran wrote ' ' Be Not Like Your Fathers ' ' # Renaissance Jewish philosophy and philosophers # Some of the Monarchies of Asia Minor and European welcomed expelled Jewish Merchants , scholars and theologians . Divergent Jewish philosophies evolved against the backdrop of new cultures , new languages and renewed theological exchange . Philosophic exploration continued through the Renaissance period as the center-of-mass of Jewish Scholarship shifted to France , Germany , Italy , and Turkey . # Elias ben Moise del Medigo # Elia del Medigo was a descendant of ' ' Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz ' ' and ' ' Moses ben Isaac ha-Levi Minz ' ' . Eli'ezer del Medigo , of Rome , received the surname Del Medigo after studying Medicine . The name was later changed from ' ' Del Medigo ' ' to ' ' Ha-rofeh ' ' . He was the father and teacher of a long line of rationalist philosophers and scholars . Non-Jewish students of Delmedigo classified him as an Averroist , however , he saw himself as a follower of Maimonides . Scholastic association of Maimonides and Ibn Rushd would have been a natural one ; Maimonides , towards the end of his life , was impressed with the Ibn Rushd commentaries and recommended them to his students . The followers of Maimonides ( Maimonideans ) had therefore been , for several generations before Delmedigo , the leading users , translators and disseminators of the works of Ibn Rushd in Jewish circles , and advocates for Ibn Rushd even after Islamic rejection of his radical views . Maimonideans regarded Maimonides and Ibn Rushd as following the same general line . In his book , Delmedigo portrays himself as defender of Maimonidean Judaism , and like many Maimonideans he emphasized the rationality of Jewish tradition . # Moses Almosnino # Moses Almosnino was born Thessaloniki 1515 - died Constantinople abt 1580 . He was a student of Levi Ibn Habib , who was in turn a student of Jacob ibn Habib , who was , in turn , a student of Nissim ben Reuben . In 1570 he wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch titled ' ' Yede Mosheh ' ' ( The Hands of Moses ) ; also an exposition of the Talmudical treatise ' ' Abot ' ' ( Ethics of the Fathers ) , published in Salonica in 1563 ; and a collection of sermons delivered upon various occasions , particularly funeral orations , entitled ' ' Meamme Koa ' ' ( Re-enforcing Strength ) . al-Ghazl 's Intentions of the Philosophers ( De ' t ha-Flsfm or Kavvant ha-Flsfm ) was one of the most widespread philosophical texts studied among Jews in Europe having been translated in 1292 by Isaac Albalag . Later Hebrew commentators include Moses Narboni , and Moses Almosnino. # Moses ben Jehiel Ha-Kohen Porto-Rafa ( Rapaport ) # Moses ben Jehiel Ha-Kohen Porto-Rafa ( Rapaport ) , was a member of the German family Rafa ( from whom the Delmedigo family originates ) that settled in the town of Porto in the vicinity of Verona , Italy , and became the progenitors of the renowned Rapaport Rabbinic family . In 1602 Moses served as rabbi of Badia Polesine in Piedmont . Moses was a friend of Leon Modena. # Abraham ben Judah ha-Levi Minz # Abraham ben Judah ha-Levi Minz was an Italian rabbi who flourished at Padua in the first half of the 16th century , father-in-law of Mer Katzenellenbogen . Minz studied chiefly under his father , Judah Minz , whom he succeeded as rabbi and head of the yeshiva of Padua. # Meir ben Isaac Katzellenbogen # Meir ben Isaac Katzellenbogen was born in Prague where together with Shalom Shachna he studied under Jacob Pollak . Many rabbis , including Moses Isserles , addressed him in their responsa as the ' ' av bet din of the republic of Venice . ' ' The great scholars of the Renaissance with whom he corresponded include ' ' Shmuel ben Moshe di Modena ' ' , ' ' Joseph Katz ' ' , ' ' Solomon Luria ' ' , ' ' Moses Isserles ' ' , ' ' Obadiah Sforno ' ' , and ' ' Moses Alashkar ' ' . # Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm # Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm was a student of Rabbi Solomon Luria who was , in turn a student of Rabbi Shalom Shachna - father-in-law and teacher of Moses Isserles . Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm was also a cousin of Moses Isserles. # Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi # Rabbi Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi Ha-rofeh Ashkenazi of Nicosia ( the physician ) the author of ' ' Yosif Lekah ' ' on the Book of Esther . # Other notable Renaissance Jewish philosophers #  Francisco Sanches  Miguel de Barrios  Uriel da Costa # Seventeenth-century Jewish philosophy # With expulsion from Spain came the dissemination of Jewish philosophical investigation throughout the Mediterranean Basin , Northern Europe and the Western Hemisphere . The center-of-mass of Rationalism shifted to France , Italy , Germany , Crete , Sicily and Netherlands . Expulsion from Spain and the coordinated pogroms of Europe resulted in the cross-pollination of variations on Rationalism incubated within diverse communities . This period is also marked by the intellectual exchange among leaders of the Christian Reformation and Jewish scholars . Of particular note is the line of Rationalists who migrated out of Germany , and present-day Italy into Crete , and other areas of the Ottoman Empire seeking safety and protection from the endless pogroms fomented by the House of Habsburg and the Roman Catholic Church against Jews . Rationalism was incubating in places far from Spain . From stories told by Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm , German-speaking Jews , descendants of Jews who migrated back to Jerusalem after Charlemagne 's invitation was revoked in Germany many centuries earlier , who lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century , were influenced by prevailing Mutazilite scholars of Jerusalem . A German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed Dolberger . When the knights of the First Crusade came to besiege Jerusalem , one of Dolberger 's family members rescued German-speaking Jews in Palestine and brought them back to the safety of Worms , Germany , to repay the favor . Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the eleventh century . All of the foregoing resulted in an explosion of new ideas and philosophic paths . # Yosef Shlomo ben Eliyahu Dal Medigo # Joseph Solomon Delmedigo was a physician and teacher Baruch Spinoza was a student of his works . # Baruch Spinoza # Baruch Spinoza founded Spinozism , broke with Rabbinic Jewish tradition , and was placed in ' ' herem ' ' by the Beit Din of Amsterdam . The influence in his work from Maimonides and Leone Ebreo is evident . Elia del Medigo claims to be a student of the works of Spinoza . Some contemporary critics ( e.g. , Wachter , ' ' Der Spinozismus im Judenthum ' ' ) claimed to detect the influence of the Kabbalah , while others ( e.g. , Leibniz ) regarded Spinozism as a revival of Averroism a talmudist manner of referencing to Maimonidean Rationalism . In the centuries that have lapsed since the ' ' herem ' ' declaration , scholars have re-examined the works of Spinoza and find them to reflect a body of work and thinking that is not unlike some contemporary streams of Judaism . For instance , while Spinoza was accused of pantheism , scholars have come to view his work as advocating panentheism , a valid contemporary view easily accommodated by contemporary Judaism . # Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi # Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi was a student of his father , but most notably also a student of his grandfather Rabbi Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm. # Jacob Emden # Rabbi Jacob Emden was a student of his father Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi a Rabbi in Amsterdam . Emden , a steadfast Talmudist , was a prominent opponent of the Sabbateans ( Messianic Kabbalists who followed Sabbatai Tzvi ) . Though anti-Maimonidean , Emden should be noted for his critical examination of the Zohar concluding that large parts of it were forged . # Other seventeenth-century Jewish philosophers #  Jacob Abendana Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher  Isaac Cardoso  David Nieto Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher  Isaac Orobio de Castro Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher # Philosophical criticisms of Kabbalah # Rabbi Leone di Modena wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah , then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism , as the Trinity closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot. # Eighteenth and Nineteenth-century Jewish philosophy # A new era began in the 18th century with the thought of Moses Mendelssohn . Mendelssohn has been described as the ' third Moses , ' with whom begins a new era in Judaism , just as new eras began with Moses the prophet and with Moses Maimonides . Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews , Haskalah ( the Jewish Enlightenment ) is indebted . He has been referred to as the father of Reform Judaism , though Reform spokesmen have been resistant to claim him as their spiritual father . Mendelssohn came to be regarded as a leading cultural figure of his time by both Germans and Jews . His most significant book was ' ' Jerusalem oder ber religise Macht und Judentum ' ' ( ' ' Jerusalem ' ' ) , first published in 1783 . Alongside Mendelssohn , other important Jewish philosophers of the eighteenth century included :  Menachem Mendel Lefin , anti-Hasidic Haskalah philosopher  Solomon Maimon , Enlightenment philosopher  Isaac Satanow , a Haskalah philosopher  Naphtali Ullman , Haskalah philosopher Important Jewish philosophers of the nineteenth century included :  Elijah Benamozegh , a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher  Hermann Cohen , a neo-Kantian Jewish philosopher  Moses Hess , a secular Jewish philosopher and one of the founders of socialism  Samson Raphael Hirsch , leader of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of 19th century neo-Orthodoxy  Samuel Hirsch , a leader of Reform Judaism  Nachman Krochmal , Haskalah philosopher in Galicia  Samuel David Luzzatto a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher  Karl Marx , German economist and Jewish philosopher . # Traditionalist attitudes towards philosophy # Haredi traditionalists who emerged in reaction to the Haskalah considered the fusion of religion and philosophy as difficult because classical philosophers start with no preconditions for which conclusions they must reach in their investigation , while classical religious believers have a set of religious principles of faith that they hold one must believe . Most Haredim contended that one can not simultaneously be a philosopher and a true adherent of a revealed religion . In this view , all attempts at synthesis ultimately fail . Rabbi Nachman of Breslov , for example , viewed all philosophy as untrue and heretical . In this he represents one strand of Hasidic thought , with creative emphasis on the emotions . Other exponents of Hasidism had a more positive attitude towards philosophy . In the Chabad writings of Schneur Zalman of Liadi , Hasidut is seen as able to unite all parts of Torah thought , from the schools of philosophy to mysticism , by uncovering the illuminating Divine essence that permeates and transcends all approaches . Interpreting the verse from Job , from my flesh I see HaShem , Shneur Zalman explained the inner meaning , or soul , of the Jewish mystical tradition in intellectual form , by means of analogies drawn from the human realm . As explained and continued by the later leaders of Chabad , this enabled the human mind to grasp concepts of Godliness , and so enable the heart to feel the love and awe of God , emphasised by all the founders of hasidism , in an internal way . This development , the culminating level of the Jewish mystical tradition , in this way bridges philosophy and mysticism , by expressing the transcendent in human terms . # 20th and 21st-century Jewish philosophy # # Jewish existentialism # One of the major trends in modern Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism . Among the early Jewish existentialist philosophers was Lev Shestov ( Jehuda Leib Schwarzmann ) , a Russian-Jewish philosopher . One of the most influential Jewish existentialists in the first half of the 20th century was Franz Rosenzweig . While researching his doctoral dissertation on the 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Rosenzweig reacted against Hegel 's idealism and developed an existential approach . Rosenzweig , for a time , considered conversion to Christianity , but in 1913 , he turned to Jewish philosophy . He became a philosopher and student of Hermann Cohen . Rozensweig 's major work , ' ' Star of Redemption ' ' , is his new philosophy in which he portrays the relationships between haShem , humanity and world as they are connected by creation , revelation and redemption . Orthodox rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and Conservative rabbis Neil Gillman and Elliot N. Dorff have also been described as existentialists . The French philosopher and Talmudic commentator Emmanuel Levinas , whose approach grew out of the phenomenological tradition in philosophy , has also been described as a Jewish existentialist . # Jewish rationalism # Rationalism has re-emerged as a popular perspective among Jews . Contemporary Jewish rationalism often draws on ideas associated with medieval philosophers such as Maimonides and modern Jewish rationalists such as Hermann Cohen . Cohen was a German Jewish neo-Kantian philosopher who turned to Jewish subjects at the end of his career in the early 20th century , picking up on ideas of Maimonides . In America , Steven Schwarzschild continued Cohen 's legacy . Another prominent contemporary Jewish rationalist is Lenn Goodman , who works out of the traditions of medieval Jewish rationalist philosophy . Conservative rabbis Alan Mittleman of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Elliot N. Dorff of American Jewish University also see themselves in the rationalist tradition , as does David Novak of the University of Toronto . Novak works in the natural law tradition , which is one version of rationalism . Philosophers in modern-day Israel in the rationalist tradition include David Hartman and Moshe Halbertal . Some Orthodox rationalists in Israel take a restorationist approach , reaching back in time for tools to simplify Rabbinic Judaism and bring all Jews , regardless of status or stream of Judaism , closer to observance of Halacha , Mitzvot , Kashrut and embrace of Maimonides ' 13 Principles of Faith . Dor Daim , and Rambamists are two groups who reject mysticism as a superstitious innovation to an otherwise clear and succinct set of Laws and rules . According to these rationalists , there is shame and disgrace attached to failure to investigate matters of religious principle using the fullest powers of human reason and intellect . One can not be considered wise , or perceptive , if one does not attempt to understand the origins , and establish the correctness , of one 's beliefs . # Holocaust theology # Judaism has traditionally taught that God is omnipotent , omniscient and omnibenevolent . Yet , these claims are in jarring contrast with the fact that there is much evil in the world . Perhaps the most difficult question that monotheists have confronted is how can one reconcile the existence of this view of God with the existence of evil ? or how can there be good without bad ? how can there be a God without a devil ? This is the problem of evil . Within all monotheistic faiths many answers ( theodicies ) have been proposed . However , in light of the magnitude of evil seen in the Holocaust , many people have re-examined classical views on this subject . How can people still have any kind of faith after the Holocaust ? This set of Jewish philosophies is discussed in the article on Holocaust theology . # Reconstructionist theology # Perhaps the most controversial form of Jewish philosophy that developed in the early 20th century was the religious naturalism of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan . His theology was a variant of John Dewey 's pragmatist philosophy . Dewey 's naturalism combined atheist beliefs with religious terminology in order to construct a philosophy for those who had lost faith in traditional Judaism . In agreement with the classical medieval Jewish thinkers , Kaplan affirmed that haShem is not personal , and that all anthropomorphic descriptions of haShem are , at best , imperfect metaphors . Kaplan 's theology went beyond this to claim that haShem is the sum of all natural processes that allow man to become self-fulfilled . Kaplan wrote that to believe in haShem means to take for granted that it is man 's destiny to rise above the brute and to eliminate all forms of violence and exploitation from human society . # Process theology # A recent trend has been to reframe Jewish theology through the lens of process philosophy , more specifically process theology . Process philosophy suggests that fundamental elements of the universe are occasions of experience . According to this notion , what people commonly think of as concrete objects are actually successions of these occasions of experience . Occasions of experience can be collected into groupings ; something complex such as a human being is thus a grouping of many smaller occasions of experience . In this view , everything in the universe is characterized by experience ( not to be confused with consciousness ) ; there is no mind-body duality under this system , because mind is simply seen as a very developed kind of experiencing entity . Intrinsic to this worldview is the notion that all experiences are influenced by prior experiences , and will influence all future experiences . This process of influencing is never deterministic ; an occasion of experience consists of a process of comprehending other experiences , and then reacting to it . This is the process in process philosophy . Process philosophy gives God a special place in the universe of occasions of experience . God encompasses all the other occasions of experience but also transcends them ; thus process philosophy is a form of panentheism . The original ideas of process theology were developed by Charles Hartshorne ( 18972000 ) , and influenced a number of Jewish theologians , including British philosopher Samuel Alexander ( 18591938 ) , and Rabbis Max Kadushin , Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan , Harry Slominsky , and Bradley Shavit Artson . Abraham Joshua Heschel has also been linked to this tradition . # Kabbalah and philosophy # Kabbalah continued to be central to Haredi Orthodox Judaism , which generally rejected philosophy , although the Chabad strain of Chasidism showed a more positive attitude towards philosophy . Meanwhile , non-Orthodox Jewish thought in the latter 20th century saw resurgent interest in Kabbalah . In academic studies , Gershom Scholem began the critical investigation of Jewish mysticism , while in non-Orthodox Jewish denominations , Jewish Renewal and Neo-Hasidism , spiritualised worship . Many philosophers do not consider this a form of philosophy , as Kabbalah is a collection of esoteric methods of textual interpretation . Mysticism is generally understood as an alternative to philosophy , not a variant of philosophy . Among modern the modern critics of Kabbalah was Yihhyah Qafahh , who wrote a book entitled ' ' Milhamoth ha-Shem ' ' , ( ' ' Wars of the Name ' ' ) against what he perceived as the false teachings of the Zohar and the false Kabbalah of Isaac Luria . He is credited with spearheading the Dor Daim . Yeshayahu Leibowitz publicly shared the views expressed in Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh 's book ' ' Milhhamoth ha-Shem ' ' and elaborated upon these views in his many writings . # Contemporary Jewish philosophy # # # Philosophers associated with Orthodox Judaism # #  Eliezer Berkovits  Monsieur Chouchani  Eliyahu Dessler  Israel Eldad  Elimelech of Lizhensk  David Hartman  Samson Raphael Hirsch  Abraham Isaac Kook  Yeshayahu Leibowitz  Menachem Mendel of Kotzk  Nachman of Breslov  Franz Rosenzweig  Daniel Rynhold  Menachem Mendel Schneerson  Joseph Soloveitchik  Chaim Volozhin  Shneur Zalman of Liadi # # Philosophers associated with Conservative Judaism # #  Bradley Shavit Artson  Elliot N. Dorff  Neil Gillman  Abraham Joshua Heschel  William E. Kaufman  Max Kadushin  Alan Mittleman  David Novak  Ira F. Stone # # Philosophers associated with Reform and Progressive Judaism # #  Leo Baeck ( leader in German Progressive Judaism )  Eugene Borowitz ( leader in American Reform Judaism )  Emil Fackenheim ( German-Canadian-Israeli philosopher )  Avigdor Chaim Gold ( German-Israeli philosopher ) # # Jewish philosophers whose philosophy is not focused on Jewish themes # # In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries there have also been many philosophers who are Jewish , and whose Judaism might influence their approach to some degree , but whose writing is not focused on issues specific to Judaism . These include :  Theodor W. Adorno  Joseph Agassi , an Israeli philosopher of science who developed Karl Popper 's ideas  Harold Bloom  Hannah Arendt  Raymond Aron  Walter Benjamin  Henri Bergson  Noam Chomsky , an American linguist , philosopher , cognitive scientist , and political activist  Jacques Derrida , a French-Jewish philosopher  Ronald Dworkin , an American philosopher of law  Yehuda Elkana , an Israeli philosopher of science  Sigmund Freud  Edmund Husserl  Alberto Jori , an Italian-Jewish philosopher  Saul Kripke , a metaphysician and modal logician  Emmanuel Levinas  Karl Marx  Thomas Nagel , a Serbia-born Jewish philosopher  Martha Nussbaum , an American moral and political philosopher  Adi Ophir , an Israeli philosopher of science and moral philosopher  Karl Popper  Hilary Putnam , an American analytic philosopher  Ayn Rand , a Russian-American Jewish philosopher who focused upon Aristotle 's reason  Peter Singer , a utilitarian philosopher  Alan Soble , writes in philosophy of sex , American-born , Romanian-Russian ethnicity  Leo Strauss  Alfred Tarski - Polish logician  Ludwig Wittgenstein # See also #  Jewish denominations  Jewish ethics  Jewish existentialism  Jewish feminism  Jewish history  Jewish principles of faith  Judaism and politics # References # # Further reading # Online   and     Free will in Jewish Philosophy Print Sources  Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman ( eds . ) , ' ' History of Jewish Philosophy ' ' . London : Routledge , 1997 . ISBN 0-415-08064-9  Colette Sirat , ' ' A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages ' ' . Cambridge University Press , 1990 . ISBN 0-521-39727-8 
@@171171 Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued through the Hellenistic period , at which point Ancient Greece was incorporated in the Roman Empire . It dealt with a wide variety of subjects , including political philosophy , ethics , metaphysics , ontology , logic , biology , rhetoric , and aesthetics . Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has influenced much of Western thought since its inception . 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 . Clear , unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers to Early Islamic philosophy , the European Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment . Some claim that Greek philosophy , in turn , was influenced by the older wisdom literature and mythological cosmogonies of the ancient Near East . Martin Litchfield West gives qualified assent to this view , stating , contact with oriental cosmology and theology helped to liberate the early Greek philosophers ' imagination ; it certainly gave them many suggestive ideas . But they taught themselves to reason . Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation . Subsequent philosophic tradition was so influenced by Socrates ( as presented by Plato ) that it is conventional to refer to philosophy developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy . The periods following this until the wars of Alexander the Great are those of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy . # Pre-Socratic philosophy # The convention of terming those philosophers who were active prior to Socrates the ' ' pre-Socratics ' ' gained currency with the 1903 publication of Hermann Diels ' ' ' Fragmente der Vorsokratiker ' ' , although the term did not originate with him . The term is considered philosophically useful because what came to be known as the Athenian school ( composed of Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle ) signaled a profound shift in the subject matter and methods of philosophy ; Friedrich Nietzsche 's thesis that this shift began with Plato rather than with Socrates ( hence his nomenclature of pre-Platonic philosophy ) has not prevented the predominance of the pre-Socratic distinction . The pre-Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmology , ontology and mathematics . They were distinguished from non-philosophers insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse . # Milesian school # Thales of Miletus , regarded by Aristotle as the first philosopher , held that all things arise from water . It is not because he gave a cosmogony that John Burnet calls him the first man of science , but because he gave a naturalistic explanation of the cosmos and supported it with reasons . According to tradition , Thales was able to predict an eclipse and taught the Egyptians how to measure the height of the pyramids . Thales inspired the Milesian school of philosophy and was followed by Anaximander , who argued that the substratum or ' ' arche ' ' could not be water or any of the classical elements but was instead something unlimited or indefinite ( in Greek , the ' ' apeiron ' ' ) . He began from the observation that the world seems to consist of opposites ( e.g. , hot and cold ) , yet a thing can become its opposite ( e.g. , a hot thing cold ) . Therefore , they can not truly be opposites but rather must both be manifestations of some underlying unity that is neither . This underlying unity ( substratum , ' ' arche ' ' ) could not be any of the classical elements , since they were one extreme or another . For example , water is wet , the opposite of dry , while fire is dry , the opposite of wet . Anaximenes in turn held that the ' ' arche ' ' was air , although John Burnet argues that by this he meant that it was a transparent mist , the ' ' aether ' ' . Despite their varied answers , the Milesian school was searching for a natural substance that would remain unchanged despite appearing in different forms , and thus represents one of the first scientific attempts to answer the question that would lead to the development of modern atomic theory ; the Milesians , says Burnet , asked for the ' ' ' ' of all things . # Xenophanes # Xenophanes was born in Ionia , where the Milesian school was at its most powerful , and may have picked up some of the Milesians ' cosmological theories as a result . What is known is that he argued that each of the phenomena had a natural rather than divine explanation in a manner reminiscent of Anaximander 's theories and that there was only one god , the world as a whole , and that he ridiculed the anthropomorphism of the Greek religion by claiming that cattle would claim that the gods looked like cattle , horses like horses , and lions like lions , just as the Ethiopians claimed that the gods were snubnosed and black and the Thracians claimed they were pale and red-haired . Burnet says that Xenophanes was not , however , a scientific man , with many of his naturalistic explanations having no further support than that they render the Homeric gods superfluous or foolish . He has been claimed as an influence on Eleatic philosophy , although that is disputed , and a precursor to Epicurus , a representative of a total break between science and religion . # Pythagoreanism # Pythagoras lived at roughly the same time that Xenophanes did and , in contrast to the latter , the school that he founded sought to reconcile religious belief and reason . Little is known about his life with any reliability , however , and no writings of his survive , so it is possible that he was simply a mystic whose successors introduced rationalism into Pythagoreanism , that he was simply a rationalist whose successors are responsible for the mysticism in Pythagoreanism , or that he was actually the author of the doctrine ; there is no way to know for certain . Pythagoras is said to have been a disciple of Anaximander and to have imbibed the cosmological concerns of the Ionians , including the idea that the cosmos is constructed of spheres , the importance of the infinite , and that air or aether is the ' ' arche ' ' of everything . Pythagoreanism also incorporated ascetic ideals , emphasizing purgation , metempsychosis , and consequently a respect for all animal life ; much was made of the correspondence between mathematics and the cosmos in a musical harmony . # Heraclitus # Heraclitus must have lived after Xenophanes and Pythagoras , as he condemns them along with Homer as proving that much learning can not teach a man to think ; since Parmenides refers to him in the past tense , this would place him in the 5th century BCE . Contrary to the Milesian school , who would have one stable element at the root of all , Heraclitus taught that everything flows or everything is in flux , the closest element to this flux being fire ; he also extended the teaching that seeming opposites in fact are manifestations of a common substrate to good and evil itself . # Eleatic philosophy # Parmenides of Elea cast his philosophy against those who held it is and is not the same , and all things travel in opposite directions , presumably referring to Heraclitus and those who followed him . Whereas the doctrines of the Milesian school , in suggesting that the substratum could appear in a variety of different guises , implied that everything that exists is corpuscular , Parmenides argued that the first principle of being was One , indivisible , and unchanging . Being , he argued , by definition implies eternality , while only that which ' ' is ' ' can be thought ; a thing which ' ' is ' ' , moreover , can not be more or less , and so the rarefaction and condensation of the Milesians is impossible regarding Being ; lastly , as movement requires that something exist apart from the thing moving ( viz. the space into which it moves ) , the One or Being can not move , since this would require that space both exist and not exist . While this doctrine is at odds with ordinary sensory experience , where things do indeed change and move , the Eleatic school followed Parmenides in denying that sense phenomena revealed the world as it actually was ; instead , the only thing with Being was thought , or the question of whether something exists or not is one of whether it can be thought . In support of this , Parmenides ' pupil Zeno of Elea attempted to prove that the concept of motion was absurd and as such motion did not exist . He also attacked the subsequent development of pluralism , arguing that it was incompatible with Being . His arguments are known as Zeno 's paradoxes . # Pluralism and atomism # The power of Parmenides ' logic was such that some subsequent philosophers abandoned the monism of the Milesians , Xenophanes , Heraclitus , and Parmenides , where one thing was the ' ' arche ' ' , and adopted pluralism , such as Empedocles and Anaxagoras . There were , they said , multiple elements which were not reducible to one another and these were set in motion by love and strife ( as in Empedocles ) or by Mind ( as in Anaxagoras ) . Agreeing with Parmenides that there is no coming into being or passing away , genesis or decay , they said that things appear to come into being and pass away because the elements out of which they are composed assemble or disassemble while themselves being unchanging . Leucippus also proposed an ontological pluralism with a cosmogony based on two main elements : the vacuum and atoms . These , by means of their inherent movement , are crossing the void and creating the real material bodies . His theories were not well known by the time of Plato , however , and they were ultimately incorporated into the work of his student , Democritus. # Sophistry # Sophistry arose from the juxtaposition of ' ' physis ' ' ( nature ) and ' ' nomos ' ' ( law ) . John Burnet posits its origin in the scientific progress of the previous centuries which suggested that Being was radically different from what was experienced by the senses and , if comprehensible at all , was not comprehensible in terms of order ; the world in which men lived , on the other hand , was one of law and order , albeit of humankind 's own making . At the same time , nature was constant , while what was by law differed from one place to another and could be changed . The first man to call himself a sophist , according to Plato , was Protagoras , whom he presents as teaching that all virtue is conventional . It was Protagoras who claimed that man is the measure of all things , of the things that are , that they are , and of the things that are not , that they are not , which Plato interprets as a radical perspectivism , where some things seem to be one way for one person ( and so actually are that way ) and another way for another person ( and so actually are ' ' that ' ' way as well ) ; the conclusion being that one can not look to nature for guidance regarding how to live one 's life . Protagoras and subsequent sophists tended to teach rhetoric as their primary vocation . Prodicus , Gorgias , Hippias , and Thrasymachus appear in various Dialogues , sometimes explicitly teaching that while nature provides no ethical guidance , the guidance that the laws provide is worthless , or that nature favors those who act against the laws . # Classical Greek philosophy # # Socrates # Socrates , born in Athens in the 5th century BCE , marks a watershed in ancient Greek philosophy . Athens was a center of learning , with sophists and philosophers traveling from across Greece to teach rhetoric , astronomy , cosmology , geometry , and the like . The great statesman Pericles was closely associated with this new learning and a friend of Anaxagoras , however , and his political opponents struck at him by taking advantage of a conservative reaction against the philosophers ; it became a crime to investigate the things above the heavens or below the earth , subjects considered impious . Anaxagoras is said to have been charged and to have fled into exile when Socrates was about twenty years of age . There is a story that Protagoras , too , was forced to flee and that the Athenians burned his books . Socrates , however , is the only subject recorded as charged under this law , convicted , and sentenced to death in 399 BCE ( see Trial of Socrates ) . In the version of his defense speech presented by Plato , he claims that it is the envy he arouses on account of his being a philosopher that will convict him . While philosophy was an established pursuit prior to Socrates , Cicero credits him as the first who brought philosophy down from the heavens , placed it in cities , introduced it into families , and obliged it to examine into life and morals , and good and evil . By this account he would be considered the founder of political philosophy . The reasons for this turn toward political and ethical subjects remain the object of much study . The fact that many conversations involving Socrates ( as recounted by Plato and Xenophon ) end without having reached a firm conclusion , or aporetically , has stimulated debate over the meaning of the Socratic method . Socrates is said to have pursued this probing question-and-answer style of examination on a number of topics , usually attempting to arrive at a defensible and attractive definition of a virtue . While Socrates ' recorded conversations rarely provide a definite answer to the question under examination , several maxims or paradoxes for which he has become known recur . Socrates taught that no one desires what is bad , and so if anyone does something that truly is bad , it must be unwillingly or out of ignorance ; consequently , all virtue is knowledge . He frequently remarks on his own ignorance ( claiming that he does not know what courage is , for example ) . Plato presents him as distinguishing himself from the common run of mankind by the fact that , while they know nothing noble and good , they do not ' ' know ' ' that they do not know , whereas Socrates knows and acknowledges that he knows nothing noble and good . Numerous subsequent philosophical movements were inspired by Socrates or his younger associates . Plato casts Socrates as the main interlocutor in his dialogues , deriving from them the basis of Platonism ( and by extension , Neoplatonism ) . Plato 's student Aristotle in turn criticized and built upon the doctrines he ascribed to Socrates and Plato , forming the foundation of Aristotelianism . Antisthenes founded the school that would come to be known as Cynicism and accused Plato of distorting Socrates ' teachings . Zeno of Citium in turn adapted the ethics of Cynicism to articulate Stoicism . Epicurus studied with Platonic and Stoic teachers before renouncing all previous philosophers ( including Democritus , on whose atomism the Epicurean philosophy relies ) . The philosophic movements that were to dominate the intellectual life of the Roman empire were thus born in this febrile period following Socrates ' activity , and either directly or indirectly influenced by him . They were also absorbed by the expanding Muslim world in the 7th through 10th centuries CE , from which they returned to the West as foundations of Medieval philosophy and the Renaissance , as discussed below . # Plato # Plato was an Athenian of the generation after Socrates . Ancient tradition ascribes thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters to him , although of these only twenty-four of the dialogues are now universally recognized as authentic ; most modern scholars believe that at least twenty-eight dialogues and two of the letters were in fact written by Plato , although all of the thirty-six dialogues have some defenders . A further nine dialogues are ascribed to Plato but were considered spurious even in antiquity . Plato 's dialogues feature Socrates , although not always as the leader of the conversation . ( One dialogue , the ' ' Laws ' ' , instead contains an Athenian Stranger . ) Along with Xenophon , Plato is the primary source of information about Socrates ' life and beliefs and it is not always easy to distinguish between the two . While the Socrates presented in the dialogues is often taken to be Plato 's mouthpiece , Socrates ' reputation for irony , his caginess regarding his own opinions in the dialogues , and his occasional absence from or minor role in the conversation serve to conceal Plato 's doctrines . Much of what is said about his doctrines is derived from what Aristotle reports about them . The political doctrine ascribed to Plato is derived from the ' ' Republic ' ' , the ' ' Laws ' ' , and the ' ' Statesman ' ' . The first of these contains the suggestion that there will not be justice in cities unless they are ruled by philosopher kings ; those responsible for enforcing the laws are compelled to hold their women , children , and property in common ; and the individual is taught to pursue the common good through noble lies ; the ' ' Republic ' ' says that such a city is likely impossible , however , generally assuming that philosophers would refuse to rule and the people would refuse to compel them to do so . Whereas the ' ' Republic ' ' is premised on a distinction between the sort of knowledge possessed by the philosopher and that possessed by the king or political man , Socrates explores only the character of the philosopher ; in the ' ' Statesman ' ' , on the other hand , a participant referred to as the Eleatic Stranger discusses the sort of knowledge possessed by the political man , while Socrates listens quietly . Although rule by a wise man would be preferable to rule by law , the wise can not help but be judged by the unwise , and so in practice , rule by law is deemed necessary . Both the ' ' Republic ' ' and the ' ' Statesman ' ' reveal the limitations of politics , raising the question of what political order would be best given those constraints ; that question is addressed in the ' ' Laws ' ' , a dialogue that does not take place in Athens and from which Socrates is absent . The character of the society described there is eminently conservative , a corrected or liberalized timocracy on the Spartan or Cretan model or that of pre-democratic Athens . Plato 's dialogues also have metaphysical themes , the most famous of which is his theory of forms . It holds that non-material abstract ( but substantial ) forms ( or ideas ) , and not the material world of change known to us through our physical senses , possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality . Plato often uses long-form analogies ( usually allegories ) to explain his ideas ; the most famous is perhaps the Allegory of the Cave . It likens most humans to people tied up in a cave , who look only at shadows on the walls and have no other conception of reality . If they turned around , they would see what is casting the shadows ( and thereby gain a further dimension to their reality ) . If some left the cave , they would see the outside world illuminated by the sun ( representing the ultimate form of goodness and truth ) . If these travelers then re-entered the cave , the people inside ( who are still only familiar with the shadows ) would not be equipped to believe reports of this ' outside world ' . This story explains the theory of forms with their different levels of reality , and advances the view that philosopher-kings are wisest while most humans are ignorant . One student of Plato ( who would become another of the most influential philosophers of all time ) stressed the implication that understanding relies upon first-hand observation : # Aristotle # Aristotle moved to Athens from his native Stageira in 367 BCE and began to study philosophy ( perhaps even rhetoric , under Isocrates ) , eventually enrolling at Plato 's Academy . He left Athens approximately twenty years later to study botany and zoology , became a tutor of Alexander the Great , and ultimately returned to Athens a decade later to establish his own school : the Lyceum . At least twenty-nine of his treatises have survived , known as the ' ' corpus Aristotelicum ' ' , and address a variety of subjects including logic , physics , optics , metaphysics , ethics , rhetoric , politics , poetry , botany , and zoology . Aristotle is often portrayed as disagreeing with his teacher Plato ( e.g. in Raphael 's School of Athens ) . He criticizes the regimes described in Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' and ' ' Laws ' ' , and refers to the theory of forms as empty words and poetic metaphors . He is generally presented as giving greater weight to empirical observation and practical concerns . Aristotle 's fame was not great during the Hellenistic period , when Stoic logic was in vogue , but later peripatetic commentators popularized his work , which eventually contributed heavily to Islamic , Jewish , and medieval Christian philosophy . His influence was such that Avicenna referred to him simply as the Master ; Maimonides , Alfarabi , Averroes , and Aquinas as the Philosopher . # Hellenistic philosophy # During the Hellenistic and Roman periods , many different schools of thought developed in the Hellenistic world and then the Greco-Roman world . There were Greeks , Romans , Egyptians , Syrians and Arabs who contributed to the development of Hellenistic philosophy . Elements of Persian philosophy and Indian philosophy also had an influence . The most notable schools of Hellenistic philosophy were :  Neoplatonism : Plotinus ( Egyptian ) , Ammonius Saccas , Porphyry ( Syrian ) , Zethos ( Arab ) , Iamblichus ( Syrian ) , Proclus  Academic Skepticism : Arcesilaus , Carneades , Cicero ( Roman )  Pyrrhonian Skepticism : Pyrrho , Sextus Empiricus  Cynicism : Antisthenes , Diogenes of Sinope , Crates of Thebes ( taught Zeno of Citium , founder of Stoicism )  Stoicism : Zeno of Citium , Cleanthes , Chrysippus , Crates of Mallus ( brought Stoicism to Rome c. 170 BCE ) , Panaetius , Posidonius , Seneca ( Roman ) , Epictetus ( Greek/Roman ) , Marcus Aurelius ( Roman )  Epicureanism : Epicurus ( Greek ) and Lucretius ( Roman )  Eclecticism : Cicero ( Roman ) The spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world , followed by the spread of Islam , ushered in the end of Hellenistic philosophy and the beginnings of Medieval philosophy , which was dominated by the three Abrahamic traditions : Jewish philosophy , Christian philosophy , and early Islamic philosophy . # Transmission of Greek philosophy under Islam # During the Middle Ages , Greek ideas were largely forgotten in Western Europe ( where , between the fall of Rome and the East-West Schism , literacy in Greek had declined sharply ) . Not long after the first major expansion of Islam , however , the Abbasid caliphs authorized the gathering of Greek manuscripts and hired translators to increase their prestige . Islamic philosophers such as Al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) , Al-Farabi ( Alpharabius ) , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ) reinterpreted these works , and during the High Middle Ages Greek philosophy re-entered the West through translations from Arabic to Latin . The re-introduction of these philosophies , accompanied by the new Arabic commentaries , had a great influence on Medieval philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. 
@@171177 Early Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar ( early 9th century CE ) and lasting until the 6th century AH ( late 12th century CE ) . The period is known as the Islamic Golden Age , and the achievements of this period had a crucial influence in the development of modern philosophy and science ; for Renaissance Europe , the influence represented one of the largest technology transfers in world history . . This period starts with al-Kindi in the 9th century and ends with Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ) at the end of 12th century . The death of Averroes effectively marks the end of a particular discipline of Islamic philosophy usually called the ' ' Peripatetic Arabic School ' ' , and philosophical activity declined significantly in Western Islamic countries , namely in Islamic Spain and North Africa , though it persisted for much longer in the Eastern countries , in particular Persia and India where several schools of philosophy continued to flourish : Avicennism , Illuminationist philosophy , Mystical philosophy , and Transcendent theosophy . Some of the significant achievements of early Muslim philosophers included the development of a strict science of citation , the isnad or backing ; the development of a method of open inquiry to disprove claims , the ijtihad , which could be generally applied to many types of questions ( although which to apply it to is an ethical question ) ; the willingness to both accept and challenge authority within the same process ; recognition that science and philosophy are both subordinate to morality , and that moral choices are prior to any investigation or concern with either ; the separation of theology ( kalam ) and law ( shariah ) during the early Abbasid period , a precursor to secularism ; the distinction between religion and philosophy , marking the beginning of secular thought ; the beginning of a peer review process ; early ideas on evolution ; the beginnings of the scientific method , an important contribution to the philosophy of science ; the introduction of temporal modal logic and inductive logic ; the beginning of social philosophy , including the formulation of theories on social cohesion and social conflict ; the beginning of the philosophy of history ; the development of the philosophical novel and the concepts of empiricism and tabula rasa ; and distinguishing between essence and existence . Saadia Gaon , David ben Merwan al-Mukkamas , Maimonides , and Thomas Aquinas , were influenced by the Mutazilite work , particularly Avicennism and Averroism , and the Renaissance and the use of empirical methods were inspired at least in part by Arabic translations of Greek , Jewish , Persian and Egyptian works translated into Latin during the Renaissance of the 12th century , and taken during the Reconquista in 1492 . Early Islamic philosophy can be divided into clear sets of influences , branches , schools , and fields , as described below . # Origin # # Muhammad # The life of Muhammad or sira which generated both the Qur'an ( revelation ) and hadith ( his daily utterances and discourses on social and legal matters ) , during which philosophy was defined by Muslims as consisting in acceptance or rejection of his message . Together the sira and hadith constitute the sunnah and are validated by isnad ( backing ) to determine the likely truth of the report of any given saying of Muhammad . Key figures are Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq , Imam Bukhari , Imam Muslim , Al-Tirmidhi , Ibn Majah , Abu Dawud and Al-Nasa'i . Each sifted through literally millions of hadith to accept a list of under 1 . This work , which was not completed until the 10th century , began shortly after The Farewell Sermon in 631. # Branches # # Kalam # Ilm al-Kalm ( , literally the study of speech or words ) is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic . Kalm in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument . A scholar of kalm is referred to as a ' ' mutakallim ' ' ( plural ' ' mutakallimiin ' ' ) . With Kalam , questions about the sira and hadith , as well as science ( Islamic science ) and law ( fiqh and sharia ) , began to be investigated beyond the scope of Muhammad 's beliefs . This period is characterized by emergence of ijtihad and the first fiqh . As the Sunnah became published and accepted , philosophy separate from Muslim theology was discouraged due to a lack of participants . During this period , traditions similar to Socratic method began to evolve , but philosophy remained subordinate to religion . Independent minds exploiting the methods of ijtihad sought to investigate the doctrines of the Qur'an , which until then had been accepted in faith on the authority of divine revelation . One of first debates was that between partisan of the ' ' Qadar ' ' ( , to have power ) , who affirmed free will , and the ' ' Jabarites ' ' ( jabar , force , constraint ) , who maintained the belief in fatalism . At the 2nd century of the Hijra , a new movement arose in the theological school of Basra , Iraq . A pupil , Wasil ibn Ata ( AD 700748 ) , who was expelled from the school of Hasan of Basra because his answers were contrary to then orthodox Islamic tradition and became leader of a new school , and systematized the radical opinions of preceding sects , particularly those of the Qadarites . This new school was called ' ' Mutazilite ' ' ( from i'tazala , to separate oneself , to dissent ) that lasted from the 8th to 10th centuries . Its principal dogmas were three : #God is an absolute unity , and no attribute can be ascribed to Him . #Man is a free agent . It is on account of these two principles that the Mu'tazilities designate themselves the Partisans of Justice and Unity . #All knowledge necessary for the salvation of man emanates from his reason ; humans could acquire knowledge before , as well as after , Revelation , by the sole light of reason . This fact makes knowledge obligatory upon all men , at all times , and in all places . The Mutazilities , compelled to defend their principles against the orthodox Islam of their day , looked for support in philosophy , and are one of the first to pursue a rational theology called ' ' Ilm-al-Kalam ' ' ( Scholastic theology ) ; those professing it were called ' ' Mutakallamin ' ' . This appellation became the common name for all seeking philosophical demonstration in confirmation of religious principles . The first Mutakallamin had to debate both the orthodox and the non-Muslims , and they may be described as occupying the middle ground between those two parties . But subsequent generations were to large extent critical towards the Mutazilite school , especially after formation of the Asharite concepts . Throughout history , the place of kalam in Islamic thought has been controversial . The vast majority of the early traditional Sunni Muslim scholars have either criticized or prohibited it . Jewish and Muslim Peripatetics , generally , stopped short in their respective Aristotelianism whenever there was danger of wounding orthodox religion . # Falsafa # From the 9th century onward , owing to Caliph al-Ma'mun and his successor , Greek philosophy was introduced among the Arabs , and the Peripatetic school began to find able representatives among them ; such were Al-Kindi , Al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) , and Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) , all of whose fundamental principles were considered as criticized by the Mutakallamin . Another trend , represented by the Brethren of Purity , used Aristotelian language to expound a fundamentally Neoplatonic and Neopythagorean world view . During the Abbasid caliphate a number of thinkers and scientists , some of them heterodox Muslims or non-Muslims , played a role in transmitting Greek , Hindu , and other pre-Islamic knowledge to the Christian West . They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe . Three speculative thinkers , al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and al-Kindi , combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam . They were considered by many as highly unorthodox and a few even described them as non-Islamic philosophers . From Spain Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Hebrew and Latin , contributing to the development of modern European philosophy . The philosophers Moses Maimonides ( a Jew born in Muslim Spain ) and Ibn Khaldun ( born in modern-day Tunisia ) , the father of sociology and historiography , were also important philosophers , though the latter did not identify himself as a ' ' falsafa ' ' , but rather a ' ' kalam ' ' author . # Some differences between ' ' Kalam ' ' and ' ' Falsafa ' ' # Aristotle attempted to demonstrate the unity of God ; but from the view which he maintained , that matter was eternal , it followed that God could not be the Creator of the world . To assert that God 's knowledge extends only to the general laws of the universe , and not to individual and accidental things , is tantamount to denying prophecy . One other part of Aristotle 's theory shocked the faith of the Mutakallamin -- the Aristotelian theory of the soul . According to Aristotelianism , the human soul is simply man 's substantial form , the set of properties that make matter into a living human body . This seems to imply that the human soul can not exist apart from the body . Indeed , Aristotle writes , It is clear that the soul , or at least some parts of it ( if it is divisible ) , can not be separated from the body . ... And thus , those have the right idea who think that the soul does not exist without the body . In Aristotelianism , at least one psychological force , the active intellect , can exist apart from the body . However , according to many interpretations , the active intellect is a superhuman entity emanating from God and enlightening the human mind , not a part of any individual human soul . Thus , Aristotle 's theories seem to deny the immortality of the individual human soul . Wherefore the Mutakallamin had , before anything else , to establish a system of philosophy to demonstrate the creation of matter , and they adopted to that end the theory of atoms as enunciated by Democritus . They taught that atoms possess neither quantity nor extension . Originally atoms were created by God , and are created now as occasion seems to require . Bodies come into existence or die , through the aggregation or the sunderance of these atoms . But this theory did not remove the objections of philosophy to a creation of matter . For , indeed , if it be supposed that God commenced His work at a certain definite time by His will , and for a certain definite object , it must be admitted that He was imperfect before accomplishing His will , or before attaining His object . In order to obviate this difficulty , the Motekallamin extended their theory of the atoms to Time , and claimed that just as Space is constituted of atoms and vacuum , Time , likewise , is constituted of small indivisible moments . The creation of the world once established , it was an easy matter for them to demonstrate the existence of a Creator , and that God is unique , omnipotent , and omniscient . # Main protagonists of Falsafa and their critics # The 12th century saw the apotheosis of pure philosophy and the decline of the Kalam , which later , being attacked by both the philosophers and the orthodox , perished for lack of champions . This supreme exaltation of philosophy may be attributed , in great measure , to Al-Ghazali ( 10051111 ) among the Persians , and to Judah ha-Levi ( 1140 ) among the Jews . It can be argued that the attacks directed against the philosophers by Al-Ghazali in his work , ' ' Tahafut al-Falasifa ' ' ( The Incoherence of the Philosophers ) , not only produced , by reaction , a current favorable to philosophy , but induced the philosophers themselves to profit by his criticism . They thereafter made their theories clearer and their logic closer . The influence of this reaction brought forth the two greatest philosophers that the Islamic Peripatetic school ever produced , namely , Ibn Bajjah ( Avempace ) and Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ) , both of whom undertook the defense of philosophy . Since no idea and no literary or philosophical movement ever germinated on Persian or Arabian soil without leaving its impress on the Jews , the Persian Ghazali found an imitator in the person of Judah ha-Levi . This poet also took upon himself to free his religion from what he saw as the shackles of speculative philosophy , and to this end wrote the Kuzari , in which he sought to discredit all schools of philosophy alike . He passes severe censure upon the Mutakallamin for seeking to support religion by philosophy . He says , I consider him to have attained the highest degree of perfection who is convinced of religious truths without having scrutinized them and reasoned over them ( Kuzari , v. ) . Then he reduced the chief propositions of the Mutakallamin , to prove the unity of God , to ten in number , describing them at length , and concluding in these terms : Does the Kalam give us more information concerning God and His attributes than the prophet did ? ( Ib. iii . and iv . ) Aristotelianism finds no favor in Judah ha-Levi 's eyes , for it is no less given to details and criticism ; Neoplatonism alone suited him somewhat , owing to its appeal to his poetic temperament . Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) , the contemporary of Maimonides , closed the first great philosophical era of the Muslims . He was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash'ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali . Averroes ' philosophy was considered controversial in Muslim circles . The theories of Ibn Rushd do not differ fundamentally from those of Ibn Bajjah and Ibn Tufail , who only follow the teachings of Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) and Al-Farabi . Like all Islamic Peripatetics , Ibn Rushd admits the hypothesis of the intelligence of the spheres and the hypothesis of universal emanation , through which motion is communicated from place to place to all parts of the universe as far as the supreme world -- hypotheses which , in the mind of the Arabic philosophers , did away with the dualism involved in Aristotle 's doctrine of pure energy and eternal matter . His ideas on the separation of philosophy and religion , further developed by the Averroist school of philosophy , were later influential in the development of modern secularism . But while Al-Farabi , Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) , and other Persian and Muslim philosophers hurried , so to speak , over subjects that trenched on religious dogmas , Ibn Rushd delighted in dwelling upon them with full particularity and stress . Thus he says , Not only is matter eternal , but form is potentially inherent in matter ; otherwise , it were a creation ' ' ex nihilo ' ' ( Munk , Mlanges , p. 444 ) . According to this theory , therefore , the existence of this world is not only a possibility , as Ibn Sina declared -- in order to make concessions to the orthodox -- but also a necessity . Driven from the Islamic schools , Islamic philosophy found a refuge with the Jews , to whom belongs the honor of having transmitted it to the Christian world . A series of eminent men -- such as the Ibn Tibbons , Narboni , Gersonides -- joined in translating the Arabic philosophical works into Hebrew and commenting upon them . The works of Ibn Rushd especially became the subject of their study , due in great measure to Maimonides , who , in a letter addressed to his pupil Joseph ben Judah , spoke in the highest terms of Ibn Rushd 's commentary . It should be mentioned that this depiction of intellectual tradition in Islamic Lands is mainly dependent upon what West could understand ( or was willing to understand ) from this long era . In contrast , there are some historians and philosophers who do not agree with this account and describe this era in a completely different way . Their main point of dispute is on the influence of different philosophers on Islamic Philosophy , especially the comparative importance of eastern intellectuals such as Ibn Sina and of western thinkers such as Ibn Rushd. # Judeo-Islamic philosophy # The oldest Jewish religio-philosophical work preserved is that of Saadia Gaon ( 892-942 ) , ' ' Emunot ve-Deot ' ' , The Book of Beliefs and Opinions . In this work Saadia treats the questions that interested the Mutakallamin , such as the creation of matter , the unity of God , the divine attributes , the soul , etc . Saadia criticizes other philosophers severely . For Saadia there was no problem as to creation : God created the world ' ' ex nihilo ' ' , just as the Bible attests ; and he contests the theory of the Mutakallamin in reference to atoms , which theory , he declares , is just as contrary to reason and religion as the theory of the philosophers professing the eternity of matter . To prove the unity of God , Saadia uses the demonstrations of the Mutakallamin . Only the attributes of essence ( ' ' sifat al-dhatia ' ' ) can be ascribed to God , but not the attributes of action ( ' ' sifat-al-fi'aliya ' ' ) . The soul is a substance more delicate even than that of the celestial spheres . Here Saadia controverts the Mutakallamin , who considered the soul an accident arad ' ' ( compare Guide for the Perplexed i. 74 ) , and employs the following one of their premises to justify his position : Only a substance can be the substratum of an accident ( that is , of a non-essential property of things ) . Saadia argues : If the soul be an accident only , it can itself have no such accidents as wisdom , joy , love , etc . Saadia was thus in every way a supporter of the Kalam ; and if at times he deviated from its doctrines , it was owing to his religious views ; just as the Jewish and Muslim Peripatetics stopped short in their respective Aristotelianism whenever there was danger of wounding orthodox religion . # Schools # # Farabism # Al-Farabi ( Alfarabi ) was a founder of his own school of Islamic philosophy but which was later overshadowed by Avicennism . Al-Farabi 's school of philosophy breaks with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle .. and ... moves from metaphysics to methodology , a move that anticipates modernity , and at the level of philosophy , Alfarabi unites theory and practice .. and in the sphere of the political he liberates practice from theory . His Neoplatonic theology is also more than just metaphysics as rhetoric . In his attempt to think through the nature of a First Cause , Alfarabi discovers the limits of human knowledge . Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries , and was widely considered second only to Aristotle in knowledge ( alluded to by his title of the Second Teacher ) in his time . His work , aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism , paved the way for the work of Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) . # Avicennism # Due to Avicenna 's ( Ibn Sina 's ) successful reconciliation between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism along with Kalam , Avicennism eventually became the leading school of Islamic philosophy by the 12th century . Avicenna had become a central authority on philosophy by then , and several scholars in the 12th century commented on his strong influence at the time : Avicennism was also influential in medieval Europe , particularly his doctrines on the nature of the soul and his existence-essence distinction , along with the debates and censure that they raised in scholastic Europe . This was particularly the case in Paris , where Avicennism was later proscribed in 1210 . Nevertheless , his psychology and theory of knowledge influenced William of Auvergne and Albertus Magnus , and his metaphysics had an impact on the thought of Thomas Aquinas. # Averroism # Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ) is most famous for his commentaries on Aristotle 's works and for writing ' ' The Incoherence of the Incoherence ' ' in which he defended the ' ' falasifa ' ' against al-Ghazali 's ' ' The Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' . While he had very little influence in the Islamic world , which was then dominated by Avicennian philosophy and Ash'ari theology , Averroism became very influential in medieval Europe , especially among the Scholastics . Averroism eventually led to the development of modern secularism , for which Ibn Rushd is considered as the founding father of secular thought in Western Europe . The concept of existence precedes essence , a key foundational concept of existentialism , can also be found in the works of Averroes , as a reaction to Avicenna 's concept of essence precedes existence . # Ethics # # Environmental philosophy # Perhaps due to resource scarcity in most Islamic nations , there was an emphasis on limited ( and some claim also sustainable ) use of natural capital , i.e. producing land . Traditions of haram and hima and early urban planning were expressions of strong social obligations to stay within carrying capacity and to preserve the natural environment as an obligation of khalifa or stewardship . Muhammad is considered a pioneer of environmentalism for his teachings on environmental preservation . His hadiths on agriculture and environmental philosophy were compiled in the Book of Agriculture of the ' ' Sahih Bukhari ' ' , which included the following saying : Several such statements concerning the environment are also found in the Qur'an , such as the following : The earliest known treatises dealing with environmentalism and environmental science , especially pollution , were Arabic medical treatises written by al-Kindi , Qusta ibn Luqa , al-Razi , Ibn Al-Jazzar , al-Tamimi , al-Masihi , Avicenna , Ali ibn Ridwan , Ibn Jumay , Isaac Israeli ben Solomon , Abd-el-latif , Ibn al-Quff , and Ibn al-Nafis . Their works covered a number of subjects related to pollution such as air pollution , water pollution , soil contamination , municipal solid waste mishandling , and environmental impact assessments of certain localities . Cordoba , al-Andalus also had the first waste containers and waste disposal facilities for litter collection . # Medical ethics # The ethical standards of Muslim physicians was first laid down in the 9th century by Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi , who wrote the ' ' Adab al-Tabib ' ' ( ' ' Conduct of a Physician ' ' ) , the first treatist dedicated to medical ethics . He regarded physicians as guardians of souls and bodies , and wrote twenty chapters on various topics related to medical ethics , including :  What the physician must avoid and beware of  The manners of visitors  The care of remedies by the physician  The dignity of the medical profession  The examination of physicians  The removal of corruption among physicians # Humanism # Many medieval Muslim thinkers pursued humanistic , rational and scientific discourses in their search for knowledge , meaning and values . A wide range of Islamic writings on love poetry , history and philosophical theology show that medieval Islamic thought was open to the humanistic ideas of individualism , occasional secularism , skepticism and liberalism . Another reason the Islamic world flourished during the Middle Ages was an early emphasis on freedom of speech , as summarized by al-Hashimi ( a cousin of Caliph al-Ma'mun ) in the following letter to one of the religious opponents he was attempting to convert through reason : Certain aspects of Renaissance humanism has its roots in the medieval Islamic world , including the art of ' ' dictation ' ' , called in Latin , ' ' ars dictaminis ' ' , and the humanist attitude toward classical language . # Logic # In early Islamic philosophy , logic played an important role . Islamic law placed importance on formulating standards of argument , which gave rise to a novel approach to logic in Kalam , but this approach was later displaced by ideas from Greek philosophy and Hellenistic philosophy with the rise of the Mu'tazili philosophers , who highly valued Aristotle 's ' ' Organon ' ' . The works of Hellenistic-influenced Islamic philosophers were crucial in the reception of Aristotelian logic in medieval Europe , along with the commentaries on the ' ' Organon ' ' by Averroes . The works of al-Farabi , Avicenna , al-Ghazali and other Muslim logicians who often criticized and corrected Aristotelian logic and introduced their own forms of logic , also played a central role in the subsequent development of European logic during the Renaissance . According to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy : Important developments made by Muslim logicians included the development of Avicennian logic as a replacement of Aristotelian logic . Avicenna 's system of logic was responsible for the introduction of hypothetical syllogism , temporal modal logic and inductive logic . Other important developments in early Islamic philosophy include the development of a strict science of citation , the isnad or backing , and the development of a scientific method of open inquiry to disprove claims , the ijtihad , which could be generally applied to many types of questions . # Logic in Islamic law and theology # Early forms of analogical reasoning , inductive reasoning and categorical syllogism were introduced in Fiqh ( Islamic jurisprudence ) , Sharia ( Islamic law ) and Kalam ( Islamic theology ) from the 7th century with the process of ' ' Qiyas ' ' , before the Arabic translations of Aristotle 's works . Later during the Islamic Golden Age , there was a logical debate among Islamic philosophers , logicians and theologians over whether the term ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to analogical reasoning , inductive reasoning or categorical syllogism . Some Islamic scholars argued that ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to inductive reasoning , which Ibn Hazm ( 994-1064 ) disagreed with , arguing that ' ' Qiyas ' ' does not refer to inductive reasoning , but refers to categorical syllogism in a real sense and analogical reasoning in a metaphorical sense . On the other hand , al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) ( and in modern times , Abu Muhammad Asem al-Maqdisi ) argued that ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to analogical reasoning in a real sense and categorical syllogism in a metaphorical sense . Other Islamic scholars at the time , however , argued that the term ' ' Qiyas ' ' refers to both analogical reasoning and categorical syllogism in a real sense . # Aristotelian logic # The first original Arabic writings on logic were produced by al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ( 805873 ) , who produced a summary on earlier logic up to his time . The first writings on logic with non-Aristotelian elements was produced by al-Farabi ( Alfarabi ) ( 873950 ) , who discussed the topics of future contingents , the number and relation of the categories , the relation between logic and grammar , and non-Aristotelian forms of inference . He is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate groups , the first being idea and the second being proof . Averroes ( 112698 ) was the last major logician from al-Andalus , who wrote the most elaborate commentaries on Aristotelian logic . # Avicennian logic # Avicenna ( 980-1037 ) developed his own system of logic known as Avicennian logic as an alternative to Aristotelian logic . By the 12th century , Avicennian logic had replaced Aristotelian logic as the dominant system of logic in the Islamic world . The first criticisms of Aristotelian logic were written by Avicenna ( 9801037 ) , who produced independent treatises on logic rather than commentaries . He criticized the logical school of Baghdad for their devotion to Aristotle at the time . He investigated the theory of definition and classification and the quantification of the predicates of categorical propositions , and developed an original theory on temporal modal syllogism . Its premises included modifiers such as at all times , at most times , and at some time . While Avicenna ( 980-1037 ) often relied on deductive reasoning in philosophy , he used a different approach in medicine . Ibn Sina contributed inventively to the development of inductive logic , which he used to pioneer the idea of a syndrome . In his medical writings , Avicenna was the first to describe the methods of agreement , difference and concomitant variation which are critical to inductive logic and the scientific method . Ibn Hazm ( 994-1064 ) wrote the ' ' Scope of Logic ' ' , in which he stressed on the importance of sense perception as a source of knowledge . Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) ( 10581111 ) had an important influence on the use of logic in theology , making use of Avicennian logic in Kalam . Despite the logical sophistication of al-Ghazali , the rise of the Ash'ari school in the from the 12th century slowly suffocated original work on logic in much of the Islamic world , though logic continued to be studied in some Islamic regions such as Persia and the Levant . Fakhr al-Din al-Razi ( b. 1149 ) criticised Aristotle 's first figure and developed a form of inductive logic , foreshadowing the system of inductive logic developed by John Stuart Mill ( 18061873 ) . Systematic refutations of Greek logic were written by the Illuminationist school , founded by Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi ( 11551191 ) , who developed the idea of decisive necessity , an important innovation in the history of logical philosophical speculation . Another systematic refutation of Greek logic was written by Ibn Taymiyyah ( 1263&amp;ndash ; 1328 ) , the ' ' Ar-Radd ' ala al-Mantiqiyyin ' ' ( ' ' Refutation of Greek Logicians ' ' ) , where he argued against the usefulness , though not the validity , of the syllogism and in favour of inductive reasoning . # Metaphysics # # Cosmological and ontological arguments # Avicenna 's proof for the existence of God was the first ontological argument , which he proposed in the ' ' Metaphysics ' ' section of ' ' The Book of Healing ' ' . This was the first attempt at using the method of a priori proof , which utilizes intuition and reason alone . Avicenna 's proof of God 's existence is unique in that it can be classified as both a cosmological argument and an ontological argument . It is ontological insofar as necessary existence in intellect is the first basis for arguing for a Necessary Existent . The proof is also cosmological insofar as most of it is taken up with arguing that contingent existents can not stand alone and must end up in a Necessary Existent. # Distinction between essence and existence # Islamic philosophy , imbued as it is with Islamic theology , distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism the difference between essence and existence . Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental , essence endures within a being beyond the accidental . This was first described by Avicenna 's works on metaphysics , who was himself influenced by al-Farabi . Some ' ' orientalists ' ' ( or those particularly influenced by Thomist scholarship ) argued that Avicenna was the first to view existence ( ' ' wujud ' ' ) as an accident that happens to the essence ( ' ' mahiyya ' ' ) . However , this aspect of ontology is not the most central to the distinction that Avicenna established between essence and existence . One can not therefore make the claim that Avicenna was the proponent of the concept of essentialism ' ' per se ' ' , given that existence ( ' ' al-wujud ' ' ) when thought of in terms of necessity would ontologically translate into a notion of the ' ' *32;75714;TOOLONG ' ' ( ' ' wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi ' ' ) , which is without description or definition , and particularly without quiddity or essence ( ' ' la mahiyya lahu ' ' ) . Consequently , Avicenna 's ontology is ' existentialist ' when accounting for being qua existence in terms of necessity ( ' ' wujub ' ' ) , while it is ' essentialist ' in terms of thinking about being qua existence ( ' ' wujud ' ' ) in terms of contingency qua possibility ( ' ' imkan ' ' ; or ' ' mumkin al-wujud ' ' : contingent being ) . Some argue that Avicenna anticipated Frege and Bertrand Russell in holding that existence is an accident of accidents and also anticipated Alexius Meinong 's view about nonexistent objects . He also provided early arguments for a ' necessary being ' as cause of all other existents . The idea of essence precedes existence is a concept which dates back to Avicenna and his school of Avicennism as well as Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and his Illuminationist philosophy . The opposite idea of existence precedes essence was thus developed in the works of Averroes and Mulla Sadra 's transcendent theosophy . More careful approaches are needed in terms of thinking about philosophers ( and theologians ) in Islam in terms of phenomenological methods of investigation in ontology ( or onto-theology ) , or by way of comparisons that are made with Heidegger 's thought and his critique of the history of metaphysics. # Resurrection # Ibn al-Nafis wrote the ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a defense of the system of Islam and the Muslims ' doctrines on the missions of Prophets , the religious laws , the resurrection of the body , and the transitoriness of the world . The book presents rational arguments for bodily resurrection and the immortality of the human soul , using both demonstrative reasoning and material from the hadith corpus as forms of evidence . Later Islamic scholars viewed this work as a response to Avicenna 's metaphysical argument on spiritual resurrection ( as opposed to bodily resurrection ) , which was earlier criticized by al-Ghazali. # Soul and spirit # The Muslim physician-philosophers , Avicenna and Ibn al-Nafis , developed their own theories on the soul . They both made a distinction between the soul and the spirit , and in particular , the Avicennian doctrine on the nature of the soul was influential among the Scholastics . Some of Avicenna 's views on the soul included the idea that the immortality of the soul is a consequence of its nature , and not a purpose for it to fulfill . In his theory of The Ten Intellects , he viewed the human soul as the tenth and final intellect . Avicenna generally supported Aristotle 's idea of the soul originating from the heart , whereas Ibn al-Nafis on the other hand rejected this idea and instead argued that the soul is related to the entirety and not to one or a few organs . He further criticized Aristotle 's idea that every unique soul requires the existence of a unique source , in this case the heart . Ibn al-Nafis concluded that the soul is related primarily neither to the spirit nor to any organ , but rather to the entire matter whose temperament is prepared to receive that soul and he defined the soul as nothing other than what a human indicates by saying I. # Thought experiments # : ' ' Further information : Avicennism - Thought experiments on self-consciousness ' ' While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan , Avicenna wrote his famous Floating Man thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality of the soul . He referred to the living human intelligence , particularly the active intellect , which he believed to be the hypostasis by which God communicates truth to the human mind and imparts order and intelligibility to nature . His Floating Man thought experiment tells its readers to imagine themselves suspended in the air , isolated from all sensations , which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies . He argues that , in this scenario , one would still have self-consciousness . He thus concludes that the idea of the self is not logically dependent on any physical thing , and that the soul should not be seen in relative terms , but as a primary given , a substance . This argument was later refined and simplified by Ren Descartes in epistemic terms when he stated : I can abstract from the supposition of all external things , but not from the supposition of my own consciousness . # Time # In contrast to ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning , medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning . This view was inspired by the creation myth shared by the three Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity and Islam . The Christian philosopher , John Philoponus , presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past . However , the most sophisticated medieval arguments against an infinite past were developed by the Islamic philosopher , Al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ; the Jewish philosopher , Saadia Gaon ( Saadia ben Joseph ) ; and the Islamic theologian , Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) . They developed two logical arguments against an infinite past , the first being the argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite , which states : : An actual infinite can not exist . : An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite . : An infinite temporal regress of events can not exist . The second argument , the argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition , states : : An actual infinite can not be completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events can not be an actual infinite . Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians , and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time . # Truth # In metaphysics , Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) defined truth as : Avicenna elaborated on his definition of truth in his ' ' Metaphysics ' ' : In his ' ' Quodlibeta ' ' , Thomas Aquinas wrote a commentary on Avicenna 's definition of truth in his ' ' Metaphysics ' ' and explained it as follows : Early Islamic political philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion and emphsized the process of ijtihad to find truth . Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) reasoned that to discover the truth about nature , it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error , and allow the universe to speak for itself . In his ' ' Aporias against Ptolemy ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham further wrote the following comments on truth : # Natural philosophy # # Atomism # Atomistic philosophies are found very early in Islamic philosophy , and represent a synthesis of the Greek and Indian ideas . Like both the Greek and Indian versions , Islamic atomism was a charged topic that had the potential for conflict with the prevalent religious orthodoxy . Yet it was such a fertile and flexible idea that , as in Greece and India , it flourished in some schools of Islamic thought . The most successful form of Islamic atomism was in the Asharite school of philosophy , most notably in the work of the philosopher al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) . In Asharite atomism , atoms are the only perpetual , material things in existence , and all else in the world is accidental meaning something that lasts for only an instant . Nothing accidental can be the cause of anything else , except perception , as it exists for a moment . Contingent events are not subject to natural physical causes , but are the direct result of God 's constant intervention , without which nothing could happen . Thus nature is completely dependent on God , which meshes with other Asharite Islamic ideas on causation , or the lack thereof . Other traditions in Islam rejected the atomism of the Asharites and expounded on many Greek texts , especially those of Aristotle . An active school of philosophers in Spain , including the noted commentator Averroes ( 1126-1198 AD ) explicitly rejected the thought of al-Ghazali and turned to an extensive evaluation of the thought of Aristotle . Averroes commented in detail on most of the works of Aristotle and his commentaries did much to guide the interpretation of Aristotle in later Jewish and Christian scholastic thought . # Cosmology # There are several cosmological verses in the Qur'an ( 610-632 ) which some modern writers have interpreted as foreshadowing the expansion of the universe and possibly even the Big Bang theory : # Do n't those who reject faith see that the heavens and the earth were a single entity then We ripped them apart ? # # And the heavens We did create with Our Hands , and We do cause it to expand . # In contrast to ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning , medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning . This view was inspired by the creation myth shared by the three Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity and Islam . The Christian philosopher , John Philoponus , presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past . His reasoning was adopted by many , most notably ; Muslim philosopher , Al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) ; the Jewish philosopher , Saadia Gaon ( Saadia ben Joseph ) ; and the Muslim theologian , Al-Ghazali ( Algazel ) . They used two logical arguments against an infinite past , the first being the argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite , which states : : An actual infinite can not exist . : An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite . : . . An infinite temporal regress of events can not exist . The second argument , the argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition , states : : An actual infinite can not be completed by successive addition . : The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition . : . . The temporal series of past events can not be an actual infinite . Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians , and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antimony concerning time . In the 10th century , the Brethren of Purity published the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' , in which a heliocentric view of the universe is expressed in a section on cosmology : # Evolution # ; Struggle for existence The Mu'tazili scientist and philosopher al-Jahiz ( c. 776-869 ) was the first of the Muslim biologists and philosophers to develop an early theory of evolution . He speculated on the influence of the environment on animals , considered the effects of the environment on the likelihood of an animal to survive , and first described the struggle for existence , a precursor to natural selection . Al-Jahiz 's ideas on the struggle for existence in the ' ' Book of Animals ' ' have been summarized as follows : In Chapter 47 of his ' ' India ' ' , entitled On Vasudeva and the Wars of the Bharata , Abu Rayhan Biruni attempted to give a naturalistic explanation as to why the struggles described in the ' ' Mahabharata ' ' had to take place . He explains it using natural processes that include biological ideas related to evolution , which has led several scholars to compare his ideas to Darwinism and natural selection . This is due to Biruni describing the idea of artificial selection and then applying it to nature : In the 13th century , Nasir al-Din al-Tusi explains how the elements evolved into minerals , then plants , then animals , and then humans . Tusi then goes on to explain how hereditary variability was an important factor for biological evolution of living things : Tusi discusses how organisms are able to adapt to their environments : Tusi then explains how humans evolved from advanced animals : ; Transmutation of species Al-Dinawari ( 828-896 ) , considered the founder of Arabic botany for his ' ' Book of Plants ' ' , discussed plant evolution from its birth to its death , describing the phases of plant growth and the production of flowers and fruit . Ibn Miskawayh 's ' ' al-Fawz al-Asghar ' ' and the Brethren of Purity 's ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' ( ' ' The Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa ' ' ) developed theories on evolution that possibly had an influence on Charles Darwin and his inception of Darwinism , but has at one time been criticized as overenthusiastic . English translations of the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' were available from 1812 , while Arabic language In the 14th century , Ibn Khaldun further developed the evolutionary ideas found in the ' ' Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity ' ' . The following statements from his 1377 work , the ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' , express evolutionary ideas : Numerous other Islamic scholars and scientists , including the polymaths Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Khazini , discussed and developed these ideas . Translated into Latin , these works began to appear in the West after the Renaissance and may have had an impact on Western philosophy and science . # Phenomenology # The Ash'ari polymath Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) is considered a pioneer of phenomenology . He articulated a relationship between the physical and observable world and that of intuition , psychology and mental functions . His theories regarding knowledge and perception , linking the domains of science and religion , led to a philosophy of existence based on the direct observation of reality from the observer 's point of view . Much of his thought on phenomenology was not further developed until the 20th century . # Philosophy of mind # The philosophy of mind was studied in medieval Islamic psychological thought , which refers to the study of the ' ' nafs ' ' ( literally self or psyche in Arabic ) in the Islamic world , particularly during the Islamic Golden Age ( 8th15th centuries ) as well as modern times ( 20th21st centuries ) , and is related to psychology , psychiatry and the neurosciences. # Place and space # The Arab polymath al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhazen ; died c. 1041 ) presented a thorough mathematical critique and refutation of Aristotle 's conception of place ( ' ' topos ' ' ) in his ' ' Risala/Qawl fil-makan ' ' ( ' ' Treatise/Discourse on Place ' ' ) . Aristotle 's ' ' Physics ' ' ( Book IV - ' ' Delta ' ' ) stated that the place of something is the two-dimensional boundary of the containing body that is at rest and is in contact with what it contains . Ibn al-Haytham disagreed with this definition and demonstrated that place ( ' ' al-makan ' ' ) is the imagined ( three-dimensional ) void ( ' ' al-khala ' al-mutakhayyal ' ' ) between the inner surfaces of the containing body . He showed that place was akin to space , foreshadowing Descartes 's notion of place as space qua ' ' Extensio ' ' or even Leibniz 's ' ' analysis situs ' ' . Ibn al-Haytham 's mathematization of place rested on several geometric demonstrations , including his study on the sphere and other solids , which showed that the sphere ( ' ' al-kura ' ' ) is the largest in magnitude ( volumetric ) with respect to other geometric solids that have equal surface areas . For instance , a sphere that has an equal surface area to that of a cylinder , would be larger in ( volumetric ) magnitude than the cylinder ; hence , the sphere occupies a larger place than that occupied by the cylinder ; unlike what is entailed by Aristotle 's definition of place : that this sphere and that cylinder occupy places that are equal in magnitude . Ibn al-Haytham rejected Aristotle 's philosophical concept of place on mathematical grounds . Later , the philosopher ' Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi ( 13th century ) tried to defend the Aristotelian conception of place in a treatise titled : ' ' Fi al-Radd ala Ibn al-Haytham fi al-makan ' ' ( ' ' A refutation of Ibn al-Haytham 's place ' ' ) , although his effort was admirable from a philosophical standpoint , it was unconvincing from the scientific and mathematical viewpoints . Ibn al-Haytham also discussed space perception and its epistemological implications in his ' ' Book of Optics ' ' ( 1021 ) . His experimental proof of the intromission model of vision led to changes in the way the visual perception of space was understood , contrary to the previous emission theory of vision supported by Euclid and Ptolemy . In tying the visual perception of space to prior bodily experience , Alhacen unequivocally rejected the intuitiveness of spatial perception and , therefore , the autonomy of vision . Without tangible notions of distance and size for correlation , sight can tell us next to nothing about such things . # Philosophy of education # In the medieval Islamic world , an elementary school was known as a ' ' maktab ' ' , which dates back to at least the 10th century . Like madrasahs ( which referred to higher education ) , a maktab was often attached to a mosque . In the 11th century , Ibn Sina ( known as ' ' Avicenna ' ' in the West ) , in one of his books , wrote a chapter dealing with the ' ' maktab ' ' entitled The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children , as a guide to teachers working at ' ' maktab ' ' schools . He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors , and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case , citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils as well as the usefulness of group discussions and debates . Ibn Sina described the curriculum of a ' ' maktab ' ' school in some detail , describing the curricula for two stages of education in a ' ' maktab ' ' school . # Primary education # Ibn Sina wrote that children should be sent to a ' ' maktab ' ' school from the age of 6 and be taught primary education until they reach the age of 14 . During which time , he wrote that they should be taught the Qur'an , Islamic metaphysics , language , literature , Islamic ethics , and manual skills ( which could refer to a variety of practical skills ) . # Secondary education # Ibn Sina refers to the secondary education stage of ' ' maktab ' ' schooling as the period of specialization , when pupils should begin to acquire manual skills , regardless of their social status . He writes that children after the age of 14 should be given a choice to choose and specialize in subjects they have an interest in , whether it was reading , manual skills , literature , preaching , medicine , geometry , trade and commerce , craftsmanship , or any other subject or profession they would be interested in pursuing for a future career . He wrote that this was a transitional stage and that there needs to be flexibility regarding the age in which pupils graduage , as the student 's emotional development and chosen subjects need to be taken into account . # Philosophy of science # # Scientific method # The pioneering development of the scientific method by the Arab Ash'ari polymath Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) was an important contribution to the philosophy of science . In the ' ' Book of Optics ' ' ( c. 1025 AD ) , his scientific method was very similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of the following procedures : #Observation #Statement of problem #Formulation of hypothesis #Testing of hypothesis using experimentation #Analysis of experimental results #Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusion #Publication of findings In ' ' The Model of the Motions ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham also describes an early version of Occam 's razor , where he employs only minimal hypotheses regarding the properties that characterize astronomical motions , as he attempts to eliminate from his planetary model the cosmological hypotheses that can not be observed from Earth . In his ' ' Aporias against Ptolemy ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham commented on the difficulty of attaining scientific knowledge : He held that the criticism of existing theories which dominated this book holds a special place in the growth of scientific knowledge : Ibn al-Haytham attributed his experimental scientific method and scientific skepticism to his Islamic faith . He believed that human beings are inherently flawed and that only God is perfect . He reasoned that to discover the truth about nature , it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error , and allow the universe to speak for itself . In ' ' The Winding Motion ' ' , Ibn al-Haytham further wrote that faith should only apply to prophets of Islam and not to any other authorities , in the following comparison between the Islamic prophetic tradition and the demonstrative sciences : Ibn al-Haytham described his search for truth and knowledge as a way of leading him closer to God : His contemporary Ab Rayhn al-Brn also introduced an early scientific method in nearly every field of inquiry he studied . For example , in his treatise on mineralogy , ' ' Kitab al-Jamahir ' ' ( ' ' Book of Precious Stones ' ' ) , he is the most exact of experimental scientists , while in the introduction to his study of India , he declares that to execute our project , it has not been possible to follow the geometric method and develops comparative sociology as a scientific method in the field . He was also responsible for introducing the experimental method into mechanics , the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena , and a pioneer of experimental psychology . Unlike his contemporary Avicenna 's scientific method where general and universal questions came first and led to experimental work , al-Biruni developed scientific methods where universals came out of practical , experimental work and theories are formulated after discoveries . During his debate with Avicenna on natural philosophy , al-Biruni made the first real distinction between a scientist and a philosopher , referring to Avicenna as a philosopher and considering himself to be a mathematical scientist . Al-Biruni 's scientific method was similar to the modern scientific method in many ways , particularly his emphasis on repeated experimentation . Biruni was concerned with how to conceptualize and prevent both systematic errors and random errors , such as errors caused by the use of small instruments and errors made by human observers . He argued that if instruments produce random errors because of their imperfections or idiosyncratic qualities , then multiple observations must be taken , analyzed qualitatively , and on this basis , arrive at a common-sense single value for the constant sought , whether an arithmetic mean or a reliable estimate . # Experimental medicine # Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) is considered the father of modern medicine , for his introduction of experimental medicine and clinical trials , the experimental use and testing of drugs , and a precise guide for practical experimentation in the process of discovering and proving the effectiveness of medical substances , in his medical encyclopedia , ' ' The Canon of Medicine ' ' ( 11th century ) , which was the first book dealing with experimental medicine . It laid out the following rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugs or medications , which still form the basis of modern clinical trials : # The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality . # It must be used on a simple , not a composite , disease . # The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases , because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones . # The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease . For example , there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases , so that they would have no effect on them . # The time of action must be observed , so that essence and accident are not confused . # The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases , for if this did not happen , it was an accidental effect . # The experimentation must be done with the human body , for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man . # Peer review # The first documented description of a peer review process is found in the ' ' Ethics of the Physician ' ' written by Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi ( 854931 ) of al-Raha , Syria , who describes the first medical peer review process . His work , as well as later Arabic medical manuals , state that a visiting physician must always make duplicate notes of a patient 's condition on every visit . When the patient was cured or had died , the notes of the physician were examined by a local medical council of other physicians , who would review the practising physician 's notes to decide whether his/her performance have met the required standards of medical care . If their reviews were negative , the practicing physician could face a lawsuit from a maltreated patient . # Other fields # # Epistemology # : ' ' Further information : Avicennism - Epistemology ' ' Avicenna 's most influential theory in epistemology is his theory of knowledge , in which he developed the concept of tabula rasa . He argued that the human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa , a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know and that knowledge is attained through empirical familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts which is developed through a syllogistic method of reasoning ; observations lead to prepositional statements , which when compounded lead to further abstract concepts . In the 12th century , Ibn Tufail further developed the concept of tabula rasa in his Arabic novel , ' ' Hayy ibn Yaqzan ' ' , in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child from a tabula rasa to that of an adult , in complete isolation from society on a desert island . The Latin translation of his work , entitled ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' , published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671 , had an influence on John Locke 's formulation of tabula rasa in ' ' An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ' ' . # Eschatology # Islamic eschatology is concerned with the ' ' Qiyamah ' ' ( end of the world ; Last Judgement ) and the final judgement of humanity . Eschatology relates to one of the six articles of faith ( ' ' aqidah ' ' ) of Islam . Like the other Abrahamic religions , Islam teaches the bodily resurrection of the dead , the fulfillment of a divine plan for creation , and the immortality of the human soul ( though Jews do not necessarily view the soul as eternal ) ; the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of ' ' Jannah ' ' ( Heaven ) , while the unrighteous are punished in ' ' Jahannam ' ' ( Hell ) . A significant fraction ( one third , in fact ) of the Quran deals with these beliefs , with many ' ' hadith ' ' elaborating on the themes and details . Islamic apocalyptic literature describing the Armageddon is often known as ' ' fitna ' ' ( a test ) and ' ' malahim ' ' ( or ' ' ghayba ' ' in the shi'ite tradition ) . Ibn al-Nafis dealt with Islamic eschatology in some depth in his ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' , where he rationalized the Islamic view of eschatology using reason and science to explain the events that would occur according to Islamic eschatology . He presented his rational and scientific arguments in the form of Arabic fiction , hence his ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' may be considered the earliest science fiction work . # Legal philosophy # Sharia ( ) refers to the body of Islamic law . The term means way or path ; it is the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Islamic principles of jurisprudence . Fiqh is the term for Islamic jurisprudence , made up of the rulings of Islamic jurists . A component of Islamic studies , Fiqh expounds the methodology by which Islamic law is derived from primary and secondary sources . Mainstream Islam distinguish ' ' fiqh ' ' , which means understanding details and inferences drawn by scholars , from ' ' sharia ' ' that refers to principles that lie behind the fiqh . Scholars hope that ' ' fiqh ' ' and ' ' sharia ' ' are in harmony in any given case , but they can not be sure . # Philosophical novels # The Islamic philosophers , Ibn Tufail ( Abubacer ) and Ibn al-Nafis , were pioneers of the philosophical novel . Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel ' ' Hayy ibn Yaqdhan ' ' ( ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' ) as a response to al-Ghazali 's ' ' The Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' , and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional novel ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a response to Ibn Tufail 's ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' . Both of these novels had protagonists ( Hayy in ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' and Kamil in ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' ) who were autodidactic individuals spontaneously generated in a cave and living in seclusion on a desert island , both being the earliest examples of a desert island story . However , while Hayy lives alone on the desert island for most of the story in ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' , the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' , developing into the first example of a science fiction novel . Ibn al-Nafis described his book ' ' Theologus Autodidactus ' ' as a defense of the system of Islam and the Muslims ' doctrines on the missions of Prophets , the religious laws , the resurrection of the body , and the transitoriness of the world . He presents rational arguments for bodily resurrection and the immortality of the human soul , using both demonstrative reasoning and material from the hadith corpus to prove his case . Later Islamic scholars viewed this work as a response to the metaphysical claim of Avicenna and Ibn Tufail that bodily resurrection can not be proven through reason , a view that was earlier criticized by al-Ghazali . A Latin translation of ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' was published in 1671 , prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger . The first English translation by Simon Ockley was published in 1708 , and German and Dutch translations were also published at the time . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' went on to have a significant influence on European literature , and became an influential best-seller throughout Western Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries . These translations later inspired Daniel Defoe to write ' ' Robinson Crusoe ' ' , which also featured a desert island narrative and was regarded as the first novel in English . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' also had a profound influence on modern Western philosophy . It became one of the most important books that heralded the Scientific Revolution and European Enlightenment , and the thoughts expressed in the novel can be found in different variations and to different degrees in the books of Thomas Hobbes , John Locke , Isaac Newton , and Immanuel Kant . The novel inspired the concept of tabula rasa developed in ' ' An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ' ' ( 1690 ) by Locke , who was a student of Pococke . ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' also developed the themes of empiricism , tabula rasa , nature versus nurture , condition of possibility , materialism , and Molyneux 's Problem . The novel also inspired Robert Boyle , another acquaintance of Pococke , to write his own philosophical novel set on an island , ' ' The Aspiring Naturalist ' ' . Other European scholars influenced by ' ' Philosophus Autodidactus ' ' include Gottfried Leibniz , Melchisdech Thvenot , John Wallis , Christiaan Huygens , George Keith , Robert Barclay , the Quakers , and Samuel Hartlib. # Political philosophy # Early Islamic political philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion , and the process of ijtihad to find truth - in effect ' ' all ' ' philosophy was political as it had real implications for governance . This view was challenged by the Mutazilite philosophers , who held a more secular view and were supported by secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the Caliphate . The only Greek political treatise known to medieval Muslims at the time was Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' . By the end of the Islamic Golden Age , however , the Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed . Islamic political philosophy , was , indeed , rooted in the very sources of Islam , i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah , the words and practices of Muhammad . However , in the Western thought , it is generally known that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam : al-Kindi ( Alkindus ) , al-Farabi ( Alfarabi ) , bn Sina ( Avicenna ) , Ibn Bajjah ( Avempace ) , Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ) , and Ibn Khaldun . The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah , sultan , ummah , cemaa -and even the core terms of the Qur'an , i.e. ibada , din , rab and ilah- is taken as the basis of an analysis . Hence , not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories . For example , the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah , or that of Shia Islam on the concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought . The clashes between the Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character . The 14th-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists . The British *26;75748;TOOLONG Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun 's definition of government , an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself , the best in the history of political theory . 
@@171964 Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world . It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law , environmental sociology , ecotheology , ecological economics , ecology and environmental geography . There are many ethical decisions that human beings make with respect to the environment . For example : Should we continue to clear cut forests for the sake of human consumption ? Why should we continue to propagate our species , and life itself ? Should we continue to make gasoline powered vehicles ? What environmental obligations do we need to keep for future generations ? Is it right for humans to knowingly cause the extinction of a species for the convenience of humanity ? How should we best use and conserve the space environment to secure and expand life ? The academic field of environmental ethics grew up in response to the work of scientists such as Rachel Carson and events such as the first Earth Day in 1970 , when environmentalists started urging philosophers to consider the philosophical aspects of environmental problems . Two papers published in ' ' Science ' ' had a crucial impact : Lynn White 's The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis ( March 1967 ) and Garrett Hardin 's The Tragedy of the Commons ( December 1968 ) . For Marshall , three general ethical approaches have emerged over the last 40 years . Marshall uses the following terms to describe them : Libertarian Extension , the Ecologic Extension and Conservation Ethics . # Libertarian extension # Marshalls Libertarian extension echoes a civil liberty approach ( i.e. a commitment to extend equal rights to all members of a community ) . In environmentalism , though , the community is generally thought to consist of non-humans as well as humans . Andrew Brennan was an advocate of ecologic humanism ( eco-humanism ) , the argument that all ontological entities , animate and in-animate , can be given ethical worth purely on the basis that they exist . The work of Arne Nss and his collaborator Sessions also falls under the libertarian extension , although they preferred the term deep ecology . Deep ecology is the argument for the intrinsic value or inherent worth of the environment the view that it is valuable in itself . Their argument , incidentally , falls under both the libertarian extension and the ecologic extension . Peter Singer 's work can be categorized under Marshall 's ' libertarian extension ' . He reasoned that the expanding circle of moral worth should be redrawn to include the rights of non-human animals , and to not do so would be guilty of speciesism . Singer found it difficult to accept the argument from intrinsic worth of a-biotic or non-sentient ( non-conscious ) entities , and concluded in his first edition of Practical Ethics that they should not be included in the expanding circle of moral worth . This approach is essentially then , bio-centric . However , in a later edition of Practical Ethics after the work of Nss and Sessions , Singer admits that , although unconvinced by deep ecology , the argument from intrinsic value of non-sentient entities is plausible , but at best problematic . Singer advocated a humanist ethics . # Ecologic extension # Alan Marshall 's category of ecologic extension places emphasis not on human rights but on the recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all biological ( and some abiological ) entities and their essential diversity . Whereas Libertarian Extension can be thought of as flowing from a political reflection of the natural world , Ecologic Extension is best thought of as a scientific reflection of the natural world . Ecological Extension is roughly the same classification of Smiths eco-holism , and it argues for the intrinsic value inherent in collective ecological entities like ecosystems or the global environment as a whole entity . Holmes Rolston , among others , has taken this approach . This category might include James Lovelock 's Gaia hypothesis ; the theory that the planet earth alters its geo-physiological structure over time in order to ensure the continuation of an equilibrium of evolving organic and inorganic matter . The planet is characterized as a unified , holistic entity with ethical worth of which the human race is of no particular significance in the long run . # Conservation ethics # Marshall 's category of ' conservation ethics ' is an extension of use-value into the non-human biological world . It focuses only on the worth of the environment in terms of its utility or usefulness to humans . It contrasts the intrinsic value ideas of ' deep ecology ' , hence is often referred to as ' shallow ecology ' , and generally argues for the preservation of the environment on the basis that it has extrinsic value instrumental to the welfare of human beings . Conservation is therefore a means to an end and purely concerned with mankind and inter-generational considerations . It could be argued that it is this ethic that formed the underlying arguments proposed by Governments at the Kyoto Protocol # Humanist theories # Following the bio-centric and eco-holist theory distinctions , Michael Smith further classifies Humanist theories as those that require a set of criteria for moral status and ethical worth , such as sentience . This applies to the work of Peter Singer who advocated a hierarchy of value similar to the one devised by Aristotle which relies on the ability to reason . This was Singer 's solution to the problem that arises when attempting to determine the interests of a non-sentient entity such as a garden weed . Singer also advocated the preservation of world heritage sites , unspoilt parts of the world that acquire a scarcity value as they diminish over time . Their preservation is a bequest for future generations as they have been inherited from our ancestors and should be passed down to future generations so they can have the opportunity to decide whether to enjoy unspoilt countryside or an entirely urban landscape . A good example of a world heritage site would be the tropical rainforest , a very specialist ecosystem that has taken centuries to evolve . Clearing the rainforest for farmland often fails due to soil conditions , and once disturbed , can take thousands of years to regenerate. # Applied theology # The Christian world view sees the universe as created by God , and humankind accountable to God for the use of the resources entrusted to humankind . Ultimate values are seen in the light of being valuable to God . This applies both in breadth of scope - caring for people ( Matthew 25 ) and environmental issues , e.g. environmental health ( Deuteronomy 22.8 ; 23.12-14 ) - and dynamic motivation , the love of Christ controlling ( 2 Corinthians 5.14f ) and dealing with the underlying spiritual disease of sin , which shows itself in selfishness and thoughtlessness . In many countries this relationship of accountability is symbolised at harvest thanksgiving . ( B.T. Adeney : Global Ethics in New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology 1995 Leicester ) # Anthropocentrism # Anthropocentrism simply places humans at the centre of the universe ; the human race must always be its own primary concern . It has become customary in the Western tradition to consider only our species when considering the environmental ethics of a situation . Therefore , everything else in existence should be evaluated in terms of its utility for us , thus committing speciesism . All environmental studies should include an assessment of the intrinsic value of non-human beings . In fact , based on this very assumption , a philosophical article has explored recently the possibility of humans ' willing extinction as a gesture toward other beings . The authors refer to the idea as a thought experiment that should not be understood as a call for action . What anthropocentric theories do not allow for is the fact that a system of ethics formulated from a human perspective may not be entirely accurate ; humans are not necessarily the centre of reality . The philosopher Baruch Spinoza argued that we tend to assess things wrongly in terms of their usefulness to us . Spinoza reasoned that if we were to look at things objectively we would discover that everything in the universe has a unique value . Likewise , it is possible that a human-centred or *28;49008;TOOLONG ethic is not an accurate depiction of reality , and there is a bigger picture that we may or may not be able to understand from a human perspective . Peter Vardy distinguished between two types of anthropocentrism . A strong thesis anthropocentric ethic argues that humans are at the center of reality and it is right for them to be so . Weak anthropocentrism , however , argues that reality can only be interpreted from a human point of view , thus humans have to be at the centre of reality as they see it . Another point of view has been developed by Bryan Norton , who has become one of the essential actors of environmental ethics through his launching of what has become one of its dominant trends : environmental pragmatism . Environmental pragmatism refuses to take a stance in the dispute between the defenders of anthropocentrist ethics and the supporters of non anthropocentrist ethics . Instead , Norton prefers to distinguish between ' ' strong anthropocentrism ' ' and ' ' weak-or *25;49038;TOOLONG ' ' and develops the idea that only the latter is capable of not underestimating the diversity of instrumental values that humans may derive from the natural world . A recent view relates anthropocentrism to the future of life . Biotic ethics are based on the human identity as part of gene/protein organic life whose effective purpose is self-propagation . This implies a human purpose to secure and propagate life . Humans are central because only we can secure life beyond the duration of the Sun , possibly for trillions of eons . Biotic ethics values life itself , as embodied in biological structures and processes . Humans are special because we can secure the future of life on cosmological scales . In particular , humans can continue sentient life that enjoys its existence , adding further motivation to propagate life . Humans can secure the future of life , and this future can give human existence a cosmic purpose . # Status of the field # Environmental ethics became a subject of sustained academic philosophic reflection in the 1970s . Throughout the 1980s it remained marginalized within the discipline of philosophy , attracting the attention of a fairly small group of thinkers spread across the world . Only after 1990 did the field gain institutional recognition at programs such as Colorado State University , the University of Montana , Bowling Green State University , and the University of North Texas . In 1991 , Schumacher College of Dartington , England , was founded and now provides an MSc in Holistic Science . These programs began to offer a masters degree with a specialty in environmental ethics/philosophy . Beginning in 2005 the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas offered a PhD program with a concentration in environmental ethics/philosophy . In Germany , the University of Greifswald has recently established an international program in Landscape Ecology &amp; Nature Conservation with a strong focus on environmental ethics . In 2009 , the University of Munich and Deutsches Museum founded the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society , an international , interdisciplinary center for research and education in the environmental humanities . 
@@175456 In philosophy of mind , dualism is the position that mental phenomena are , in some respects , non-physical , or that the mind and body are not identical . Thus , it encompasses a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter , and is contrasted with other positions , such as physicalism , in the mindbody problem . Aristotle shared Plato 's view of multiple souls , ( ' ' psych ' ' ) and further elaborated a hierarchical arrangement , corresponding to the distinctive functions of plants , animals and people : a nutritive soul of growth and metabolism , that all three share ; a perceptive soul of pain , pleasure and desire , that only people and other animals share ; and the faculty of reason , that is unique to people only . In this view , a soul is the hylomorphic form of a viable organism , wherein each level of the hierarchy formally supervenes upon the substance of the preceding level . Thus , for Aristotle , all three souls perish when the living organism dies . For Plato however , the soul was not dependent on the physical body ; he believed in metempsychosis , the migration of the soul to a new physical body . Dualism is closely associated with the philosophy of Ren Descartes ( 1641 ) , which holds that the mind is a nonphysical substance . Descartes clearly identified the mind with consciousness and self-awareness and distinguished this from the brain as the seat of intelligence . Hence , he was the first to formulate the mindbody problem in the form in which it exists today . Dualism is contrasted with various kinds of monism . Substance dualism is contrasted with all forms of materialism , but property dualism may be considered a form of emergent materialism or non-reductive physicalism in some sense . # Types of mindbody dualism # Ontological dualism makes dual commitments about the nature of existence as it relates to mind and matter , and can be divided into three different types : # ' ' Substance dualism ' ' asserts that mind and matter are fundamentally distinct kinds of substances. # ' ' Property dualism ' ' suggests that the ontological distinction lies in the differences between properties of mind and matter ( as in emergentism ) . # ' ' Predicate dualism ' ' claims the irreducibility of mental predicates to physical predicates. # Cartesian dualism # Substance dualism is a type of dualism most famously defended by Ren Descartes , which states that there are two fundamental kinds of substance : mental and material . According to his philosophy , which is specifically called Cartesian dualism , the mental does not have extension in space , and the material can not think . Substance dualism is important historically for having given rise to much thought regarding the famous mindbody problem . Substance dualism is a philosophical position compatible with most theologies which claim that immortal souls occupy an independent realm of existence distinct from that of the physical world . # Property dualism # Property dualism asserts that an ontological distinction lies in the differences between properties of mind and matter , and that consciousness is ontologically irreducible to neurobiology and physics . It asserts that when matter is organized in the appropriate way ( i.e. , in the way that living human bodies are organized ) , mental properties emerge . Hence , it is a sub-branch of emergent materialism . What views properly fall under the ' ' property dualism ' ' rubric is itself a matter of dispute . There are different versions of property dualism , some of which claim independent categorisation . Non-reductive physicalism is a form of property dualism in which it is asserted that all mental states are causally reducible to physical states . One argument for this has been made in the form of anomalous monism expressed by Donald Davidson , where it is argued that mental events are identical to physical events , and there can be strict law-governed causal relationships . Another argument for this has been expressed by John Searle , who is the advocate of a distinctive form of physicalism he calls biological naturalism . His view is that although mental states are ontologically irreducible to physical states , they are causally reducible ( see causality ) . He has acknowledged that to many people his views and those of property dualists look a lot alike . But he thinks the comparison is misleading . # #Epiphenomenalism# # Epiphenomenalism is a form of Property Dualism , in which it is asserted that one or more mental states do not have any influence on physical states ( both ontologically and causally irreducible ) . It asserts that while material causes give rise to sensations , volitions , ideas , etc. , such mental phenomena themselves cause nothing further : they are causal dead-ends . This can be contrasted to interactionism , on the other hand , in which mental causes can produce material effects , and vice-versa . # Predicate dualism # Predicate dualism is a view espoused by nonreductive physicalists such as Donald Davidson and Jerry Fodor , who maintain that while there is only one ontological category of substances and properties of substances ( usually physical ) , the predicates that we use to describe mental events can not be redescribed in terms of ( or reduced to ) physical predicates of natural languages . If we characterize ' ' predicate monism ' ' as the view subscribed to by eliminative materialists , who maintain that such intentional predicates as believe , desire , think , feel , etc. , will eventually be eliminated from both the language of science and from ordinary language because the entities to which they refer do not exist , then ' ' predicate dualism ' ' is most easily defined as the negation of this position . Predicate dualists believe that so-called folk psychology , with all of its propositional attitude ascriptions , is an ineliminable part of the enterprise of describing , explaining and understanding human mental states and behavior . Davidson , for example , subscribes to Anomalous Monism , according to which there can be no strict psycho-physical laws which connect mental and physical events under their descriptions as ' ' mental ' ' and ' ' physical ' ' events . However , all mental events also have physical descriptions . It is in terms of the latter that such events can be connected in law-like relations with other physical events . Mental predicates are irreducibly different in character ( rational , holistic and necessary ) from physical predicates ( contingent , atomic and causal ) . # Dualist views of mental causation # This part is about causation between properties and states of the thing under study , not its substances or predicates . Here a state is the set of all properties of what 's being studied . Thus each state describes only one time . # Interactionism # Interactionism is the view that mental states , such as beliefs and desires , causally interact with physical states . This is a position which is very appealing to common-sense intuitions , notwithstanding the fact that it is very difficult to establish its validity or correctness by way of logical argumentation or empirical proof . It seems to appeal to common-sense because we are surrounded by such everyday occurrences as a child 's touching a hot stove ( physical event ) which causes him to feel pain ( mental event ) and then yell and scream ( physical event ) which causes his parents to experience a sensation of fear and protectiveness ( mental event ) and so on . # Non-reductive physicalism # Non-reductive physicalism is the idea that while mental states are physical they are not reducible to physical properties , in that an ontological distinction lies in the differences between the properties of mind and matter . According to non-reductive physicalism all mental states are causally reducible to physical states where mental properties map to physical properties and vice-versa . A prominent form of non-reductive physicalism called anomalous monism was first proposed by Donald Davidson in his 1970 paper ' ' Mental events ' ' , where it is claimed that mental events are identical with physical events , and that the mental is anomalous , i.e. under their mental descriptions these mental events are not regulated by strict physical laws . # Epiphenomenalism # According to epiphenomenalism , all mental events are caused by a physical event and have no physical consequences , and that one or more mental states do not have any influence on physical states . So , the mental event of deciding to pick up a rock ( M ) is caused by the firing of specific neurons in the brain ( P ) . When the arm and hand move to pick up the rock ( E ) this is not caused by the preceding mental event M , nor by M and P together , but only by P. The physical causes are in principle reducible to fundamental physics , and therefore mental causes are eliminated using this reductionist explanation . If P causes both M and E , there is no overdetermination in the explanation for E. The idea that even if the animal were conscious nothing would be added to the production of behavior , even in animals of the human type , was first voiced by La Mettrie ( 1745 ) , and then by Cabanis ( 1802 ) , and was further explicated by Hodgson ( 1870 ) and Huxley ( 1874 ) . Jackson gave a subjective argument for epiphenomenalism , but later refuted it and embraced physicalism. # Parallelism # Psycho-physical parallelism is a very unusual view about the interaction between mental and physical events which was most prominently , and perhaps ' ' only ' ' truly , advocated by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz . Like Malebranche and others before him , Leibniz recognized the weaknesses of Descartes ' account of causal interaction taking place in a physical location in the brain . Malebranche decided that such a material basis of interaction between material and immaterial was impossible and therefore formulated his doctrine of occasionalism , stating that the interactions were really caused by the intervention of God on each individual occasion . Leibniz 's idea is that God has created a pre-established harmony such that it only seems ' ' as if ' ' physical and mental events cause , and are caused by , one another . In reality , mental causes only have mental effects and physical causes only have physical effects . Hence the term ' ' parallelism ' ' is used to describe this view . # Occasionalism # Occasionalism is a philosophical doctrine about causation which says that created substances can not be efficient causes of events . Instead , all events are taken to be caused directly by God himself . The theory states that the illusion of efficient causation between mundane events arises out of a constant conjunction that God had instituted , such that every instance where the cause is present will constitute an occasion for the effect to occur as an expression of the aforementioned power . This occasioning relation , however , falls short of efficient causation . In this view , it is not the case that the first event causes God to cause the second event : rather , God first caused one and then caused the other , but chose to regulate such behaviour in accordance with general laws of nature . Some of its most prominent historical exponents have been Louis de la Forge , Arnold Geulincx , and Nicholas Malebranche. # Historical overview # # Plato and Aristotle # In the dialogue ' ' Phaedo ' ' , Plato formulated his famous Theory of Forms as distinct and immaterial substances of which the objects and other phenomena that we perceive in the world are nothing more than mere shadows . Plato makes it clear , in the ' ' Phaedo ' ' , that the Forms are the ' ' universalia ante res ' ' , i.e. they are ideal universals , by which we are able to understand the world . In his allegory of the cave Plato likens the achievement of philosophical understanding to emerging into the sun from a dark cave , where only vague shadows of what lies beyond that prison are cast dimly upon the wall . Plato 's forms are non-physical and non-mental . They exist nowhere in time or space , but neither do they exist in the mind , nor in the pleroma of matter ; rather , matter is said to participate in form ( ' ' methexis ' ' ) . It remained unclear however , even to Aristotle , exactly what Plato intended by that . Aristotle argued at length against many aspects of Plato 's forms , creating his own doctrine of hylomorphism wherein form and matter coexist . Ultimately however , Aristotle 's aim was to perfect a theory of forms , rather than to reject it . Although Aristotle strongly rejected the independent existence Plato attributed to forms , his metaphysics do agree with Plato 's ' ' a priori ' ' considerations quite often . For example , Aristotle argues that changeless , eternal substantial form is necessarily immaterial . Because matter provides a stable substratum for a change in form , matter always has the potential to change . Thus , if given an eternity in which to do so , it ' ' will ' ' , necessarily , exercise that potential . Part of Aristotle 's ' ' psychology ' ' , the study of the soul , is his account of the ability of humans to reason and the ability of animals to perceive . In both cases , perfect copies of forms are acquired , either by direct impression of environmental forms , in the case of perception , or else by virtue of contemplation , understanding and recollection . He believed the mind can literally assume any form being contemplated or experienced , and it was unique in its ability to become a blank slate , having no essential form . As thoughts of earth are not heavy , any more than thoughts of fire are casually efficient , they provide an immaterial complement for the formless mind . # From Neoplatonism to scholasticism # In the early Middle Ages , there was a resurgence of what is now called Neoplatonism , which is generally based on Plato 's philosophy . Neoplatonism exerted a considerable influence on Christianity , as did the philosophy of Aristotle via scholasticism . In the scholastic tradition of Saint Thomas Aquinas , a number of whose doctrines have been incorporated into Roman Catholic dogma , the soul is the substantial form of a human being . Aquinas held the ' ' Quaestiones disputate de anima ' ' , or Disputed questions on the soul , at the Roman ' ' studium provinciale ' ' of the Dominican Order at Santa Sabina , the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas , ' ' Angelicum ' ' during the academic year 1265-66 . By 1268 Aquinas had written at least the first book of the ' ' Sententia Libri De anima ' ' , Aquinas ' commentary on Aristotle 's ' ' De anima ' ' , the translation of which from the Greek was completed by Aquinas ' Dominican associate at Viterbo William of Moerbeke in 1267 . Like Aristotle , Aquinas held that the human being was a unified composite substance of two substantial principles : form and matter . The soul is the substantial form and so the first actuality of a material organic body with the potentiality for life . While Aquinas defended the unity of human nature as a composite substance constituted by these two inextricable principles of form and matter , he also argued for the incorruptibility of the intellectual soul , in contrast to the corruptibility of the vegetative and sensitive animation of plants and animals . His argument for the subsistence and incorruptibility of the intellectual soul takes its point of departure from the metaphysical principle that operation follows upon being ( ' ' agiture sequitur esse ' ' ) , i.e. , the activity of a thing reveals the mode of being and existence it depends upon . Since the intellectual soul exercises its own ' ' per se ' ' intellectual operations without employing material faculties , i.e. intellectual operations are immaterial , the intellect itself and the intellectual soul , must likewise be immaterial and so incorruptible . Even though the intellectual soul of man is able to subsist upon the death of the human being , Aquinas does not hold that the human person is able to remain integrated at death . The separated intellectual soul is neither a man nor a human person . The intellectual soul ' ' by itself ' ' is ' ' not ' ' a human person ( i.e. , an individual ' ' supposit ' ' of a rational nature ) . Hence , Aquinas held that soul of St. Peter pray for us would be more appropriate than St. Peter pray for us , because all things connected with his person , including memories , ended with his corporeal life . The Catholic doctrine of the resurrection of the body states that at the second coming , the souls of the departed will be reunited with their bodies as a whole person ( substance ) and witness to the apocalypse . The thorough consistency between dogma and contemporary science was maintained here in part from a serious attendance to the principle that there can be only one truth . Consistency with science , logic , philosophy , and faith remained a high priority for centuries , and a university doctorate in theology generally included the entire science curriculum as a prerequisite . This doctrine is not universally accepted by Christians today . Many believe that one 's immortal soul goes directly to Heaven upon death of the body . # Descartes and his disciples # In his ' ' Meditations on First Philosophy ' ' , Descartes embarked upon a quest in which he called all his previous beliefs into doubt , in order to find out of what he could be certain . In so doing , he discovered that he could doubt whether he had a body ( it could be that he was dreaming of it or that it was an illusion created by an evil demon ) , but he could not doubt whether he had a mind . This gave Descartes his first inkling that the mind and body were different things . The mind , according to Descartes , was a thinking thing ( lat. ' ' res cogitans ' ' ) , and an immaterial substance . This thing was the essence of himself , that which doubts , believes , hopes , and thinks . The distinction between mind and body is argued in Meditation VI as follows : I have a clear and distinct idea of myself as a thinking , non-extended thing , and a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended and non-thinking thing . Whatever I can conceive clearly and distinctly , God can so create . So , Descartes argues , the mind , a thinking thing , can exist apart from its extended body . And therefore , the mind is a substance distinct from the body , a substance whose essence is thought . The central claim of what is often called ' ' Cartesian dualism ' ' , in honor of Descartes , is that the immaterial mind and the material body , while being ontologically distinct substances , causally interact . This is an idea that continues to feature prominently in many non-European philosophies . Mental events cause physical events , and vice-versa . But this leads to a substantial problem for Cartesian dualism : How can an immaterial mind cause anything in a material body , and vice-versa ? This has often been called the problem of interactionism . Descartes himself struggled to come up with a feasible answer to this problem . In his letter to Elisabeth of Bohemia , Princess Palatine , he suggested that animal spirits interacted with the body through the pineal gland , a small gland in the centre of the brain , between the two hemispheres . The term Cartesian dualism is also often associated with this more specific notion of causal interaction through the pineal gland . However , this explanation was not satisfactory : ' ' how ' ' can an immaterial mind interact with the physical pineal gland ? Because Descartes ' was such a difficult theory to defend , some of his disciples , such as Arnold Geulincx and Nicholas Malebranche , proposed a different explanation : That all mindbody interactions required the direct intervention of God . According to these philosophers , the appropriate states of mind and body were only the ' ' occasions ' ' for such intervention , not real causes . These occasionalists maintained the strong thesis that all causation was directly dependent on God , instead of holding that all causation was natural except for that between mind and body . # Arguments for dualism # # The subjective argument # An important fact is that minds perceive intramental states differently from sensory phenomena , and this cognitive difference results in mental and physical phenomena having seemingly disparate properties . The subjective argument holds that these properties are irreconcilable under a physical mind . Mental events have a certain ' ' subjective ' ' quality to them , whereas physical seem not to . So , for example , one may ask what a burned finger feels like , or what the blueness of the sky looks like , or what nice music sounds like . Philosophers of mind call the subjective aspects of mental events ' ' qualia ' ' ( or ' ' raw feels ' ' ) . There is something ' ' that it 's like ' ' to feel pain , to see a familiar shade of blue , and so on . There are ' ' qualia ' ' involved in these mental events . And the claim is that qualia can not be reduced to anything physical . Thomas Nagel first characterized the problem of qualia for physicalistic monism in his article , What is it like to be a bat ? . Nagel argued that even if we knew everything there was to know from a third-person , scientific perspective about a bat 's sonar system , we still would n't know what it is like to ' ' be ' ' a bat . However , others argue that ' ' qualia ' ' are consequent of the same neurological processes that engender the bat 's mind , and will be fully understood as the science develops . Frank Jackson formulated his well-known ' ' knowledge argument ' ' based upon similar considerations . In this thought experiment , known as Mary 's room , he asks us to consider a neuroscientist , Mary , who was born , and has lived all of her life , in a black and white room with a black and white television and computer monitor where she collects all the scientific data she possibly can on the nature of colours . Jackson asserts that as soon as Mary leaves the room , she will come to have new knowledge which she did not possess before : the knowledge of the experience of colours ( i.e. , what they are like ) . Although Mary knows everything there is to know about colours from an objective , third-person perspective , she has never known , according to Jackson , what it was like to see red , orange , or green . If Mary really learns something new , it must be knowledge of something non-physical , since she already knew everything about the physical aspects of colour . However , Jackson later rejected his argument and embraced physicalism . He notes that Mary obtains knowledge not of color , but of a new intramental state , ' ' seeing color ' ' . Also , he notes that Mary might say wow , and as a mental state affecting the physical , this clashed with his former view of epiphenomenalism . David Lewis ' response to this argument , now known as the ' ' ability ' ' argument , is that what Mary really came to know was simply the ability to recognize and identify color sensations to which she had previously not been exposed . Daniel Dennett and others also provide arguments against this notion ( see Criticism ) . # Special sciences argument # Robinson argues that , if predicate dualism is correct , then there are special sciences that are irreducible to physics . These allegedly irreducible subjects , which contain irreducible predicates , differ from hard sciences in that they are interest-relative . Here , interest-relative fields depend on the existence of minds that can have interested perspectives . Psychology is one such science ; it completely depends on and presupposes the existence of the mind . Physics is the general analysis of nature , conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves . On the other hand , the study of meteorological weather patterns or human behavior is only of interest to humans themselves . The point is that having a perspective on the world is a psychological state . Therefore , the special sciences presuppose the existence of minds which can have these states . If one is to avoid ontological dualism , then the mind that ' ' has ' ' a perspective must be part of the physical reality to which it ' ' applies ' ' its perspective . If this is the case , then in order to perceive the physical world as psychological , the mind must have a perspective on the physical . This , in turn , presupposes the existence of mind . However , cognitive science and psychology do not require the mind to be irreducible , and operate on the assumption that it has physical basis . In fact , it is common in science to presuppose a complex system ; while fields such as chemistry , biology , or geology could be verbosely expressed in terms of quantum field theory , it is convenient to use levels of abstraction like molecules , cells , or the mantle . It is often difficult to decompose these levels without heavy analysis and computation . Sober has also advanced philosophical arguments against the notion of irreducibility. # The zombie argument # The zombie argument is based on a thought experiment proposed by David Chalmers . The basic idea is that one can imagine , and , therefore , conceive the existence of , an apparently functioning human being/body without any conscious states being associated with it . Chalmers ' argument is that it seems plausible that such a being could exist because all that is needed is that all and only the things that the physical sciences describe and observe about a human being must be true of the zombie . None of the concepts involved in these sciences make reference to consciousness or other mental phenomena , and any physical entity can be described scientifically via physics whether it is conscious or not . The mere logical possibility of a p-zombie demonstrates that consciousness is a natural phenomenon beyond the current unsatisfactory explanations . Chalmers states that one probably could not build a living p-zombie because living things seem to require a level of consciousness . However ( unconscious ? ) robots built to simulate humans may become the first real p-zombies . Hence Chalmers half-joking calls for the need to build a consciousness meter to ascertain if any given entity , human or robot , is conscious or not . Others such as Dennett have argued that the notion of a philosophical zombie is an incoherent , or unlikely , concept . In particular , nothing proves that an entity ( e.g. a computer or robot ) which would perfectly mimic human beings , and especially perfectly mimic expressions of feelings ( like joy , fear , anger , ... ) , would not indeed experience them , thus having similar states of consciousness to what a real human would have . It is argued that under physicalism , one must either believe that anyone including oneself might be a zombie , or that no one can be a zombie following from the assertion that one 's own conviction about being ( or not being ) a zombie is a product of the physical world and is therefore no different from anyone else's. # Argument from personal identity # This argument concerns the differences between the applicability of counterfactual conditionals to physical objects , on the one hand , and to conscious , personal agents on the other . In the case of any material object , e.g. a printer , we can formulate a series of counterfactuals in the following manner : # This printer could have been made of straw . # This printer could have been made of some other kind of plastics and vacuum-tube transistors. # This printer could have been made of 95% of what it is actually made of and 5% vacuum-tube transistors , etc .. Somewhere along the way from the printer 's being made up exactly of the parts and materials which actually constitute it to the printer 's being made up of some different matter at , say , 20% , the question of whether this printer is the same printer becomes a matter of arbitrary convention . Imagine the case of a person , Frederick , who has a counterpart born from the same egg and a slightly genetically modified sperm . Imagine a series of counterfactual cases corresponding to the examples applied to the printer . Somewhere along the way , one is no longer sure about the identity of Frederick . In this latter case , it has been claimed , ' ' overlap of constitution ' ' can not be applied to the identity of mind . As Madell puts it : : But while my present body can thus have its partial counterpart in some possible world , my present consciousness can not . Any present state of consciousness that I can imagine either is or is not mine . There is no question of degree here . If the counterpart of Frederick , Frederickus , is 70% constituted of the same physical substance as Frederick , does this mean that it is also 70% mentally identical with Frederick ? Does it make sense to say that something is mentally 70% Frederick ? A possible solution to this dilemma is that of open individualism. # Argument from reason # Philosophers and scientists such as Victor Reppert , William Hasker , and Alvin Plantinga have developed an argument for dualism dubbed the argument from reason . They credit C.S. Lewis with first bringing the argument to light in his book ' ' Miracles ' ' ; Lewis called the argument The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism , which was the title of chapter three of ' ' Miracles ' ' . The argument postulates that if , as naturalism entails , all of our thoughts are the effect of a physical cause , then we have no reason for assuming that they are also the consequent of a reasonable ground . However , knowledge is apprehended by reasoning from ground to consequent . Therefore , if naturalism were true , there would be no way of knowing it ( or anything else ) , except by a fluke . Through this logic , the statement I have reason to believe naturalism is valid is inconsistent in the same manner as I never tell the truth . That is , to conclude its truth would eliminate the grounds from which to reach it . To summarize the argument in the book , Lewis quotes J. B. S. Haldane , who appeals to a similar line of reasoning : In his essay Is Theology Poetry ? , Lewis himself summarises the argument in a similar fashion when he writes : But Lewis later agreed with Elizabeth Anscombe 's response to his ' ' Miracles ' ' argument . She showed that an argument could be valid and ground-consequent even if its propositions were generated via physical cause and effect by non-rational factors . Similar to Anscombe , Richard Carrier and John Beversluis have written extensive objections to the argument from reason on the untenability of its first postulate . # Causal interaction # If consciousness ( the mind ) can exist independently of physical reality ( the brain ) , one must explain how physical memories are created concerning consciousness . Dualism must therefore explain how consciousness affects physical reality . The explanation given by Arnold Geulincx and Nicholas Malebranche is that of occasionalism , where all mindbody interactions require the direct intervention of God . At the time C. S. Lewis wrote ' ' Miracles ' ' , quantum mechanics ( and physical indeterminism ) was only in the initial stages of acceptance , but still Lewis stated the logical possibility that , if the physical world was proved to be indeterministic , this would provide an entry ( interaction ) point into the traditionally viewed closed system , where a scientifically described physically probable/improbable event could be philosophically described as an action of a non-physical entity on physical reality . He states , however , that none of the arguments in his book will rely on this . It should also be noted that , while some interpretations of quantum mechanics consider wave function collapse to be indeterminate , in others this event is defined and deterministic . # Arguments against dualism # # Causal interaction # One argument against Dualism is with regard to causal interaction . If consciousness ( the mind ) can exist independently of physical reality ( the brain ) , one must explain how physical memories are created concerning consciousness . Dualism must therefore explain how consciousness affects physical reality . One of the main objections to dualistic interactionism is lack of explanation of how the material and immaterial are able to interact . Varieties of dualism according to which an immaterial mind causally affects the material body and vice-versa have come under strenuous attack from different quarters , especially in the 20th century . Critics of dualism have often asked how something totally immaterial can affect something totally material this is the basic ' ' problem of causal interaction ' ' . First , it is not clear ' ' where ' ' the interaction would take place . For example , burning one 's finger causes pain . Apparently there is some chain of events , leading from the burning of skin , to the stimulation of nerve endings , to something happening in the peripheral nerves of one 's body that lead to one 's brain , to something happening in a particular part of one 's brain , and finally resulting in the sensation of pain . But pain is not supposed to be spatially locatable . It might be responded that the pain takes place in the brain . But evidently , the pain is in the finger . This may not be a devastating criticism . However , there is a second problem about the interaction . Namely , the question of ' ' how ' ' the interaction takes place , where in dualism the mind is assumed to be non-physical and by definition outside of the realm of science . The ' ' mechanism ' ' which explains the connection between the mental and the physical would therefore be a philosophical proposition as compared to a scientific theory . For example , compare such a mechanism to a physical mechanism that ' ' is ' ' well understood . Take a very simple causal relation , such as when a cue ball strikes an eight ball and causes it to go into the pocket . What happens in this case is that the cue ball has a certain amount of momentum as its mass moves across the pool table with a certain velocity , and then that momentum is transferred to the eight ball , which then heads toward the pocket . Compare this to the situation in the brain , where one wants to say that a decision causes some neurons to fire and thus causes a body to move across the room . The intention to cross the room now is a mental event and , as such , it does not have physical properties such as force . If it has no force , then it would seem that it could not possibly cause any neuron to fire . However , with Dualism , an explanation is required of how something without any physical properties has physical ' ' effects ' ' . # Argument from physics # The argument from physics is closely related to the argument from causal interaction . Many physicists and consciousness researchers have argued that any action of a nonphysical mind on the brain would entail the violation of physical laws , such as the conservation of energy . By assuming a deterministic physical universe , the objection can be formulated more precisely . When a person decides to walk across a room , it is generally understood that the decision to do so , a mental event , immediately causes a group of neurons in that person 's brain to fire , a physical event , which ultimately results in his walking across the room . The problem is that if there is something totally nonphysical ' ' causing ' ' a bunch of neurons to fire , then there is no ' ' physical ' ' event which causes the firing . This means that some physical energy is required to be generated against the physical laws of the deterministic universe this is by definition a miracle and there can be no scientific explanation of ( repeatable experiment performed regarding ) where the ' ' physical ' ' energy for the firing came from . Such interactions would violate the fundamental laws of physics . In particular , if some external source of energy is responsible for the interactions , then this would violate the law of the conservation of energy . Dualistic interactionism has therefore been argued against in that it violates a general heuristic principle of science : the causal closure of the physical world . # #Replies to the argument from causal interaction and the argument from physics# # Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Catholic Encyclopedia give two possible replies to these objections . The first reply is that the mind may influence the ' ' distribution ' ' of energy , without altering its quantity , but such an influence still violates energy conservation . The second possibility is to deny that the human body is causally closed , as the conservation of energy applies only to closed systems . However , physicalists object no evidence exists for the causal non-closure of the human body . Another reply is akin to parallelism Mills holds that behavioral events are causally overdetermined , and can be explained by either physical or mental causes alone . An overdetermined event is fully accounted for by multiple causes at once . However , J. J. C. Smart and Paul Churchland have pointed out that if physical phenomena fully determine behavioral events , then by Occam 's razor an unphysical mind is unnecessary . Another reply to this objection , given by Robinson , is that there is a possibility that the interaction may involve dark energy , dark matter or some other currently unknown scientific process . However , such processes would necessarily be physical , and in this case dualism is replaced with physicalism , or the interaction point is left for study at a later time when these physical processes are understood . Another reply is that the interaction taking place in the human body may not be described by billiard ball classical mechanics . If a nondeterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct then microscopic events are indeterminate , where the degree of determinism increases with the scale of the system ( see Quantum decoherence ) . Philosophers Karl Popper and John Eccles and physicist Henry Stapp have theorized that such indeterminacy may apply at the macroscopic scale . However classical and quantum calculations show that quantum decoherence effects do not play a role in brain activity . Indeed , macroscopic quantum states have only ever been observed in superconductors near absolute zero . Thomas Breuer in 1994 had proven that physical theories valid for the whole universe are impossible . Any theory will be wrong when applied to a system which contains the observer himself due to self-reference . This proves that the observer 's own body does not follow the same physical laws as the rest of the universe . But other people from the observer 's point of view will obey the usual physical laws , so conducting experiments on them would not indicate any divergence from the physical predictions . Robin Collins responds that energy conservation objections misunderstand the role of energy conservation in physics . Well understood scenarios in general relativity violate energy conservation and quantum mechanics provides precedent for causal interactions , or correlation without energy or momentum exchange . # Argument from brain damage # This argument has been formulated by Paul Churchland , among others . The point is that , in instances of some sort of brain damage ( e.g. caused by automobile accidents , drug abuse , pathological diseases , etc. ) , it is always the case that the mental substance and/or properties of the person are significantly changed or compromised . If the mind were a completely separate substance from the brain , how could it be possible that every single time the brain is injured , the mind is also injured ? Indeed , it is very frequently the case that one can even predict and explain the kind of mental or psychological deterioration or change that human beings will undergo when specific parts of their brains are damaged . So the question for the dualist to try to confront is how can all of this be explained if the mind is a separate and immaterial substance from , or if its properties are ontologically independent of , the brain . Property dualism and William Hasker 's emergent dualism seek to avoid this problem . They assert that the mind is a property or substance that emerges from the appropriate arrangement of physical matter , and therefore could be affected by any rearrangement of matter . Phineas Gage , who suffered destruction of one or both frontal lobes by a projectile iron rod , is often cited as an example illustrating that the brain causes mind . Gage certainly exhibited some mental changes after his accident . This physical event , the destruction of part of his brain , therefore caused some kind of change in his mind , suggesting a correlation between brain states and mental states . Similar examples abound ; neuroscientist David Eagleman describes the case of another individual who exhibited escalating pedophilic tendencies at two different times , and in each case was found to have tumors growing in a particular part of his brain . Case studies aside , modern experiments have demonstrated that the relation between brain and mind is much more than simple correlation . By damaging , or manipulating , specific areas of the brain repeatedly under controlled conditions ( e.g. in monkeys ) and reliably obtaining the same results in measures of mental state and abilities , neuroscientists have shown that the relation between damage to the brain and mental deterioration is likely causal . This conclusion is further supported by data from the effects of neuro-active chemicals ( such as those affecting neurotransmitters ) on mental functions , but also from research on neurostimulation ( direct electrical stimulation of the brain , including transcranial magnetic stimulation ) . # Argument from biological development # Another common argument against dualism consists in the idea that since human beings ( both phylogenesis # Argument from neuroscience # In some contexts , the decisions that a person makes can be detected up to 10 seconds in advance by means of scanning their brain activity . Furthermore subjective experiences and covert attitudes can be detected , as can mental imagery . This is strong empirical evidence that cognitive processes have physical basis in the brain , # Argument from simplicity # The argument from simplicity is probably the simplest and also the most common form of argument against dualism of the mental . The dualist is always faced with the question of why anyone should find it necessary to believe in the existence of two , ontologically distinct , entities ( mind and brain ) , when it seems possible and would make for a simpler thesis to test against scientific evidence , to explain the same events and properties in terms of one . It is a heuristic principle in science and philosophy not to assume the existence of more entities than is necessary for clear explanation and prediction ( see Occam 's razor ) . This argument was criticized by Peter Glassen in a debate with J. J. C. Smart in the pages of ' ' Philosophy ' ' in the late 1970s and early 1980s . Glassen argued that , because it is not a physical entity , Occam 's Razor can not consistently be appealed to by a physicalist or materialist as a justification of mental states or events , such as the belief that dualism is false . The idea is that Occam 's razor may not be as unrestricted as it is normally described ( applying to all qualitative postulates , even abstract ones ) but instead concrete ( only applies to physical objects ) . If one applies Occam 's Razor unrestrictedly , then it recommends monism until pluralism either receives more support , or until it is disproved . If one applies Occam 's Razor only concretely , then it may not be used on abstract concepts ( this route , however , has serious consequences for selecting between hypotheses ' ' about ' ' the abstract ) . 
@@177438 The term philosophy of history refers to the theoretical aspect of history , in two senses . It is customary to distinguish critical philosophy of history from speculative philosophy of history . Critical philosophy of history is the theory aspect of the discipline of academic history , and deals with questions such as the nature of historical evidence , the degree to which objectivity is possible , etc . Speculative philosophy of history is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance , if any , of human history . Furthermore , it speculates as to a possible teleological end to its developmentthat is , it asks if there is a design , purpose , directive principle , or finality in the processes of human history . Part of Marxism , for example , is speculative philosophy of history . Another example is historiosophy , the term coined by Gershom Scholem to describe his understanding of history and metaphysics . Though there is some overlap between the two aspects , they can usually be distinguished ; modern professional historians tend to be skeptical about speculative philosophy of history . Sometimes critical philosophy of history is included under historiography . Philosophy of history should not be confused with the history of philosophy , which is the study of the development of philosophical ideas through time . Speculative philosophy of history asks at least three basic questions :  What is the proper unit for the study of the human past the individual subject ? The family , ' ' polis ' ' ( city ) or sovereign territory ? The civilization or culture ? Or the whole of the human species ?  Are there any broad patterns that we can discern through the study of the human past ? Are there , for example , patterns of progress ? Or cycles ? Is history deterministic ? Or are there no patterns or cycles , and is human history regulated by irregularity ? Related to this is the study of individual agency and its impact in history , functioning within , or opposed to , larger trends and patterns .  If history can indeed be said to progress , what is its ultimate direction ? What ( if any ) is the driving force of that progress ? # Pre-modern history # In the ' ' Poetics ' ' , Aristotle argued that poetry is superior to history because poetry speaks of what ' ' must ' ' or ' ' should ' ' be true rather than merely what ' ' is ' ' true . This reflects early axial concerns ( good/bad , right/wrong ) over metaphysical concerns for what is . Accordingly , classical historians felt a duty to ennoble the world . In keeping with philosophy of history , it is clear that their philosophy of value imposed upon their process of writing historyphilosophy influenced method and hence product . Herodotus , considered by some as the first systematic historian , and , later , Plutarch freely invented discourse From the Classical period to the Renaissance , historians alternated between focusing on subjects designed to improve mankind and on a devotion to fact . History was composed mainly of hagiographies of monarchs or epic poetry describing heroic gestures such as the Song of Roland about the Battle of Roncevaux Pass , during Charlemagne 's first campaign to conquer the Iberian peninsula . In the 14th century , Ibn Khaldun , who is considered one of the fathers of the philosophy of history , discussed his philosophy of history and society in detail in his ' ' Muqaddimah ' ' ( 1377 ) . His work was a culmination of earlier works by Sociology in medieval Islam in the spheres of Islamic ethics , political science , and historiography , such as those of al-Farabi , Ibn Miskawayh , al-Dawwani , and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi . Ibn Khaldun often criticized idle superstition and uncritical acceptance of historical data . As a result , he introduced a scientific method to the philosophy of history , which was considered something new to his age , and he often referred to it as his new science , which is now associated with historiography . His historical method also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of state , communication , propaganda , and systematic bias in history . By the 18th century , historians had turned toward a more positivist approach focusing on fact as much as possible , but still with an eye on telling histories that could instruct and improve . Starting with Fustel de Coulanges and Theodor Mommsen , historical studies began to progress towards a more modern scientific form . In the Victorian era , the debate in historiography thus was not so much whether history was intended to improve the reader , but what causes turned history and how historical change could be understood . # Cyclical and linear history # Given that human beings currently believe themselves to be the only Earthly creatures capable of abstract thought , a perception of time , and a manipulation of thought concerning the past , the future and the present , an inquiry into the nature of history is based in part on some working understanding of time in the human experience . History ( as contemporarily understood by Western thought ) , tends to follow an assumption of linear progression : this happened , and then that happened ; that happened because this happened first . This is in part a reflection of Western Thought 's foundation of cause and effect . Most ancient cultures held a mythical conception of history and time that was not linear . They believed that history was cyclical with alternating Dark and Golden Ages . Plato called this the Great Year , and other Greeks called it an aeon or eon . Examples are the ancient doctrine of eternal return , which existed in Ancient Egypt , the Indian religions , or the Greek Pythagoreans ' and the Stoics ' conceptions . In ' ' The Works and Days ' ' , Hesiod described five Ages of Man : the Gold Age , the Silver Age , the Bronze Age , the Heroic Age , and the Iron Age , which began with the Dorian invasion . Other scholars suggest there were just four ages , corresponding to the four metals , and the Heroic age was a description of the Bronze Age . A four age count would be in line with the Vedic or Hindu ages known as the Kali , Dwapara , Treta and Satya yugas . The Greeks believed that just as mankind went through four stages of character during each rise and fall of history so did government . They considered democracy and monarchy as the healthy regimes of the higher ages ; and oligarchy and tyranny as corrupted regimes common to the lower ages . In the East cyclical theories of history were developed in China ( as a theory of dynastic cycle ) and in the Islamic world by Ibn Khaldun . The story of the Fall of Man from the Garden of Eden in Judaism and Christianity can be seen in a similar light , which would give the basis for theodicies , which attempts to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the existence of God creating a global explanation of history with the belief in a Messianic Age . Theodicies claimed that history had a progressive direction leading to an eschatological end , such as the Apocalypse , given by a superior power . Augustine of Hippo , Thomas Aquinas or Bossuet in his ' ' Discourse On Universal History ' ' ( 1679 ) formulated such theodicies , but Leibniz , who coined the term , was the most famous philosopher who created a theodicy . Leibniz based his explanation on the principle of sufficient reason , which states that anything that happens , does happen for a specific reason . Thus , what man saw as evil , such as wars , epidemia and natural disasters , was in fact only an effect of his perception ; if one adopted God 's view , this evil event in fact only took place in the larger divine plan . Hence , theodicies explained the necessity of evil as a relative element that forms part of a larger plan of history . Leibniz 's principle of sufficient reason was not , however , a gesture of fatalism . Confronted with the antique problem of future contingents , Leibniz invented the theory of compossible worlds , distinguishing two types of necessity , to cope with the problem of determinism . During the Renaissance , cyclical conceptions of history would become common , illustrated by the decline of the Roman Empire . Machiavelli 's ' ' Discourses on Livy ' ' ( 15131517 ) are an example . The notion of Empire contained in itself its ascendance and its decadence , as in Edward Gibbon 's ' ' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' ' ( 1776 ) , which was placed on the ' ' Index Librorum Prohibitorum ' ' . Cyclical conceptions were maintained in the 19th and 20th centuries by authors such as Oswald Spengler , Nikolay Danilevsky , and Paul Kennedy , who conceived the human past as a series of repetitive rises and falls . Spengler , like Butterfield was writing in reaction to the carnage of the first World War , believed that a civilization enters upon an era of Caesarism after its soul dies . He thought that the soul of the West was dead and Caesarism was about to begin . The recent development of mathematical models of long-term secular sociodemographic cycles has revived interest in cyclical theories of history ( see , for example , ' ' Historical Dynamics ' ' by Peter Turchin , or ' ' Introduction to Social Macrodynamics ' ' by Andrey Korotayev ' ' et al . ' ' ) . # Sustainable history # ' ' Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man ' ' is a philosophy of history proposed by Nayef Al-Rodhan , where history is defined as ' ' a durable progressive trajectory in which the quality of life on this planet or all other planets is premised on the guarantee of human dignity for all at all times under all circumstances . ' ' This theory views history as a linear progression propelled by good governance , which is , in turn , to be achieved through balancing the emotional , amoral , and egoistic elements of human nature with the human dignity needs of reason , security , human rights , accountability , transparency , justice , opportunity , innovation , and inclusiveness . ' ' Human dignity ' ' lies at the heart of this theory and is paramount for ensuring the sustainable history of humankind . Among other things , human dignity means having a positive sense of self and instilling individuals with respect for the communities to which they belong . Thus , reconciling humans ' predisposition for emotionally self-interested behavior with the imperatives of human dignity appears as the one of the most important challenges to global policymakers . At national level , they have to protect their citizens against violence and provide them with access to food , housing , clothes , health care , and education . Basic welfare provision and security are fundamental to ensuring human dignity . Environment and ecological considerations need to be addressed as well . Finally , cultural diversity , inclusiveness and participation at all levels , of all communities are key imperatives of human dignity . In this respect , the sustainable history philosophy challenges existing concepts of civilisations , such as Samuel Huntington 's ' ' ' clash of civilisations . ' ' Instead , it argues that human civilisation should not be thought of as consisting of numerous separate and competing civilisations , but rather it should be thought of collectively as only one human civilisation . Within this civilisation are many geo-cultural domains that comprise ' ' sub-cultures . ' ' Nayef Al-Rodhan ' ' ' ' envisions human civilisation as an ocean into which the different geo-cultural domains flow like rivers , ' ' The Ocean Model of one Human Civilization . ' ' At points where geo-cultural domains first enter the ocean of human civilisation , there is likely to be a concentration or dominance of that culture . However , over time , all the rivers of geo-cultural domains become one . There is fluidity at the ocean 's centre and cultures have the opportunity to borrow between them . Under such historical conditions the most advanced forms of human enterprise can thrive and lead us to a ' ' ' civilisational triumph ' . ' ' Nevertheless , there are cases where geographical proximity of various cultures can also lead to friction and conflict . Nayef Al-Rodhan concludes that within an increasingly globalised , interconnected and interdependent world , human dignity can not be ensured globally and in a sustainable way through sole national means . A genuine global effort is required to meet the minimum criteria of human dignity globally . Areas such as conflict prevention , socio-economic justice , gender equality , protection of human rights , environmental protection require a holistic approach and a common action . # The Enlightenment 's ideal of progress # During the ' ' Aufklrung ' ' , or Enlightenment , history began to be seen as both linear and irreversible . Condorcet 's interpretations of the various stages of humanity or Auguste Comte 's positivism were one of the most important formulations of such conceptions of history , which trusted social progress . As in Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's ' ' Emile ' ' ( 1762 ) treatise on education ( or the art of training men ) , the ' ' Aufklrung ' ' conceived the human species as perfectible : human nature could be infinitely developed through a well-thought pedagogy . In ' ' What is Enlightenment ? ' ' ( 1784 ) , Immanuel Kant defined the ' ' Aufklrung ' ' as the capacity to think by oneself , without referring to an exterior authority , be it a prince or tradition : In a paradoxical way , Kant supported in the same time enlightened despotism as a way of leading humanity towards its autonomy . He had conceived the process of history in his short treaty ' ' Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose ' ' ( 1784 ) . On one hand , enlightened despotism was to lead nations toward their liberation , and progress was thus inscribed in the scheme of history ; on the other hand , liberation could only be acquired by a singular gesture , ' ' Sapere Aude ' ' ! Thus , autonomy ultimately relied on the individual 's determination and courage to think without the direction of another . After Kant , Hegel developed a complex theodicy in the ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' ( 1807 ) , which based its conception of history on dialectics : the negative ( wars , etc. ) was conceived by Hegel as the motor of history . Hegel argued that history is a constant process of dialectic clash , with each thesis encountering an opposing idea or event antithesis . The clash of both was superated in the synthesis , a conjunction that conserved the contradiction between thesis and its antithesis while sublating it . As Marx famously explained afterwards , concretely that meant that if Louis XVI 's monarchic rule in France was seen as the thesis , the French Revolution could be seen as its antithesis . However , both were sublated in Napoleon , who reconciled the revolution with the ' ' Ancien Rgime ' ' ; he conserved the change . Hegel thought that reason accomplished itself , through this dialectical scheme , in History . Through labour , man transformed nature so he could recognize himself in it ; he made it his home . Thus , reason spiritualized nature . Roads , fields , fences , and all the modern infrastructure in which we live is the result of this spiritualization of nature . Hegel thus explained social progress as the result of the labour of reason in history . However , this dialectical reading of history involved , of course , contradiction , so history was also conceived of as constantly conflicting : Hegel theorized this in his famous dialectic of the lord and the bondsman . According to Hegel , Thus , philosophy was to explain ' ' Geschichte ' ' ( history ) afterward . Philosophy is always late , it is only an interpretation of what is rational in the realand , according to Hegel , only what is recognized as rational is real . This idealist understanding of philosophy as interpretation was famously challenged by Karl Marx 's ' ' 11th thesis on Feuerbach ' ' ( 1845 ) : ' ' Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways ; the point , however , is to change it . ' ' # Social evolutionism # Inspired by the Enlightenment 's ideal of progress , social evolutionism became a popular conception in the 19th century . Auguste Comte 's ( 17981857 ) positivist conception of history , which he divided into the theological stage , the metaphysical stage and the positivist stage , brought upon by modern science , was one of the most influential doctrines of progress . The Whig interpretation of history , as it was later called , associated with scholars of the Victorian and Edwardian eras in Britain , such as Henry Maine or Thomas Macaulay , gives an example of such influence , by looking at human history as progress from savagery and ignorance toward peace , prosperity , and science . Maine described the direction of progress as from status to contract , from a world in which a child 's whole life is pre-determined by the circumstances of his birth , toward one of mobility and choice . The publication of Darwin 's ' ' The Origin of Species ' ' in 1859 introduced human evolution . However , it was quickly transposed from its original biological field to the social field , in social Darwinism theories . Herbert Spencer , who coined the term survival of the fittest , or Lewis Henry Morgan in ' ' Ancient Society ' ' ( 1877 ) developed evolutionist theories independent from Darwin 's works , which would be later interpreted as social Darwinism . These 19th-century unilineal evolution theories claimed that societies start out in a ' ' primitive ' ' state and gradually become more civilised over time , and equated the culture and technology of Western civilisation with progress . Ernst Haeckel formulated his recapitulation theory in 1867 , which stated that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny : the evolution of each individual reproduces the species ' evolution , such as in the development of embryos . Hence , a child goes through all the steps from primitive society to modern society . This was later discredited . Haeckel did not support Darwin 's theory of natural selection introduced in ' ' The Origin of Species ' ' ( 1859 ) , rather believing in a Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics . Progress was not necessarily , however , positive . Arthur Gobineau 's ' ' An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races ' ' ( 185355 ) was a decadent description of the evolution of the Aryan race which was disappearing through miscegenation . Gobineau 's works had a large popularity in the so-called scientific racism theories that developed during the New Imperialism period . After the first world war , and even before Herbert Butterfield ( 19001979 ) harshly criticized it , the Whig interpretation had gone out of style . The bloodletting of that conflict had indicted the whole notion of linear progress . Paul Valry famously said : We civilizations now know ourselves mortal . However , the notion itself did n't completely disappear . ' ' The End of History and the Last Man ' ' ( 1992 ) by Francis Fukuyama proposed a similar notion of progress , positing that the worldwide adoption of liberal democracies as the single accredited political system and even modality of human consciousness would represent the End of History . Fukuyama 's work stems from an Kojevian reading of Hegel 's ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' ( 1807 ) . Unlike Maurice Godelier who interprets history as a process of transformation , Tim Ingold suggests that history is a movement of autopoiesis A key component to making sense of all of this is to simply recognize that all these issues in social evolution merely serve to support the suggestion that how one considers the nature of history will impact the interpretation and conclusions drawn about history . The critical under-explored question is less about history as content and more about history as process . In 2011 Steven Pinker wrote a history of violence and humanity from an evolutionary perspective in which he shows that violence has declined statistically over time . # The validity of the Great man theory in historical studies # After Hegel , who insisted on the role of great men in history , with his famous statement about Napoleon , I saw the Spirit on his horse , Thomas Carlyle argued that history was the biography of a few central individuals , ' ' heroes ' ' , such as Oliver Cromwell or Frederick the Great , writing that The history of the world is but the biography of great men . His heroes were political and military figures , the founders or topplers of states . His history of great men , of geniuses good and evil , sought to organize change in the advent of greatness . Explicit defenses of Carlyle 's position have been rare in the late 20th century . Most philosophers of history contend that the motive forces in history can best be described only with a wider lens than the one he used for his portraits . A.C. Danto , for example , wrote of the importance of the individual in history , but extended his definition to include ' ' social individuals , ' ' defined as individuals we may provisionally characterize as containing individual human beings amongst their parts . Examples of social individuals might be social classes ... , national groups ... , religious organizations ... , large-scale events ... , large-scale social movements ... , etc . ( Danto , The Historical Individual , 266 , in ' ' Philosophical Analysis and History , ' ' edited by Williman H. Dray , Rainbow-Bridge Book Co. , 1966 ) . The Great Man approach to history was most popular with professional historians in the 19th century ; a popular work of this school is the ' ' Encyclopdia Britannica Eleventh Edition ' ' ( 1911 ) , which contains lengthy and detailed biographies about the great men of history . For example to read about ( what is known today as ) the Migrations Period , consult the biography of Attila the Hun . After Marx 's conception of a materialist history based on the class struggle , which raised attention for the first time to the importance of social factors such as economics in the unfolding of history , Herbert Spencer wrote You must admit that the genesis of the great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears , and the social state into which that race has slowly grown .... Before he can remake his society , his society must make him . The Annales School , founded by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch , were a major landmark on the shift from a history centered on individual subjects to studies concentrating in geography , economics , demography , and other social forces . Fernand Braudel 's studies on the Mediterranean Sea as hero of history , Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 's history of climate , etc. , were inspired by this School . # Does history have a teleological sense ? # : ' ' For further information : Social progress and Progress ( history ) ' ' Theodicy claimed that history had a progressive direction leading to an eschatological end , given by a superior power . However , this transcendent teleological sense can be thought as immanent to human history itself . Hegel probably represents the epitome of teleological philosophy of history . Hegel 's teleology was taken up by Francis Fukuyama in his ' ' The End of History and the Last Man ' ' ( see ' ' Social evolutionism ' ' above ) . Thinkers such as Nietzsche , Michel Foucault , Althusser , or Deleuze deny any teleological sense to history , claiming that it is best characterized by discontinuities , ruptures , and various time-scales , which the Annales School had demonstrated . Schools of thought influenced by Hegel see history as progressive , too but they saw , and see progress as the outcome of a dialectic in which factors working in opposite directions are over time reconciled ( see above ) . History was best seen as directed by a ' ' Zeitgeist ' ' , and traces of the Zeitgeist could be seen by looking backward . Hegel believed that history was moving man toward civilization , and some also claim he thought that the Prussian state incarnated the End of History . In his ' ' Lessons on the History of Philosophy ' ' , he explains that each epochal philosophy is in a way the whole of philosophy ; it is not a subdivision of the Whole but this Whole itself apprehended in a specific modality. # Historical accounts of writing history # A classic example of history being written by the victorsor more precisely , by the survivors would be the scarcity of unbiased information that has survived to the present about the Carthaginians . Roman historians left tales of cruelty and human sacrifice practiced by their longtime enemies ; however no Carthaginian was left alive to give their side of the story . Similarly , we only have the Christian side of how Christianity came to be the dominant religion of Europe . However , we know very little about other European religions , such as Paganism . We have the European version of the conquest of the Americas , with an interpretation of the native version of events only emerging to popular consciousness since the early 1980s . We have Herodotus 's Greek history of the Persian Wars , but the Persian recall of the events is little known in Western Culture . In many respects , the head of state may be guilty of cruelties or even simply a different way of doing things . In some societies , however , to speak of or write critically of rulers can amount to conviction of treason and death . As such , in many ways , what is left as the official record of events is oft influenced by one 's desire to avoid exile or execution . However , losers in certain time periods often have more of an impetus than the winners to write histories that comfort themselves and justify their own behavior . Examples include the historiography of the American Civil War , where it can be argued that the losers ( Southerners ) have written more history books on the subject than the winners and , until recently , dominated the national perception of history . Confederate generals such as Lee and Jackson are generally held in higher esteem than their Union counterparts . Popular films such as ' ' Cold Mountain ' ' , ' ' Gone with the Wind ' ' , and ' ' The Birth of a Nation ' ' have told the story from the Southern viewpoint . Also , despite losing the Vietnam War , the United States produces more scholarship on the war than any other country , including Vietnam . Popular history abounds with condemnations of the cruelty of African slave traders and colonists , despite the winning status of those people in their heyday . As is true of pre-Columbian populations of America , the historical record of America being discovered by Europeans is now sometimes presented as a history of invasion , exploitation and dominance of a people who had been there before the Europeans . This reinterpretation of the historical record is called historical revisionism , which can take the form of negationism , which is the denial of genocides and crimes against humanity . The revision of previously accepted historical accounts is a constant process in which today 's winners are tomorrow 's losers , and the rise and fall of present institutions and movements influence the way historians see the past . In the same sense , the teaching , in French secondary schools , of the Algerian War of Independence and of colonialism , has been criticized by several historians , and is the subject of frequent debates . Thus , in contradiction with the February 23 , 2005 law on colonialism , voted by the UMP conservative party , historian Benjamin Stora notes that : # As Algerians do not appear in their indigenous conditions and their sub-citizens status , as the history of nationalist movement is never evoqued , as none of the great figures of the resistance Messali Hadj , Ferhat Abbas emerge nor retain attention , in one word , as no one explains to students what has been colonisation , we make them unable to understand why the decolonisation took place . # # Michel Foucault 's analysis of historical and political discourse # The historico-political discourse analyzed by Michel Foucault in ' ' Society Must Be Defended ' ' ( 197576 ) considered truth as the fragile product of a historical struggle , first conceptualized under the name of race struggle however , race ' s meaning was different from today 's biological notion , being closer to the sense of nation ( distinct from nation-states ; its signification is here closer to people ) . Boulainvilliers , for example , was an exponent of nobility rights . He claimed that the French nobility were the racial descendants of the Franks who invaded France ( while the Third Estate was descended from the conquered Gauls ) , and had right to power by virtue of right of conquest . He used this approach to formulate a historical thesis of the course of French political historya critique of both the monarchy and the Third Estate . Foucault regarded him as the founder of the historico-political discourse as political weapon . In Great Britain , this historico-political discourse was used by the bourgeoisie , the people and the aristocracy as a means of struggle against the monarchy - cf. Edward Coke or John Lilburne . In France , Boulainvilliers , Nicolas Frret , and then Sieys , Augustin Thierry , and Cournot reappropriated this form of discourse . Finally , at the end of the 19th century , this discourse was incorporated by racialist biologists and eugenicists , who gave it the modern sense of race and , even more , transformed this popular discourse into a state racism ( Nazism ) . According to Foucault , Marxists also seized this discourse and took it in a different direction , transforming the essentialist notion of race into the historical notion of class struggle , defined by socially structured position : capitalist or proletarian . This displacement of discourse constitutes one of the bases of Foucault 's thought : discourse is not tied to the subject , rather the subject is a construction of discourse . Moreover , discourse is not the simple ideological and mirror reflexion of an economical infrastructure , but is a product and the battlefield of multiples forceswhich may not be reduced to the simple dualist contradiction of two energies . Foucault shows that what specifies this discourse from the juridical and philosophical discourse is its conception of truth : truth is no longer absolute , it is the product of race struggle . History itself , which was traditionally the sovereign 's science , the legend of his glorious feats , became the discourse of the people , a political stake . The subject is not any more a neutral arbitrate , judge , or legislator , as in Solon 's or Kant 's conceptions . Therefore , - what became - the historical subject must search in history 's furor , under the juridical code 's dried blood , the multiple contingencies from which a fragile rationality temporarily finally emerged . This may be , perhaps , compared to the sophist discourse in Ancient Greece . Foucault warns that it has nothing to do with Machiavelli 's or Hobbes 's discourse on war , for to this popular discourse , the Sovereign is nothing more than an illusion , an instrument , or , at the best , an enemy . It is the historico-political discourse a discourse that beheads the king , anyway that dispenses itself from the sovereign and that denounces it . # History and education # Since Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' , civic education and instruction has had a central role in politics and the constitution of a common identity . History has thus sometimes become the target of propaganda , for example in historical revisionist attempts . Plato 's insistence on the importance of education was relayed by Rousseau 's ' ' Emile : Or , On Education ' ' ( 1762 ) , a necessary counterpart of ' ' The Social Contract ' ' ( also 1762 ) . Public education has been seen by republican regimes and the Enlightenment as a prerequisite of the masses ' progressive emancipation , as conceived by Kant in ' ' Was Ist Aufklrung ? ' ' ( What Is Enlightenment ? , 1784 ) . The creation of modern education systems , instrumental in the construction of nation-states , also passed by the elaboration of a common , national history . History textbooks are one of the many ways through which this common history was transmitted . ' ' Le Tour de France par deux enfants ' ' , for example , was the Third Republic 's classic textbook for elementary school : it described the story of two French children who , following the German annexation of the Alsace-Lorraine region in 1870 , go on a ' ' tour de France ' ' during which they become aware of France 's diversity and the existence of the various ' ' patois ' ' . In most societies , schools and curricula are controlled by governments . As such , there is always an opportunity for governments to impose . Granted , often governments in free societies serve to protect freedoms , check hate speech , and breaches of constitutional rights ; but the power itself to impose is available to use the education system to influence thought of malleable minds , positively or negatively , towards truth or towards a version of truth . A recent example of the fragility of government involvement with history textbooks was the Japanese history textbook controversies . # Narrative and history # A current popular conception considers the value of narrative in the writing and experience of history . Important analysts in this area include Paul Ricur , Louis Mink , W.B. Gallie , and Hayden White . Some have doubted this approach because it draws fictional and historical narrative closer together , and there remains a perceived fundamental bifurcation between historical and fictional narrative ( Ricur , vol. 1 , 52 ) . In spite of this , most modern historians , such as Barbara Tuchman or David McCullough , would consider narrative writing important to their approaches . The theory of narrated history ( or historicized narrative ) holds that the structure of lived experience , and such experience narrated in both fictional and non-fictional works ( literature and historiography ) have in common the figuration of temporal experience . In this way , narrative has a generously encompassing ability to ' grasp together ' and integrate into one whole and complete story the composite representations of historical experience ( Ricur x , 173 ) . Louis Mink writes that , the significance of past occurrences is understandable only as they are locatable in the ensemble of interrelationships that can be grasped only in the construction of narrative form ( 148 ) . Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson also analyzes historical understanding this way , and writes that history is inaccessible to us except in textual form it can be approached only by way of prior ( re ) textualization ( 82 ) . # History and causality # Narrative and causal approaches to history have often been contrasted or , even , opposed to one another , yet they can also be viewed as complementary . Some philosophers of history such as Arthur Danto have claimed that explanations in history and elsewhere describe not simply an event something that happens but a change . Like many practicing historians , they treat causes as intersecting actions and sets of actions which bring about larger changes , in Dantos words : to decide what are the elements which persist through a change is rather simple when treating an individuals shift in attitude , but it is considerably more complex and metaphysically challenging when we are interested in such a change as , say , the break-up of feudalism or the emergence of nationalism . Much of the historical debate about causes has focused on the relationship between communicative and other actions , between singular and repeated ones , and between actions , structures of action or group and institutional contexts and wider sets of conditions . John Gaddis has distinguished between exceptional and general causes ( following Marc Bloch ) and between routine and distinctive links in causal relationships : in accounting for what happened at Hiroshima on August 6 , 1945 , we attach greater importance to the fact that President Truman ordered the dropping of an atomic bomb than to the decision of the Army Air Force to carry out his orders . He has also pointed to the difference between immediate , intermediate and distant causes . For his part , Christopher Lloyd puts forward four general concepts of causation used in history : the metaphysical idealist concept , which asserts that the phenomena of the universe are products of or emanations from an omnipotent being or such final cause ; the empiricist ( or Humean ) regularity concept , which is based on the idea of causation being a matter of constant conjunctions of events ; the *37;48886;TOOLONG concept , which is goal-directed , so that goals are causes ; and the realist , structurist and dispositional approach , which sees relational structures and internal dispositions as the causes of phenomena . # History as propaganda : Is history always written by the victors ? # In his Society must be Defended , Michel Foucault posited that the victors of a social struggle use their political dominance to suppress a defeated adversary 's version of historical events in favor of their own propaganda , which may go so far as historical revisionism . ( See ' ' Michel Foucault 's analysis of historical and political discourse ' ' above . ) Nations adopting such an approach would likely fashion a universal theory of history to support their aims , with a teleological and deterministic philosophy of history used to justify the inevitableness and rightness of their victories ( see ' ' The Enlightenment 's ideal of progress ' ' above ) . Philosopher Paul Ricoeur has written of the use of this approach by totalitarian and Nazi regimes , with such regimes exercising a virtual violence upon the diverging tendencies of history ( ' ' History and Truth ' ' 183 ) , and with fanaticism the result . For Ricoeur , rather than a unified , teleological philosophy of history , We carry on several histories simultaneously , in times whose periods , crises , and pauses do not coincide . We enchain , abandon , and resume several histories , much as a chess player who plays several games at once , renewing now this one , now the another ( ' ' History and Truth ' ' 186 ) . For Ricoeur , Marx 's unified view of history may be suspect , but is nevertheless seen as : # ' ' the ' ' philosophy of history ' ' par excellence ' ' : not only does it provide a formula for the dialectics of social forcesunder the name of historical materialismbut it also sees in the proletarian class the reality , which is at once universal and concrete and which , although it be oppressed today , will constitute the unity of history in the future . From this standpoint , the proletarian perspective furnishes both a theoretical meaning ' ' of ' ' history and a practical goal ' ' for ' ' history , a principle of explication and a line of action . ( ' ' History and Truth ' ' 183 ) # Walter Benjamin believed that Marxist historians must take a radically different view point from the bourgeois and idealist points of view , in an attempt to create a sort of history from below , which would be able to conceive an alternative conception of history , not based , as in classical historical studies , on the philosophical and juridical discourse of sovereigntyan approach that would invariably adhere to major states ( the victors ' ) points of view . George Orwell 's ' ' Nineteen Eighty-Four ' ' is a fictional account of the manipulation of the historical record for nationalist aims and manipulation of power . In the book , he wrote , He who controls the present , controls the past . He who controls the past , controls the future . The creation of a national story by way of management of the historical record is at the heart of the debate about history as propaganda . To some degree , all nations are active in the promotion of such national stories , with ethnicity , nationalism , gender , power , heroic figures , class considerations and important national events and trends all clashing and competing within the narrative . # The judgement of history # In Hegel 's philosophy of history , the expression ' ' Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht ' ' ( World History is a tribunal that judges the World ) is used to assert the view that History is what judges men , their actions and their opinions . Since the 20th century , Western historians have disavowed the aspiration to provide the judgement of history . The goals of historical judgements or interpretations are separate to those of legal judgements , that need to be formulated quickly after the events and be final . The issue of collective memory is related to the issue of the judgement of history . Related to the issue of historical judgement are those of the pretension to neutrality and objectivity . Analytical and critical philosophers of history have debated whether historians should express judgements on historical figures , or if this would infringe on their supposed role . In general , positivists and neopositivists oppose any value-judgement as unscientific. 
@@188405 The Rev. Francis Hutcheson ( 8 August 1694 8 August 1746 ) was a Scottish-Irish philosopher born in Ireland to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became known as founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment . Hutcheson took ideas from John Locke , and he was an important influence on the works of several significant Enlightenment thinkers , including David Hume and Adam Smith . # Early life # He is thought to have been born at Drumalig in the parish of Saintfield , County Down , Ireland . He was the son of a Presbyterian minister of Ulster Scottish stock , who was born in Ireland . Hutcheson was educated at Killyleagh , and went on to Scotland to study at the University of Glasgow , where he spent six years at first in the study of philosophy , classics and general literature , and afterwards in the study of theology , receiving his degree in 1712 . While a student , he worked as tutor to the Earl of Kilmarnock . He was licensed as a minister of the Church of Scotland in 1716. # Return to Ireland # Facing suspicions about his Irish roots and his association with New Licht theologian John Simson ( then under investigation by Scottish ecclesiastical courts ) , a ministry in Scotland was unlikely to be a success , so he left the church , returning to Ireland to pursue a career in academia . He was induced to start a private academy in Dublin , where he taught for 10 years , also studying philosophy and produced during 1725 ' ' Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue ' ' . This writing is written as two treatises ; the subject of the first is aesthetics - ' ' Concerning Beauty , Order , Harmony , Design ' ' and the second morality - ' ' Concerning Moral Good and Evil ' ' . In Dublin his literary attainments gained him the friendship of many prominent inhabitants . Among these was The Rt . Hon. and Most Rev. Dr William King , the Church of Ireland Lord Archbishop of Dublin , who refused to prosecute Hutcheson in the Archbishop 's Court for keeping a school without the episcopal licence . Hutcheson 's relations with the clergy of the Established Church , especially with Archbishop King and with The Rt . Hon. and Most Rev. Dr Hugh Boulter , Lord Archbishop of Armagh , seem to have been cordial , and his biographer , speaking of the inclination of his friends to serve him , the schemes proposed to him for obtaining promotion , etc. , probably refers to some offers of preferment , on condition of his accepting episcopal ordination . In 1725 Hutcheson married his cousin Mary , daughter of Francis Wilson of Longford . Her dowry included extensive property holdings including the townlands of Drumnacross , Garrinch , and Knockeagh , in co . Longford . They had seven children ; only one survived , also called Francis . While living in Dublin , Hutcheson published anonymously the four essays he is best known by : the ' ' Inquiry concerning Beauty , Order , Harmony and Design ' ' , the ' ' Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil ' ' , in 1725 , the ' ' Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections ' ' and ' ' Illustrations upon the Moral Sense ' ' , in 1728 . The alterations and additions made in the second edition of these Essays were published in a separate form in 1726 . To the period of his Dublin residence are also to be referred the ' ' Thoughts on Laughter ' ' ( 1725 ) ( a criticism of Thomas Hobbes ) and the ' ' Observations on the Fable of the Bees ' ' , being in all six letters contributed to ' ' Hibernicus ' Letters ' ' , a periodical that appeared in Dublin ( 17251727 , 2nd ed. 1734 ) . At the end of the same period occurred the controversy in the ' ' London Journal ' ' with Gilbert Burnet ( probably the second son of The Rt . Rev. Dr Gilbert Burnet , Lord Bishop of Salisbury ) on the True Foundation of Virtue or Moral Goodness . All these letters were collected in one volume ( Glasgow , 1772 ) . # Chair of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow # In 1729 , Hutcheson succeeded his old master , Gershom Carmichael , in the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow , being the first professor there to lecture in English instead of Latin . It is curious that up to this time all his essays and letters had been published anonymously , but their authorship appears to have been well known . In 1730 , he entered on the duties of his office , delivering an inaugural lecture ( afterwards published ) , ' ' De naturali hominum socialitate ' ' ( About the natural fellowship of mankind ) . He appreciated having leisure for his favourite studies ; ' ' non levi igitur laetitia commovebar cum almam matrem Academiam me , suum olim alumnum , in libertatem asseruisse audiveram ' ' . ( I was , therefore , moved by no mean frivolous pleasure when I had heard that my alma mater had delivered me , its one time alumnus , into freedom . ) Yet the works on which Hutcheson 's reputation rests had already been published . During his time as a lecturer in Glasgow College he taught and influenced Adam Smith , the economist and philosopher . The order of topics discussed in the economic portion of Hutchesons System of Moral Philosophy , 1755 is repeated by Smith in his Glasgow Lectures and again in the ' ' Wealth of Nations ' ' . However , it was likely something other than Hutcheson 's written work that had such a great influence on Smith . Hutcheson was well regarded as one of the most prominent lecturers at the University of Glasgow in his day and earned the approbation of students , colleagues , and even ordinary residents of Glasgow with the fervour and earnestness of his orations . His roots as a minister indeed shone through in his lectures , which endeavoured not merely to teach philosophy but also to make his students embody that philosophy in their lives ( appropriately acquiring the epithet , preacher of philosophy ) . Unlike Smith , Hutcheson was not a system builder ; rather , it was his magnetic personality and method of lecturing that so influenced his students and caused the greatest of those to reverentially refer to him as the never to be forgotten Hutcheson , a title that Smith in all his correspondence used to describe only two people , his good friend David Hume and influential mentor , Hutcheson. # Other works # In addition to the works named , the following were published during Hutcheson 's lifetime : a pamphlet entitled ' ' Considerations on Patronage ' ' ( 1735 ) ; ' ' Philosophiae moralis institutio compendiaria , ethices et jurisprudentiae naturalis elementa continens ' ' , lib. iii . ( Glasgow , 1742 ) ; ' ' Metaphysicae synopsis ontologiam et pneumatologiam campleciens ' ' ( Glasgow , 1742 ) . The last work was published anonymously . After his death , his son , Francis Hutcheson published much the longest of his works , ' ' A System of Moral Philosophy , in Three Books ' ' ( 2 vols . London , 1755 ) . To this is prefixed a life of the author , by Dr William Leechman , professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow . The only remaining work assigned to Hutcheson is a small treatise on Logic ( Glasgow , 1764 ) . This compendium , together with the ' ' Compendium of Metaphysics ' ' , was republished at Strassburg in 1722 . Thus Hutcheson dealt with metaphysics , logic and ethics . His importance is , however , due almost entirely to his ethical writings , and among these primarily to the four essays and the letters published during his time in Dublin . His standpoint has a negative and a positive aspect ; he is in strong opposition to Thomas Hobbes and Mandeville , and in fundamental agreement with Shaftesbury , whose name he very properly coupled with his own on the title page of the first two essays . Obvious and fundamental points of agreement between the two authors include the analogy drawn between beauty and virtue , the functions assigned to the moral sense , the position that the benevolent feelings form an original and irreducible part of our nature , and the unhesitating adoption of the principle that the test of virtuous action is its tendency to promote the general welfare . # Ethics # According to Hutcheson , man has a variety of senses , internal as well as external , reflex as well as direct , the general definition of a sense being any determination of our minds to receive ideas independently on our will , and to have perceptions of pleasure and pain ( Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions , sect. 1 ) . He does not attempt to give an exhaustive enumeration of these senses , but , in various parts of his works , he specifies , besides the five external senses commonly recognized ( which he hints might be added to ) : #consciousness , by which each man has a perception of himself and of all that is going on in his own mind ( ' ' Metaph . Syn. pars ' ' i. cap . 2 ) #the sense of beauty ( sometimes called specifically an internal sense ) #a public sense , or ' ' sensus communis ' ' , a determination to be pleased with the happiness of others and to be uneasy at their misery #the moral sense , or moral sense of beauty in actions and affections , by which we perceive virtue or vice , in ourselves or others #a sense of honour , or praise and blame , which makes the approbation or gratitude of others the necessary occasion of pleasure , and their dislike , condemnation or resentment of injuries done by us the occasion of that uneasy sensation called shame #a sense of the ridiculous . It is plain , as the author confesses , that there may be other perceptions , distinct from all these classes , and , in fact , there seems to be no limit to the number of senses in which a psychological division of this kind might result . Of these senses , the moral sense plays the most important part in Hutcheson 's ethical system . It pronounces immediately on the character of actions and affections , approving those that are virtuous , and disapproving those that are vicious . His principal design , he says in the preface to the two first treatises , is to show that human nature was not left quite indifferent in the affair of virtue , to form to itself observations concerning the advantage or disadvantage of actions , and accordingly to regulate its conduct . The weakness of our reason , and the avocations arising from the infirmity and necessities of our nature , are so great that very few men could ever have formed those long deductions of reasons that show some actions to be in the whole advantageous to the agent , and their contraries pernicious . The Author of nature has much better furnished us for a virtuous conduct than our moralists seem to imagine , by almost as quick and powerful instructions as we have for the preservation of our bodies . He has made virtue a lovely form , to excite our pursuit of it , and has given us strong affections to be the springs of each virtuous action . Passing over the appeal to final causes involved in this passage , as well as the assumption that the moral sense has had no growth or history , but was implanted in man exactly as found among the more civilized races -- an assumption common to both Hutcheson and Butler -- his use of the term sense tends to obscure the real nature of the process of moral judgement . For , as established by Hume , this act consists of two parts : an act of deliberation leading to an intellectual judgement ; and a reflex feeling of satisfaction at actions we consider good , and of dissatisfaction at those we consider bad . By the intellectual part of this process , we refer the action or habit to a certain class ; but no sooner is the intellectual process complete than there is excited in us a feeling similar to what myriads of actions and habits of ( apparently ) the same class excited in us on former occasions . Even if the latter part of this process is instantaneous , uniform and exempt from error , the former is not . All mankind may approve of that which is virtuous or makes for the general good , but they entertain the most widely divergent opinions and frequently arrive at directly opposite conclusions as to particular actions and habits . Hutcheson recognizes this obvious distinction in his analysis of the mental process preceding moral action , and does not ignore it , even when writing on the moral approbation or disapprobation that follows action . Nonetheless , Hutcheson , both by his phraseology and the language he uses to describe the process of moral approbation , has done much to favour that loose , popular view of morality which , ignoring the necessity of deliberation and reflection , encourages hasty resolves and unpremeditated judgements . The term moral sense ( which , it may be noticed , had already been employed by Shaftesbury , not only , as William Whewell suggests , in the margin , but also in the text of his ' ' Inquiry ' ' ) , if invariably coupled with the term moral judgement , would be open to little objection ; but , taken alone , as designating the complex process of moral approbation , it is liable to lead not only to serious misapprehension but to grave practical errors . For , if each person 's decisions are solely the result of an immediate intuition of the moral sense , why be at any pains to test , correct or review them ? Or why educate a faculty whose decisions are infallible ? And how do we account for differences in the moral decisions of different societies , and the observable changes in a person 's own views ? The expression has , in fact , the fault of most metaphorical terms : it leads to an exaggeration of the truth it is intended to suggest . But though Hutcheson usually describes the moral faculty as acting instinctively and immediately , he does not , like Butler , confound the moral faculty with the moral standard . The test or criterion of right action is with Hutcheson , as with Shaftesbury , its tendency to promote the general welfare of mankind . He thus anticipates the utilitarianism of Benthamand not only in principle , but even in the use of the phrase the greatest happiness for the greatest number ( ' ' Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil ' ' , sect. 3 ) . Hutcheson does not seem to have seen an inconsistency between this external criterion with his fundamental ethical principle . Intuition has no possible connection with an empirical calculation of results , and Hutcheson in adopting such a criterion practically denies his fundamental assumption . Connected with Hutcheson 's virtual adoption of the utilitarian standard is a kind of moral algebra , proposed for the purpose of computing the morality of actions . This calculus occurs in the ' ' Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil ' ' , sect. 3 . Hutcheson 's other distinctive ethical doctrine is what has been called the benevolent theory of morals . Hobbes had maintained that all other actions , however disguised under apparent sympathy , have their roots in self-love . Hutcheson not only maintains that benevolence is the sole and direct source of many of our actions , but , by a not unnatural recoil , that it is the only source of those actions of which , on reflection , we approve . Consistently with this position , actions that flow from self-love only are morally indifferent . But surely , by the common consent of civilized men , prudence , temperance , cleanliness , industry , self-respect and , in general , the personal virtues , are regarded , and rightly regarded , as fitting objects of moral approbation . This consideration could hardly escape any author , however wedded to his own system , and Hutcheson attempts to extricate himself from the difficulty by laying down the position that a man may justly regard himself as a part of the rational system , and may thus be , in part , an object of his own benevolence ( Ibid ) , --a curious abuse of terms , which really concedes the question at issue . Moreover , he acknowledges that , though self-love does not merit approbation , neither , except in its extreme forms , did it merit condemnation , indeed the satisfaction of the dictates of self-love is one of the very conditions of the preservation of society . To press home the inconsistencies involved in these various statement would be a superfluous task . The vexed question of liberty and necessity appears to be carefully avoided in Hutcheson 's professedly ethical works . But , in the ' ' Synopsis metaphysicae ' ' , he touches on it in three places , briefly stating both sides of the question , but evidently inclining to what he designates as the opinion of the Stoics , in opposition to what he designates as the opinion of the Peripatetics . This is substantially the same as the doctrine propounded by Hobbes and Locke ( to the latter of whom Hutcheson refers in a note ) , namely that our will is determined by motives in conjunction with our general character and habit of mind , and that the only true liberty is the liberty of acting as we will , not the liberty of willing as we will . Though , however , his leaning is clear , he carefully avoids dogmatising , and deprecates the angry controversies to which the speculation on this subject had given rise . It is easy to trace the influence of Hutcheson 's ethical theories on the systems of Hume and Adam Smith . The prominence given by these writers to the analysis of moral action and moral approbation with the attempt to discriminate the respective provinces of the reason and the emotions in these processes , is undoubtedly due to the influence of Hutcheson . To a study of the writings of Shaftesbury and Hutcheson we might , probably , in large measure , attribute the unequivocal adoption of the utilitarian standard by Hume , and , if this be the case , the name of Hutcheson connects itself , through Hume , with the names of Priestley , Paley and Bentham . Butler 's ' ' Sermons ' ' appeared in 1726 , the year after the publication of Hutcheson 's two first essays , and there are parallels between the conscience of the one writer and the moral sense of the other . # Death # Francis Hutcheson loved Dublin , and died while on a visit to that city in 1746 . He is buried in the churchyard of Saint Marys , which is also the final resting place of his cousin William Bruce . Today Saint Marys is a public park located in what is now Wolfe Tone Street . Many United Irishmen would have revered the memory of Francis Hutcheson . Some of the leaders of the Dublin United Irishmen are remembered in the street and place-names of the city . Most Dubliners can direct a visitor to Wolfe Tone Street , Oliver Bond Street , Russell Street , Lord Edward Street and Emmet Road . Never to be forgotten Hutcheson lies in what is now an unmarked grave in the Dublin he loved and where his best work was done . # Mental philosophy # In the sphere of mental philosophy and logic Hutcheson 's contributions are by no means so important or original as in that of moral philosophy . They are interesting mainly as a link between Locke and the Scottish school . In the former subject the influence of Locke is apparent throughout . All the main outlines of Locke 's philosophy seem , at first sight , to be accepted as a matter of course . Thus , in stating his theory of the moral sense , Hutcheson is peculiarly careful to repudiate the doctrine of innate ideas ( see , for instance , ' ' Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil ' ' , sect . I ad fin. , and sect. 4 ; and compare ' ' Synopsis Metaphysicae ' ' , pars i. cap . 2 ) . At the same time he shows more discrimination than does Locke in distinguishing between the two uses of this expression , and between the legitimate and illegitimate form of the doctrine ( ' ' Syn . Metaph. ' ' pars i. cap . 2 ) . All our ideas are , as by Locke , referred to external or internal sense , or , in other words , to sensation and reflection . It is , however , a most important modification of Locke 's doctrine , and connects Hutcheson 's mental philosophy with that of Reid , when he states that the ideas of extension , figure , motion and rest are more properly ideas accompanying the sensations of sight and touch than the sensations of either of these senses ; that the idea of self accompanies every thought , and that the ideas of number , duration and existence accompany every other idea whatsoever ( see ' ' Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions ' ' , sect. i. art . I ; ' ' Syn . Metaph ' ' . pars i. cap . 1 , pars ii . cap . I ; Hamilton on Reid , p. 124 , note ) . Other important points in which Hutcheson follows the lead of Locke are his depreciation of the importance of the so-called laws of thought , his distinction between the primary and secondary qualities of bodies , the position that we can not know the inmost essences of things ( ' ' intimae rerum naturae sive essentiae ' ' ) , though they excite various ideas in us , and the assumption that external things are known only through the medium of ideas ( ' ' Syn . Metaph ' ' . pars i. cap . I ) , though , at the same time , we are assured of the existence of an external world corresponding to these ideas . Hutcheson attempts to account for our assurance of the reality of an external world by referring it to a natural instinct ( ' ' Syn . Metaph ' ' . pars i. cap . 1 ) . Of the correspondence or similitude between our ideas of the primary qualities of things and the things themselves God alone can be assigned as the cause . This similitude has been effected by Him through a law of nature . ' ' Haec prima qualitatum primariarum perceptio , sive mentis actio quaedam sive passio dicatur , non alia similitudinis aut convenientiae inter ejusmodi ideas et res ipsas causa assignari posse videtur , quam ipse Deus , qui certa naturae lege hoc efilcit , Ut notiones , quae rebus praesentibus excitantur , sint ipsis similes , aut saltem earum habitudines , si non veras quantitates , depingant ' ' ( pars ii . cap . I ) . Locke does speak of God annexing certain ideas to certain motions of bodies ; but nowhere does he propound a theory so definite as that here propounded by Hutcheson , which reminds us at least as much of the speculations of Nicolas Malebranche as of those of Locke . Amongst the more important points in which Hutcheson diverges from Locke is his account of the idea of personal identity , which he appears to have regarded as made known to us directly by consciousness . The distinction between body and mind , ' ' corpus ' ' or ' ' materia ' ' and ' ' res cogitans ' ' , is more emphatically accentuated by Hutcheson than by Locke . Generally , he speaks as if we had a direct consciousness of mind as distinct from body , though , in the posthumous work on ' ' Moral Philosophy ' ' , he expressly states that we know mind as we know body by qualities immediately perceived though the substance of both be unknown ( bk. i. ch. 1 ) . The distinction between perception proper and sensation proper , which occurs by implication though it is not explicitly worked out ( see Hamilton 's Lectures on Metaphysics , - Lect. 24 ) . Hamilton 's edition of Dugald Stewart 's Works , v. 420 ) , --the imperfection of the ordinary division of the external senses into two classes , the limitation of consciousness to a special mental faculty ) ( severely criticized in Sir W Hamilton 's ' ' Lectures on Metaphysics ' ' Lect. xii. ) and the disposition to refer on disputed questions of philosophy not so much to formal arguments as to the testimony of consciousness and our natural instincts are also amongst the points in which Hutcheson supplemented or departed from the philosophy of Locke . The last point can hardly fail to suggest the common-sense philosophy of Reid . Thus , in estimating Hutcheson 's position , we find that in particular questions he stands nearer to Locke , but in the general spirit of his philosophy he seems to approach more closely to his Scottish successors . The short ' ' Compendium of Logic ' ' , which is more original than such works usually are , is remarkable chiefly for the large proportion of psychological matter that it contains . In these parts of the book Hutcheson mainly follows Locke . The technicalities of the subject are passed lightly over , and the book is readable . It may be specially noticed that he distinguishes between the mental result and its verbal expression judgment-proposition , that he constantly employs the word idea , and that he defines logical truth as ' ' convenientia signorum cum rebus significatis ' ' ( or ' ' propositionis convenientia cum rebus ipsis ' ' , ' ' Syn . Metaph. ' ' pars i. cap 3 ) , thus implicitly repudiating a merely formal view of logic . # Aesthetics # Hutcheson may further be regarded as one of the earliest modern writers on aesthetics . His speculations on this subject are contained in the ' ' Inquiry concerning Beauty , Order , Harmony and Design ' ' , the first of the two treatises published in 1725 . He maintains that we are endowed with a special sense by which we perceive beauty , harmony and proportion . This is a reflex sense , because it presupposes the action of the external senses of sight and hearing . It may be called an internal sense , both to distinguish its perceptions from the mere perceptions of sight and hearing , and because in some other affairs , where our external senses are not much concerned , we discern a sort of beauty , very like in many respects to that observed in sensible objects , and accompanied with like pleasure ( ' ' Inquiry ' ' , etc. , sect. 1 , XI ) . The latter reason leads him to call attention to the beauty perceived in universal truths , in the operations of general causes and in moral principles and actions . Thus , the analogy between beauty and virtue , which was so favourite a topic with Shaftesbury , is prominent in the writings of Hutcheson also . Scattered up and down the treatise there are many important and interesting observations that our limits prevent us from noticing . But to the student of mental philosophy it may be specially interesting to remark that Hutcheson both applies the principle of association to explain our ideas of beauty and also sets limits to its application , insisting on there being a natural power of perception or sense of beauty in objects , antecedent to all custom , education or example ( see Inquiry , etc. , sects. 6 , 7 ; Hamilton 's ' ' Lectures on Metaphysics ' ' , Lect. 44 ad fin . ) . Hutcheson 's writings gave rise to much controversy . To say nothing of minor opponents , such as Philaretus ( Gilbert Burnet , already alluded to ) , Dr John Balguy ( 16861748 ) , prebendary of Salisbury , the author of two tracts on The Foundation of Moral Goodness , and Dr John Taylor ( 16941761 ) of Norwich , a minister of considerable reputation in his time ( author of ' ' An Examination of the Scheme of Amorality advanced by Dr Hutcheson ' ' ) , the essays appear to have suggested , by antagonism , at least two works that hold a permanent place in the literature of English ethicsButler 's ' ' Dissertation on the Nature of Virtue ' ' , and Richard Price 's ' ' Treatise of Moral Good and Evil ' ' ( 1757 ) . In this latter work the author maintains , in opposition to Hutcheson , that actions are -in themselves right or wrong , that right and wrong are simple ideas incapable of analysis , and that these ideas are perceived immediately by the understanding . We thus see that , not only directly but also through the replies that it called forth , the system of Hutcheson , or at least the system of Hutcheson combined with that of Shaftesbury , contributed , in large measure , to the formation and development of some of the most important of the modern schools of ethics . # Later scholarly mention # References to Hutcheson occur in histories , both of general philosophy and of moral philosophy , as , for instance , in pt. vii . of Adam Smith 's ' ' Theory of Moral Sentiments ' ' ; Mackintosh 's ' ' Progress of Ethical Philosophy ' ' ; Cousin , ' ' Cours d'histoire de la philosophie morale du XVIII ' sicle ' ' ; Whewell 's ' ' Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England ' ' ; A Bain 's ' ' Mental and Moral Science ' ' ; Noah Porter 's Appendix to the English translation of Ueberweg 's ' ' History of Philosophy ' ' ; Sir Leslie Stephen 's ' ' History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Gentury ' ' , etc . See also Martineau , ' ' Types of Ethical Theory ' ' ( London , 1902 ) ; WR Scott , ' ' Francis Hutcheson ' ' ( Cambridge , 1900 ) ; Albee , ' ' History of English Utilitarianism ' ' ( London , 1902 ) ; T Fowler , ' ' Shaftesbury and Hutcheson ' ' ( London , 1882 ) ; J McCosh , ' ' Scottish Philosophy ' ' ( New York , 1874 ) . Of Dr Leechman 's Biography of Hutcheson we have already spoken . J. Veitch gives an interesting account of his professorial work in Glasgow , ' ' Mind ' ' , ii . 209-212. # Influence in Colonial America # Norman Fiering , a specialist in the intellectual history of colonial New England , has described Francis Hutcheson as probably the most influential and respected moral philosopher in America in the eighteenth century . Hutcheson 's early ' ' Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue ' ' , introducing his perennial association of unalienable rights with the collective right to resist oppressive government , was used at Harvard College as a textbook as early as the 1730s. but Wills 's work suffered a scathing rebuttal from Ronald Hamowy . Wills ' view has been partially supported by Samuel Fleischacker , who agreed that it is perfectly reasonable to see Hutchesons influence behind the appeals to sentiment that Jefferson put into his draft of the Declaration .. 
@@192007 Christian philosophy is a development in philosophy that is characterised by coming from a Christian tradition . # Origins # There is no record of any written works produced by Jesus . Nor is there a record of any systematic philosophy or theology written by him . Saul of Tarsus ( later Paul the Apostle or St. Paul ) was a Jewish Roman citizen who wrote a number of epistles , or letters , to early churches in which he taught doctrine and theology . In some ways he functioned in the manner of the popular marketplace philosophers of his day ( Cynics , Skeptics , and some Stoics ) . A number of his speeches and debates with Greek philosophers are recorded in the Biblical Book of Acts , and his epistles became a significant source for later Christian philosophies . # Hellenistic philosophy and early Christian philosophy # Hellenism is the traditional designation for the Greek culture of the Roman Empire in the days of Jesus , Paul , and for centuries after . Classical philosophies of the Greeks had already expired and diluted beyond recognition except for small bands of continuators of the traditions of the Pythagoreans , of Plato , and Aristotle ( whose library was lost for centuries ) . The new philosophies of the Hellenistic world were those of the Cynics , Skeptics , and increasingly the Stoics ; it 's these philosophers who bring us into the world of Hellenistic philosophy . Slowly , a more integral and rounded tendency emerged within Hellenism , but also in certain respects in opposition at times to it in regard to one philosophical problem or another , or an ensemble of problems . Here are some of those thinkers most closely associated with Hellenistic Christian philosophies , listed more or less in chronological order :  Justin Martyr : Christian apologist and philosopher whose work often focused on the doctrine of the Logos and argued that many Stoic and Platonic philosophical ideas were similar to ideas in the Old Testament  Tertullian : Tertullian was a philosopher before he converted to Christianity ; after that change of direction he remained a prolific writer in the second century A.D. , and is commonly called the Father of the Western Church . He was the first church father to use the term ' ' Trinitas ' ' in reference to the Godhead and developed the doctrine of traducianism , or the idea that the soul was inherited from the parents , the idea that God had corporeal ( although not fleshly ) existence , and the doctrine of the authority of the gospels . He fought voraciously against Marcionism , and considered Greek philosophy to be incompatible with Christian wisdom . Toward the end of his life , he joined the heterodox sect of Montanism , and thus has not been canonized by the Catholic Church .  Irenaeus of Lyons : Irenaeus is best known for his writings arguing for the unity of God , and against Gnosticism . He argued that original sin is latent in humanity , and that it was by Jesus ' incarnation as a man that he undid the original sin of Adam , thus sanctifying life for all mankind . Irenaeus maintained the view that Christ is the Teacher of the human race through whom wisdom would be made accessible to all .  Clement of Alexandria : Theologian and apologist who wrote on Greek philosophy , using ideas from pagan literature , Stoic and Platonic philosophy , and Gnosticism to argue for Christianity  Origen : Origen was influential in integrating elements of Platonism into Christianity . He incorporated Platonic idealism into his conceptions of the Logos , and the two churches , one ideal and one real . He also held a strongly Platonic view of God , describing him as the perfect , incorporeal ideal . He was later declared a heretic for subscribing to the too Platonistic doctrine of the preexistence of the soul .  Augustine of Hippo : Augustine developed classical Christian philosophy , and the whole of Western thought , largely by synthesizing Hebrew and Greek thought . He drew particularly from Plato , the Neoplatonism of Plotinus , and Stoicism , which he altered and refined in light of divine revelation of Christian teaching and the Scriptures . Augustine wrote extensively on many religious and philosophical topics ; he employed an allegorical method of reading the Bible , further developed the doctrine of hell as endless punishment , original sin as inherited guilt , divine grace as the necessary remedy for original sin , baptismal regeneration and consequently infant baptism , inner experience and the concept of self , the moral necessity of human free will , and individual election to salvation by eternal predestination . He has been a major influence in the development of Western theology and his thought , and in particular his works , ' ' City of God ' ' and ' ' Confessions ' ' , laid the foundations for Western Philosophy , influencing many of philosophers and making him one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy .  Athanasius of Alexandria : father of trinitarian orthodoxy involved in the formation of the Nicene Creed , who vehemently opposed Arius , the bishop of Alexandria who held that Christ was a created being , and his following .  Dioscorus of Aphrodito  Gaius Marius Victorinus  Nemesius  John Chrysostom  Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite  The Cappadocian Fathers : Gregory of Nyssa , Gregory of Nazianzus , and Basil the Great . # Medieval Christian philosophy #  Peter Abelard : Abelard was a leading 12th-century philosopher and theologian , best known for his association with conceptualism and his development of the moral influence theory of atonement .  Anselm of Canterbury : Anselm is best known for the ontological argument for God 's existence , i.e. : God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived . But to exist is greater than not to exist . If God does not exist then he would n't be that than which nothing greater can be conceived . Therefore , God exists . Anselm 's argumentation was used as a theological directive for conceptualizing divine perfection . He was one of the first Western thinkers to directly engage the reintroduction of Aristotle to the West . However , he did n't have all of Aristotle 's works and those he had access to were from Arabic translations and Islamic commentaries . Also developed the satisfaction theory of atonement .  Thomas Aquinas : Aquinas was the student of Albert the Great , a brilliant Dominican experimentalist , much like the Franciscan , Roger Bacon , of Oxford in the 13th century . Aquinas synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christianity . He believed that there was no contradiction between faith and secular reason , but that they complemented each other epistemically . He thought Aristotle had achieved the pinnacle of human striving for truth apart from divine revelation and thus adopted Aristotle 's philosophy as a framework in constructing his theological and philosophical outlook . Thomas Aquinas was a professor at the prestigious University of Paris , a contemporary of Bonaventure , a Franciscan Professor at the University of Paris whose approach differed significantly from Aquinas ' in favor of the more traditional Augustinian Platonism . Widely-accepted as one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy , his philosophy is the foundation for Thomism . His most famous work is ' ' Summa Theologica ' '  William of Ockham : philosopher and theologian who developed Ockham 's razor and wrote extensively on metaphysics , ontology , epistemology , theology , logic , and politics  John Duns Scotus : John Duns Scotus is known as the subtle doctor whose hair-splitting distinctions were important contributions in scholastic thought and the modern development of logic . Scotus was also a Professor at the University of Paris , but not at the same time as Aquinas . Along with Aquinas , he is one of the two giants of Scholastic philosophy  Albert of Saxony ( philosopher )  Alcuin of York  Adelard of Bath  Petrus Aureolus  Bothius  Bonaventure  Roger Bacon  Gabriel Biel  John Blund  Siger of Brabant  Thomas Bradwardine  Adam de Buckfield  Jean Buridan  Walter Burley  Saint Catherine of Siena  Juan de Celaya  William of Conches  Cesare Cremonini  Henry Ercole  Vincent Ferrer  Godfrey of Fontaines  Francis of Marchia  Gaunilo of Marmoutiers  Giles of Rome  Gregory of Rimini  Robert Grosseteste  Henry of Ghent  Jerome Leocata  John of Paris  Johannes Scotus Eriugena  Marsilius of Inghen  Albertus Magnus  John Mair  Richard of Middleton  Robert of Melun  Hervaeus Natalis  Francisco Surez  Paul of Venice  Francisco de Vitoria # Renaissance and Reformation Christian philosophy #  Jacobus Arminius ( 15601609 ) A preacher , theologian , and church court operative .  Jean Bodin ( 15301596 ) French legal scholar and political philosopher , he wrote widely in a number of areas  Desiderius Erasmus ( 14661536 ) was not a philosopher strictly speaking ; indeed , he wrote excoriatingly about philosophers . He consolidated the space of Humanism in the late Medieval scholarship of letters , and came to represent its acme . He was a leader of the development of the humanities into a department of European scholarly activities . He bent his studies to recovery and exegesis of the Hebrew Bible 's ancient languages and began building the first critical text , and the New Testament became a formal scholarly text . He wrote about issues relevant to the Catholic Church and its ignorance . He spent six years in an Augustinian monastery ; he was a joyful satirist ; and became most famous for his book ' ' The Praise of Folly ' ' .  Hugo Grotius ( 15831645 ) His early work on the law of the seas was outdistanced by ' ' On the law of war and peace ' ' ( 1625 ) .  Martin Luther ( 14831546 ) -- also not strictly a philosopher , although he knew something of William of Occam and nominalist epistemology ) , from an earlier era of European thought . He had also studied some philosophical materials of Augustine of Hippo , and did not follow Thomas Aquinas . Luther followed Erasmus in developing a critical text of the Biblical manuscripts . Luther went a step beyond Erasmus in actually translating the Bible into the vernacular . Luther 's German Bible had a tremendous impact on the development of the German language and its literature .  John Calvin ( 15091564 ) . Calvin was a dogmatician ( systematic theology ) , as exhibited in his ' ' Institutes of the Christian Religion ' ' , and an exegete who over time translated the Bible from the original languages in the form of his grand series of Commentaries on all but one of its books ( the Book of Revelation , which provided a problem to him in its metaphory , not yielding robustly to his binomial formula of letter and spirit : either literal , or figurative ) . He courageously tried to avoid allegorizing , which had had a long history ever since Philo of Alexandria had interpreted the Pentateuch in an allegorical fashion that de-literalized and over-metaphorized ( into symbolic systems ) many passages of the ancient manuscripts of the Bible ( now and developingly a ' ' critical text ' ' itself ) . Calvin tried to distance himself from the allegorical method of Christian interpretation of the Bible , attempted distance certainly from the method 's primacy , while facing in the Gospels the parabolic message of the Cross ( Leon Morris , etc . ) . Not strictly a philosopher , he had a major impact on the quest for a Protestant philosophy ( see Jacob Klapwijk , John Calvin in the volume he edited with Griffioen and Groenewoud , ' ' Bringing into Captivity Every Thought ' ' ( Eng trans 1991 ; pp 241266 ) . Calvin 's seed begat Reformational philosophy 450 years after he planted it .  Marsilio Ficino ( 14331499 ) Influential Italian humanist philosopher who revived Neoplatonism and was a leader in the Renaissance ; translated all of Plato 's and Plotinus ' works into Latin , as well as many Neoplatonic authors and the Corpus Hermeticum . He also wrote many commentaries on Plato and Christian authors as Pseudo Dyonisius.  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ( 14631494 ) Italian philosopher who was a major figure in the Renaissance ; at the age of 23 he proposed 900 theses on religion , natural philosophy and magic , writing the ' ' Oration on the Dignity of Man ' ' , which was a central text in Renaissance humanism and has been called the movement 's manifesto  Huldrych Zwingli ( 14841531 ) was a leading Reformer who was influenced by a party in his church congregation to de-metaphorize the understanding of the Lord 's Supper into a memorial only ( no real presence , and no communion of saints , therefore no eschatological community of saints composed of the believers at the Communion Table ) . In most cases , these writers reference something in an earlier philosopher , without adding to the ongoing problem-historical shape of Western philosophical knowledge . Between Calvin , and Arminius , born four years before Calvin 's death , a Protestant Scholasticism took from various loci and authorities of the Western Middle Ages . It begins already with Luther 's colleague Philip Melancthon , who turned from Luther 's ' ' sola Scriptura ' ' to philosophical theology ; but Protestant Scholasticism 's Reformed variants are diverse . There were no real alternatives until Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th . Vollenhoven in the last century . # Modern Christian philosophy # # 17th century #  Thomas Browne ( 16051682 ) English philosopher and scientist who also made contributions to the field of medicine  Joseph Butler ( 16921752 ) English bishop , theologian , apologist and philosopher who offered critiques of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and influenced figures such as David Hume , Thomas Reid , and Adam Smith  Thomas Reid ( 1710-1796 ) One of the great Scottish theologians and philosophers of his time .  Galileo Galilei ( 1564-1642 ) Italian philosopher , physicist , mathematician , and astronomer who played a central role in the Scientific Revolution , controversially advocating heliocentrism , leading to the Galileo Affair , he also wrote about the relationship between science and religion ; often labelled The Father of Modern Science  Joseph Glanvill ( 16361680 ) English philosopher , writer , and clergyman who was a major apologist for natural philosophy , although he was not himself a scientist  John Locke ( 16321704 ) Extremely influential political philosopher often dubbed The Father of Classical Liberalism ; many of his philosophical concepts were developed from his religious beliefs , which included his development of the social contract theory . He also wrote an apology entitled ' ' The Reasonableness of Christianity ' ' ( 1695 ) .  Nicolas Malebranche ( 16381715 ) French rationalist philosopher best known for his ideas of occasionalism and Vision in God ; he drew heavily from the work of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas  Isaac Newton ( 16421727 ) English physicist , mathematician , astronomer , natural philosopher , alchemist , and theologian who was one of the leading figures of the Scientific Revolution , he wrote often about religious and theological issues ; authored ' ' Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica ' ' ; considered by some to be the most influential scientist of all-time .  Blaise Pascal ( 16231662 ) French mathematician , physicist , inventor , and philosopher who wrote widely on religion and Catholic theology . ' ' Penses ' ' is considered a masterpiece of theological thought and Will Durant hailed it as the most eloquent book in French prose . Also developed Pascal 's Wager to argue for belief in Christianity . # 18th century #  George Berkeley Influential Anglo-Irish philosopher who developed the theory of subjective idealism and who wrote prolifically in a number of areas , such as metaphysics , epistemology , the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mathematics  Johann Gottfried Herder , German philosopher , theologian , and literary critics who was associated with the Sturm und Drang and Weimar Classicism  Francis Hutcheson , Scottish philosopher who was an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and is associated with empiricism  William Paley  Joseph Priestley  Karl Leonhard Reinhold # 19th and early 20th century #  Owen Barfield , philosopher , author , poet , and literary critic who had a profound influence on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien  Karl Barth : a Swiss Reformed neo-orthodox theologian , he wrote the massive ' ' Church Dogmatics ' ' ( German , ' ' Kirchliche Dogmatik ' ' ) unfinished at about six million words by his death in 1968 . Barth emphasized the distinction between human thought and divine reality , and that while humans may attempt to understand the divine , our concepts of the divine are never precisely aligned from the divine reality itself , although God reveals his reality in part through human language and culture . Barth strenuously disavowed being a philosopher ; he considered himself a dogmatician of the Church and a preacher . The Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary holds the world 's most extensive collection of his works .  Nikolai Berdyaev , Russian philosopher of religion and political theorist  Rudolf Bultmann , German Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century and a major figure in liberal Christianity and Christian existentialism ; a close friend of philosopher Martin Heidegger , he based his hermeneutics on an existentialist mode of thinking , developing an interpretive perspective known as demythology  G. K. Chesterton : a British Catholic author , art and literary critic and philosopher , he applied Christian thought in the form of non-fiction , fiction , and poems addressing a variety of theological , moral , political , and economic issues , particularly the importance of seeking truth , distributism , and opposition to eugenics .  Herman Dooyeweerd , philosopher who wrote the monumental trilogy , ' ' A New Critique of Theoretical Thought ' ' Fyodor Dostoevsky , Russian writer known primarily for his works The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment  Pavel Florensky , Russian Orthodox theologian , philosopher , priest , mathematician , and inventor  William K. Frankena , American philosopher who was a professor at the University of Michigan for over forty years ; he specialized in moral philosophy , writing extensively about the relationship between Christianity and ethics  Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov , Russian Orthodox philosopher and futurist who was a leader in the Russian cosmism movement and major inspiration for transhumanism  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Preeminent German philosopher who was a leading figure in German Idealism and whose thought created the philosophical school known as Hegelianism , his philosophy was influenced greatly by his Lutheran religious beliefs ; also wrote a number of works regarding the philosophy of religion  Sren Kierkegaard , a Danish Lutheran philosopher , the father of existentialist philosophy and particularly the school of Christian existentialism.  C. S. Lewis , a massively influential literary critic and medievalist , and mythologist , a mythographer in his children 's fantasies , and an apologist for the Christian faith to which he adhered in the latter half of his life . He claimed not to be a philosopher , but his apologetics are foundational to the formation of a Christian worldview for many modern readers .  John Henry Newman , a Catholic philosopher , converted from Anglicanism  Reinhold Niebuhr , Neo-Orthodox theologian and public intellectual who developed the philosophical perspective known as Christian realism and influenced figures such as Martin Luther King Jr , Hillary Clinton , Barack Obama , Madeline Albright , Jimmy Carter and John McCain  Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , German philosopher who was a major figure in German idealism  Edith Stein , German Roman Catholic nun , mystic and philosopher who grew up Jewish and converted to atheism before becoming a Christian , writing widely on phenomenology and existentialism  Vladimir SolovyovRussian philosopher , theologian , and poet  Albert Schweitzer , German-French philosopher , theologian and physician wrote widely on a number of subjects , most notably ethics and the Quest for the Historical Jesus  Leo Tolstoy , Russian writer who he is one of the most-celebrated authors in modern literary history , known for his works such as ' ' War and Peace ' ' and ' ' Anna Karenina ' ' ; his writing was strongly influenced by his religious beliefs ; he became an early champion of Christian anarchism , writing on his religious and philosophical beliefs in works such as ' ' The Kingdom of God Is Within You ' ' and ' ' A Confession ' ' ; his writings influenced figures such as Martin Luther King Jr . and Mahatma Gandhi # Contemporary philosophy #  William J. Abraham , Irish philosopher , theologian , and United Methodist pastor teaching at Southern Methodist University , known for his contributions to the philosophy of religion and religious epistemology  Marilyn McCord Adams , philosopher of religion and philosophical theologian who is also a leading authority on medieval philosophy  Robert Merrihew Adams , analytic philosopher specializing in metaphysics , morality , and the philosophy of religion who taught at Yale , UCLA , and Oxford ; husband of Marilyn McCord Adams ( see directly above )  Diogenes Allen , philosopher of religion who spent most of his career at Princeton Theological Seminary  William Alston , leading figure in Reformed epistemology who specializes in the philosophy of language and epistemology  Rubem Alves , philosopher , psychoanalyst , and theologian  Robert Audi , philosopher whose work focuses on epistemology and ethics who has also written on the relationship between church and state  C. Anthony Anderson , philosopher who specializes in the philosophy of religion , philosophy of language , and philosophy of logic  G. E. M. Anscombe , British analytic philosopher who was a close friend and student of Ludwig Wittgenstein ; influential in the fields of the philosophy of logic , philosophy of action , and philosophy of the mind , and ethics , writing from the perspective of Analytical Thomism  Craig Bartholomew , philosopher dealing with biblical hermeneutics , postmodernism , and deconstruction  Francis Beckwith , social philosopher and ethicist  Daniel Bonevac , logician at the University of Texas at Austin  Jay Budziszewski , a political philosopher at the University of Texas at Austin who develops the natural law ethical tradition .  Frederick Buechner , American writer , theologian and minister  Maxence Caron , French write , poet , philosopher , and musicologist  John D. Caputo : American Catholic deconstructionist theologian ; most famous for his development of weak theology  Gordon Clark , American Calvinist philosopher , polemicist , and staunch defender of Platonic realism . He developed a strictly rationalist variety of presuppositional apologetics in contrast to Van Til 's fideistic approach .  Stephen R. L. Clark , British philosopher of religion who also wrote extensively on animals and applied philosophy  Sarah Coakley-Anglican philosopher of religion and systematic theologian who has taught at Harvard , Princeton , Oxford , Cambridge , and Lancaster University  Paul Copan , professor of philosophy at Palm Beach Atlantic University currently holding the Pledger Family Endowed Chair of Philosophy and Ethics as well as president of the  Robin Collins , an expert in philosophy of science . He is thought be the leading expert on the teleological argument . He is a professor of philosophy at Messiah College . He is a senior research fellow at  William Lane Craig , Evangelical apologist , philosopher and theologian ; frequently participates in debate on topics related to Christianity and theism . He is known especially for his methodical presentation as well as his articulation and defense of the kalam cosmological argument .  Keith DeRose , philosopher of language and epistemologist at Yale University .  Herman Dooyeweerd , Reformational philosopher and legal scholar ; brother-in-law of D.H . Th . Vollenhoven  Terry Eagleton , Not a philosopher by vocation , he is a leading British literary critic and important figure in contemporary social philosophy , often addressing religious issues from a Christian Marxist perspective  C. Stephen Evans , American historian and philosopher teaching at Baylor University  Jacques Ellul , French philosopher , legal scholar , sociologist , and legal scholar who was a leading Christian anarchist who wrote prolifically on topics such as technology , propaganda , and justice  John Frame : an American Calvinist philosopher focused in the areas of epistemology and ethics  tienne Gilson , who wrote ' ' The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy ' ' , ' ' The Spirit of Thomism ' ' , ' ' Being and Some Philosophers ' ' , and many other works . In the field of Thomism he is considered one of the main figures credited with starting the movement within Thomism known as Existential Thomism , which emphasis the primacy of the act of Being ( Esse ) in understanding everything else that is.  Ren Girard , French philosopher of social science , anthropologist , historian and literary critic who developed the idea of mimetic desire and wrote on scapegoating , reinterpreting the atonement as a mechanism for overcoming human violence and the sacrifice system  Juozas Girnius , Lithuanian existentialist philosopher  Robert Kane , philosopher who works on free will , now emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin , who is also a Catholic  Anthony Kenny , English philosopher specializing in the philosophy of the mind , philosophy of religion , and the history of philosophy ; leading figure in Analytical Thomism  Luigi Giussani , an Italian priest of 1922-2005 , who wrote the ' ' Why the Church ? ' '  William Hasker , American philosopher who specializing in philosophy of the mind , writing extensively on the mind-body problem and arguing for emergentism , former editor of the journal ' ' Faith and Philosophy ' ' ; advocates for open theism  Robert Koons , metaphysician at the University of Texas at Austin  Peter Kreeft , an American Catholic philosopher and Christian apologist at Boston College  Roel Kuiper , Dutch historian and philosopher who is part of the Reformational philosophy movement  Jon Kvanvig , epistemologist at Baylor University  John Lennox , mathematician and philosopher of science  Knud Ejler Lgstrup : Danish philosopher of religion who wrote widely in the area of ethics , metaphysics , and phenomonlogy  Bernard Lonergan : He was a Canadian Jesuit . The Lonergan Institute specializes in his works , while ' ' The Lonergan Review ' ' is an academic journal which is dedicated to researching and expanding upon his thought .  Aleksei Losev , Russian philosopher , philologist , and culturologist who was a leading figure in 20th-century philosophical and religious thought  J.P . Moreland , American philosopher , apologist , and theologian  Alasdair MacIntyre , Scottish ethicist and political philosopher whose works ' ' After Virtue ' ' and ' ' Whose Justice ? Which Rationality ? ' ' have been massively-influential in modern ethics ; notable advocate of virtue ethics ; argues from a Thomistic perspective  John Macquarrie , Scottish theologian and philosopher who was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Anglicanism  Gabriel Marcel , French existentialist philosopher and playwright who wrote on metaphysics , ontology , and ethics  Jean-Luc Marion , French postmodern philosopher and student of Jacques Derrida who specializes in phenomenology and philosophical theology  Jacques Maritain , a French philosopher in the Thomistic tradition  Trenton Merricks , renowned metaphysician at the University of Virginia  Paul Moser , American philosopher focusing on the philosophy of religion and epistemology  Nancey Murphy , philosopher of science who has written extensively on postmodernism and currently teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary  Tim O'Connor , metaphysician at the Indiana University , Bloomington  Thomas Jay Oord : theologian and philosopher of religion who is a leading advocate of open theism , and writes on topics such as the relationship between science and religion and postmodernism  Jean-Michel Oughourlian French philosopher , psychologist and neuropsychiatrist has worked with Ren Girard , further developing a mimetic theory of desire and its religious implications  Pope John Paul II , who wrote Fides et Ratio , as well as Love and Responsibility and other works in Thomistic phenomenology  Josef Pieper , a German Catholic philosopher whose work concentrates particularly on Plato and Thomas Aquinas  Alvin Plantinga. moderately Calvinist American philosopher , one of the key figures in the movement of Reformed epistemology , which synthesizes Analytical Philosophy and Christian philosophical concerns . He is professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame .  Michael Polanyi , Hungarian-British polymath and brother of Karl Polanyi  Vern Poythress , Calvinist philosopher and New Testament scholar who advocates multiperspectivalism and specializes in the philosophy of science , philosophy of mathematics , linguistics , and hermeneutics  Stephen G. Post , American ethicist and interdisciplinary scholar specializing in the study of altruism , bioethics , and compassion  , metaphysician at Baylor University  Michael C. Rea , analytic philosopher specializing in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion who teaches at the University of Notre Dame  Paul Ricouer : philosopher who wrote written widely in the areas of hermeneutics , phenomenology , psychoanalysis , political philosophy , ethics , and the philosophy of language  Hans Rookmaaker , philosopher specializing in art theory , art history , and music ; friend of Francis Schaeffer  Peter Rollins : an Irish philosopher whose work brings together the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida , the religious turn of recent works by Slavoj Zizek , and traditions of apophatic theology within Christian mysticism .  Francis Schaeffer : pastor , philosopher and theologian who founded the L'Abri community in Switzerland and was a major influence in conservative evangelicalism  Egbert Schuurman , the leading philosopher of technology who actively espouses a Christian philosophical approach  Robert Spaemann , German Roman Catholic philosopher  Holmes Rolston III , American philosopher dealing with environmental ethics and the relationship between science and religion  Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy , German historian and social philosopher  Pope Shenouda III , ( b . Nazeer Gayed , 1923 ) Pope of Alexandria ( 19712012 ) has written on almost every aspect of Oriental Orthodox Christianity . Has pioneered Christian ecumenism and written over 150 books on many topics including theology , dogma , comparative theology , spiritual theology , and church history .  Melville Y. Stewart , editor , author of books in philosophy of religion , and a Series on Science and Religion ( 5-volume Series in Chinese , and 2-volume Series in English ) . Visiting Philosopher at various universities in China .  James K.A . Smith : a Canadian-American philosopher who draws on three different traditions of Christian thought ( Pentecostalism , Calvinism , and Radical Orthodoxy ) in dialogue with deconstruction and phenomenology to create practical works for broad , general audiences  Richard Swinburne : British philosopher of religion  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , Russian writer and philosopher ; won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature  Peter van Inwagen , a metaphysician who is one of the leading figures in contemporary philosophy of religion , teaching at the University of Notre Dame  Charles Taylor : Canadian political philosopher , philosopher of social science and social theorist  Charles Taliaferro , an expert in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of mind . He is a professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College and a senior research fellow at  Paul Tillich Rather than beginning his philosophical work with questions of God or gods , Tillich began with a phenomenology of the Holy . His basic thesis is that religion is ' ' Ultimate Concern ' ' . What a person is Ultimately Concerned with in regard to their Ultimate meaning and being can be understood as religion because , There is nobody to whom nothing is sacred because no one can rid themselves of their humanity no matter how desperately they may try ( Young-Ho Chun , ' ' Tillich and Religion ' ' , 1998 , pg . 14.  Denys Turner : British philosopher and theologian teaching at Yale University whose work focuses on political philosophy , social theory , and mystical theology  Nick Trakakis : Australian philosopher who specializes in the philosophy of religion and theodicy  Bas Van Fraassen , world-renowned philosopher of science , who is also a Catholic  Cornelius Van Til : Dutch-American Calvinist philosopher , who contributed especially in epistemology and developed one variety of philosophical apologetics known as presuppositional apologetics.  Gregory Vlastos : philosopher specializes in ancient philosophy  D. H. Th . Vollenhoven : Vollenhoven 's ' ' Calvinism and the Reformation of Philosophy ' ' ( Dutch , 1933 ) launched a philosophical movement that , after the massive re-inforcing effect of his brother-in-law Herman Dooyeweerd 's first trilogy , ' ' Philosophy of the Law-Idea ' ' ( 193536 ) , led to the formation of the Association for Calvinist Philosophy in 1936 . For decades , Vollenhoven served as president of the aforementioned association , which has become the Association for Reformational Philosophy/ Vereniging voor Reformatorische Wijsbegeerte ( VRW ) , still based in the Netherlands but with ever-enlarging interest in the rest of the world . It is disputed whether Vollenhoven 's , his colleague Herman Dooyeweerd 's , and many among the subsequent generations of philosophers in the Reformational philosophy movement are best described as modern or postmodern , since they anticipated numerous themes that resurfaced in postmodernism , yet remain steadfastly and would-be distinctively Christian and non-Roman.  Keith Ward : British philosopher , theologian , and pastor who has written widely in the areas of the philosophy of religion and comparative theology , has also made major contributions related to the relationship between science and religion ; advocates for open theism  Simone Weil : French philosopher , mystic , and social activist  Cornel West , Philosopher , writer , public speaker and political activist who argues for Christian Socialism ; has taught at Harvard , Princeton , Yale , and Union Theological Seminary in New York  Dallas Willard : notable Christian philosopher at the University of Southern California . Willard has written extensively in philosophy but also in practical Christian theology with an emphasis in Christian spiritual formation .  Nicholas Wolterstorff : American philosopher at Yale University associated with Reformed epistemology who has written on epistemology , metaphysics , aesthetics , political philosophy , and the philosophy of religion  Christos Yannaras , Greek philosopher  Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski , American philosopher specializing in the philosophy of religion , epistemology and ethics ; pioneer in the field of virtue epistemology  Dean Zimmerman , American philosopher whose work deals with metaphysics and the philosophy of religion  Shawn Graves , American philosopher who specializes in epistemology , ethics , and philosophy of religion .  Ravi Zacharias , American Christian philosopher and apologist who specializes in philosophy of religion and worldview. 
@@201537 Pluralism as a political philosophy is the recognition and affirmation of diversity within a political body , which permits the peaceful coexistence of different interests , convictions and lifestyles . Political pluralists are not inherently liberals ( who place liberty and/or equality as their guiding principles ) or conservatives ( who place order and/or tradition as their guiding principles ) but advocate a form of political moderation . Nor are political pluralists necessarily advocates of a democratic plurality , but generally agree that this form of government is often best at moderating discrete values . As put by arch-pluralist Isaiah Berlin , let us have the courage of our admitted ignorance , of our doubts and uncertainties . At least we can try to discover what others require , by making it possible for ourselves to know men as they truly are , by listening to them carefully and sympathetically , and understanding them and their lives and their needs . Pluralism thus tries to encourage members of society to accommodate their differences by avoiding extremism ( adhering solely to one value , or at the very least refusing to recognize others as legitimate ) and engaging in good faith dialogue . Pluralists also seek the construction or reform of social institutions in order to reflect and balance competing principles . One of the more famous arguments for institutional pluralism came from James Madison in The Federalist Papers #10 . Madison feared that factionalism would lead to in-fighting in the new American republic and devotes this paper to questioning how best to avoid such an occurrence . He posits that to avoid factionalism , it is best to allow many competing factions ( advocating different primary principles ) to prevent any one from dominating the political system . This relies , to a degree , on a series of disturbances changing the influences of groups so as to avoid institutional dominance and ensure competition . Like Edmund Burke , this view concerns itself with balance , and subordinating any single abstract principle to a plurality or realistic harmony of interests . Of course , pluralism recognizes that certain conditions may make good faith negotiation impossible , and therefore also focuses on what institutional structures can best modify or prevent such a situation . Pluralism advocates a form of realism here , or that one begins with a given socio-historical structure and goes from there . # Pluralism and the common good # Pluralism is connected with the hope that this process of conflict and dialogue will result in a quasi-common good . This common good is not an abstract value or set in stone , however , but an attempt at balancing competing social interests , and will thus constantly shift given present social conditions . Proponents in contemporary political philosophy of such a view include ( the aforementioned ) Isaiah Berlin , Stuart Hampshire and Bernard Williams . An earlier version of political pluralism was a strong current in the formation of modern social democracy ( to balance socialist and capitalist ideals ) , with theorists such as the early Harold Laski and G. D. H. Cole , as well as other leading members of the British Fabian Society . In the United States , President Eisenhower 's middle way was arguably motivated by a belief in political pluralism . While advocated by many pluralists , pluralism need not embrace social democracy given it does not a priori assume a desirable political system . Rather , pluralists advocate one based on the preexisting traditions and cognizable interests of a given society , and the political structure most likely to harmonize these factors . Thus , pluralists have also included Michael Oakeshott and John Kekes , proponents of something close to liberal conservatism . What pluralists certainly do have in common is the notion that a single vision or ideological schema , whether Marxism or unbridled neoliberalism , is likely too simplistic and rigid to advocate human beings ' natural plurality of values . Pluralists likewise reject historicism and utopian thinking . While some , like John N. Gray , repudiate historical progress altogether , others , like Edmund Burke , indicate a form of human progress may be possible by improved social harmony . # The Fourth Way # The Fourth Way is an attempt , although certainly not shared by all ( or even most ) pluralists , to conceptualize a pluralist political schema . Coined by Pluralist Party leader Jonathan Bishop , the Fourth Way is meant to represent a particular approach to pluralist integrated bargaining where one finds two opposing view points , the third way compromise between them , and then a fourth way which takes the best parts of the first and second ways which dismisses all the conclusions of the third way . For instance , in political systems ; the first way might be for a government to make public services based on the involvement of private sector firms , the second way using public sector organisations , and the third way to use a Publicprivate partnership . The fourth way would be to allow the public to chose the service provider best for them based on their principles and values and not the ideological biases of government or civic officials . Likely , this fourth way will eventually manage to establish its own view as the generally accepted view , and then over time become the first way as science and society develop . This can only occur as the result of the negotiation process within the pluralistic framework , which implies the operator as a general rule of a truly pluralistic framework , i.e. the state in a pluralistic society , must not be biased . Many pluralists ( like Isaiah Berlin or Michael Oakeshott ) , while perhaps sympathetic to the Fourth Way 's premises , would entirely reject any such formalized system . To Oakeshott , for example , laying out any single system of rules problematically reduces politics to an abstraction , which is better ( and more honestly ) based on a pluralist temperament in a given political climate than any systematic schema. # Conditions for pluralism # For pluralism to function and to be successful in defining the common good , all groups have to agree to a minimal consensus that shared values are at least worth pursuing . The most important baseline value is thus that of mutual respect or tolerance . If no such dialogue is possible , extremism ( the subordination of many values to a single system ) and physical coercion are likely inevitable . # See also #  Moderation  Liberal conservatism  Liberal democracy  Value pluralism  Progressive conservatism # Notable Pluralists # Aristotle  Montaigne  James Madison  Alexis de Tocqueville  early Harold Laski  Stuart Hampshire  Edmund Burke  Isaiah Berlin  Adam Smith  David Hume  Bernard Williams  Learned Hand  later Michael Oakeshott  Joseph Raz  John Kekes  later Paul Feyerabend  John N. Gray  Maurice Kogan # Notes # # References #  Rajiv Krishnan Kozhikode and Jiatao Li , ' ' Political pluralism , public policies , and organizational choices : banking branch expansion in India , 19482003 ' ' , ' ' Academy of Management Journal ' ' , ' ' 55(2) ' ' , ' ' 339-359. ' '  ' ' Pluralism and Liberal Democracy ' ' , Richard E. Flatham ( 2005 ) .   ' ' Morality and Conflict ' ' , Hampshire , Stuart ( 1983 ) .  ' ' From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics ' ' , Blattberg , Charles ( 2000 ) .  ' ' Liberty ' ' , Berlin , Isaiah ( 2002 ) .  ' ' In the Beginning Was the Deed ' ' , Williams , Bernard ( 2005 ) .   On legal pluralism and communities , see : Gad Barzilai , Communities and Law : Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities . Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press , 2003. hr:Posrednici nl:Pluralisme 
@@204122 Christian Wolff ( less correctly Wolf ; also known as Wolfius ; ennobled as : Christian Freiherr von Wolff ; 24 January 1679 9 April 1754 ) was a German philosopher . He was the most eminent German philosopher between Leibniz and Kant . His main achievement was a complete ' ' oeuvre ' ' on almost every scholarly subject of his time , displayed and unfolded according to his demonstrative-deductive , mathematical method , which perhaps represents the peak of Enlightenment rationality in Germany . Wolff was also the creator of German as the language of scholarly instruction and research , although he also wrote in Latin , so that an international audience could , and did , read him . A founding father of , among other fields , economics and public administration as academic disciplines , he concentrated especially in these fields , giving advice on practical matters to people in government , and stressing the professional nature of university education . # Life # Wolff was born in the city of Breslau , Silesia , now Wrocaw , Poland , into a modest family . He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Jena , soon adding philosophy . In 1703 , he qualified as ' ' Privatdozent ' ' at the University of Leipzig , where he lectured until 1706 , when he was called as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy to the University of Halle . 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 , and soon included all the main philosophical disciplines . 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 long struggle against Lutheran dogmatism , had itself assumed the characteristics of a new orthodoxy . Wolff 's professed ideal was to base theological truths on mathematically certain evidence . Strife with the Pietists broke out openly in 1721 , when Wolff , on the occasion of stepping down as pro-rector , delivered an oration On the Practical Philosophy of the Chinese ( Eng . tr. 1750 ) , in which he praised the purity of the moral precepts of Confucius , pointing to them as an evidence of the power of human reason to reach moral truth by its own efforts . 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 Franois Nol ( 16511729 ) and Philippe Couplet , Moses , Christ and Mohammed with Confucius . 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 . His enemies had gained the ear of the king Frederick William I and told him that , if Wolff 's determinism were recognized , no soldier who deserted could be punished , since he would only have acted as it was necessarily predetermined that he should . 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 in Hesse-Kassel ( or Hesse-Cassel ) , to whose university he had received a call even before this crisis , which was now renewed . The Landgrave of Hesse received him with every mark of distinction , and the circumstances of his expulsion drew universal attention to his philosophy . 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 . According to Jonathan I. Israel the conflict became one of the most significant cultural confrontations of the eighteenth century and perhaps the most important of the Enlightenment in Central Europe and the Baltic countries before the French Revolution . What happened in Halle should not be seen as an isolated case , but as trendy and fashionable . Around 1720 Chinese porcelain was loaded in enormous quantities to Europe . In the Albrechtsburg the Meissen porcelain manufactory had been started up to copy it and Chinoiserie was popular among artists and buyers . In 1726 Wolff published his Discours , in which he again mentioned the importance of listening to music put on pregnant Chinese women , and had reworded some on Moses . At the University of Marburg , as one of the most popular and fashionable university teachers in Europe , he increased matriculation figures within five years by about 50% . The Prussian crown prince Frederick defended Wolff against Joachim Lange and ordered the Berlin minister Jean Deschamps , a former pupil of Wolff , to translate ' ' Vernnftige Gedanken von Gott , der Welt und der Seele des Menschen , auch allen Dingen berhaupt ' ' into French . Frederick proposed to sent a copy of ' ' Logique ou rflexions sur les forces de l'entendement humain ' ' to Voltaire in his first letter to the philosopher from 8 August 1736 . In 1737 Wolff 's ' ' 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 . His entry into the town on 6 December 1740 took on the character of a triumphal procession . In 1743 , he became chancellor of the university , and in 1745 , he received the title of ' ' Freiherr ' ' ( Baron ) from the Elector of Bavaria . But his matter was no longer fashionable , he had outlived his power of attracting students , and his class-rooms remained , while not empty , then certainly emptier than they had been during his heyday in Marburg . When Wolff died on 9 April 1754 , he was a very wealthy man , almost entirely due to his income from lecture-fees , salaries , and royalties . He was also a member of many academies and probably the first scholar to have been created hereditary Baron of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of his academic work . His school , the Wolffians , was the first school , in the philosophical sense , associated with a German philosopher . It dominated Germany until the rise of Kantianism . The mountain Mons Wolff on the Moon got its name in his honor . # Philosophy # Christian Wolff was a philosopher who redefined philosophy as the science of the possible , and who applied it in a comprehensive survey of human knowledge to the disciplines of his time . Wolffian philosophy has a marked insistence everywhere on a clear and methodic exposition , holding confidence in the power of reason to reduce all subjects to this form . He was distinguished for writing copies in both Latin and German . Wolff held virtually undisputed sway in Germany until the Kantian revolution . It was until a reevaluation of philosophy set in the 1960s that Wolff 's philosophy has often been held to be a common-sense adaptation or watering-down of the Leibnizian system ; or , more charitably , Wolff was said to have methodized and reduced to dogmatic form the thoughts of his great predecessor . The Wolffian system retains the determinism and optimism of Leibniz , but the monadology recedes into the background , the monads falling asunder into souls or conscious beings on the one hand and mere atoms on the other . The doctrine of the pre-established harmony also loses its metaphysical significance ( while remaining an important heuristic device ) , and the principle of sufficient reason is once more discarded in favor of the principle of contradiction which Wolff seeks to make the fundamental principle of philosophy . Wolff had philosophy divided into a theoretical and a practical part . Logic , sometimes called ' ' philosophia rationalis ' ' , forms the introduction or propaedeutics to both . Theoretical philosophy had for its parts ontology or ' ' philosophia prima ' ' , cosmology , rational psychology , and natural theology ; ontology treats of the existent in general , psychology of the soul as a simple non-extended substance , cosmology of the world as a whole , and rational theology of the existence and attributes of God . These are best known to philosophical students by Kant 's treatment of them in the ' ' Critique of Pure Reason ' ' . Practical philosophy is subdivided into ethics , economics and politics . Wolff 's moral principle is the realization of human perfection seen realistically as the kind of perfection the human person actually can achieve in the world in which we live . It is perhaps the combination of Enlightenment optimism and worldly realism that made Wolff so successful and popular as a teacher of future statesmen and business leaders . # Works # Wolff 's most important works are as follows :  ' ' Anfangsgrnde aller mathematischen Wissenschaften ' ' ( 1710 ) ; in Latin , ' ' Elementa matheseos universae ' ' , 17131715 )  ' ' Vernnftige Gedanken von den Krften des menschlichen Verstandes ' ' ( 1712 ; Eng . trans. 1770 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von Gott , der Welt und der Seele des Menschen , auch allen Dingen berhaupt ' ' ( 1719 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von der Menschen Thun und Lassen ' ' ( 1720 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von dem gesellschaftlichen Leben der Menschen ' ' ( 1721 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von den Wirkungen der Natur ' ' ( 1723 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von den Absichten der natrlichen Dinge ' ' ( 1724 )  ' ' Vern . Ged. von dem Gebrauche der Theile in Menschen , Thieren und Pflanzen ' ' ( 1725 ) ; the last seven may briefly be described as treatises on logic , metaphysics , moral philosophy , political philosophy , theoretical physics , teleology , physiology  ' ' Philosophia rationalis , sive logica ' ' ( 1728 )  ' ' Philosophia prima , sive Ontologia ' ' ( 1730 )  ' ' Cosmologia generalis ' ' ( 1731 )  ' ' Psychologia empirica ' ' ( 1732 )  ' ' Psychologia rationalis ' ' ( 1734 )  ' ' Theologia naturalis ' ' ( 17361737 )  ' ' Kleine philosophische Schriften ' ' , collected and edited by G.F. Hagen ( 17361740 ) .  ' ' Philosophia practica universalis ' ' ( 17381739 )  ' ' Jus naturae and Jus Gentium ' ' ( 17401749 )  ' ' Jus Gentium Methodo Scientifica Pertractum ' ' ( The Law of Nations According to the Scientific Method ) ( 1749 )  ' ' Philosophia moralis ' ' ( 17501753 ) . Wolff 's complete writings have been published since 1962 in an annotated reprint collection , and thus are easily accessible :  ' ' Gesammelte Werke ' ' , Jean cole et al . ( eds. ) , 3 series ( German , Latin , and Materials ) , Hildesheim-Zrich-New York : Olms , 1962 . This includes a volume that unites the three most important older biographies of Wolff . An excellent modern edition of the famous Halle speech on Chinese philosophy is  ' ' Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica / Rede ber die praktische Philosophie der Chinesen ' ' , Michael Albrecht ( ed . ) , Hamburg : Meiner , 1985. 
@@204510 : ' ' For a general discussion of skepticism , see Skepticism . Philosophical skepticism ( from Greek , ' ' skepsis ' ' meaning inquiry ; UK spelling scepticism ) is both a philosophical school of thought and a method that crosses disciplines and cultures . Many skeptics critically examine the meaning systems of their times , and this examination often results in a position of ambiguity or doubt . This skepticism can range from disbelief in contemporary philosophical solutions , to agnosticism , to rejecting the reality of the external world . Philosophical skepticism is an old movement with many variations , and contrasts with the view that anything is certain , especially with absolute or unconditional certainty . For example , Hellenistic philosophers would claim such beliefs are dogmatism . Philosophical skepticism is distinguished from methodological skepticism in that philosophical skepticism is an approach that questions the possibility of certainty in knowledge , whereas methodological skepticism is an approach that subjects all knowledge claims to scrutiny with the goal of sorting out true from false claims . # History # # Ancient Western Skepticism # The Western tradition of systematic skepticism goes back at least as far as Pyrrho of Elis ( b. circa 360 BCE ) . However , The 5th century sophists develop forms of debate which are ancestors of skeptical argumentation . They take pride in arguing in a persuasive fashion for both sides of an issue . There were many disputes that could be found within the philosophical schools of his day , and according to a later account of his life by his student Timon of Phlius , Pyrrho extolled a way to become happy and tranquil . # Timon is reported as telling us that in order to be happy , one must pay attention to three connected questions : first , what are things like by nature ? second , how should we be disposed towards things ( given our answer to the first question ) ? and third , what will be the outcome for those who adopt the disposition recommended in the answer to the second question ? # In considering what things are like by nature , Pyrrho Believing that equal arguments can be offered on both sides of any proposition , .. dismissed the search for truth as a vain endeavour . Given this , Pyrrho says that sense experience and beliefs . are in fact neither true nor false . His words seem to suggest that verifiability is a necessary condition of truth . For our attitude towards things , Pyrrho is reported as saying that since our sense experiences and beliefs are neither true nor false , therefore , we ought not to put our trust in them , but be without beliefs , disinclined to take a stand one way or the other , and steadfast in this attitude . This attitude to life would eventually lead the skeptic to a state of ataraxia , or freedom from distress and worry . Pyrrho and his school were not actually skeptics in the later sense of the word . They had the goal of ' ' ' ' ( ' ' ataraxia ' ' - peace of mind ) , and pitted one dogmatic philosophy against the next to undermine belief in the whole philosophic enterprise . The idea was to produce in the student a state of aversion towards what the Pyrrhonists considered arbitrary and inconsequential babble . Since no one can observe or otherwise experience causation , external world ( its externality ) , ultimate purpose of the universe or life , justice , divinity , soul , etc. , they declared no need to believe in such things . The Pyrrhonists pointed out that , despite claims that such notions were necessary , some people ignorant of them get by just fine before learning about them . They further noted that science does not require belief and that faith in intelligible realities is different from pragmatic convention for the sake of experiment . For each intuitive notion ( e.g. the existence of an external world ) , the Pyrrhonists cited a contrary opinion to negate it . They added that consensus indicates neither truth nor even probability . For example , the earth is round , and it would remain so even if everyone believed it were flat . The opposite might also be the case . The goal of this critique , which Pyrrho 's followers realized would ultimately subvert even their own method , was to cultivate a distrust of all grand talk . They expected philosophy to collapse into itself . How far in this direction the Pyrrhonean commitment extended is a matter of debate . The Pyrrhonists confessed a belief in appearances , e.g. in hot and cold , grief and joy . It is impossible to deny , they admitted , that one seems to be in pain or seems to touch a piece of wood . Their world , thus , was completely Phenomenology ( philosophy ) Later thinkers took up Pyrrho 's approach and extended it into modern skepticism . In the process , a split appeared within the movement , never too large or well liked among the literati to begin with . In the Academic skepticism of the ' ' New or Middle Academy ' ' , Arcesilaus ( c. 315 241 BCE ) and Carneades ( c. 213129 BCE ) argued from Stoic premises that the Stoics were actually committed to denying the possibility of knowledge , but seemed to maintain nothing themselves , but Clitomachus , a student of Carneades , interpreted his teacher 's philosophy as suggesting an early probabilistic account of knowledge . The Roman politician and philosopher , Cicero , also seems to have been a supporter of the probabilistic position attributed to the Middle Academy , even if the return to a more dogmatic orientation of that school was already beginning to take place . Diogenes Lartius lists ten modes of reasoning which Pyrrhonists thought justified their position : 1 . Some things give animals pleasure which give other animals pain . What is useful to one animal is harmful to another . 2 . Each human has a different assortment of preferences , abilities and interests . 3 . Each sense gives a different impression of the same object . 4 . There is no reason to think one is sane while others are insanethe opposite could be true . 5 . Cultures disagree regarding beauty , truth , goodness , religion , life and justice . 6 . There is no consistency in perception . ( His examples were that the color purple will show different tints depending on the lighting , a person looks different between noon and sunset , and a very heavy rock on land is lighter when in water ) 7 . The senses can be shown to be deceptive . ( From a distance , the square tower looks round and the sun looks small ) 8 . Things that strengthen in moderation will weaken when taken in excess , like wine and food . 9 . When a thing is rare , it surprises people . When a thing is common , it does not surprise people . 10 . Inter-relations among things are of course relative , and by themselves are unknowable. ( i.e. to know ' father ' you must know ' son , ' but to know ' son ' you must know ' father . ' Neither can be known by itself . ) In the centuries to come , the words ' ' Academician ' ' and ' ' Pyrrhonist ' ' would often be used to mean generally ' ' skeptic ' ' , often ignoring historical changes and distinctions between denial of knowledge and avoidance of belief , between degree of belief and absolute belief , and between possibility and probability . # # Sextus Empiricus # # Sextus Empiricus ( c. 200 CE ) , the main authority for Pyrrhonian skepticism , worked outside the Academy , which by his time had ceased to be a skeptical or probabilistic school , and argued in a different direction , incorporating aspects of empiricism into the basis for evaluating knowledge , but without the insistence on experience as the absolute standard of it . Sextus ' empiricism was limited to the absolute minimum already mentioned that there seem to be appearances . He developed this basic thought of Pyrrho 's into lengthy arguments , most of them directed against Stoics and Epicureans , but also the Academic skeptics . The common anti-skeptical argument is that if one knows nothing , one can not know that one knows nothing , and so may know something after all . It is worth noting that such an argument only succeeds against the complete denial of the possibility of knowledge . Considering dogmatic the claims both to know and not to know , Sextus and his followers claimed neither . Instead , despite the apparent conflict with the goal of ataraxia , they claimed to continue searching for something that might be knowable . Empiricus , as the most systematic and dogmatic author of the works by Hellenistic sceptics which have survived , noted that there are at least ' ' ten modes ' ' of skepticism . These modes may be broken down into three categories : one may be skeptical of ' ' the subjective perceiver , of the objective world ' ' , and ' ' the relation between perceiver and the world ' ' . His arguments are as follows . ' ' Subjectively ' ' , both the powers of the senses and of reasoning may vary among different people . And since knowledge is a product of one or the other , and since neither are reliable , knowledge would seem to be in trouble . For instance , a color-blind person sees the world quite differently from everyone else . Moreover , one can not even give preference on the basis of the power of reason , i.e. , by treating the rational animal as a carrier of greater knowledge than the irrational animal , since the irrational animal is still adept at navigating their environment , which suggests the ability to know about some aspects of the environment . Secondly , the personality of the individual might also have an impact on what they observe , since ( it is argued ) preferences are based on sense-impressions , differences in preferences can be attributed to differences in the way that people are affected by the object . ( Empiricus:56 ) Third , the perceptions of each individual sense seemingly have nothing in common with the other senses : i.e. , the color red has little to do with the feeling of touching a red object . This is manifest when our senses disagree with each other : for example , a mirage presents certain visible features , but is not responsive to any other kind of sense . In that case , our other senses defeat the impressions of sight . But one may also be lacking enough powers of sense to understand the world in its entirety : if one had an extra sense , then one might know of things in a way that the present five senses are unable to advise us of . Given that our senses can be shown to be unreliable by appealing to other senses , and so our senses may be incomplete ( relative to some more perfect sense that one lacks ) , then it follows that all of our senses may be unreliable . ( Empiricus:58 ) Fourth , our circumstances when one perceives anything may be either natural or unnatural , i.e. , one may be either in a state of wakefulness or sleep . But it is entirely possible that things in the world really are exactly as they appear to be to those in unnatural states ( i.e. , if everything were an elaborate dream ) . ( Empiricus:59 ) One can have reasons for doubt that are based on the ' ' relationship between objective facts and subjective experience ' ' . The positions , distances , and places of objects would seem to affect how they are perceived by the person : for instance , the portico may appear tapered when viewed from one end , but symmetrical when viewed at the other ; and these features are different . Because they are different features , to believe the object has both properties at the same time is to believe it has two contradictory properties . Since this is absurd , one must suspend judgment about what properties it possesses due to the contradictory experiences . ( Empiricus:63 ) One may also observe that the things one perceives are , in a sense , polluted by experience . Any given perceptionsay , of a chairwill always be perceived within some context or other ( i.e. , next to a table , on a mat , etc . ) Since this is the case , one often only speaks of ideas as they occur in the context of the other things that are paired with it , and therefore , one can never know of the true nature of the thing , but only how it appears to us in context . ( Empiricus : 64 ) Along the same lines , the skeptic may insist that all things are relative , by arguing that : # Absolute appearances either differ from relative appearances , or they do not . # If absolutes do not differ from relatives , then they are themselves relative . # But if absolutes do differ from relatives , then they are relative , because all things that differ must differ from something ; and to differ from something is to be relative to something . ( Empiricus:67 ) Finally , one has reason to disbelieve that one knows anything by looking at problems in understanding objects by themselves . Things , when taken individually , may appear to be very different from when they are in mass quantities : for instance , the shavings of a goat 's horn are white when taken alone , yet the horn intact is black . # Ancient Eastern Skepticism # # #Buddhism# # Buddhist skepticism ( Zen Buddhism ) is not concerned with whether a thing exists or not . The Zen masters would answer questions koans with seemingly unrelated responses such as hitting the student . This would serve as a means of pulling the student back from the confusion of intellectual pontification , and into a direct experience . Since in Zen , all there is a direct experience , which can not be explained or clarified beyond the experience itself , this answers the question .  Buddha is said to have touched the earth at the time of his enlightenment so that it could witness his enlightenment . In this way , Buddhism does not claim that knowledge is unattainable.  Buddhism places less emphasis on truth and knowledge than western philosophical skepticism . Instead , it emphasizes the goal of ' ' Bodhi ' ' , which , although often translated as ' ' enlightenment ' ' , does not imply truth or knowledge .  At least in its manifestation of Nagarjuna 's texts that form the core of Madhyamaka , the anti-essentialist aspect of Buddhism makes it an anti-philosophy . From that stance , truth exists solely within the contexts that assert them . # #Crvka philosophy# # The Crvka ( Sanskrit : ) school of skepticism , also known as Lokyata , is a distinct branch of Indian philosophy . The school is named after Crvka , author of the Brhaspatya-stras and was founded in approximately 500 BC . Crvka is classified as a heterodox ( nstika ) system , characterized as a materialistic and atheistic school of thought . # #Jain Philosophy of Anekantavada and Syadavada# # Anekntavda also known as the principle of relative Pluralism ( philosophy ) The seven propositions also known as saptabhangi are # ' ' Syd-asti ' ' in some ways it is , # ' ' syd-nsti ' ' - in some ways it is not , # ' ' syd-asti-nsti ' ' - in some ways it is and it is not , #IAST ' ' syd-asti-avaktavya ' ' - in some ways it is and it is indescribable , # ' ' syd-nsti-avaktavya ' ' - in some ways it is not and it is indescribable , # ' ' syd-asti-nsti-avaktavya ' ' - in some ways it is , it is not and it is indescribable , # ' ' syd-avaktavya ' ' - in some ways it is indescribable Each of these seven propositions examines the complex and multifaceted reality from a relative point of view of time , space , substance and mode . To ignore the complexity of the objects is to commit the fallacy of dogmatism . For a rigorous logical and mathematical interpretation see M. K. Jain , Logic of evidence-based inference propositions , ' ' Current Science ' ' , 16631672 , 100. # # Chinese philosophy # # In China , the preeminent Daoist work ' ' Zhuangzi ' ' , attributed to 4th century BC philosopher Zhuangzi during the Hundred Schools of Thought period , is skeptical in nature and provides also two famous skeptical paradoxes , The Happiness of Fish and Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly . Wang Chong introduced a form of naturalism based on a rational critique of the superstition that was overtaking Confucianism and Daoism in the 1st century CE . His neo-Daoist philosophy was based on a secular , rational practice not unlike the scientific method . # # Islam # # In Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy , the scholar Al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) is considered a pioneer of methodic doubt and skepticism . His 11th century book titled ' ' The Incoherence of the Philosophers ' ' marks a major turn in Islamic epistemology , as Ghazali effectively discovered a methodic form of philosophical skepticism that would not be commonly seen in the West until Ren Descartes , George Berkeley and David Hume . The encounter with skepticism led Ghazali to embrace a form of theological occasionalism , or the belief that all causal events and interactions are not the product of material conjunctions but rather the immediate and present will of God . While he himself was a critic of the philosophers , Ghazali was a master in the art of philosophy and had immensely studied the field . After such a long education in philosophy , as well as a long process of reflection , he had criticized the philosophical method . The autobiography Ghazali wrote towards the end of his life , ' ' The Deliverance From Error ' ' ( ' ' Al-munqidh min al-all ' ' ; several English translations ) is considered a work of major importance . In it , Ghazali recounts how , once a crisis of epistemological skepticism was resolved by a light which God Most High cast into my breast ... the key to most knowledge , he studied and mastered the arguments of Kalam , Islamic philosophy and Ismailism . Though appreciating what was valid in the first two of these , at least , he determined that all three approaches were inadequate and found ultimate value only in the mystical experience and spiritual insight ( Spiritual intuitive thought Firasa and Nur ) he attained as a result of following Sufi practices . William James , in ' ' Varieties of Religious Experience ' ' , considered the autobiography an important document for the purely literary student who would like to become acquainted with the inwardness of religions other than the Christian , comparing it to recorded personal religious confessions and autobiographical literature in the Christian tradition . Scholars have noted the similarities between Descartes ' ' ' Discourse on Method ' ' and Ghazali 's work and the writer George Henry Lewes went even further by claiming that had any translation of it The Revival of Religious Sciences in the days of Descartes existed , everyone would have cried out against the plagiarism. # Schools of philosophical skepticism # Philosophical skepticism begins with the claim that the skeptic currently does not have knowledge . Some adherents maintain that knowledge is , in theory , possible . It could be argued that Socrates held that view . He appears to have thought that if people continue to ask questions they might eventually come to have knowledge ; but that they did not have it yet . Some skeptics have gone further and claimed that true knowledge is impossible , for example the Academic school in Ancient Greece well after the time of Carneades . A third skeptical approach would be neither to accept nor reject the possibility of knowledge . Skepticism can be either about everything or about particular areas . A ' global ' skeptic argues that he does not absolutely know anything to be either true or false . Academic global skepticism has great difficulty in supporting this claim while maintaining philosophical rigor , since it seems to require that nothing can be known except for the knowledge that nothing can be known , though in its probabilistic form it can use and support the notion of weight of evidence . Thus , some probabilists avoid extreme skepticism by maintaining that they merely are ' reasonably certain ' ( or ' largely believe ' ) some things are real or true . As for using probabilistic arguments to defend skepticism , in a sense this enlarges or increases scepticism , while the defence of empiricism by Empiricus weakens skepticism and strengthens dogmatism by alleging that sensory appearances are beyond doubt . Much later , Kant would re-define dogmatism to make indirect realism about the external world seem objectionable . While many Hellenists , outside of Empiricus , would maintain that everyone who is not sceptical about everything is a dogmatist , this position would seem too extreme for most later philosophers . Nevertheless , A Pyrrhonian global skeptic labors under no such modern constraint , since he only alleged that he , personally , did not know anything and made no statement about the possibility of knowledge . Nor did Arcesilaus feel bound , since he merely corrected Socrates 's I only know that I know nothing by adding I do n't even know that , thus more fully rejecting dogmatism . ' ' Local ' ' skeptics deny that people do or can have knowledge of a particular area . They may be skeptical about the possibility of one form of knowledge without doubting other forms . Different kinds of local skepticism may emerge , depending on the area . A person may doubt the truth value of different types of journalism , for example , depending on the types of media they trust . In Islamic philosophy , skepticism was established by Al-Ghazali ( 10581111 ) , known in the West as Algazel , as part of the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology . Francisco Sanches 's ' ' That Nothing is Known ' ' ( published in 1581 as ' ' Quod nihil scitur ' ' ) is one of the crucial texts of Renaissance skepticism . # Epistemology and skepticism # Skepticism , as an epistemology Among other arguments , skeptics used Agrippa 's trilemma , named after Agrippa the Sceptic , to claim no certain belief could be achieved . Foundationalists have used the same ' ' trilemma ' ' as a justification for demanding the validity of basic beliefs . This skeptical approach is rarely taken to its pyrrhonean extreme by most practitioners . Several modifications have arisen over the years , including the following : Fictionalism would not claim to have knowledge but will adhere to conclusions on some criterion such as utility , aesthetics , or other personal criteria without claiming that any conclusion is actually true . Philosophical fideism ( as opposed to religious Fideism ) would assert the truth of some propositions , but does so without asserting certainty . Some forms of pragmatism would accept utility as a provisional guide to truth but not necessarily a universal decision-maker . There are two different categories of epistemological skepticism , which can be referred to as mitigated and unmitigated skepticism . The two forms are contrasting but are still true forms of skepticism . Mitigated skepticism does not accept strong or strict knowledge claims but does , however , approve specific weaker ones . These weaker claims can be assigned the title of virtual knowledge , but must be to justified belief . Unmitigated skepticism rejects both claims of virtual knowledge and strong knowledge . Characterizing knowledge as strong , weak , virtual or genuine can be determined differently depending on a person 's viewpoint as well as their characterization of knowledge . # The philosophical skepticism of Kant and its influence on classical German philosophy # Immanuel Kant ( 17241804 ) tried to provide a ground for empirical science against David Hume 's skeptical treatment of the notion of cause and effect . Hume ( 17111776 ) argued that for the notion of cause and effect no analysis is possible which is also acceptable to the empiricist program primarily outlined by John Locke ( 16321704 ) . But , Kant 's attempt to give a ground to knowledge in the empirical sciences at the same time cut off the possibility of knowledge of any other knowledge , especially what Kant called metaphysical knowledge . So , for Kant , empirical science was legitimate , but metaphysics and philosophy was mostly illegitimate . The most important exception to this demarcation of the legitimate from the illegitimate was ethics the principles of which Kant argued can be known by pure reason without appeal to the principles required for empirical knowledge . Thus , with respect to metaphysics and philosophy general ( ethics being the exception ) , Kant was a skeptic . This skepticism as well as the explicit skepticism of G. E. Schulze gave rise to a robust discussion of skepticism in classical German philosophy , especially by Hegel . Kant 's idea was that the real world ( the ' ' noumenon ' ' or ' ' thing-in-itself ' ' ) was inaccessible to human reason ( though the empirical world of nature can be known to human understanding ) and therefore we can never know anything about the ultimate reality of the world . Hegel argued against Kant that although Kant was right that using what Hegel called finite concepts of the understanding precluded knowledge of reality , we were not constrained to use only finite concepts and could actually acquire knowledge of reality using infinite concepts that arise from self-consciousness . # Criticism of skepticism # Most philosophies have weaknesses and can be criticized and this is a general principle of progression in philosophy . The philosophy of skepticism asserts that no truth is knowable or only probable . Some say the scientific method also asserts probable findings , because the number of cases tested is always limited and they constitute perceptual observations . Another criticism is the proposition that no truth is knowable is knowably true is contradictory . The here is one hand argument is also another relatively simple criticism that reverses the skeptic 's proposals and supports common sense . Pierre Le Morvan ( 2011 ) has distinguished between three broad philosophical approaches to skepticism . The first he calls the Foil Approach . According to the latter , skepticism is treated as a problem to be solved , or challenge to be met , or threat to be parried ; skepticisms value on this view , insofar as it is deemed to have one , accrues from its role as a foil contrastively illuminating what is required for knowledge and justified belief . The second he calls the Bypass Approach according to which skepticism is bypassed as a central concern of epistemology . Le Morvan advocates a third approachhe dubs it the Health Approach that explores when skepticism is healthy and when it is not , or when it is virtuous and when it is vicious . # Skeptical hypotheses # A skeptical hypothesis is a hypothetical situation which can be used in an argument for skepticism about a particular claim or class of claims . Usually the hypothesis posits the existence of a deceptive power that deceives our senses and undermines the justification of knowledge otherwise accepted as justified . Skeptical hypotheses have received much attention in modern Western philosophy . The first skeptical hypothesis in modern Western philosophy appears in Ren Descartes ' ' ' Meditations on First Philosophy ' ' . At the end of the first Meditation Descartes writes : I will suppose .. that some evil demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies to deceive me.  The Brain in a vat hypothesis is cast in scientific terms . It supposes that one might be a disembodied brain kept alive in a vat , and fed false sensory signals , by a mad scientist .  The Dream argument of Descartes and Zhuangzi supposes reality to be indistinguishable from a dream .  Descartes ' Evil demon is a being as clever and deceitful as he is powerful , who has directed his entire effort to misleading me.  The five minute hypothesis ( or omphalos hypothesis or Last Thursdayism ) suggests that the world was created recently together with records and traces indicating a greater age .  The Simulated reality hypothesis or Matrix hypothesis suggest that everyone , or even the entire universe , might be inside a computer simulation or virtual reality . 
@@226125 Chinese Legalism ( ) , is defined in the West as certain autocratic political-philosophical currents , reforms , persons , and writings focusing on the running of the state with an emphasis on the use of law , often with strict obedience to it . In the West they are often compared with political realist figures like Machiavelli . Historically , Legalism can be considered a current of administrative reforms and influential politicos in the development of China during the Warring States ( 475-221 BC ) , and sometimes it 's antecedent Spring and Autumn period . It is more well known infamously in reference to the more draconian Qin state , it 's ministers and Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi . Unlike the other ideologies of the period , there was not any organized school of Legalism , other than the ministers and reforms of the different states building upon each other over time ; made more draconian in the case of Shang Yang , migrant from the Wei to the Qin state , or eventually synthesizing , as in the case of Han Fei ( Master Fei ) from the Han state . A basic tenant of the Book of Lord Shang is to let the law teach , and with that , that it be well-known and easy to understand ; later Legalist writers account the book 's mass distribution as useless in improving agriculture , being addressed as it were to the ruler with the intent of implementation . Some historians simply classed Legalist writings with the Taoists that they sometimes relate with , and the meaning of the term is imprecise , only being made a discrete school in later times for reasons of systematization . But Legalist writings and reforms were in fact ' ' syncretic ' ' , drawing on earlier intellectual activity ; that is , Taoism , Mohism and Confucianism , though ' ' Legalism ' ' rejected or even vilified the latter two . Li Si and Han Fei Zi were taught by heterodox Confucian Xunzi , who emphasized the importantance of education and system ( ritual ) , while Mohism like Legalism includes authoritarian precepts and organization antithetical to those of tradition , with an emphasis on authority outside the family . In the case of Confucianism the emphasis on ritualized moral code is transferred over to legal code , with Shang Yang even considering morality useless or harmful , serving to promote people for reasons other than merit . The reformers of the Qin state drew on the reforms of the Chu and Wei states , and the term has also sometimes been used as descriptive of the *25;212639;TOOLONG of earlier Spring and Autumn period ( 771-476 BC ) ministers , even while , with said earlier writers being less separated from Confucianism , Realist Confucian might be a better appellation . The writers/reforms are called Legalist ' ' posthumously ' ' ; the currents defining the Qin transformation had been long in development . Much earlier Zhou documents , not generally referenced as Legalist , also emphasized the use of reward and punishment characteristicly associated with Lord Shang and Qin . In spite of the demonisation of Qin and associated writers with their methods ideas , said currents compounded into administrative tradition and necessity , and continued to influence or determine Chinese political , administrative and bureaucratic structure and practice thereafter , though often masked by Confucianism . Those termed as Legalists are referenced explicitly even in the modern era , and modernly the term is also sometimes used to describe policy later than that of the Qin dynasty , such as that of the Han , Wei , Shu Han , or Sui Dynasties , even while they themselves may not have self-identified with the term . Indeed , some often high ranking ministers , and for example some Han period texts , such as the Huananzi , even use some of the same terms and emphasized some of the same methods . Thus , while it has been used primarily by Chinese historians as a Qin Warring States period categorization , and secondly in reference to some Spring and Autumn period writers and reforms , the term is now also used as a descriptor of policy . # Strictures of Han Fei # The school 's best known contributor , Han Fei , synthesized the ideology of earlier proponents and believed that a ruler should use the following three tools to govern his subjects :  ' ' Fa ' ' ( ; <small> p </small> ' f ' , <small> lit. </small> ' law ' ) : The law code must be clearly written and made public . All people under the ruler were equal before the law . Laws should reward those who obey them and punish accordingly those who dare to break them . Thus it is guaranteed that actions taken are systematically predictable . In addition , the system of law , not the ruler , ran the state , a statement of rule of law . If the law is successfully enforced , even a weak ruler will be strong . The ancients who completed the principal features of legalism .. never burdened their mind with avarice nor did they ever burden themselves with selfishness , but they entrusted law and tact with the settlement of order and the suppression of chaos , depended upon reward and punishment for praising the right and blaming the wrong , assigned all measures of lightness and heaviness to yard and weight .  ' ' Shu ' ' ( ; <small> p </small> ' sh ' , <small> lit. </small> ' method ' ) : Special tactics and ' secrets ' are to be employed by the ruler to make sure others do n't take over control of the state . Especially important is that no one can fathom the ruler 's motivations , and thus no one can know which behavior might help them get ahead , other than following the laws . If the sovereign does not compare what he sees and hears , he will never get at the real .. If the ruler listens straight to one project alone , he can not distinguish between the stupid and the intelligent . If he holds every projector responsible , ministers can not confound their abilities .  ' ' Shi ' ' ( ; <small> p </small> ' sh ' , <small> lit. </small> ' legitimacy ' ) : It is the position of the ruler , not the ruler himself or herself , that holds the power . Therefore , analysis of the trends , the context , and the facts are essential for a real ruler . Have you the wisdom of Yao but not the support of the masses , you can not accomplish any great achievement ; have you the physical force of Wu Huo , but no help from other people , you can not raise yourself ; have you the strength of Mng Pn and Hsia Y but uphold neither law nor tact , you can not triumph for ever . Therefore , certain positions are untenable ; certain tasks , unattainable . Han Fei wrote regarding the differing teachings of his predecessors , It is impossible to compare them . Man , not eating for ten days , would die , and , wearing no clothes in the midst of great cold , would also die . As to which is more urgently needful to man , clothing or eating , it goes without saying that neither can be dispensed with , for both are means to nourish life . Now Shn Pu-hai spoke about the need of tact and Kung-sun Yang insisted on the use of law . Tact is the means whereby to create posts according to responsibilities , hold actual services accountable according to official titles , exercise the power over life and death , and examine the officials ' abilities . It is what the lord of men has in his grip . Law includes mandates and ordinances that are manifest in the official bureaux , penalties that are definite in the mind of the people , rewards that are due to the careful observers of laws , and punishments that are inflicted on the offenders against orders . It is what the subjects and ministers take as model . If the ruler is tactless , delusion will come to the superior ; if the subjects and ministers are lawless , disorder will appear among the inferiors . Thus , neither can be dispensed with : both are implements of emperors and kings . # The qualities of a ruler # Primarily members of the ruling class , the Legalists emphasized that the head of state was endowed with ' ' shi ' ' , the mystery of authority , and as such his decisions must always command the respect and obedience of the people . The state ( country ) comes first , not the individual . The emperors very figure brought legitimacy . In emphasizing the power of rulership , Legalists such as Shen Dao ( &amp;ndash ; 275 BC ) and Shen Buhai sought to devalue the importance of the charismatic ruler . Skillful rulers hid their true intentions and feigned nonchalance . To ensure that all of his words were revered , the wise ruler kept a low profile . Thus , theoretically , by cloaking both his desires and his will , the Emperors checked sycophancy and forced his subject to heed his dictates . While Shang Yang ( the Prime Minister of Duke Xiao of Qin ) would allow rulers to listen to musical instruments rather than focus on foreign policy , Han Fei ( the Legalistic scholar most admired by the First Qin Emperor , Qin Shi Huangdi ) demanded more of the wise ruler . A good leader , by Han Fei 's standards , must not only accept the advice of loyal ministers when shown to be in error , but must also extend courtesy to those beneath him or her and not be too avaricious . The adept ruler also understood the importance of strictness over benevolence . Although the ruler was expected to be paternalistic , the Legalists emphasized that being too kind would spoil the populace and threaten the state 's internal order . Interestingly , according to the Han 's Grand Historian Sima Qian ( &amp;ndash ; 86 BC ) , while the First Qin Emperor hid himself from the rest of the world ( perhaps due to a desire to attain immortality ) and thus maintained a low profile , he did not necessarily follow all of the Legalists advice on the role of the ruler . # Ministers # To aid the ruler and help prevent misgovernance , Shen Buhai &amp;ndash ; a minister from the state of Han for fifteen years &amp;ndash ; formalized the concept of ' ' shu ' ' , the bureaucratic model of administration that served to advance the ideal Legalist rulers program . To the Legalists , the intelligent minister was the ruler 's most important aide . Whereas the ministers duty was to understand specific affairs , the ruler was responsible for correctly judging ministers performances . Stressing that ministers and other officials too often sought favours from foreign powers by abusing their positions , Han Fei urged rulers to control these individuals by the two handles of punishment and favour . Officials were required , through fear , to ensure that ministers ' accomplishments were neither greater than nor inferior to the assigned undertaking . According to the eminent sinologist Robin Yates , newly discovered Qin Dynasty legal codes show that officials were required to correctly calculate the exact amount of labor expected of all artisans ; if the artisan was ordered to perform either too much work or too little work , the official would be held accountable . Thus , in Legalist theory , ministers and other officials were prevented from performing some other official 's duties and were punished if they attempted to blind the ruler with words or failed to warn the ruler of danger . One consequence of this situation was that the ministers could always be held accountable for royal misadventures while the rulers name was never to be tarnished . By emphasizing performance , however , over sophistry , the Legalists hoped to eliminate bureaucratic corruption and intrigues amongst the officialdom through fear of being severely punished , exiled or executed . # Purpose of law # The laws supported by the Legalists were meant to support the state , the emperor , and his military . They were also reform-oriented and innovative . In theory , the Legalists believed that if the punishments were heavy and the law equally applied , neither the powerful nor the weak would be able to escape consequences . The Legalists especially emphasized pragmatism over precedence and custom as the basis of law . Guided by Legalist thought , the First Qin Emperor , Qin Shi Huang , would weaken the power of the feudal lords , conquer and unify the warring states into a single empire , create thirty-six administrative provinces , and standardize the writing system . Reflecting Legalist passion for order and structure , Qin soldiers were only mobilized when both halves of tiger-shaped tallies ( one held by the ruler and the other by the commanding general ) were brought together . Likewise , all documents in the empire had to have recorded the year they were written , the scribe who copied them , and up to the exact hour of delivery . Accepting Shang Yangs earlier emphasis on the standardization of weights and measures , the Qin Shi Huang would also accept Shang Yangs philosophy that no individual in the state should be above the law ( by ensuring harsh punishments for all cases of dissent ) and that families should be divided into smaller households . While there is reason to doubt Sima Qians claim that Qin Shi Huang did in fact divide households into groups of ten , certainly the other examples of standardization and administrative organization undertaken by the First Emperor reflect the importance of Legalist thought in Qin law . # Individual autonomy # The Legalist philosophers emphasized the primacy of the state over individual autonomy . The lone individual had no legitimate civil rights and any personal freedom had to strengthen the ruler . Han Fei , in particular , would be very caustic towards the concept of individuals rights . Fundamentally , the Legalists viewed the plebeian ( common people of lower class ) and their actions as evil and foolish . However , Legalism allowed the common people to gain in rank if they performed well . For example , soldiers would gain in rank according to the number of heads the soldiers collected . A soldier may even gain noble rank . In contrast , some other states allowed only the well-connected to gain higher ranks . An example of this would be L Buwei , who originally a merchant , was able to become Chancellor of China , an occurrence that would never happen in the other six states . He played a major role in King Zhuangxiang of Qin 's rise to power . According to Shang Yang 's ' ' The Book of Lord Shang ' ' , the people themselves wanted a ruler to generate order . Social cohesion in the Legalist state mandated that the populace never escape punishment . The Qin dynasty used the people , for example , to maintain vigilant mutual surveillance over one another under threat of death . This intrastate realpolitik would end up devouring the Legalist philosophers themselves . Shang Yang , in advocating the states right to punish even the parents tutor , would run afoul of the future King Huiwen of Qin ( &amp;ndash ; 311 BC ) . Whereas at one point , he had the power to exile his opponents ( and , thus , eviscerate individual criticism ) to border regions of the state , he was captured by a law he had introduced and died being torn into pieces by chariots . Similarly , Han Fei would end up being poisoned by his envious former classmate Li Si , who in turn would be killed ( under the law he had introduced ) by the aggressive and violent Second Qin Emperor that he had helped to take the thrones . # Decline # With the fall of Qin , Legalism was demonized and ceased to be an independent school of thought . However , both ancient and modern Confucian observers of Chinese politics have argued that some Legalist ideas have merged with mainstream Confucianism and still play a major role in government . Qin Hui memorably glossed the reality of imperial China as Confucian on the outside , but Legalist within ( , <small> p </small> ' ' R bio , F l ' ' ) . In other words , Confucian values were used to sugarcoat the harsh Legalist reality that underlay the Imperial system . During the Sui and Tang dynasty , Buddhist ideas were also part of the external face of the imperial system . The Sui dynasty 's policies during its efforts to reunify China were more legalistic , and like the Han for the Qin the Tang government similarly used the government structure left behind by the Sui dynasty , albeit with much reduced punishments. # Related figures # The Confucian thinker Xun Zi is sometimes considered as being influenced by or having nourished Legalist ideas , mostly because of two of his disciples ( Li Si and Han Fei ) . 
@@261873 Virtue ethics ( or aretaic ethics from the Greek ' ' arete ' ' ) emphasizes the role of one 's character and the virtues that one 's character embodies for determining or evaluating ethical behavior . Virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches to normative ethics , often contrasted to deontology which emphasizes duty to rules and consequentialism which derives rightness or wrongness from the outcome of the act itself . The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way in which moral dilemmas are approached , rather than in the moral conclusions reached . For example , a consequentialist may argue that lying is wrong because of the negative consequences produced by lying -- though a consequentialist may allow that certain foreseeable consequences might make lying acceptable . A deontologist might argue that lying is ' ' always ' ' wrong , regardless of any potential good that might come from lying . A virtue ethicist , however , would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one 's character and moral behavior . As such , the morality of lying would be determined on a case-by-case basis , which would be based on factors such as personal benefit , group benefit , and intentions ( as to whether they are benevolent or malevolent ) . # Overview # Concern for virtue appears in several philosophical traditions ; in the West the roots of the tradition lie in the work of Plato and Aristotle , and even today the traditions key concepts derive from ancient Greek philosophy . These concepts include ' ' arete ' ' ( excellence or virtue ) , ' ' phronesis ' ' ( practical or moral wisdom ) , and ' ' eudaimonia ' ' ( flourishing ) . In the West , virtue ethics was the prevailing approach to ethical thinking in the ancient and medieval periods . The tradition suffered an eclipse during the early modern period , as Aristotelianism fell out of favor in the West . Virtue theory returned to prominence in Western philosophical thought in the 20th century , and is today one of the three dominant approaches to normative theories ( the other two being deontology and consequentialism ) . Virtue theory is not actually in conflict with deontology or teleology : those two viewpoints deal with which actions a person should take in any given scenario , whereas virtue theorists simply argue that developing morally desirable virtues for their own sake will help aid moral actions when such decisions need to be made . While the theory of virtue ethics was born with Plato and Aristotle , their theories are not the only that are recognized . What virtue ethics refers to , rather , is a collection of normative ethical philosophies that place an emphasis on being rather than doing . Another way to say this is that in virtue ethics , morality stems from the identity and/or character of the individual , rather than being a reflection of the actions ( or consequences thereof ) of the individual . Today , there is debate among various adherents of virtue ethics concerning what specific virtues are morally praiseworthy . However , most theorists agree that morality comes as a result of intrinsic virtues . Intrinsic virtues are the common link that unites the disparate normative philosophies into the field known as virtue ethics . Plato and Aristotle 's treatment of virtues are not the same . Plato believes virtue is effectively an end to be sought , for which a friend might be a useful means . Aristotle states that the virtues function more as means to safeguard human relations , particularly authentic friendship , without which one 's quest for happiness is frustrated . # Distinctions # Virtue ethics can be contrasted to deontological ethics and consequentialist ethics by an examination of the other two ( the three being together the most predominant contemporary normative ethical theories ) . Deontological ethics , sometimes referred to as duty ethics , places the emphasis on adhering to ethical principles or duties . How these duties are defined , however , is often a point of contention and debate in deontological ethics . One of the predominant rule schemes utilized by deontologists is the Divine Command Theory . Deontology also depends upon meta-ethical realism , in that it postulates the existence of moral absolutes that make an action moral , regardless of circumstances . For more information on deontological ethics refer to the work of Immanuel Kant . The next predominant school of thought in normative ethics is consequentialism . While deontology places the emphasis on doing one 's duty , which is established by some kind of moral imperative ( in other words , the emphasis is on obedience to some higher moral absolute ) , consequentialism bases the morality of an action upon the consequences of the outcome . Instead of saying that one has a moral duty to abstain from murder , a consequentialist would say that we should abstain from murder because it causes undesirable effects . The main contention here is what outcomes should/can be identified as objectively desirable . The Greatest Happiness Principle of John Stuart Mill is one of the most commonly adopted criteria . Mill asserts that our determinant of the desirability of an action is the net amount of happiness it brings , the number of people it brings it to , and the duration of the happiness . He also tries to delineate classes of happiness , some being preferable to others , but there is a great deal of difficulty in classifying such concepts . For a more complete outline of the niceties of Mill 's classification system see the page on utilitarianism or read Mill 's works ' ' Utilitarianism ' ' , ' ' Defense of Utilitarianism ' ' , and ' ' On Liberty ' ' . Examining the meta-ethical theories of naturalism , upon which many consequentialist theories rely , may provide further clarification . Having looked at the other two normative ethical theories we come at last to virtue ethics . As stated before , deontology focuses on adhering to ethical duties , while consequentialism focuses on the outcomes ( consequences ) of actions . Here virtue ethics differs in that the focus is instead upon being rather than doing . A virtue ethics philosopher will identify virtues , desirable characteristics , that the moral or virtuous person embodies . Possessing these virtues , in virtue ethics , is what makes one moral , and one 's actions are a mere reflection of one 's inner morality . To the virtue philosopher , action can not be used as a demarcation of morality , because a virtue encompasses more than just a simple selection of action . Instead , it is about a way of being that would cause the person exhibiting the virtue to make a certain virtuous choice consistently in each situation . There is a great deal of disagreement within virtue ethics over what are virtues and what are not . There are also difficulties in identifying what is the virtuous action to take in all circumstances , and how to define a virtue . Consequentialist and deontological theories often still employ the term ' virtue ' , but in a restricted sense , namely as a tendency or disposition to adhere to the system 's principles or rules . These very different senses of what constitutes virtue , hidden behind the same word , are a potential source of confusion . This disagreement over the meaning of virtue points to a larger conflict between virtue theory and its philosophical rivals . A system of virtue theory is only intelligible if it is teleological : that is , if it includes an account of the purpose ( ' ' telos ' ' ) of human life , or in popular language , the meaning of life . # Achieving ' ' eudaimonia ' ' # ' ' Eudaimonia ' ' ( ) is a state variously translated from Greek as ' well-being ' , ' happiness ' , ' blessedness ' , and in the context of virtue ethics , ' human flourishing ' . ' ' Eudaimonia ' ' in this sense is not a subjective , but an objective , state . It characterizes the well-lived life . According to Aristotle , the most prominent exponent of ' ' eudaimonia ' ' in the Western philosophical tradition , ' ' eudaimonia ' ' is the proper goal of human life . It consists of exercising the characteristic human quality -- reasonas the soul 's most proper and nourishing activity . In his ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' , Aristotle , like Plato before him , argued that the pursuit of ' ' eudaimonia ' ' is an activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue , which further could only properly be exercised in the characteristic human communitythe ' ' polis ' ' or city-state . Although ' ' eudaimonia ' ' was first popularized by Aristotle , it now belongs to the tradition of virtue theories generally . For the virtue theorist , ' ' eudaimonia ' ' describes that state achieved by the person who lives the proper human life , an outcome that can be reached by practicing the virtues . A virtue is a habit or quality that allows the bearer to succeed at his , her , or its purpose . The virtue of a knife , for example , is sharpness ; among the virtues of a racehorse is speed . Thus to identify the virtues for human beings , one must have an account of what the human purpose is . There is , and always has been , sharp disagreement on this question : thus , as Alasdair MacIntyre observed in ' ' After Virtue ' ' , though thinkers as diverse as Homer , Aristotle , the authors of the New Testament , Thomas Aquinas , and Benjamin Franklin have all proposed lists , and sometimes theories of the interrelation , of the virtues , these do not always overlap . Aristotle categorized the virtues as moral and intellectual . Aristotle identified nine intellectual virtues , the most important of which was wisdom ; ' ' sophia ' ' ( theoretical wisdom ) and ' ' phronesis ' ' ( practical wisdom ) . The other eight moral virtues include :  Prudence  Justice  Fortitude  Temperance Aristotle argued that each of the moral virtues was a mean ( see Golden Mean ) between two corresponding vices , one of excess and one of deficiency . For example : courage is a virtue found between the vices of cowardliness and rashness. # Historical origins and development # Like much of the Western tradition , virtue theory seems to have originated in ancient Greek philosophy . Discussion of what were known as the Four Cardinal Virtues - wisdom , justice , fortitude and temperance - can be found in Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' . The virtues also figure prominently in Aristotle 's moral theory ( see below ) . Virtue theory was inserted into the study of history by moralistic historians such as Livy , Plutarch , and Tacitus . The Greek idea of the virtues was passed on in Roman philosophy through Cicero and later incorporated into Christian moral theology by St. Ambrose of Milan . During the scholastic period , the most comprehensive consideration of the virtues from a theological perspective was provided by St. Thomas Aquinas in his ' ' Summa Theologiae ' ' and his ' ' Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics ' ' . The tradition was eclipsed in the Renaissance , and throughout the early modern period , when the Aristotelian synthesis of ethics and metaphysics fell into disfavour . Though the tradition receded into the background of European philosophical thought in these centuries , the term virtue remained current during this period , and in fact appears prominently in the tradition of classical republicanism or classical liberalism . This tradition was prominent in the intellectual life of 16th-century Italy , as well as 17th- and 18th-century Britain and America ; indeed the term virtue appears frequently in the work of Niccol Machiavelli , David Hume , the republicans of the English Civil War period , the 18th-century English Whigs , and the prominent figures among the Scottish Enlightenment and the American Founding Fathers . Despite this common term , classical republicanism should not be conflated with virtue theory , as the two philosophical traditions draw from different sources and often address different concerns . Where virtue theory traces its roots to Aristotle , classical republicanism draws primarily on Tacitus . Virtue theory emphasizes Aristotle 's belief in the polis as the acme of political organization , and the role of the virtues in enabling human beings to flourish in that environment . Classical republicanism in contrast emphasizes Tacitus ' concern that power and luxury can corrupt individuals and destroy liberty , as Tacitus perceived in the transformation of the Roman republic into an empire ; virtue for classical republicans is a shield against this sort of corruption and a means to preserve the good life one has , rather than a means by which to achieve the good life one does not yet have . Another way to put the distinction between the two traditions is that virtue ethics relies on Aristotle 's fundamental distinction between the human-being-as-he-is from the *27;707104;TOOLONG , while classical republicanism relies on the Tacitean distinction of the human-being-as-he-is from the *40;707133;TOOLONG # Contemporary ' aretaic turn ' # Although some Enlightenment philosophers ( e.g. Hume ) continued to emphasize the virtues , with the ascendancy of utilitarianism and deontology , virtue theory moved to the margins of Western philosophy . The contemporary revival of virtue theory is frequently traced to the philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe 's 1958 essay Modern Moral Philosophy . Following this :  In the 1976 paper The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories , Michael Stocker summarises the main aretaic criticisms of deontological and consequentialist ethics .  Philippa Foot , who published a collection of essays in 1978 entitled ' ' Virtues and Vices. ' '  Alasdair MacIntyre has made an effort to reconstruct a virtue-based theory in dialogue with the problems of modern and postmodern thought ; his works include ' ' After Virtue ' ' and ' ' Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry ' ' .  Paul Ricoeur has accorded an important place to Aristotelian teleological ethics in his hermeneutical phenomenology of the subject , most notably in his book ' ' Oneself as Another ' ' .  theologian Stanley Hauerwas has also found the language of virtue quite helpful in his own project .  Rosalind Hursthouse has published ' ' On Virtue Ethics ' ' .  Roger Crisp and Michael Slote have edited a collection of important essays titled ' ' Virtue Ethics ' '  Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen have employed virtue theory in theorizing the capability approach to international development . The aretaic turn in moral philosophy is paralleled by analogous developments in other philosophical disciplines . One of these is epistemology , where a distinctive virtue epistemology has been developed by Linda Zagzebski and others . In political theory , there has been discussion of virtue politics , and in legal theory , there is a small but growing body of literature on virtue jurisprudence . The aretaic turn also exists in American constitutional theory , where proponents argue for an emphasis on virtue and vice of constitutional adjudicators . Aretaic approaches to morality , epistemology , and jurisprudence have been the subject of intense debates . One criticism that is frequently made focuses on the problem of guidance ; opponents , such as Robert Louden in his article Some Vices of Virtue Ethics , question whether the idea of a virtuous moral actor , believer , or judge can provide the guidance necessary for action , belief formation , or the decision of legal disputes . # Non-Western tradition # Non-Western moral and religious philosophies , such as Confucianism , also incorporate ideas that may appear similar to those developed by the ancient Greeks . Like ancient Greek ethics , Chinese ethical thought makes an explicit connection between virtue and statecraft . However , where the Greeks focused on the interior orientation of the soul , Confucianism 's definition of virtue emphasizes interpersonal relations . Confucian ethics have been labeled as a form of role ethics rather than virtue ethics . Normally when the term virtue theory is used , it is in reference to the western conception of virtue theory , rather than any of the schools of East Asian ethical thought . Nick Gier in ' ' Buddhist Ethics as Virtue Ethics ' ' compares Buddha 's ethical teachings to Aristotle 's : Like Greek virtue ethics , Buddhist ethics is also humanistic and thoroughly personalist . Damien Keown devotes a great deal of his work to debunking claims that Buddhism is Utilitarian in nature . His work then goes on to examine the structure of Buddhist Ethics , focusing specifically on morality ( Pali : siila ) . His conclusion is that Buddhist Ethics most closely resembles the ancient Greek virtue ethics found in Aristotle . James Whitehill in ' ' Buddhist Ethics in Western Context : The Virtues Approach ' ' says : Buddhism 's legitimation in the West can be partially met by demonstrating that Buddhist morality is a virtue-oriented , character-based , community-focused ethics , commensurate with the Western ' ethics of virtue ' tradition . # Criticisms # Some criticize the theory in relation to the difficulty involved with establishing the nature of the virtues . Different people , cultures and societies often have different opinions on what constitutes a virtue . : For example , regarding what are the most important virtues , Aristotle proposed the nine listed earlier ( just above Historical origins ) : wisdom ; prudence ; justice ; fortitude ; courage ; liberality ; magnificence ; magnanimity ; temperance . In contrast , one modern-era philosopher proposed as the four cardinal virtues : ambition/humility ; love ; courage ; and honesty . : As another example , regarding virtues once supposedly applicable to women , many would have once considered a virtuous woman to be quiet , servile , and industrious . This conception of female virtue no longer holds true in many modern societies ( see also cultural relativism ) . Proponents of virtue theory sometimes respond to this objection by arguing that a central feature of a virtue is its ' ' universal applicability ' ' . In other words , any character trait defined as a virtue must reasonably be universally regarded as a virtue for all sentient beings . According to this view , it is inconsistent to claim for example servility as a female virtue , while at the same time not proposing it as a male one . Other proponents of virtue theory , notably Alasdair MacIntyre , respond to this objection by arguing that any account of the virtues must indeed be generated out of the community in which those virtues are to be practiced : the very word ' ethics ' implies ' ethos ' . That is to say that the virtues are , and necessarily must be , grounded in a particular time and place . What counts as virtue in 4th-century Athens would be a ludicrous guide to proper behavior in 21st-century Toronto , and vice-versa . To take this view does not necessarily commit one to the argument that accounts of the virtues must therefore be static : moral activitythat is , attempts to contemplate and practice the virtuescan provide the cultural resources that allow people to change , albeit slowly , the ethos of their own societies . MacIntyre appears to take this position in his seminal work on virtue ethics , ' ' After Virtue ' ' . One might cite ( though MacIntyre does not ) the rapid emergence of abolitionist thought in the slave-holding societies of the 18th-century Atlantic world as an example of this sort of change : over a relatively short period of time , perhaps 1760 to 1800 , in Britain , France , and British America , slave-holding , previously thought to be morally neutral or even virtuous , rapidly became seen as vicious among wide swathes of society . While the emergence of abolitionist thought derived from many sources , the work of David Brion Davis , among others , has established that one source was the rapid , internal evolution of moral theory among certain sectors of these societies , notably the Quakers . Another objection to virtue theory is that the school does not focus on what ' ' sorts of actions ' ' are morally permitted and which ones are not , but rather on what sort of qualities someone ought to foster in order to become a good person . In other words , while some virtue theorists may not condemn , for example , murder as an inherently immoral or impermissible sort of action , they may argue that someone who commits a murder is severely lacking in several important virtues , such as compassion and fairness . Still , antagonists of the theory often object that this particular feature of the theory makes virtue ethics useless as a universal norm of acceptable conduct suitable as a base for legislation . Some virtue theorists concede this point , but respond by opposing the very notion of legitimate legislative authority instead , effectively advocating some form of anarchism as the political ideal . Others argue that laws should be made by virtuous legislators . Still others argue that it is possible to base a judicial system on the moral notion of virtues rather than rules . Some virtue theorists might respond to this overall objection with the notion of a bad act also being an act characteristic of vice . That is to say that those acts that do not aim at virtue , or stray from virtue , would constitute our conception of bad behavior . Although not all virtue ethicists agree to this notion , this is one way the virtue ethicist can re-introduce the concept of the morally impermissible . One could raise objection with Foot that she is committing an argument from ignorance by postulating that what is not virtuous is unvirtuous . In other words , just because an action or person ' lacks of evidence ' for virtue does not , all else constant , imply that said action or person is unvirtuous. # Subsumed in deontology and utilitarianism # Martha Nussbaum has suggested that while virtue ethics are often considered to be anti-Enlightenment , suspicious of theory and respectful of the wisdom embodied in local practices , they are actually neither fundamentally distinct from , nor do they qualify as a rival approach to deontology and utilitarianism . She argues that philosophers from these two Enlightenment traditions often include theories of virtue . She pointed out that Kant 's ' ' Doctrine of Virtue ' ' ( in ' ' The Metaphysics of Morals ' ' ) covers most of the same topics as do classical Greek theories , that he offers a general account of virtue , in terms of the strength of the will in overcoming wayward and selfish inclinations ; that he offers detailed analyses of standard virtues such as courage and self-control , and of vices , such as avarice , mendacity , servility , and pride ; that , although in general he portrays inclination as inimical to virtue , he also recognizes that sympathetic inclinations offer crucial support to virtue , and urges their deliberate cultivation . Nussbaum also points to considerations of virtue by utilitarians such as Henry Sidgwick ( ' ' The Methods of Ethics ' ' ) , Jeremy Bentham ( ' ' The Principles of Morals and Legislation ' ' ) , and John Stuart Mill , who writes of moral development as part of an argument for the moral equality of women ( ' ' The Subjection of Women ' ' ) . She argues that contemporary virtue ethicists such as Alasdair MacIntyre , Bernard Williams , Philippa Foot , and John McDowell have few points of agreement , and that the common core of their work does not represent a break from Kant. # Utopianism and pluralism # Robert Louden criticises virtue ethics on the basis that it promotes a form of unsustainable utopianism . Trying to come to ' ' a ' ' single set of virtues is immensely difficult in contemporary societies as , according to Louden , they contain more ethnic , religious , and class groups than did the moral community which Aristotle theorized about with each of these groups having not only its own interests but its own set of virtues as well . Louden notes in passing that MacIntyre , a supporter of virtue-based ethics , has grappled with this in ' ' After Virtue ' ' but that ethics can not dispense with building rules around acts and rely only on discussing the moral character of persons . # Applications # Virtue ethics has a number of applications . For instance , within the field of social ethics , Deirdre McCloskey argues that virtue ethics can provide a basis for a balanced approach to understanding capitalism and capitalist societies . Within the field of philosophy of education , James Page argues that virtue ethics can provide a rationale and foundation for peace education . Thomas Alured Faunce has argued that whistleblowing in the healthcare setting would be more respected within clinical governance pathways if it had a firmer academic foundation in virtue ethics . He has argued that whistleblowing should have been expressly supported in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights . 
@@283120 The American Philosophical Society ( APS ) , founded in 1743 and located in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation , that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research , professional meetings , publications , library resources , and community outreach . Considered the first learned society in the United States , it has played an important role in American cultural and intellectual life for over 270 years . Through research grants , published journals , the American Philosophical Society Museum , an extensive library , and regular meetings , the society continues to advance a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the sciences . Philosophical Hall , now a museum , is located immediately east of Independence Hall and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. ; it is within Independence National Historical Park . # History # Originally called the ' ' Philosophical Society ' ' , the Society was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram as an offshoot of an earlier club , the Junto . It was founded two years after the University of Pennsylvania and the institutions remain closely tied . Since its inception , the Society attracted America 's finest minds . Early members included George Washington , John Adams , Thomas Jefferson , Alexander Hamilton , James McHenry , Thomas Paine , David Rittenhouse , Nicholas Biddle , Owen Biddle , Benjamin Rush , James Madison , Michael Hillegas , John Marshall , and John Andrews . The Society also recruited philosophers from other countries as members , including Alexander von Humboldt , the Marquis de Lafayette , Baron von Steuben , Tadeusz Kociuszko , and Princess Dashkova . By 1746 the Society had lapsed into inactivity . In 1767 , however , it was revived , and , on January 2 , 1769 , it united with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge under the name American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge . Benjamin Franklin was elected the first president . During this time , the society maintained a standing Committee on American Improvements ; one of its investigations was to study the prospects of a canal to connect the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River . The canal , which had been proposed by Thomas Gilpin , Sr. , would not become reality until the 1820s . After the American Revolution , the Society looked for leadership to Francis Hopkinson , one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence . Under his influence , the Society received land from the government of Pennsylvania , along with a plot of land in Philadelphia where Philosophical Hall now stands . Illustrious names have continually been added to the membership roster , reflecting the society 's scope . Charles Darwin , Robert Frost , Louis Pasteur , Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz , John James Audubon , Linus Pauling , Margaret Mead , Maria Mitchell , and Thomas Edison became members of the Society . The Society continues to attract names of high renown today , with a current membership list ( as of the April 2005 elections ) of 920 members , including 772 resident members ( citizens or residents of the United States ) and 148 foreign members representing more than two dozen countries . Many members of the Society of the Cincinnati were among the APS ' first board members and contributors ; today the APS and SOC still maintain an informal , collegial relationship . # Awards # In 1786 , the Society established the Magellanic Premium , a prize for achievement in navigation , astronomy , or natural philosophy , the oldest scientific prize awarded by an American institution , which it still awards . Other awards include the Barzun Prize for cultural history , Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation , the Benjamin Franklin Medal , the Lashley Award for neurobiology , the Lewis Award , and the Thomas Jefferson Medal for distinguished achievement in the arts , humanities , or social sciences . # Publications # The APS has published the ' ' Transactions of the American Philosophical Society ' ' since 1771 . Currently five issues appear each year . The ' ' Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society # Buildings # # Philosophical Hall # Philosophical Hall , located at 104 South Fifth Street , between Chestnut and Walnut Streets , immediately south of Old City Hall , was built in 1785-89 to house the Society and was designed by Samuel Vaughan in the Federal style . A third floor was added in 1890 , to accommodate the expanding library , but was removed in 1948-50 when the building was restored to its original appearance for the creation of Independence National Historical Park . In 2001 , it was opened to the public as The American Philosophical Society Museum , hosting revolving , thematic exhibitions that explore the intersections of history , art , and science . The museum features works of art , scientific instruments , original manuscripts , rare books , natural history specimens , and curiosities of all kinds from the APS 's own collections , along with objects on loan from other institutions . # Library Hall # In 1789-90 , the Library Company of Philadelphia ( LCP ) built its headquarters directly across 5th Street from APS . LCP sold its building in 1884 , which was demolished for the expansion of the Drexel &amp; Company Building in 1887 . This building itself was demolished in the mid-1950s , during the creation of Independence National Historical Park . APS built a library on the site in 1958 , and recreated the facade of the old LCP building . # Benjamin Franklin Hall # APS restored the former Farmers ' &amp; Mechanics ' Bank building at 425-29 Chestnut Street , which was built in 1854-5 and designed by John M. Gries in the Italianate style , to serve as a lecture hall . It is the site of most major events hosted or produced by the Society , and of their meetings . # Richardson Hall # Constance C. and Edgar P. Richardson Hall at 431 Chestnut Street , immediately west of Benjamin Franklin Hall , is the former Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities Building , which was built in 1871-73 and was designed by Addison Hutton . It now contains offices and the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science . *37;378209;gallery File:PSM V60 D442 Place of meeting in the building of the society.pngInterior of Philosophical Hall ( c. 1901-02 ) File:Farmers ' &amp; Mechanics ' Bank 427 Chestnut Street.jpgBenjamin Franklin Hall ( 2013 ) File:Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities 431 Chestnut Street.jpgRichardson Hall ( 2013 ) </gallery> 
@@294996 birthplace = Montreal , Quebec Charles Margrave Taylor , ( born November 5 , 1931 ) is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal , Quebec best known for his contributions to political philosophy , the philosophy of social science , history of philosophy and intellectual history . This work has earned him the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the Templeton Prize , in addition to widespread esteem among philosophers . In 2007 , Taylor served with Grard Bouchard on the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on Reasonable Accommodation with regard to cultural differences in the province of Quebec . He is a practising Roman Catholic . # Career # Taylor began his undergraduate education at McGill University ( B.A. in History in 1952 ) . He continued his studies at the University of Oxford , first as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College ( B.A. in Philosophy , Politics and Economics ) in 1955 , and then as a post-graduate ( D.Phil. in 1961 ) , under the supervision of Isaiah Berlin and G. E. M. Anscombe . He succeeded John Plamenatz as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Oxford and became a Fellow of All Souls College . For many years , both before and after Oxford , he was Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University in Montreal , Canada , where he is now professor emeritus . Taylor was also a Board of Trustees Professor of Law and Philosophy at Northwestern University in Evanston for several years after his retirement from McGill . Taylor was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986 . In 1991 , Taylor was appointed to the Conseil de la langue franaise in the province of Quebec , at which point he critiqued Quebec 's commercial sign laws . In 1995 , he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada . In 2000 , he was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec . He was awarded the 2007 Templeton Prize for progress towards research or discoveries about spiritual realities , which includes a cash award of US$1.5 million . In 2007 he and Grard Bouchard were appointed to head a one-year Commission of Inquiry into what would constitute reasonable accommodation for minority cultures in his home province of Quebec , Canada . In June 2008 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in the arts and philosophy category . The Kyoto Prize is sometimes referred to as the Japanese Nobel . # Views # In order to understand Taylor 's views it is helpful to understand his philosophical background , especially his writings on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Ludwig Wittgenstein , Martin Heidegger , and Maurice Merleau-Ponty . Taylor rejects naturalism and formalist epistemologies . He is part of an influential intellectual tradition of Canadian Idealism that includes John Watson , Paxton Young , C.B. Macpherson , and George Parkin Grant . In his essay To Follow a Rule , Taylor explores why people can fail to follow rules , and what kind of knowledge it is that allows a person to successfully follow a rule , such as the arrow on a sign . The intellectualist tradition presupposes that to follow directions we must know a set of propositions and premises about how to follow directions . Taylor argues that Wittgenstein 's solution is that all interpretation of rules draws upon a tacit background . This background is not more rules or premises , but what Wittgenstein calls forms of life . More specifically , Wittgenstein says in the ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' that Obeying a rule is a practice . Taylor situates the interpretation of rules within the practices that are incorporated into our bodies in the form of habits , dispositions , and tendencies . Following Heidegger , Merleau-Ponty , Hans-Georg Gadamer , Michael Polanyi , and Wittgenstein , Taylor argues that it is mistaken to presuppose that our understanding of the world is primarily mediated by representations . It is only against an unarticulated background that representations can make sense to us . On occasion we do follow rules by explicitly representing them to ourselves , but Taylor reminds us that rules do not contain the principles of their own application : application requires that we draw on an unarticulated understanding or sense of things the background . # Taylor 's critique of naturalism # Taylor defines naturalism as a family of various , often quite diverse theories that all hold the ambition to model the study of man on the natural sciences . Philosophically naturalism was largely popularized and defended by the unity of science movement that was advanced by logical positivist philosophy . In many ways , Taylor 's early philosophy springs from a critical reaction against the logical positivism and naturalism that was ascendant in Oxford while he was a student . Initially , much of Taylor 's philosophical work consisted of careful conceptual critiques of various naturalist research programs . This began with his 1964 dissertation ' ' The Explanation of Behaviour ' ' , which was a detailed and systematic criticism of the behaviourist psychology of B. F. Skinner that was highly influential at mid-century . From there , Taylor also spread his critique to other disciplines . The still hugely influential essay Interpretation and the Sciences of Man was published in 1972 as a critique of the political science of the behavioural revolution advanced by giants of the field like David Easton , Robert Dahl , Gabriel Almond , and Sydney Verba . In an essay entitled The Signicance of Signicance : The Case for Cognitive Psychology , Taylor criticized the naturalism he saw distorting the major research program that had replaced B. F. Skinner 's behaviourism . But Taylor also detected naturalism in fields where it was not immediately apparent . For example , in 1978 's Language and Human Nature , he found naturalist distortions in various modern designative theories of language , while in ' ' Sources of the Self ' ' ( 1989 ) he found both naturalist error and the deep moral , motivational sources for this outlook in various individualist and utilitarian conceptions of selfhood. # Taylor and hermeneutics # Concurrent to Taylor 's critique of naturalism was his development of an alternative . Indeed , Taylor 's mature philosophy begins when as a doctoral student at Oxford he turned away , disappointed , from analytic philosophy in search of other philosophical resources which he found in French and German hermeneutics and phenomenology . The hermeneutic tradition develops a view of human understanding and cognition as centred on the decipherment of meanings ( as opposed to , say , foundational theories of brute verification or an apodictic rationalism ) . Taylor 's own philosophical outlook can broadly and fairly be characterized as hermeneutic . This is clear in his championing of the works of major figures within the hermeneutic tradition such as Wilhelm Dilthey , Heidegger , Merleau Ponty , and Gadamer . It is also evident in his own original contributions to hermeneutic and interpretive theory . # Communitarian critique of liberalism # Taylor ( as well as Alasdair MacIntyre , Michael Walzer , and Michael Sandel ) is associated with a communitarian critique of liberal theory 's understanding of the self . Communitarians emphasize the importance of social institutions in the development of individual meaning and identity . In his 1991 Massey Lecture The Malaise of Modernity , Taylor argued that political theoristsfrom John Locke and Thomas Hobbes to John Rawls and Ronald Dworkinhave neglected the way in which individuals arise within the context supplied by societies . A more realistic understanding of the self recognizes the social background against which life choices gain importance and meaning . # Philosophy and sociology of religion # Taylor 's later work has turned to the philosophy of religion , as evident in several pieces , including the lecture A Catholic Modernity and the short monograph Varieties of Religion Today : William James Revisited . Taylor 's most significant contribution in this field to date is his book ' ' A Secular Age ' ' which argues against the secularization thesis of Max Weber , Steve Bruce , and others . In rough form , the secularization thesis holds that as modernity ( a bundle of phenomena including science , technology , and rational forms of authority ) progresses , religion gradually diminishes in influence . Taylor begins from the fact that the modern world has not seen the disappearance of religion but rather its diversification and in many places its growth . He then develops a complex alternative notion of what secularization actually means given that the secularization thesis has not been borne out . In the process , Taylor also greatly deepens his account of moral , political , and spiritual modernity that he had begun in ' ' Sources of the Self ' ' . # Politics # Taylor was a candidate for the social democratic New Democratic Party in Mount Royal on three occasions in the 1960s , beginning with the 1962 federal election when he came in third behind Liberal Alan MacNaughton . He improved his standing in 1963 , coming in second . Most famously , he also lost in the 1965 election to newcomer and future prime minister , Pierre Trudeau . This campaign garnered national attention . Taylor 's fourth and final attempt to enter the Canadian House of Commons was in the 1968 federal election , when he came in second as an NDP candidate in the riding of Dollard . In 2008 , he endorsed the NDP candidate in WestmountVille-Marie , Anne Lagac Dowson . He was also a professor to Canadian politician and former leader of the New Democratic Party Jack Layton . In 2010 , Taylor said multiculturalism was a work in progress that faced challenges . He identified tackling Islamophobia in Canada as the next challenge . # Interlocutors # Richard Rorty Bernard Williams Alasdair MacIntyre Will Kymlicka Martha Nussbaum Hubert Dreyfus Quentin Skinner Talal Asad Arjun Appadurai Paul Berman William E. Connolly Robert Bellah John Milbank Stuart Hall Catherine Pickstock James Tully Jrgen Habermas # Selected books by Taylor # 1964 . ' ' The Explanation of Behaviour ' ' . Routlededge Kegan Paul . 1975 . ' ' Hegel ' ' . Cambridge University Press . 1979 . ' ' Hegel and Modern Society ' ' . Cambridge University Press . 1985 . ' ' Philosophical Papers ' ' ( 2 volumes ) . 1989 . ' ' Sources of the Self : The Making of Modern Identity ' ' . 1992 . ' ' The Malaise of Modernity ' ' , being the published version of Taylor 's Massey Lectures . Reprinted in the U.S. as ' ' The Ethics of Authenticity ' ' . 1993 . ' ' Reconciling the Solitudes : Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism ' ' . 1994 . ' ' Multiculturalism : Examining The Politics of Recognition ' ' . 1995 . ' ' Philosophical Arguments ' ' . 1999 . ' ' A Catholic Modernity ? ' ' . 2002 . ' ' Varieties of Religion Today : William James Revisited ' ' . 2004 . ' ' Modern Social Imaginaries ' ' . Duke University Press . 2007 . ' ' A Secular Age ' ' . 2011 . ' ' . ' ' Harvard University Press . Forthcoming . With Hubert Dreyfus , ' ' Retrieving Realism ' ' . 
@@295750 birthplace = Springfield , Massachusetts deathplace = Berkeley , California Donald Herbert Davidson ( March 6 , 1917 August 30 , 2003 ) was an American philosopher who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California , Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University , Rockefeller University , Princeton University , and the University of Chicago . Davidson was known for his charismatic personality and the depth and difficulty of his thought . His work exerted considerable influence in many areas of philosophy from the 1960s onward , particularly in philosophy of mind , philosophy of language , and action theory . While Davidson was an analytic philosopher , and most of his influence lies in that tradition , his work has attracted attention in continental philosophy as well , particularly in literary theory and related areas . Although published mostly in the form of short , terse essays which do not explicitly rely on any overriding theory , his work is nonetheless noted for a highly unified characterthe same methods and ideas are brought to bear on a host of apparently unrelated problemsand for synthesizing the work of a great number of other philosophers . He developed an influential truth-conditional semantics , attacked the idea of mental events as governed by strict psychological laws , and rejected the conception of linguistic understanding as having to do with conventions or rules , concluding famously that there is no such thing as a language , not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed . There is therefore no such thing to be learned , mastered , or born with . His philosophical work as a whole is said to be concerned with the way human beings communicate and interact with and understand each other . # Life # Davidson was born in Springfield , Massachusetts on March 6 , 1917 , to Clarence ( Davie ) Herbert Davidson and Grace Cordelia Anthony . The family lived in the Philippines from shortly after Davidson 's birth until he was about four . Then , having lived in Amherst and Philadelphia , the family finally settled on Staten Island when Davidson was nine or ten . From this time he began to attend public school , having to begin in first grade with much younger children . He then attended the Staten Island Academy , starting in fourth grade . At Harvard University he switched his major from English and comparative literature ( Theodore Spencer on Shakespeare and the Bible , Harry Levin on Joyce ) to classics and philosophy . Davidson was a pianist and always had an interest in music , later teaching philosophy of music at Stanford . At Harvard , he was in the same class as the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein , with whom Davidson played piano four hands . Bernstein wrote and conducted the musical score for the production which Davidson mounted of Aristophanes ' play ' ' The Birds ' ' in the original Greek . Some of this music was later to be reused in Bernstein 's ballet ' ' Fancy Free ' ' . After graduation he went to California , where he wrote radio scripts for the private-eye drama Big Town , starring Edward G. Robinson . He returned to Harvard on a scholarship in classical philosophy , teaching philosophy and concurrently undergoing the intensive training of Harvard Business School . Before having the opportunity to graduate from Harvard Business School , Davidson was called up by the Navy , for which he had volunteered . He trained pilots to recognize enemy planes and participated in the invasions of Sicily , Salerno , and Anzio . After three and a half years in the Navy , he tried unsuccessfully to write a novel before returning to his philosophy studies and earning his doctorate in philosophy in 1949 . Davidson wrote his dissertation , which he later called ' ' curious ' ' , on Plato 's ' ' Philebus ' ' . Under the influence of W. V. Quine , whom he often credits as his mentor , he began to gradually turn toward the more formal methods and precise problems characteristic of analytic philosophy . During the 1950s Davidson worked with Patrick Suppes on developing an experimental approach to Decision Theory . They concluded that it was not possible to isolate a subject 's beliefs and preferences independently of one another , meaning there would always be multiple ways to analyze a person 's actions in terms of what they wanted , or were trying to do , or valued . This result is comparable to Quine 's thesis on the indeterminacy of translation , and figures significantly in much of Davidson 's later work on philosophy of mind . His most noted work ( see below ) was published in a series of essays from the 1960s onward , moving successively through philosophy of action into philosophy of mind and philosophy of language , and dabbling occasionally in aesthetics , philosophical psychology , and the history of philosophy . Davidson was widely traveled , and had a great range of interests he pursued with enormous energy . Apart from playing the piano , he had a pilot 's license , built radios , and was fond of mountain climbing and surfing . He was married three times ( the last time to the philosopher Marcia Cavell ) . Thomas Nagel elliptically eulogized him as deeply erotic . He served terms as president of both the Eastern and Western Divisions of the American Philosophical Association , and held various professional positions at Queens College ( now part of CUNY ) , Stanford , Princeton , Rockefeller University , Harvard , Oxford , and the University of Chicago . From 1981 until his death he was at the University of California , Berkeley , where he was Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor of Philosophy . In 1995 he was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize . # Work # # Actions , reasons , and causes # Davidson 's most noted work began in 1963 with an essay , Actions , Reasons , and Causes , which attempted to refute the prevailing orthodox view , widely attributed to Wittgenstein but already present in Tolstoy 's ' ' War and Peace ' ' , that an agent 's reasons for acting can not be the causes of his action ( Malpas , 2005 , 2 ) . Instead , Davidson argued that rationalization ( the providing of reasons to explain an agent 's actions ) is a species of ordinary causal explanation ( 1963 , p. 685 ) . In particular , an action ' ' A ' ' is explained by what Davidson called a ' ' primary reason ' ' , which involves a pro-attitude ( roughly , a desire ) toward some goal ' ' G ' ' and an instrumental belief that performing action ' ' A ' ' is a means to attaining ' ' G ' ' . For example , someone 's primary reason for taking an umbrella with her outside on a rainy day might be that she wants to stay dry and believes that taking an umbrella is a means to stay dry today . This view , which largely conforms to common-sense folk psychology , was held in part on the ground that while causal laws must be strict and deterministic , explanation in terms of reasons need not . Davidson argued that the fact that the expression of a reason was not so precise , did not mean that the having of a reason could not itself be a state capable of causally influencing behavior . Several other essays pursue consequences of this view , and elaborate Davidson 's theory of actions . # Mental events # In Mental Events ( 1970 ) Davidson advanced a form of token identity theory about the mind : token mental events are identical to token physical events . One previous difficulty with such a view was that it did not seem feasible to provide laws relating mental statesfor example , believing that the sky is blue , or wanting a hamburgerto physical states , such as patterns of neural activity in the brain . Davidson argued that such a reduction would not be necessary to a token identity thesis : it is possible that each individual mental event just is the corresponding physical event , without there being laws relating ' ' types ' ' ( as opposed to tokens ) of mental events to ' ' types ' ' of physical events . But , Davidson argued , the fact that we could not have such a reduction does not entail that the mind is anything ' ' more ' ' than the brain . Hence , Davidson called his position anomalous monism : monism , because it claims that only one thing is at issue in questions of mental and physical events ; anomalous ( from ' ' a- ' ' , not , and ' ' omalos ' ' , regular ) because mental and physical event ' ' types ' ' could not be connected by strict laws ( laws without exceptions ) . Davidson argued that anomalous monism follows from three plausible theses . First , he assumes the ' ' denial of epiphenomenalism ' ' that is , the denial of the view that mental events do not cause physical events . Second , he assumes a ' ' nomological view of causation ' ' , according to which one event causes another if ( and only if ) there is a strict , exceptionless law governing the relation between the events . Third , he assumes the principle of the ' ' anomalism of the mental ' ' , according to which there are no strict laws that govern the relationship between mental event types and physical event types . By these three theses , Davidson argued , it follows that the causal relations between the mental and the physical hold only between mental event tokens , but that mental events as types are anomalous . This ultimately secures token physicalism and a supervenience relation between the mental and the physical , while respecting the autonomy of the mental ( Malpas , 2005 , 2 ) . # Truth and meaning # In 1967 Davidson published Truth and Meaning , in which he argued that any ' ' learnable ' ' language must be statable in a finite form , even if it is capable of a theoretically infinite number of expressionsas we may assume that natural human languages are , at least in principle . If it could not be stated in a finite way then it could not be learned through a finite , empirical method such as the way humans learn their languages . It follows that it must be possible to give a theoretical semantics for any natural language which could give the meanings of an infinite number of sentences on the basis of a finite system of axioms . Following , among others , Rudolf Carnap ( ' ' Introduction to Semantics ' ' , Harvard 1942 , 22 ) Davidson also argued that giving the meaning of a sentence was equivalent to stating its truth conditions , so stimulating the modern work on truth-conditional semantics . In sum , he proposed that it must be possible to distinguish a finite number of distinct grammatical features of a language , and for each of them explain its workings in such a way as to generate trivial ( obviously correct ) statements of the truth conditions of all the ( infinitely many ) sentences making use of that feature . That is , we can give a finite theory of meaning for a natural language ; the test of its correctness is that it would generate ( if applied to the language in which it was formulated ) all the sentences of the form ' p ' is true if and only if p ( ' Snow is white ' is true if and only if snow is white ) . ( These are called T-sentences : Davidson derives the idea from Alfred Tarski . ) This work was originally delivered in his John Locke Lectures at Oxford , and launched a large endeavor by many philosophers to develop Davidsonian semantical theories for natural language . Davidson himself contributed many details to such a theory , in essays on quotation , indirect discourse , and descriptions of action . # Knowledge and belief # After the 1970s Davidson 's philosophy of mind picked up influences from the work of Saul Kripke , Hilary Putnam , and Keith Donnellan , all of whom had proposed a number of troubling counter-examples to what can be generally described as descriptivist theories of content . These views , which roughly originate in Bertrand Russell 's Theory of Descriptions , held that the referent of a namewhich object or person that name refers tois determined by the beliefs a person holds about that object . Kripke et al . argued that this was not a tenable theory , and that in fact whom or what a person 's beliefs were about was in large part ( or entirely ) a matter of how they had acquired those beliefs , and those names , and how if at all the use of those names could be traced causally from their original referents to the current speaker . Davidson picked up this theory , and his work in the 1980s dealt with the problems in relating first-person beliefs to second- and third-person beliefs . It seems that first person beliefs ( I am hungry ) are acquired in very different ways from third person beliefs ( someone else 's belief , of me , that He is hungry ) How can it be that they have the same content ? Davidson approached this question by connecting it with another one : how can two people have beliefs about the same external object ? He offers , in answer , a picture of triangulation : Beliefs about oneself , beliefs about other people , and beliefs about the world come into existence jointly . Many philosophers throughout history had , arguably , been tempted to reduce two of these kinds of belief and knowledge to the other one : Descartes and Hume thought that the only knowledge we start with is self-knowledge . Some of the logical positivists , ( and some would say Wittgenstein , or Wilfrid Sellars ) , held that we start with beliefs only about the external world . ( And arguably Friedrich Schelling and Emmanuel Levinas held that we start with beliefs only about other people ) . It is not possible , on Davidson 's view , for a person to have only one of these three kinds of mental content ; anyone who has beliefs of one of the kinds must have beliefs of the other two kinds . # Radical interpretation # Davidson 's work is well noted for its unity , as he has brought a similar approach to a wide variety of philosophical problems . Radical interpretation is a hypothetical standpoint which Davidson regards as basic to the investigation of language , mind , action , and knowledge . Radical interpretation involves imagining that you are placed into a community which speaks a language you do not understand at all . How could you come to understand the language ? One suggestion is that you know a theory that generates a theorem of the form ' s means that p ' for every sentence of the object language ( i.e. the language of the community ) , where s is the name of a sentence in the object language , and p is that sentence , or a translation of it , in the metalanguage in which the theory is expressed . However , Davidson rejects this suggestion on the grounds that the sentential operator ' means that ' is sensitive not only to the extensions of the terms that follow it , but also to their intensions . Hence , Davidson replaces ' means that ' with a connective that is only sensitive to the extensions of sentences ; since the extension of a sentence is its truth value , this is a truth functional connective . Davidson elects the biconditionalif and only ifas the connective needed in a theory of meaning . He concludes that a theory of meaning must be such that for each sentence of the object language it generates a theorem of the form ' s is true if and only if p ' . A theory of truth for a language can serve as a theory of meaning . The significance of this conclusion is that it allows Davidson to draw on the work of Alfred Tarski in giving the nature of a theory of meaning . Tarski showed how we can give a compositional theory of truth for artificial languages . Thus , Davidson takes three questions to be central to radical interpretation . Firstly , can a theory of truth be given for a natural language ? Secondly , given the evidence plausibly available for the radical interpreter , can they construct and verify a theory of truth for the language they wish to interpret ? Thirdly , will having a theory of truth suffice for allowing the radical interpreter to understand the language ? Davidson has shown , using the work of Tarski , that the first question can be answered affirmatively . Davidson points out that beliefs and meanings are inseparable . A person holds a sentence true based on what he believes and what he takes the sentence to mean . If the interpreter knew what a person believed when that person held a sentence to be true , the meaning of the sentence could then be inferred . Vice versa , if the interpreter knew what a person took a sentence to mean when that person held it to be true , the belief of the speaker could be inferred . So Davidson does n't allow the interpreter to have access to beliefs as evidence , since the interpreter would then be begging the question . Instead , Davidson allows that the interpreter can reasonably ascertain when a speaker holds a sentence true , without knowing anything about a particular belief or meaning . This will then allow the interpreter to construct hypotheses relating a speaker and an utterance to a particular state of affairs at a particular time . Davidson argues that because the language is compositional , it is also holistic : sentences are based on the meanings of words , but the meaning of a word depends on the totality of sentences in which it appears . This holistic constraint , along with the requirement that the theory of truth is law-like , suffices to minimize indeterminacy just enough for successful communication to occur . In summary , then , what radical interpretation highlights is what is necessary and sufficient for communication to occur . These conditions are : that in order to recognize a speaker ' ' as ' ' a speaker , their beliefs must be mostly coherent and correct ; indeterminacy of meaning does n't undermine communication , but it must be constrained just enough . # Awards # Jean Nicod Prize ( 1995 ) 
@@304939 Philosophical logic refers to those areas of philosophy in which recognized methods of logic have traditionally been used to solve or advance the discussion of philosophical problems . Sybil Wolfram lists the study of argument , meaning , and truth in particular , while Colin McGinn includes identity , existence , predication , necessity , and truth as the main topics of his book on the subject . In the same vein , philosophical logic is often understood to address extensions and alternatives to classical logicthe so-called non-classical logics . Texts such as John P. Burgess ' ' ' Philosophical Logic ' ' , the ' ' Blackwell Companion to Philosophical Logic ' ' , or the multi-volume ' ' Handbook of Philosophical Logic ' ' ( edited by Dov M. Gabbay and Franz Guenthner ) emphasize this latter usage , addressing both the formal aspects of these topics and their applications to associated philosophical problems . # See also #  Philosophy of mind  Philosophy of Logic 
@@306320 An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal , usually in the context of ethics . Ideals are particularly important in ethics , as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere . It is the application , in ethics , of a universal . It is roughly similar to the relative intrinsic values . Someone who claims to have an ideal of honesty but is willing to lie to protect a friend is demonstrating that not only does he hold friendship as an ideal , but , that it is a more important one than honesty . Thus ideals can be seen to be similar to values . However , the -ism of ideals is slightly contrasted with idealism ( which is the doctrine that ideas , or thought , make up either the whole or an indispensable aspect of any full reality , so that a world of material objects containing no thought either could not exist as it is experienced , or would not be fully real . ) # In applied ethics # In some theories of applied ethics , such as that of Rushworth Kidder , there is importance given to such orders as a way to resolve disputes . In law , for instance , a judge is sometimes called on to resolve the balance between the ideal of truth , which would advise hearing out all evidence , and the ideal of fairness . # In politics # In politics ideals play a pivotal role . During the French Revolution , the principles of Liberty , Equality , Brotherhood were raised to the status of ideals . The Ten Key Values of the Green Party are likewise raised to such status today . In fact , most political movements have a certain set of ideals . However , in many cases , one can easily find instances where ideals were not lived up to - some of which are cases where one simply proved to outweigh another for some specific decision , or where all were compromised simply to retain the power to continue to pursue them . # Idols and heroes # A different form of ideal is an idol or hero , who is held up as a moral example . Since this is an actual person or fictional character , it is too complex and multi-faceted to be considered an ideal in the abstract sense . However , when they are encountered in the form of a story , with only a few traits on display , they are a simplified archetype from which one can very easily derive stereotypes or mimicry . In Islam , for instance , the life of Muhammad is held up as ideal , but must be interpreted for believers through the tale of his life , or sira , and his many sayings , the hadith. # Ideal and virtue # Given the complexity of putting ideals into practice , and resolving conflicts between them , it is not uncommon to see them reduced to dogma . One way to avoid this , according to Bernard Crick , is to have ideals that themselves are descriptive of a process , rather than an outcome . His political virtues try to raise the practical habits useful in resolving disputes into ideals of their own . A virtue , in general , is an ideal that one can make a habit . # Relative ideal # In formal axiology , Robert S. Hartman contended that being ideal means that something is the best member of the set of all things of that class . For example , the ideal student is the best member of the set of all students in exactly the same way that the ideal circle is the best circle that can be imagined of the class of all circles . Since we can define the properties that the ideal member of a class should have , the value of any actual object can be empirically determined by comparing it to the ideal . The closer an object 's actual properties match up to the properties of the ideal , the better the object is . For example , a bumpy circle drawn in the sand is not as good as a very smooth one drawn with a compass . In the world in general , each particular object ought to become more like its ideal . In ethics , by analogy , each person should attempt to become more of an ideal person , and a person 's morality can actually be measured by examining how close they live up to their ideal self . 
@@307365 Hindu philosophy is traditionally divided into six ' ' ' ' ( orthodox ) schools of thought , or ' ' ' ' ( , view ) , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures . Four other ' ' ' ' ( heterodox ) schools do n't draw upon the Vedas as the sole primary authoritative text , but may emphasise other traditions of thought . The schools are : #Samkhya , an atheistic and strongly dualist theoretical exposition of consciousness and matter . #Yoga , a school emphasising meditation , contemplation and liberation . #Nyaya or logic , explores sources of knowledge . ' ' Nyya Stras ' ' . #Vaisheshika , an empiricist school of atomism #Mims , an anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy #Vedanta , the last segment of knowledge in the Vedas , or the ' Jnan ' ( knowledge ) ' Kanda ' ( section ) . Vedanta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period . The schools are ( in chronological order ) : #Crvka #jvika #Jainism #Buddhism However , medieval philosophers like Vidyraya classify Indian philosophy into sixteen schools , where schools belonging to Saiva , Pini and Rasevara thought are included with others , and the three Vedantic schools Advaita , Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita ( which had emerged as distinct schools by then ) are classified separately . In Hindu history , the distinction of the six orthodox schools was current in the Gupta period golden age of Hinduism . With the disappearance of Vaisheshika and Mimamsa , it was obsolete by the later Middle Ages , when the various sub-schools of Vedanta ( Dvaita dualism , Advaita Vedanta non-dualism and others ) began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy . Nyaya survived into the 17th century as ' ' Navya Nyaya ' ' Neo-Nyaya , while Samkhya gradually lost its status as an independent school , its tenets absorbed into Yoga and Vedanta . The Sikhism was also evolved from Hinduism because both were founded on the Indian Subcontinent and the creators of Sikhism were born into Hindu families and Hindu castes ( mostly khatris , i.e. , Kshatriya ) of the Punjab region of India . Thus Sikhism took birth and evolved in the Hindu cultural and political matrix , Just like Jainism and Buddhism before it . # Overview # # Samkhya # Samkhya is the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism . It espouses dualism between consciousness and matter by postulating two irreducible , innate and independent realities 1 ) consciousness itself or Purusha ( Sanskrit : , self , atma or soul ) 2 ) primordial materiality or Prakriti ( creative agency or energy ) . The unconscious primordial materiality , Prakriti consists of varying levels of three dispositions or categories of qualities ( gunas ) activity ( rajas ) , inactivity ( tamas ) and harmony ( sattva ) . An imbalance in the intertwined relationship of these three dispositions causes the world to evolve from Prakriti . This evolution from Prakriti causes the creation of 23 constituents , including intellect ( buddhi , mahat ) , ego ( ahamkara ) and mind ( manas ) . Samkhya theorises the existence of are many living souls ( ' ' Jeevatmas ' ' ) who possess consciousness , but denies the existence of Ishvara(God) . Samkhya holds that Purua , the eternal pure consciousness , due to ignorance , identifies itself with products of Prakriti such as intellect ( buddhi ) and ego ( ahamkara ) . This results in endless transmigration and suffering . However , once the realisation arises that Purua is distinct from Prakriti , the Self is no longer subject to transmigration and absolute freedom ( kaivalya ) arises . Western dualism deals with the distinction between the mind and the body , whereas in Samkhya it is between the soul and matter . The concept of the atma ( soul ) is different from the concept of the mind and mind itself thought to an evolute of matter , rather than the soul . Soul is absolute reality that is all-pervasive , eternal , indivisible , attributeless , pure consciousness . It is non-matter and is beyond intellect . Originally , Samkhya was not theistic , but in confluence with Yoga it developed a theistic variant . # Yoga # In Indian philosophy , Yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox philosophical schools . The Yoga philosophical system is closely allied with the Samkhya school . The Yoga school as expounded by Patanjali accepts the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics , but is more theistic than the Samkhya , as evidenced by the addition of a divine entity to the Samkhya 's twenty-five elements of reality . The parallels between Yoga and Samkhya were so close that Max Mller says that the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord ... The intimate relationship between Samkhya and Yoga is explained by Heinrich Zimmer : # These two are regarded in India as twins , the two aspects of a single discipline . provides a basic theoretical exposition of human nature , enumerating and defining its elements , analyzing their manner of co-operation in a state of bondage ( ' ' bandha ' ' ) , and describing their state of disentanglement or separation in release ( ' ' ' ' ) , while Yoga treats specifically of the dynamics of the process for the disentanglement , and outlines practical techniques for the gaining of release , or ' isolation-integration ' ( ' ' kaivalya ' ' ) . # The foundational text of the Yoga school is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , who is regarded as the founder of the formal Yoga philosophy . The Sutras of the Yoga philosophy are ascribed to Patanjali , who may have been , as Max Mller explains , the author or representative of the Yoga-philosophy without being necessarily the author of the Sutras . Hindu philosophy distinguishes seven major branches of Yoga : Rja Yoga ( also referred to as Classical Yoga ) , a system of yoga codified by Patajali and classified as one of the six ' ' stika ' ' ( orthodox ) schools of Hindu philosophy . Jnana yoga , ( also called ' ' buddhi-yoga ' ' ) centred on the faculty of discernment and ' virtually identical with the spiritual path of Vednta ' . Karma-yoga , in which the world of everyday work becomes the tool by which self is transcended. Bhakti-Yoga the path of devoted service to God . Tantra-yoga focused on the techniques and psycho-physical teachings contained within a body of texts called ' ' tantras ' ' . Mantra-yoga , one of the most ancient forms of yoga in which the psycho-acoustical properties of the spoken word are used to concentrate the mind . Hatha yoga , a system of physical purification designed to reintegrate and re-balance the mind and body in preparation for Raja-yoga ( first described by Yogi Swatmarama ) . # Nyaya # The Nyaya school is based on the Nyaya Sutras . They were written by Aksapada Gautama , probably in the sixth century BCE . The most important contribution made by this school is its methodology . This methodology is based on a system of logic that has subsequently been adopted by the majority of the Indian schools . This is comparable to the relationship between Western science and philosophy , which was derived largely from Aristotelian logic . Nevertheless , Nyaya was seen by its followers as more than logical in its own right . They believed that obtaining valid knowledge was the only way to gain release from suffering , and they took great pains to identify valid sources of knowledge and distinguish these from mere false opinions . According to Nyaya , there are exactly four sources of knowledge : perception , inference , comparison , and testimony . Knowledge obtained through each of these is either valid or invalid . Nyaya developed several criteria of validity . In this sense , Nyaya is probably the closest Indian equivalent to analytic philosophy . The later Naiyanikas gave logical proofs for the existence and uniqueness of Ishvara in response to Buddhism , which , at that time , was fundamentally non-theistic . An important later development in Nyaya was the system of ' ' Navya-Nyya ' ' . # Vaisheshika # The Vaisheshika school postulates an atomic pluralism in which all objects in the physical universe are reducible to certain types of atoms , and Brahman is regarded as the fundamental force that causes consciousness in these atoms . The school was founded by the sage ( or ' ' Kana-bhuk ' ' , literally , ' ' atom-eater ' ' ) around the 2nd century BC . Major ideas contained in the Vaisheshika Sutra are :  There are nine classes of realities : four classes of atoms ( earth , water , light and air ) , space ( akasha ) , time ( kla ) , direction ( dik ) , infinity of souls ( Atman ) , mind ( manas ) .  Individual souls are eternal and pervade material body for a time .  There are seven categories ( padrtha ) of experience substance , quality , activity , generality , particularity , inherence and non-existence . Although the Vaisheshika school developed independently from the Nyaya , the two eventually merged because of their closely related metaphysical theories . In its classical form , however , the Vaisheshika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect : where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge , the Vaisheshika accepted only twoperception and inference . # Purva Mimamsa # The main objective of the Purva Mimamsa school was to establish the authority of the Vedas . Consequently , this school 's most valuable contribution to Hinduism was its formulation of the rules of Vedic interpretation . Its adherents propounded unquestionable faith in the Vedas and regular performance of the ' ' yajas ' ' , or fire-sacrifices . They believed in the power of the mantras and yajas to sustain all the activity of the universe . In keeping with this belief , they placed great emphasis on ' ' dharma ' ' , which consisted of the performance of Vedic rituals . The Mimamsa philosophers accepted the logical and philosophical teachings of the other schools , but felt they did not sufficiently emphasise attention to right action . They believed that the other schools of thought that aimed for release ( ' ' moksha ' ' ) were not allowed for complete freedom from desire and selfishness , because the very striving for liberation stemmed from a simple desire to be free . According to Mimamsa thought , only by acting in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas may one attain salvation . The Mimamsa school later shifted its views and began to teach the doctrines of Brahman and freedom . Its adherents then advocated the release or escape of the soul from its constraints through enlightened activity . Although Mimamsa does not receive much scholarly attention , its influence can be felt in the life of the practising Hindu , because all Hindu ritual , ceremony , and law is influenced by this school . # Vedanta # The Vedanta , or ' ' later ' ' Mimamsa school , concentrates on the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads rather than the ritualistic injunctions of the Brahmanas . Etymologically , Vedanta means , the last segment of knowledge in the Vedas . It is also known as the ' Jnan ' ( knowledge ) ' Kanda ' ( section ) . While , the earlier segments of the Vedas are called ' Karma Kanda ' . Parts of Vedas that focus on spiritual practices such as worship , devotion and meditation are called ' Upasana Kanda ' . While the traditional Vedic rituals continued to be practised as meditative and propitiatory rites , a more knowledge-centered understanding began to emerge . These were mystical aspects of Vedic religion that focused on meditation , self-discipline , and spiritual connectivity , more than traditional ritualism . The more abstruse Vedanta is the essence of the Vedas , as encapsulated in the Upanishads . Vedantic thought drew on Vedic cosmology , hymns and philosophy . The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is believed to have appeared as far back as 3,000 years ago . While thirteen or so Upanishads are accepted as principal , over a hundred exist . The most significant contribution of Vedantic thought is the idea that self-consciousness is continuous with and indistinguishable from consciousness of Brahman . The aphorisms of the Vedanta sutras are presented in a cryptic , poetic style , which allows for a variety of interpretations . Consequently , the Vedanta separated into six sub-schools , each interpreting the texts in its own way and producing its own series of sub-commentaries. # Advaita # ' ' Advaita ' ' literally means non-duality . This is the oldest and most widely acknowledged Vedantic school . Its first great consolidator was Adi Shankaracharya ( 788 CE 820 CE ) , who continued the line of thought of the Upanishadic teachers , and that of his teacher 's teacher Gaudapada . He wrote extensive commentaries on the major Vedantic scriptures and was successful in the revival and reformation of Hindu thinking and way of life . According to this school of Vedanta , ' ' Brahman ' ' is the only reality , and there exists nothing whatsoever which is not ' ' Brahman ' ' . The appearance of dualities and differences in this world is an superimposition on ' ' Brahman ' ' , called ' ' Maya ' ' . ' ' Maya ' ' is the illusionary and creative aspect of ' ' Brahman ' ' , which causes the world to arise . ' ' Maya ' ' is neither existent nor non-existent , but appears to exist temporarily , as in case of any illusion ( for example mirage ) . When a person tries to know ' ' Brahman ' ' through his mind , due to the influence of ' ' Maya ' ' , ' ' Brahman ' ' appears as God ( ' ' Ishvara ' ' ) , separate from the world and from the individual . In reality , there is no difference between the individual soul ( ' ' Jivatman ' ' ) and ' ' Brahman ' ' . The spiritual practices such as : devotion to God , meditation &amp; self-less action etc. purifies the mind and indirectly helps in perceiving the real . One whose vision is obscured by ignorance he does not see the non-dual nature of reality ; as the blind do not see the resplendent Sun . Hence , the only direct cause of liberation is self-knowledge which directly removes the ignorance . After realisation , one sees one 's own self and the Universe as the same , non-dual ' ' Brahman ' ' , *34;123941;TOOLONG # Vishishtadvaita # Ramanujacharya ( c. 10371137 CE ) was the foremost proponent of the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita or qualified non-dualism . Vishishtadvaita advocated the concept of a Supreme Being with essential qualities or attributes . Vishishtadvaitins argued against the Advaitin conception of Brahman as an impersonal empty oneness . They saw Brahman as an eternal oneness , but also as the source of all creation , which was omnipresent and actively involved in existence . To them the sense of subject-object perception was illusory and a sign of ignorance . However , the individual 's sense of self was not a complete illusion since it was derived from the universal beingness that is Brahman . Ramanuja saw Vishnu as a personification of Brahman. # Dvaita # Dvaita Vedanta ( dualistic conclusions of the Vedas ) school of philosophy was founded by Madhvacharya ( c. 12381317 CE ) . It espouses dualism by theorising the existence of two separate realities . The first and the more important reality is that of Vishnu or Brahman . Vishnu is the supreme Self , God , the absolute truth of the universe , the independent reality . The second reality is that of dependent but equally real universe that exists with its own separate essence . Everything that is composed of the second reality , such as individual soul ( Jiva ) , matter , etc. exist with their own separate reality . The distinguishing factor of this philosophy as opposed to Advaita Vedanta ( monistic conclusion of Vedas ) is that God takes on a personal role and is seen as a real eternal entity that governs and controls the universe . Five further distinctions are made ( 1 ) Vishnu is distinct from souls ; ( 2 ) Vishnu is distinct from matter ; ( 3 ) Souls are distinct from matter ; ( 4 ) A soul is distinct from another soul , and ( 5 ) Matter is distinct from other matter . Souls are eternal and are dependent upon the will of Vishnu . This theology attempts to address the problem of evil with the idea that souls are not created . Because the existence of individuals is grounded in the divine , they are depicted as reflections , images or even shadows of the divine , but never in any way identical with the divine . Salvation therefore is described as the realisation that all finite reality is essentially dependent on the Supreme . # Dvaitadvaita ( Bhedabheda ) # Dvaitadvaita was proposed by Nimbarka , a 13th-century Vaishnava Philosopher from the Andhra region . According to this philosophy there are three categories of existence : Brahman , soul , and matter . Soul and matter are different from Brahman in that they have attributes and capacities different from Brahman . Brahman exists independently , while soul and matter are dependent . Thus soul and matter have an existence that is separate yet dependent . Further , Brahman is a controller , the soul is the enjoyer , and matter the thing enjoyed . Also , the highest object of worship is Krishna and his consort Radha , attended by thousands of ' ' gopis ' ' , or cowherdesses ; of the celestial Vrindavana ; and devotion consists in self-surrender. # Shuddhadvaita # Shuddhadvaita is the purely non-dual philosophy propounded by Vallabhacharya ( 14791531 CE ) . The founding philosopher was also the guru of the Vallabh sampradya ( tradition of Vallabh ) or Putimrg ( The path of grace ) , a Hindu Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of Krishna. # Acintya Bheda Abheda # Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ( 14861534 ) , stated that the soul or energy of God is both distinct and non-distinct from God , whom he identified as Krishna , Govinda , and that this , although unthinkable , may be experienced through a process of loving devotion ( ' ' bhakti ' ' ) . He followed the Dvaita concept of Sri Madhva . This philosophy of inconceivable oneness and difference . # Shaivism # Early history of Shaivism is difficult to determine . However , the ' ' Upanishad ' ' ( 400 200 BCE ) is considered to be the earliest textual exposition of a systematic philosophy of Shaivism . Shaivism is represented by various philosophical schools , including non-dualist ( ' ' abheda ' ' ) , dualist ( ' ' bheda ' ' ) , and non-dualist-with-dualist ( ' ' ' ' ) perspectives . Vidyaranya in his works mentions three major schools of Shaiva thought Pashupata Shaivism , Shaiva Siddhanta and Pratyabhija ( Kashmir Shaivism ) . # Pashupata Shaivism # Pashupata Shaivism is the oldest of the major Shaivite schools . The philosophy of Pashupata sect was systematized by ' ' Lakulish ' ' in the 2nd century CE . Pashu in Pashupati refers to the effect ( or created world ) , the word designates that which is dependent on something ulterior . Whereas , Pati means the cause ( or prinripium ) , the word designates the Lord , who is the cause of the universe , the pati , or the ruler . Pashupatas disapproved of the Vaishnava theology , known for its doctrine servitude of souls to the Supreme Being , on the grounds that dependence upon anything could not be the means of cessation of pain and other desired ends . They recognised that those depending upon another and longing for independence will not be emancipated because they still depend upon something other than themselves . According to Pashupatas , soul possesses the attributes of the Supreme Deity when it becomes liberated from the ' germ of every pain ' . Pashupatas divided the created world into the insentient and the sentient . The insentient was the unconscious and thus dependent on the sentient or conscious . The insentient was further divided into effects and causes . The effects were of ten kinds , the earth , four elements and their qualities , colour etc . The causes were of thirteen kinds , the five organs of cognition , the five organs of action , the three internal organs , intellect , the ego principle and the cognising principle . These insentient causes were held responsible for the illusive identification of Self with non-Self . Salvation in Pashupata Shaivism involved the union of the soul with God through the intellect . # Shaiva Siddhanta # Considered normative Tantric Shaivism , Shaiva Siddhanta provides the normative rites , cosmology and theological categories of Tantric Shaivism . Being a dualistic philosophy , the goal of Shaiva Siddhanta is to become an ontologically distinct Shiva ( through Shiva 's grace ) . This tradition later merged with the Tamil Saiva movement and expression of concepts of Shaiva Siddhanta can be seen in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars. # Kashmir Shaivism # Kashmir Shaivism arose during the eighth or ninth century CE in Kashmir and made significant strides , both philosophical and theological , until the end of the twelfth century CE . It is categorised by various scholars as monistic idealism ( absolute idealism , theistic monism , realistic idealism , transcendental physicalism or concrete monism ) . It is a school of aivism consisting of Trika and its philosophical articulation Pratyabhija . Even though , both Kashmir Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta are non-dual philosophies which give primacy to Universal Consciousness ( ' ' Chit ' ' or ' ' Brahman ' ' ) , in Kashmir Shavisim , as opposed to Advaita , all things are a manifestation of this Consciousness . This implies that from the point of view of Kashmir Shavisim , the phenomenal world ( ' ' akti ' ' ) is real , and it exists and has its being in Consciousness ( ' ' Chit ' ' ) . Whereas , Advaita holds that Brahman is inactive ( ' ' nikriya ' ' ) and the phenomenal world is an illusion ( ' ' my ' ' ) . The objective of human life , according to Kashmir Shaivism , is to merge in Shiva or Universal Consciousness , or to realize one 's already existing identity with Shiva , by means of wisdom , yoga and grace . 
@@309641 Continental philosophy is a set of 19th- and 20th-century philosophical traditions from mainland Europe . This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century , who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and traditions outside the analytic movement . Continental philosophy includes the following movements : German idealism , phenomenology , existentialism ( and its antecedents , such as the thought of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche ) , hermeneutics , structuralism , post-structuralism , French feminism , psychoanalytic theory , and the critical theory of the Frankfurt School and related branches of Western Marxism . It is difficult to identify non-trivial claims that would be common to all the preceding philosophical movements . The term continental philosophy , like analytic philosophy , lacks clear definition and may mark merely a family resemblance across disparate philosophical views . Simon Glendinning has suggested that the term was originally more pejorative than descriptive , functioning as a label for types of western philosophy rejected or disliked by analytic philosophers . Babette Babich emphasizes the political basis of the distinction , still an issue when it comes to appointments and book contracts . Nonetheless , Michael E. Rosen has ventured to identify common themes that typically characterize continental philosophy . First , continental philosophers generally reject scientism , the view that the natural sciences are the only or most accurate way of understanding phenomena . This contrasts with many analytic philosophers who consider their inquiries as continuous with , or subordinate to , those of the natural sciences . Continental philosophers often argue that science depends upon a pre-theoretical substrate of experience ( a version of Kantian conditions of possible experience or the phenomenological lifeworld ) and that scientific methods are inadequate to fully understand such conditions of intelligibility. Second , continental philosophy usually considers these conditions of possible experience as variable : determined at least partly by factors such as context , space and time , language , culture , or history . Thus continental philosophy tends toward historicism . Where analytic philosophy tends to treat philosophy in terms of discrete problems , capable of being analyzed apart from their historical origins ( much as scientists consider the history of science inessential to scientific inquiry ) , continental philosophy typically suggests that philosophical argument can not be divorced from the textual and contextual conditions of its historical emergence . Third , continental philosophy typically holds that human agency can change these conditions of possible experience : if human experience is a contingent creation , then it can be recreated in other ways . Thus continental philosophers tend to take a strong interest in the unity of theory and practice , and often see their philosophical inquiries as closely related to personal , moral , or political transformation . This tendency is very clear in the Marxist tradition ( Theses on Feuerbachphilosophers have only ' ' interpreted ' ' the world , in various ways ; the point , however , is to ' ' change ' ' it ) , but is also central in existentialism and post-structuralism. A final characteristic trait of continental philosophy is an emphasis on metaphilosophy . In the wake of the development and success of the natural sciences , continental philosophers have often sought to redefine the method and nature of philosophy . In some cases ( such as German idealism or phenomenology ) , this manifests as a renovation of the traditional view that philosophy is the first , foundational , ' ' a priori ' ' science . In other cases ( such as hermeneutics , critical theory , or structuralism ) , it is held that philosophy investigates a domain that is irreducibly cultural or practical . And some continental philosophers ( such as Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , the later Heidegger , or Derrida ) doubt whether any conception of philosophy can coherently achieve its stated goals . Ultimately , the foregoing themes derive from a broadly Kantian thesis that knowledge , experience , and reality are bound and shaped by conditions best understood through philosophical reflection rather than exclusively empirical inquiry . # The term # The term continental philosophy , in the above sense , was first widely used by English-speaking philosophers to describe university courses in the 1970s , emerging as a collective name for the philosophies then widespread ( and its approximate sense ) can be found at least as early as 1840 , in John Stuart Mill 's 1840 essay on Coleridge , where Mill contrasts the Kantian-influenced thought of Continental philosophy and Continental philosophers with the English empiricism of Bentham and the 18th century generally . This notion gained prominence in the early 20th century as figures such as Bertrand Russell and G.E . Moore advanced a vision of philosophy closely allied with natural science , progressing through logical analysis . This tradition , which has come to be known broadly as analytic philosophy , became dominant in Britain and America from roughly 1930 onward . Russell and Moore made a dismissal of Hegelianism and its philosophical relatives a distinctive part of their new movement . Commenting on the history of the distinction in 1945 , Russell distinguished two schools of philosophy , which may be broadly distinguished as the Continental and the British respectively , a division he saw as operative from the time of Locke . Since the 1970s , however , many philosophers in America and Britain have taken interest in continental philosophers since Kant , and the philosophical traditions in many European countries have similarly incorporated many aspects of the analytic movement . Self-described analytic philosophy flourishes in France , including philosophers such as Jules Vuillemin , Vincent Descombes , Gilles Gaston Granger , Franois Recanati , and Pascal Engel . Likewise , self-described continental philosophers can be found in philosophy departments in the United Kingdom , North America , and Australia , and some well-known analytic philosophers claim to conduct better scholarship on continental philosophy than self-identified programs in continental philosophy , particularly at the level of graduate education . Continental philosophy is thus defined in terms of a family of philosophical traditions and influences that had their origin in Continental Europe . # History # The history of continental philosophy ( taken in its narrower sense ) is usually thought to begin with German idealism . Led by figures like Fichte , Schelling , and later Hegel , German idealism developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s and was closely linked with romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment . Besides the central figures listed above , important contributors to German idealism also included Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi , Gottlob Ernst Schulze , Karl Leonhard Reinhold , and Friedrich Schleiermacher . As the institutional roots of continental philosophy in many cases directly descend from those of phenomenology , Edmund Husserl has always been a canonical figure in continental philosophy . Nonetheless , Husserl is also a respected subject of study in the analytic tradition . Husserl 's notion of a noema , the non-psychological content of thought , his correspondence with Gottlob Frege , and his investigations into the nature of logic continue to generate interest among analytic philosophers . J.G. Merquior argued that a distinction between analytic and continental philosophies can be first clearly identified with Henri Bergson ( 1859-1941 ) , whose wariness of science and elevation of intuition paved the way for existentialism . Merquior wrote : the most prestigious philosophizing in France took a very dissimilar path from the Anglo-Germanic analytic schools . One might say it all began with Henri Bergson . An illustration of some important differences between analytic and continental styles of philosophy can be found in Rudolf Carnap 's Elimination of Metaphysics through Logical Analysis of Language ( Originally published in 1932 as berwindung der Metaphysik durch Logische Analyse der Sprache ) , a paper some observers have described as particularly polemical . Carnap 's paper argues that Heidegger 's lecture What Is Metaphysics ? violates logical syntax to create nonsensical pseudo-statements . Moreover , Carnap claimed that many German metaphysicians of the era were similar to Heidegger in writing statements that were not merely false , but devoid of any meaning . With the rise of Nazism , many of Germany 's philosophers , especially those of Jewish descent or leftist or liberal political sympathies ( such as many in the Vienna Circle and the Frankfurt School ) , fled to the English-speaking world . Those philosophers who remainedif they remained in academia at allhad to reconcile themselves to Nazi control of the universities . Others , such as Martin Heidegger , among the most prominent German philosophers to stay in Germany , embraced Nazism when it came to power . Both before and after World War II there was a growth of interest in German philosophy in France . A new interest in communism translated into an interest in Marx and Hegel , who became for the first time studied extensively in the politically conservative French university system of the Third Republic . At the same time the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl and Heidegger became increasingly influential , perhaps owing to its resonances with those French philosophies which placed great stock in the first-person perspective ( an idea found in divergent forms such as Cartesianism , spiritualism , and Bergsonism ) . Most important in this popularization of phenomenology was the author and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre , who called his philosophy existentialism . ( See 20th-century French philosophy . ) Another major strain of continental thought is *32;321547;TOOLONG . Influenced by the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure , French anthropologists such as Claude Lvi-Strauss began to apply the structural paradigm to the humanities . In the 1960s and ' 70s , post-structuralists developed various critiques of structuralism . Post-structuralist thinkers include Jacques Lacan , Jacques Derrida , Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze. # Recent Anglo-American developments # From the early 20th century until the 1960s , continental philosophers were only intermittently discussed in British and American universities , despite an influx of continental philosophers , particularly German Jewish students of Nietzsche and Heidegger , to the United States on account of the persecution of the Jews and later World War II ; Hannah Arendt , Leo Strauss , Theodor W. Adorno , and Walter Kaufmann are probably the most notable of this wave , arriving in the late 1930s and early 1940s . However , philosophy departments began offering courses in continental philosophy in the late 1960s and 1970s . With the rise of postmodernism in the 1970s and 1980s , some British and American philosophers became more vocally opposed to the methods and conclusions of continental philosophers . For example , John Searle criticized Derrida 's deconstruction for obvious and manifest intellectual weaknesses . Later , Barry Smith and assorted signatories protested against the award of an honorary degree to Derrida by Cambridge University . American university departments in literature , the fine arts , film , sociology , and political theory have increasingly incorporated ideas and arguments from continental philosophers into their curricula and research . Continental Philosophy features prominently in a number of British and Irish Philosophy departments , for instance at the University of Essex , Warwick and Sussex , Manchester Metropolitan , Kingston University and University College Dublin , and in North American Philosophy departments , including the University of Hawai'i at Mnoa , Boston College , Stony Brook University ( SUNY ) , Vanderbilt University , DePaul University , Villanova University , the University of Guelph , The New School , Pennsylvania State University , University of Oregon , Emory University , Duquesne University , the University of Memphis , University of King 's College , and Loyola University Chicago . The most prominent organization for continental philosophy in the United States is the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy ( known as SPEP ) . 
@@310169 India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to the composition of the Upanisads in the later Vedic period . According to Radhakrishnan , the oldest of these constitute ... the earliest philosophical compositions of the world . Since the late medieval age ( ca.1000-1500 ) various schools ( Skt : ' ' Darshanas ' ' ) of Indian philosophy are identified as orthodox ( Skt : ' ' astika ' ' ) or non-orthodox ( Skt : ' ' nastika ' ' ) depending on whether they regard the Veda as an infallible source of knowledge . There are six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy and three heterodox schools . The orthodox are Nyaya , Vaisesika , Samkhya , Yoga , Purva mimamsa and Vedanta . The Heterodox are Jain , Buddhist and materialist ( Crvka ) . However , Vidyraya classifies Indian philosophy into sixteen schools where he includes schools belonging to Saiva and Rasevara thought with others . The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalised chiefly between 1000 BC to the early centuries AD . Subsequent centuries produced commentaries and reformulations continuing up to as late as the 20th century by Aurobindo and Prabhupada among others . Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years , especially between 800 BC to 200 AD . Some like the Jain , Buddhist , Shaiva and Advaita schools survived , while others like Samkhya and Ajivika did not , either being assimilated or going extinct . The Sanskrit term for philosopher is ' ' ' ' , one who is familiar with the systems of philosophy , or ' ' ' ' . # Common themes # The Indian thinkers of antiquity ( very much like those of the Hellenistic schools ) viewed philosophy as a practical necessity that needed to be cultivated in order to understand how life can best be led . It became a custom for Indian writers to explain at the beginning of philosophical works how it serves human ends ( ) . Recent scholarship has shown that there was a great deal of intercourse between Greek and Indian philosophy during the era of Hellenistic expansion . Indian philosophy is distinctive in its application of analytical rigour to metaphysical problems and goes into very precise detail about the nature of reality , the structure and function of the human psyche and how the relationship between the two have important implications for human salvation ( ' ' moksha ' ' ) . Rishis centred philosophy on an assumption that there is a unitary underlying order ( rta ) in the universe which is all pervasive and omniscient . The efforts by various schools were concentrated on explaining this order and the metaphysical entity at its source ( Brahman ) . The concept of natural law ( Dharma ) provided a basis for understanding questions of how life on earth should be lived . The sages urged humans to discern this order and to live their lives in accordance with it . # Schools # # Hindu philosophy # Many Hinduism Samkhya , the enumeration school Yoga , the school of Patanjali ( which provisionally asserts the metaphysics of Samkhya ) Nyaya , the school of logic Vaisheshika , the atomist school Purva Mimamsa ( or simply Mimamsa ) , the tradition of Vedic exegesis , with emphasis on Vedic ritual , and Vedanta ( also called Uttara Mimamsa ) , the Upanishadic tradition , with emphasis on Vedic philosophy . These are often coupled into three groups for both historical and conceptual reasons : Nyaya-Vaishesika , Samkhya-Yoga , and Mimamsa-Vedanta . The Vedanta school is further divided into six sub-schools : Advaita ( monism/nondualism ) , also includes the concept of Ajativada , Visishtadvaita ( monism of the qualified whole ) , Dvaita ( dualism ) , Dvaitadvaita ( dualism-nondualism ) , Suddhadvaita , and Achintya Bheda Abheda schools . Besides these schools Mdhava Vidyraya also includes the following of the aforementioned theistic philosophies based on the Agamas and Tantras :  Pasupata , school of Shaivism by Nakulisa  Saiva , the theistic Sankhya school  Pratyabhija , the recognitive school  Rasevara , the mercurial school  Pini Darana , the grammarian school ( which clarifies the theory of Sphoa ) The systems mentioned here are not the only orthodox systems , they are the chief ones , and there are other orthodox schools . These systems , accept the authority of Vedas and are regarded as orthodox ( astika ) schools of Hindu philosophy ; besides these , schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are categorised by Brahmins as unorthodox ( nastika ) systems . Chief among the latter category are Buddhism , Jainism and Crvka. Crvka is a materialistic and atheistic school of thought and , is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism. # Jain philosophy # Jainism came into formal being after Mahavira synthesised philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Sramana philosophy , during the period around 550 BC , in the region that is present day Bihar in northern India . This period marked an ideological renaissance , in which the Vedic dominance was challenged by various groups like Jainism and Buddhism . A ' ' Jain ' ' is a follower of ' ' Jinas ' ' , spiritual ' victors ' ( ' ' Jina ' ' is Sanskrit for ' victor ' ) , human beings who have rediscovered the ' ' dharma , ' ' become fully liberated and taught the spiritual path for the benefit of beings . Jains follow the teachings of 24 special Jinas who are known as ' ' Tirthankars ' ' ( ' ford-builders ' ) . The 24th and most recent ' ' Tirthankar ' ' , Lord Mahavira , lived in c.6th century BC , in a period of cultural revolution all over the world . During this period , Socrates was born in Greece , Zoroaster in Iran , LaoTse and Confucious in China and Mahavira and Buddha in India . The 23rd Thirthankar of Jains , Lord Parsvanatha is recognised now as a historical person , lived during 872 to 772 BC .. even as there is constitutional ambiguity over its status . Jain tirthankars find exclusive mention in the Vedas and the Hindu epics . During the Vedantic age , India had two broad philosophical streams of thought : The Shramana philosophical schools , represented by Buddhism , Jainism , and the long defunct and Ajivika on one hand , and the *25;436092;TOOLONG schools represented by Vedanta , Vaishnava and other movements on the other . Both streams are known to have mutually influenced each other . The Hindu scholar Lokmanya Tilak credited Jainism with influencing Hinduism in the area of the cessation of animal sacrifice in Vedic rituals . Bal Gangadhar Tilak has described Jainism as the originator of Ahimsa and wrote in a letter printed in Bombay Samachar , Mumbai:10 Dec 1904 : In ancient times , innumerable animals were butchered in sacrifices . Evidence in support of this is found in various poetic compositions such as the Meghaduta . But the credit for the disappearance of this terrible massacre from the Brahminical religion goes to Jainism . Swami Vivekananda also credited Jainsim as one of the influencing forces behind the Indian culture . One of the main characteristics of Jain belief is the emphasis on the immediate consequences of one 's physical and mental behaviour . Because Jains believe that everything is in some sense alive with many living beings possessing a soul , great care and awareness is required in going about one 's business in the world . Jainism is a religious tradition in which all life is considered to be worthy of respect and Jain teaching emphasises this equality of all life advocating the non-harming of even the smallest creatures . Non-violence ( Ahimsa ) is the basis of right View , the condition of right Knowledge and the kernel of right Conduct in Jainism . Jainism encourages spiritual independence ( in the sense of relying on and cultivating one 's own personal wisdom ) and self-control ( , ' ' vratae ' ' ) which is considered vital for one 's spiritual development . The goal , as with other Indian religions , is ' ' moksha ' ' which in Jainism is realisation of the soul 's true nature , a condition of omniscience ( Kevala Jnana ) . Anekantavada is one of the principles of Jainism positing that reality is perceived differently from different points of view , and that no single point of view is completely true . Jain doctrine states that only Kevalis , those who have infinite knowledge , can know the true answer , and that all others would only know a part of the answer . Anekantavada is related to the Western philosophical doctrine of Subjectivism. # Buddhist philosophy # Buddhist philosophy is a system of thought which started with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama , the the Buddha , or awakened one . From its inception , Buddhism has had a strong philosophical component . Buddhism is founded on elements of the shramana movement which flowered around 500 BCE , and has had a very strong influence on Hinduism . The Buddha criticised all concepts of metaphysical being and non-being as misleading views caused by reification , and this critique is inextricable from the founding of Buddhism . Buddhism shares many philosophical views with other Indian systems , such as belief in ' ' karma ' ' , a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done . Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events . A major departure from Hindu and Jain philosophy is the Buddhist rejection of a permanent , self-existent soul ( ' ' atman ' ' ) in favour of ' ' anatta ' ' ( non-Self ) and ' ' anicca ' ' ( impermanence ) . Jain thinkers rejected this view , opining that if no continuing soul could be accepted then even the effort to attain any worldly objective would be useless , as the individual acting and the one receiving the consequences would be different . Therefore , the conviction in individuals that the doer is also the reaper of consequences establishes the existence of a continuing soul . # Crvka philosophy # Crvka or Lokyata was a philosophy of scepticism and materialism , founded in the Mauryan period . They were extremely critical of other schools of philosophy of the time . Crvka deemed Vedas to be tainted by the three faults of untruth , self-contradiction , and tautology . And in contrast to Buddhists and Jains , they mocked the concept of liberation , reincarnation and accumulation of merit or demerit through the performance of certain actions . They believed that , the viewpoint of relinquishing pleasure to avoid pain was the reasoning of fools . Crvka thought consciousness was an emanation from the body and it ended with the destruction of the body . They used quotes from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad to support this claim . Crvka denied inference as a means of knowledge and held sensory indulgence as the final objective of life . Crvka held the view that Invariable Concomitance ( vyapti ) , a theory of Indian logic which refers to the relation between middle term and major term freed from all conditions , could not be ascertained . However , Buddhists refuted this view by proposing that Invariable Concomitance was easily cognizable from the relation between cause and effect or from the establishment of identity . # Modern philosophy # Modern Indian philosophy was developed during British occupation(17501947) . The philosophers in this era gave contemporary meaning to traditional philosophy . Some of them were Swami Vivekananda , Swami Dayananda Saraswati , Bal Gangadhar Tilak , Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay , Raja Ram Mohan Roy , Kesab Sen , Sri Aurobindo , Mahatma Gandhi , Kireet Joshi , Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , M. N. Roy , Subhas Chandra Bose , Indra Sen , Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , Ananda Coomaraswamy , and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan . Pandurang Shastri Athavale , U. G. Krishnamurti , Acharya Rajnesh Osho and Krishnananda are other prominent names in contemporary Indian philosophy . # Political philosophy # The Arthashastra , attributed to the Mauryan minister Chanakya , is one of the early Indian texts devoted to political philosophy . It is dated to 4th century BCE and discusses ideas of statecraft and economic policy . The political philosophy most closely associated with India is the one of ahimsa ( non-violence ) and Satyagraha , popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian struggle for independence . It was influenced by the Indian Dharmic philosophy , particularly the Bhagvata Gita , as well as secular writings of authors such as Leo Tolstoy , Henry David Thoreau and John Ruskin . In turn it influenced the later movements for independence and civil rights , especially those led by Martin Luther King , Jr . and to a lesser extent Nelson Mandela . # Influence # In appreciation of complexity of the Indian philosophy , T S Eliot wrote that the great philosophers of India make most of the great European philosophers look like schoolboys . Arthur Schopenhauer used Indian philosophy to improve upon Kantian thought . In the preface to his book ' ' The World As Will And Representation ' ' , Schopenhauer writes that one who has also received and assimilated the sacred primitive Indian wisdom , then he is the best of all prepared to hear what I have to say to him . The 19th century American philosophical movement Transcendentalism was also influenced by Indian thought . # See also #  Advaita  Affectionism  Indian logic  Indian religions  M Hiriyanna  Svayam bhagavan 
@@317524 In philosophy , action has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action . Action is what an agent can ' ' do ' ' . For example , throwing a ball is an instance of action ; it involves an intention , a goal , and a bodily movement guided by the agent . On the other hand , catching a cold is not considered an action because it is something which happens ' ' to ' ' a person , not something done ' ' by ' ' one . Generally an agent does n't intend to catch a cold or engage in bodily movement to do so ( though we might be able to conceive of such a case ) . Other events are less clearly defined as actions or not . For instance , distractedly drumming ones fingers on the table seems to fall somewhere in the middle . Deciding to do something might be considered a mental action by some . However , others think it is not an action unless the decision is carried out . Unsuccessfully trying to do something might also not be considered an action for similar reasons ( for e.g. lack of bodily movement ) . It is contentious whether believing , intending , and thinking are actions since they are mental events . Some would prefer to define actions as requiring bodily movement ( see behaviorism ) . The side-effects of actions are considered by some to be part of the action ; in an example from Anscombe 's manuscript Intention , pumping water can also be an instance of poisoning the inhabitants . This introduces a moral dimension to the discussion ( see also Moral agency ) . If the poisoned water resulted in a death , that death might be considered part of the action of the agent that pumped the water . Whether a side-effect is considered part of an action is especially unclear in cases in which the agent is n't aware of the possible side effects . For example , an agent that accidentally cures a person by administering a poison he was intending to kill him with . A primary concern of philosophy of action is to analyze the nature of actions and distinguish them from similar phenomena . Other concerns include individuating actions , explaining the relationship between actions and their effects , explaining how an action is related to the beliefs and desires which cause and/or justify it ( see practical reason ) , as well as examining the nature of agency . A primary concern is the nature of free will and whether actions are determined by the mental states that precede them ( see determinism ) . Some philosophers ( e.g. Donald Davidson ) have argued that the mental states the agent invokes as justifying his action are physical states that cause the action . Problems have been raised for this view because the mental states seem to be reduce to mere physical causes . Their mental properties do n't seem to be doing any work . If the reasons an agent cites as justifying his action , however , are not the cause of the action , they must explain the action in some other way or be causally impotent . # See also # Action theory Enactivism Praxeology Social action Social relation Affectional action Instrumental action Traditional action Value-rational action Communicative action Dramaturgical action Symbolic interactionism Group action Philosophy of Spinoza # Notes and references # 
@@342912 ' ' Meditations on First Philosophy ' ' ( subtitled ' ' In which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated ' ' ) is a philosophical treatise by Ren Descartes first published in 1641 ( in Latin ) . The French translation ( by the Duke of Luynes with the supervision of Descartes ) was published in 1647 as ' ' Mditations Metaphysiques ' ' . The original Latin title is ' ' Meditationes de prima philosophia , in qua Dei existentia et anim immortalitas demonstratur ' ' . The book is made up of six ' ' meditations ' ' , in which Descartes first discards all belief in things which are not absolutely certain , and then tries to establish what can be known for sure . The meditations were written as if he was meditating for 6 days : each meditation refers to the last one as yesterday . ( In fact , Descartes began work on the ' ' Meditations ' ' in 1639 . ) The ' ' Meditations ' ' consist of the presentation of Descartes ' metaphysical system in its most detailed level and in the expanding of Descartes ' philosophical system , which he first introduced in the fourth part of his ' ' Discourse on Method ' ' ( 1637 ) . Descartes ' metaphysical thought is also found in the ' ' Principles of Philosophy ' ' ( 1644 ) , which the author intended to be a philosophy guidebook. # Letter of Dedication and Preface # Letter of dedication ' ' To the most wise and illustrious the Dean and Doctors of the Sacred Faculty of Theology in Paris ' ' Descartes says that he is asking the protection of the Faculty for his work , and to this end he writes the present dedication . His first consideration is that the existence of God has to be demonstrated philosophically , besides the theological reasons for belief , particularly if we consider to make a demonstration for the non-believers . Moreover , the believers could be accused of making a circular reasoning , when saying that we must believe in God because of the Scriptures , and in the authority of the Scriptures because they have been inspired by God . He further indicates how the very Scriptures say that the mind of man is sufficient to discover God . His aim is to apply a method to demonstrate these two truths , in a so clear and evident manner that result to be evident . This method he has developed for the Sciences . Preface to the reader Descartes explains how he made a mention of the two questions , the existence of God , and the soul , in his ' ' Discourse on Method ' ' . Following this , he received objections , and two of them he considers are of importance . The first is how he concludes that the essence of the soul is a thing that thinks , excluding all other nature . To this he says that he has a clear perception that he is a thinking thing , and has no other clear perception , and from this he concludes that there is nothing else in the essence of the self . The second is that from the idea I have of something that is more perfect than myself , there can not be concluded that it exists . In the treatise we will see that in fact from the idea that there is something more perfect than myself , follows that this exists . It goes on to comment that on a general level the reasoning used by the atheists for denying the existence of God is based in the fact that we ascribe to God affections that are human , or we attribute so much strength and wisdom to our minds that we presume to understand that which God can and ought to do . He says that we have to consider God as incomprehensible and infinite , and our minds as limited and finite . Finally says that the treatise was submitted to some men of learning to know their difficulties and objections , and are answered at the end of it . # Summary of Meditations # # Meditation I : Concerning Those Things That Can Be Called into Doubt # # #Summary# # The First Meditation , subtitled What can be called into doubt , opens with the Meditator reflecting on the number of falsehoods he has believed during his life and on the subsequent faultiness of the body of knowledge he has built up from these falsehoods . He has resolved to sweep away all he thinks he knows and to start again from the foundations , building up his knowledge once more on more certain grounds . He has seated himself alone , by the fire , free of all worries so that he can demolish his former opinions with care . The Meditator reasons that he need only find some reason to doubt his present opinions in order to prompt him to seek sturdier foundations for his knowledge . Rather than doubt every one of his opinions individually , he reasons that he might cast them all into doubt if he can doubt the foundations and basic principles upon which his opinions are founded . Everything that the Meditator has accepted as most true he has come to learn from or through his senses . He acknowledges that sometimes the senses can deceive , but only with respect to objects that are very small or far away , and that our sensory knowledge on the whole is quite sturdy . The Meditator acknowledges that insane people might be more deceived , but that he is clearly not one of them and need n't worry himself about that . However , the Meditator realizes that he is often convinced when he is dreaming that he is sensing real objects . He feels certain that he is awake and sitting by the fire , but reflects that often he has dreamed this very sort of thing and been wholly convinced by it . Though his present sensations may be dream images , he suggests that even dream images are drawn from waking experience , much like paintings in that respect . Even when a painter creates an imaginary creature , like a mermaid , the composite parts are drawn from real thingswomen and fish , in the case of a mermaid . And even when a painter creates something entirely new , at least the colors in the painting are drawn from real experience . Thus , the Meditator concludes , though he can doubt composite things , he can not doubt the simple and universal parts from which they are constructed like shape , quantity , size , time , etc . While we can doubt studies based on composite things , like medicine , astronomy , or physics , he concludes that we can not doubt studies based on simple things , like arithmetic and geometry . On further reflection , the Meditator realizes that even simple things can be doubted . Omnipotent God could make even our conception of mathematics false . One might argue that God is supremely good and would not lead him to believe falsely all these things . But by this reasoning we should think that God would not deceive him with regard to anything , and yet this is clearly not true . If we suppose there is no God , then there is even greater likelihood of being deceived , since our imperfect senses would not have been created by a perfect being . The Meditator finds it almost impossible to keep his habitual opinions and assumptions out of his head , try as he might . He resolves to pretend that these opinions are totally false and imaginary in order to counterbalance his habitual way of thinking . He supposes that not God , but some evil demon has committed itself to deceiving him so that everything he thinks he knows is false . By doubting everything , he can at least be sure not to be misled into falsehood by this demon . # #Analysis# # Descartes saw his Meditations as providing the metaphysical underpinning of his new physics . Like Galileo , he sought to overturn two-thousand-year-old prejudices injected into the Western tradition by Aristotle . The Aristotelian thought of Descartes ' day placed a great weight on the testimony of the senses , suggesting that all knowledge comes from the senses . The Meditator 's suggestion that all one 's most certain knowledge comes from the senses is meant to appeal directly to the Aristotelian philosophers who will be reading the Meditations . The motivation , then , behind the First Meditation is to start in a position the Aristotelian philosophers would agree with and then , subtly , to seduce them away from it . Descartes is aware of how revolutionary his ideas are , and must pay lip service to the orthodox opinions of the day in order to be heeded . Reading the First Meditation as an effort to coax Aristotelians away from their customary opinions allows us to read different interpretations into the different stages of doubt . For instance , there is some debate as to whether Descartes intended his famous Dream Argument to suggest the universal possibility of dreamingthat though there is waking experience , I can never know which moments are dreams and which are wakingor the possibility of a universal dreamthat my whole life is a dream and that there is no waking world . If we read Descartes as suggesting the universal possibility of dreaming , we can explain an important distinction between the Dream Argument and the later Evil Demon Argument . The latter suggests that all we know is false and that we can not trust the senses one bit . The Dream Argument , if meant to suggest the universal possibility of dreaming , suggests only that the senses are not always and wholly reliable . The Dream Argument questions Aristotelian epistemology , while the Evil Demon Argument does away with it altogether . The Painter 's Analogy , which draws on the Dream Argument , concludes that mathematics and other purely cerebral studies are far more certain than astronomy or physics , which is an important step away from the Aristotelian reliance on the senses and toward Cartesian rationalism . Read on its own , the First Meditation can be seen as presenting skeptical doubts as a subject of study in their own right . Certainly , skepticism is a much discussed and hotly debated topic in philosophy , even today . Descartes raised the mystifying question of how we can claim to know with certainty anything about the world around us . The idea is not that these doubts are probable , but that their possibility can never be entirely ruled out . And if we can never be certain , how can we claim to know anything ? Skepticism cuts straight to the heart of the Western philosophical enterprise and its attempt to provide a certain foundation for our knowledge and understanding of the world . It can even be pushed so far as to be read as a challenge to our very notion of rationality . It is very difficult to justify a dismissal of skepticism . Western philosophy since Descartes has been largely marked and motivated by an effort to overcome this problem . Particularly interesting responses can be found in Hume , Kant , and Wittgenstein . We should note that Descartes ' doubt is a methodological and rational doubt . That is , the Meditator is not just doubting everything at random , but is providing solid reasons for his doubt at each stage . For instance , he rejects the possibility that he might be mad , since that would undercut the rationality that motivates his doubt . Descartes is trying to set up this doubt within a rational framework , and needs to maintain a claim to rationality for his arguments to proceed . He goes on to suggest more powerful reasons to doubt that his beliefs are true . In general , his method is that of forming skeptical hypotheses methodic doubt . In the first meditation , he considers whether he is mad , dreaming , or deceived by an evil demon . The general form of these arguments is : # If I am dreaming/deceived , then my beliefs are unreliable . Descartes ' goal as stated at the beginning of the meditation is to suspend judgment about any of his beliefs which are even slightly doubtful . The skeptical scenarios show that all of the beliefs which he considers in the first meditation , including at the very least all of his beliefs about the physical world , are doubtful . So he decides to suspend judgment . He will henceforth give up all of his beliefs about the physical world . He also decides that he will continually remind himself to avoid habitually falling into accepting beliefs without support , a habit to which he is susceptible . # Meditation II : Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind : That It Is Better Known Than the Body # In ' ' Meditation II ' ' , Descartes lays out a pattern of thought , sometimes called representationalism , in response to the doubts forwarded in ' ' Meditation I ' ' . He identifies five steps in this theory : # We have access to only the world of our ideas ; things in the world are accessed only indirectly . # These ideas are understood to include all of the contents of the mind , including perceptions , images , memories , concepts , beliefs , intentions , decisions , etc. # Ideas and the things they represent are separate from each other . # These represented things are many times external to the mind . # It is possible for these ideas to constitute either accurate or false representations . Descartes argues that this representational theory disconnects the world from the mind , leading to the need for some sort of bridge to span the separation and provide ' ' good reasons ' ' to believe that the ideas accurately represent the outside world . The first plank he uses in constructing this bridge can be found in the following excerpt : # I have convinced myself that there is nothing in the world no sky , no earth , no minds , no bodies . Does n't it follow that I do n't exist ? No , surely I must exist if it 's me who is convinced of something . But there is a deceiver , supremely powerful and cunning whose aim is to see that I am always deceived . But surely I exist , if I am deceived . Let him deceive me all he can , he will never make it the case that I am nothing while I think that I am something . Thus having fully weighed every consideration , I must finally conclude that the statement I am , I exist must be true whenever I state it or mentally consider it . ( Descartes , Meditation II : On the Nature of the Human Mind , Which Is Better Known Than the Body ) . # In other words , one 's consciousness implies one 's existence . In one of Descartes ' replies to objections to the book , he summed this up in the phrase , ' ' I think therefore I am ' ' . Once he has secured his existence , however , Descartes seeks to find out what I is . He rejects the typical method which looks for a definition , e.g. Rational Animal , because the words used in the definition would then need to be defined . He seeks ' ' simple terms ' ' that do not need to be defined in this way , but whose meaning can just be seen . From these ' ' self-evident ' ' truths , ' ' complex terms ' ' can be built up . The first of these self-evident truths is Descartes ' proof of existence turned on its head : # But what then am I ? A thinking thing . And what is that ? Something that doubts , understands , affirms , denies , wills , refuses , and also senses and has mental images . ( Descartes , Meditation II : On the Nature of the Human Mind , Which Is Better Known Than the Body ) . # To define himself further , Descartes turns to the example of wax . He determines that wax is n't wax because of its color , texture or shape , as all of these things can change and the substance still be wax . He believes that wax is perceived by the intellect alone ( Meditation II : On the Nature of the Human Mind , Which Is Better Known Than the Body ) . Therefore , he distinguishes between ' ' ordinary perception ' ' and ' ' judgment ' ' . When one understands the mathematical principles of the substance , such as its expansion under heat , figure and motion , the knowledge of the wax can be ' ' clear and distinct ' ' . If a substance such as wax can be known in this fashion , then the same must be of ourselves . The self , then , is not determined by what we sense of ourselves these hands , this head , these eyes but by simply the things one thinks . Thus , one ca n't grasp anything more easily or plainly than his mind . Descartes concludes that he exists because he is a thinking thing . If he is the thing that can be deceived and can think and have thoughts , then he must exist . # Meditation III : Concerning God , That He Exists # Descartes proposed that there are three types of ideas : Innate , Fictitious , and Adventitious . Innate ideas are and have always been within us , fictitious or invented ideas come from our imagination , and Adventitious ideas come from experiences of the world . He argues that the idea of God is Innate and placed in us by God , and he rejected the possibility that the idea of God is Invented or Adventitious . Argument 1 # Something can not come from nothing . # The cause of an idea must have at least as much formal reality as the idea has objective reality . # I have in me an idea of God . This idea has infinite objective reality . # I can not be the cause of this idea , since I am not an infinite and perfect being . I do n't have enough formal reality . Only an infinite and perfect being could cause such an idea . # So God a being with infinite formal reality must exist ( and be the source of my idea of God ) . # An absolutely perfect being is a good , benevolent being . # So God is benevolent ... # So God would not deceive me , and would not permit me to err without giving me a way to correct my errors . Argument 2 # I exist . # My existence must have a cause . # The only possible ultimate causes are : : a ) myself : : b ) my always having existed : : c ) my parents : : d ) something less perfect than God : : e ) God : 4 . Not a . If I had created myself , I would have made myself perfect . : 5 . Not b . This does not solve the problem . If I am a dependent being , I need to be continually sustained by another . : 6 . Not c . This leads to an infinite regress. : 7 . Not d . The idea of perfection that exists in me can not have originated from a non-perfect being . : 8 . Therefore , e . God exists . Descartes argued that he had a clear and distinct idea of God . In the same way that the cogito was self-evident , so too is the existence of God , as his perfect idea of a perfect being could not have been caused by anything less than a perfect being . # Meditation IV : Concerning the True and the False # The conclusions of the previous Meditations that I and God both exist lead to another problem : If God is perfectly good and the source of all that is , how is there room for error or falsehood ? Descartes attempts to answer this question in ' ' Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ' ' . # If I 've gotten everything in me from God and He has n't given me the ability to make errors , it does n't seem possible for me ever to error . ( Descartes , Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ) . # The framework of his arguments center on the Great Chain of Being , in which God 's perfect goodness is relative to His perfect being . On the extreme opposite end of the scale is complete nothingness , which is also the most evil state possible . Thus , humans are an intermediary between these two extremes , being less real or good than God , but more real and good than nothingness . Thus , error ( as a part of evil ) is not a positive reality , it is only the absence of what is correct . In this way , its existence is allowed within the context of a perfectly inerrant God . # I find that I am intermediate between God and nothingness , between the supreme entity and nonentity . Insofar as I am the creation of the supreme entity , there 's nothing in me to account for my being deceived or led into error , but , inasmuch as I somehow participate in nothing or nonentity that is , insofar as I am distinct from the supreme entity itself and lack many things it 's not surprising that I go wrong . I thus understand that , in itself , error is a lack , rather than a real thing dependent on God . Hence , I understand that I can err without God 's having given me a special ability to do so . Rather , I fall into error because my God-given ability to judge the truth is not infinite . ( Descartes , Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ) . # Descartes also concedes two points that might allow for the possibility of his ability to make errors . First , he notes that it is very possible that his limited knowledge prevents him from understanding ' ' why ' ' God chose to create him so he could make mistakes . If he could see the things that God could see , with a complete and infinite scope , perhaps he would judge his ability to err as the best option . He uses this point to attack the Aristotelian structure of causes . The final cause described by Aristotle are the what for of an object , but Descartes claims that because he is unable to comprehend completely the mind of God , it is impossible to understand completely the why through science only the how . # I realize that I should n't be surprised at God 's doing things that I ca n't explain . I should n't doubt His existence just because I find that I sometimes ca n't understand why or how He has made something . I know that my nature is weak and limited and that God 's is limitless , incomprehensible , and infinite , and , from this , I can infer that He can do innumerable things whose reasons are unknown to me . On this ground alone , I regard the common practice of explaining things in terms of their purposes to be useless in physics : it would be foolhardy of me to think that I can discover God 's purposes . ( Descartes , Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ) . # Second , he considers the possibility that an apparent error at the individual level could be understood within the totality of creation as error free . # When asking whether God 's works are perfect , I ought to look at all of them together , not at one isolation . For something that seems imperfect when viewed alone might seem completely perfect when regarded as having a place in the world . Of course , since calling everything into doubt , I have n't established that anything exists besides me and God . But , when I consider God 's immense power , I ca n't deny that He has made or , in any case , that He could have made many other things , and I must therefore view myself as having a place in a universe . ( Descartes , Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ) . # Lastly , ' ' Meditation IV ' ' attributes the source of error to a discrepancy between two divine gifts : understanding and free will . Understanding is given in an incomplete form , while will ( by nature ) can only be either completely given or not given at all . When he is presented with a certain amount of understanding and then ' ' chooses ' ' to act outside of that , he is in error . Thus , the gifts of God ( understanding and will ) both remain good and only the incorrect usage by him remains as error . # If I suspend judgement when I do n't clearly and distinctly grasp what is true , I obviously do right and am not deceived . But , if I either affirm or deny in a case of this sort , I misuse my freedom of choice . If I affirm what is false , I clearly err , and , if I stumble onto the truth , I 'm still blameworthy since the light of nature reveals that a perception of the understanding should always precede a decision of the will . In these misuses of freedom of choice lies the deprivation that accounts for error . And this deprivation , I maintain , lies in the working of the will insofar as it comes from me not in my God-given ability to will , or even in the will 's operation insofar as it derives from Him . ( Descartes , Meditation IV : On Truth and Falsity ) . # # Meditation V : Concerning the Essence of Material Things , and Again Concerning God , That He Exists # ' ' Meditation V : Concerning the Essence of Material Things , and Again Concerning God , That He Exists ' ' begins with the stated purpose of expanding the known items of God and self to include outside material objects ; but Descartes saves that for ' ' Meditation VI ' ' in lieu of something he deems more fundamental but in the same direction : a discussion concerning the ' ' ideas ' ' of those external items . Along the way , he advances another logical proof of God 's existence . # Before asking whether any such objects exist outside me , I ought to consider the ideas of these objects as they exist in my thoughts and see which are clear and which confused . ( Descartes , Meditation V : On the Essence of Material Objects and More on God 's Existence ) . # Descartes separates external objects into those that are clear and distinct and those that are confused and obscure . The former group consists of the ideas of extension , duration and movement . These geometrical ideas can not be misconstrued or combined in a way that makes them false . For example , if the idea of a creature with the head of a giraffe , the body of a lion and tail of a beaver was constructed and the question asked if the creature had a large intestine , the answer would have to be invented . But , no mathematical re-arrangement of a triangle could allow its three internal angles to sum to anything but 180 degrees . Thus , Descartes perceived that truths may have a nature or essence of themselves , independent of the thinker . ( In Descartes ' formulation , this is a ' ' mathematical ' ' truth only pragmatically related to nature ; the properties of triangles in Euclidean geometry remain mathematically certain , though it was later discovered that the internal angles in real local triangles sum to more than 180 degrees . ) # I find in myself innumerable ideas of things which , though they may not exist outside me , ca n't be said to be nothing . While I have some control over my thoughts of these things , I do not make the things up : they have their own real and immutable natures . Suppose , for example , that I have a mental image of a triangle . While it may be that no figure of this sort does exist or ever has existed outside my thought , the figure has a fixed nature ( essence or form ) , immutable and eternal , which has n't been produced by me and is n't dependent of my mind . ( Descartes , Meditation V : On the Essence of Material Objects and More on God 's Existence ) . # While thinking about the independence of these ideas of external objects , Descartes realizes that he is just as certain about God as he is about these mathematical ideas . He asserts that this is natural as the ideas of God are the only ideas that imply God 's existence . He uses the example of a mountain and a valley . While one can not picture a mountain without a valley , it 's possible that these do not exist . However , the fact that one can not conceive of God without existence inherently rules out the possibility of God 's non-existence . Simply put , the argument is framed as follows : #God is defined as an infinitely perfect being . #Perfection includes existence . #So God exists . This ontological argument originated in the work of St. Anselm , the medieval Scholastic philosopher and theologian . While Descartes had already claimed to have confirmed God 's existence through previous arguments , this one allows him to put to rest any discontent he might have had with his distinct and clear criteria for truth . With a confirmed existence of God , all doubt that what one previously thought was real and not a dream can be removed . Having made this realization , Descartes asserts that without this sure knowledge in the existence of a supreme and perfect being , assurance of any truth is impossible . # Meditation VI : Concerning the Existence of Material Things , and the Real Distinction between Mind and Body # In ' ' Meditation VI : Concerning the Existence of Material Things , and the Real Distinction between Mind and Body ' ' , Descartes addresses the potential existence of material outside of the self and God . First , he asserts that such objects ' ' can ' ' exist simply because God is able to make them . # Insofar as they are the subject of pure mathematics , I now know at least that they can exist , because I grasp them clearly and distinctly . For God can undoubtedly make whatever I can grasp in this way , and I never judge that something is impossible for Him to make unless there would be a contradiction in my grasping the thing distinctly . ( Descartes , Meditation VI : On the Existence of Material Objects from Body ) . # Knowing that the existence of such objects is possible , Descartes then turns to the prevalence of mental images as proof . To do this , he draws a distinction between imagination and understanding ; imagination being a non-linguistic faculty of knowledge to the body which is immediately present to it ... without intellection or conception , which therefore exists like a mental photograph ; and understanding ( or apprehending ) being something that is not necessarily pictured . He uses an example of this to clarify : # When I have a mental image of a triangle , for example , I do n't just understand that it is a figure bounded by three lines ; I also look at the lines as though they were present to my mind 's eye . And this is what I call having a mental image . When I want to think of a chiliagon , I understand that it is a figure with a thousand sides as well as I understand that a triangle is a figure with three , but I ca n't imagine its sides or look at them as though they were present ( ... ) Thus I observe that a special effort of mind is necessary to the act of imagination , which is not required to conceiving or understanding ( ad intelligendum ) ; and this special exertion of mind clearly shows the difference between imagination and pure intellection ( imaginatio et intellectio pura ) . ( Descartes , Meditation VI : On the Existence of Material Objects and the Real Distinction of Mind from Body ) . # Descartes has still not given proof that such external objects exist . At this point , he has only shown that their existence could conveniently explain this mental process . To obtain this proof , he first reviews his premises for the ' ' Meditations ' ' that the senses can not be trusted and what he is taught by nature does not have much credence . However , he views these arguments within a new context ; after writing ' ' Meditation I ' ' , he has proved the existence of himself and of a perfect God . Thus , Descartes jumps quickly to proofs of the division between the body and mind and that material things exist : Proof for the body being distinct from the mind # It is possible for God to create anything I can clearly and distinctly perceive . # If God creates something to be independent of another , they are distinct from each other . # I clearly and distinctly understand my existence as a thinking thing ( which does not require the existence of a body ) . # So God can create a thinking thing independently of a body . # I clearly and distinctly understand my body as an extended thing ( which does not require a mind ) . # So God can create a body independently of a mind . # So my mind is a reality distinct from my body . # So I ( a thinking thing ) can exist without a body . Proof of the reality of external material things # I have a strong inclination to believe in the reality of external material things due to my senses . # God must have created me with this nature . # If independent material things do not exist , God is a deceiver . # But God is not a deceiver . # So material things exist and contain the properties essential to them . After using these two arguments to dispel solipsism and skepticism , Descartes seems to have succeeded in defining reality as being in three parts : God ( infinite ) , minds , and material things ( both finite ) . He closes by addressing natural phenomena that might appear to challenge his philosophy , such as phantom limbs , dreams , and dropsy. # Objections and replies # Descartes submitted his manuscript to many philosophers , theologians and a logician before publishing the ' ' Meditations ' ' . Their objections and his replies ( many of which are quite extensive ) were included in the first publication of the ' ' Meditations ' ' . In the Preface to the Meditations , Descartes asks the reader not to pass judgment on the Meditations until they have been kind enough to read through all these objections and my replies to them . Thus , this dialogue could be seen as an integral part of Descartes ' views expressed in the ' ' Meditations ' ' . The seven objectors were , in order ( of the sets as they were published ) :  The Dutch theologian Johannes Caterus ( Johan de Kater ) - first set of objections .  Various theologians and philosophers gathered by Descartes ' friend and principal correspondent , Friar Marin Mersenne second set of objections  The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes third set of objections  The theologian and logician Antoine Arnauld fourth set  The philosopher Pierre Gassendi fifth set ( Descartes wrote that all of these could be easily dismissed . )  Another miscellany gathered by Mersenne sixth set  The Jesuit Pierre Bourdin seventh set of objections They make many objections to Descartes arguments and method . Some of the objections show that the objector has misunderstood the text . Descartes response to these is often dismissive and curt . Other objections are more powerful , and in some cases it is controversial whether Descartes responds to them successfully ( refer to Hobbes ' objections ) . Some of the most powerful objections include the following : Objections to proof(s) of Gods existence : A. We have no ( clear ) idea of an infinite Being ( 1st , 2nd , and 5th objections ) . B. From the fact that I can think of a perfect being , it does nt follow that the perfect being exists ( 1st , 2nd , and 5th ) . C. We could get the idea of God without Gods causing the idea ( 2nd , 3rd ) . D. Nothing can cause itself to exist ( 4th ) , so God cant cause himself to exist unless God is composed of some essence that in and of itself has the property of timelessness . Objections to the epistemology : A. How can we be sure that what we think is a clear and distinct perception really is clear and distinct ( 3rd , 5th ) ? B. Circle objection 1 : if we are nt certain that judgments based on clear and distinct ideas are true before we prove Gods existence , then we cant be certain that we are a thinking thing ( 2nd ) . Circle objection 2 : if we are nt certain that clear and distinct ideas are true before we prove Gods existence , then we cant be certain that God exists , since we use clear and distinct ideas to prove Gods existence ( 4th ) . C. Contrary to what Descartes argues , we ' ' are ' ' certain that bodies exist/that perception coincides with reality ( 5th , 6th ) , but we are not certain that the bodies of our perception are actual bodies in an existent external world . Objections to philosophy of mind : A. Ideas are always imagistic ( 3rd ) , so we have no idea of thinking substance ( non-image idea ) . B. We cant conclude that the mind ( thinking thing ) is not also a corporeal thing , unless we know that we know everything about the mind . But we do nt know that we know everything about the mind . So we do nt know that the mind isnt corporeal. ( 2nd , 4th , 5th , 7th ) . Elisabeth of Bohemia also corresponded with Descartes on the ' ' Meditations ' ' ( from 1643 , unpublished , at her insistence ) . She objected both to his description of the union between mind and body , and that virtue and moral truths seem to need to be grasped by something other than the intellect ( despite Descartes 's assertion that all truths must be grasped intellectually ) . # Influence and legacy # The historical impact of the six meditations has been divided . The first two meditations , which employed the skeptical methodic doubt and concluded that only the ego and its thoughts are indubitable , have had a huge impact in the history of philosophy . They are often considered as epoch-making for modernity , and an unavoidable first step for any modern philosophical thinking . <ref> Husserl ( 1929 ) ' ' Cartesian Meditations ' ' quotation : Edmund Husserl , founder of phenomenology and a strong influence on 20th Century European philosophy , argued that the first two meditations are the only part of Descartes 's work with any philosophical importance at all . 
@@357356 The ' ' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ' ' ( SEP ) combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy , freely-accessible to internet users . It is maintained by Stanford University . Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field , including professors from many academic institutions worldwide . Authors contributing to the Encyclopedia give Stanford University the permission to publish the articles but retain the copyright to those articles . As of November 2 , 2012 , the SEP has 1335 published entries . Apart from its online status , the encyclopedia uses the traditional academic approach of most encyclopedias and academic journals to achieve quality by means of specialist authors selected by an editor or an editorial committee which is competent ( though not necessarily a specialist ) in the field covered by the encyclopedia and peer review . The encyclopedia was created in 1995 by Edward N. Zalta , with the explicit aim of providing a dynamic encyclopedia which is updated regularly , and so does not become dated in the manner of print encyclopedias . The charter for the encyclopedia allows for rival articles on a single topic to reflect reasoned disagreements amongst scholars . The SEP was initially developed with U.S. public funding from the NEH and NSF . A long-term fundraising plan to preserve open access to the Encyclopedia is supported by many university libraries and library consortia . These institutions contribute under a plan devised by the SEP in collaboration with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition ( SPARC ) , the International Coalition of Library Consortia ( ICOLC ) and the Southeastern Library Network ( SOLINET ) , with matching funding from the NEH. 
@@357796 Constructivist epistemology is a branch in philosophy of science maintaining that natural science consists of mental constructs that are constructed with the aim of explaining sensory experience ( or measurements ) of the natural world . According to it , scientific knowledge is constructed by the scientific community , seeking to measure and construct models of the natural world . # Tenets # According to constructivists the world is independent of human minds , but knowledge of the world is always a human and social construction . Constructivism opposes the philosophy of objectivism , which embraces the belief that a human can come to know the truth about the natural world not mediated by scientific approximations , with different degrees of validity and accuracy . According to constructivists there is no single valid methodology in science , but rather a diversity of useful methods . # Origin of the term # The term originates from psychology , education and social constructivism . The expression constructivist epistemology was first used by Jean Piaget , 1967 , with plural form in the famous article from the Encyclopdie de la Pliade ' ' Logique et connaissance scientifique ' ' or Logic and Scientific knowledge , an important text for epistemology . He refers directly to the mathematician Brouwer and his ' ' radical constructivism ' ' . ' ' Constructionism ' ' and ' ' constructivism ' ' are often used interchangeably . It is believed by constructivists that representations of physical and biological reality , including Race ( classification of human beings ) # History # Constructivism stems from a number of philosophies . For instance , early development can be attributed to the thought of Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus ( ' ' Everything flows , nothing stands still ' ' ) , Protagoras ( ' ' Man is the measure of all things ' ' ) . Protagoras is clearly represented by Plato and hence the tradition as a relativist . The Pyrrhonist sceptics have also been so interpreted . ( Although this is more contentious . ) Following the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment  Gaston Bachelard , who is known for his physics psychoanalysis and the definition of an epistemologic obstacle that can disturb a changing of scientific paradigm as the one that occurred between classical mechanics and Einstein 's relativism , opens the teleological way with The meditation on the object takes the form of the project . In the following famous saying , he insists that the ways in which questions are posed determines the trajectory of scientific movement , before summarizing nothing is given , all is constructed : And , irrespective of what one might assume , in the life of a science , problems do not arise by themselves . It is precisely this that marks out a problem as being of the true scientific spirit : all knowledge is in response to a question . If there were no question , there would be no scientific knowledge . Nothing proceeds from itself . Nothing is given . All is constructed . , Gaston Bachelard ( ' ' La formation de l'esprit scientifique ' ' , 1934 ) . While quantum mechanics is starting to grow , Gaston Bachelard makes a call for a new science in ' ' Le nouvel esprit scientifique ' ' ( The New Scientific Spirit ) .  Paul Valry , French poet ( 20th century ) reminds us of the importance of representations and action : We have always sought explanations when it was only representations that we could seek to invent , My hand feels touched as well as it touches ; reality says this , and nothing more .  This link with action , which could be called a philosophy of action , was well represented by Spanish poet Antonio Machado : ' ' Caminante , no hay camino , se hace camino al andar ' ' .  Ludwik Fleck establishes scientific constructivism by introducing the notions of thought collective ( ' ' Denkkollektiv ' ' ) , and thought style ( ' ' Denkstil ' ' ) , through which the evolution of science is much more understandable , because the research objects can be described in terms of the assumptions ( thought style ) that are shared for practical but also inherently social reasons , or just because any thought collective tends to preserve itself . These notions have been drawn upon by Thomas Kuhn.  Norbert Wiener gives another defense of teleology in 1943 ' ' Behavior , Intention and Teleology ' ' and is one of the creators of cybernetics.  Jean Piaget , after the creation in 1955 of the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva , first uses the expression constructivist epistemologies ( see above ) . According to Ernst von Glasersfeld , Jean Piaget is the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing ( in ' ' An Exposition of Constructivism : Why Some Like it Radical ' ' , 1990 ) and the most prolific constructivist in our century ( in ' ' Aspects of Radical Constructivism ' ' , 1996 ) .  J. L. Austin is associated with the view that speech is not only passively describing a given reality , but it can change the ( social ) reality it is describing through speech acts , which for linguistics was as revolutionary discovery as for physics was the discovery that measurement itself can change the measured reality .  Herbert A. Simon called The sciences of the artificial these new sciences ( cybernetics , cognitive sciences , decision and organisation sciences ) that , because of the abstraction of their object ( information , communication , decision ) , can not match with the classical epistemology and its experimental method and refutability.  Gregory Bateson and his book ' ' Steps to an Ecology of Mind ' ' ( 1972 ) .  George Kelly ( psychologist ) and his book ' ' The Psychology of Personal Constructs ' ' ( 1955 ) .  Heinz von Foerster , invited by Jean Piaget , presented Objects : tokens for ( Eigen- ) behaviours in 1976 in Geneva at a genetic epistemology symposium , a text that would become a reference for constructivist epistemology.  Paul Watzlawick , who supervised in 1984 the publication of ' ' Invented Reality : How Do We Know What We Believe We Know ? ( Contributions to constructivism ) ' ' .  Ernst von Glasersfeld , who has promoted since the end of the 70s ' ' radical constructivism ' ' ( see below ) .  Edgar Morin and his book ' ' La mthode ' ' ( 19772004 , six volumes ) .  Mioara Mugur-Schchter who is also a quantum mechanics specialist .  Jean-Louis Le Moigne for his encyclopedic work on constructivist epistemology and his General Systems theory ( see by Ernst von Glasersfeld ) .  Niklas Luhmann who developed operative constructivism in the course of developing his theory of autopoietic social systems , drawing on the works of ( among others ) Bachelard , Valry , Bateson , von Foerster , von Glasersfeld and Morin. # Constructivism and sciences # # Social constructivism in sociology # One version of ' ' social constructivism ' ' contends that categories of knowledge and reality are actively created by social relationships and interactions . These interactions also alter the way in which scientific episteme is organized . Social activity presupposes human beings inhabiting shared forms of life , and in the case of social construction , utilizing semiotic resources ( meaning making and meaning signifying ) with reference to social structures and institutions . Several traditions use the term ' ' Social Constructivism ' ' : psychology ( after Lev Vygotsky ) , sociology ( after Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann , themselves influenced by Alfred Schtz ) , sociology of knowledge ( David Bloor ) , sociology of mathematics ( Sal Restivo ) , philosophy of mathematics ( Paul Ernest ) . Ludwig Wittgenstein 's later philosophy can be seen as a foundation for ' ' Social Constructivism ' ' , with its key theoretical concepts of ' ' language games ' ' embedded in ' ' forms of life ' ' . # Constructivism in philosophy of science # Thomas Kuhn argued that changes in scientists ' views of reality not only contain subjective elements , but result from group dynamics , revolutions in scientific practice and changes in paradigms . As an example , Kuhn suggested that the Sun-centric Copernican revolution replaced the Earth-centric views of Ptolemy not because of empirical failures , but because of a new paradigm that exerted control over what scientists felt to be the more fruitful way to pursue their goals . The view of reality as accessible only through models was called model-dependent realism by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow . While not rejecting the idea of *26;402755;TOOLONG , model-dependent realism suggests that we can not know *26;402783;TOOLONG , but only an approximation of it provided by the intermediary of models . These models evolve over time as guided by scientific inspiration and experiment . In the field of the social sciences , constructivism as an epistemology urges that researchers reflect upon the paradigms that may be underpinning their research , and in the light of this that they become more open to consider other ways of interpreting any results of the research . Furthermore , the focus is on presenting results as negotiable constructs rather than as models that aim to represent social realities more or less accurately . Norma Romm in her book Accountability in Social Research ( 2001 ) argues that social researchers can earn trust from participants and wider audiences insofar as they adopt this orientation and invite inputs from others regarding their inquiry practices and the results thereof . # Constructivism and psychology # # Constructivism and education # Joe L. Kincheloe has published numerous social and educational books on critical constructivism ( 2001 , 2005 , 2008 ) , a version of constructivist epistemology that places emphasis on the exaggerated influence of political and cultural power in the construction of knowledge , consciousness , and views of reality . In the contemporary mediated electronic era , Kincheloe argues , dominant modes of power have never exerted such influence on human affairs . Coming from a critical pedagogical perspective , Kincheloe argues that understanding a critical constructivist epistemology is central to becoming an educated person and to the institution of just social change . Kincheloe 's characteristics of critical constructivism : Knowledge is socially constructed : World and information co-construct one another Consciousness is a social construction Political struggles : Power plays an exaggerated role in the production of knowledge and consciousness The necessity of understanding consciousnesseven though it does not lend itself to traditional reductionistic modes of measurability The importance of uniting logic and emotion in the process of knowledge and producing knowledge The inseparability of the knower and the known The centrality of the perspectives of oppressed peoplesthe value of the insights of those who have suffered as the result of existing social arrangements The existence of multiple realities : Making sense of a world far more complex that we originally imagined Becoming humble knowledge workers : Understanding our location in the tangled web of reality Standpoint epistemology : Locating ourselves in the web of reality , we are better equipped to produce our own knowledges Constructing practical knowledge for critical social action Complexity : Overcoming reductionism Knowledge is always entrenched in a larger process The centrality of interpretation : Critical hermeneutics The new frontier of classroom knowledge : Personal experiences intersecting with pluriversal information Constructing new ways of being human : Critical ontology # Constructivism and postmodernism # For some , social constructionism can be seen as a source of the postmodern movement , and has been influential in the field of cultural studies . Some have gone so far as to attribute the rise of cultural studies ( the cultural turn ) to social constructionism . From a realist 's point of view , both postmodernism and constructivism can be seen as relativist theories . # Constructivist trends # # Cultural constructivism # Cultural constructivism asserts that knowledge and reality are a product of their cultural context , meaning that two independent cultures will likely form different observational methodologies . For instance , Western cultures generally rely on ' ' objects ' ' for scientific descriptions ; by contrast , some Native American cultures rely on ' ' events ' ' for descriptions . These are two distinct ways of constructing reality based on external artifacts . # Radical constructivism # Ernst von Glasersfeld was a prominent proponent of radical constructivism . This claims that knowledge is not a commodity which is transported from one mind into another . Rather , it is up to the individual to link up specific interpretations of experiences and ideas with their own reference of what is possible and viable . That is , the process of constructing knowledge , of understanding , is dependent on the individual 's subjective interpretation of their active experience , not what actually occurs . Understanding and acting are seen by radical constructivists not as dualistic processes , but ' circularly conjoined ' . ' ' ' ' is a free online journal publishing peer reviewed articles on radical constructivism by researchers from multiple domains . # Critical constructivism # A series of articles published in the journal ' ' Critical Inquiry ' ' ( 1991 ) served as a manifesto for the movement of critical constructivism in various disciplines , including the natural sciences . Not only truth and reality , but also evidence , document , experience , fact , proof , and other central categories of empirical research ( in physics , biology , statistics , history , law , etc. ) reveal their contingent character as a social and ideological construction . Thus , a realist or rationalist interpretation is subjected to criticism . Kincheloe 's political and pedagogical notion ( above ) has emerged as a central articulation of the concept . While recognizing the constructedness of reality , many representatives of this critical paradigm deny philosophy the task of the creative construction of reality . They eagerly criticize realistic judgments , but they do not move beyond analytic procedures based on subtle tautologies . They thus remain in the critical paradigm and consider it to be a standard of scientific philosophy per se. # Genetic epistemology # James Mark Baldwin invented this expression , which was later popularized by Jean Piaget . From 1955 to 1980 , Piaget was Director of the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva . # Quotations #  ' ' Verum esse ipsum factum ' ' , Giambattista Vico : : the norm of the truth is to have made it , or : : the true is precisely what is made  ' ' Verum et factum convertuntur ' ' , Giambattista Vico : : the true and the made are convertible  ' ' Et , quoi qu'on en dise , dans la vie scientifique , les problmes ne se posent pas d'eux-mmes . C'est prcisment ce sens du problme qui donne la marque du vritable esprit scientifique . Pour un esprit scientifique , toute connaissance est une rponse une question . S'il n'y a pas eu de question , il ne peut y avoir de connaissance scientifique . Rien ne va de soi . Rien n'est donn . Tout est construit ' ' , Gaston Bachelard ( ' ' La formation de l'esprit scientifique ' ' , 1934 ) : : And , irrespective of what one might assume , in the sciences , problems do not arise by themselves . It is , precisely , because all problems are posed that they embody the scientific spirit . If there were no question , there would be no scientific knowledge . Nothing proceeds from itself . Nothing is given . All is constructed .  ' ' On a toujours cherch des explications quand c ' tait des reprsentations qu'on pouvait seulement essayer d'inventer ' ' , Paul Valry : : We have always sought explanations when it was only representations that we could seek to invent  ' ' Ma main se sent touche aussi bien qu'elle touche ; rel veut dire cela , et rien de plus ' ' , Paul Valry : : My hand feels touched as well as it touches ; real means this , and nothing more  ' ' Intelligence organizes the world by organizing itself ' ' , Jean Piaget in La construction du rel chez l'enfant ( 1937 )  If the natives are in different worlds , how come we can shoot them ? Stephen Stich  I was once accused by Rene Thom of being a constructivist , which I understand was worse than being called an empiricist ; I replied that I took pride in it Sydney Brenner 2010 # Criticisms # Numerous criticisms have been leveled at Constructivist epistemology . The most common one is that it either explicitly advocates or implicitly reduces to relativism . This is because it takes the concept of truth to be a socially constructed ( and thereby socially relative ) one . This leads to the charge of self-refutation : if what is to be regarded as true is relative to a particular social formation , then this very conception of truth must itself be only regarded as being true in this society . In another social formation , it may well be false . If so , then social constructivism itself would be false in that social formation . Further , one could then say that social constructivism could be both true and false simultaneously . Another criticism of constructivism is that it holds that the concepts of two different social formations be entirely different and incommensurate . This being the case , it is impossible to make comparative judgements about statements made according to each worldview . This is because the criteria of judgement will themselves have to be based on some worldview or other . If this is the case , then it brings into question how communication between them about the truth or falsity of any given statement could be established . Social Constructivists often argue that constructivism is liberating because it either ( 1 ) enables oppressed groups to reconstruct the World in accordance with their own interests rather than according to the interests of dominant groups in society , or ( 2 ) compels people to respect the alternative worldviews of oppressed groups because there is no way of judging them to be inferior to dominant worldviews . As the Wittgensteinian philosopher Gavin Kitching argues , however , constructivists usually implicitly presuppose a deterministic view of language which severely constrains the minds and use of words by members of societies : they are not just constructed by language on this view , but are literally determined by it . Kitching notes the contradiction here : somehow the advocate of constructivism is not similarly constrained . While other individuals are controlled by the dominant concepts of society , the advocate of constructivism can transcend these concepts and see though them . 
@@382251 Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature ( from Latin ' ' philosophia naturalis ' ' ) was the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science . It is considered to be the precursor of natural sciences such as physics . Natural science historically developed out of philosophy or , more specifically , natural philosophy . At older universities , long-established Chairs of Natural Philosophy are nowadays occupied mainly by physics professors . Modern meanings of the terms ' ' science ' ' and ' ' scientists ' ' date only to the 19th century . The naturalist-theologian William Whewell was the one who coined the term scientist . The ' ' Oxford English Dictionary ' ' dates the origin of the word to 1834 . Before then , the word science meant any kind of well-established knowledge and the label of ' ' scientist ' ' did not exist . Some examples of the application of the term natural philosophy to what we today would call natural science are Isaac Newton 's 1687 scientific treatise , which is known as ' ' The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy ' ' and Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Tait 's 1867 treatise called ' ' Treatise on Natural Philosophy ' ' which helped define much of modern physics . # Origin and evolution of the term # The term ' ' natural philosophy ' ' preceded our current ' ' natural science ' ' ( from the Latin , ' ' scientia ' ' , meaning knowledge ) when the subject of that knowledge or study is the workings of nature . Natural philosophy pertains to the work of analysis and synthesis of common experience and argumentation to explain or describe nature -- while , in the 16th century and earlier , ' ' science ' ' is used exclusively as a synonym for ' ' knowledge ' ' or ' ' study . ' ' The term ' ' science ' ' , as in ' ' natural science ' ' , gained its modern meaning when acquiring knowledge through experiments ( special experiences ) under the scientific method became its own specialized branch of study apart from natural philosophy . In the 16th century , Jacopo Zabarella was the first person appointed as a professor of Natural Philosophy -- at the University of Padua in 1577 . In the 14th and 15th centuries , ' ' natural philosophy ' ' referred to what is now ' ' physical science ' ' . From the mid-19th century , when it became increasingly unusual for scientists to contribute to both physics and chemistry , it just meant ' ' physics ' ' , and is still used in that sense in degree titles at the University of Oxford . Natural philosophy was distinguished from the other precursor of modern science , natural history , in that the former involved reasoning and explanations about nature ( and after Galileo , quantitative reasoning ) , whereas the latter was essentially qualitative and descriptive . # Scope of natural philosophy # In Plato 's earliest known dialogue , ' ' Charmides ' ' distinguishes between ' ' science ' ' or bodies of knowledge that produce a physical result , and those that do not . Natural philosophy has been categorized as a theoretical rather than a practical branch of philosophy ( like ethics ) . Sciences that guide arts and draw on the philosophical knowledge of nature may produce practical results , but these subsidiary sciences ( e.g. , architecture or medicine ) go beyond natural philosophy . The study of natural philosophy seeks to explore the cosmos by any means necessary to understand the universe . Some ideas presupposes that change is a reality . Although this may seem obvious , there have been some philosophers who have denied the concept of metamorphosis , such as Plato 's predecessor Parmenides and later Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus , and perhaps some Eastern philosophers . George Santayana , in his ' ' Scepticism and Animal Faith , ' ' attempted to show that the reality of change can not be proven . If his reasoning is sound , it follows that to be a physicist , one must restrain one 's skepticism enough to trust one 's senses , or else rely on anti-realism . Ren Descartes ' metaphysical system of Cartesian Dualism describes two kinds of substance : matter and mind . According to this system , everything that is matter is deterministic and natural -- and so belongs to natural philosophy -- and everything that is mind is volitional and non-natural , and falls outside the domain of philosophy of nature . # Branches and subject matter of natural philosophy # Major branches of natural philosophy include astronomy and cosmology , the study of nature on the grand scale ; etiology , the study of ( intrinsic and sometimes extrinsic ) causes ; the study of chance , probability and randomness ; the study of elements ; the study of the infinite and the unlimited ( virtual or actual ) ; the study of matter ; mechanics , the study of translation of motion and change ; the study of nature or the various sources of actions ; the study of natural qualities ; the study of physical quantities ; the study of relations between physical entities ; and the philosophy of space and time . ( Adler , 1993 ) # History of natural philosophy # : ' ' See History of physics , History of chemistry and History of astronomy for the history of natural philosophy prior to the 17th century . ' ' Man 's mental engagement with nature certainly predates civilization and the record of history . Philosophical , specifically non-religious thought about the natural world goes back to ancient Greece . These lines of thought began before Socrates , who turned from his philosophical studies from speculations about nature to a consideration of man , viz. , political philosophy . The thought of early philosophers such Parmenides , Heraclitus , and Democritus centered on the natural world . Plato followed Socrates in concentrating on man . It was Plato 's student , Aristotle , who , in basing his thought on the natural world , returned empiricism to its primary place , while leaving room in the world for man . Martin Heidegger observes that Aristotle was the originator of conception of nature that prevailed in the Middle Ages into the modern era : Aristotle surveyed the thought of his predecessors and conceived of nature in a way that charted a middle course between their excesses . The world we inhabit is an orderly one , in which things generally behave in predictable ways , Aristotle argued , because every natural object has a nature -an attribute ( associated primarily with form ) that makes the object behave in its customary fashion .. Aristotle recommended four causes as appropriate for the business of the natural philosopher , or physicist , and if he refers his problems back to all of them , he will assign the why in the way proper to his sciencethe matter , the form , the mover , and that for the sake of which . While the vagrancies of the material cause are subject to circumstance , the formal , efficient and final cause often coincide because in natural kinds , the mature form and final cause are one and the same . The capacity to mature into a specimen of one 's kind is directly acquired from the primary source of motion , i.e. , from one 's father , whose seed ( ' ' sperma ' ' ) conveys the essential nature ( common to the species ) , as a hypothetical ' ' ratio ' ' . : Material cause : : An objects motion will behave in different ways based on what that object is made out of . ( eg. clay , or steel , etc . ) : Formal cause : : An objects motion will behave in different ways based upon that objects material arrangement. ( eg. clay sphere , clay block , etc . ) : Efficient cause : : The thing outside of an object that causes it to come into being . Also known as an agent of change or movement . ( eg. A man ( agent ) throwing a ball ( object ) : Final cause : : The reason for the objects existence . ( eg. A seed becoming a tree . ) Science has always been a systematic knowledge of causes . From the late Middle Ages and into the modern era , the tendency has been to narrow science to the consideration of efficient or agent causes , and those of a particular kind : The action of an efficient cause may sometimes , but not always , be described in terms of quantitative force . The action of an artist on a block of clay , for instance , can be described in terms of how many pounds of pressure per square inch is exerted on it . The efficient causality of the teacher in directing the activity of the artist , however , can not be so described The final cause acts on the agent to influence or induce her to act . If the artist works to make money , making money is in some way the cause of her action . But we can not describe this influence in terms of quantitative force . The final cause acts , but it acts according to the mode of final causality , as an end or good that induces the efficient cause to act . The mode of causality proper to the final cause can not itself be reduced to efficient causality , much less to the mode of efficient causality we call force . # Medieval motion Philosophy # Medieval thoughts on motion involved much of Aristotle 's works ' ' Physics ' ' and ' ' Metaphysics ' ' . The issue that medieval philosophers had with motion was the inconsistency found between book 3 of ' ' Physics ' ' and book 5 of ' ' Metaphysics ' ' . Aristotle claimed in book 3 of ' ' Physics ' ' that motion can be categorized by substance , quantity , quality , and place . where in book 5 of ' ' Metaphysics ' ' he stated that motion is a magnitude of quantity . this disputation led to some important questions to natural philosophers . which category/categories does motion fit into ? Is motion the same thing as a terminus ? Is motion separate from real things ? these questions asked by medieval philosophers tried to classify motion . William Ockham gives a good concept of motion for many people in the middle ages . There is an issue with the vocabulary behind motion which makes people think that there is a correlation between nouns and the qualities that make nouns . Ockham states that this distinction is what will allow people to understand motion , that motion is a property of mobiles , locations , and forms and that is all that is required to define what motion is . A famous example of this is Occam 's razor which simplifies vague statements by cutting them into more descriptive examples . Every motion derives from an agent . becomes each thing that is moved , is moved by an agent this makes motion a more personal quality referring to individual objects that are moved . # Aristotle 's Philosophy of Nature # : : : An acorn is potentially , but not actually , an oak tree . In becoming an oak tree , it becomes actually what it originally was only potentially . this change thus involves passage from potentiality to actuality-not from nonbeing to being but from one kind or degree to being another Aristotle held many important beliefs that started a convergence of thought for natural philosophy . Aristotle believed that attributes of objects belong to the objects themselves , and share traits with other objects that fit them into a category . He uses the example of dogs to press this point an individual dog ( ex. one dog can be black and another brown ) may have very specific attributes ( ex. one dog can be black and another brown , ) but also very general ones that classify it as a dog ( ex. four legged ) . This philosophy can be applied to many other objects as well . This idea is different than that of Plato , with whom Aristotle had a direct association . Aristotle argued that objects have properties form and something that is not part of its properties matter that defines the object . The form can not be separated from the matter . Giving the example that you can not separate properties and matter since this is impossible , you can not collect properties in a pile and matter in another . Aristotle believed that change was a natural occurrence . He used his philosophy of form and matter to argue that when something changes you change its properties with out changing its matter . This change happens but replacing certain properties with other properties . Since this change is always an intentional alteration whether by forced means or but natural ones , change is a controllable order of qualities . He argues that this happens through three categories of being ; nonbeing , potential being , and actual being . through these three states the process of changing an object never truly destroys an objects forms during this transition state just blurs the reality between the two states . An example of this could be changing an object from red to blue with a transitional purple phase . # Other Significant Figures in Natural Philosophy # Early Greek Philosophers studied motion and the cosmos . Figures like Hesiod regarded the Natural world as offspring of the gods , where others like Leucippus and Democritus regarded to world as lifeless atoms in a vortex . Anaximander deduced that eclipses happen because apertures in rings of celestial fire . Heraclitus believed that the heavenly bodies were made of fire that were contained within bowls , he thought that eclipses happen when the bowl turned away from the earth . Anaximenes is believed to have stated that an underlying element was air , and by manipulating air someone could change its thickness to create fire , water , dirt , and stones . Empedocles identified the elements that make up the world which he termed the roots of all things as Fire , Air . Earth , and Water . Parmenides argued that all change is a logical impossibility . He gives the example that nothing can go from nonexistence to existence . Plato argues that the world is an imperfect replica of an idea that a divine craftsman once held . He also believed that the only way to truly know something was through reason and logic not the study of the object its self , but that changeable matter is a viable course of study . The scientific method has ancient precedents and Galileo exemplifies a mathematical understanding of nature which is the hallmark of modern natural scientists . Galileo proposed that objects falling regardless of their mass would fall at the same rate , as long as the medium they fall in is identical . The 19th-century distinction of a scientific enterprise apart from traditional natural philosophy has its roots in prior centuries . Proposals for a more inquisitive and practical approach to the study of nature are notable in Francis Bacon , whose ardent convictions did much to popularize his insightful Baconian method . The late 17th-century natural philosopher Robert Boyle wrote a seminal work on the distinction between physics and metaphysics called , ' ' A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature ' ' , as well as ' ' The Skeptical Chymist ' ' , after which the modern science of chemistry is named , ( as distinct from proto-scientific studies of alchemy ) . These works of natural philosophy are representative of a departure from the medieval scholasticism taught in European universities , and anticipate in many ways , the developments which would lead to science as practiced in the modern sense . As Bacon would say , vexing nature to reveal her secrets , ( scientific experimentation ) , rather than a mere reliance on largely historical , even anecdotal , observations of empirical phenomena , would come to be regarded as a defining characteristic of modern science , if not the very key to its success . Boyle 's biographers , in their emphasis that he laid the foundations of modern chemistry , neglect how steadily he clung to the scholastic sciences in theory , practice and doctrine . However , he meticulously recorded observational detail on practical research , and subsequently advocated not only this practice , but its publication , both for successful and unsuccessful experiments , so as to validate individual claims by replication . The modern emphasis is less on a broad empiricism ( one that includes passive observation of nature 's activity ) , but on a narrow conception of the empirical concentrating on the ' ' control ' ' exercised through experimental ( active ) observation for the sake of ' ' control ' ' of nature . Nature is reduced to a passive recipient of human activity . # Current work in natural philosophy # In the middle of the 20th century , Ernst Mayr 's discussions on the teleology of nature brought up issues that were dealt with previously by Aristotle ( regarding final cause ) and Kant ( regarding reflective judgment ) . Especially since the mid-20th-century European crisis , some thinkers argued the importance of looking at nature from a broad philosophical perspective , rather than what they considered a narrowly positivist approach relying implicitly on a hidden , unexamined philosophy . One line of thought grows from the Aristotelian tradition , especially as developed by Thomas Aquinas . Another line springs from Edmund Husserl , especially as expressed in ' ' The Crisis of European Sciences ' ' . Students of his such as Jacob Klein and Hans Jonas more fully developed his themes . Among living scholars , Brian David Ellis , Nancy Cartwright , David Oderberg , and John Dupr are some of the more prominent thinkers who can arguably be classed as generally adopting a more open approach to the natural world . Ellis ( 2002 ) observes the rise of a New Essentialism . David Oderberg ( 2007 ) takes issue with other philosophers , including Ellis to a degree , who claim to be essentialists . He revives and defends the Thomistic-Aristotelian tradition from modern attempts to flatten nature to the limp subject of the experimental method . 
@@429049 The ' ' philosophes ' ' ( French for ' ' philosophers ' ' ) were the intellectuals of the 18th century Enlightenment . Few were primarily philosophers ; rather , philosophes were public intellectuals who applied reason to the study of many areas of learning , including philosophy , history , science , politics , economics and social issues . They had a critical eye and looked for weaknesses and failures that needed improvement . They promoted a republic of letters that crossed national boundaries and allowed intellectuals to freely exchange books and ideas . Most philosophes were men , but some were women . They strongly endorsed progress and tolerance , and distrusted most organized religion ( one unique religion was , which allowed for scientific opinion without large quantities of controversy . deists ) and feudal institutions . They faded away after the French Revolution reached a violent stage in 1793. # Characterisation of ' ' philosophe ' ' # ' ' Philosophe ' ' is the French word for philosopher , and was a word that the French Enlightenment thinkers usually applied to themselves . The philosophes , like many ancient philosophers , were public intellectuals dedicated to solving the real problems of the world . They wrote on subjects ranging from current affairs to art criticism , and they wrote in every conceivable format . The Swiss philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau , for example , wrote a political tract , a treatise on education , constitutions for Poland and Corsica , an analysis of the effects of the theater on public morals , a best-selling novel , an opera , and a highly influential autobiography . The philosophes wrote for a broad educated public of readers who snatched up every Enlightenment book they could find at their local booksellers , even when rulers or churches tried to forbid such works . Between 1740 and 1789 , the Enlightenment acquired its name and , despite heated conflicts between the philosophes and state and religious authorities , gained support in the highest reaches of government . Although ' ' philosophe ' ' is a French word , the Enlightenment was distinctly cosmopolitan ; philosophes could be found from Philadelphia to St. Petersburg . The philosophes considered themselves part of a grand republic of letters that transcended national political boundaries . In 1784 , the German philosopher Immanuel Kant summed up the program of the Enlightenment in two Latin words : ' ' sapere aude ' ' , dare to know -- have the courage to think for yourself . The philosophes used reason to attack superstition , bigotry , and religious fanaticism , which they considered the chief obstacles to free thought and social reform . Voltaire took religious fanaticism as his chief target : Once fanaticism has corrupted a mind , the malady is almost incurable .... The only remedy for this epidemic malady is the philosophical spirit . Enlightenment writers did not necessarily oppose organized religion , but they strenuously objected to religious intolerance . They believed that the systematic application of reason could do what religious belief could not : improve the human condition by pointing to needed reforms . Reason meant critical , informed , scientific thinking about social issues and problems . The philosophes believed that the spread of knowledge would encourage reform in every aspect of life , from the grain trade to the penal system . Chief among their desired reforms was intellectual freedom -- the freedom to use one 's own reason and to publish the results . The philosophes wanted freedom of the press and freedom of religion , which they considered Natural rights guaranteed by natural law . In their view , progress depended on these freedoms . # Usage in modern English # The word philosophe has been used in English since the Middle Ages . Horace Walpole in 1779 remarked that , The philosophes , except Buffon , are solemn , arrogant , dictatorial coxcombs . Scholars differ concerning whether the word should be applied to all Enlightenment thinkers or be restricted to only the French philosophers . Peter Gay for example uses it to apply to all Enlightenment philosophers ' ' .. from Edinburgh to Naples , Paris to Berlin , Boston to Philadelphia ... ' ' . 
@@476372 In the Samkhya school of philosophy , tamas ( Sanskrit : ' ' tamas ' ' darkness ) is one of the three gunas ( or qualities ) , the other two being ' ' rajas ' ' ( passion and activity ) and ' ' sattva ' ' ( purity , goodness ) . Tamas is the template for inertia or resistance to action . It has also been translated from Sanskrit as indifference . # The nature of Tamas # Sattva , Rajas and Tamas is seen in various facets ( including dietary habits ) of Hinduism , Buddhism and Sikhism , where tamas is the lowest of the three . Tamas is a force which promotes darkness , dissolution , death , destruction , ignorance , sloth , and resistance . Tamas is also a Guna or Quality that is much needed to counter Evil , as an example Bhairava Incarnation of Lord Shiva is a Tamasic Avatar , and Lord Shiva Himself out of the Trinity represents Tamas , where Shiva drinks the poison of his devotees to get rid of their sin , hence absorbing the Tamo-Guna of devotees , in Devi worship , there are many goddesses which incarnate within the Shakta sect of Hindusim where goddess are offered animal sacrifice . In the holistic-universal creation Tamas is where the demons and asuras dwell , their energy is purely tamas . Since Tamas ca n't be controlled by mortal energy , vedic philosophy dictates Sattva as the preferred guna . The gunas are defined and detailed in Samkhya , one of the six schools of classical Indian philosophy . Each of the three gunas has its own distinctive characteristics and it is believed that everything is made up of these three . Tamas is lowest , heaviest , slowest , and most dull ( for example , a stone or a lump of earth ) . It is devoid of the energy of the rajas and the brightness of sattva . Tamas can not be counteracted by tamas . It might be easier to counteract it by means of rajas ( action ) , and it might be more difficult to jump directly from tamas to sattva. # Occurrence of Tamas # The Bhagavad Gita says , # Once a man , having sattva as his main habitual behaviour , feels that it is not easy to live in this world by the means of sattva , he will start being Rajasic . As per rajas , the man starts habitual working thinking only of what he wants . It becomes hard for him to think about his Karmic actions as good ( satkarmi ) or bad ( akarmi ) . Then , he feels good in giving harm or any of bad feeling to other peoples . He then thinks , how can I provide harm to others and attain my goal . This behaviour is under control of a power in this nature called mohamaya and brings about asakti ( Sanskrit : ' ' sakti ' ' selfishness ) . # # Quotes #  You should know , O Arjuna , tamas as the cause of delusion enslaving all embodied beings born of nescience ; by negligence , listlessness and somnolescence . ( BG )  O Arjuna , nescience , inertness , neglectfulness and also illusion ; when these arise tamas predominates . ( BG )  Succumbing to death in rajas one takes birth among those beings attached to fruitive activities ; similarly , dying in tamas , one takes birth from the womb of an animal ( BG )  The Fourteenth Day : One who enters into the fourth state , overcomes time , and the three qualities of raajas , taamas , and satva ( SGGS )  Those who embody the energies of sattva-white light , raajas-red passion , and taamas-black darkness , abide in the Fear of God , along with the many created forms . ( SGGS )  Your Power is diffused through the three gunas : raajas , taamas and satva ( SGGS )  Raajas , the quality of energy and activity ; Taamas , the quality of darkness and inertia ; and Satvas , the quality of purity and light , are all called the creations of Maya , Your illusion . That man who realizes the fourth state - he alone obtains the supreme state ( SGGS )  Raajas , the quality of energetic activity shall pass away . Taamas , the quality of lethargic darkness shall pass away . Saatvas , the quality of peaceful light shall pass away as well . All that is seen shall pass away . 
@@508057 In logic , mathematics , and modern philosophy , a property is a characteristic of an object ; a red object is said to have the property of redness . The property may be considered a form of object in its own right , able to possess other properties . A property however differs from individual objects in that it may be instantiated , and often in more than one thing . It differs from the logical/mathematical concept of class by not having any concept of extensionality , and from the philosophical concept of class in that a property is considered to be distinct from the objects which possess it . Understanding how different individual entities ( or particulars ) can in some sense have some of the same properties is the basis of the problem of universals . The terms attribute and quality have similar meanings . # Essential and accidental properties # In classical Aristotelian terminology , a ' ' property ' ' ( Greek : ' ' idion ' ' , Latin : ' ' proprium ' ' ) is one of the predicables . It is a non-essential quality of a species ( like an accident ) , but a quality which is nevertheless characteristically present in members of that species ( and in no others ) . For example , ability to laugh may be considered a special characteristic of human beings . However , laughter is not an ' ' essential ' ' quality of the species ' ' human ' ' , whose Aristotelian definition of rational animal does not require laughter . Thus , in the classical framework , ' ' properties ' ' are characteristic , but non-essential , qualities . # Determinate and determinable properties # A property may be classified as either determinate or determinable . A determinable property is one that can get more specific . For example , color is a determinable property because it can be restricted to redness , blueness , etc . A determinate property is one that can not become more specific . This distinction may be useful in dealing with issues of identity . # Lovely and suspect qualities # Daniel Dennett distinguishes between ' ' lovely ' ' properties ( such as loveliness itself ) , which , although they require an observer to be recognised , exist latently in perceivable objects ; and ' ' suspect ' ' properties which have no existence at all until attributed by an observer ( such as being a suspect in a murder enquiry ) # Property dualism # # Properties in mathematics # In mathematical terminology , a property ' ' p ' ' defined for all elements of a set ' ' X ' ' is usually defined as a function ' ' p ' ' : ' ' X ' ' true , false , that is true whenever the property holds ; or equivalently , as the subset of ' ' X ' ' for which ' ' p ' ' holds ; i.e. the set ' ' x ' ' ' ' p ' ' ( ' ' x ' ' ) = true ; ' ' p ' ' is its indicator function . It may be objected ( see above ) that this defines merely the extension of a property , and says nothing about what causes the property to hold for exactly those values . # Properties and predicates # The ontological fact that something has a property is typically represented in language by applying a predicate to a subject . However , taking any grammatical predicate whatsoever to be a property , or to have a corresponding property , leads to certain difficulties , such as Russell 's paradox and the Grelling&amp;ndash ; Nelson paradox . Moreover , a real property can imply a host of true predicates : for instance , if X has the property of weighing more than 2 kilos , then the predicates .. weighs more than 1.9 kilos , .. weighs more than 1.8 kilos , etc. , are all true of it . Other predicates , such as is an individual , or has some properties are uninformative or vacuous . There is some resistance to regarding such so-called Cambridge properties as legitimate . # Intrinsic and extrinsic properties # An intrinsic property is a property that an object or a thing has of itself , independently of other things , including its context . An extrinsic ( or relational ) property is a property that depends on a thing 's relationship with other things . For example , mass is a physical intrinsic property of any physical object , whereas weight is an extrinsic property that varies depending on the strength of the gravitational field in which the respective object is placed . # Relations # A relation is often considered to be a more general case of a property . Relations are true of several particulars , or shared amongst them . Thus the relation . is taller than . holds between two individuals , who would occupy the two ellipses ( ' .. ' ) . Relations can be expressed by N-place predicates , where N is greater than 1 . It is widely accepted that there are at least some apparent relational properties which are merely derived from non-relational ( or 1-place ) properties . For instance A is heavier than B is a relational ' ' predicate ' ' , but it is derived from the two non relational properties : the mass of A and the mass of B. Such relations are called external relations , as opposed to the more genuine internal relations . Some philosophers believe that all relations are external , leading to a scepticism about relations in general , on the basis that external relations have no fundamental existence . 
@@586276 Social philosophy is the study of questions about social behavior and interpretations of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations . Social philosophers place new emphasis on understanding the social contexts for political , legal , moral , and cultural questions , and to the development of novel theoretical frameworks , from social ontology to care ethics to cosmopolitan theories of democracy , human rights , gender equity and global justice . # Subdisciplines # There is often a considerable overlap between the questions addressed by social philosophy and ethics or value theory . Other forms of social philosophy include political philosophy and jurisprudence , which are largely concerned with the societies of state and government and their functioning . Social philosophy , ethics , and political philosophy all share intimate connections with other disciplines in the social sciences . In turn , the social sciences themselves are of focal interest to the philosophy of social science . The philosophy of language and social epistemology are subfields which overlap in significant ways with social philosophy . # Relevant issues in social philosophy # Some of the topics dealt with by social philosophy are :  Agency and free will  The will to power  Accountability  Speech acts  Situational ethics  Modernism and Postmodernism  Individualism  Crowds  Property  Rights  Authority  Ideologies  Cultural criticism # Social philosophers # A list of philosophers that have concerned themselves , although most of them not exclusively , with social philosophy :  Socrates  Plato  Chanakya  Confucius  Thiruvalluvar  Thomas Hobbes  Jean-Jacques Rousseau  John Locke  Jeremy Bentham  John Stuart Mill  Georg Wilhelm Hegel  Herbert Spencer  Henry George  Karl Marx  Friedrich Engels  Pierre-Joseph Proudhon  Mikhail Bakunin  Peter Kropotkin  Marshall McLuhan  mile Durkheim  Max Weber  Sigmund Freud  Carl Jung  John Zerzan  Friedrich Nietzsche  Theodor Adorno  Karl Raimund Popper  Georg Lukcs  Antonie Pannekoek  Simone de Beauvoir  Michel Foucault  Erving Goffman  Noam Chomsky  Jean Baudrillard  Cornelius Castoriadis  Guy Debord  Ivan Illich  Terry Eagleton  Sheila Rowbotham  Bertrand Russell  Tristan Tzara  Susan Sontag  Herbert Marcuse  Emmanuel Levinas  Erich Fromm  Fred Poch  Slavoj Zizek 
@@591767 The ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' ( ) is the name normally given to Aristotle 's best-known work on ethics . The work , which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics , consists of ten books , originally separate scrolls , and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum , which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle 's son , Nicomachus . The theme of the work is the Socratic question which had previously been explored in Plato 's works , of how men should best live . In his ' ' Metaphysics ' ' , Aristotle described how Socrates turned philosophy to human questions , whereas Pre-Socratic philosophy had only been theoretical . Ethics , as now separated out for discussion by Aristotle , is ' ' practical ' ' rather than ' ' theoretical ' ' , in the original Aristotelian senses of these terms . In other words it is not only a contemplation about good living , but also aims to create good living . It is therefore connected to Aristotle 's other practical work , ' ' Politics ' ' , which similarly aims at people becoming good . However ethics is about how individuals should best live , while the study of politics is from the perspective of a law-giver , looking at the good of a whole community . The ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' is widely considered one of the most important historical philosophical works , and had an important impact upon the European Middle Ages , becoming one of the core works of medieval philosophy . It therefore indirectly became critical in the development of all modern philosophy as well as European law and theology . Many parts of the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' are well known in their own right , within different fields . In the Middle Ages , a synthesis between Aristotelian ethics and Christian theology became widespread , especially in Europe . While various philosophers had influenced Christendom since its earliest times , in Western Europe Aristotle became the Philosopher under the influence of the Spanish Muslim philosopher Averroes . The most important version of this synthesis was that of Thomas of Aquinas . Other more Averroist Aristotelians such as Marsilius of Padua were controversial but also very important . A critical period in the history of this work 's influence is at the end of the Middle Ages , and beginning of modernity , when several authors such as Niccol Machiavelli , Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes , argued forcefully and largely successfully that the medieval Aristotelian tradition in practical thinking had become a great impediment to practical political thinking in their time . However in more recent generations , Aristotle 's original works have once again become an important source . More recent authors influenced by this work include Alasdair MacIntyre , Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martha Nussbaum. # Title and abbreviations # The English version of the title derives from Greek , transliterated ' ' Ethika Nikomacheia ' ' , which is sometimes also given in the genitive form as , ' ' Ethikn Nikomachein ' ' . The Latin , which is also commonly used , can be ' ' thica Nicomacha ' ' or , ' ' De Moribus ad Nicomachum ' ' . The ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' is very often abbreviated NE , or EN , and books and chapters are generally referred to by Roman and Arabic numerals , respectively , along with corresponding Bekker numbers . ( Thus , NE II.2 , 1103b1 means ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' , book II , chapter 2 , Bekker page 1103 , Bekker column b , line number 1 ) . In many ways this work parallels the similar ' ' Eudemian Ethics ' ' , which has only eight books , and the two works can be fruitfully compared . Books V , VI , and VII of the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' are identical to Books IV , V , and VI of the ' ' Eudemian Ethics ' ' . Opinions about the relationship between the two works , for example which was written first , and which originally contained the three common books , are divided . # Synopsis # Aristotle argues that the correct approach in studying such controversial subjects as Ethics or Politics , which involve discussing what is true about what is beautiful or just , is to start with what would be roughly agreed to be true by people of good up-bringing and experience in life , and to work from there to a higher understanding . Taking this approach , Aristotle begins by saying that the highest good for humans , the highest aim of all human practical thinking , is ' ' eudaimonia ' ' , a Greek word often translated as well-being or happiness . Aristotle in turn argues that happiness is properly understood as an on-going and stable dynamic , a way of being in action ( ' ' energeia ' ' ) , specifically appropriate to the human soul ' ' ( psuch ) ' ' , at its most excellent or virtuous ( virtue representing ' ' aret ' ' in Greek ) . If there are several virtues the best and most complete or perfect of them will be the happiest one . An excellent human will be a person good at living life , who does it well and beautifully ( ' ' kalos ' ' ) . Aristotle says that such a person would also be a serious ( ' ' spoudaios ' ' ) human being , in the same sense of serious that one contrasts serious harpists with other harpists . He also asserts as part of this starting point that virtue for a human must involve reason in thought and speech ( ' ' logos ' ' ) , as this is an aspect ( an ' ' ergon ' ' , literally meaning a task or work ) of human living . From this starting point , Aristotle goes into discussion of what ethics , a term Aristotle helped develop , means . Aristotelian Ethics is about what makes a virtuous character ( ' ' ethik aret ' ' ) possible , which is in turn necessary if happiness is to be possible . He describes a sequence of necessary steps in order to achieve this : righteous actions , often done under the influence of teachers , allow the development of the right habits , which in turn can allow the development of a good stable character in which the habits are voluntary , and this in turn gives a chance of achieving ' ' eudaimonia ' ' . Character is ' ' thos ' ' in Greek , related to modern words such as ethics , ethical and ethos . Aristotle does not however equate character with habit ( ' ' ethos ' ' in Greek , with a short e ) because real character involves conscious choice , unlike habit . Instead of being habit , character is a ' ' hexis ' ' like health or knowledge , meaning it is a stable disposition which must be pursued and maintained with some effort . However , good habits are described as a precondition for good character . ( Similarly , in Latin , the language of medieval European philosophy , the habits are ' ' mrs ' ' , giving us modern English words like moral . Aristotle 's term for virtue of character ( ' ' ethik aret ' ' ) is traditionally translated with the Latinate term moral virtue . Latin ' ' virtus ' ' , is derived from the word ' ' vir ' ' meaning man , and became the traditional translation of Greek ' ' aret ' ' . ) Aristotle then turns to examples , reviewing some of specific ways in which people are generally thought worthy of blame or praise . As he proceeds , he comes to describe how the highest types of praise , so the highest types of virtue , imply having all the virtues of character , and these in turn imply not just good character , but a kind of wisdom . The four virtues that he says require the possession of all the ethical virtues together are : Being of great soul ( magnanimity ) , the virtue where someone would be truly deserving of the highest praise and have a correct attitude towards the honor this may involve . This is the first case mentioned , and it is mentioned within the initial discussion of practical examples of virtues and vices at 1123b Book IV . The type of justice or fairness of a good ruler in a good community is then given a similar description , during the special discussion of the virtue ( or virtues ) of justice at 1129b in Book V.  ' ' Phronesis ' ' or practical judgment as shown by good leaders is the next to be mentioned in this way at 1144b in Book VI . The virtue of being a truly good friend is the final example at 1157a in Book VIII . This style of building up a picture wherein it becomes clear that praiseworthy virtues in their highest form , even virtues like courage , seem to require intellectual virtue , is a theme of discussion which Aristotle chooses to associate in the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' with Socrates , and indeed it is an approach we find portrayed in the Socratic dialogues of Plato . Aristotle also does this himself , and though he professes to work differently from Plato by trying to start with what well-brought up men would agree with , by book VII , Aristotle eventually comes to argue that the highest of all human virtues is itself not practical , being contemplative wisdom ( ' ' theria ' ' 1177a ) . But achieving this supreme condition is inseparable from achieving all the virtues of character , or moral virtues . The way in which Aristotle sketches the highest good for man involving both a practical and a theoretical side , with the two sides necessary for each other , is also in the tradition of Socrates and Plato , as opposed to pre-Socratic philosophy . As points out ( p. 212 ) : - The ' ' Ethics ' ' does not end at its apparent peak , identifying perfect happiness with the life devoted to ' ' theria ' ' ; instead it goes on to introduce the need for a study of legislation , on the grounds that it is not sufficient only to know about virtue , but one should try to put that knowledge to use . At the end of the book , according to Burger , the thoughtful reader is led to understand that the end we are seeking is what we have been doing while engaging with the ' ' Ethics ' ' ( p. 215 ) . # Book I # Book I attempts to both define the subject matter itself and justify the method which has been chosen ( in chapters 3 , 4 , 6 and 7 ) . As part of this , Aristotle considers common opinions along with the opinions of poets and philosophers . # Who should study ethics , and how # Concerning accuracy and whether ethics can be treated in an objective way , Aristotle points out that the things that are beautiful and just , about which politics investigates , involve great disagreement and inconsistency , so that they are thought to belong only to convention and not to nature . For this reason Aristotle claims it is important not to demand too much precision , like the demonstrations we would demand from a mathematician , but rather to treat the beautiful and the just as things that are so for the most part . We can do this because people are good judges of what they are acquainted with , but this in turn implies that the young ( in age or in character ) , being inexperienced , are not suitable for study of this type of political subject . Chapter 6 contains a famous digression in which Aristotle appears to question his friends who introduced the forms , what is now known as the Theory of Forms , by which he is understood to be referring to Plato and his school , for while both the truth and one 's friends are loved it is a sacred thing to give the highest honor to the truth . The section is yet another explanation of why the ' ' Ethics ' ' will not start from first principles , which would mean starting out by trying to discuss The Good as a universal thing which all things called good have in common . Aristotle says that while all the different things called good do not seem to have the same name by chance , it is perhaps better to let go for now because this attempt at precision would be more at home in another type of philosophic inquiry , and would not seem to be helpful for discussing how particular humans should act , in the same way that doctors do not need to philosophize over the definition of health in order to treat each case . # Defining happiness ( eudaimonia ) and the aim of the ' ' Ethics ' ' # The main stream of discussion starts in Chapter 1 , from an assertion that all making , investigating ( every ' ' methodos ' ' , like the ' ' Ethics ' ' itself ) , all deliberate actions and choice , all aim at some good . Aristotle points to the fact that many aims are really only intermediate aims , and are desired only because they make the achievement of higher aims possible . In chapter 2 , Aristotle asserts that there is one highest aim , eudaimonia ( traditionally translated as happiness ) , and it must be the same as politics should have , because what is best for an individual is less beautiful ( kalos ) and divine ( ' ' theios ' ' ) than what is good for a people ( ethnos ) or city ( polis ) . The aim of political capacity should include the aim of all other pursuits , so that this end would be the human good ( ' ' tanthrpinon agathon ' ' ) a term which contrasts with Plato 's references to the Good itself . He concludes what is now known as Chapter 2 of Book 1 by stating that ethics ( our investigation or ' ' methodos ' ' ) is in a certain way political . Chapter 3 goes on to elaborate on exactness in its relation to the sought conclusions of actions . It is determined that the degree of exactness required in concluding arguments made for actions is not universally the same , and he goes on to explain that all actions , as with the conclusions made of them , vary in exactness and indeed for this reason are not universally true and therefore not universally applicable . It is for this reason that the continuing conclusions made throughout the processes of these examinations should be considered only in outline and that the premises on which the conclusions are drawn are on actions that hold the conclusions only usually . Chapter 4 states that while most would agree to call the highest aim of humanity ( ' ' eudaimonia ' ' ) , and also to equate this with both living well and doing things well , there is dispute between people , and between the majority ( hoi polloi ) and the wise . Chapter 5 distinguishes three distinct ways of life which different people associate with happiness . The slavish way of pleasure , which is the way the majority of people think of happiness . The refined and active way of politics , which aims at honor , honor itself implying the incompleteness of this way also , and the higher divinity of those who are wise and know and judge , and potentially honor , political people . The way of contemplation . Aristotle also mentions two other possibilities that he argues can be put aside : Having virtue but being inactive , even suffering evils and misfortunes , which Aristotle says no one would consider unless they were defending a hypothesis . ( As Sachs points out , this is indeed what Plato depicts Socrates doing in his Gorgias. ) Money making , which Aristotle asserts to be a life based on aiming at what is pursued by necessity in order to achieve higher goals , an intermediate good . Each of these three commonly proposed happy ways of life represents a target that people aim at for its own sake , just like they aim at happiness itself for its own sake . Concerning honor , pleasure , and intelligence ( nous ) and also every virtue , though they lead to happiness , even if they did not we would still pursue them . Happiness in life then , includes the virtues , and Aristotle adds that it would include self-sufficiency ( ' ' autarkeia ' ' ) , not the self-sufficiency of a hermit , but of someone with a family , friends and community . By itself this would make life choiceworthy and lacking nothing . In order to describe more clearly what happiness is like , Aristotle next asks what the work ( ' ' ergon ' ' ) of a human is . All living things have nutrition and growth as a work , all animals ( according to the definition of animal Aristotle used ) would have perceiving as part of their work , but what is more particularly human ? The answer according to Aristotle is that it must involve articulate speech ( logos ) , including both being open to persuasion by reasoning , and thinking things through . Not only will happiness involve reason , but it will also be an active being at work ( energeia ) , not just potential happiness , and it will be over a lifetime , because one swallow does not make a spring . The definition given is therefore : And because happiness is being described as a work or function of humans , we can say that just as we contrast harpists with serious harpists , the person who lives well and beautifully in this actively rational and virtuous way will be a serious ( ' ' spoudaios ' ' ) human . As an example of popular opinions about happiness , Aristotle cites an ancient one and agreed to by the philosophers . According to this opinion , which he says is right , the good things associated with the soul are most governing and especially good , when compared to the good things of the body , or good external things . Aristotle says that virtue , practical judgment and wisdom , and also pleasure , all associated with happiness , and indeed an association with external abundance , are all consistent with this definition . If happiness is virtue , or a certain virtue , then it must not just be a condition of being virtuous , potentially , but an actual way of virtuously being at work as a human . For as in the Ancient Olympic Games , it is not the most beautiful or the strongest who are crowned , but those who compete . And such virtue will be good , beautiful and pleasant , indeed Aristotle asserts that in most people different pleasures are in conflict with each other while the things that are pleasant to those who are passionately devoted to what is beautiful are the things that are pleasant by nature and of this sort are actions in accordance with virtue . External goods are also necessary in such a virtuous life , because a person who lacks things such as good family and friends might find it difficult to be happy . # Questions that might be raised about the definition # In chapters 9-12 Aristotle confronts some objections or questions that might be had to his definition of happiness so far . First he considers the definition of happiness in contrast to an old Socratic question ( found for example in Plato 's ' ' Meno ' ' ) of whether happiness might be a result of learning or habit or training , or perhaps divine lot or even chance . Aristotle says that it admits of being shared by some sort of learning and taking pains . But despite this , even if not divine , it is one of the most divine things , and for what is greatest and most beautiful to be left to chance would be too discordant . Aristotle justifies saying that happiness must be considered over a whole lifetime because otherwise Priam , for example , would be defined as unhappy only because of his unhappy old age . Concerning the importance of chance to happiness , Aristotle argues that a happy person at work in accordance with virtue will bear what misfortune brings most beautifully and in complete harmony in every instance . Only many great misfortunes will limit how blessed such a life can be , but even then even in these circumstances something beautiful shines through . Addressing an opinion that he expected amongst his contemporaries about happiness , Aristotle says that it seems too unfeeling and contrary to people 's opinions to claim that the fortunes of one 's descendants and all one 's friends have no influence at all . But he says that it seems that if anything at all gets through to the deceased , whether good or the reverse , it would be something faint and small . Once again turning to the divinity of happiness Aristotle distinguishes virtue and happiness saying that virtue , through which people become apt at performing beautiful actions is praiseworthy , while happiness is something more important , like god , since every one of us does everything else for the sake of this , and we set down the source and cause of good things as something honored and divine . # From defining happiness to discussion of virtue : introduction to the rest of the Ethics # Aristotle asserts that we can usefully accept some things which are said about the soul ( clearly a cross reference to Plato again ) , including the division of the soul into rational and irrational parts , and the further division of the irrational parts into two parts also : One irrational part of the human soul is not human but vegetative and at most work during sleep , when virtue is least obvious . A second irrational part of the human soul is however able to share in reason in some way . We see this because we know there is something desiring and generally appetitive in the soul which can on different occasions in different people either oppose reason , or obey itthus being rational just as we would be rational when we listen to a father being rational . The virtues then will be similarly divided , into intellectual ( dianoetic ) virtues , and the virtues of character ( ethical or moral virtues ) pertaining to the irrational part of the soul which can take part in reason . These virtues of character , or moral virtues as they are often translated , become the central topic in Book II . The intellectual aspect of virtue will be discussed in Book VI . # Books IIV : Concerning excellence of character or moral virtue # # Book II : That virtues of character can be described as means # Aristotle says that whereas virtue of thinking needs teaching , experience and time , virtue of character ( moral virtue ) comes about as a consequence of following the right habits . According to Aristotle the potential for this virtue is by nature in humans , but whether virtues come to be present or not is not determined by human nature . Trying to follow the method of starting with approximate things gentlemen can agree upon , and looking at all circumstances , Aristotle says that we can describe virtues as things which are destroyed by deficiency or excess . Someone who runs away becomes a coward , while someone who fears nothing is rash . In this way the virtue bravery can be seen as depending upon a mean between two extremes . ( For this reason , Aristotle is sometimes considered a proponent of a doctrine of a golden mean . ) People become habituated well by first performing actions which are virtuous , possibly because of the guidance of teachers or experience , and in turn these habitual actions then become real virtue where we choose good actions deliberately . According to Aristotle character properly understood , meaning one 's virtue or vice , is not just any tendency or habit but something which affects when we feel pleasure or pain . A virtuous person feels pleasure at the most beautiful or noble ( ' ' kalos ' ' ) actions . A person who is not virtuous will often find his or her perceptions of what is most pleasant to be misleading . For this reason , any concern with virtue or politics requires consideration of pleasure and pain . When a person does virtuous actions , for example by chance , or under advice , they are not yet necessarily a virtuous person . It is not like in the productive arts , where the thing being made is what is judged as well made or not . To truly be a virtuous person , one 's virtuous actions must meet three conditions : ( a ) they are done knowingly , ( b ) they are chosen for their own sakes , and ( c ) they are chosen according to a stable disposition ( not at a whim , or in any way that the acting person might easily change his choice about ) . And just knowing what would be virtuous is not enough . According to Aristotle 's analysis , there are three kinds of things which come to be present in the soul that virtue is : a feeling ( ' ' pathos ' ' ) , an inborn predisposition or capacity ( dunamis ) , or a stable disposition which has been acquired ( hexis ) . In fact , it has already been mentioned that virtue is made up of ' ' hexeis ' ' , but on this occasion the contrast with feelings and capacities is made clearerneither is chosen , and neither is praiseworthy in the way that virtue is . Comparing virtue to productive arts ( ' ' technai ' ' ) as with arts , virtue of character must not only be the making of a good human , but also the way in which a human does his own work well . And being skilled in an art can also be described as a mean between excess and deficiency : when they are well done we say that we would not want to take away or add anything from them . But Aristotle points to a simplification in this idea of hitting a mean . In terms of what is best , we aim at an extreme , not a mean , and in terms of what is base , the opposite . Chapter 7 turns from general comments to specifics . A list of virtues and vices of character are given which will be discussed in Books II and III . As Sachs points out ( 2002 , p. 30 ) it appears that the list is not especially fixed , because it differs between the Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics , and also because Aristotle repeats several times that this is a rough outline . Aristotle also mentions some mean conditions involving feelings : a sense of shame is sometimes praised , or said to be in excess or deficiency . Righteous indignation ( Greek : ' ' nemesis ' ' ) is a sort of mean between joy at the misfortunes of others and envy . Aristotle says that such cases will need to be discussed later , before the discussion of Justice in Book V , which will also require special discussion . But the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' only discusses the sense of shame at that point , and not righteous indignation ( which is however discussed in the Eudemian Ethics Book VIII ) . In practice Aristotle explains that people tend more by nature towards pleasures , and therefore see virtues as being relatively closer to the less obviously pleasant extremes . While every case can be different , given the difficulty of getting the mean perfectly right it is indeed often most important to guard against going the pleasant and easy way . However this rule of thumb is shown in later parts of the Ethics to apply mainly to some bodily pleasures , and is shown to be wrong as an accurate general rule in Book X. # Book III . Chapters 15 : Moral virtue as conscious choice # Chapter 1 distinguishes actions which are chosen as the ones relevant to virtue , and whether actions are to be blamed , forgiven or even pitied . Aristotle divides actions into three categories instead of two : - Voluntary ( ' ' ekousion ' ' ) acts . Involuntary or unwilling ( ' ' akousion ' ' ) acts , which is the simplest case where people do not praise or blame . In such cases a person does not choose the wrong thing , for example if the wind carries a person off , or if a person has a wrong understanding of the particular facts of a situation . Note that ignorance of what aims are good and bad , such as people of bad character always have , is not something people typically excuse as ignorance in this sense . Acting on account of ignorance seems different from acting while being ignorant .  Non-voluntary or non willing actions ( ' ' ouk ekousion ' ' ) which are bad actions done by choice , or more generally ( as in the case of animals and children when desire or spirit causes an action ) whenever the source of the moving of the parts that are instrumental in such actions is in oneself and anything up to oneself either to do or not . However , these actions are not taken because they are preferred in their own right , but rather because all options available are worse . It is concerning this third class of actions that there is doubt about whether they should be praised or blamed or condoned in different cases . Several more critical terms are defined and discussed :  Deliberate choice ( ' ' proairesis ' ' ) , seems to determine one 's character more than one 's actions do . Things done on the spur of the moment , and things done by animals and children can be willing , but driven by desire and spirit and not what we would normally call true choice . Choice is rational , and according to the understanding of Aristotle , choice can be in opposition to desire . Choice is also not wishing for things one does not believe can be achieved , such as immortality , but rather always concerning realistic aims . Choice is also not simply to do with opinion , because our choices make us the type of person we are , and are not simply true or false . What distinguishes choice is that before a choice is made there is a rational deliberation or thinking things through .  Deliberation ( ' ' bouleusis ' ' ) , at least for sane people , does not include theoretical contemplation about universal and everlasting things , nor about things that might be far away , nor about things we can know precisely , such as letters . We deliberate about things that are up to us and are matters of action and concerning things where it is unclear how they will turn out . Deliberation is therefore not how we reason about ends we pursue , health for example , but how we think through the ways we can try to achieve them . Choice then is decided by both desire and deliberation .  Wishing ( ' ' boulsis ' ' ) is not deliberation . We can not say that what people wish for is good by definition , and although we could say that what is wished for is always what appears good , this will still be very variable . Most importantly we could say that a worthy ( ' ' spoudaios ' ' ) man will wish for what is truly good . Most people are mislead by pleasure , for it seems to them to be a good , though it is not . Chapter 5 considers choice , willingness and deliberation in cases which exemplify not only virtue , but vice . Virtue and vice according to Aristotle are up to us . This means that although no one is willingly unhappy , vice by definition always involves actions which were decided upon willingly . ( As discussed earlier , vice comes from bad habits and aiming at the wrong things , not deliberately aiming to be unhappy . ) Lawmakers also work in this way , trying to encourage and discourage the right voluntary actions , but do n't concern themselves with involuntary actions . They also tend not to be lenient to people for anything they could have chosen to avoid , such as being drunk , or being ignorant of things easy to know , or even of having allowed themselves to develop bad habits and a bad character . Concerning this point , Aristotle asserts that even though people with a bad character may be ignorant and even seem unable to choose the right things , this condition stems from decisions which were originally voluntary , the same as poor health can develop from past choices ; and while no one blames those who are ill-formed by nature , people do censure those who are that way through lack of exercise and neglect . The vices then , are voluntary just as the virtues are . He states that people would have to be unconscious not to realize the importance of allowing themselves to live badly , and he dismisses any idea that different people have different innate visions of what is good . # Book III . Chapters 612 , First examples of moral virtues # Aristotle now deals separately with some of the specific character virtues , in a form similar to the listing at the end of Book II , starting with courage and temperance . # #Courage# # Courage means holding a mean position in one 's feelings of confidence and fear . But courage is not thought to relate to fear of evil things which it is right to fear , like disgrace , and courage is not the word used for a man who does not fear danger to his wife and children , or punishment for breaking the law . Instead courage usually refers to confidence and fear concerning the most fearful thing , death , and specifically the most potentially beautiful form of death , death in battle . The courageous man , says Aristotle , will sometimes fear even terrors which not everyone feels the need to fear , but he will endure fears and feel confident in a rational way , for the sake of what is beautiful ( ' ' kalos ' ' ) , because this is what virtue aims at . Beautiful action comes from a beautiful character and aims at beauty . The vices opposed to courage were discussed at the end of Book II . Although there is no special name for it , people who have excessive fearlessness would be mad , which Aristotle remarks that some describe Celts as being in his time . Aristotle also remarks that rash people ( ' ' thrasus ' ' ) , those with excessive confidence , are generally cowards putting on a brave face . Apart from the correct usage above , the word courage is applied to five other types of character according to Aristotle : - The courage of citizen soldiers . Aristotle says this is largely a result of penalties for cowardice and honors for bravery , but that it is the closest type of seeming courage to real courage , is very important for making an army fight as if brave , but it is different from true courage because not based on voluntary actions aimed at being beautiful in their own right . Aristotle perhaps surprisingly notes that the Homeric heroes such as Hector had this type of courage . People experienced in some particular danger often seem courageous . This is something that might be seen amongst professional soldiers , who do not panic at false alarms . In another perhaps surprising remark Aristotle specifically notes that such men might be better in a war than even truly courageous people . However , he also notes that when the odds change such soldiers run . Spirit or anger ( ' ' thumos ' ' ) often looks like courage . Such people can be blind to the dangers they run into though , meaning even animals can be brave in this way , and unlike truly courageous people they are not aiming at beautiful acts . This type of bravery is the same as that of a mule risking punishment in order to keep grazing , or an adulterer taking risks . Aristotle however notes that this type of spirit shows an affinity to true courage and combined with deliberate choice and purpose it seems to be true courage . The boldness of someone who feels confident based on many past victories is not true courage . Like a person who is overconfident when drunk , this apparent courage is based on a lack of fear , and will disappear if circumstances change . A truly courageous person is not certain of victory and does endure fear . Similarly , there are people who are overconfident simply due to ignorance . An overconfident person might stand a while when things do not turn out as expected , but a person confident out of ignorance is likely to run at the first signs of such things . Chapter 9 . As discussed in Book II already , courage might be described as achieving a mean in confidence and fear , but we must remember that these means are not normally in the middle between the two extremes . Avoiding fear is more important in aiming at courage than avoiding overconfidence . As in the examples explained above , overconfident people are likely to be called courageous , or considered close to courageous . Aristotle said in Book II that with the moral virtues such as courage , it is the extreme which one 's normal desires tend away from which is most important to aim towards . When it comes to courage , it heads people towards pain in some circumstances , and therefore away from what they would otherwise desire . Men are sometimes even called courageous just for enduring pain . There can be a pleasant end of courageous actions but it is obscured by the circumstances , and death is by definition always a possibility . So this is one example of a virtue that does not bring a pleasant result . Aristotle 's treatment of the subject is often compared to Plato 's . Courage was dealt with by Plato in his Socratic dialogue named the Laches. # #Temperance ( ' ' sphrosun ' ' ) # # Temperance ( ' ' sphrosun ' ' , also translated as soundness of mind , moderation , discretion ) is a mean with regards to pleasure . He adds that it is only concerned with pains in a lesser and different way . The vice which occurs most often in the same situations is excess with regards to pleasure ( ' ' akolasia ' ' , translated licentiousness , intemperance , profligacy , dissipation etc . ) . Pleasures can be divided into those of the soul and of the body . But those who are concerned with pleasures of the soul , honor , learning , for example , or even excessive pleasure in talking , are not usually referred to as the objects of being temperate or dissipate . Also , not all bodily pleasures are relevant , for example delighting in sights or sounds or smells are not things we are temperate or profligate about , unless it would be the smell of food or perfume which triggers another yearning . Temperance and dissipation concern the animal-like , Aphrodisiac , pleasures of touch and taste , and indeed especially a certain type of touch , because dissipated people do not delight in refined distinguishing of flavors , and nor indeed do they delight in feelings one gets during a workout or massage in a gymnasium . Chapter 11 . Some desires like that food and drink , and indeed sex , are shared by everyone in a certain way . But not everyone has the same particular manifestations of these desires . In the natural desires says Aristotle , few people go wrong , and then normally in one direction , towards too much . What is just to fulfill one 's need , whereas people err by either desiring beyond this need , or else desiring what they ought not desire . But regarding pains , temperance is different from courage . A temperate person does not need to endure pains , but rather the intemperate person feels pain even with his pleasures , but also by his excess longing . The opposite is rare , and therefore there is no special name for a person insensitive to pleasures and delight . The temperate person will desire the things which are not impediments to health , nor contrary to what is beautiful , nor beyond that person 's resources . Such a person judges according to right reason ( ' ' orthos logos ' ' ) . Chapter 12 . Intemperance is a more willingly chosen vice than cowardice , because it positively seeks pleasure , while cowardice avoids pain , and pain can derange a person 's choice . So we reproach intemperance more , because it is easier to habituate oneself so as to avoid this problem . The way children act also has some likeness to the vice of ' ' akolasia ' ' . Just as a child needs to live by instructions , the desiring part of the human soul must be in harmony with the rational part . Desire without understanding can become insatiable , and can even impair reason . Plato 's treatment of the same subject is once again frequently compared to Aristotle 's , as was apparently Aristotle 's intention ( see Book I , as explained above ) : Aristotle discusses this subject further in Book VII . # Book IV . The second set of examples of moral virtues # The set of moral virtues discussed here involves getting the balance of one 's behavior right in social or political situations , leading to themes that become critical to the development of some of the most important themes . Book IV is sometimes described as being very bound to the norms of an Athenian gentleman in Aristotle 's time . While this is consistent with the approach Aristotle said he would take in Book I , in contrast to the approach of Plato , there is long running disagreement concerning whether this immersion within the viewpoint of his probable intended readership is just a starting point to build up to more general conclusions , for example in Book VI , or else shows that Aristotle failed to successfully generalize , and that his ethical thinking was truly based upon the beliefs of a Greek gentleman of his time . # #Liberality or Generosity ( ' ' eleutheriots ' ' ) # # This is a virtue we observe when we see how people act with regards to giving money , and things whose worth is thought of in terms of money . The two un-virtuous extremes are wastefulness and stinginess ( or meanness ) . Stinginess is most obviously taking money too seriously , but wastefulness , less strictly speaking , is not always the opposite ( an under estimation of the importance of money ) because it is also often caused by being unrestrained . A wasteful person is destroyed by their own acts , and has many vices at once . Aristotle 's approach to defining the correct balance is to treat money like any other useful thing , and say that the virtue is to know how to use money : giving to the right people , the right amount at the right time . Also , as with each of the ethical virtues , Aristotle emphasizes that such a person gets pleasures and pains at doing the virtuous and beautiful thing . Aristotle goes slightly out of his way to emphasize that generosity is not a virtue associated with making money , because , he points out , a virtuous person is normally someone who causes beautiful things , rather than just being a recipient . Aristotle also points out that we do not give much gratitude and praise at all to someone simply for not taking ( which might however earn praise for being just ) . Aristotle also points out that generous people are loved practically the most of those who are recognized for virtue , since they confer benefits , and this consists in giving and he does not deny that generous people often wo n't be good at maintaining their wealth , and are often easy to cheat . Aristotle goes further in this direction by saying that it might seem that it is better to be wasteful than to be stingy : a wasteful person is cured by age , and by running out of resources , and if they are not merely unrestrained people then they are foolish rather than vicious and badly brought-up . Also , a wasteful person at least benefits someone . Aristotle points out also that a person with this virtue would not get money from someone he should not get it , in order to give for a decent sort of taking goes along with a decent sort of giving . Having said this however , most people we call wasteful are not only wasteful in the sense opposed to being generous , but also actually unrestrained and have many vices at once . Such people are actually often wasteful and stingy at the same time , and when trying to be generous they often take from sources whence they should not ( for example pimps , loan sharks , gamblers , thieves ) , and they give to the wrong people . Such people can be helped by guidance , unlike stingy people , and most people are somewhat stingy . In fact , ends Aristotle , stinginess is reasonably called the opposite of generosity , both because it is a greater evil than wastefulness , and because people go wrong more often with it than from the sort of wastefulness described . # #Magnificence# # Magnificence is described as a virtue similar to generosity except that it deals with spending large amounts of wealth . Aristotle says that while the magnificent man is liberal , the liberal man is not necessarily magnificent . The immoderate vices in this case would be concerning making a great display on the wrong occasions and in the wrong way . The extremes to be avoided in order to achieve this virtue are paltriness ( Rackham ) or chintziness ( Sachs ) on the one hand and tastelessness or vulgarity on the other . Aristotle reminds us here that he has already said that moral dispositions ( hexeis ) are caused by the activities ( energeia ) we perform , meaning that a magnificent person 's virtue can be seen from the way he chooses the correct magnificent acts at the right times . The aim of magnificence , like any virtue , is beautiful action , not for the magnificent man himself but on public things , such that even his private gifts have some resemblance to votive offerings . Because he is aiming at a spectacle , a person with this virtue will not be focusing on doing things cheaply , which would be petty , and he or she may well overspend . So as with liberality , Aristotle sees a potential conflict between some virtues , and being good with money . But he does say that magnificence requires spending according to means , at least in the sense that poor man can not be magnificent . The vices of paltriness and vulgar chintziness do not bring serious discredit , since they are not injurious to others , nor are they excessively unseemly . # #Magnanimity or greatness of soul # # Book IV , Chapter 3 . Magnanimity is a latinization of the original Greek used here which was ' ' megalopsuchia ' ' which means greatness of soul . Although the word magnanimity has a traditional connection to Aristotelian philosophy , it also has its own tradition in English which now causes some confusion . This is why some modern translations refer literally to greatness of soul . In particular , the term implied not just greatness , but a person who thought of themselves worthy of great thing , or in other words a sort of pride . ( Michael Davis translates it as pride . ) Although the term could imply a negative insinuation of lofty pride , Aristotle as usual tries to define what the word should mean as a virtue . He says that not everybody who claims more than he deserves is vain and indeed most small-souled of all would seem to be the man who claims less than he deserves when his deserts are great . Being vain , or being small-souled , are the two extremes which fail to achieve the mean of the virtue of magnanimity . The small souled person , according to Aristotle , seems to have something bad about him . In order to have the virtue of greatness of soul , and be worthy of what is greatest , one must be good in a true sense , and possess what is great in all virtues . As Sachs points out : Greatness of soul is the first of four virtues that Aristotle will find to require the presence of all the virtues of character . Aristotle views magnanimity as a sort of adornment of the moral virtues ; for it makes them greater , and it does not arise without them . Aristotle also focuses on the question of what the greatest things are which one may be worthy of . At first he says this is spoken of in terms of external goods , but he observes that the greatest of these must be honor , because this is what we assign to gods , and this is what people of the highest standing aim at . But he qualifies this by saying that actually great souled people will hold themselves moderately toward every type of good or bad fortune , even honor . It is being good , and being worthy of honor that is more important . ( The disdain of a great souled person towards all kinds of non-human good things can make great souled people seem arrogant , like an un-deserving vain person . ) Leo Strauss notes that there is a close kinship between Aristotle 's justice and biblical justice , but Aristotle 's magnanimity , which means a man 's habitual claiming for himself great honors while he deserves these honors , is alien to the Bible . Strauss describes the Bible as rejecting the concept of a gentleman , and that this displays a different approach to the problem of divine law in Greek and Biblical civilization . See also below concerning the sense of shame . Aristotle lists some typical characteristics of great souled people : They do not take small risks , and are not devoted to risk taking , but they will take big risks , without regard for their life , because a worse life is worth less than a great life . Indeed they do few things , and are slow to start on things , unless there is great honor involved . They do not esteem what is popularly esteemed , nor what others are good at . They take few things seriously , and are not anxious . They gladly do favors but are ashamed to receive them , being apt to forget a favor from another , or to do a greater one in return . They are pleased to hear discussion about the favors they have done for others , but not about favors done for them . They are apt to act more high handedly to a person of high station than a person of middle or low standing , which would be below them . They are frank in expressing opinions and open about what they hate and love . Not to be so would be due to fear , or the esteem one has of other 's opinions over your own . They lead life as they choose and not as suits others , which would be slave-like. They are not given to wonder , for nothing seems great to them . Because they expect others to be lesser , and are not overly concerned with their praise , they are not apt to bear grudges , they are not apt to gossip , and they are not even interested in speaking ill of enemies , except to insult them . They are not apt to complain about necessities or small matters , nor to ask for help , not wanting to imply that such things are important to them . They tend to possess beautiful and useless things , rather than productive ones . They tend to move slowly and speak with a deep steady voice , rather than being hasty or shrill which would be due to anxiety . # #A balanced ambitiousness concerning smaller honors# # Book IV , Chapter 4 . In parallel with the distinction of scale already made between normal generosity and magnificence , Aristotle proposes that there are two types of virtue associated with honors , one concerned with great honors , Magnanimity or greatness of soul and one with more normal honors . This latter virtue is a kind of correct respect for honor which Aristotle had no Greek word for , but which he said to be between being ambitious ( ' ' philotimos ' ' honor-loving ) and unambitious ( ' ' aphilotimos ' ' not honor loving ) with respect to honor . It could include a noble and manly person with appropriate ambition , or a less ambitious person who is moderate and temperate . ( In other words , Aristotle makes it clear that he does not think being more ' ' philotimos ' ' than average is necessarily inappropriate . ) To have the correct balance in this virtue means pursuing the right types of honor from the right types of source of honor . In contrast , the ambitious man would get this balance wrong by seeking excess honor from the inappropriate sources , and the unambitious man would not desire appropriately to be honored for noble reasons . # #Gentleness ( ' ' prats ' ' ) concerning anger# # Book IV Chapter 5 . The virtue of ' ' prats ' ' is the correct mean concerning anger . In contrast , an excessive tendency or vice concerning anger would be irascibility or quickness to anger . Such a person would be unfair in responses , angry at wrong people , and so on . The deficient vice would be found in people who wo n't defend themselves . They would lack spirit , and be considered foolish and servile . Aristotle does not deny anger a place in the behavior of a good person , but says it should be on the right grounds and against the right persons , and also in the right manner and at the right moment and for the right length of time . People can get this wrong in numerous ways , and Aristotle says it is not easy to get right . So in this case as with several others several distinct types of excessive vice possible . One of the worst types amongst these is the type which remains angry for too long . According to Aristotle , the virtue with regards to anger would not be led by the emotions ( ' ' pathoi ' ' ) , but by reason ( ' ' logos ' ' ) . So according to Aristotle , anger can be virtuous and rational in the right circumstances , and he even says that a small amount of excess is not something worth blaming either , and might even be praised as manly and fit for command . The person with this virtue will however tend to err on the side of forgiveness rather than anger , and the person with a deficiency in this virtue , despite seeming foolish and servile , will be closer to the virtue than someone who gets angry too easily . # #Something like friendship , between being obsequious and surly# # Book IV Chapter 6 . These characteristics concern the attitude people have towards whether they cause pain to others . The obsequious ( ' ' oreskos ' ' ) person is over-concerned with the pain they cause others , backing down too easily , even when it is dishonorable or harmful to do so , while a surly ( ' ' duskolos ' ' ) or quarrelsome ( ' ' dusteris ' ' ) person objects to everything and does not care what pain they cause others , never compromising . Once again Aristotle says he has no specific Greek word to give to the correct virtuous mean which avoids the vices , although he says it resembles friendship ( ' ' philia ' ' ) . The difference is that this friendly virtue concerns behavior towards friends and strangers alike , and does not involve the special emotional bond that friends have . Concerning true friendship see books VIII and IX . According to Aristotle , getting this virtue right also involves : -  Dealing differently with different types of people , for example people in a higher position than oneself , people more or less familiar to you , and so on .  Sometimes being able to share in the pleasure of one 's companions at some expense to oneself , if this pleasure not be harmful or dishonorable.  Being willing to experience pain in the short term for longer run pleasure of a greater scale . Apart from the vice of obsequiousness , there is also flattery , which is the third vice whereby someone acts in an obsequious way in order to try to gain some advantage to themselves . # #Honesty about oneself : the virtue between boasting and self-deprecation# # Book IV Chapter 7 . In translations such as Rackham 's the vice at issue here is sometimes referred to in English as boastfulness ( Greek ' ' alazoneia ' ' ) and this is contrasted to a virtue concerning truthfulness . The reason is that Aristotle describes two kinds of untruthful pretense which are vices , one which exaggerates things , boastfulness , and one which under-states things . Aristotle points out that this is a very specific realm of honesty , that which concerns oneself . Other types of dishonesty could involve other virtues and vices , such as justice and injustice . This is a similar subject to the last one discussed concerning surliness and obsequiousness , in that it concerns how to interact socially in a community . In that discussion , the question was how much to compromise with others if it would be painful , harmful or dishonorable . Now the discussion turns to how frank one should be concerning one 's own qualities . And just as in the previous case concerning flattery , the vices which go too far or not far enough might be part of one 's character , or they might be performed as if they were in character , with some ulterior motive . Such dishonesty could involve vices of dishonesty other than boastfulness or self-deprecation of course , but the lover of truth , who is truthful even when nothing depends on it , will be praised and expected to avoid being dishonest when it is most disgraceful . Once again , Aristotle said that he had no convenient Greek word to give to the virtuous and honest mean in this case , but a person who boasts claims qualities inappropriately , while a person who self-deprecates excessively makes no claim to qualities they have , or even disparages himself . Aristotle therefore names the virtuous man as a person who claims the good qualities he has without exaggeration or understatement . As in many of these examples , Aristotle says the excess ( boastfulness ) is more blameworthy than the deficiency ( being self-disparaging ) . Unlike the treatment of flattery , described simply as a vice , Aristotle describes ways in which a person might be relatively blameless if they were occasionally dishonest about their own qualities , as long as this does not become a fixed disposition to boast . Specifically , according to Aristotle boasting would not be very much blamed if the aim is honor or glory , but it would be blameworthy if the aim is money . Parts of this section are remarkable because of the implications for the practice of philosophy . At one point Aristotle says that examples of areas where dishonest boasting for gain might go undetected , and be very blameworthy , would be prophecy , philosophy , or medicine , all of which have both pretense and bragging . This appears to be a criticism of contemporary sophists . But even more remarkable is the fact that one of the vices under discussion , self-deprecation ( Greek ' ' eirneia ' ' from which modern English irony ) is an adjective that was and is often used to describe Socrates . Aristotle even specifically mentions Socrates as an example , but at the same time mentions ( continuing the theme ) that the vice which is less excessive is often less blameworthy. # #Being witty or charming# # Book IV Chapter 8 . The subject matter of this discussion is a virtue of being witty , charming and tactful , and generally saying the right things when speaking playfully , at our leisure , which Aristotle says is a necessary part of life . In contrast a buffoon can never resist making any joke , and the deficient vice in this case is an uncultivated person who does not get jokes , and is useless in playful conversation . It is hard to set fixed rules about what is funny and what is appropriate , so a person with this virtue will tend to be like a law maker making suitable laws for themselves . # #Sense of Shame ( not a virtue ) # # Chapter 9 . The sense of shame is not a virtue , but more like a feeling than a stable character trait ( ' ' hexis ' ' ) . It is a fear , and it is only fitting in the young , who live by feeling , but are held back by the feeling of shame . We would not praise older people for such a sense of shame according to Aristotle , since shame should concern acts done voluntarily , and a decent person would not voluntarily do something shameful . Aristotle mentions here that self-restraint is also not a virtue , but refers us to a later part of the book ( Book VII ) for discussion of this . Leo Strauss notes that this approach , as well as Aristotle 's discussion of magnanimity ( above ) , are in contrast to the approach of the Bible . # Book V : Justice and Fairness : a moral virtue needing special discussion # Book V is the same as Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics , the first of three books common to both works . It represents the special discussion on justice ( ' ' dikaiosun ' ' ) which was already foreseen in earlier books , and which covers some of the same material as Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' although in a strikingly different way . points that although the chapter nominally follows the same path ( ' ' methodos ' ' ) as previous chapters it is far from obvious how justice is to be understood as a disposition in relation to a passion : the proposed candidate , greed ( ' ' pleonexia ' ' ) , would seem to refer , rather , to the vice of injustice and the single opposite of the virtue . In other words , it is not described as a mean between two extremes . Indeed , as Burger point out , the approach is also quite different from previous chapters in the way in which it categorizes in terms of general principles , rather than building up from commonly accepted opinions . As Aristotle points out , his approach is partly because people mean so many different things when they use the word justice . The primary division which he observes in what kind of person would be called just is that on the one hand it could mean law abiding or lawful ( ' ' nominos ' ' ) , and on the other it could mean equitable or fair ( ' ' isos ' ' ) . Aristotle points out that whatever is unfair is lawless , but not everything lawless is unfair and it would seem that to be a good man is not in every case the same thing as to be a good citizen . These two common meanings of justice would coincide to the extent that any set of laws is itself good , something only lawmakers can affect , and it is this all-encompassing meaning , which would equate to the justice of a good lawmaker , which becomes Aristotle 's point of reference for further discussion . Justice in such a simple and complete and effective sense would according to Aristotle be the same as having a complete ethical virtue , a perfection of character , because this would be someone who is not just virtuous , but also willing and able to put virtue to use amongst their friends and in their community . According to Aristotle , there are many who can practise virtue in their own private affairs but can not do so in their relations with another . Aristotle however says that apart from the complete virtue which would encompass not only all types of justice , but also all types of excellence of character , there is a partial virtue which gets called justice , which is clearly distinct from other character flaws . Cowardice for example , might specifically cause a soldier to throw away his shield and run . However , not everyone who runs from a battle does so from cowardice . Often , Aristotle observes , these acts are caused by over-reaching or greed ( ' ' pleonexia ' ' ) and are ascribed to injustice . Unlike the virtues discussed so far , an unjust person does not necessarily desire what is bad for himself or herself as an individual , nor does he or she even necessarily desire too much of things , if too much would be bad for him or her . Such particular injustice is always greed aimed at particular good things such as honor or money or security . To understand how justice aims at what is good , it is necessary to look beyond particular good or bad things we might want or not want a share of as individuals , and this includes considering the viewpoint of a community ( the subject of Aristotle 's ' ' Politics ) ' ' . Alone of the virtues , says Aristotle , justice looks like someone else 's good , an argument also confronted by Plato in his ' ' Republic ' ' . Particular justice is however the subject of this book , and it has already been divided into the lawful and the fair , which are two different aspects of universal justice or complete virtue . Concerning areas where being law-abiding might not be the same as being fair , Aristotle says that this should be discussed under the heading of Politics . He then divides particular justice further into two parts : distribution of divisible goods and rectification in private transactions . The first part relates to members of a community in which it is possible for one person to have more or less of a good than another person . The second part of particular justice deals with rectification in transactions and this part is itself divided into two parts : voluntary and involuntary , and the involuntary are divided further into furtive and violent divisions . The following chart showing divisions with Aristotle 's discussion of Justice in Book V , based on Appendix 3 . In trying to describe justice as a mean , as with the other ethical virtues , Aristotle says that justice involves at least four terms , namely , two persons for whom it is just and two shares which are just ( 1131a ) . The just must fall between what is too much and what is too little and the just requires the distribution to be made between people of equal stature . But in many cases , how to judge what is a mean is not clear , because as Aristotle points out , if the persons are not equal , they will not have equal shares ; it is when equals possess or are allotted unequal shares , or persons not equal equal shares , that quarrels and complaints arise. ( 1131a23-24 ) . What is just in distribution must also take into account some sort of worth . The parties involved will be different concerning what they deserve , and the importance of this is a key difference between distributive justice and rectificatory justice because distribution can only take place among equals . Aristotle does not state how to decide who deserves more , implying that this depends on the principles accepted in each type of community , but rather he states it is some sort of proportion in which the just is an intermediate between all four elements ( 2 for the goods and 2 for the people ) . A final point that Aristotle makes in his discussion of distributive justice is that when two evils must be distributed , the lesser of the evils is the more choice worthy and as such is the greater good ( 1131b21-25 ) . The second part of particular justice is rectificatory and it consists of the voluntary and involuntary . This sort of justice deals with transactions between people who are not equals and looks only at the harm or suffering caused to an individual . This is a sort of blind justice since it treats both parties as if they were equal regardless of their actual worth : It makes no difference whether a good man has defrauded a bad man or a bad one a good one . Once again trying to describe justice as a mean , he says that men require a judge to be a middle term or mediumindeed in some places judges are called mediators , for they think that if they get the mean they will get what is just . Thus the just is a sort of mean , inasmuch as the judge is a medium between the litigants . To restore both parties to equality , a judge must take the amount that is greater than the equal that the offender possesses and give that part to the victim so that both have no more and no less than the equal . This rule should be applied to rectify both voluntary and involuntary transactions . Finally , Aristotle turns to the idea that reciprocity ( an eye for an eye ) is justice , an idea he associates with the Pythagoreans . The problem with this approach to justice , although it is normal in politics and law-making , is that it ignores the difference between different reasons for doing a crime . For example it could have been done out of passion or ignorance , and this makes a critical difference when it comes to determining what is the just reaction . This in turn returns Aristotle to mention the fact that laws are not normally exactly the same as what is just : Political Justice is of two kinds , one natural , the other conventional . In a famous statement , Aristotle makes a point which , like many points in Book 5 , is thought to refer us to consideration of Plato 's ' ' Republic ' ' . Some people think that all rules of justice are merely conventional , because whereas a law of nature is immutable and has the same validity everywhere , as fire burns both here and in Persia , rules of justice are seen to vary . Aristotle insists that justice is both fixed in nature in a sense , but also variable in a specific way : the rules of justice ordained not by nature but by man are not the same in all places , since forms of government are not the same , though in all places there is only one form of government that is natural , namely , the best form . He believed people can generally see which types of rules are conventional , and which by nature , and he felt that most important when trying to judge whether someone was just or unjust was determining whether someone did something voluntarily or not . Some people commit crimes by accident or due to vices other than greed or injustice . # Book VI : Intellectual virtue # Book VI of the Nicomachean Ethics is identical to Book V of the Eudemian Ethics . Earlier in both works , both the Nicomachean Ethics Book IV , and the equivalent book in the Eudemian Ethics ( Book III ) , though different , ended by stating that the next step was to discuss justice . Indeed in Book I Aristotle set out his justification for beginning with particulars and building up to the highest things . Character virtues ( apart from justice perhaps ) were already discussed in an approximate way , as like achieving at middle point between two extreme options , but this now raises the question of how we know and recognize the things we aim at or avoid . Recognizing the mean recognizing the correct boundary-marker ( ' ' horos ' ' ) which defines the frontier of the mean . And so practical ethics , having a good character , requires knowledge . Near the end of Book I Aristotle said that we may follow others in considering the soul ( ' ' psuch ' ' ) to be divided into a part having reason and a part without it . Until now , he says , discussion has been about one type of virtue or excellence ( ' ' aret ' ' ) of the soul that of the character ( ' ' thos ' ' , the virtue of which is ' ' thik aret ' ' , moral virtue ) . Now he will discuss the other type : that of thought ( ' ' dianoia ' ' ) . The part of the soul with reason is divided into two parts : One whereby we contemplate or observe the things which have invariable causes . One whereby we contemplate the variable things . It is this part with which we deliberate concerning actions . Aristotle states that if recognition depends upon likeness and kinship between the things being recognized and the parts of the soul doing the recognizing , then the soul grows naturally into two parts , specialised in these two types of cause . Aristotle enumerates five types of ' ' hexis ' ' ( stable dispositions ) which the soul can have , and which can disclose truth : #Art ( ' ' Techne ' ' ) . This is rational , because it involves making things deliberately , in a way that can be explained . ( Making things in a way which could not be explained would not be ' ' techne ' ' . ) It concerns variable things , but specifically it concerns intermediate aims . A house is built not for its own sake , but in order to have a place to live , and so on . #Knowledge ( ' ' Episteme ' ' ) . We all assume that what we know is not capable of being otherwise . And it escapes our notice when they are or not . Also , all knowledge seems to be teachable , and what is known is learnable. #Practical Judgement ( ' ' Phronesis ' ' ) . This is the judgement used in deciding well upon overall actions , not specific acts of making as in ' ' techne ' ' . While truth in ' ' techne ' ' would concern making something needed for some higher purpose , ' ' phronesis ' ' judges things according to the aim of living well overall . This , unlike ' ' techne ' ' and ' ' episteme ' ' , is an important virtue , which will require further discussion . Aristotle associates this virtue with the political art . Aristotle distinguishes skilled deliberation from knowledge , because we do not need to deliberate about things we already know . It is also distinct from being good at guessing , or being good at learning , because true consideration is always a type of inquiry and reasoning . #Wisdom ( ' ' Sophia ' ' ) . Because wisdom belongs to the wise , who are unusual , it can not be that which gets hold of the truth . This is left to nous , and Aristotle describes wisdom as a combination of ' ' nous ' ' and ' ' episteme ' ' ( knowledge with its head on ) . #Intellect ( ' ' Nous ' ' ) . Is the capacity we develop with experience , to grasp the sources of knowledge and truth , our important and fundamental assumptions . Unlike knowledge ( ' ' episteme ' ' ) , it deals with unarticulated truths . Both ' ' phronsis ' ' and ' ' nous ' ' are directed at limits or extremities , and hence the mean , but nous is not a type of reasoning , rather it is a perception of the universals which can be derived from particular cases , including the aims of practical actions . ' ' Nous ' ' therefore supplies ' ' phronsis ' ' with its aims , without which ' ' phronsis ' ' would just be the natural virtue ( ' ' aret phusik ' ' ) called cleverness ( ' ' deinots ' ' ) . In the last chapters of this book ( 12 and 13 ) Aristotle compares the importance of practical wisdom ( ' ' phronesis ' ' ) and wisdom ( ' ' sophia ' ' ) . Although Aristotle describes sophia as more serious than practical judgement , because it is concerned with higher things , he mentions the earlier philosophers , Anaxagoras and Thales , as examples proving that one can be wise , having both knowledge and intellect , and yet devoid of practical judgement . The dependency of ' ' sophia ' ' upon ' ' phronesis ' ' is described as being like the dependency of health upon medical knowledge . Wisdom is aimed at for its own sake , like health , being a component of that most complete virtue which makes happiness . Aristotle closes by arguing that in any case , when one considers the virtues in their highest form , they would all exist together . # Book VII . Impediments to virtue # This Book is the last of three books which are identical in both the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' and the ' ' Eudemian Ethics ' ' . It is Book VI in the latter . It extends discussions which were discussed especially at the end of Book II , with the discussion of the vice ' ' akolasia ' ' and the virtue of ' ' sophrosune ' ' . Aristotle names three things that humans should avoid , that have to do with one 's character : - Evils or vices ( ' ' kakia ' ' ) , the opposites of virtues . These have been discussed already in Book II , because like vices themselves they are stable dispositions ( ' ' hexeis ' ' ) , knowingly and deliberately chosen ( Sachs p. 119 ) . Incontinence ( ' ' akrasia ' ' ) , the opposite of self-restraint . Unlike true vices , these are weaknesses where someone passively follows an urge rather than a deliberate choice . Being beast-like , or brutish ( ' ' thoriots ' ' ) , the opposite of something more than human , something heroic or god-like such as Homer attributes to Hector . ( Aristotle notes that these terms beast-like and god-like are strictly speaking only for humans , because real beasts or gods would not have virtue or vice . ) Because vice ( a bad equivalent to virtue ) has already been discussed in Books II-V , in Book VII then , first ' ' akrasia ' ' , and then bestiality are discussed . # Book VII . Chapters 110 : Self mastery # According to Aristotle , ' ' akrasia ' ' and self-restraint , are not to be conceived as identical with Virtue and Vice , nor yet as different in kind from them . Aristotle argues that a simple equation should not be made between the virtue of temperance , and self-restraint , because self-restraint might restrain good desires , or weak unremarkable ones . Furthermore , a truly temperate person would not even have bad desires to restrain . Aristotle reviews various opinions held about self-mastery , most importantly one which he associates with Socrates . According to Aristotle , Socrates argued that all unrestrained behavior must be a result of ignorance , whereas it is commonly thought that the unrestrained person does things that they know to be evil , putting aside their own calculations and knowledge under the influence of passion . Aristotle begins by suggesting Socrates must be wrong , but comes to conclude at the end of Chapter 3 that what Socrates was looking for turns out to be the case . His way of accommodating Socrates relies on the distinction between knowledge which is activated or not , for example in someone drunk or enraged . People in such a state may sound like they have knowledge , like an actor or student reciting a lesson can . In chapter 4 Aristotle specifies that when we call someone unrestrained , it is in cases ( just in the cases where we say someone has the vice of ' ' akolasia ' ' in Book II ) where bodily pleasure or pain , such as those associated with food and sex , has caused someone to act in a shameful way against their own choice and reason . Other types of failure to master oneself are ' ' akrasia ' ' only in a qualified sense , for example ' ' akrasia ' ' in anger or in the pursuit of honor . These he discusses next , under tendencies which are neither vice nor ' ' akrasia ' ' , but more animal-like . Aristotle makes a nature and nurture distinction between different causes of bestial behavior which he says occurs in some cases from natural disposition , and in others from habit , as with those who have been abused from childhood . He refers to these as animal-like and disease-like conditions . Aristotle says that every sort of senselessness or cowardice or dissipation or harshness that goes to excess is either animal-like or disease-like . For Aristotle , ' ' akrasia ' ' , unrestraint , is distinct from animal-like behavior because it is specific to humans and involves conscious rational thinking about what to do , even though the conclusions of this thinking are not put into practice . When someone behaves in a purely animal-like way , then for better or worse they are not acting based upon any conscious choice . Returning to the question of anger or spiritedness ( ' ' thumos ' ' ) then , Aristotle distinguishes it from desires because he says it listens to reason , but often hears wrong , like a hasty servant or a guard dog . He contrasts this with desire , which he says does not obey reason , although it is frequently responsible for the weaving of unjust plots . He also says that a bad temper is more natural and less blamable than desire for excessive unnecessary pleasure . And he claims that acts of ' ' hubris ' ' never result from anger , but always have a connection to pleasure seeking , whereas angry people act from pain , and often regret it . So there are two ways in which people lose mastery of their own actions and do not act according to their own deliberations , one is through excitability , where a person does not wait for reason but follows the imagination , often having not been prepared for events . The other worse and less curable case is that of a weak person who has thought things through , but fails to do as deliberated because they are carried in another direction by a passion . Nevertheless it is better to have ' ' akrasia ' ' than the true vice of ' ' akolasia ' ' , where intemperate choices are deliberately chosen for their own sake . Such people do not even know they are wrong , and feel no regrets . These are even less curable . Finally Aristotle addresses a few questions raised earlier , on the basis of what he has explained : - Not everyone who stands firm on the basis of a rational and even correct decision has self-mastery . Stubborn people are actually more like a person without self-mastery , because they are partly led by the pleasure coming from victory . Not everyone who fails to stand firm on the basis of his best deliberations has a true lack of self-mastery . As an example he gives the case of Neoptolemus ( in Sophocles ' ' ' Philoctetes ' ' ) refusing to lie despite being part of a plan he agreed with . A person with practical judgment ( ' ' phronesis ' ' ) can not have ' ' akrasia ' ' . Instead it might sometimes seem so , because mere cleverness can sometimes recite words which might make them sound wise , like an actor or a drunk person reciting poetry . As discussed above , a person lacking self-mastery can have knowledge , but not an active knowledge that they are paying attention to . # Book VII . Chapters 1114 : Pleasure as something to avoid # Aristotle discusses pleasure in two separate parts of the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' ( book 7 chapters 11-14 and book 10 chapters 1-5 ) . Plato had discussed similar themes in several dialogues , including the Republic and the Philebus and Gorgias . In chapter 11 Aristotle goes through some of the things said about pleasure and particularly why it might be bad , but in chapter 12 he says that none of these things does not show that pleasure is not good nor even the best thing can be shown two ways : first that what is good or bad need not be good or bad simply but can be good or bad for a certain person at a certain time , and secondly that a good or bad thing can either be a being at work ( ' ' energeia ' ' ) or else a stable disposition ( ' ' hexis ' ' ) and there are pleasures which come from being settled into a natural ' ' hexis ' ' , and also pleasures which come from being in a stable hexis already , such as contemplation ; and thirdly , pleasures are ways of being at work , ends themselves , not just a process of coming into being aimed at some higher end . Even if a temperate person avoids excesses of some pleasures , they still have pleasures . Chapter 13 starts from pain , saying it is clearly bad , either in a simple sense or as an impediment to things . He argues that this makes it clear that pleasure is good . He rejects the argument of Speusippus that pleasure and pain are only different in degree because this would still not make pleasure , bad , nor stop it , or at least some pleasure , even from being the best thing . Aristotle focuses from this on to the idea that pleasure is unimpeded , and that while it would make a certain sense for happiness ( ' ' eudaimonia ' ' ) to be a being at work which is unimpeded in some way , being impeded can hardly be good . Aristotle appeals to popular opinion that pleasure of some type is what people aim at , and suggests that bodily pleasure , while it might be the most obvious type of pleasure , is not the only type of pleasure . He points out that if pleasure is not good then a happy person will not have a more pleasant life than another , and would have no reason to avoid pain . Chapter 14 first points out that any level of pain is bad , while concerning pleasure it is only excessive bodily pleasures which are bad . Finally , he asks why people are so attracted to bodily pleasures . Apart from natural depravities and cases where a bodily pleasure comes from being restored to health Aristotle asserts a more complex metaphysical reason which is that for humans change is sweet , but only because of some badness in us , which is that part of every human has a perishable nature , and a nature that needs change .. is not simple nor good . God , in contrast , enjoys a single simple pleasure perpetually . # Books VIII and IX : Friendship and partnership # Book II Chapter 6 discussed a virtue like friendship . Aristotle now says that friendship ( ' ' philia ' ' ) itself is a virtue , or involves virtue . It is not only important for living well , as a means , but is also a noble or beautiful end in itself which receives praise in its own right , and being a good friend is sometimes thought to be linked to being a good person . Aristotle says speculations ( for example about whether love comes from attractions between like things ) are not germane to this discussion and he divides aims of friendships or love into three types , each of them giving feelings of good will which go in two directions : that of utility or usefulness , that of pleasure , and that which pursues good . Two are inferior to the other because of the motive ; friendships of utility and pleasure do not regard friends as people but what they can give in return . Friendships of utility are relationships formed without regard to the other person at all . With these friendships are classed family ties of hospitality with foreigners , types of friendships Aristotle associates with older people . Such friends are often not very interested in being together , and the relationships are easily broken off when they cease to be useful . At the next level , friendships of pleasure are based on fleeting emotions and are associated with young people . However , while such friends do like to be together , such friendships also end easily whenever people no longer enjoy the shared activity , or can no longer participate in it together . Friendships based upon what is good are the perfect form of friendship , where both friends enjoy each other 's virtue . As long as both friends keep similarly virtuous characters , the relationship will endure and be pleasant and useful and good for both parties , since the motive behind it is care for the friend themselves , and not something else . Such relationships are rare , because good people are rare , and bad people do not take pleasure in each other . Aristotle suggests that although the word friend is used in these different ways , it is perhaps best to say that friendships of pleasure and usefulness are only analogous to real friendships . It is sometimes possible that at least in the case of people who are friends for pleasure familiarity will lead to a better type of friendship , as the friends learn to admire each other 's characters . Book IX and the last sections of Book VIII turn to the question of how friends and partners generally should reward each other and treat each other , whether it be in money or honor or pleasure . This can sometimes be complex because parties may not be equals . Aristotle notes that the type of friendship most likely to be hurt by complaints of unfairness is that of utility and reminds that the objects and the personal relationships with which friendship is concerned appear ... to be the same as those which are the sphere of justice . And it is the transactions of friends by utility which sometimes require the use of written laws . Furthermore , all associations and friendships are part of the greater community , the ' ' polis ' ' , and different relationships can be compared to the different types of constitution , according to the same classification system Aristotle explains in his Politics ( Monarchy , Tyranny , Aristocracy , Oligarchy , Timocracy , and Democracy ) . # Book X : Pleasure , happiness , and up-bringing # # Book X. Chapters 15 : The theory of Pleasure # Pleasure is discussed throughout the whole ' ' Ethics ' ' , but is given a final more focused and theoretical treatment in Book X. Aristotle starts by questioning the rule of thumb which was accepted as in the more approximate early sections , whereby people think pleasure should be avoided , if not because it is bad simply , then because people tend too much towards pleasure seeking . He argues that people 's actions show that this is not really what they believe . He reviews some arguments of previous philosophers , including first Eudoxus and Plato , to argue that pleasure is clearly a good which is pursued for its own sake even if it is not The Good , or in other words that which all good things have in common . In chapter 3 Aristotle applies to pleasure his theory of motion ( ' ' kinsis ' ' ) as an energeia as explained in his ' ' Physics ' ' and ' ' Metaphysics ' ' . In terms of this approach , pleasure is not a movement or ( ' ' kinsis ' ' ) because unlike the movement of walking across a specific room , or of building a house , or a part of a house , it has no end point when we can say it is completed . It is more like seeing which is either happening in a complete way or not happening . Each moment of pleasurable consciousness is a perfect whole . A sense perception like sight is in perfect activity ( ' ' teleia energeia ' ' ) when it is in its best conditions and directed at the best objects . And when any sense is in such perfect activity , then there is pleasure , and similarly thinking ( ' ' dianoia ' ' ) and contemplation ( ' ' theria ' ' ) have associated pleasures . But seeing , for example is a whole , as is the associated pleasure . Pleasure does not complete the seeing or thinking , but is an extra activity , just as a healthy person can have an extra good bloom of well-being . This raises the question of why pleasure does not last , but seem to fade as if we get tired . Aristotle proposes as a solution to this that pleasure is pursued because of desire to live . Life is an activity ( ' ' energeia ' ' ) made up of many activities such as music , thinking and contemplation , and pleasure brings the above-mentioned extra completion to each of these , bringing fulfillment and making life worthy of choice . Aristotle says we can dismiss the question of whether we live for pleasure or choose pleasure for the sake of living , for the two activities seem incapable of being separated . Different activities in life , the different sense perceptions , thinking , contemplating , bring different pleasures , and these pleasures make the activities grow , for example a flute player gets better at it as they also get more pleasure from it . But these pleasures and their associated activities also impede with each other just as a flute player can not participate in an argument while playing . This raises the question of which pleasures are more to be pursued . Some pleasures are more beautiful and some are more base or corrupt . Aristotle ranks some of them as follows : #thinking #sight #hearing and smell #taste Aristotle also argues that each type of animal has pleasures which are more appropriate to it , and in the same way there can be differences between people and what pleasures are most suitable to them . Aristotle proposes that it would be most beautiful to say that the person of serious moral stature is the appropriate standard , with whatever things they enjoy being the things most pleasant . # Book X. Chapters 6-8 : Happiness # Turning to happiness then , the aim of the whole ' ' Ethics ' ' ; according to the original definition of Book I it is the activity or being-at-work chosen for its own sake by a morally serious and virtuous person . This raises the question of why play and bodily pleasures can not be happiness , because for example tyrants sometimes choose such lifestyles . But Aristotle compares tyrants to children , and argues that play and relaxation are best seen not as ends in themselves , but as activities for the sake of more serious living . Any random person can enjoy bodily pleasures , including a slave , and no one would want to be a slave . Aristotle says that if perfect happiness is activity in accordance with the highest virtue , then this highest virtue must be the virtue of the highest part , and Aristotle says this must be the intellect ( ' ' nous ' ' ) or whatever else it be that is thought to rule and lead us by nature , and to have cognizance of what is noble and divine . This highest activity , Aristotle says , must be contemplation or speculative thinking ( ' ' energeia .. thertik ' ' ) . This is also the most sustainable , pleasant , self-sufficient activity ; something aimed at for its own sake . ( In contrast to politics and warfare it does not involve doing things we 'd rather not do , but rather something we do at our leisure . ) However , Aristotle says this aim is not strictly human , and that to achieve it means to live in accordance not with our mortal thoughts but with something immortal and divine which is within humans . According to Aristotle , contemplation is the only type of happy activity which it would not be ridiculous to imagine the gods having . The intellect is indeed each person 's true self , and this type of happiness would be the happiness most suited to humans , with both happiness ( ' ' eudaimonia ' ' ) and the intellect ( ' ' nous ' ' ) being things other animals do not have . Aristotle also claims that compared to other virtues , contemplation requires the least in terms of possessions and allows the most self-reliance , though it is true that , being a man and living in the society of others , he chooses to engage in virtuous action , and so will need external goods to carry on his life as a human being . # Book X. Chapter 9 : The need for education , habituation and good laws # Finally , Aristotle repeats that the discussion of the ' ' Ethics ' ' has not reached its aim if it has no effect in practice . Theories are not enough . However , the practice of virtue requires good education and habituation from an early age in the community . Young people otherwise do not ever get to experience the highest forms of pleasure and are distracted by the easiest ones . While parents often attempt to do this , it is critical that there are also good laws in the community . But concerning this need for good laws and education Aristotle says that there has always been a problem , which he is now seeking to address : unlike in the case of medical science , theoreticians of happiness and teachers of virtue such as sophists never have practical experience themselves , whereas good parents and law makers have never theorized and developed a scientific approach to analyzing what the best laws are . Furthermore , very few law-makers , perhaps only the Spartans , have made education the focus of law making , as they should . Education needs to be more like medicine , with both practice and theory , and this requires a new approach to studying politics . Such study should , he says , even help in communities where the laws are not good and the parents need to try to create the right habits in young people themselves without the right help from law-makers . Aristotle closes the ' ' Nicomachean Ethics ' ' therefore by announcing a programme of study in politics , including the collecting of studies of different constitutions , and the results of this programme are generally assumed to be contained in the work which exists today and is known as the ' ' Politics ' ' . 
@@667361 starring = Daniel Radcliffe *6;25272;br Rupert Grint *6;25280;br Emma Watson runtime = 152 minutes ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' ( released in the United States , Pakistan , Sri Lanka and India as ' ' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone ' ' ) is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by Warner Bros . Pictures . It is based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling . The film , which is the first instal ment in the ' ' Harry Potter ' ' film series , was written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman . The story follows Harry Potter 's first year at Hogwarts as he discovers that he is a famous wizard and begins his magical education . The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter , with Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley , and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger . It is followed by seven sequels in total , beginning with ' ' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ' ' . Warner Bros. bought the film rights to the book in 1999 for a reported 1 million . Production began in the United Kingdom in 2000 , with Columbus being chosen to create the film from a short list of directors that included Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner . J. K. Rowling insisted that the entire cast be British or Irish , in keeping with the cultural integrity of the book . The film was shot at Leavesden Film Studios and historic buildings around the UK . The film was released in the UK and US in November 2001 . It received positive critical reception , made more than $974 million at the worldwide box office , and was nominated for many awards , including the Academy Awards for Best Original Score , Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design . , it is the 21st highest-grossing film of all time and the second highest-grossing film in the series behind the final film , ' ' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ' ' . # Plot # Harry Potter is a seemingly ordinary boy , living with his hostile relatives , the Dursleys in Surrey . On his 11th birthday , Harry learns from a mysterious stranger , Rubeus Hagrid , that he is a wizard , famous in the Wizarding World for surviving an attack by the evil Lord Voldemort when Harry was a baby . Voldemort killed Harry 's parents , but his attack on Harry rebounded , leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry 's forehead and rendering Voldemort powerless . Hagrid reveals to Harry that he has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . After purchasing school supplies from the hidden wizarding street , Diagon Alley , Harry boards the train to Hogwarts via the concealed Platform in King 's Cross Station . On the train , Harry meets Ron Weasley , a boy from a large but poor , pure-blood wizarding family , and Hermione Granger , a witch born to Muggle ( non-magical ) parents . Upon arriving at the school , the first-year students are sorted into four houses : Gryffindor , Hufflepuff , Ravenclaw , and Slytherin . As Slytherin is noted for being the house of darker wizards and witches , Harry begs the magical Sorting Hat not to put him in Slytherin . He is assigned to Gryffindor along with Ron and Hermione . Harry notices a professor , Severus Snape , giving him peculiar looks . Harry begins learning wizardry and discovers more about his past and his parents . Harry inadvertently makes Gryffindor 's Quidditch team ( a sport in the wizarding world where people fly on broomsticks ) as a Seeker while defending another student from Draco Malfoy , a Slytherin first year , learning that his father was also on the team . One night , Harry , Ron and Hermione encounter a giant three-headed dog at the Forbidden Corridor on the Third Floor of the school . After the trio incapacitate an escaped mountain troll and Harry is nearly knocked from his broom by a curse during one of the Quidditch matches , the trio assume that someone is trying to get past the dog . Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised which shows a person 's heart 's desire . Headmaster Albus Dumbledore moves the mirror and advises Harry against looking for it . Using information let slip by Hagrid , Hermione discovers that the dog is guarding the Philosopher 's Stone , an item that can grant its owner immortality . Harry concludes that his potions teacher , Severus Snape , is trying to obtain the stone . Harry gets caught out of bed at night wearing an Invisibility Cloak left for him by his father , and is sent to detention . While helping Hagrid in the Dark Forest , Harry sees a hooded figure drinking a unicorn 's blood for its healing properties . The hooded figure then attempts to attack Harry , only to be scared off by an arriving centaur named Firenze , a close friend of Hagrid 's . Harry concludes that the hooded figure was Voldemort and that Snape is trying to get the stone to restore Voldemort to full strength . After hearing from Hagrid that the dog will fall asleep if played music and that he revealed this to a man in a local pub , Harry , Ron and Hermione conclude that Snape was the man in the pub and attempt to warn Dumbledore . Upon learning that he is away on business , the trio conclude that Snape will attempt to steal the stone that night and resolve to find the stone before Snape does . They face a series of obstacles : surviving a deadly plant , flying past hundreds of flying keys and winning a violent , life-sized chess match . The trio use their skills to overcome the obstacles . Hermione uses her knowledge of spells to get past the plant , Harry uses his skills as a seeker to get past the keys and Ron uses his skill at chess to win the chess match . However , Ron is nearly killed in the chess match and Hermione stays with him as Harry goes on ahead . In the final room , Harry finds out that it was not Snape who wanted the stone , but Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirrell . Quirrell reveals that he let the troll in and tried to kill Harry in the Quidditch match . He also reveals that Snape has been protecting Harry and trying to stop Quirrell all year . Then , Professor Quirrell forces Harry to look in the Mirror of Erised . Due to an enchantment placed by Dumbledore , Harry finds the stone in his pocket after looking in the mirror . After trying to get Harry to answer what he has seen in the mirror , Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort to be living on the back of his head . Harry tries to escape but Quirrell starts a fire by clicking his fingers to prevent his escape . When Harry refuses to give Voldemort the stone , Voldemort orders Quirrell to kill the boy . However , Harry 's touch prevents Quirrell from hurting him and causes him to turn into dust and die . When Harry gets up , Voldemort 's spirit forms and passes through Harry , knocking him unconscious before fleeing . Harry wakes up at the school 's hospital wing . Professor Dumbledore explains that the stone has been destroyed and that Hermione and Ron are safe . Quirrell burned at Harry 's touch because , when Harry 's mother died to save him , her death gave Harry a love-based protection against Voldemort . Before Harry and the rest of the students leave for the summer , Gryffindor wins the year 's house cup thanks to Harry 's efforts and bravery . Harry realises that while every other student is going home , Hogwarts is truly his home . # Cast # Rowling personally insisted that the cast be kept British . Susie Figgis was appointed as casting director , working with both Columbus and Rowling in auditioning the lead roles of Harry , Ron and Hermione . Open casting calls were held for the main three roles , with only British children being considered . The principal auditions took place in three parts , with those auditioning having to read a page from ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' , then if called back , they had to improvise a scene of the students ' arrival at Hogwarts , they were then given several pages from the script to read in front of Columbus . Scenes from Columbus ' script for the 1985 film ' ' Young Sherlock Holmes ' ' were also used in auditions . On 11 July 2000 , Figgis left the production , complaining that Columbus did not consider any of the thousands of children they had auditioned worthy . On 8 August 2000 , the virtually unknown Daniel Radcliffe and newcomers Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were selected to play Harry Potter , Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley , respectively .  Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter . Columbus had wanted Radcliffe for the role since he saw him in the BBC 's production of ' ' David Copperfield ' ' , before the open casting sessions had taken place , but had been told by Figgis that Radcliffe 's protective parents would not allow their son to take the part . Columbus explained that his persistence in giving Radcliffe the role was responsible for Figgis ' resignation . Radcliffe was asked to audition in 2000 , when Heyman and Kloves met him and his parents at a production of ' ' Stones in His Pockets ' ' in London . Heyman and Columbus successfully managed to convince Radcliffe 's parents that their son would be protected from media intrusion , and they agreed to let him play Harry . Rowling approved of Radcliffe 's casting , stating that having seen his screen test I do n't think Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry . Radcliffe was reportedly paid 1 million for the film , although he felt the fee was not that important . William Moseley , who was later cast as Peter Pevensie in ' ' The Chronicles of Narnia ' ' series , also auditioned for the role .  Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley , Harry 's best friend at Hogwarts . He decided he would be perfect for the part because he has got ginger hair , and was a fan of the series . Having seen a ' ' Newsround ' ' report about the open casting he sent in a video of himself rapping about how he wished to receive the part . His attempt was successful as the casting team asked for a meeting with him .  Emma Watson as Hermione Granger , Harry 's other best friend and the trio 's brains . Watson 's Oxford theatre teacher passed her name on to the casting agents and she had to do over five interviews before she got the part . Watson took her audition seriously , but never really thought she had any chance of getting the role . The producers were impressed by Watson 's self-confidence and she outperformed the thousands of other girls who had applied .  John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick , the ghost of Hogwarts ' Gryffindor House .  Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid , a half-giant and Hogwarts ' Groundskeeper . Coltrane was Rowling 's first choice for the part . Coltrane , who was already a fan of the books , prepared for the role by talking with Rowling about Hagrid 's past and future .  Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick , The Charms Master and head of Hogwarts ' Ravenclaw House .  Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley , Harry 's Muggle ( non-magical ) uncle .  Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore , Hogwarts ' Headmaster and one of the most famous and powerful wizards of all time . Harris initially rejected the role of Dumbledore , only to reverse his decision after his granddaughter stated she would never speak to him again if he did not take it .  Ian Hart as Professor Quirrell , the slightly nervous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts , and also Lord Voldemort 's voice . David Thewlis auditioned for the part ; he would later be cast as Remus Lupin in ' ' Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ' ' .  John Hurt as Mr. Ollivander , the owner of ' ' Ollivanders ' ' , the finest wand producers in the wizarding world since 382 B.C.  Alan Rickman as Severus Snape , the Potions Master and head of Hogwarts ' Slytherin House . Tim Roth was the original choice for the role , but he turned it down for ' ' Planet of the Apes ' ' .  Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley , Harry 's Muggle aunt .  Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall , the Deputy Headmistress , head of Gryffindor and transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts . Smith was Rowling 's personal choice for the part .  Julie Walters as Molly Weasley , Ron 's caring mother . She shows Harry how to get to Platform . Before Walters was cast , American actress Rosie O'Donnell held talks with Columbus about playing Mrs. Weasley . Rik Mayall was cast in the role of Peeves , a poltergeist who likes to prank students in the novel . Mayall had to shout his lines off camera during takes , but the scene ended up being cut from the film . # Production # # Development # In 1997 , producer David Heyman searched for a children 's book that could be adapted into a well-received film . He had planned to produce Diana Wynne Jones ' novel ' ' The Ogre Downstairs ' ' , but his plans fell through . His staff at Heyday Films then suggested ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' , which Heyman believed was a cool idea . and the following year , Rowling sold the company the rights to the first four ' ' Harry Potter ' ' books for a reported 1 million ( US$1,982,900 ) . A demand Rowling made was that the principal cast be kept strictly British , nonetheless allowing for the inclusion of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore , and for casting of French and Eastern European actors in ' ' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ' ' where characters from the book are specified as such . Rowling was hesitant to sell the rights because she did n't want to give them control over the rest of the story by selling the rights to the characters , which would have enabled Warner Bros. to make non-author-written sequels . Although Steven Spielberg initially negotiated to direct the film , he declined the offer . Spielberg reportedly wanted the adaptation to be an animated film , with American actor Haley Joel Osment to provide Harry Potter 's voice , or a film that incorporated elements from subsequent books as well . Spielberg contended that , in his opinion , there was every expectation of profit in making the film , and that making money would have been like shooting ducks in a barrel . It 's just a slam dunk . It 's just like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts . There 's no challenge . Rowling maintains that she had no role in choosing directors for the films and that anyone who thinks I could ( or would ) have ' veto-ed ' sic him Spielberg needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced . Heyman recalled that Spielberg decided to direct whichever project , out of ' ' A.I. Artificial Intelligence ' ' , ' ' Minority Report ' ' , ' ' Memoirs of a Geisha ' ' or ' ' Harry Potter ' ' , came together first , with him opting to direct ' ' A.I. ' ' After Spielberg left , talks began with other directors , including : Chris Columbus , Terry Gilliam , Jonathan Demme , Mike Newell , Alan Parker , Wolfgang Petersen , Rob Reiner , Ivan Reitman , Tim Robbins , Brad Silberling , M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir . Petersen and Reiner then both pulled out of the running in March 2000 , and the choice was narrowed down to Silberling , Columbus , Parker and Gilliam . Rowling 's first choice director was Terry Gilliam , but Warner Bros. chose Columbus , citing his work on other family films such as ' ' Home Alone ' ' and ' ' Mrs. Doubtfire ' ' as influences for their decision . Columbus pitched his vision of the film for two hours , stating that he wanted the Muggle scenes to be bleak and dreary but those set in the wizarding world to be steeped in color , mood , and detail . He took inspiration from David Lean 's adaptations of ' ' Great Expectations ' ' ( 1946 ) and ' ' Oliver Twist ' ' ( 1948 ) , wishing to use that sort of darkness , that sort of edge , that quality to the cinematography , taking the colour designs from ' ' Oliver ! ' ' and ' ' The Godfather ' ' . class= toccolours style= float : right ; margin-left : 1em ; margin-right : 2em ; font-size : 85% ; background : #c6dbf7 ; color:black ; width:30em ; max-width : 40% ; cellspacing= 5 Steve Kloves was selected to write the film 's screenplay . He described adapting the book as tough , as it did not lend itself to adaptation as well as the next two books . Kloves often received synopses of books proposed as film adaptations from Warner Bros. , which he almost never read , He went out and bought the book , and became an instant fan of the series . When speaking to Warner Bros. , he stated that the film had to be British , and had to be true to the characters . Kloves was nervous when he first met Rowling as he did not want her to think he was going to destroy her baby . Rowling admitted that she was really ready to hate this Steve Kloves , but recalled her initial meeting with him : The first time I met him , he said to me , ' You know who my favourite character is ? ' And I thought , You 're gon na say Ron . I know you 're gon na say Ron . But he said ' Hermione . ' And I just kind of melted . Rowling received a large amount of creative control , an arrangement that Columbus did not mind . Warner Bros. had initially planned to release the film over a 4 July 2001 weekend , making for such a short production window that several proposed directors pulled themselves out of the running . However , due to time constraints the date was put back to 16 November 2001. # Filming # Two British film industry officials requested that the film be shot in the UK , offering their assistance in securing filming locations , the use of Leavesden Film Studios , as well as changing the UK 's child labour laws ( adding a small number of working hours per week and making the timing of on-set classes more flexible ) . Warner Bros. accepted their proposal . Filming began in September 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and concluded in April 2001 , with final work being done in July . Principal photography took place on 2 October 2000 at North Yorkshire 's Goathland railway station . Canterbury Cathedral and Scotland 's Inverailort Castle were both touted as possible locations for Hogwarts ; Canterbury rejected Warner Bros. proposal due to concerns about the film 's pagan theme . Alnwick Castle and Gloucester Cathedral were eventually selected as the principal locations for Hogwarts , with some scenes also being filmed at Harrow School . Other Hogwarts scenes were filmed in Durham Cathedral over a two-week period ; these included shots of the corridors and some classroom scenes . Oxford University 's Divinity School served as the Hogwarts Hospital Wing , and Duke Humfrey 's Library , part of the Bodleian , was used as the Hogwarts Library . Filming for Privet Drive took place on Picket Post Close in Bracknell , Berkshire . Filming in the street took two days instead of the planned single day , so payments to the street 's residents were correspondingly increased . For all of the subsequent film 's scenes set in Privet Drive , filming took place on a constructed set in Leavesden Film Studios , which proved to have been cheaper than filming on location . London 's Australia House was selected as the location for Gringotts Wizarding Bank , while Christ Church , Oxford was the location for the Hogwarts trophy room . London Zoo was used as the location for the scene in which Harry accidentally sets a snake on Dudley , with King 's Cross Station also being used as the book specifies . Because the film 's American title was different , all scenes that mention the philosopher 's stone by name had to be reshot , once with the actors saying philosopher 's and once with sorcerer 's . The children filmed for four hours and then did three hours of schoolwork . They also developed a liking for fake facial injuries from the makeup staff . Daniel Radcliffe had to wear green contact lenses as his eyes are blue , and not green like Harry 's . In some scenes computer animation was used to render his eyes green , because of Radcliffe 's discomfort . # Design and special effects # Judianna Makovsky designed the film costumes . She re-designed the Quidditch robes , having initially planned to use those shown on the cover of the American book , but deemed them a mess . Instead , she dressed the Quidditch players in preppie sweaters , 19th century fencing breeches and arm guards . Production designer Stuart Craig built the sets at Leavesden Studios , including Hogwarts Great Hall , basing it on many English cathedrals . Although originally asked to use an existing old street to film the Diagon Alley scenes , Craig decided to build his own set , comprising Tudor , Georgian and Queen Anne architecture . Columbus originally planned to use both animatronics and CGI animation to create the film 's magical creatures , including Fluffy . Nick Dudman , who worked on ' ' Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace ' ' , was given the task of creating the needed prosthetics for the film , with Jim Henson 's Creature Shop providing creature effects . John Coppinger stated that the magical creatures that needed to be created for the film had to be designed multiple times . The film features nearly 600 special effects shots , involving numerous companies . Industrial Light &amp; Magic created Lord Voldemort 's face on the back of Quirrell , Rhythm &amp; Hues animated Norbert ; and Sony Pictures Imageworks produced the film 's Quidditch scenes . # Music # John Williams was selected to compose the film 's score . Williams composed the score at his homes in Los Angeles and Tanglewood before recording it in London in August 2001 . One of the main themes is entitled Hedwig 's Theme ; Williams retained it for his finished score as everyone seemed to like it . # Differences from the book # Columbus repeatedly checked with Rowling to make sure he was getting minor details in the film correct . Kloves described the film as being really faithful to the book . He added some dialogue , of which Rowling approved . One of the lines originally included had to be removed after Rowling told him that it would directly contradict an event in the then-unreleased ' ' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ' ' novel . Several minor characters have been removed from the film version , most prominent among them the spectral History of Magic teacher , Professor Binns , and Peeves the poltergeist . The book 's first chapter is from the viewpoint of Vernon and Petunia Dursley the day before they are given Harry to look after , highlighting how non-magical people react to magic . The film removes this , beginning with Professor Dumbledore , Professor McGonagall and Hagrid leaving Harry with the Dursleys ( although McGonagall tells Dumbledore how she had been watching the Dursleys all day ) . Next , a month of Harry 's summer , including several of Vernon 's attempts to escape the constantly arriving Hogwarts letters . Harry 's less than pleasant times at Mrs. Figg 's are cut from the film while the boa constrictor from Brazil in the zoo becomes a Burmese Python in the film . Some conflicts , such as Harry and Draco 's encounter with each other in Madam Malkin 's robe shop and midnight duel , are only in the book , and not in the film . Some of Nicolas Flamel 's role is changed or cut altogether . Norbert is mentioned to have been taken away by Dumbledore in the film ; whilst the book sees Harry and Hermione have to take him by hand to Charlie Weasley 's friends . Rowling described the scene as the one part of the book that she felt could easily be changed . As such , the reason for the detention in the Forbidden Forest is also changed : In the novel , Harry and Hermione are put in detention for being caught by Filch when leaving the Astronomy Tower after hours , Neville and Malfoy are also given detention when they are caught in the corridor by Professor McGonagall , while in the film , Harry , Hermione and Ron receive detention after Malfoy catches them in Hagrid 's hut after hours ( Malfoy however , was also given detention for being out of bed after hours ) . Firenze the centaur , who is described in the book as being palomino with light blonde hair , is shown to be dark in the film . Additionally , the Quidditch pitch is altered from a traditional stadium to an open field circled by spectator towers . # Distribution # # Marketing # The first teaser poster was released in December 2000 . The first teaser trailer was released via satellite on 2 March 2001 and debuted in cinemas with the release of ' ' See Spot Run ' ' . The soundtrack was released on 30 October 2001 in a CD format . A video game based on the film was released on 15 November 2001 by Electronic Arts for several consoles . Another video game , for the GameCube , PlayStation 2 , and Xbox was released in 2003 . Mattel won the rights to produce toys based on the film , to be sold exclusively through Warner Brothers ' stores . Hasbro also produced products , including confectionery items based on those from the series . Warner Bros. signed a deal worth US$150 million with Coca-Cola to promote the film , and Lego produced a series of sets based on buildings and scenes from the film , as well as a ' ' Lego Creator ' ' video game . # Home media # Warner Bros. first released the film on VHS and DVD on 11 February 2002 in the E3 UK 11 May 2002 in the UK and 28 May 2002 in the US They later released an Ultimate Edition in the US only that included a Blu-ray and DVD . It includes the existing special features disc , Radcliffe 's , Grint 's and Watson 's first screen tests , an extended version of the film with deleted scenes edited in , a feature-length special ' ' Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 1 : The Magic Begins ' ' , and a 48-page hardcover booklet . The film 's extended version has a running time of about 159 minutes , which has previously been shown during certain television airings. # Reaction # # Critical reception # The film received positive reviews from critics , garnering an 80% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes . Its consensus says , Being so faithful to the book is both the movie 's strength and weakness . The movie unfolds exactly as written in the book , so there is little room for surprises or discoveries . For Potter fans , what more can you ask for ? . It got a score of 64 out of 100 at Metacritic representing generally favourable reviews . Roger Ebert called ' ' Philosopher 's Stone ' ' a classic , giving the film four out of four stars , and particularly praising the Quidditch scenes ' visual effects . Praise was echoed by both ' ' The Telegraph ' ' and ' ' Empire ' ' reviewers , with Alan Morrison of the latter naming it the film 's stand-out sequence . Brian Linder of IGN.com also gave the film a positive review , but concluded that it is n't perfect , but for me it 's a nice supplement to a book series that I love . Although criticising the final half-hour , Jeanne Aufmuth of ' ' Palo Alto Online ' ' stated that the film would enchant even the most cynical of moviegoers . ' ' USA Today ' ' reviewer Claudia Puig gave the film three out of four stars , especially praising the set design and Robbie Coltrane 's portrayal of Hagrid , but criticised John Williams ' score and concluded ultimately many of the book 's readers may wish for a more magical incarnation . The sets , design , cinematography , effects and principal cast were all given praise from Kirk Honeycutt of ' ' The Hollywood Reporter ' ' , although he deemed John Williams ' score a great clanging , banging music box that simply will not shut up . Todd McCarthy of ' ' Variety ' ' compared the film positively with ' ' Gone with the Wind ' ' and put The script is faithful , the actors are just right , the sets , costumes , makeup and effects match and sometimes exceed anything one could imagine . Jonathan Foreman of the ' ' New York Post ' ' recalled that the film was remarkably faithful , to its literary counterpart as well as a consistently entertaining if overlong adaptation . Richard Corliss of ' ' Time ' ' magazine , considered the film a by the numbers adaptation , criticising the pace and the charisma-free lead actors . CNN 's Paul Tatara found that Columbus and Kloves are so careful to avoid offending anyone by excising a passage from the book , the so-called narrative is more like a jamboree inside Rowling 's head . Nathaniel Rogers of The Film Experience gave the film a negative review and wrote : ' ' Harry Potter and the Sorceror 's Stone ' ' is as bland as movies can get . Ed Gonzalez of ' ' Slant Magazine ' ' wished that the film had been directed by Tim Burton , finding the cinematography bland and muggy , and the majority of the film a solidly dull celebration of dribbling goo . Elvis Mitchell of ' ' The New York Times ' ' was highly negative about the film , saying the film is like a theme park that 's a few years past its prime ; the rides clatter and groan with metal fatigue every time they take a curve . He also said it sufferred from a lack of imagination and wooden characters , adding , The Sorting Hat has more personality than anything else in the movie . # Box office # The film had its world premiere on 4 November 2001 , in London 's Leicester Square , with the cinema arranged to resemble Hogwarts School . The film was greatly received at the box office . In the US , it made $32.3 million on its opening day , breaking the single day record previously held by ' ' Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace ' ' - but not when adjusted for inflation . On the second day of release , the film 's gross increased to $33.5 million , breaking the record for biggest single day again . In total , it made $90.3 million during its first weekend , breaking the record for highest-opening weekend of all time that was previously held by ' ' The Lost World : Jurassic Park ' ' . It held the record until the following May when ' ' Spider-Man ' ' made $114.8 million in its opening weekend . The film held onto the No. 1 spot at the box-office for three consecutive weekends . The film also had the highest grossing 5-day ( Wednesday-Sunday ) Thanksgiving weekend record of $82.4 million , holding the title for 12 years until both ' ' The Hunger Games : Catching Fire ' ' and ' ' Frozen ' ' surpassed it with $110.1 million and $94 million respectively . Similar results were achieved across the world . In the UK , ' ' Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone ' ' broke the record for the highest-opening weekend ever , both including and excluding previews , making 16.3 million with and 9.8 million without previews . The film went on to make 66.1 million in the UK alone , making it the country 's second highest-grossing film of all-time ( after ' ' Titanic ' ' ) , until both were surpassed by ' ' Mamma Mia ! ' ' . In total , the film earned $974.7 million at the worldwide box office , $317.6 million of that in the US and $657.1 million elsewhere , which made it the second highest-grossing film in history at the time , as well as the year 's highest-grossing film . , it is the unadjusted twenty-first highest-grossing film of all-time and the second highest-grossing ' ' Harry Potter ' ' film to date after ' ' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ' ' , which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide . # Accolades # The film was nominated for three Academy Award nominations : Best Art Direction , Best Costume Design , and Best Original Score for John Williams . The film was also nominated for seven BAFTA Awards . These were Best British Film , Best Supporting Actor for Robbie Coltrane , as well as the awards for Best Costume Design , Production Design , Makeup and Hair , Sound and Visual Effects . The film won a Saturn Award for its costumes , and was nominated for eight more awards . It won other awards from the Casting Society of America and the Costume Designers Guild . It was nominated for the AFI Film Award for its special effects , and the Art Directors Guild Award for its production design . It received the Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Live Action Family Film and was nominated for Best Child Performance ( for Daniel Radcliffe ) and Best Composer ( John Williams ) . class= collapsible collapsed style= width:100% ; border:1px solid #cedff2 ; background : #F5FAFF ! style= text-align:left ; List of awards and nominations 
@@716672 In sociology and philosophy , agency is the capacity of an agent ( a person or other entity , human or any living being in general , or soul-consciousness in religion ) to act in a world . The capacity to act does not at first imply a specific moral dimension to the ability to make the choice to act , and moral agency is therefore a distinct concept . In sociology , an agent is an individual engaging with the social structure . Notably , though , the primacy of structure and agency Agency may either be classified as unconscious , involuntary behavior , or purposeful , goal directed activity ( intentional action ) . An agent typically has some sort of immediate awareness of their physical activity and the goals that the activity is aimed at realizing . In goal directed action an agent implements a kind of direct control or guidance over their own behavior. # Human agency # Human agency is the capacity for human beings to make choices . It is normally contrasted to natural forces , which are causes involving only unthinking deterministic processes . In this respect , agency is subtly distinct from the concept of free will , the philosophical doctrine that our choices are not the product of causal chains , but are significantly free or undetermined . Human agency entails the claim that humans do in fact make decisions and enact them on the world . ' ' How ' ' humans come to make decisions , by free choice or other processes , is another issue . The capacity of a human to act as an agent is personal to that human , though considerations of the outcomes flowing from particular acts of human agency for us and others can then be thought to invest a moral component into a given situation wherein an agent has acted , and thus to involve moral agency . If a situation is the consequence of human decision making , persons may be under a duty to apply value judgments to the consequences of their decisions , and held to be responsible for those decisions . Human agency entitles the observer to ask ' ' should this have occurred ? ' ' in a way that would be nonsensical in circumstances lacking human decisions-makers , for example , the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter . # In philosophy # In certain philosophical traditions ( particularly those established by Hegel and Marx ) , human agency is a collective , historical dynamic , rather than a function arising out of individual behavior . Hegel 's Geist and Marx 's universal class are idealist and materialist expressions of this idea of humans treated as social beings , organized to act in concert . Also look at the debate , philosophically derived in part from the works of Hume , between determinism and indeterminacy . # In sociology # Structure and agency forms an enduring core debate in sociology . Essentially the same as in the Marxist conception , agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices , whereas structure refers to those factors ( such as social class , but also religion , gender , ethnicity , subculture , etc. ) that seem to limit or influence the opportunities that individuals have . # In feminism # In the feminist context , agency is used to describe the universal core to feminism and to equality more generally . The concept builds on the ideas of bell hooks , Janet Halley , and other feminist scholars , that feminism as a movement must universalize , and to include men , if it is to remain relevant . As both critical and concrete issues of feminism are re-characterized as a struggle for agency , the cause of women and feminism is advanced . # Non-human agency # There has been some study into whether or not nonphysical social entities ( such as states or corporations ) are agentive entities . According to one theory , even though such entities can not directly act in physical ways , they should nevertheless be considered agentive entities because of their ability to act though representative physical agents . 
@@730473 Philosophy , Politics and Economics ( PPE ) is a popular interdisciplinary *27;0;TOOLONG degree which combines study from the three disciplines . The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the University of Oxford and this particular course has produced a significant number of notable graduates such as Tony Abbott , the current Prime Minister of Australia , David Cameron , the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , and Ed Miliband , the current Leader of the Opposition . In the 1980s , the University of York went on to establish its own PPE degree based upon the Oxford model ; the University of Warwick , the University of Manchester , and other British universities later followed . According to the BBC , it dominates public life ( in the UK ) . It is now offered at several other leading colleges and universities around the world . # History # PPE was established at the University of Oxford in the 1920s , as a modern alternative to Classics ( known as Greats at Oxford ) because it was thought that a course in Philosophy and Ancient History was no longer relevant for those entering the civil service . It was thus initially known as Modern Greats . Christopher Stray has pointed to the course as one reason for the gradual decline of the study of classics , as classicists in political life began to be edged out by those who had studied the Modern Greats . Dario Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk have described the course as being fundamental to the development of political thought in the UK , since it established a connection between politics and philosophy . Previously at Oxford , and for some time subsequently at Cambridge , politics had been taught only as a branch of modern history . # Course material # The programme is rooted in the view that to understand social phenomena one must approach them from several complementary disciplinary directions and analytical frameworks . In this regard , the study of philosophy is considered important because it both equips students with meta-tools such as the ability to reason rigorously and logically , and facilitates ethical reflection . The study of politics is considered necessary because it acquaints students with the institutions that govern society and help solve collective action problems . Finally , studying economics is seen as vital in the modern world because political decisions often concern economic matters , and government decisions are often influenced by economic events . The vast majority of students at Oxford drop one of the three subjects for the second and third years of their course . Oxford now has more than 600 undergraduates studying the subject , admitting over 200 each year . # Academic opinions # Oxford PPE graduate Nick Cohen and former tutor Iain McLean consider the course 's breadth important to its appeal , especially because British society values generalists over specialists . Geoffrey Evans an Oxford fellow in politics and a senior tutor critiques that the Oxford course 's success and consequent over-demand is a self-perpetuating feature of those in front of and behind the scenes in national administration , in stating all in all , it 's how the class system works . In the current economic system he bemoans the unavoidable inequalities besetting admissions and thereby enviable recruitment prospects of successful graduates . The argument itself intended as a paternalistic ethical reflection on how governments and peoples can perpetuate social stratification . # List of universities offering PPE # # United Kingdom and Ireland # Goldsmiths , University of London Durham University Keele University Kingston University Lancaster University Open University Swansea University Queen 's University Belfast University College London ( MA Politics , Philosophy and Economics of Health ) The Open University ( Politics , Philosophy and Economics ) University of Dublin University of East Anglia University of Essex University of Exeter University of Hull University of Manchester University of Oxford University of Reading University of Stirling University of Sussex University of Warwick University of York National University of Ireland , Maynooth Royal Holloway , University of London # Canada # University of British Columbia-Okanagan University of Western Ontario Wilfrid Laurier University # US # Carroll University Carnegie Mellon University ( Under the designation Ethics , History , and Public Policy ) Claremont McKenna College Denison University Duke University ( certificate ) Eastern Oregon University Emory &amp; Henry College Juniata College The King 's College ( New York ) Mercer University Minnesota State University , Mankato Murphy Institute ( Tulane University , under the designation Political Economy ) Pomona College University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Akron University of Arizona ( under the designation PPEL - with law ) University of Iowa ( Under the designation Ethics &amp; Public Policy ) The University of Michigan ( Honors Program ) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( Minor ) University of Notre Dame ( minor ) University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Richmond ( under the designation PPEL - with law ) Taylor University University of Washington Tacoma Wesleyan University Western Washington University  Wheeling Jesuit University ( under the designation Political &amp; Economic Philosophy ) Yale University ( under the designation Ethics , Politics and Economics , abbreviated EP&amp;E ) # South Africa , India , Australia and New Zealand # Amity University , India ( The first and only university in India to provide a degree in Philosophy , politics and economics abbreviated as PPE ) Australian National University ( program started in 2012 , after the popularity of La Trobe 's PPE course ) Birla Institute of Technology and Science , India La Trobe University , Australia ( The first official PPE program in Australia , designed for high-achieving school leavers , commenced in 2011 ) Stellenbosch University University of Cape Town University of KwaZulu-Natal University of South Africa University of Otago , New Zealand # Continental Europe # American University of Paris Institutes for Political Studies also known as Sciences Po Bifrost University Free University of Bolzano Charles University in Prague Alliance 4 Universities ( Charles III of Madrid , Autonomous of Madrid , Autonomous of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra ) Istanbul Bilgi University ( Political Economy and Social Philosophy ) Libera Universit Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli , Rome ( Italy ) Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Lund University University of Bayreuth University of Bern ( under the designation of MA Political , Legal and Economic Philosophy abbreviated PLEP ) University of Zurich ( under the designation of MA Economic and Political Philosophy ) University of Graz ( under the designation of MA Political , Economic and Legal Philosophy abbreviated PELP ) University of Hamburg ( under the designation of MA Politics , Economics and Philosophy abbreviated PEP ) University of Lucerne University of Saarland , Germany University of Troms Witten/Herdecke University ( Bachelor and Master ) , Germany # Middle East and Asia # Tel Aviv University ( under the designation PPEL - with law ) , Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Israel Obafemi Awolowo University Peking University Sogang University Rangsit University , Thailand Thammasat University , Thailand Waseda University  Yale-NUS , 
@@744036 In aesthetics , the sublime ( from the Latin ' ' sublmis ' ' ) is the quality of greatness , whether physical , moral , intellectual , metaphysical , aesthetic , spiritual , or artistic . The term especially refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation , measurement , or imitation . # Ancient philosophy # The first known study of the ' ' sublime ' ' is ascribed to Longinus : Peri Hupsous/Hypsous or ' ' On the Sublime ' ' . This is thought to have been written in the 1st century AD though its origin and authorship are uncertain . For Longinus , the sublime is an adjective that describes great , elevated , or lofty thought or language , particularly in the context of rhetoric . As such , the sublime inspires awe and veneration , with greater persuasive powers . Longinus ' treatise is also notable for referring not only to Greek authors such as Homer , but also to biblical sources such as Genesis . This treatise was rediscovered in the 16th century , and its subsequent impact on aesthetics is usually attributed to its translation into French by Nicolas Boileau-Despraux in 1674 . Later the treatise was translated into English by John Pultney in 1680 , Leonard Welsted in 1712 , and William Smith in 1739 whose translation had its fifth edition in 1800. # 18th century # # British philosophy # The development of the concept of the sublime as an aesthetic quality in nature distinct from beauty was first brought into prominence in the 18th century in the writings of Anthony Ashley-Cooper , third earl of Shaftesbury , and John Dennis , in expressing an appreciation of the fearful and irregular forms of external nature , and Joseph Addison 's synthesis of concepts of the sublime in his ' ' The Spectator ' ' , and later the ' ' Pleasures of the Imagination ' ' . All three Englishmen had , within the span of several years , made the journey across the Alps and commented in their writings of the horrors and harmony of the experience , expressing a contrast of aesthetic qualities . John Dennis was the first to publish his comments in a journal letter published as ' ' Miscellanies ' ' in 1693 , giving an account of crossing the Alps where , contrary to his prior feelings for the beauty of nature as a delight that is consistent with reason , the experience of the journey was at once a pleasure to the eye as music is to the ear , but mingled with Horrours , and sometimes almost with despair . Shaftesbury had made the journey two years prior to Dennis but did not publish his comments until 1709 in the ' ' Moralists ' ' . His comments on the experience also reflected pleasure and repulsion , citing a wasted mountain that showed itself to the world as a noble ruin ( Part III , Sec. 1 , 390&amp;ndash ; 91 ) , but his concept of the sublime in relation to beauty was one of degree rather than the sharp contradistinction that Dennis developed into a new form of literary criticism . Shaftesbury 's writings reflect more of a regard for the awe of the infinity of space ( Space astonishes referring to the Alps ) , where the sublime was not an aesthetic quality in opposition to beauty , but a quality of a grander and higher importance than beauty . In referring to the Earth as a Mansion-Globe and Man-Container Shaftsbury writes How narrow then must it appear compar 'd with the capacious System of its own Sun ... tho animated with a sublime Celestial Spirit ... ( Part III , sec. 1 , 373 ) . Joseph Addison embarked on the Grand Tour in 1699 and commented in ' ' Remarks on Several Parts of Italy etc. ' ' that The Alps fill the mind with an agreeable kind of horror . The significance of Addison 's concept of the sublime is that the three pleasures of the imagination that he identified ; greatness , uncommonness , and beauty , arise from visible objects ( that is , from sight rather than from rhetoric ) . It is also notable that in writing on the Sublime in external Nature , he does not use the term sublime , but uses terms that would be considered as absolutive superlatives , e.g. unbounded , unlimited , as well as spacious , greatness , and on occasion terms denoting excess . Addison 's notion of greatness was integral to the concept of the sublime . An art object could be beautiful but it could not rise to greatness . His work ' ' Pleasures of the Imagination ' ' , as well as Mark Akenside 's ' ' Pleasures of the Imagination ' ' ( 1744 ) , and Edward Young 's poem ' ' Night Thoughts ' ' ( 1745 ) , are generally considered the starting points for Burke 's analysis . # Edmund Burke # Edmund Burke 's concept of the sublime was developed in ' ' A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful ' ' ( 1756 ) . Burke was the first philosopher to argue that the sublime and the beautiful are mutually exclusive . The dichotomy is not as simple as Dennis ' opposition , but antithetical to the same degree as light and darkness . Beauty may be accentuated by light , but either intense light or darkness ( the absence of light ) is sublime to the degree that it can obliterate the sight of an object . The imagination is moved to awe and instilled with a degree of horror by what is dark , uncertain , and confused . While the relationship of the sublime and the beautiful is one of mutual exclusiveness , either one can produce pleasure . The sublime may inspire horror , but one receives pleasure in knowing that the perception is a fiction . Burke 's concept of the sublime was an antithetical contrast to the classical notion of the aesthetic quality of beauty as the pleasurable experience described by Plato in several of his dialogues ( ' ' Philebus ' ' , ' ' Ion ' ' , ' ' Hippias Major ' ' , and ' ' Symposium ' ' ) and suggested ugliness as an aesthetic quality in its capacity to instill feelings of intense emotion , ultimately creating a pleasurable experience . Prior to Burke , the classical notion of the ugly , most notably related in the writings of Augustine of Hippo , had conceived it as lacking form and therefore as non-existent . Beauty was , for St. Augustine , the consequence of the benevolence and goodness of God 's creation , and as a category had no opposite . The ugly , lacking any attributive value , was a formlessness in its absence of beauty . For Aristotle the function of art forms was to create pleasure , and had first pondered the problem of an object of art representing the ugly as producing pain . Aristotle 's detailed analysis of this problem involves his study of tragic literature and its paradoxical nature to be shocking as well as having poetic value . Burke 's treatise is also notable for focusing on the physiological effects of the sublime , in particular the dual emotional quality of fear and attraction noted by other writers . Burke described the sensation attributed to the sublime as a negative pain which he called delight , and which is distinct from positive pleasure . Delight is taken to result from the removal of pain ( caused by confronting the sublime object ) and is supposedly more intense than positive pleasure . Though Burke 's explanations for the physiological effects of the sublime experience ( such as tension resulting from eye strain ) were not taken seriously by later writers , his empiricist method of reporting from his own psychological experience was more influential , especially in contrast to Kant 's analysis . Burke is also distinguished from Kant in his emphasis on the subject 's realization of his physical limitations rather than any supposed sense of moral or spiritual transcendence. # German philosophy # # #Immanuel Kant# # ' ' See also Immanuel Kant 's Aesthetic philosophy ' ' Kant , in 1764 , made an attempt to record his thoughts on the observing subject 's mental state in ' ' Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime ' ' . He held that the sublime was of three kinds : the noble , the splendid , and the terrifying . In his ' ' Critique of Judgment ' ' ( 1790 ) , Kant officially says that there are two forms of the sublime , the mathematical and the dynamical , although some commentators hold that there is a third form , the moral sublime , a layover from the earlier noble sublime . Kant claims , We call that sublime which is absolutely great ( 25 ) . He distinguishes between the remarkable differences of the Beautiful and the Sublime , noting that beauty is connected with the form of the object , having boundaries , while the sublime is to be found in a formless object , represented by a boundlessness ( 23 ) . Kant evidently divides the sublime into the mathematical and the dynamical , where in the mathematical aesthetical comprehension is not a consciousness of a mere greater unit , but the notion of absolute greatness not inhibited with ideas of limitations ( 27 ) . The dynamically sublime is nature considered in an aesthetic judgment as might that has no dominion over us , and an object can create a fearfulness without being afraid ' ' of ' ' it ( 28 ) . He considers both the beautiful and the sublime as indefinite concepts , but where beauty relates to the Understanding , sublime is a concept belonging to Reason , and shows a faculty of the mind surpassing every standard of Sense ( 25 ) . For Kant , one 's inability to grasp the enormity of a sublime event such as an earthquake demonstrates inadequacy of one 's sensibility and imagination . Simultaneously , one 's ability to subsequently identify such an event as singular and whole indicates the superiority of one 's cognitive , supersensible powers . Ultimately , it is this supersensible substrate , underlying both nature and thought , on which true sublimity is located . # #Schopenhauer# # In order to clarify the concept of the feeling of the sublime , Schopenhauer listed examples of its transition from the beautiful to the most sublime . This can be found in the first volume of his ' ' The World as Will and Representation ' ' , 39 . For him , the feeling of the beautiful is pleasure in simply seeing a benign object . The feeling of the sublime , however , is pleasure in seeing an overpowering or vast malignant object of great magnitude , one that could destroy the observer .  ' ' Feeling of Beauty ' ' &amp;ndash ; Light is reflected off a flower . ( Pleasure from a mere perception of an object that can not hurt observer ) .  ' ' Weakest Feeling of Sublime ' ' &amp;ndash ; Light reflected off stones . ( Pleasure from beholding objects that pose no threat , yet themselves are devoid of life ) .  ' ' Weaker Feeling of Sublime ' ' &amp;ndash ; Endless desert with no movement . ( Pleasure from seeing objects that could not sustain the life of the observer ) .  ' ' Sublime ' ' &amp;ndash ; Turbulent Nature . ( Pleasure from perceiving objects that threaten to hurt or destroy observer ) .  ' ' Full Feeling of Sublime ' ' &amp;ndash ; Overpowering turbulent Nature . ( Pleasure from beholding very violent , destructive objects ) .  ' ' Fullest Feeling of Sublime ' ' &amp;ndash ; Immensity of Universe 's extent or duration . ( Pleasure from knowledge of observer 's nothingness and oneness with Nature ) . # #Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel# # Hegel considered the sublime to be a marker of cultural difference and a characteristic feature of oriental art . His teleological view of history meant that he considered oriental cultures as less developed , more autocratic in terms of their political structures and more fearful of divine law . According to his reasoning , this meant that oriental artists were more inclined towards the aesthetic and the sublime : they could engage god only through sublated means . He believed that the excess of intricate detail that is characteristic of Chinese art , or the dazzling metrical patterns characteristic of Islamic art , were typical examples of the sublime and argued that the disembodiment and formlessness of these art forms inspired the viewer with an overwhelming aesthetic sense of awe . # # Rudolf Otto # # Rudolf Otto compared the sublime with his newly coined concept of the numinous . The numinous comprises terror , ' ' Tremendum ' ' , but also a strange fascination , ' ' Fascinans ' ' . # Romantic period # # Victor Hugo # Victor Hugo touched on aspects of the sublime in both nature and man in many of his poems ( Poems of Victor Hugo ) . In his preface to the play , ' ' Cromwell ( play ) # Post-Romantic and 20th century # The last decades of the 19th century saw the rise of ' ' Kunstwissenschaft ' ' , or the science of art , which was a movement to discern laws of aesthetic appreciation and arrive at a scientific approach to aesthetic experience . At the beginning of the 20th century Neo-Kantian German philosopher and theorist of aesthetics Max Dessoir founded the ' ' Zeitschrift fr sthetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft ' ' , which he edited for many years , and published the work ' ' sthetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft ' ' in which he formulated five primary aesthetic forms : the beautiful , the sublime , the tragic , the ugly , and the comic . The experience of the sublime involves a self-forgetfulness where personal fear is replaced by a sense of well-being and security when confronted with an object exhibiting superior might , and is similar to the experience of the tragic . The tragic consciousness is the capacity to gain an exalted state of consciousness from the realization of the unavoidable suffering destined for all men and that there are oppositions in life that can never be resolved , most notably that of the forgiving generosity of deity subsumed to inexorable fate . Thomas Weiskel re-examined Kant 's aesthetics and the Romantic conception of the sublime through the prism of semiotic theory and psychoanalysis . He argued that Kant 's mathematical sublime could be seen in semiotic terms as the presence of an excess of signifiers , a monotonous infinity threatens to dissolve all oppositions and distinctions . The dynamic sublime , on the other hand , was an excess of signifieds : meaning was always overdetermined . According to Jean-Franois Lyotard , the sublime , as a theme in aesthetics , was the founding move of the Modernist period . Lyotard argued that the modernists attempted to replace the beautiful with the release of the perceiver from the constraints of the human condition . For him , the sublime 's significance is in the way it points to an ' ' aporia ' ' ( impassable doubt ) in human reason ; it expresses the edge of our conceptual powers and reveals the multiplicity and instability of the postmodern world . # 21st century # According to Mario Costa , the concept of the sublime should be examined first of all in relation to the epochal novelty of digital technologies , and technological artistic production : new media art , computer-based generative art , networking , telecommunication art . For him , the new technologies are creating conditions for a new kind of sublime : the technological sublime . The traditional categories of aesthetics ( beauty , meaning , expression , feeling ) are being replaced by the notion of the sublime , which after being natural in the 18th century , and metropolitan-industrial in the modern era , has now become technological . There has also been some resurgence of interest in the sublime in analytic philosophy in the last 15 years , with occasional articles in ' ' The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ' ' and ' ' The British Journal of Aesthetics ' ' , as well as monographs by writers such as Malcolm Budd , James Kirwan and Kirk Pillow . As in the postmodern or critical theory tradition , analytic philosophical studies often begin with accounts of Kant or other philosophers of the 18th or early 19th centuries . 
@@748760 The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time . Issues specifically related to history of philosophy might include ( but are not limited to ) : How can changes in philosophy be accounted for historically ? What drives the development of thought in its historical context ? To what degree can philosophical texts from prior historical eras be understood even today ? All cultures be they prehistoric , medieval , or modern ; Eastern , Western , religious or secular have had their own unique schools of philosophy , arrived at through both inheritance and through independent discovery . Such theories have grown from different premises and approaches , examples of which include ( but are not limited to ) rationalism ( theories arrived at through logic ) , empiricism ( theories arrived at through observation ) , and even through leaps of faith , hope and inheritance ( such as the supernaturalist philosophies and religions ) . History of philosophy seeks to catalogue and classify such development . The goal is to understand the development of philosophical ideas through time . # Western philosophy # Western philosophy has a long history , conventionally divided into four large eras - the Ancient , Medieval , Modern , and Contemporary . The Ancient era runs through the fall of Rome and includes the Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle . The Medieval period runs until roughly the late 15th century and the Renaissance . The Modern is a word with more varied use , which includes everything from Post-Medieval through the specific period up to the 20th century . Contemporary philosophy encompasses the philosophical developments of the 20th century up to the present day . # Ancient philosophy # Western Philosophy is generally said to begin in the Greek cities of western Asia Minor ( Ionia ) with Thales of Miletus , who was active around 585 B.C. and left us the opaque dictum , all is water . His most noted students were Anaximenes of Miletus ( all is air ) and Anaximander ( all is apeiron ) . Other thinkers and schools appeared throughout Greece over the next few centuries . Among the most important were Heraclitus ( all is fire , all is chaotic and transitory ) , Anaxagoras ( reality is so ordered that it must be in all respects governed by mind ) , the Pluralists and Atomists ( the world is composite of innumerable interacting parts ) , the Eleatics Parmenides and Zeno ( all is One and change is impossible , as illustrated by his famous paradoxes of motion ) , the Sophists ( became known , perhaps unjustly , for claiming that truth was no more than opinion and for teaching people to argue fallaciously to prove whatever conclusions they wished ) . This whole movement gradually became more concentrated in Athens , which had become the dominant city-state in Greece . There is considerable discussion about why Athenian culture encouraged philosophy , but a popular theory says that it occurred because Athens had a direct democracy . It is known from Plato 's writings that many sophists maintained schools of debate , were respected members of society , and were well paid by their students . Orators influenced Athenian history , possibly even causing its failure ( See Battle of Lade ) . Another theory explains the birth of philosophical debate in Athens with the presence of a slave labor workforce which performed the necessary functions that would otherwise have consumed the time of the free male citizenry . Freed from working in the fields or other manual economic activities , they were able to participate in the assemblies of Athens and spend long periods in discussions on popular philosophical questions . Students of Sophists needed to acquire the skills of oration in order to influence the Athenian Assembly and thereby increase respect and wealth . In response , the subjects and methods of debate became highly developed by the Sophists . The key figure in transforming Greek philosophy into a unified and continuous project - one still being pursued today - is Socrates , who studied under several Sophists . It is said that following a visit to the Oracle of Delphi he spent much of his life questioning anyone in Athens who would engage him , in order to disprove the oracular prophecy that there would be no man wiser than Socrates . Through these live dialogues , he examined common but critical concepts that lacked clear or concrete definitions , such as beauty and truth , and the virtues of piety , wisdom , temperance , courage , and justice . Socrates ' awareness of his own ignorance allowed him to discover his errors as well as the errors of those who claimed knowledge based upon falsifiable or unclear precepts and beliefs . He wrote nothing , but inspired many disciples , including many sons of prominent Athenian citizens ( including Plato ) , which led to his trial and execution in 399 B.C. on the charge that his philosophy and sophistry were undermining the youth , piety , and moral fiber of the city . He was offered a chance to flee from his fate but chose to remain in Athens , abide by his principles , and drink the poison hemlock . Socrates ' most important student was Plato , who founded the Academy of Athens and wrote a number of dialogues , which applied the Socratic method of inquiry to examine philosophical problems . Some central ideas of Plato 's dialogues are the Theory of Forms , i.e. , that the mind is imbued with an innate capacity to understand and contemplate concepts from a higher order preeminent world , concepts more real , permanent , and universal than or representative of the ' ' things of this world ' ' , which are only changing and temporal ; the idea of the immortal soul being superior to the body ; the idea of evil as simple ignorance of truth ; that true knowledge leads to true virtue ; that art is subordinate to moral purpose ; and that the society of the city-state should be governed by a merit class of propertyless philosopher kings , with no permanent wives or paternity rights over their children , and be protected by an athletically gifted , honorable , duty bound military class . In the later dialogues Socrates figures less prominently , but Plato had previously woven his own thoughts into some of Socrates ' words . Interestingly , in his most famous work , ' ' The Republic ' ' , Plato critiques democracy , condemns tyranny , and proposes a three tiered merit based structure of society , with workers , guardians and philosophers , in an equal relationship , where no innocents would ever be put to death again , citing the philosophers ' relentless love of truth and knowledge of the forms or ideals , concern for general welfare and lack of propertied interest as causes for their being suited to govern . Plato 's most outstanding student was Aristotle , perhaps the first truly systematic philosopher . Aristotelian logic was the first type of logic to attempt to categorize every valid syllogism . A syllogism is a form of argument that is guaranteed to be accepted , because it is known ( by all educated persons ) to be valid . A crucial assumption in Aristotelian logic is that it has to be about real objects . Two of Aristotle 's syllogisms are invalid to modern eyes . For example , All A are B. All A are C. Therefore , some B are C. This syllogism fails if set A is empty , but there are real members of set B. In Aristotle 's syllogistic logic you could say this , because his logic should only be used for things that really exist ( no empty classes ) The application of Aristotelian logic is preceded by having the student memorize a rather large set of syllogisms . The memorization proceeded from diagrams , or learning a key sentence , with the first letter of each word reminding the student of the names of the syllogisms . Each syllogism had a name , for example : Modus Ponens had the form of If A is true , then B is true . A is true , therefore B is true . Most university students of logic memorized Aristotle 's 19 syllogisms of two subjects , permitting them to validly connect a subject and object . A few logicians developed systems with three subjects , or described a way of elaborating the rules of three subjects . # Medieval philosophy # The history of western medieval philosophy is generally divided into two periods , early medieval philosophy , which started with St. Augustine in the mid 4th century and lasted until the recovery in the 13th century West of a great bulk of Aristotle 's works and their subsequent translation into Latin from the Arabic and Greek , and high medieval philosophy , which came about as a result of the recovery of Aristotle . This period , which lasted a mere century and a half compared to the nine centuries of the early period , came to a close around the time of William of Ockham in the middle of the 14th century . Western medieval philosophy was primarily concerned with implementing the Christian faith with philosophical reason , that is , baptizing reason . Early medieval philosophy was influenced by the likes of Stoicism , neo-Platonism , but , above all , the philosophy of Plato himself . The prominent figure of this period was St. Augustine who adopted Plato 's thought and Christianized it in the 4th century and whose influence dominated medieval philosophy perhaps up to end of the era but was checked with the arrival of Aristotle 's texts . Augustinianism was the preferred starting point for most philosophers ( including the great St. Anselm of Canterbury ) up until the 13th century . During the later years of the early medieval period and throughout the years of the high medieval period , there was a great emphasis on the nature of God and the application of Aristotle 's logic and thought to every area of life . Attempts were made to reconcile these three things by means of scholasticism . One continuing interest in this time was to prove the existence of God , through logic alone , if possible . The point of this exercise was not so much to justify belief in God , since in the view of medieval Christianity this was self-evident , but to make classical philosophy , with its extra-biblical pagan origins , respectable in a Christian context . One monumental effort to overcome mere logical argument at the beginning of the high medieval period was to follow Aristotelian demonstration by starting from effects and reasoning up to their causes . This took the form of the cosmological argument , conventionally attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas . The argument roughly is that everything that exists has a cause . But since there could not be an infinite chain of causes back into the past , there must have been an uncaused first cause . This is God . Aquinas also adapted this argument to prove the goodness of God . Everything has some goodness , and the cause of each thing is better than the thing caused . Therefore , the first cause is the best possible thing . Similar arguments were used to prove God 's power and uniqueness . Another important argument for proof of the existence of God was the ontological argument , advanced by St. Anselm . Basically , it says that God is that than which nothing greater can be thought . There is nothing that simply exists in the mind that can be said to be greater than something that enjoys existence in reality . Hence the greatest thing that the mind can conceive of must exist in reality . Therefore , God exists . This argument has been used in different forms by philosophers from Descartes forward . In addition to St. Thomas Aquinas , St. Augustine and St. Anselm , other important names from the medieval period include Blessed John Duns Scotus , St. Bonaventure , Anicius Manlius Severinus Bothius , and Pierre Ablard . The definition of the word philosophy in English has changed over the centuries . In medieval times , any research outside the fields of theology or medicine was called philosophy , hence the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society is a scientific journal dating from 1665 , the Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) degree covers a wide range of subjects , and the Cambridge Philosophical Society is actually concerned with what we would now call science and not modern philosophy . # Renaissance philosophy # Contemporary philosophical historiography emphasizes a great gap between Middle Ages and Modern thought . And often this gap is used as a mean to characterize the meaning of the word modern used in modern philosophy . However , a historical perspective ( and philosophical ones less interested into a single solid gap ) emphasizes the existence of a long period of transition between the teleologically driven centuries ( running up to the 13th or 14th centuries ) and the rationalists-empiricists debates . Along with the figurative arts , music , vernacular languages and literatures , and the Christian religion , philosophy was greatly renewed in The Renaissance . The Renaissance , spread throughout Europe from Italy ; in particular , from Northern Italy and especially Tuscany . This cultural movement influenced not only philosophy ( inaugurating new philosophical problems ) but also architecture , the visual arts , and literature . Along with the concurrent Protestant Reformation , it permitted a new era of thought , independent from the Roman Catholic Church ( which had dominated European thought throughout the Middle Ages ) . Most medieval philosophers were priests and monks , but both early and late Renaissance philosophers were a more heterogeneous population , including rhetors , magicians and astrologues , early empirical scientists , poets , and philologists . If there was one common theme among these Renaissance thinkers it would have to be a concern for humanity ( and the humanities ) and the search for human specificity . The study of ' ' humanae litterae ' ' overcame that of ' ' divinae litterae ' ' , and opened the way for modern skepticism and science . Many philosophers from the Renaissance are today read and remembered , even though often they are not categorized into a single category . In particular , those Renaissance thinkers who were especially oriented towards empiricism and rationalism ( like Galileo Galilei and Machiavelli ) , are often seen as early Modern philosophers . On the other hand , those heavily influenced by esoteric traditions ( like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola , Marsilio Ficino and even Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno ) are often seen as ( very ) late Medieval philosophers . Only a few Renaissance thinkers who do not clearly fall into either of these categories are usually fully recognized as Renaissance philosophers , including Montaigne , Tommaso Campanella , Telesius , Erasmus , and Sir Thomas More . # Modern philosophy # As with many periodizations , there are multiple current usages for the term Modern Philosophy that exist in practice . One usage is to date modern philosophy from the Age of Reason , where systematic philosophy became common , excluding Erasmus and Machiavelli as modern philosophers . Another is to date it , the way the entire larger modern period is dated , from the Renaissance . In some usages , Modern Philosophy ended in 1800 , with the rise of Hegelianism and Idealism . There is also the lumpers/splitters problem , namely that some works split philosophy into more periods than others : one author might feel a strong need to differentiate between The Age of Reason or Early Modern Philosophers and The Enlightenment ; another author might write from the perspective that 1600-1800 is essentially one continuous evolution , and therefore a single period . Wikipedia 's philosophy section therefore hews more closely to centuries as a means of avoiding long discussions over periods , but it is important to note the variety of practice that occurs . A broad overview would then have Erasmus , Francis Bacon , Niccol Machiavelli , and Galileo Galilei represent the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition . 17th-century philosophy is dominated by the need to organize philosophy on rational , skeptical , logical and axiomatic grounds , such as the work of Ren Descartes , Blaise Pascal , and Thomas Hobbes . This type of philosophy attempts to integrate religious belief into philosophical frameworks , and , often to combat atheism or other skeptical beliefs , by adopting the idea of material reality , and the dualism between spirit and material . The extension , and reaction , against this would be the monism of George Berkeley ( idealism ) and Benedict de Spinoza ( dual aspect theory ) . It was during this time period that the empiricism was developed as an alternative to skepticism by John Locke , George Berkeley and others . It should be mentioned that John Locke and Thomas Hobbes developed their well known political philosophies during this time , as well . The 18th-century philosophy article deals with the period often called the early part of The Enlightenment in the shorter form of the word , and centers on the rise of systematic empiricism , following after Sir Isaac Newton 's natural philosophy . Thus Diderot , Voltaire , Rousseau , Montesquieu , Kant and the political philosophies embodied by and influencing the American Revolution and American Enlightenment are part of The Enlightenment . Other prominent philosophers of this time period were David Hume and Adam Smith , who , along with Francis Hutcheson , were also the primary philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment and Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson who were philosophers of the American Enlightenment . Edmund Burke was influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment , namely Hume 's skeptism and reliance on tradition and the passions , and while supporting the American Revolution based on the established rights of Englishmen , rejected the natural rights claims of the Enlightenment and vehemently rejected the Rationalism of the French Revolution ( see Reflections on the Revolution in France ) . The 19th century took the radical notions of self-organization and intrinsic order from Goethe and Kantian metaphysics , and proceeded to produce a long elaboration on the tension between systematization and organic development . Foremost was the work of Hegel , whose ' ' Logic ' ' and ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' produced a dialectical framework for ordering of knowledge . The 19th century would also include Schopenhauer 's negation of the will . As with the 18th century , it would be developments in science that would arise from , and then challenge , philosophy : most importantly the work of Charles Darwin , which was based on the idea of organic self-regulation found in philosophers such as Adam Smith , but fundamentally challenged established conceptions . Also in the 19th century , the Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard took philosophy in a new direction by focusing less on abstract concepts and more on what it means to be an ' ' existing ' ' individual . His work provided impetus for many 20th century philosophical movements , including existentialism. # Contemporary philosophy # The 20th century deals with the upheavals produced by a series of conflicts within philosophical discourse over the basis of knowledge , with classical certainties overthrown , and new social , economic , scientific and logical problems . 20th century philosophy was set for a series of attempts to reform and preserve , and to alter or abolish , older knowledge systems . Seminal figures include Ludwig Wittgenstein , Martin Heidegger , Bertrand Russell , Jean-Paul Sartre , and Edmund Husserl . Epistemology , the theory of knowledge , and its basis was a central concern , as seen from the work of Heidegger , Russell , Karl Popper , and Claude Lvi-Strauss . Phenomenologically oriented metaphysics undergirded existentialism ( Sartre , Maurice Merleau-Ponty , Albert Camus ) and finally poststructuralism ( Gilles Deleuze , Jean-Franois Lyotard , Michel Foucault , Jacques Derrida ) . Pragmatist Richard Rorty has argued that these and other schools of 20th century philosophy , including his own , share an opposition to classical dualism that is both anti-essentialist and antimetaphysical . The psychoanalytic work of Sigmund Freud , Jacques Lacan , Julia Kristeva , and others has also been influential in contemporary continental philosophy . Conversely , some philosophers have attempted to define and rehabilitate older traditions of philosophy . Most notably , Hans-Georg Gadamer and Alasdair MacIntyre have both , albeit in different ways , revived the tradition of Aristotelianism . The philosophy of the present century is difficult to clarify due to its immaturity . A number of surviving 20th century philosophers have established themselves as early voices of influence in the 21st . These include Noam Chomsky , Saul Kripke , and Jrgen Habermas . The perceived conflict between continental and analytic schools of philosophy remains prominent , despite increasing skepticism regarding the distinction 's usefulness . A variety of new topics have risen to the stage in analytic philosophy , orienting much of contemporary discourse in the field of ethics . New inquiries consider , for example , the ethical implications of new media and information exchange . Such developments have rekindled interest in the philosophy of technology and science . There has been increased enthusiasm for highly specialized areas in philosophy of science , such as in the Bayesian school of epistemology . In contemporary continental thought , a number of developments are taking place . The field of postcolonial theory , championed in the late 20th century by theorists such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha has established itself as a major academic presence . The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj iek remains tremendously popular in both academic and popular demographics , synthesizing Lacanian , Hegelian , and Althusserian Marxist thought in discussions of popular culture and politics . iek is also involved with the contemporary thrust to step beyond postmodernism and the linguistic turn of the 20th century . Key contributors to this movement are the French polymath Alain Badiou , and those classified under the blanket designation of speculative realism , including Quentin Meillassoux and Ray Brassier . On the other hand , the American philosopher Judith Butler has strong support among many demographics in her close readings of language , gender , subjectivity , corporeality , kinship , war and non-violent ethics . As a result she has received strong criticism from iek , Martha Nussbaum and radical Zionists. # Eastern philosophy # In the West , the term Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of the East , namely Asia , including China , India , Japan , Persia and the general area . One must take into account that this term ignores that these countries do not belong to a single culture . Ancient eastern philosophy developed mainly in India and China . # Babylonian philosophy # ' ' See article Babylonian literature : Philosophy ' ' # Indian philosophy # ' ' See article Indian philosophy and Timeline of Eastern philosophers#Indian philosophers ' ' See also Hindu philosophy , Buddhist philosophy and Jain Philosophy ' ' Indian philosophy primarily begins with the later part of Rig Veda , which was compiled before 1100 BCE . Most of philosophy of the Rig Veda is contained in the sections Purusha sukta and Nasadiya Sukta . Vedas are followed by Upanishads ; the oldest , such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads , have been dated to around the 8th century BCE . The philosophical edifice of Indian religions viz. , Hinduism , Jainism , Buddhism is built on the foundation laid by the Upanishads . Upanishadic thoughts were followed by the Buddhist and Jain philosophies . # Persian philosophy # ' ' See article Iranian philosophy ' ' ' ' See also Zoroastrianism ' ' # Chinese philosophy # ' ' See article Chinese philosophy and Buddhist philosophy#Chinese Buddhism ' ' Confucianism can be considered as the oldest school of philosophy in China . # Abrahamic philosophy # Abrahamic philosophy , in its loosest sense , comprises the series of philosophical schools that emerged from the study and commentary of the common ancient Semitic tradition which can be traced by their adherents to Abraham ( Father/Leader of many Hebrew ( Avraham ) Arabic ( Ibrahim ) , a patriarch whose life is narrated in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament , and as a prophet in the Qur'an and also called a prophet in Genesis 20:7 ) . The standard text common to all of these subsequent tradition is known as the Hebrew Bible , roughly the first five books of the Old Testament , starting with the book of Genesis through to Deuteronomy . However , each of them added substantially different texts to their emerging canons , and hence their respective philosophical developments varied widely . # Jewish philosophy # ' ' See article ' ' ' ' Jewish philosophy ' ' # Christian philosophy # ' ' See article Christian philosophy ' ' # Islamic philosophy # ' ' See articles Islamic philosophy , Early Islamic philosophy , and Modern Islamic philosophy ' ' Islamic philosophy as Henry Corbin describes is a philosophy whose development , and whose modalities , are essentially linked to the religious and spiritual fact of Islam . In the other word , it represents the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture . This description does not suggest that it is necessarily concerned with religious issues , nor even that it is exclusively produced by Muslims . # #Religious roots# # Theoretical questions were raised right from the beginning of Islam , questions , which could , to a certain extent be answered by reference to Islamic texts such as the Quran , the practices of the community and the traditional sayings of Muhammad , the Prophet of Islam , and his Companions . In fact , rational arguments about Islamic doctrines starts with the Quran itself , and has been followed up in the utterances of the Muhammad and especially in the sermons of Ali . This despite the fact that their style and approach are different from those of the Muslim theologians . Though nothing definite can be said about the beginnings of theology among Muslims , what is certain is that discussion of some of the problems , such as the issue of predestination , free will and Divine Justice , became current among Muslims during the first half of the 2nd century of Islam coincides with 8th century . Perhaps the first formal centre of such discussions was the circle of Hasan al-Basri(d.728-29) . Later several theological schools have emerged from 8th to 10th century . Mu'tazili theology originated in the 8th century in Basra ( Iraq ) by Wasil ibn Ata ( d.748 A.D. ) . # #Transferring of Greek philosophy# # The early conquests of the Muslims brought them into close contact with centers of civilization heavily influenced by Christianity and also by Greek culture . Many rulers wished to understand and use the Greek forms of knowledge , some practical and some theoretical , and a large translation project started which saw official support for the assimilation of Greek culture . This had a powerful impact upon all areas of Islamic philosophy . Neoplatonism definitely became the prevalent school of thought , following closely the curriculum of Greek philosophy which was initially transmitted to the Islamic world . # #Periods# # Henry Corbin has divided the history of Islamic philosophy into three periods . # #Early Islamic philosophy# # The first period of Islamic philosophy coincides with Islamic golden age . During this time pure philosophical thought is usually used Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism thought as its sources . But it also influenced by Islamic thought and culture . Falaturi has shown in his research that how Hellenistic philosophy diverged in the context of Islamic culture . On the other hand Corbin has shown how mystic aspect of Islam , especially Shia affected philosophy . This period begins with al-Kindi and ends with Averroes ( d.1198 ) . On the other hand there were crucial theological debates between Muslim theologians . These discussion also helped to rise of rational debates about religion , especially Islam . Avicenna is one of the most prominent figures of this period . He is a thinker who attempted to redefine the course of Islamic philosophy and channel it into new directions . Avicenna 's metaphysical system is built on the ingredients and conceptual building blocks which are largely Aristotelianism In the Islamic Golden Age , due to Avicenna 's successful reconciliation between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism along with Islamic theology , Avicennism eventually became the leading school of early Islamic philosophy by the 12th century . Avicenna had become a central authority on philosophy by then . Although this school was highly criticized by Muslim theologians , such as al-Ghazali , philosophers , like Averroes , and Sufis , Avicenna 's writings spread like fire and continued until today to form the basis of philosophic education in the Islamic world . For to the extent that the post-Averroistic tradition remained philosophic , especially in the eastern Islamic lands , it moved in the directions charted for it by Avicenna in the investigation of both theoretical and practical sciences . # #Mystical philosophy# # After the death of Averroes , Islamic philosophy in the Peripatetic style went out of fashion in the Arab part of Muslim world , until the 19th century . Mystical philosophy , by contrast , continued to flourish , although no thinkers matched the creativity of Ibn Arabi or Ibn Sabin . In the Persian-speaking part , Islamic philosophy has continued to follow a largely Illuminationist curriculum , which is introduced by Suhrawardi. # #Transcendent Theosophy# # The third period , according to Corbin , begins in the 16th century after emergence of Safavid dynasty in Persia . The most prominent figure of this period is Mulla Sadra who introduced Transcendent Theosophy as a critical philosophy which brought together Peripatetic , Illuminationist and gnostic philosophy along with Ash'ari and Twelvers theology , the source of which lay in the Islamic revelation and the mystical experience of reality as existence . This philosophy becomes dominant form of philosophy in Iran since 19th century . Shah Wali Allah extended Suhrawardi school of thought to the Indian subcontinent. # #Modern era# # New trends have emerged during 19th and 20th centuries due to challenge of western philosophy and Modernity to traditional Islamic philosophy . On one hand some of the scholars such as Jamal-ad-Din Asadabadi and Muhammad Abduh sought to find rational principles which would establish a form of thought which is both distinctively Islamic and also appropriate for life in modern scientific societies , a debate which is continuing within Islamic philosophy today . Muhammad Iqbal is one of the prominent figure of this group who provided a rather eclectic mixture of Islamic and European philosophy . On the other hand some thinkers reacted to the phenomenon of modernity by developing Islamic fundamentalism . This resuscitated the earlier antagonism to philosophy by arguing for a return to the original principles of Islam and rejected modernity as a Western imperialist intrusion . In Iran , the effects of mystic philosophers especially Mulla Sadra is great , and philosophers who are more loyal to traditional Islamic philosophy have tried to keep alive this school and use it to deal with Modernism . Allameh Tabatabaei is the most prominent figure of this group . Nowadays Seyyed Hossein Nasr tries to introduce traditional Islamic philosophy and dealt with the Islamic response to the challenges of the modern world . Finally , there have been many thinkers who have adapted and employed non-Islamic philosophical ideas as part of the normal philosophical process of seeking to understand conceptual problems such as Hegelianism and Existentialism . Therefore modern Islamic philosophy is thus quite diverse , employing a wide variety of techniques and approaches to its subjects . # Judeo-Islamic philosophy # ' ' See article Judeo-Islamic philosophies ( 800 - 1400 ) ' ' # African philosophy # # Further reading #   
@@794399 Porphyry of Tyre ( ; , ' ' Porphyrios ' ' ; c. 234 c. 305 AD ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre . He edited and published the ' ' Enneads ' ' , the only collection of the work of his teacher Plotinus . He also wrote many works himself on a wide variety of topics . His ' ' Isagoge ' ' , or ' ' Introduction ' ' , is an introduction to logic and philosophy , and in Latin translation it was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages . In addition , through several of his works , most notably ' ' Philosophy from Oracles ' ' and ' ' Against the Christians ' ' , he was involved in a controversy with a number of early Christians , and his commentary on Euclid 's ' ' Elements ' ' was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria . # Biographical information # Porphyry 's parents were Phoenician , and he was born in Tyre . His parents named him ' ' Malchus ' ' ( king ) but his teacher in Athens , Cassius Longinus , gave him the name Porphyrius ( clad in purple ) , possibly a reference to his Phoenician heritage , or a punning allusion to his name and the color of royal robes . Under Longinus he studied grammar and rhetoric . In 262 he went to Rome , attracted by the reputation of Plotinus , and for six years devoted himself to the practice of Neoplatonism , during which time he severely modified his diet . At one point he became suicidal . On the advice of Plotinus he went to live in Sicily for five years to recover his mental health . On returning to Rome , he lectured on philosophy and completed an edition of the writings of Plotinus ( who had died in the meantime ) together with a biography of his teacher . Iamblichus is mentioned in ancient Neoplatonic writings as his pupil , but this most likely means only that he was the dominant figure in the next generation of philosophers . The two men differed publicly on the issue of theurgy . In his later years , he married Marcella , a widow with seven children and an enthusiastic student of philosophy . Little more is known of his life , and the date of his death is uncertain . # ' ' Introduction ' ' ( ' ' Isagoge ' ' ) # Porphyry is best known for his contributions to philosophy . Apart from writing the ' ' Aids to the Study of the Intelligibles ' ' ( ; ' ' Sententiae Ad Intelligibilia Ducentes ' ' ) , a basic summary of Neoplatonism , he is especially appreciated for his ' ' Introduction to Categories ' ' ( ' ' Introductio in Praedicamenta ' ' or ' ' Isagoge et in Aristotelis Categorias commentarium ' ' ) , a very short work often considered to be a commentary on Aristotle 's ' ' Categories ' ' , hence the title . According to , however , the correct title is simply ' ' Introduction ' ' ( ' ' Isagoge ' ' ) , and the book is an introduction not to the ' ' Categories ' ' in particular , but to ' ' logic ' ' in general , comprising as it does the theories of predication , definition , and proof . The Introduction describes how qualities attributed to things may be classified , famously breaking down the philosophical concept of substance into the five components ' ' genus ' ' , ' ' species ' ' , ' ' difference ' ' , ' ' property ' ' , ' ' accident ' ' . As Porphyry 's most influential contribution to philosophy , the ' ' Introduction to Categories ' ' incorporated Aristotle 's logic into Neoplatonism , in particular the doctrine of the categories of being interpreted in terms of entities ( in later philosophy , universal ) . Boethius ' ' ' Isagoge ' ' , a Latin translation of Porphyry 's Introduction , became a standard medieval textbook in European schools and universities , which set the stage for medieval *25;74991;TOOLONG developments of logic and the problem of universals . In medieval textbooks , the all-important ' ' Arbor porphyriana ' ' ( Porphyrian Tree ) illustrates his logical classification of substance . To this day , taxonomy benefits from concepts in Porphyry 's Tree , in classifying living organisms ( see cladistics ) . The ' ' Introduction ' ' was translated into Arabic by Abd-Allh Ibn al-Muqaffa from a Syriac version . With the Arabicized name ' ' Isghj ' ' ( ) it long remained the standard introductory logic text in the Muslim world and influenced the study of theology , philosophy , grammar , and jurisprudence . Besides the adaptations and epitomes of this work , many independent works on logic by Muslim philosophers have been entitled Isghj . Porphyry 's discussion of ' ' accident ' ' sparked a long-running debate on the application of ' ' accident ' ' and ' ' essence ' ' . # ' ' Philosophy from Oracles ' ' ( ' ' De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda ' ' ) # Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity and defender of Paganism ; his defense of traditional religion , ' ' Philosophy from Oracles ' ' ( ; ' ' De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda ' ' ) , written before the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian and Galerius , set out the basis for them : : How can these people be thought worthy of forbearance ? They have not only turned away from those who from earliest time have been thought of as divine among all Greeks and barbarians .. but by emperors , law-givers and philosophers all of a given mind . But also , in choosing impieties and atheism , they have preferred their fellow creatures . And to what sort of penalties might they not be subjected who .. are fugitives from the things of their Fathers ? Whether or not Porphyry was the pagan philosopher opponent in Lactantius ' ' ' Divine Institutes ' ' , written at the time of the persecutions , has long been discussed . A Christian version of ' ' Philosophy from Oracles ' ' has been attributed to Porphyry . The attribution was accepted by Eusebius and appealed to by apologists like Theodoret . Scholars have identified that epigrams from this work are scattered throughout the works of St. Augustine . Dr Nathaniel Lardner rejected the attribution in the 18th century . # ' ' Against the Christians ' ' ( ' ' Adversus Christianos ' ' ) # During his retirement in Sicily , Porphyry wrote ' ' Against the Christians ' ' ( ; ' ' Adversus Christianos ' ' ) which consisted of fifteen books . Some thirty Christian apologists , such as Methodius , Eusebius , Apollinaris , Jerome , etc. , responded to his challenge . In fact , everything known about Porphyrys arguments is found in these refutations , largely because Theodosius II burned every copy he could find in A.D. 435 and again in 448 . Porphyry became one of the most able pagan adversaries of Christianity of his day . His aim was not to disprove the substance of Christianitys teachings but rather the records within which the teachings are communicated . In it , he famously is quoted as having said , ' ' The Gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious , but the Christians are a confused and vicious sect . ' ' According to Jerome , Porphyry especially attacked the prophecy of Daniel because Jews and Christians pointed to the historical fulfillment of its prophecies as a decisive argument . But these prophesies , he maintained , were written not by Daniel but by some Jew who in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes ( d. 164 B.C. ) gathered up the traditions of Daniel 's life and wrote a history of recent past events but in the future tense , falsely dating them back to Daniel 's time . : Daniel did not predict so much future events as he narrated past ones . Finally what he had told up to Antiochus contained true history ; if anything was guessed beyond that point it was false , for he had not known the future . ( quoted by Jerome ) The first part of Daniel , with the exception of the dream in Daniel 2 , is historic , not prophetic . Porphyry , attacking only the prophetic portion , declares it to be merely a late anonymous narrative of past events , purporting to have been predicted long before by Daniel . Thus Porphyry 's scheme was based on the supposed spuriousness of Daniel 's prophecies . Porphyry devised his own interpretation where the third prophetic kingdom was Alexander , and assigned the Macedonian Ptolemies and Seleucids to the fourth kingdom . From among these he chose ten kings , making the eleventh to be Antiochus Epiphanes . In this way he threw his main strength against the book of Daniel , recognizing that if this pillar of faith be shaken , the whole structure of prophecy must tremble . If the writer was not Daniel , then he lied on a frightful scale , ascribing to God prophecies which were never uttered , and making claim of miracles that were never wrought . And if Daniel 's authorship could be shown to be false , then Christ Himself would be proved to bear witness to an imposter . ( Matt. 24 : 15 . ) Augustine and the 5th-century ecclesiastical historian Socrates of Constantinople , assert that Porphyry was once a Christian . Porphyry acknowledged Jesus Christ only as an outstanding philosopher . # Other subjects # Porphyry was opposed to the theurgy of his disciple Iamblichus . Much of Iamblichus ' mysteries is dedicated to the defense of mystic theurgic divine possession against the critiques of Porphyry . French philosopher Pierre Hadot maintains that for Porphyry , spiritual exercises are an essential part of spiritual development . Porphyry was , like Pythagoras , an advocate of vegetarianism on spiritual and ethical grounds . These two philosophers are perhaps the most famous vegetarians of classical antiquity . He wrote the ' ' On Abstinence from Animal Food ' ' ( ; ' ' De Abstinentia ab Esu Animalium ' ' ) , advocating against the consumption of animals , and he is cited with approval in vegetarian literature up to the present day . Porphyry also wrote widely on astrology , religion , philosophy , and musical theory . He produced a ' ' History of Philosophy ' ' ( ' ' Philosophos historia ' ' ) with ' ' vitae ' ' of philosophers that included a life of his teacher , Plotinus . His life of Plato from book iv exists only in quotes by Cyril of Alexandria . His book ' ' Vita Pythagorae ' ' on the life of Pythagoras is not to be confused with the book of the same name by Iamblichus . His commentary on Ptolemy 's ' ' Harmonics ' ' ( ' ' Eis ta Harmonika Ptolemaiou hypomnma ' ' ) is an important source for the history of ancient harmonic theory . # Works by Porphyry #  ' ' Ad Gaurum ' ' ( of incert attribution ) ed . K. Kalbfleisch . Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akadamie der Wissenschaft. phil. -hist. kl. ( 1895 ) : .  ' ' Contra Christianos ' ' ed. : Adolf von Harnack , ' ' Porphyrius , Gegen die Christen , 15 Bcher : Zeugnisse , Fragmente und Referate . ' ' Abhandlungen der kniglich prssischen Akademie der Wissenschaften : Jahrgang 1916 : philosoph. -hist . Klasse : Nr. 1 ( Berlin : 1916 ) .  ' ' Contra los Cristianos : Recopilacin de Fragmentos , Traduccin , Introduccin y Notas ' ' E. A. Ramos Jurado , J. Ritor Ponce , A. Carmona Vzquez , I. Rodrguez Moreno , J. Ortol Salas , J. M. Zamora Calvo ( Cdiz : Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cdiz 2006 ) .  ' ' Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini III : Commentarii ' ' ( Florence : Leo S. Olschki , 1995 ) . *42;75018;#  ' ' De abstinentia ab esu animalium ' ' Jean Bouffartigue , M. Patillon , and Alain-Philippe Segonds , edd. , 3 vols. , Bud ( Paris , 19791995 ) .  ' ' De Philosophia ex oraculis haurienda ' ' G. Wolf , ed . ( Berlin : 1956 ) .  ' ' Epistula ad Anebonem ' ' A. R. Sodano ed . ( Naples : L'arte Tipografia , 1958 ) .  ' ' Fragmenta ' ' Andrew Smith , ed . ( Stvtgardiae et Lipsiae : B. G. Tevbneri , 1993 ) .  ' ' The Homeric Questions : a Bilingual Edition ' ' Lang Classical Studies 2 , R. R. Schlunk , trans . ( Frankfurt-am-Main : Lang , 1993 ) .  ' ' Isagoge ' ' , Stefan Weinstock , ed. , in Catalogus Codicum astrologorum Graecorum , Franz Cumont , ed . ( Brussels , 1940 ) : V.4 , 187-228 . ( This is an introduction to the ' ' Tetrabiblos ' ' of Ptolemy , not to be confused with the more famous ' ' Isagoge ' ' on logic. )  ' ' Kommentar zur Harmonielehre des Ptolemaios ' ' Ingemar Duuring. ed . ( Gteborg : Elanders , 1932 ) .  ' ' Opuscula selecta ' ' Augusts Nauck , ed . ( Lipsiae : B. G. Tevbneri , 1886 ) ( online at ) .  ' ' Porphyrii in Platonis Timaeum commentarium fragmenta ' ' A. R. Sodano , ed . ( Napoli : 1964 ) .  ' ' Porphyry , the Philosopher , to Marcella : Text and Translation with Introduction and Notes ' ' Kathleen ObBien Wicker , trans. , Text and Translations 28 ; Graeco-Roman Religion Series 10 ( Atlanata : Schoalrs Press , 1987 ) .  ' ' Pros Markellan Griechiser Text , herausgegeben , bersetzt , eingeleitet und erklrt ' ' von W. Ptscher ( Leiden : E. J. Brill , 1969 ) .  ' ' Sententiae ad Intelligibilia Ducentes ' ' E. Lamberz , ed . ( Leipzig : Teubner , 1975 ) .  ' ' Vie de Pythagore , Lettre Marcella ' ' E. des Places , ed. and trans . ( Paris : Les Belles Lettre , 1982 ) .  ' ' La Vie de Plotin ' ' Luc Brisson , ed . Historie de l'antiquit classique 6 &amp; 16 ( Paris : Libraire Philosophique J. Vrin : 19861992 ) , 2 vols.  ' ' Vita Plotini ' ' in Plotinus , Armstrong , ed . LCL ( Cambridge , Mass. : Harvard University Press , 1968 ) , 2-84.  ' ' To Marcella ' ' text and translation with Introduction and Notes by Kathleen O'Biren Wicker ( Atlanta : Scholars Press , 1987 ) . # Translations #  ' ' Isagoge ' ' Mediaeval Sources in Translation 16 , E. Warren , trans . ( Toronto : Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies , 1975 ) .  ' ' Porphyry 's Introduction ' ' . Translation of the ' Isagoge ' with a Commentary by J. Barnes ( Oxford , 2003 ) .  ' ' Porphyry . On Aristotle 's Categories ' ' . Translated by Steven K. Strange ( Ithaca , New York , 1992 ) .  ' ' The Organon or Logical Treatises of Aristotle with the Introduction of Porphyry ' ' Bohn 's Classical Library 1112 , Octavius Freire Owen , trans . ( London : G. Bell , 19081910 ) , 2 vols.  ' ' Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals : Porphyry , Boethius , Abelard , Duns Scotus , Ockham ' ' Paul Vincent Spade , trans . ( Indianapolis : Hackett , 1994 ) .  ' ' Select Works of Porphyry ' ' . Translated by T. Taylor ( Guildford , 1994 ) . Contains ' ' Abstinence from Eating Animal Food ' ' , the ' ' Sententiae ' ' and the ' ' Cave of the Nymphs ' ' .  ' ' Launching-Points to the Realm of Mind ' ' . Translation of the ' Sententiae ' by K. Guthrie ( Grand Rapids , Michigan , 1988 ) .  ' ' Neoplatonic Saints : The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus ' ' . Translated Texts for Historians 35 ( Liverpool : Liverpool University Press , 2000 ) .  ' ' On Abstinence from Killing Animals ' ' Gilliam Clark , trans . ( Ithaca : Cornell University Press , 2000 ) .  ' ' The Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey A revised text with translation ' ' by Seminar Classics 609 , State University of New York at Buffalo , Arethusa Monograph 1 ( Buffalo : Dept. of Classics , State University of New York at Buffalo , 1969 ) .  ' ' On the Cave of the Nymphs ' ' Robert Lamberton , trans . ( Barrytown , N. Y. : Station Hill Press , 1983 ) .  ' ' Porphyry Against the Christians ' ' R. M. Berchman , trans. , Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts 1 ( Leiden : Brill , 2005 ) .  ' ' Porphyrys Against the Christians : The Literary Remains ' ' R. Joseph Hoffmann , trans . ( Amherst : Prometheus Books , 1994 ) .  ' ' The Homeric Questions ' ' edited and translated by R. Schlunk ( New York , 1993 ) .  ' ' Porphyry 's Letter to His Wife Marcella Concerning the Life of Philosophy and the Ascent to the Gods ' ' . Translated by Alice Zimmern ( Grand Rapids , Michigan , 1989 ) .  ' ' Porphyry the Philosopher , Introduction to the Tetrabiblos and Serapio of Alexandria , Astrological Definitions ' ' Translated by James Herschel Holden ( Tempe , Az. : A.F.A. , Inc. , 2009 ) . 
@@829338 A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group , either by birth or on a conditional basis . It can be revoked in certain circumstances . In modern democratic states , a ' ' privilege ' ' is conditional and granted only after birth . By contrast , a ' ' right ' ' is an inherent , irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from the moment of birth . Various older privileges , such as the old common law privilege to title deeds , may still exist , but be of little relevance today . Etymologically , a privilege ( ' ' privilegium ' ' ) means a private law , or rule relating to a specific individual or institution . Boniface 's abbey of Fulda , to cite an early and prominent example , was granted ' ' privilegium ' ' , setting the abbot in direct contact with the pope , bypassing the jurisdiction of the local bishop . One of the objectives of the French Revolution was the abolition of privilege . This meant the removal of separate laws for different social classes ( nobility , clergy , and ordinary people ) , instead subjecting everyone to the same common law . Privileges were abolished by the National Constituent Assembly on August 4 , 1789 . One common legal privilege in the United States is protection from the requirement to testify or provide documents in certain situations ( see subpoena duces tecum and privilege ( evidence ) ) 
@@829763 birthplace = Moscow , Russian Empire deathplace = Uzkoye , Moscow Governorate , Russian Empire Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov ( ; ) was a Russian philosopher , theologian , poet , pamphleteer and literary critic , who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual renaissance of the early 20th century . # Life and work # Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov , the son of the historian Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov ( 18201879 ) , was born in Moscow on 16 January 1853 . His mother , Polyxena Vladimirovna , belonged to a Polish origin family , having among her ancestors the thinker Gregory Skovoroda ( 17221794 ) . In his teens Solovyov renounced Eastern Orthodoxy for nihilism , but later his disapproval of Positivism saw him begin to express views in line with those of the Orthodox Church . In his ' ' The Crisis of Western Philosophy : Against the Positivists ' ' Solovyov discredited the Positivists ' rejection of Aristotle 's essentialism or philosophical realism . In ' ' Against the Postivists ' ' he took the position of intuitive noetic comprehension , noesis or insight ; he saw consciousness as integral ( see the Russian term ' ' sobornost ' ' ) and requiring both phenomenon ( validated by dianonia ) and noumenon validated intuitively . Positivism , according to Solovyov , only validates the phenomenon of an object , denying the intuitive reality which people experience as part of their consciousness . Vladimir Solovyov became a friend and confidant of Fyodor Dostoyevsky ( 1821-1881 ) . In opposition to Dostoyevsky 's views , Solovyov was sympathetic to the Roman Catholic Church . He favored the healing of the schism ( ecumenism , sobornost ) between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches eventually , through an ethical and social standpoint , converting to Roman Catholicism . Solovyov never married or had children , but he pursued idealized relationships as immortalized in his spiritual love-poetry , including with two women named Sophia . He rebuffed the advances of mystic Anna Schmidt , who claimed to be his divine partner . Solovyov died an apparently homeless pauper in 1900 , leaving his brother Mikhail Sergeevich and several colleagues to defend and promote his intellectual legacy . # Influence # It is widely held that Solovyov was one of the sources for Dostoyevsky 's characters Alyosha Karamazov and Ivan Karamazov from ' ' The Brothers Karamazov ' ' . Solovyov 's influence can also be seen in the writings of the Symbolist and Neo-Idealist of the later Russian Soviet era . His book ' ' The Meaning of Love ' ' can be seen as one of the philosophical sources of Leo Tolstoy 's ' ' The Kreutzer Sonata ' ' ( 1889 ) . This was also the work where he introduced the concept of ' syzygy ' , to denote ' close union ' . He influenced the religious philosophy of Nicolas Berdyaev , Sergey Bulgakov , Pavel Florensky , Nikolai Lossky , Semen L. Frank , the ideas of Rudolf Steiner and the poetry and theory of Russian Symbolists , namely Andrei Belyi , Alexander Blok , Solovyov 's nephew , and others . Hans Urs von Balthasar explores his work as one example of seven lay styles that reveal the glory of God 's revelation , in volume III of ' ' The Glory of the Lord ' ' ( pp. 279352 ) . # Sophiology # Solovyov compiled a philosophy based on Hellenistic philosophy ( see Plato , Aristotle and Plotinus ) and early Christian tradition with Buddhism and Hebrew Kabbalistic elements ( Philo of Alexandria ) . He also studied Gnosticism and the works of Valentinus . His religious philosophy was syncretic , and fused philosophical elements of various religious traditions with Orthodox Christianity and his own experience of Sophia . Solovyov described his encounters with the entity Sophia in his works , ' ' Three Encounters ' ' and ' ' Lectures on Godmanhood ' ' among others . Solovyov 's fusion was driven by the desire to reconcile and or unite with Orthodox Christianity these various traditions via the Russian Slavophiles ' concept of sobornost . His Russian religious philosophy had a very strong impact on the Russian Symbolist art movements of his time . Solovyov 's teachings on Sophia , conceived as the merciful unifying feminine wisdom of God comparable to the Hebrew Shekinah or various goddess traditions , have been deemed a heresy by ROCOR and as unsound and unorthodox by the Patriarchate of Moscow . # Sobornost # Solovyov sought to create a philosophy that could through his system of logic or reason reconcile ' ' all ' ' bodies of knowledge or disciplines of thought , and fuse all conflicting concepts into a single system . The central component of this complete philosophic reconciliation was the Russian Slavophile concept of ' ' sobornost ' ' ( organic or Spontaneous order through integration ; which is related to the Russian word for ' catholic ' ) . Solovyov sought to find and validate common ground or where conflicts found common ground and by focusing on this common ground to establish absolute unity and or integral fusion of opposing ideas and / or peoples . # Quotes # As long as the dark foundation of our nature , grim in its all-encompassing egoism , mad in its drive to make that egoism into reality , to devour everything and to define everything by itself , as long as that foundation is visible , as long as this truly original sin exists within us , we have no business here and there is no logical answer to our existence . Imagine a group of people who are all blind , deaf and slightly demented and suddenly someone in the crowd asks , What are we to do ? .. The only possible answer is Look for a cure . Until you are cured , there is nothing you can do . And since you do n't believe you are sick , there can be no cure . But if the faith communicated by the Church to Christian humanity is a living faith , and if the grace of the sacraments is an effectual grace , the resultant union of the divine and the human can not be limited to the special domain of religion , but must extend to all Man 's common relationships and must regenerate and transform his social and political life . # Bibliography #  , 2012 , Kassock Bros . Publishing Co. , ISBN 1475136838 ISBN 978-1475136838  , 1996 , Lindisfarne Books , ISBN 0-940262-73-8 ISBN 978-0-940262-73-7  , 2010 , Cosimo Classics , ISBN 1-61640-281-4 ISBN 978-1-61640-281-5  , 1985 , Lindisfarne Books , ISBN 0-89281-068-8 ISBN 978-0-89281-068-0  , 1990 , Lindisfarne Books , ISBN 0-940262-35-5 ISBN 978-0-940262-35-5  , , 1948 , G. Bles . ( Abridged version : ' ' The Russian Church and the Papacy ' ' , 2002 , Catholic Answers , ISBN 1-888992-29-8 ISBN 978-1-888992-29-8 
@@1141327 birthplace = Freiburg , Germany deathplace = Princeton , New Jersey Walter Arnold Kaufmann ( July 1 , 1921 September 4 , 1980 ) was a German-American philosopher , translator , and poet . A prolific author , he wrote extensively on a broad range of subjects , such as authenticity and death , moral philosophy and existentialism , theism and atheism , Christianity and Judaism , as well as philosophy and literature . He served for over 30 years as a Professor at Princeton University . He is renowned as a scholar and translator of Nietzsche . He also wrote a 1965 book on Hegel . Kaufmann also published a translation of the first part of Goethe 's ' ' Faust ' ' . # Biography # Kaufmann was raised a Lutheran . At age 11 , finding that he believed neither in the Trinity nor in the divinity of Jesus , he converted to Judaism . Kaufmann subsequently discovered that his grandparents were all Jewish . Kaufmann left Germany and immigrated to America in 1939 and began studying at Williams College , where he majored in philosophy and took many religion classes . Although he had the opportunity to move immediately into his graduate studies in philosophy , and despite advice not to do so by his professors , he ultimately joined the war effort against the Nazis by serving in U.S. intelligence . During World War II , he fought in the European front for 15 months . After the war , he completed a PhD in the philosophy of religion at Harvard in a mere two years . His dissertation was titled Nietzsche 's Theory of Values and eventually became a chapter in his ' ' Nietzsche : Philosopher , Psychologist , Antichrist ' ' ( 1950 ) . He spent his entire career thereafter , from 1947 to 1980 , teaching philosophy at Princeton University , where his students included the Nietzsche scholars Frithjof Bergmann , Richard Schacht , Alexander Nehamas , and Ivan Soll . # Ideas # In a 1959 article in ' ' Harper 's Magazine ' ' , he summarily rejected all religious values and practice , especially the liberal Protestantism of continental Europe that began with Schleiermacher and culminated in the writings of Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann . In their place , he praised moralists such as the biblical prophets , the Buddha , and Socrates . He argued that critical analysis and the acquisition of knowledge were liberating and empowering forces . He forcefully criticized the fashionable liberal Protestantism of the 20th century as filled with contradictions and evasions , preferring the austerity of the book of Job and the Jewish existentialism of Martin Buber . Kaufmann discussed many of these issues in his 1958 ' ' Critique of Religion and Philosophy ' ' . Kaufmann wrote a good deal on the existentialism of Sren Kierkegaard and Karl Jaspers . Kaufmann had great admiration for Kierkegaard 's passion and his insights on freedom , anxiety , and individualism . Kaufmann wrote : Nobody before Kierkegaard had seen so clearly that the freedom to make a fateful decision that may change our character and future breeds anxiety . Although Kaufmann did not share Kierkegaard 's religious outlook and was critical of his Protestant theology , Kaufmann was nevertheless sympathetic and impressed with the depth of Kierkegaard 's thinking : : ... I know of no other great writer in the whole nineteenth century , perhaps even in the whole of world literature , to whom I respond with less happiness and with a more profound sense that I am on trial and found wanting , unless it were Sren Kierkegaard . Kaufmann edited the anthology ' ' Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre ' ' . Kaufmann disliked Martin Heidegger 's thinking , along with what he saw as his unclear writing . Kaufmann is renowned for his translations and exegesis of Nietzsche , whom he saw as gravely misunderstood by English speakers , as a major early existentialist , and as an unwitting precursor , in some respects , to Anglo-American analytic philosophy . Michael Tanner called Kaufmann 's commentaries on Nietzsche obtrusive , self-referential , and lacking insight , but Llewellyn Jones wrote that Kaufmann 's fresh insights into .. Nietzsche .. can deepen the insights of every discriminating student of literature , and ' ' The New Yorker ' ' wrote that Kaufmann ' has produced what may be the definitive study of Nietzsche 's .. thoughtan informed , scholarly , and lustrous work . ' Kaufmann wrote that superficially # ... it also seems that as a philosopher Nietzsche represents a very sharp decline from Kant and Hegel .. because Nietzsche has no ' system . ' Yet this argument is hardly cogent . .. Not only can one defend Nietzsche on this score .. but one must add that he had strong philosophic reasons for not having a system . # Kaufmann also sympathized with Nietzsche 's acerbic criticisms of Christianity . However , Kaufmann faulted much in Nietzsche , writing that my disagreements with Nietzsche are legion . Regarding style , Kaufmann argued that Nietzsche 's ' ' Thus Spoke Zarathustra ' ' , for example , is in parts badly written , melodramatic , or verbose , yet concluded that the book is not only a mine of ideas , but also a major work of literature and a personal triumph . Kaufmann described his own ethic and his own philosophy of living in his books , including ' ' The Faith Of A Heretic : What Can I Believe ? How Should I Live ? What Do I Hope ? ' ' ( 1961 ) and ' ' Without Guilt And Justice : From Decidophobia To Autonomy ' ' ( 1973 ) . He advocated living in accordance with what he proposed as the four cardinal virtues : ambition/humility ; love ; courage ; and honesty . # Partial bibliography # # Original works #  ' ' Nietzsche : Philosopher , Psychologist , Antichrist ' '  ' ' From Shakespeare to Existentialism ' '  ' ' Existentialism : From Dostoevsky to Sartre ' '  ' ' Critique of Religion and Philosophy ' '  ' ' Tragedy and Philosophy ' '  ' ' Hegel : A Reinterpretation ' '  ' ' ' ' ( downloadable ) ( the title after the colon is from the ' mass market paperback ' version )  ' ' Without Guilt and Justice ' '  ' ' Cain and Other Poems ' '  ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death : Thirteen Essays ' '  ' ' The Future of the Humanities ' '  ' ' Religions in Four Dimensions ' '  ' ' Discovering the Mind ' ' , a trilogy consisting of * ' ' Goethe , Kant , and Hegel ' ' * ' ' Nietzsche , Heidegger , and Buber ' ' * ' ' Freud Versus Adler and Jung ' '  ' ' Man 's Lot : A Trilogy ' ' , consisting of * ' ' Life at the Limits ' ' * ' ' Time is an Artist ' ' * ' ' What is Man ? ' ' # Translations #  ' ' Twenty-Five German poets ' ' ( superseded the earlier ' ' Twenty German Poets ' ' )  ' ' Goethe 's Faust ' ' ( Part One and selections from Part Two )  ' ' Hegel : Texts and Commentary ' '  ' ' Judaism and Christianity , essays by Leo Baeck ' '  ' ' I and Thou ' ' , by Martin Buber As written or published by Friedrich Nietzsche in chronological order :  ' ' The Birth of Tragedy Or : Hellenism And Pessimism ' '  ' ' The Gay Science : With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs ' '  ' ' Thus Spoke Zarathustra : A Book for All and None ' '  ' ' Beyond Good and Evil : Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future ' '  ' ' On the Genealogy of Morals ' ' ( with R. J. Hollingdale )  ' ' The Case of Wagner ' ' A Musician 's Problem  ' ' Twilight of the Idols ' ' How One Philosophizes with a Hammer  ' ' The Antichrist ' '  ' ' Nietzsche contra Wagner ' '  ' ' Ecce Homo : How One Becomes What One Is ' '  ' ' The Will to Power ' ' ( with R. J. Hollingdale ) # Anthologies/edited works #  ' ' The Portable Nietzsche ' ' . Viking .  ' ' Basic Writings of Nietzsche ' ' , designed to complement the preceding .  ' ' Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre ' '  ' ' ' ' , a companion to the preceding .  ' ' Philosophic Classics ' ' , in two volumes : ,  ' ' Hegel 's Political Philosophy ' ' # Articles , book chapters , and introductions #  Nietzsche 's Admiration for Socrates , ' ' Journal of the History of Ideas ' ' , v. 9 , October 1948 , pp. 472491 . Earlier version : Nietzsche 's Admiration for Socrates ( Bowdoin Prize , 1947 ; pseud . David Dennis )  Goethe and the History of Ideas , ' ' Journal of the History of Ideas ' ' , v. 10 , October 1949 , pp. 503516.  The Hegel Myth and Its Method , ' ' Philosophical Review ' ' v.60 , No. 4 ( October 1951 ) , pp. 459486.  Some Typical Misconceptions of Nietzsche 's Critique of Christianity , ' ' Philosophical Review ' ' v. 61 , no. 4 ( October 1952 ) , pp. 595599.  Hegel 's Early Antitheological Phase , ' ' Philosophical Review ' ' v. 63 , no. 1 ( January 1954 ) , pp. 318.  Nietzsche and Rilke , ' ' Kenyon Review ' ' , XVII ( 1955 ) , pp. 123.  Toynbee and Superhistory ' ' Partisan Review ' ' , vol. 22 , no. 4 , Fall 1955 , pp. 531541 . Reprinted in Cite book  A Hundred Years after Kierkegaard , ' ' Kenyon Review ' ' , XVIII , pp. 182211.  Jaspers Relation to Nietzsche , in Paul Schilpps , ed. , ' ' The Philosophy of Karl Jaspers ' ' ( New York : Tudor , 1957 ) , pp. 407-436.  , ' ' Harper 's Magazine ' ' , February 1959 , pp. 33-39 . Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  Existentialism and Death , ' ' Chicago Review ' ' , XIII , 1959 , pp. 7393 . Revised version reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  in ' ' The Meaning of Death ' ' , Herman Feifel , New York : The Blakiston Division / McGraw-Hill , 1959.  Preface to ' ' Europe and the Jews : The Pressure of Christendom on the People of Israel for 1900 Years ' ' , 2d ed , by Malcolm Hay . Boston : Beacon Press , 1961.  A Philosopher 's View , in ' ' Ethics and Business : Three Lectures ' ' . University Park , Pa. , 1962 , pp. 3554 . Originally presented at a seminar sponsored by the College of Business Administration of the Pennsylvania State University on March 19 , 1962.  Nietzsche Between Homer and Sartre : Five Treatments of the Orestes Story , ' ' Revue Internationale de Philosophie ' ' v. 18 , 1964 , pp. 5073.  Nietzsche in the Light of his Suppressed Manuscripts , ' ' Journal of the History of Philosophy ' ' v. 2 , October 1964 , pp. 205226.  in ' ' Philosophy and Educational Development ' ' , Ed. by G. Barnett . Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company , 1966.  , in ' ' Art and philosophy , a symposium ' ' . Hook , Sidney , ed . New York University Press , New York . 1966  Buber 's Religious Significance , from ' ' The Philosophy of Martin Buber ' ' , ed . P. A. Schilpp and Maurice Friedman ( London : Cambridge University Press , 1967 ) Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  The Reception of Existentialism in the United States , ' ' Midway ' ' , vol. 9 ( 1 ) ( Summer 1968 ) , pp. 97126 . Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  Foreword to ' ' Frau Lou : Nietzsche 's Wayward Disciple ' ' , by Rudolph Binion . Princeton , New Jersey : Princeton University Press , 1969.  Introductory essay , ' ' Alienation ' ' Richard Schacht , Garden City , N.Y. , Doubleday , 1970  The Future of Jewish Identity , ' ' The Jerusalem Post Magazine ' ' August 1 , 1969 , pp. 607 . Reprinted in ' ' Congressional Bi-Weekly ' ' , April 3 , 1970 ; in ' ' Conservative Judaism ' ' , Summer 1970 ; in ' ' New Theology ' ' no. 9 , 1972 , pp. 4158 , and in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976. )  Foreword to ' ' An Introduction to Hegel 's Metaphysics ' ' , by Ivan Soll . Chicago and London : University of Chicago Press , 1969.  The Origin of Justice , ' ' Review of Metaphysics ' ' v. 23 , December 1969 , pp. 209239.  Beyond Black and White , ' ' Midway ' ' , v. 10(3) ( Winter 1970 ) , pp. 4979 . Also ' ' Survey ' ' no. 73 ( Autumn 1969 ) , pp. 2246 . Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  Hegel 's Ideas about Tragedy in ' ' New Studies in Hegel 's Philosophy ' ' , ed . Warren E. Steinkraus ( New York : Holt , Rinehart and Winston , Inc. , 1971 ) , pp. 201220.  The Death of God and the Revaluation , in Robert Solomon , ed. , Nietzsche : A Collection of Critical Essays ( New York : Anchor Press , 1973 ) , pp. 928.  The Discovery of the Will to Power , in Robert Solomon , ed. , ' ' Nietzsche : A Collection of Critical Essays ' ' ( New York : Anchor Press , 1973 ) , pp. 226242.  Foreword in ' ' Truth and Value in Nietzsche : A Study of His Metaethics and Epistemology ' ' by John T. Wilcox . Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press , 1974  Nietzsche and Existentialism , ' ' Symposium : A Quarterly Journal in Modern Foreign Literatures ' ' , v. 28(1) ( Spring 1974 ) , pp. 716 . Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  Hegel 's Conception of Phenomenology in ' ' Phenomenology and Philosophical Understanding ' ' , Edo Pivcevi , ed. , pp. 211230 ( 1975 ) .  Unknown Feuerbach Autobiography , ' ' Times Literary Supplement ' ' 1976 ( 3887 ) : 1123-1124.  A Preface to Kierkegaard , in Sren Kierkegaard , ' ' The Present Age and Of the Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle ' ' , trans . Alexander Dru , Harper Torchbooks , pp. 929 . Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  On Death and Lying , Reprinted in ' ' Existentialism , Religion , and Death ' ' ( New York : New American Library , 1976 ) .  Letter on Nietzsche , ' ' Times Literary Supplement ' ' 1978 ( 3960 ) : 203.  Buber 's Failures and Triumph , ' ' Revue Internationale de Philosophie ' ' v. 32 , 1978 , pp. 441459.  Buber : Of His Failures and Triumph , ' ' Encounter ' ' 52(5) : 31-38 1979.  Reply to letter , ' ' Encounter ' ' 55(4) : 95 1980.  Art , Tradition , and Truth , ' ' Partisan Review ' ' , XVII , pp. 928. # Sound recordings #   Kierkegaard and the Crisis in Religion  Nietzsche and the Crisis in Philosophy  Sartre and the Crisis in Morality  Oedipus Rex  Homer and the Birth of Tragedy  Aeschylus and the Death of Tragedy  The Power of the Single Will  Three Satanic Interludes  The Will to Power Reexamined # Critical assessments #  Pickus , David . The Walter Kaufmann Myth : A Study in Academic Judgment , ' ' Nietzsche-Studien ' ' 32 ( 2003 ) , 226-58.  Ratner-Rosenhagen , Jennifer . ' Dionysian Enlightenment ' : Walter Kaufmanns ' ' Nietzsche ' ' in Historical Perspective , ' ' Modern Intellectual History ' ' 3 ( 2006 ) , 239-269.  Sokel , Walter . Political Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche in Walter Kaufmanns Image of Nietzsche , ' ' Nietzsche-Studien ' ' 12 ( 1983 ) , 436-42. 
@@1189404 The American Philosophical Association ( APA ) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States . Founded in 1900 , its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers , to encourage creative and scholarly activity in philosophy , to facilitate the professional work and teaching of philosophers , and to represent philosophy as a discipline . The Association has three divisions - Pacific , Central and Eastern . Each division organizes a large annual conference . The biggest of these is the Eastern Division Meeting , which usually attracts around 2,000 philosophers and takes place in a different East Coast city each December . The Eastern Division Meeting is also the USA 's largest recruitment event for philosophy jobs , with numerous universities sending teams to interview candidates for academic posts . By tradition , the two evening receptionsthe first of which features free beer and wineare referred to as ' smokers ' -- a carry over from the days where everyone would be smoking . These events serve the dual purpose of informally continuing interviews and catching up with friends from across the country . The Presidency of a Division of the American Philosophical Association is considered to be a professional honor . Recent presidents of the Eastern Division include Sally Haslanger , Linda Martn Alcoff , Paul Guyer , Edward S. Casey , Daniel Dennett , Virginia Held , John Cooper , T.M. Scanlon , Alexander Nehamas , Ernest Sosa , Jerry Fodor , Seyla Benhabib , Kwame Anthony Appiah , Christine Korsgaard , and Robert Nozick . Recent presidents of the Central Division include Steven Nadler , Margaret Atherton , Peter van Inwagen , Ted Cohen , Eleonore Stump , Karl Ameriks , Stephen Darwall , Marcia Baron , Allan Gibbard , Alvin Plantinga , Elliott Sober , Claudia Card and Lawrence Sklar . Recent presidents of the Pacific Division include Terence Parsons , John Martin Fischer , Alison Wylie , Calvin Normore , Jeffrie Murphy , Hubert Dreyfus , Richard Wollheim , and Paul Churchland . The American Philosophical Association awards several prizes . A prominent example is the American Philosophical Association Book Prize ( formerly known as the Matchette Foundation Book Prize , one of the oldest prizes in philosophy ) . It is awarded biannually to the best book published in the field over a two-year period by a younger scholar ( defined as someone age 40 or younger at the time of publication or someone who received his or her Ph.D . 10 or fewer years before the time of publication ) . Awarded for the first time in 2000 , the Book Prize is now awarded in odd years , alternating with the Article Prize awarded in even years . The APA Book Prize has been won by such figures as David Kellogg Lewis , Lawrence Sklar , Bas van Fraassen , Michael Friedman , Loran Lomasky , Paul Guyer , John Cooper , Ted Sider , and Michael Smith . Another of the most distinguished prizes is the Royce Lectures in the philosophy of mind , awarded to a distinguished philosopher every four years . They have been delivered by Robert Stalnaker , Jerry Fodor , Hilary Putnam , Sydney Shoemaker , Saul Kripke , and Elizabeth Anscombe . Another such prize is the Rockefeller Prize . The Rockefeller Prize ( $1000 ) is awarded every two years for the best unpublished article length work in philosophy by a non-academically affiliated philosopher . The winner 's work will be published in ' ' The Journal of Value Inquiry ' ' at the behest of the winner and the journal . The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy was created in 1962 by American philosophers who were interested in Continental philosophy and were dissatisfied with the analytic approach of the APA . 
@@1271121 Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality , or some aspect of it , is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes , perceptions , linguistic practices , beliefs , etc . Realism may be spoken of with respect to other minds , the past , the future , universals , mathematical entities ( such as natural numbers ) , moral categories , the material world , and thought . Realism can also be promoted in an unqualified sense , in which case it asserts the mind-independent existence of a visible world , as opposed to skepticism and solipsism . Philosophers who profess realism state that truth consists in the mind 's correspondence to reality . Realists tend to believe that whatever we believe now is only an approximation of reality and that every new observation brings us closer to understanding reality . In its Kantian sense , ' ' realism ' ' is contrasted with ' ' idealism ' ' . In a contemporary sense , ' ' realism ' ' is contrasted with ' ' anti-realism ' ' , primarily in the philosophy of science . # History # The oldest use of the term realism appears in Medieval philosophy # Platonic realism # Platonic realism is a philosophy # The Scottish School of Common Sense Realism # Scottish Common Sense Realism is a school of philosophy that sought to defend naive realism against philosophical paradox and scepticism , arguing that matters of common sense are within the reach of common understanding and that common-sense beliefs even govern the lives and thoughts of those who hold non-commonsensical beliefs . It originated in the ideas of the most prominent members of the Scottish School of Common Sense , Thomas Reid , Adam Ferguson and Dugald Stewart , during the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment and flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Scotland and America . Its roots can be found in responses to such philosophers as John Locke , George Berkeley and David Hume . The approach was a response to the ideal system that began with Descartes ' concept of the limitations of sense experience and led Locke and Hume to a skepticism that called religion and the evidence of the senses equally into question . The common sense realists found skepticism to be absurd and so contrary to common experience that it had to be rejected . They taught that ordinary experiences provide intuitively certain assurance of the existence of the self , of real objects that could be seen and felt and of certain first principles upon which sound morality and religious beliefs could be established . Its basic principle was enunciated by its founder and greatest figure , Thomas Reid : : If there are certain principles , as I think there are , which the constitution of our nature leads us to believe , and which we are under a necessity to take for granted in the common concerns of life , without being able to give a reason for them--these are what we call the principles of common sense ; and what is manifestly contrary to them , is what we call absurd . . # Nave realism # Nave realism , also known as direct realism , is a philosophy of mind rooted in a common sense theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world . In contrast , some forms of idealism assert that no world exists apart from mind-dependent ideas and some forms of skepticism say we can not trust our senses . The realist view is that objects are composed of matter , occupy space and have properties , such as size , shape , texture , smell , taste and colour , that are usually perceived correctly . We perceive them as they ' ' really ' ' are . Objects obey the laws of physics and retain all their properties whether or not there is anyone to observe them . # Scientific realism # Scientific realism is , at the most general level , the view that the world described by science is the real world , as it is , independent of what we might take it to be . Within philosophy of science , it is often framed as an answer to the question how is the success of science to be explained ? The debate over what the success of science involves centers primarily on the status of unobservable entities apparently talked about by scientific theories . Generally , those who are scientific realists assert that one can make reliable claims about unobservables ( viz. , that they have the same ontological status ) as observables . Analytical philosophers generally have a commitment to scientific realism , in the sense of regarding the scientific method as a reliable guide to the nature of reality . The main alternative to scientific realism is instrumentalism. # Aesthetic realism # Aesthetic realism may mean the claim that there are mind-independent aesthetic facts , but in general discussions about art Realism and realism are complex terms that may have a number of different meanings . 
@@1284798 class= infobox bordered style= width : 25em ; text-align : left ; font-size : 95% ; ' ' Crest of the University Philosophical Society ' ' ! Founded ! Reformation ! Senior patron Officers of the University Philosophical Society , 330th Session ! Hon. President ! Hon. Secretary ! Hon. Treasurer ! Hon. Registrar ! Hon. Debates Convenor ! Hon. Librarian ! Hon. Steward ! Hon. School Convenor ! Vice-President ' ' Society Colours ' ' Graduates Memorial Building Trinity College , Dublin The University Philosophical Society , commonly known as The Phil , is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College , Dublin , Ireland . Founded in 1683 , it is the oldest student , collegial and paper-reading society in the world . to mark the original session date the Dublin Philosophical Society was fully reformed under its original name , traditionally meeting on Mondays , to cater for those Trinity College students too young to join other societies in Dublin . At the time , undergraduates were not allowed to join most College societies , such as the College Historical Society . It then became the Dublin University Philosophical Society in February 1843 with larger meetings taking place within the Examination Hall . In 1860 , the Dublin University Philosophical Society changed its name to the University Philosophical Society . This makes the Phil the oldest , student , paper-reading , and collegial society in the world , The society was a female-only debating society , having sent teams to the Irish Times National Debating Championship from relatively early in the competitions history . It also hosted many debates , paper discussions , group discussions and the Eliz Garden Party ( within Fellow 's Square ) which was considered one of the social highlights of Trinity term in the college . Each year the society welcomed esteemed guests to speak on topics regarding the history , the societal limitations of women and feminism . These included such guests as Ninette de Valois , dancer and founder of the The Royal Ballet , who visited in late 1964 to celebrate the society 's 60th year . The society had its rooms in No.6 ( now House 6 ) in Parliament Square , housing many amenities for female students within the college , including one of only a handful of female toilets on the campus . From the mid-1960s there had been great debate within both the University Philosophical Society and the Dublin University Elizabethan Society regarding a merger of both societies into one . There was strong individual opposition within both societies however , with the resignation of then President of the Phil Gordon Ledbetter over the proposal in 1967 and a vote in 1968 by the Eliz rejected the merger . However in 1982 the Dublin University Elizabethan Society merged with the University Philosophical Society , which vastly increased female membership and increased debating within the society . Today as a symbolic gesture , the highest ranking female officer of the Phil is accorded the honorary title of Auditrix of the Elizabethan Society . # #Inclusion of Women# # In February 1954 the society voted to allow women to attend its meetings ( which included paper-reading and debates ) . A year later the society allowed women full membership , however this decision was vetoed and then overruled by the Board of the college . In 1965 Joanna Walmsley presented the first paper by a woman to the society entitled Tolstoy - Realist or Moralist ? to the society , with women only being allowed to reply to papers from 1963 . The society voted to admit women to full membership in late Michaelmas term of 1967 ( 23 November ) . Full membership allowed women to attend meetings and the full use of the society 's Conversation Room . This had come after some quite heated debate within the society and with college authorities . On 30 November 1967 Elizabeth Hall became the first female member of the society . This meant women were allowed to attend meetings fifteen years before and full membership almost two years before the Hist did the same . # 21st Century # Today the University Philosophical Society is the largest student society within the college and Ireland . Its meetings include weekly paper readings and debates . Additionally it invites many internationally esteemed guests each year , regularly interviews with public figures , which have included Al Pacino , Desmond Tutu , Angela Merkel and Stephen Fry . # Notable events # Among the notable events held was the demonstration of an early telephone by Stephen Yeates in 1865. # Governance # The Phil is governed by a Council elected by the members of the society each year . There are eight officers : President , Secretary , Treasurer , Registrar , Debates Convenor , Librarian , Steward , and Schools Convenor . All officers are directly elected . In addition to the officers are a fourteen Members of Council.The Members of Council serve as deputies to the officers , aid in the execution of their responsibilities and any other such work necessary for the efficient running of the society . Six are directly elected each year . One of these six is then selected by the Council to serve as Vice President of the society . The Senior Member of Council is also elected in the same manner as the officers of the society and is delegated the responsibility of co-ordinating the other Members of Council . The newly elected Council may then add up to seven further Members of Council via co-option. # Members of Council , 330th Session # # The Bram Stoker Club # In addition to its usual events , the society added a sub-group , the Bram Stoker Club ( more commonly known as Bram ) , to its organization in 2011 . Named after one of the Phil 's most illustrious presidents ( Bram Stoker ) , the club holds weekly afternoon paper-readings on a range of topics . These paper-readings have served to carry on the long tradition of the society , which had fallen slightly out of fashion in recent years . In January 2013 , the Club was incorporated into the official laws of the University Philosophical Society by majority vote . This was then officially recognised by the Dublin University Central Societies Committee in March of the same year . It had its first foray outside of College in 2013 , entering the winning team of John Engle and Liam Brophy in that years Irish Times National Debating Championship . During the 4th Session , the club welcomed three living descendants of its namesake Bram Stoker . Noel Dobbs , Robin MacCaw and Dacre Stoker met with members of the club and society at large . Each presented papers on the history of Bram Stoker and legacy of Dracula within their family . Also in attendance was distant relative and Senator David Norris . Finally the Stoker family presented the club with portrait of Bram Stoker by Dublin artist Damian Byrne , and a plaque specifying the connection between the society and their ancestor . # Subcommittee members # # Competitive debating # The society endeavors each year to enable its membership to engage in competitive debating both externally and internally to the college . This includes holding workshops , regular weekly competitive debates , as well as traveling to other colleges throughout Ireland and abroad to compete in similar competitions . # External Debating Competitions # The society has a strong presence and list of accomplishment on the competitive debating circuit . Having first won the Irish Times National Debating Championship in 1961 the society has gone on to win and place in several other well known debating competitions . These include the John Smith Memorial Mace , World Universities Debating Championship , Irish National Law Debates , Cork IV and the UCD Vice Presidents ' Cup IV . # Internal Debating Competitions # The society runs several internal debating competitions each year . The Eamon O'Coine Memorial Maiden Speaker 's Competition , for first-time speakers in college ; the satirically-titled Margaret Thatcher Memorial Debating Competition ( or ' ' Maggies ' ' ) ; a series of regular weekly debates , the Elizabethan Society Memorial Pro-Am Competition ( or Lizzies ) . # Trinity Inter-varsity # Each year , normally in January the society jointly , with the Hist hosts the Claire Stewart Trinity IV each year , comprising the Kingsmill-Moore Invitational and the Dean Swift Intervarsity. # Phil Speaks # The Phil Speaks Debating and Public Speaking Initiative , more commonly known as Phil Speaks is a campaign aimed at promoting , as well as developing skills in public speaking and oratory . Formed by the society in 2004 the initiative combines in-school oratory workshops , with ProAm ( Professional-Amateur ) learning competitions to encourage these skills in students of all secondary schools throughout Ireland . At the end of the contest , the society hosts the Phil Speaks Competitive Weekend modelled on the format of a University Intervarsity Competition held within the Graduates Memorial Building , with the grand final taking place in the Debating Chamber . # Awards # Annually , the society internally awards the author of the best paper and the best chamber speaker from its membership , medals of oratory and composition . The society also awards the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage and the Bram Stoker Medal to various esteemed guests each year . # Central Societies Committee of Trinity College , Dublin # The society has a strong record of being the recipient of several awards by the internal Central Societies Committee of Trinity College . In recent years these include : # Board of Irish College Societies # The Board of Irish College Societies ( BICS ) is a national organisation , constituted in 1995 , dedicated to providing a national forum for the societies in Ireland 's Universities , Colleges and Institutes of Education . The Board is responsible for the promotion of interest in the activities of Irish college societies and of contact and co-operation between them . The University Philosophical Society has formidable history of achievement : # Honorary patrons # Through its years in college , the Society has recorded the presence of many notable guests , the most distinguished of whom are named honorary patrons of the society . Included amongst these are multiple Nobel Prize laureates , both before and after their receipt of the Prize , such as William Butler Yeats , Heads of State and of Government , notable actors and musicians , as well as well-known intellectuals . Guests have also included all Taoisigh since Charles Haughey . # Academia # Niall Ferguson , British Historian , Harvard professor . Joseph Nye , international relations theorist , former Dean of Harvard 's Kennedy School of Government . George Ritzer , sociologist , Professor at the University of Maryland . Edward Sad , Palestinian-American literary theorist , former University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University . A.C . Grayling , British philosopher . founder and first Master of New College of the Humanities , London . John Mearsheimer , international relations theorist , Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago . Dan Ariely , Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University . Edmund Phelps , Economist , Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University , Nobel Laureate. Richard Dawkins , Ethologist , Evolutionary Biologist , Author . ( Inaugural Meeting Speaker , 328th Session ) . Arthur T. Benjamin , American mathematician , Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College . Brian Greene , American theoretical physicist , Professor at Columbia University . Daniel Gilbert , social psychologist and Professor at Harvard University . Joseph Stiglitz , American economist and a professor at Columbia University . Jane Goodall , primatologist and environmental activist . Steven Pinker , psychologist , cognitive scientist , linguist and science author . Paul Krugman , American economist and Professor at Princeton University . # Arts # Helen Mirren , actress , Academy Award Winner . The Edge , guitarist , keyboardist , and main backing vocalist of rock band U2 . Johnny Marr , guitarist of the bands The Smiths and Modest Mouse . Tom Stoppard , playwright and writer , Academy Award winner . Gabriel Byrne , Irish actor , director and producer . Al Pacino , American actor and director , Academy Award winner . Joanna Lumley , British actress and political activist . Oliver Stone , film director , Academy Award winner . Tommy Tiernan , Irish comedian. Jonathan Rhys Meyers , Irish actor and model . David Cronenburg , Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. Jeffrey Archer , actor , playwright and former politician . Jon Voight , American actor and political commentator , Academy Award winner . Spike Milligan , Irish comedian , writer , poet and playwright . Naomi Campbell , supermodel. Jack White , musician , lead vocalist of the White Stripes . Pete Doherty , singer and songwriter , lead singer of the band The Libertines. Dolores O'Riordan , lead singer of the band The Cranberries. John C. McGinley , American actor and author . Chris Blackwell , music producer . John C. Reilly , American actor and comedian. Courtney Love , American singer song writer and actress . Sir Christopher Lee , renowned and prolific British actor . Stephen Fry , British actor , screenwriter , author , playwright , journalist , poet , comedian , television presenter and film director . Michael Gambon , Irish film and theatre actor . Eric Whitacre , Grammy-winning composer and conductor . Hugh Laurie , Golden Globe-winning actor , musician , comedian and author . Whoopi Goldberg , comedienne , actress , singer-songwriter , political activist , Academy Award winner . Conan O'Brien , Television host , comedian , writer , producer and performer . Seann William Scott , American actor and comedian. Bobby McFerrin , American musician and vocalist. John Hurt , British actor . Dominic West , British actor . Jenna Marbles , American entertainer and YouTube personality . Nile Rodgers , American musician , producer , composer and guitarist . Mitsuko Uchida , classical pianist . Kele Okereke , musician and lead singer of Bloc Party . Julian Fellowes , actor , novelist , and screenwriter. # Broadcasting and Journalism # Germaine Greer , feminist journalist . Bill O'Reilly , Fox News presenter . Claudia Rosett , investigative journalist . Greg Palast , British journalist and author . John Simpson , BBC News correspondent . Rush Limbaugh , American conservative news pundit . Martin Wolf , Economics journalist , Associate Editor and Chief economics commentator at the Financial Times . Ira Glass , American public radio personality . # Business # Tommy Hilfiger , American fashion designer and businessman . Tim Draper , American venture capitalist . Jimmy Wales , co-founder of Wikipedia. Matt Mullenweg , founder of Wordpress. Craig Newmark , founder of Craigslist. Christopher Bailey , chief creative director of Burberry. Jack Dorsey , founder of Twitter . JP McManus , entrepreneur . Niklas Zennstrom , founder of Skype. Chad Hurley , founder of YouTube. Olivier Blanchard , chief economist of the IMF . Mark Shuttleworth , entrepreneur and space tourist . Michael Birch , computer programmer , entrepreneur and founder of social networking website Bebo. Justin Cooke , former CMO of Topshop and founder of innovate7. Harper Reed , computer programmer and CTO of Barack Obama 's 2012 re-election campaign . # Law # Susan Denham , Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland . # Literature # William Butler Yeats , poet , Nobel Laureate. Salman Rushdie , novelist and essayist , Booker Prize Winner . Seamus Heaney , Irish poet and writer , Nobel Laureate. John Banville , author , Booker Prize Winner . John Boyne , Irish novelist . John Ralston Saul , Canadian author and essayist. Neil Strauss , author and journalist . Paul Howard , author and journalist . Roddy Doyle , Irish novelist , dramatist and screenwriter. Bill Bryson , American author . # Politics and Government # John Kenneth Galbraith , economist , former US Ambassador to India . John Hume , former leader of the SDLP in Northern Ireland , Nobel Laureate. Valry Giscard d'Estaing , former President of France . David Trimble , former First Minister of Northern Ireland , Nobel Laureate. Newt Gingrich , former Speaker of the US House of Representatives . Craig Murray , former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan . FW De Klerk , former President of South Africa , Nobel Laureate. Charles Haughey , former Taoiseach of Ireland . Desmond Tutu , Archbishop , Nobel Laureate. John McCain , US Senator , 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate . Mohamed ElBaradei , IAEA Director-General , Nobel Laureate. Lindsey Graham , US Senator . Mark Malloch Brown , former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General . Bob Geldof , organizer of Live Aid and Live 8. John Bruton , former Taoiseach of Ireland , former EU Ambassador to the United States . James Zogby , political organizer , member of the DNC. Albert Reynolds , former Taoiseach of Ireland . Garret FitzGerald , former Taoiseach of Ireland . John Ritch , World Nuclear Association Director-General . Ruth Bader Ginsburg , US Supreme Court Justice . Bertie Ahern , former Taoiseach of Ireland . Christopher Dodd , US Senator . Haley Barbour , Governor of Mississippi , former RNC Chairman . John Podesta , Chief of Staff , Clinton Administration . John Negroponte , former US Deputy Secretary of State . Peter Sutherland , former Attorney General of Ireland . George Galloway , British politician , author and broadcaster . Trent Lott , former US Senator . Franois Bourguignon , former Chief Economist of the World Bank . Tim Collins OBE , former Colonel 1st Battalion , Royal Irish Regiment . Fredrik Reinfeldt , Prime Minister of Sweden . Nancy Pelosi , Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives . ( Inaugural Meeting speaker , 327th Session ) . Mary McAleese , eighth President of Ireland . Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany . ( Inaugural Meeting speaker , 329th Session ) . # Sports # Alex Ferguson , manager of Manchester United football club . Eddie Jordan , founder and owner of Jordan Grand Prix . Rafael Bentez , manager of Liverpool football club for their Champions League win in 2005. Pdraig Harrington , Irish professional golfer . Dana White , American businessman , entrepreneur , and President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC ) . Steve Redgrave , British rower and five time consecutive Olympic Games gold medal winner . # Controversies # Many guests which the Phil has invited over the years have courted controversy . Contributors to its debates included Oswald Mosley during his residence in Ireland . In 1988 , the Society invited thenHolocaust denier David Irving to speak . A large protest by students , staff , Jewish groups , socialists , and anti-Nazi activists resulted in the meeting being relocated to a hotel conference room and held in the small hours of the morning . The traditional vote of thanks to Mr Irving for his paper was defeated , which is rare in the society 's history . The address of Austrian politician Jrg Haider to the society in late 2002 led to a protest by self-described anti-fascist activists , which continued through the debate , with noise being made outside the chamber and interjections in the society 's proceedings within . An invitation to British National Party ( BNP ) official Tony Wentworth was revoked after threats of physical action by leftist groups . Another guest to generate controversy was Islamist Anjem Choudary , who hailed the 9/11 terrorists as martyrs . Former Taoiseach John Bruton threatened to withdraw from a Phil debate later that year over this invitation , which was not withdrawn . Mr Bruton is now an Honorary Patron of the Society , and Anjem Choudary has been invited to speak at the Phil 's lectern several times . In 2011 , the Phil encountered controversy when it invited BNP leader Nick Griffin to speak at a Thursday night debate on immigration . After raging protests , talks with college officials and physical threats made to the members and council the invitation was reluctantly withdrawn by the President of the 327th session , Eoin O'Liathain . In a press statement the Phil said that it is unfortunate that circumstances have arisen under which the planned debate can no longer go ahead without compromising the safety of staff and students . Despite these challenges the session would go on to be voted Best Society in Trinity College that year . # Notable members # # Academia # Robert Stawell Ball , Royal Astronomer of Ireland and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge . President , 1860&amp;ndash ; 61. Valentine Ball , geologist . Treasurer , 1863&amp;ndash ; 64. J.B . Bury , historian , classicist , Byzantinist and philologist. George Coffey , scholar of Irish history and cultural revivalist . President , 1880&amp;ndash ; 81. William Macneile Dixon , British academic and author , Regius Professor of English Language and Literature , Glasgow . President , 1889&amp;ndash ; 90 , Librarian , 1888&amp;ndash ; 89. Mervyn A. Ellison , astronomer and authority on solar flares . President , 1931&amp;ndash ; 32 , Treasurer , 1930&amp;ndash ; 31. William Hugh Ferrar , classical scholar . Treasurer , 1855&amp;ndash ; 56. John Pentland Mahaffy , classicist and polymath scholar . President , 1858&amp;ndash ; 59. Vincent Arthur Smith , Indologist , historian and member of the Imperial Civil Service . President , 1868&amp;ndash ; 69. W . J. M. Starkie , Greek scholar . William Stokes , doctor and professor of surgery . John Lighton Synge , mathematician and physicist . Treasurer , 1917&amp;ndash ; 18. Ernest Walton , physicist and Nobel Laureate. Trevor West , mathematician and Senator . Treasurer , 1959&amp;ndash ; 60 , Registrar , 1958&amp;ndash ; 59. Bertram Windle , British anatomist , archaeologist , scientist and writer . Librarian , 1877&amp;ndash ; 78. # Arts # Norman Rodway , actor . John Butler Yeats , artist and father of William Butler Yeats . # Broadcasting and Journalism # Daire Brehan , Irish broadcaster , barrister and actress . Secretary , 1976&amp;ndash ; 77. Sarah Carey , columnist and broadcaster . Registrar , 1991&amp;ndash ; 92. Marc Coleman , economics editor of Newstalk and columnist for the Sunday Independent . Secretary , 1992&amp;ndash ; 93. Ken Early , journalist and sports broadcaster . Steward , 1998&amp;ndash ; 99. Alex Massie , prominent Scottish journalist . Steward , 1996&amp;ndash ; 97. # Law # James Campbell , 1st Baron Glenavy , Lord Chancellor of Ireland , Attorney-General for Ireland , Solicitor-General for Ireland , Member of Parliament and later first Chairman of the Free State Senate . Richard Cherry , Attorney-General for Ireland and Liberal MP . Secretary , 1879&amp;ndash ; 80. Gerald Fitzgibbon , Solicitor-General for Ireland , 1877&amp;ndash ; 78 and Lord Justice of Appeal . Secretary , 1857&amp;ndash ; 58. Jonathan Pim ( 1858-1949 ) , Solicitor-General for Ireland , Attorney-General for Ireland and Lord Justice of Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising . President , 1883&amp;ndash ; 84 , Secretary , 1882&amp;ndash ; 83 , Librarian , 1881&amp;ndash ; 82. Udo Udoma , former Justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court , former Chief Justice of Uganda . President , 1942&amp;ndash ; 43 , Secretary , 1941&amp;ndash ; 42 , Librarian , 1940&amp;ndash ; 41. # Literature # Edmund John Armstrong , poet . President , 1864&amp;ndash ; 65. Samuel Beckett , dramatist and poet , Nobel Laureate. Kate Cruise O'Brien , author . Edward Dowden , poet and critic . President , 1862&amp;ndash ; 63 , Secretary , 1861&amp;ndash ; 62. Standish James O'Grady , author , journalist and historian . Secretary , 1866&amp;ndash ; 67. Bram Stoker , novelist and short story writer . President , 1868&amp;ndash ; 69 , Secretary , 1867&amp;ndash ; 68. Oscar Wilde , author , playwright and poet . # Nobility # Charles Austin Thomas Robert John Joseph ffrench , 6th Baron ffrench , 1868&amp;ndash ; 1955 . Deputy Lieutenant of County Galway . Charles Edward MacDermot , The Mac Dermot , Prince of Coolavin , 1904&amp;ndash ; 47 . Registrar , 1883&amp;ndash ; 84 . His son and successor , Charles John MacDermot ( Prince of Coolavin , 1947&amp;ndash ; 79 ) , was also a member . Martin Morris , 2nd Baron Killanin , Conservative peer . Secretary , 1888&amp;ndash ; 89. # Politics and Government # Gerald Brunskill , Unionist MP . Treasurer , 1887&amp;ndash ; 88 , Registrar , 1886&amp;ndash ; 87. Nessa Childers MEP , Member of European Parliament . Registrar , 1977&amp;ndash ; 78 , SMC 1976&amp;ndash ; 77. Paschal Donohoe TD , Minister of State for European Affairs . Secretary , 1993&amp;ndash ; 94. Cecil Harmsworth , 1st Baron Harmsworth , Liberal MP , businessman and brother of press barons Lord Northcliffe and Lord Rothermere . Registrar , 1889&amp;ndash ; 90. Caesar Litton Falkiner , Unionist MP . President , 1885&amp;ndash ; 86 , Treasurer , 1884&amp;ndash ; 85 , Librarian , 1883&amp;ndash ; 84. David Norris , Senator and gay rights campaigner . George Noble Plunkett , anti-treaty republican , member of the First Dil and Ireland 's first Minister for Foreign Affairs , 1919&amp;ndash ; 21. James Wallace Quinton , chief commissioner of Assam from 1889 until his murder by rebels in Manipur in 1891 . President , 1855&amp;ndash ; 56 , Secretary , 1854&amp;ndash ; 55. Mary Robinson , former President of Ireland and UN Human Rights Commissioner . Robert Rowlette , TD , Senator and doctor . Secretary , 1895&amp;ndash ; 96. # Religion # Hugh Dunlop Brown , President of the Irish Baptist Association , theologian and prominent unionist . John Baptist Crozier , Anglican bishop . President , 1874&amp;ndash ; 75 , Secretary , 1873&amp;ndash ; 4 , Treasurer , 1872&amp;ndash ; 73. Ralph Creed Meredith , chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II . President , 1910&amp;ndash ; 11 , Secretary , 1909&amp;ndash ; 10. Charles D'Arcy , Anglican bishop . Treasurer , 1883&amp;ndash ; 84. James Walsh , Dean of Christ Church Cathedral , Dublin , 1908&amp;ndash ; 18. 
@@1341369 Norms are concepts ( sentences ) of practical import , oriented to effecting an action , rather than conceptual abstractions that describe , explain , and express . Normative sentences imply ought-to types of statements and assertions , in distinction to sentences that provide is types of statements and assertions . Common normative sentences include commands , permissions , and prohibitions ; common normative abstract concepts include ' ' sincerity ' ' , ' ' justification ' ' , and ' ' honesty ' ' . A popular account of norms describes them as reasons to take action , to believe , and to feel . # Types of norms # Orders and permissions express norms . Such norm sentences do not describe how the world is , they rather prescribe how the world should be . Imperative sentences are the most obvious way to express norms , but declarative sentences also may be norms , as is the case with laws or ' principles ' . Generally , whether an expression is a norm depends on what the sentence intends to assert . For instance , a sentence of the form All Ravens are Black could on one account be taken as descriptive , in which case an instance of a white raven would contradict it , or alternatively All Ravens are Black could be interpreted as a norm , in which case it stands as a principle and definition , so ' a white raven ' would then not be a raven . Those norms purporting to create obligations ( or duties ) and permissions are called ' ' deontic norms ' ' ( see also deontic logic ) . The concept of deontic norm is already an extension of a previous concept of norm , which would only include imperatives , that is , norms purporting to create duties . The understanding that permissions are norms in the same way was an important step in ethics and philosophy of law . In addition to deontic norms , many other varieties have been identified . For instance , some constitutions establish the national anthem . These norms do not directly create any duty or permission . They create a national symbol . Other norms create nations themselves or political and administrative regions within a nation . The action orientation of such norms is less obvious than in the case of a command or permission , but is essential for understanding the relevance of issuing such norms : When a folk song becomes a national anthem the meaning of singing one and the same song changes ; likewise , when a piece of land becomes an administrative region , this has legal consequences for many activities taking place on that territory ; and without these consequences concerning action , the norms would be irrelevant . A more obviously action-oriented variety of such ' ' constitutive norms ' ' ( as opposed to deontic or ' ' regulatory norms ' ' ) establishes social institutions which give rise to new , previously inexistent types of actions or activities ( a standard example is the institution of marriage without which getting married would not be a feasible action ; another is the rules constituting a game : without the norms of soccer , there would not exist such an action as executing an indirect free kick ) . Any convention can create a norm , although the relation between both is not settled . There is a significant discussion about ( legal ) norms that give someone the power to create other norms . They are called ' ' power-conferring norms ' ' or ' ' norms of competence ' ' . Some authors argue that they are still deontic norms , while others argue for a close connection between them and institutional facts ( see Raz 1975 , Ruiter 1993 ) . Linguistic conventions , for example , the convention in English that cat means cat or the convention in Portuguese that gato means cat , are among the most important norms . Games completely depend on norms . The fundamental norm of many games is the norm establishing who wins and loses . In other games , it is the norm establishing how to score points . # Major characteristics # One major characteristic of norms is that , unlike propositions , they are not descriptively true or false , since norms do not purport to describe anything , but to prescribe , create or change something . Some people say they are prescriptively true or false . Whereas the truth of a descriptive statement is purportedly based on its correspondence to reality , some philosophers , beginning with Aristotle , assert that the ( prescriptive ) truth of a prescriptive statement is based on its correspondence to right desire . Other philosophers maintain that norms are ultimately neither true or false , but only successful or unsuccessful ( valid or invalid ) , as their propositional content obtains or not ( see also John Searle and speech act ) . There is an important difference between ' ' norms ' ' and ' ' normative propositions ' ' , although they are often expressed by identical sentences . You may go out . usually expresses a norm if it is uttered by the teacher to one of the students , but it usually expresses a normative proposition if it is uttered to one of the students by one of his or her classmates . Some ethical theories reject that there can be normative propositions , but these are accepted by cognitivism . One can also think of propositional norms ; assertions and questions arguably express propositional norms ( they set a proposition as asserted or questioned ) . Another purported feature of norms , it is often argued , is that they never regard only natural properties or entities . Norms always bring something artificial , conventional , institutional or unworldly . This might be related to Hume 's assertion that it is not possible to derive ought from is and to G.E . Moore 's claim that there is a naturalistic fallacy when one tries to analyse good and bad in terms of a natural concept . In aesthetics , it has also been argued that it is impossible to derive an aesthetical predicate from a non-aesthetical one . The acceptability of non-natural properties , however , is strongly debated in present day philosophy . Some authors deny their existence , some others try to reduce them to natural ones , on which the former supervene . Other thinkers ( Adler , 1986 ) assert that norms can be natural in a different sense than that of corresponding to something proceeding from the object of the prescription as a strictly internal source of action . Rather , those who assert the existence of natural prescriptions say norms can suit a natural ' ' need ' ' on the part of the prescribed entity . More to the point , however , is the putting forward of the notion that just as descriptive statements being considered true are conditioned upon certain self-evident descriptive truths suiting the nature of reality ( such as : it is impossible for the same thing to be and not be at the same time and in the same manner ) , a prescriptive truth can suit the nature of the will through the authority of it being based upon self-evident prescriptive truths ( such as : one ought to desire what is really good for one and nothing else ) . Recent works maintain that normativity has an important role in several different philosophical subjects , not only in ethics and philosophy of law ( see Dancy , 2000 ) . 
@@1451630 Bachelor of Philosophy ( B.Phil . , B.Ph . , Ph.B. or PhB ) is the title of an academic degree . The degree usually involves considerable research , either through a thesis or supervised research projects . Despite its name it is , in most universities , a postgraduate degree . # University of Oxford # The B.Phil. ' s earliest form is as a University of Oxford graduate degree , first awarded in 1682 . Originally , Oxford named its pre-doctoral graduate degrees the Bachelor of Philosophy ( B.Phil. ) ( a two-year degree , partly taught and partly by research ) and the Bachelor of Letters ( B.Litt. ) ( a two-year research degree ) . After complaints , especially from overseas students , that this naming convention often meant that graduate degrees were not being recognised as such , the University renamed them Master of Philosophy ( M.Phil. ) and Master of Letters ( M.Litt . ) . However , the Philosophy Faculty ( then a Sub-Faculty ) argued that its B.Phil. degree had become so well known and respected in the philosophical world that it would be confusing to change the name . In philosophy , therefore , the degree continues to be called the B.Phil . Those who pass the degree are given the choice of taking a B.Phil. or an M.Phil. ; few if any choose the latter . ( Note that Oxford also offers a number of other graduate degrees labeled as baccalaureate degrees : the law faculty 's BCL ; the music faculty 's B.Mus ; and the theology faculty 's B.D. ) Today 's Oxford B.Phil. course is a two-year programme of three taught courses and a research thesis ( max. 30,000 words ) . The taught courses are all examined by essays chosen from prescribed lists ; candidates submit two essays for each course , or six essays in total ( max. 30,000 words ) , in addition to their theses . The B.Phil. is regarded as a very demanding degree , and it is not suitable for those with no academic background in philosophy . The Oxford B.Phil. was designed to be a preparation for teaching philosophy at university level . Today it often also provides a foundation for doctoral ( D.Phil. or Ph.D. ) work in philosophy . Notable graduates of the BPhil include : Daniel Dennett , Peter Singer , George Boolos , Thomas Nagel , Gerald Cohen , Patricia Churchland , J. J. C. Smart , Galen Strawson , Kris Kristofferson. # Other universities # Several universities have adopted the Oxford model of the B.Phil. as a graduate degree , either as originally intended ( in a variety of academic subjects ) or as it subsequently developed ( in philosophy only ) ; for example , Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram and Newcastle University . At other universities , the term Bachelor of Philosophy refers to an undergraduate bachelor 's degree . Frequently , the degree is either research-based or involves additional academic components , ( e.g. independent study , interdisciplinary study , foreign language requirements , etc . ) For example , at Pennsylvania State University , the B.Phil. program enables students to plan their own academic programs in conjunction with a faculty preceptor . At Miami University 's Western College Program , B.Phil candidates participate in a residential program , worked with faculty to design individualized majors , and produce a thesis . At the undergraduate Honors College of the University of Pittsburgh , B.Phil. candidates must pass oral examinations of a senior thesis . Northwestern University 's B.Phil. degree requires two years of a foreign language . The University of Birmingham offers the B.Phil. as a taught , research-based undergraduate degree in the fields of Education and Counselling . The University of New Brunswick offers the B.Phil. as a seminar-based degree in interdisciplinary leadership . St. John 's Seminary ( Massachusetts ) offers the B.Phil. degree upon completion of its two-year Pre-Theologate program , ( for men studying for the Roman Catholic Priesthood . ) The Technical University of Kenya offers the B.Phil. to those with Higher Diplomas in various subjects . Stellenbosch University offers a B.Phil in journalism . Prospective students must have obtained a recognised undergraduate degree in any discipline and sat for the department 's entrance examination , which is written across South Africa . Top performing applicants are then invited to interview for final selection . The B.Phil is regarded as one of the most sought after and demanding postgraduate offerings at the University . In 1948 the University of Chicago offered a Ph.B. which differed from the B.A. in that it required two fewer non-required courses . The degree was offered by the College as part of the Hutchins program that allowed students to matriculate after two years of high school . # Australia # # Australian National University # The Bachelor of Philosophy ( Ph.B. ) is an individually tailored , research-based undergraduate degree in arts/social sciences or the natural sciences . Students undertake supervised research courses , entitled Advanced Studies Courses , each semester with researching academics , often on a one-to-one basis . Admission is open to the top 1% of school-leavers ( ATAR 99.00 or greater ) . The duration of the program is four years , including an honours year where a research-thesis is undertaken . In order to graduate with the degree , students are required to maintain a High Distinction average ( 80 per cent and above ) across all courses in each semester of the degree and must complete the honours year with First Class Honours . # University of Tasmania # The Bachelor of Philosophy ( BPhil ) is an intellectually challenging , high impact award that provides academic extension , personal development , and recognition for experiences outside the traditional degree structure . The BPhil is an elite research and leadership focused award , available to students who are undertaking , or have undertaken , another undergraduate degree . Enrolment in the degree is limited to high achieving students who are deemed to be capable of successfully completing additional study alongside their principal degree . The BPhil is not offered as a standalone degree at UTAS and can only be completed concurrent with , or after completion of a principal undergraduate degree and entrants must have an ATAR above 90 or a current GPA above 5.5. 
@@1666427 In philosophy , the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word 's literal meaning ( from Latin ) , of climbing or going beyond , albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages . This article covers the topic from a Western perspective by epoch : Ancient , Medieval , and modern , primarily Continental philosophy . # Original definition # The first meaning , as part of the concept pair transcendence/immanence , is used primarily with reference to God 's relation to the world and is particularly important in theology . Here transcendent means that God is completely outside of and beyond the world , as contrasted with the notion that God is manifested in the world . This meaning originates both in the Aristotelian view of God as the prime mover , a non-material self-consciousness that is outside of the world . Philosophies and philosophers of immanence such as stoicism or pantheism , Spinoza or Deleuze maintain that God is manifested in and fully present in the world and the things in the world . # Medieval usage # In the second meaning , which originated in Medieval philosophy , concepts are ' ' transcendental ' ' if they are broader than what falls within the Aristotelian categories that were used to organize reality conceptually . The prevailing notion of transcendental is that of a quality of being which can be predicated on any actually existing thing insofar as it exists . Primary examples of the transcendental are the existent ( ' ' ens ' ' ) and the characteristics , designated ' ' transcendentals ' ' , of unity , truth , and goodness . # Kant ( and modern philosophy ) # In modern philosophy , Kant introduced a new term - ' ' transcendental ' ' , thus instituting a new , third meaning . In his theory of knowledge , this concept is concerned with the conditions of possibility of knowledge itself . He also opposed the term ' ' transcendental ' ' to the term ' ' transcendent ' ' , the latter meaning that , which goes beyond ( transcends ) any possible knowledge of a human being . For him ' ' transcendental ' ' meant knowledge about our cognitive faculty with regard to how objects are possible ' ' a priori ' ' . I call all knowledge ' ' transcendental ' ' if it is occupied , not with objects , but with the way that we can possibly know objects even before we experience them . He also equated ' ' transcendental ' ' with that which is ... in respect of the subject 's faculty of cognition . Something is transcendental if it plays a role in the way in which the mind constitutes objects and makes it possible for us to experience them as objects in the first place . Ordinary knowledge is knowledge of objects ; transcendental knowledge is knowledge of how it is possible for us to experience those objects as objects . This is based on Kant 's acceptance of David Hume 's argument that certain general features of objects ( e.g. persistence , causal relationships ) can not derive from the sense impressions we have of them . Kant argues that the mind must contribute those features and make it possible for us to experience objects as objects . In the central part of his Critique of Pure Reason , the Transcendental Deduction of the Categories , Kant argues for a deep interconnection between the ability to have self-consciousness and the ability to experience a world of objects . Through a process of synthesis , the mind generates both the structure of objects and its own unity . A metaphilosophical question discussed by many Kantian scholars is how transcendental reflection is itself possible . Stephen Palmquist interprets Kant 's appeal to faith as his most effective solution to this problem . For Kant , the transcendent , as opposed to the transcendental , is that which lies beyond what our faculty of knowledge can legitimately know . Hegel 's counter-argument to Kant was that to know a boundary is also to be aware of what it bounds and as such what lies beyond it &amp;ndash ; in other words , to have already transcended it . In phenomenology , the transcendent is that which transcends our own consciousness - that which is objective rather than only a phenomenon of consciousness . Noema is employed in phenomenology to refer to the terminus of an intention as given for consciousness . Jean-Paul Sartre also speaks of transcendence in his works . In Being and Nothingness , Sartre utilizes transcendence to describe the relation of the self to the object oriented world , as well as our concrete relations with others . For Sartre , the for-itself is sometimes called a transcendence . Additionally if the other is viewed strictly as an object , much like any other object , then the other is , for the for-itself , a *25;216618;TOOLONG . When the for-itself grasps the other in the others world , and grasps the subjectivity that the other has , it is referred to as *26;216645;TOOLONG . Thus , Sartre defines relations with others in terms of transcendence. # Colloquial usage # In everyday language , transcendence means going beyond , and self-transcendence means going beyond a prior form or state of oneself . Mystical experience is thought of as a particularly advanced state of self-transcendence , in which the sense of a separate self is abandoned . Self-transcendence is believed to be psychometrically measurable , and ( at least partially ) inherited , and has been incorporated as a personality dimension in the Temperament and Character Inventory . The discovery of this is described in the book The God Gene by Dean Hamer , although this has been criticized by commentators such as Carl Zimmer. 
@@1714915 footnotes = Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ( CREW ) is a nonprofit 501(c) ( 3 ) organization that describes itself as dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials regardless of party affiliation who sacrifice the common good to special interests . One of its most visible projects is CREW 's Most Corrupt , an annual report of whom CREW determines are Washington 's most corrupt politicians . According to its website , CREW advances its mission using a combination of research , litigation and media outreach . CREW employs the law as a tool to force officials to act ethically and lawfully and to bring unethical conduct to the publics attention through : litigation , Freedom of Information Act requests , Congressional ethics complaints , Internal Revenue Service complaints , Federal Election Commission complaints , and requests for investigation with government agencies . # Reports # CREW publishes several reports concerning political topics and politicians according to its ideology . As of May 2012 , the following possibly recurring reports , among other topical reports , were listed on their website :  Family Affair : Series of reports detailing nepotism and self-dealing in Congress . Latest edition examined campaign spending of all 435 members of the House .  CREWs Most Corrupt Members of Congress : CREW 's annual flagship report , detailing corruption and ethics violations in congress .  Crooked Candidates 2010 : Identified the candidates that CREW alleged were the most corrupt for the 2010 congressional elections .  CREWs Most Corrupt 2010 : Unfinished Business a review of previous reports concerning corruption in congress .  Under Investigation : CREW 's list of politicians that may be under investigation by various federal agencies .  The Pork Parade : Details members of congress allegedly taking advantage of earmarks for financial and political gain . # Family Affair # A series of reports created by examining campaign spending and earmark data , which details how members of congress use their position to benefit themselves and their families . The 2012 report includes 248 members of the United States House of Representatives , 105 Democrats and 143 Republicans , about equal to their parties proportional makeup in the House . Common practices , which do not appear to violate laws or House ethics rules include ; paying family for congressional office and campaign work , collecting reimbursements from official US House and campaign budgets , earmarking to projects connected with family members , and charging interest on personal loans given to their campaigns . # CREWs Most Corrupt # CREW has published seven annual reports since 2005 of the politicians that CREW identifies as the most corrupt members of Congress . The 2005 report included 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats ; the 2006 report included 17 Republicans and 3 Democrats ; the 2007 report included 18 Republicans and 4 Democrats ; the 2008 report included 17 Republicans and 7 Democrats ; the 2009 report included 7 Republicans and 8 Democrats ; the 2010 report included 16 Republicans and 10 Democrats ; the 2011 report included 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats . The 2012 report included 13 Republicans and 7 Democrats . The 2012 election cycle saw 11 of the 32 lawmakers included in the last two reports either defeated or retiring . # Advocacy # CREW raised questions about some of the content of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution , 2014 ( H.J.Res 59 ; 113th Congress ) . One controversial provision of the bill was section 134 , which stated that notwithstanding any other provision of this joint resolution , there is appropriated for payment to Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg , widow of Frank R. Lautenberg , late a Senator from New Jersey , $174,000 . CREW protested the inclusion of this in the bill , since the senator 's assets in 2011 were over $57 million . The group questioned why this death gratuity was considered a top funding priority . # Board of Directors # Melanie Sloan serves as CREW 's initial and current executive director . Prior to founding CREW in 2003 , she served as one of more than 300 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2003 after having worked for Congressional Democrats John Conyers , Charles Schumer , and Joseph Biden. # Allegations of partisanship and criticism # In 2010 ' ' Politico ' ' ' s Ben Smith described CREW 's founding in 2003 as one of a wave of new groups backed by liberal donors and called CREW a vehicle for assaults on largely but not entirely Republican targets . In 2006 ' ' Congressional Quarterly ' ' reported , Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has taken aim almost exclusively at GOP members of Congress . Since its founding in 2003 , it helped investigate 21 lawmakers , only one of them a Democrat ( Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas , in a complaint that also targeted Republican Sen. Bill Frist , then Senate Majority Leader ) . A report by ' ' McClatchy News Service ' ' described CREW as a Democratic-leaning watchdog group . In 2007 , ' ' Ms. Magazine ' ' quoted longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake as saying , Corruption was a top issue in the 2006 midterm elections , and CREW was critical to the Democrats ' success . The fact that they were bipartisan and had created this dirty-dozen list of corrupt politicians really helped people process that these politicians were acting well outside the norm . In 2006 , ' ' Time ' ' magazine referred to the group as the liberal watchdog group and reported , Since its founding in 2003 , CREW has worked through legal and regulatory channels to press allegations of impropriety almost exclusively against Republicans . An ' ' Associated Press ' ' story in 2010 , however , stated that CREW has a history of targeting members of Congress representing different races , philosophies and both major parties . U.S. Senator Conrad Burns of Montana charged that CREW was maliciously false and partisan hacks in calling him corrupt in 2005 . The ' ' Billings Gazette ' ' reported that CREW defended itself : and Anthony Weiner . In June 2011 , CREW criticized the Justice Department 's prosecution of Democratic politician John Edwards for allegedly receiving and hiding illegal campaign contributions . Executive director Melanie Sloan said that the prosecutor 's case was remarkably weak , and that no court has ever interpreted the definition of campaign contribution this broadly . The ' ' Washington Post ' ' has variously described CREW as a liberal watchdog group , As recently as April 2011 , CREW was described as left-leaning by both the ' ' Chicago Tribune ' ' and ' ' Lexington Herald-Leader ' ' , and ' ' The Daily Caller ' ' columnists called CREW a Democrat-leaning group without a contributor base to play watchdog over the Obama administration . # ' ' Roll Call ' ' article # ' ' Roll Call ' ' reported in January 2008 that CREW files most of its complaints against members of Congress , and all but a handful .. have targeted Republicans . The article stated that CREW had issued press releases against Democrats but usually had not filed complaints against them , with the exception of Senator Mary Landrieu , a conservative Democrat . CREW defended itself to ' ' Roll Call ' ' : After the article was published , CREW stated that it was baseless and omitted key facts . CREW also suggested the ' ' Roll Call ' ' reporter had been prompted by a conversation with Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu , the target of a recent CREW lawsuit at the time . # Funding # ' ' Roll Call ' ' reported that CREW does n't disclose its donor list , and quoted former Deputy Director Naomi Seligman as saying that donors play no role in CREWs decisions as to the groups or politicians we target . Donors to CREW have included such groups as Democracy Alliance , Service Employees International Union , the Arca Foundation , and the Gill Foundation . cite web 
@@1835316 The ' ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ' ' ( ' ' Phil . Trans. ' ' ) is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society of London . It was established in 1665 , making it the first journal in the world exclusively devoted to science . It has a strong claim to be the world 's longest-running scientific journal . The slightly earlier ' ' Journal des savans ' ' can also lay claim to be the world 's first science journal , although it contained a wide variety of non-scientific material as well . The use of the word philosophical in the title refers to natural philosophy , which was the equivalent of what would now be generically called science . # History # The first issue , dated 6 March 1665 , was edited and published by the society 's first secretary , Henry Oldenburg , some six years after the Royal Society had been founded . Oldenburg published the journal at his own personal expense and seems to have entered into an agreement with the Council of the Royal Society allowing him to keep any resulting profits . He was to be disappointed , however , since the journal performed poorly from a financial point of view during Oldenburg 's lifetime . Over the centuries , many important scientific discoveries have been published in the ' ' Philosophical Transactions ' ' . Famous contributing authors include Isaac Newton , James Clerk Maxwell , Michael Faraday and Charles Darwin . In 1672 , the journal published Newton 's first paper ' ' New Theory about Light and Colours ' ' , which can be seen as the beginning of his public scientific career . The position of editor was sometimes held jointly and included William Musgrave ( Nos 167 to 178 ) and Robert Plot ( Nos 144 to 178 ) . In July 2011 programmer Greg Maxwell released through the ' ' The Pirate Bay ' ' , the nearly 19 thousand articles that had been published before 1923 , and were therefore in the public domain . They had been digitized for the Royal Society by Jstor , for a cost of less than USD100,000 , and public access to them was restricted through a paywall . In October of the same year , the Royal Society released for free all its articles prior to 1941 , but denied that this decision had been influenced by Maxwell 's actions . # Current publication # In 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications , one serving the Physical Sciences ( ' ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A : Physical , Mathematical and Engineering Sciences ' ' ) and the other focusing on the life sciences ( ' ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences ' ' ) . Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the Discussion Meetings of the Royal Society . Primary research articles are published in the sister journals ' ' Proceedings of the Royal Society ' ' , ' ' Biology Letters ' ' , ' ' Journal of the Royal Society Interface ' ' , and ' ' Interface Focus ' ' . 
@@2297173 The Master of Philosophy ( M.Phil . or MPhil , sometimes Ph.M. ) is an advanced postgraduate research degree . The prerequisites required for a Master of Philosophy make it the most advanced research degree after the Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D . or D.Phil . ) . An M.Phil . is in most cases thesis-only , and is regarded as a senior or second Master 's degree , standing between a taught Master 's and a Ph.D . An M.Phil . may be awarded to graduate students , after completing several years of original research but before the defence of a dissertation , and can serve as a provisional enrollment for a Ph.D . # In the United States # Some American universities award the M.Phil . under certain circumstances . At those institutions ( most notably Yale University , Columbia University , and the CUNY Graduate Center ) , the degree is awarded to Ph.D . candidates when they complete their required coursework and qualifying examinations prior to the completion and defense of a doctoral dissertation . This recognizes achievement beyond the Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees conferred after 12 years of graduate study and formalizes the more colloquial All But Dissertation status ; as such , defense of a dissertation proposal is sometimes required for conferral . Many Ph.D . candidates at these universities view the M.Phil . as a formality and elect not to receive it in order to avoid the paperwork and costs involved . However , some programs do not offer an en route M.A. or M.S. , so the M.Phil . is the first opportunity to receive a degree between the bachelor 's and Ph.D ; others may elect not to take the nominally lower M.A. or M.S. degree in favor of the M.Phil . or the Ph.D itself . Some colleges and universities , such as the College of the Atlantic , the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Utah , offer a standalone M.Phil . degree in various fields . As per WES , the M.Phil program is treated as one year advanced graduate program . # In Australia # Master of Philosophy is offered by many Universities in Australia , and are often the only option to undertake a Masters Degree in select schools . In the University of Western Australia , for example , the School of Mathematics offers the Master of Philosophy . In Australia , the Masters of Philosophy is a research degree which mirrors a Doctorate of Philosophy ( PhD ) in breadth of research and structure , and is assessed solely on the basis of a thesis . A standard full-time degree often takes 2 years to complete . The University of Queensland offers Masters of Philosophy in a variety of schools such as Arts , Engineering , Medicine , and Agriculture . The University of Sydney , Curtin University , Griffith University , and Melbourne University are also examples of Australian Universities offering Masters of Philosophy . # In Canada # Very few Canadian universities offer M.Phil degrees . Among their number , however , is Memorial University of Newfoundland 's interdisciplinary two-year M.Phil in Humanities . # In the United Kingdom # In most UK universities , completion of a M.Phil . typically requires two years of full-time or five years or more of part-time study ( being five or seven years from initially entering university ) and the submission of a thesis comprising a body of original research undertaken by the candidate . It is common for students admitted into a Ph.D . program at a UK university to be initially registered for the degree of M.Phil. , and then to transfer ( or upgrade ) onto the Ph.D . upon successful completion of the first ( or sometimes the second ) year of study : this will often involve the submission of a short report or dissertation by the student , and possibly an oral examination or presentation . In addition , most universities allow examiners to recommend award of a M.Phil . if a Ph.D . candidate 's thesis is deemed not to be of the requisite length or standard for a doctorate . However many students register for a M.Phil . with no intention of upgrading to a Ph.D. , due to personal circumstances , due to their chosen research project having insufficient scope for a Ph.D . or due to desiring to complete a slightly shorter qualification both in length and duration . At a few UK universities , a M.Phil . research degree can be achieved after only one year of study and is viewed as being equivalent to a taught M.A. or M.Sc. degree . However , in some institutions , such as University College London and the University of Aberdeen , a clear set of requirements must be met for the award of a M.Phil , under which candidates are required to submit and defend a thesis against external and internal examiners , a process which may in itself take up to a year , and , as such , the award may be regarded as a mini-PhD . For example , the degree of Master of Philosophy of the University of Aberdeen requires the submission of a thesis of up to 70,000 words plus a viva examination ; this is a considerably larger piece of work than is required for the same qualification at other institutions . Furthermore , at the University of Manchester , the candidate shall be required to attend an oral examination on the subject of the thesis and matters relevant thereto at the examiners discretion . The candidate may also be required by the examiners to undergo a written or other examination . The oral examination shall be attended by the candidate and the examiners and , if required , an independent chair . Each candidate shall be examined by two or more examiners of whom at least one shall be an external examiner. # Oxford &amp; Cambridge Universities # At Oxford University , the M.Phil . is usually a two-year Master 's degree , although some programs are one-year . The M.Phil . requires both a lengthy thesis and more examinations than a one-year Masters degree ( such as M.Sc. , M.St . ) . Cambridge University offers the M.Phil . as a one-year Master 's degree program . This is to distinguish it from the Oxbridge M.A. degree , to which B.A. graduates usually proceed after a certain period of time without any further study ( a procedure which has been followed at the universities of Oxford , Cambridge and Dublin since the seventeenth century ) . The Cambridge M.Phil . can be either a taught degree or a research-based degree , depending on the course . # Ancient Scottish universities # The ancient Scottish universities , who for historical reasons award the Scottish M.A. degree upon completion of four-year first degree programs in arts and humanities subjects , differ in their use of M.Phil . or M.Litt. for postgraduate research degrees , but are slowly standardizing to the M.Phil . as a research degree and the M.Litt. as a taught degree . # In the Netherlands and Belgium # In the Netherlands and Belgium the M.Phil . is a special research degree and only awarded by selected departments of a university ( mostly in the fields of Arts , Social Sciences , Archaeology , Philosophy and Theology ) . Admission to these programmes is highly selective and primarily aimed at those students opting for an academic career . After finishing these programs , students normally enroll for a Ph.D . program . The Dutch Department of Education , Culture and Science has decided not to recognize the MPhil degree . Accordingly , some Dutch universities have decided to continue to grant the MPhil degree but also offer a legally recognized degree such as MA or MSc to those who receive the MPhil degree . # In Norway # In Norway , the degree of MPhil is a ' standard ' Master 's degree ( 120 ECTS credits ) at a level equivalent to an MA or MSc . Upon completion , the MPhil qualifies for acceptance to a PhD program , but is most often taken as a stand-alone qualification . The MPhil is not a common degree in Norway ; most universities award MA ( in humanities or social sciences ) or MSc ( in technical and scientific subjects ) degrees . # In Finland # In Finland , the regular ( first ) Master 's degree ' ' filosofian maisteri ' ' translates to Master of Philosophy . However , the term philosophy is to be understood to the maximum extent , because this is the name of the basic Master 's degree in all natural sciences and humanities . It does not imply a specialization in theoretical philosophy or even other than introductory studies . In fact , most of the students majoring in philosophy get a degree with a different name ( Master of Sociology or Politics ) . These degrees are regular Master 's degrees , not special higher degrees ( cf. Licentiate and Doctor of Philosophy ) . In the past , ' ' filosofian maisteri ' ' signified that the degree was earned through actual studying , in contrast to honorary Master 's degrees that could be granted by application to Bachelors. # In Malaysia # In Malaysia , the M.Phil . degree is not well known . There are only a handful of universities in Malaysia that offer M.Phil . program , such as Universiti Malaya , Wawasan Open University , University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus ( UNMC ) , Monash University Sunway Campus ( MUSC ) and others . In most cases , M.Phil . is a pure research degree and from case to case basis , it will result in viva voce examination before the degree is awarded . For UNMC and MUSC , the Faculty of Engineering offer standalone M.Phil . degree which will lead the path to Ph.D . and normally regarded as a more prestigious Master degree than typical taught master degree such as M.Sc. or M.Eng . In the case for University Malaya , if the desired field of research does not belong to any of the specialized faculties , it is normally categorized under the M.Phil . supervised by the Postgraduate Institute . In November 2012 , Malaysian Qualifications Agency has issued programme standards for postgraduate studies in which MPhil is attributed to Master programme by research and mixed mode ( coursework and research ) . # In Spain # In Spain , the M.Phil degree is equivalent to the ' ' Diploma de Estudios Avanzados ' ' , or DEA . In order to obtain it , the student has to complete a full year of doctoral courses , plus an original research work 
@@2470183 The ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English . It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798 ; John Burnett , , Dictionary of National Biography#Oxford Dictionary of National Biography # Early history # The name of the journal dates from a period when natural philosophy embraced all aspects of science . The very first paper published in the journal carried the title Account of Mr Cartwright 's Patent Steam Engine . Other articles in the first volume include Methods of discovering whether Wine has been adulterated with any Metals prejudicial to Health and Description of the Apparatus used by Lavoisier to produce Water from its component Parts , Oxygen and Hydrogen . # 19th century # Early in the nineteenth century , classic papers by Humphry Davy , Michael Faraday and James Prescott Joule appeared in the journal and in the 1860s James Clerk Maxwell contributed several long articles , culminating in a paper containing the deduction that light is an electromagnetic wave or , as he put it himself , We can scarcely avoid the inference that light consists in transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena . The famous experimental paper of Albert A. Michelson and Edward Morley was published in 1887 and this was followed ten years later by J. J. Thomson 's article Cathode Rays essentially the discovery of the electron . In 1814 , the ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' merged with the ' ' Journal of Natural Philosophy , Chemistry , and the Arts ' ' , otherwise known as ' ' Nicholson 's Journal ' ' ( published by William Nicholson ) , to form ' ' The Philosophical Magazine and Journal ' ' . Further mergers with the ' ' Annals of Philosophy ' ' and ' ' The Edinburgh Journal of Science ' ' led to the retitling of the journal in 1840 , as ' ' The London , Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science ' ' . In 1949 , the title reverted to ' ' The Philosophical Magazine ' ' . # 20th century # In the early part of the 20th century , Ernest Rutherford was a frequent contributor . He once told a friend to watch out for the next issue of ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' ; it is highly radioactive ! Aside from his work on understanding radioactivity , Rutherford proposed the experiments of Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden that verified his nuclear model of the atom and led to Niels Bohr 's famous paper on planetary electrons , which was published in the journal in 1913 . Another classic contribution from Rutherford was entitled Collision of Particles with Light Atoms . IV . An Anomalous Effect in Nitrogen an article describing no less than the first artificial transmutation of an element . In 1978 the journal was divided into two independent parts , ' ' Philosophical Magazine A ' ' and ' ' Philosophical Magazine B ' ' . Part A published papers on structure , defects and mechanical properties while Part B focussed on statistical mechanics , electronic , optical and magnetic properties . # Recent developments # Since the middle of the 20th century , Phil Mag , as the journal is affectionately known , has focussed on condensed matter physics and published significant papers on dislocations , mechanical properties of solids , amorphous semiconductors and glasses . As subject area evolved and it became more difficult to classify research into distinct areas , it was no longer considered necessary to publish the journal in two parts , so in 2003 parts A and B were re-merged . In its current form , 36 issues of the ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' are published each year , supplemented by 12 issues of ' ' Philosophical Magazine Letters ' ' . # Editors # Previous editors of the ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' have been John Tyndall , J.J. Thomson , Sir Nevill Mott , and William Lawrence Bragg . The journal is currently edited by Edward A. Davis . # ' ' Philosophical Magazine Letters ' ' # In 1987 , the sister journal ' ' Philosophical Magazine Letters ' ' was established with the aim of rapidly publishing short communications on all aspects of condensed matter physics . It is edited by Edward A. Davis and Peter Riseborough . This monthly journal had a 2010 impact factor of 1.262. # Series # Over its 200-year history , ' ' Philosophical Magazine ' ' has occasionally restarted its volume numbers at 1 , designating a new ' series each time . The journal 's series are as follows :  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 1 ' ' ( 17981826 ) , volumes 1 through 68  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 2 ' ' ( 18271832 ) , volumes 1 through 11  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 3 ' ' ( 18321850 ) , volumes 1 through 37  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 4 ' ' ( 18511875 ) , volumes 1 through 50  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 5 ' ' ( 18761900 ) , volumes 1 through 50  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 6 ' ' ( 19011925 ) , volumes 1 through 50  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 7 ' ' ( 19261955 ) , volumes 1 through 46  ' ' Philosophical Magazine , Series 8 ' ' ( 1955present ) , volumes 1 through 89 ( through December 2009 ) If the renumbering had not occurred , the 2009 volume ( series 8 , volume 89 ) would have been volume 401. 
@@2685907 In philosophy , universalism is a doctrine or school claiming universal facts can be discovered and is therefore understood as being in opposition to relativism . In certain religions , universality is the quality ascribed to an entity whose existence is consistent throughout the universe . This article also discusses Kantian and Platonist notions of universal , which are considered by many to be separate notions . # Universality in ethics # When used in the context of ethics , the meaning of ' ' universal ' ' ' ' ( from Gk. katholikos ) ' ' refers to that which is true for all similarly situated individuals . Rights , for example in natural rights , or in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , for those heavily influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment and its conception of a human nature , could be considered as universal . The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is inspired by such principles . # Universality in logic # In logic , or the consideration of valid arguments , a proposition is said to have universality if it can be conceived as being true in all possible contexts without creating a contradiction . Some philosophers have referred to such propositions as universalizable . Truth is considered to be universal if it is valid in all times and places . In this case , it is seen as eternal or as absolute . The relativist conception denies the existence of some or all universal truths , particularly ethical ones ( through moral relativism ) . Mathematics is a field in which those truths discovered , in relation to the field of mathematics , are typically considered of universal scope . Though usage of the word ' ' truth ' ' has various domains of application , relativism does not necessarily apply to all of them . This is not to say that universality is limited to mathematics , for there exists a large number of people who apply the standard to philosophy , theology and beyond . # Universality in metaphysics # In metaphysics , a universal is a type , a property , or a relation . The noun ' ' universal ' ' contrasts with ' ' individual ' ' , while the adjective ' ' universal ' ' contrasts with ' ' particular ' ' or sometimes with ' ' concrete ' ' . The latter meaning , however , may be confusing since Hegelian and neo-Hegelian ( e.g. British idealist ) philosophies speak of ' ' concrete universals ' ' . A universal may have instances , known as its ' ' particulars ' ' . For example , the type ' ' dog ' ' ( or ' ' doghood ' ' ) is a universal , as are the property ' ' red ' ' ( or ' ' redness ' ' ) and the relation ' ' betweenness ' ' ( or ' ' being between ' ' ) . Any particular dog , red thing , or object that is between other things is not a universal , however , but is an ' ' instance ' ' of a universal . That is , a universal type ( ' ' doghood ' ' ) , property ( ' ' redness ' ' ) , or relation ( ' ' betweenness ' ' ) ' ' inheres ' ' a particular object ( a specific dog , red thing , or object between other things ) . Platonic realism holds universals to be the referents of general terms , i.e. the ' ' abstract ' ' , nonphysical entities to which words like doghood , redness , and betweenness refer . By contrast , particulars are the referents of proper names , like Fido , or of definite descriptions that identify single objects , like the phrase , that apple on the table . By contrast , other metaphysical theories merely use the terminology of universals to describe physical entities . ' ' The problem of universals ' ' is an ancient problem in metaphysics concerning the nature of universals , or whether they exist . Part of the problem involves the implications of language use and the complexity of relating language to ontological theory . Most ontological frameworks do not consider classes to be universals , although some prominent philosophers , such as John Bigelow , do . # Quotes # What is absolutely true is always correct , everywhere , all the time , under any condition . An entity 's ability to discern these things is irrelevant to that state of truth . Steven Robiner Everyone is entitled to his own opinion , but not his own facts . Daniel Patrick Moynihan To say of what is , that it is not , or of what is not , that it is , is false ; while to say of what is , that it is , and of what is not , that it is not , is true . - Aristotle 
@@3295060 Christian ethics is a branch of Christian theology that defines concepts of right ( virtuous ) and wrong ( sinful ) behavior from a Christian perspective . Various sources inform Christian ethics but comprehensive Christian ethical writings use four distinguishable sources : ( 1 ) the Bible and the Christian tradition , ( 2 ) philosophical principles and methods , ( 3 ) science and other sources of knowledge about the world , and ( 4 ) human experience broadly conceived . Jewish ethics and the life of Jesus also figure prominently . According to D. Stephen Long , The Bible is the universal and fundamental source of specifically ' ' Christian ' ' ethics , as Christian ethics finds its source in diverse means , but it primarily emerges from the biblical narrative . Christian ethicists often engage with and draw from secular ethics . Like secular ethicists , different thinkers approach Christian ethics from different perspectives , variously using deontological , consequentialist , utilitarian and other frameworks for ethical reflection . The approach of virtue ethics has also become a popular in recent decades , largely due to the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas . Christian ethics developed during Early Christianity as Christianity arose in the Holy Land and other early centers of Christianity while Christianity emerged from Second Temple Judaism . Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire erupted periodically , beginning with the Crucifixion of Jesus in Roman Judaea ( c.30-33 AD ) and periodically continued until Christianity was legalized under Constantine and become the dominant religion in the region ( 313 AD-onward ) . Consequently , early Christian ethics included discussions of how believers should relate to Roman authority and to the empire . It also included questions regarding how the rich should treat the poor , how women should be treated , and the morality of war . # Early Church # The New Testament generally asserts that all morality flows from the Great Commandment , to love God with all one 's heart , mind , strength , and soul , and to love one 's neighbor as oneself . In this , Jesus was reaffirming a teaching of the Torah ( and ) , commonly referred to as Judeo-Christian ethics . Christ united these commands together and proposed himself as a model of the love required in , known also as The New Commandment . The meaning of the word can be imprecise , so Thomas Aquinas defined love for the benefit of the Christian believer as to will the good of another . The ' ' Catholic Encyclopedia ' ' article on ' ' Ethics ' ' makes the following observation : Paul is also the source of the phrase Law of Christ , though its meaning and the relationship of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism are still disputed . Paul is also the source of the New Testament household code . Under the Emperor Constantine I ( 312337 ) , Christianity became a legal religion . The Edict of Milan made the empire safe for Christian practice and belief . Consequently , issues of Christian doctrine , ethics and church practice were debated openly at the First seven Ecumenical Councils . By the time of Theodosius I ( 379395 ) , Christianity had become within the empire its state church . With Christianity now in power , ethical concerns broadened and included discussions of the proper role of the state . The Church Fathers had little occasion to treat moral questions from a purely philosophical standpoint and independently of divine revelation , but in the explanation of Christian doctrine their discussions naturally led to philosophical investigations . Ecclesiastical writers , such as Justin Martyr , Irenaeus , Tertullian , Clement of Alexandria , Origen , Ambrose , Jerome , and Augustine of Hippo all wrote on ethics from a distinctly Christian point of view . They made use of philosophical and ethical principles laid down by their Greek philosopher forbears and the intersection of Greek and Jewish thought known as Hellenistic Judaism . This is particularly true of Augustine , who proceeded to develop thoroughly along philosophical lines and to establish firmly most of the truths of Christian morality . The eternal law ( ' ' lex aeterna ' ' ) , the original type and source of all temporal laws , the natural law , conscience , the ultimate end of man , the cardinal virtues , sin , marriage , etc. were treated by him in the clearest and most penetrating manner . Broadly speaking , Augustine adapted the philosophy of Plato to Christian principles . His synthesis is called Augustinianism ( alternatively , Augustinism ) . He presents hardly a single portion of ethics to us but what he does present is enriched with his keen philosophical commentaries . Late ecclesiastical writers followed in his footsteps . # The Bible and Christian ethics # Much of Christian ethics derives from Biblical scripture . According to the ' ' Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics ' ' , There is no ' Christian ethics ' that would deny the authority of the Bible , for apart from scripture the Christian church has no enduring identity . It further states that # Christian churches have always considered it a part of their calling to teach , reprove , correct , and train in righteousness , and they have always considered the Bible ' profitable ' for that task . With virtually one voice the churches have declared that the Bible is an authority for moral discernment and judgment . And Christian ethicistsat least those who consider their work part of the common life of the Christian communityhave shared this affirmation . # There are various views on how to interpret Christian ethics in relation to Biblical scripture . For example , Many Christian ethicists have claimed that Jesus Christ is the center of the biblical message in its entirety and the key to scripture . Other Christian ethicists prefer a more Trinitarian rendering of the message of scripture . Some modern Christian ethicists understand ' liberation ' or deliverance from oppression to be the message of scripture . The link between scripture and Christian ethics is further highlighted as follows : Fundamentalism 's identification of the human words of scripture with the word of God has justified an identification of biblical ethics with Christian ethics . The Prophets ground their appeals for right conduct in God 's demand for righteousness . On the other hand , It is not .. true to say that for the OT writers righteousness is ' ' defined ' ' by what God does ; i.e. , an act is not made righteous by the fact that God does it . Also noted as ethical guidelines adhered to by Old Testament figures is maintenance of the ' ' family ' ' , safeguarding of the family ' ' property ' ' , and maintenance of the community . Many biblical accounts inform Christian ethics . This includes the Noahic Covenant : the commandments which were often reduced to three by Christians : avoid fornication , bloodshed , and blasphemy or idolatry . Augustine identified a movement in Scripture toward the ' City of God ' , from which Christian ethics emerges , as illustrated in chapters 11 and 12 of the book of Genesis . Although Christians today do not feel compelled to observe all 613 of the commandments described in Exodus , the Ten Commandments figure prominently in Christian ethics . Various issues today are informed by biblical passages in the Old and New Testaments . For example , although scripture is mostly silent on abortion , various elements of scripture inform Christian ethical views on this topic , including Genesis 4:1 ; Job 31:15 ; Isaiah 44:24 , 49:1 , 5 ; and Jeremiah 1:5 , among others . The Old Testament provides advice on adultery in Exodus 's seventh commandment , as well as the New Testament Gospel of Matthew . Christian views on divorce are informed by verses in Deuteronomy , Matthew , Mark , and others . Homosexuality is discussed in the Old and New Testament as well ; for example , male homosexual acts merit the death penalty in Leviticus 18 . This is , however , only one example of a long list of sexual sins that are mostly heterosexual sins of incest , and bestiality ; homosexuality was not a major concern in ancient times . Constraints on sexual conduct are heavily discussed in the Bible 's Old and New Testaments . For example , The Old Testament presents procreative marriage as the norm . # Scholasticism # A sharper line of separation between philosophy and theology , and in particular between ethics and moral theology , is first met with in the works of the great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages , especially of Albertus Magnus ( 1193&amp;ndash ; 1280 ) , Thomas Aquinas ( 1225&amp;ndash ; 1274 ) , Bonaventure ( 12211274 ) , and Duns Scotus ( 1274&amp;ndash ; 1308 ) . Philosophy and , by means of it , theology reaped abundant fruit from the works of Aristotle , which had until then been a sealed treasure to Western civilization , and had first been elucidated by the detailed and profound commentaries of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas and pressed into the service of Christian philosophy . The same is particularly true as regards ethics . Thomas , in his commentaries on the political and ethical writings of Aristotle , in his ' ' Summa contra Gentiles ' ' and his ' ' Quaestiones disputatae ' ' , treated with his wonted clearness and penetration nearly the whole range of ethics in a purely philosophical manner , so that even to the present day his words are an inexhaustible source from which ethics draws its supply . On the foundations laid by him the Catholic philosophers and theologians of succeeding ages have continued to build . In his ' ' Summa Theologiae ' ' , Thomas locates ethics within the context of theology . For example , he discusses the ethics of buying and selling and concludes that although it may be legal ( according to human law ) to sell an object for more that it is worth , Divine law leaves nothing unpunished that is contrary to virtue . The question of ' ' beatiudo ' ' , perfect happiness in the possession of God , is posited as the goal of human life . Thomas also argues that the human being by reflection on human nature 's inclinations discovers a law , that is the natural law , which is man 's participation in the divine law . In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , thanks especially to the influence of the so-called Nominalists , a period of stagnation and decline set in , but the sixteenth century is marked by a revival . Ethical questions , also , though largely treated in connection with theology , are again made the subject of careful investigation . Examples include the theologians Francisco de Vitoria , Dominicus Soto , Luis de Molina , Francisco Suarez , Leonardus Lessius , Juan de Lugo , Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz , and Alphonsus Liguori . Among topics they discussed was the ethics of action in case of doubt , leading to the doctrine of probabilism . Since the sixteenth century , special chairs of ethics ( moral philosophy ) have been erected in many Catholic universities . The larger , purely philosophical works on ethics , however , do not appear until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries , as an example of which we may instance the production of Ign . Schwarz , Instituitiones juris universalis naturae et gentium ( 1743 ) . # Protestant ethics # With the rejection of the doctrine of papal infallibility and the Roman Magisterium as the absolute religious authority , each individual , at least in principle , became the arbiter in matters pertaining to faith and morals . The Reformers held fast to ' ' Sola Scriptura ' ' and many endeavored to construct an ethical system directly from the scriptures . Lutheran Philipp Melanchthon , in his ' ' Elementa philosophiae moralis ' ' , still clung to the Aristotelian philosophy strongly rejected by Martin Luther , as did Hugo Grotius in ' ' De jure belli et pacis ' ' . But Richard Cumberland and his follower Samuel Pufendorf assumed , with Descartes , that the ultimate ground for every distinction between good and evil lay in the free determination of God 's will , an antinomian view which renders the philosophical treatment of ethics fundamentally impossible . In the 20th century some Christian philosophers , notably Dietrich Bonhoeffer , questioned the value of ethical reasoning in moral philosophy . In this school of thought , ethics , with its focus on distinguishing right from wrong , tends to produce behavior that is simply not wrong , whereas the Christian life should instead be marked by the highest form of right . Rather than ethical reasoning , they stress the importance of meditation on , and relationship with , God . Other important Protestant Christian ethicists include H. Richard Niebuhr , John Howard Yoder , Glen Stassen , and Stanley Hauerwas. # The ethics of Christian Anarchism # Christian Anarchism is the name of a Christian movement that rejects secular authority , such as that of governments , instead arguing that God is the sole source of authority for Christians . Christian Anarchists argue that the state is violent and often idolatrous . Thinkers espousing this perspective include Leo Tolstoy and Jacques Ellul . More than any other Bible source , the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus ' call to not resist evil but turn the other cheek , are used as the basis for Christian Anarchism . Christian Anarchists are pacifists and oppose the use of violence , such as war . Tolstoy 's ' ' The Kingdom of God Is Within You ' ' is regarded as a key text in the movement . # Non-academic Christian ethics # There are many ethical movements which have risen to prominence in popular culture but are not academic in nature . Several are explored below . # What would Jesus do ? # One movement was based on the phrase What would Jesus do ? ( often abbreviated to WWJD ) . The phrase became popular in the United States in the 1990s as a personal motto for adherents of Evangelical Christianity . Many used the phrase as a reminder of their belief in a moral imperative to act in a manner that would demonstrate the Love of Jesus through the actions of the adherents . A follow-up motto answered the question Fully Rely On God ( often abbreviated to FROG ) . # Judeo-Christian ethics # Another movement was Judeo-Christian ethics , in which Jews and Christians collaborated to develop an ethical platform and decide what policies to support . The present meaning of Judeo-Christian regarding ethics first appeared in print on July 27 , 1939 , with the phrase the Judaeo-Christian scheme of morals in the ' ' New English Weekly ' ' . The term gained much currency in the 1940s , promoted by groups which evolved into the National Conference of Christians and Jews , to fight antisemitism by expressing a more inclusive idea of American values rather than just Christian or Protestant values . By 1952 Dwight Eisenhower looked to the Founding Fathers of 1776 to say : : ' ' all men are endowed by their Creator . In other words , our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith , and I do n't care what it is . With us of course it is the Judeo-Christian concept , but it must be a religion with all men are created equal . ' ' # Criticism # Christian ethics have been criticized for various reasons . Simon Blackburn states that the Bible can be read as giving us a carte blanche for harsh attitudes to children , the mentally handicapped , animals , the environment , the divorced , unbelievers , people with various sexual habits , and elderly women . Elizabeth Anderson , a Professor of Philosophy and Women 's Studies at the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , states that the Bible contains both good and evil teachings , and it is morally inconsistent . Others point to the dangers of Presentism ( Literary and historical analysis ) . # The Old Testament # Blackburn provides examples of Old Testament moral criticisms such as the phrase in Exodus 22:18 that has helped to burn alive tens or hundreds of thousands of women in Europe and America : Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live , and notes that the Old Testament God apparently has no problems with a slave-owning society , considers birth control a crime punishable by death , and is keen on child abuse . Additional examples that are questioned today are : the prohibition on touching women during their period of menstrual uncleanliness ( Lev . 15:1924 ) , the apparent approval of selling daughters into slavery ( Exodus 21:7 ) , and the obligation to put to death someone working on the Sabbath ( Exodus 35:2 ) . Elizabeth Anderson says that those who accept biblical inerrancy .. must conclude that much of what we take to be morally evil is in fact morally permissible and even morally required . She provides a number of examples to illustrate God 's moral character such as : Routinely punishes people for the sins of others .. punishes all mothers by condemning them to painful childbirth , punishes four generations of descendants of those who worship other Gods , kills 24,000 Israelites because some of them sinned ( Numbers 25:19 ) , kills 70,000 Israelites for the sin of David in 2 Samuel 24:1015 , and sends two bears out of the woods to tear forty-two children to pieces because they called someone names in 2 Kings 2:2324 . She goes on to note commands God gave to men in the Bible such as : kill adulterers , homosexuals , and people who work on the Sabbath ( Leviticus 20:10 ; Leviticus 20:13 ; Exodus 35:2 , respectively ) ; to commit ethnic cleansing ( Exodus 34:11-14 , Leviticus 26:7-9 ) ; commit genocide ( Numbers 21 : 2-3 , Numbers 21:3335 , Deuteronomy 2:2635 , and Joshua 112 ) ; and other mass killings . Finally , the bible permits slavery , the beating of slaves , the rape of female captives in wartime , polygamy ( for men ) , the killing of prisoners , and child sacrifice . # The New Testament # Blackburn notes morally suspect themes in the Bible 's New Testament as well . He notes some moral quirks of Jesus : that he could be sectarian ( Matt 10:56 ) , racist ( Matt 15:26 and Mark 7:27 ) , placed no value on animal life ( Luke 8 : 2733 ) , and believed that mental illness is caused by possession by devils . He also did not repudiate any of the more brutal portions of the Old Testament . Anderson notes the Christian apologist argument that the Jesus of the New Testament is all loving . She states , however , that the New Testament has some morally repugnant lessons as well : Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another , so that they shall love him more than their kin ( Matt 10:3537 ) , Disciples must hate their parents , siblings , wives , and children ( Luke 14:26 ) , children who curse their parents .. must be killed , and Peter and Paul elevate men over their wives who must obey their husbands as gods ( 1 Corinthians 11:3 , 14:345 , Eph. 5:2224 , Col. 3:18 , 1 Tim . 2 : 112 , 1 Pet . 3:1 ) in the New Testament household code . Anderson states that the Gospel of John implies that infants and anyone who never had the opportunity to hear about Christ are damned to hell , through no fault of their own . She concludes that , # Here are religious doctrines that on their face claim that it is all right to mercilessly punish people for the wrongs of others and for blameless error , that license or even command murder , rape , torture , slavery , ethnic cleansing , and genocide . We know such actions are wrong . # # See also #  Aristotelian ethics  Brotherly love ( philosophy )  Buddhist ethics  Christian pacifism  Christian philosophy  Christian values  Christian vegetarianism  Christian views on the old covenant  Council of Jerusalem  Ethics in religion  Ethics in the Bible  Good works  Jewish ethics  Theonomy  Christian Morals # References # # Further reading # De La Torre , Miguel A. , Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins , Orbis Books , 2004.  , ' ' Philosophy and Theology ' ' 23 , 1 : 133-148 ( 2011 )  al-Faruqi , Ismail Ragi . ' ' Christian Ethics : an Historical and Systematic Analysis of Its Dominant Ideas ' ' . McGill University Press , 1967 . ' ' N.B ' ' . : Written from an Islamic perspective .  Hein , David . Christianity and Honor . ' ' The Living Church ' ' , August 18 , 2013 , pp. 810. 
@@4095924 In ethics , value denotes something 's degree of importance , with the aim of determining what action or life is best to do or live ( Deontology ) , or to describe the significance of different actions ( Axiology ) . It may be described as treating actions themselves as abstract objects , putting value to them . It deals with right conduct and good life , in the sense that a highly , or at least relatively highly , valuable action may be regarded as ethically good ( adjective sense ) , and an action of low , or at least relatively low , value may be regarded as bad . What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the ethic values of the objects it increases , decreases or alters . An object with ethic value may be termed an ethic or philosophic good ( noun sense ) . # Study # Ethical value may be regarded as a study under ethics , which , in turn , may be grouped as philosophy . Similar to that ethics may be regarded as a subfield of philosophy , ' ' ethical value ' ' may be regarded as a subgroup of the more broad ( and vague ) philosophic value . Ethical value denotes something 's degree importance , with the aim of determining what action or life is best to do , or at least attempt to describe the value of different actions . It may be described as treating actions themselves as abstract objects , putting value to them . It deals with right conduct and good life , in the sense that a highly , or at least relatively highly , valuable action or may be regarded as ' ' good ' ' , and an action of low , or at least relatively low , value may be regarded as ' ' bad ' ' . The study of ethical value is also included in value theory . # Similar concepts # ' ' Ethical value ' ' is sometimes used synonymously with goodness . However , goodness has many other meanings as well , and may be regarded as more ambiguous . # Absolute or relative # Personal and cultural values are relative in that they differ between people , and on a larger scale , between people of different cultures . On the other hand , there are theories of the existence of ' ' absolute values ' ' , which can also be termed ' ' noumenal values ' ' ( and not to be confused with mathematical absolute value ) . An absolute value can be described as philosophically absolute and independent of individual and cultural views , as well as independent of whether it is known or apprehended or not . Relative value may be regarded as an ' experience ' by subjects of the absolute value . Relative value thus varies with individual and cultural interpretation , while absolute value remains constant , regardless of individual or collective ' experience ' of it . # Intrinsic or extrinsic # Philosophic value may be split into ' ' instrumental value ' ' and ' ' intrinsic values ' ' . An instrumental value is worth having as a means towards getting something else that is good ( e.g. , a radio is instrumentally good in order to hear music ) . An intrinsically valuable thing is worth for itself , not as a means to something else . It is giving value intrinsic and extrinsic properties . An ' ' ethic good ' ' with ' ' instrumental value ' ' may be termed an ethic mean , and an ' ' ethic good ' ' with ' ' intrinsic value ' ' may be termed an end-in-itself . An object may be both a mean and end-in-itself. # Summation # Intrinsic and instrumental goods are not mutually exclusive categories . Some objects are both good in themselves , and also good for getting other objects that are good . Understanding science may be such a good , being both worthwhile in and of itself , and as a means of achieving other goods . In these cases , the sum of instrumental ( specifically the all instrumental value ) and instrinsic value of an object may be used when putting that object in value systems . # Explicit or implicit # While the larger part of research in ethics focusses on explicit value statements such as in constitutions or corporate image brochures , recent approaches focus rather on the ' ' implicit nature of value communication ' ' . # Intensity # The ' ' intensity ' ' of philosophic value is the degree it is generated or carried out , and may be regarded as the prevalence of the good , the object having the value . It should not be confused with the amount of value per object , although the latter may vary too , e.g. because of instrumental value conditionality . For example , taking a fictional life-stance of accepting waffle-eating as being the end-in-itself , the intensity may be the speed that waffles are eaten , and is zero when no waffles are eaten , e.g. if no waffles are present . Still , each waffle that had been present would still have value , no matter if it was being eaten or not , independent on intensity . ' ' Instrumental value conditionality ' ' in this case could be exampled by every waffle not present , making them less valued by being far away rather than easily accessible . In many life stances it is the product of value and intensity that is ultimately desirable , i.e. not only to generate value , but to generate it in large degree . Maximizing lifestances have the highest possible intensity as an imperative . # Homology in physics # When comparing to the homologous measure in physics , then intensity in physics may not be the best example , but may better be described as its area . In this sense , power in physics may be compared to the amount of value per object , and physical intensity the product of value per object and ethic intensity . If there is no physical area , then no energy is generated , regardless of physical power . In the same way , if there is no ethic intensity , then no total value is generated , regardless of value per object . # Duration # ' ' Philosophic or ethic value duration ' ' is the time that an object exists , or more specifically , has any intensity . It is contrasted with chain of events duration , which is the time it takes for a chain of events to reach its terminal event , in this case the object with intrinsic value . The ' ' chain of events duration ' ' may be significantly longer than the ' ' value duration ' ' , especially for objects with long term instrumental value . In the intervening time , the value of the object is converted into the value of the intervening objects in the ' ' chain of events ' ' . # Average and instantaneous value # With time in mind , there is a distinction between ' ' average ethic or philosophic value ' ' and ' ' instantaneous ethic or philosophic value ' ' . The ' ' average ethic or philosophic value ' ' is the average of the ethic or philosophic value of an object during a certain amount of time . If not else specified it is assumed to be the value duration of the object in mind . It can , however , also be the chain of events duration or other specified amount of time . The ' ' instantaneous ethic or philosophic value ' ' is the ethic or philosophic value of an object at a certain point of time . If may be a ' ' present ' ' , ' ' past ' ' or ' ' future ' ' point of time . # Total value # The total ethic or philosophic value of an object can be regarded as being the product of its average value , average intensity and ' ' value duration ' ' . It may be either absolute or relative or both . Any decrease in the whole value , intensity or duration of an object decreases its total value and vice versa . For example , again taking a fictional life-stance regarding waffles as of ends-in-themselves , it still does n't generate any total value if there are no waffles , no intensity , no matter how much average value a waffle has . Alternatively described , the total value can be regarded as being the sum of the total intrinsic value and total instrumental value . Still , it may be either ' ' relative ' ' or ' ' absolute ' ' , or both . # Economic and philosophic value # Philosophical value is distinguished from economic value , since it is independent on some other desired condition or commodity . The economic value of an object may rise when the exchangeable desired condition or commodity , e.g. money , become high in supply , and vice versa when supply of money becomes low . Nevertheless , economic value may be regarded as a result of philosophical value . In the subjective theory of value , the personal philosophic value a person puts in possessing something is reflected in what economic value this person puts on it . The limit where a person considers to purchase something may be regarded as the point where the ' ' personal philosophic value ' ' of possessing something exceeds the personal philosophic value of what is given up in exchange for it , e.g. money . In this light , everything can be said to have a personal economic value in contrast to its societal economic value . # Equality # Philosophic or ethic value equality is the concept of two objects having the same philosophic value . It can be of different types , depending of the value : Philosophic or ethic ' ' intrinsic value equality ' ' , where the objects have the same ' ' intrinsic value ' ' Philosophic or ethic ' ' instrumental value equality ' ' , where the objects have the same ' ' instrumental value ' ' Philosophic or ethic ' ' whole value equality ' ' , where the objects have the same ' ' whole value ' ' Philosophic or ethic ' ' total value equality ' ' , where the objects have the same ' ' total value ' ' # Value system # A ' ' value system ' ' is a set of consistent ethic values and measures used for the purpose of ethical or ideological integrity . A well defined ' ' value system ' ' is a moral code . # Positive and negative value # There may be a distinction between positive and negative philosophic or ethic value . While positive ethic value generally correlates with something that is pursued or maximized , negative ethic value correlates with something that is avoided or minimized . Negative value may be both intrinsic negative value and/or instrumental negative value . 
@@4947562 This is a list of academic journals pertaining to the field of philosophy . # Journals in Czech #  ' ' Filosofick asopis ' '  ' ' Reflexe ' ' # Journals in Danish #  ' ' Kierkegaard Studies Monograph Series ' ' ( also in English , French and German )  ' ' Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook ' ' ( also in English , French and German ) # Journals in Dutch #  ' ' Krisis ' ' # Journals in English #  ' ' The Acorn ' '  ' ' Acta Philosophica Fennica ' '  ' ' American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly ' '  ' ' American Journal of Bioethics ' '  ' ' The American Journal of Semiotics ' '  ' ' American Philosophical Quarterly ' '  ' ' Analysis ' '  ' ' Ancient Philosophy ' '  ' ' Apeiron ' '  ' ' Augustinian Studies ' '  ' ' Ars Disputandi ' '  ' ' Australasian Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Berkeley Studies ' '  ' ' Bioethics ' '  ' ' British Journal of Aesthetics ' '  ' ' British Journal for the History of Philosophy ' '  ' ' British Journal for the Philosophy of Science ' '  ' ' Bulletin of Symbolic Logic ' '  ' ' Business and Professional Ethics Journal ' '  ' ' Business Ethics Quarterly ' '  ' ' Canadian Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Chiasmi International ' '  ' ' The CLR James Journal ' '  ' ' Consciousness and Cognition ' '  ' ' Constellations ' '  ' ' Constructivist Foundations ' '  ' ' Contemporary Political Theory ' '  ' ' Contemporary Pragmatism ' '  ' ' Continent ' '  ' ' Croatian Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Cultura : International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology ' '  ' ' Deleuze Studies ' '  ' ' Dialectica ' '  ' ' Dialogue : Canadian Philosophical Review ' '  ' ' Dionysius ' '  ' ' Disputatio ' '  ' ' Environmental Ethics ' '  ' ' Environmental Philosophy ' '  ' ' Epoch ' '  ' ' Erkenntnis ' '  ' ' Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism ' '  ' ' Ethical Theory and Moral Practice ' '  ' ' Ethics ' '  ' ' European Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' European Journal of Political Theory ' '  ' ' Existenz ' '  ' ' Faith and Philosophy ' '  ' ' Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal ' '  ' ' The Harvard Review of Philosophy ' '  ' ' The Heythrop Journal ' '  ' ' Heidegger Studies ' '  ' ' Humana.Mente ' '  ' ' Hume Studies ' '  ' ' Hypatia ' '  ' ' Idealistic Studies ' '  ' ' Inquiry : An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Inquiry : Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines ' '  ' ' International Journal of Applied Philosophy ' '  ' ' International Journal of Philosophical Studies ' '  ' ' International Philosophical Quarterly ' '  ' ' International Studies in Philosophy ' '  ' ' Isis ' '  ' ' Journal for General Philosophy of Science ' '  ' ' Journal for Peace and Justice Studies ' '  ' ' The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ' '  ' ' Journal of Business Ethics Education ' '  ' ' Journal of Consciousness Studies ' '  ' ' Journal of Ethics &amp; Social Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of the History of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of Human Values ' '  ' ' Journal of Information Ethics ' '  ' ' Journal of Indian Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of Moral Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of Philosophical Logic ' '  ' ' Journal of Philosophical Research ' '  ' ' The Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of Scottish Philosophy ' '  ' ' Journal of Symbolic Logic ' '  ' ' The Journal of Theological Studies ' '  ' ' Journal of Value Inquiry ' '  ' ' Kantian Review ' '  ' ' Kritike ' '  ' ' The Leibniz Review ' '  ' ' Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations ' '  ' ' Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Metaphilosophy ' '  ' ' Midwest Studies in Philosophy ' '  ' ' Mind ' '  ' ' Mind &amp; Language ' '  ' ' Minds and Machines ' '  ' ' The Modern Schoolman ' '  ' ' The Monist ' '  ' ' New Nietzsche Studies ' '  ' ' The New Scholasticism ' '  ' ' New Vico Studies ' '  ' ' Nos ' '  ' ' The Owl of Minerva ' '  ' ' Pacific Philosophical Quarterly ' '  ' ' Philo ' '  ' ' The Philosopher ' '  ' ' Philosophers ' Imprint ' '  ' ' The Philosophers ' Magazine ' '  ' ' Philosophia Africana ' '  ' ' Philosophia Christi ' '  ' ' Philosophia Mathematica ' '  ' ' Philosophia Reformata ' '  ' ' Philosophical Explorations ' '  ' ' The Philosophical Forum ' '  ' ' Philosophical Inquiry ' '  ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' '  ' ' Philosophical Issues ' '  ' ' Philosophical Papers ' '  ' ' Philosophical Perspectives ' '  ' ' Philosophical Psychology ' '  ' ' The Philosophical Quarterly ' '  ' ' The Philosophical Review ' '  ' ' Philosophical Studies ' '  ' ' Philosophical Topics ' '  ' ' Philosophy ' '  ' ' Philosophy and Phenomenological Research ' '  ' ' Philosophy &amp; Public Affairs ' '  ' ' Philosophy and Theology ' '  ' ' Philosophy East and West ' '  ' ' Philosophy in the Contemporary World ' '  ' ' Philosophy in Review ' '  ' ' Philosophy Now ' '  ' ' Philosophy of Management ' '  ' ' Philosophy of Science ' '  ' ' Philosophy Today ' '  ' ' Phronesis ' '  ' ' Pli ' '  ' ' Polish Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Praxis Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association ' '  ' ' Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society ' '  ' ' Professional Ethics ' '  ' ' Public Affairs Quarterly ' '  ' ' Psyche ' '  ' ' Questions ' '  ' ' Quodlibet ' '  ' ' Radical Philosophy Review ' '  ' ' Ratio ' '  ' ' Res publica ' '  ' ' The Review of Metaphysics ' '  ' ' Review of Philosophy and Psychology ' '  ' ' Semiotica ' '  ' ' Sign Systems Studies ' '  ' ' Social Philosophy Today ' '  ' ' Social Theory and Practice ' '  ' ' Southern Journal of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Studia Neoaristotelica ' '  ' ' Studia Phaenomenologica ' '  ' ' Synthese ' '  ' ' Teaching Ethics ' '  ' ' Teaching Philosophy ' '  ' ' Techn ' '  ' ' Teorema ' '  ' ' Theoria ' '  ' ' Theory and Event ' '  ' ' Think ' '  ' ' Thought : Fordham University Quarterly ' '  ' ' Tulane Studies in Philosophy ' '  ' ' Utilitas ' ' # Journals in French #  ' ' Actuel Marx ' '  ' ' Dialogue ' '  ' ' thiopiques ' '  ' ' tudes Phnomnologiques ' '  ' ' Kairos ' '  ' ' Multitudes ' '  ' ' Revue Philosophique de Louvain ' '  ' ' Revue de synthse ' '  ' ' Revue philosophique de la France et de l ' tranger ' '  ' ' Revue de mtaphysique et de morale ' ' # Journals in German #  ' ' Archiv fr Begriffsgeschichte ' '  ' ' Archiv fr Geschichte der Philosophie ' '  ' ' Archiv fr Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie ' '  ' ' Cultura : International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology ' '  ' ' Deutsche Zeitschrift fr Philosophie ' '  ' ' Heidegger Studies ' '  ' ' Zeitschrift fr allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie ' '  ' ' Merkur ' '  ' ' polylog - Zeitschrift fr interkulturelles Philosophieren ' '  ' ' Zeitschrift fr Kulturphilosophie ' '  ' ' Zeitschrift fr Philosophie und philosophische Kritik ' ' # Journal in Hebrew #  ' ' Iyyun ' ' # Journals in Italian #  ' ' Agalma ' '  ' ' Epistemologia ' ' # Journals in Portuguese #  ' ' Lumen Veritatis ' '  ' ' Disputatio ' ' # Journals in Spanish #  ' ' Anlisis Filosfico ' '  ' ' Anuario Filosfico ' '  ' ' Revista Ideas y Valores ' ' # Undergraduate journals #  ' ' The Harvard Review of Philosophy ' '  ' ' Stance ' ' ( Ball State University ) # See also #  : Category:Philosophical novels  Lists of academic journals 
@@6880370 Philosophy of language is concerned with four central problems : the nature of meaning , language use , language cognition , and the relationship between language and reality . For continental philosophers , however , the philosophy of language tends to be dealt with , not as a separate topic , but as a part of logic ( see the section Language and continental philosophy below ) . First and foremost , philosophers of language prioritize their inquiry on the ' ' nature ' ' of meaning . They seek to explain what it means to mean something . Topics in that vein include the nature of synonymy , the origins of meaning itself , and how any meaning can ever really be known . Another project under this heading of special interest to analytic philosophers of language is the investigation into the manner in which sentences are ' ' composed ' ' into a meaningful whole out of the meaning of its ' ' parts ' ' . Secondly , they seek to better understand what speakers and listeners do with language in communication , and how it is used socially . Specific interests may include the topics of language learning , language creation , and speech acts . Thirdly , they would like to know how language relates to the minds of both the speaker and the interpreter . Of specific interest is the grounds for successful translation of words into other words . Finally , philosophers of language investigate how language and meaning relate to truth and the world . They tend to be less concerned with which sentences are ' ' actually true ' ' , and more with ' ' what kinds of meanings can be true or false ' ' . A truth-oriented philosopher of language might wonder whether or not a meaningless sentence can be true or false , or whether or not sentences can express propositions about things that do not exist , rather than the way sentences are used . # Major topics and sub-fields # # Composition and parts # *6;256050;br It has long been known that there are different parts of speech . One part of the common sentence is the lexical word , which is composed of nouns , verbs , and adjectives . A major question in the field perhaps the single most important question for formalist and structuralist thinkers is , How does the meaning of a sentence emerge out of its parts ? Many aspects of the problem of the composition of sentences are addressed in the field of linguistics of syntax . Philosophical semantics tends to focus on the principle of compositionality to explain the relationship between meaningful parts and whole sentences . The principle of compositionality asserts that a sentence can be understood on the basis of the meaning of the ' ' parts ' ' of the sentence ( i.e. , words , morphemes ) along with an understanding of its ' ' structure ' ' ( i.e. , syntax , logic ) . It is possible to use the concept of ' ' functions ' ' to describe more than just how lexical meanings work : they can also be used to describe the meaning of a sentence . Take , for a moment , the sentence The horse is red . We may consider the horse to be the product of a ' ' propositional function ' ' . A propositional function is an operation of language that takes an entity ( in this case , the horse ) as an input and outputs a ' ' semantic fact ' ' ( i.e. , the proposition that is represented by The horse is red ) . In other words , a propositional function is like an algorithm . The meaning of red in this case is whatever takes the entity the horse and turns it into the statement , The horse is red . Linguists have developed at least two general methods of understanding the relationship between the parts of a linguistic string and how it is put together : syntactic and semantic trees . Syntactic trees draw upon the words of a sentence with the ' ' grammar ' ' of the sentence in mind . Semantic trees , on the other hand , focus upon the role of the ' ' meaning ' ' of the words and how those meanings combine to provide insight onto the genesis of semantic facts . # Nature of meaning # ... Generally speaking , there have been at least seven distinctive explanations of what a linguistic meaning is . Each has been associated with its own body of literature . # ' ' Idea theories of meaning ' ' , most commonly associated with the British empiricist tradition of Locke , Berkeley and Hume , claim that meanings are purely mental contents provoked by signs . Although this view of meaning has been beset by a number of problems from the beginning ( see the main article for details ) , interest in it has been renewed by some contemporary theorists under the guise of ' ' semantic internalism ' ' . # ' ' Truth-conditional theories ' ' hold meaning to be the conditions under which an expression may be true or false . This tradition goes back at least to Frege and is associated with a rich body of modern work , spearheaded by philosophers like Alfred Tarski and Donald Davidson . # ' ' Theories of language use ' ' , for example theories by the later Wittgenstein , helped inaugurate the idea of meaning as use , and a communitarian view of language . Wittgenstein was interested in the way in which the communities use language , and how far it can be taken . It is also associated with P. F. Strawson , John Searle , Robert Brandom , and others . # ' ' Constructivist ' ' theories of language are connected to the revolutionary idea claiming that speech is not only passively describing a given reality , but it can change the ( social ) reality it is describing through speech acts , which for linguistics was as revolutionary a discovery as for physics was the discovery that measurement itself can change the measured reality itself . Speech act theory was developed by J. L. Austin , although other previous thinkers have had similar ideas . # ' ' Reference theories of meaning ' ' , also known collectively as ' ' semantic externalism ' ' , view meaning to be equivalent to those things in the world that are actually connected to signs . There are two broad subspecies of externalism : social and environmental . The first is most closely associated with Tyler Burge and the second with Hilary Putnam , Saul Kripke and others . # ' ' Verificationist theories of meaning ' ' are generally associated with the early 20th century movement of logical positivism . The traditional formulation of such a theory is that the meaning of a sentence is its method of verification or falsification . In this form , the thesis was abandoned after the acceptance by most philosophers of the DuhemQuine thesis of confirmation holism after the publication of Quine 's ' ' Two Dogmas of Empiricism ' ' . However , Michael Dummett has advocated a modified form of verificationism since the 1970s . In this version , the ' ' comprehension ' ' ( and hence meaning ) of a sentence consists in the hearer 's ability to recognize the demonstration ( mathematical , empirical or other ) of the truth of the sentence . # A ' ' pragmatist theory of meaning ' ' is any theory in which the meaning ( or understanding ) of a sentence is determined by the consequences of its application . Dummett attributes such a theory of meaning to Charles Sanders Peirce and other early 20th century American pragmatists . Other theories exist to discuss non-linguistic meaning ( i.e. , meaning as conveyed by body language , meanings as consequences , etc. ) = 
@@6880483 Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind , mental events , mental functions , mental properties , consciousness , and their relationship to the physical body , particularly the brain . The mindbody problem , i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body , is commonly seen as one key issue in philosophy of mind , although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body , such as how consciousness is possible and the nature of particular mental states . Dualism and monism are the two major schools of thought that attempt to resolve the mindbody problem . Dualism can be traced back to Plato , and the Sankhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy , Physicalists argue that only entities postulated by physical theory exist , and that mental processes will eventually be explained in terms of these entities as physical theory continues to evolve . Physicalists maintain various positions on the prospects of reducing mental properties to physical properties ( many of whom adopt compatible forms of property dualism ) , and the ontological status of such mental properties remains unclear . Idealists maintain that the mind is all that exists and that the external world is either mental itself , or an illusion created by the mind . Neutral monists such as Ernst Mach and William James argue that events in the world can be thought of as either mental ( psychological ) or physical depending on the network of relationships into which they enter , and dual-aspect monists such as Spinoza adhere to the position that there is some other , neutral substance , and that both matter and mind are properties of this unknown substance . The most common monisms in the 20th and 21st centuries have all been variations of physicalism ; these positions include behaviorism , the type identity theory , anomalous monism and functionalism . Most modern philosophers of mind adopt either a reductive or non-reductive physicalist position , maintaining in their different ways that the mind is not something separate from the body . These approaches have been particularly influential in the sciences , especially in the fields of sociobiology , computer science , evolutionary psychology and the various neurosciences . Other philosophers , however , adopt a non-physicalist position that challenges the notion that the mind is a purely physical construct . Reductive physicalists assert that all mental states and properties will eventually be explained by scientific accounts of physiological processes and states . Non-reductive physicalists argue that although the mind is not a separate substance , mental properties supervene on physical properties , or that the predicates and vocabulary used in mental descriptions and explanations are indispensable , and can not be reduced to the language and lower-level explanations of physical science . Continued neuroscientific progress has helped to clarify some of these issues ; however , they are far from being resolved . Modern philosophers of mind continue to ask how the subjective qualities and the intentionality of mental states and properties can be explained in naturalistic terms . # Mindbody problem # The mindbody problem concerns the explanation of the relationship that exists between minds , or mental processes , and bodily states or processes . The main aim of philosophers working in this area is to determine the nature of the mind and mental states/processes , and howor even ifminds are affected by and can affect the body . Our perceptual experiences depend on stimuli that arrive at our various sensory organs from the external world , and these stimuli cause changes in our mental states , ultimately causing us to feel a sensation , which may be pleasant or unpleasant . Someone 's desire for a slice of pizza , for example , will tend to cause that person to move his or her body in a specific manner and in a specific direction to obtain what he or she wants . The question , then , is how it can be possible for conscious experiences to arise out of a lump of gray matter endowed with nothing but electrochemical properties . A related problem is how someone 's propositional attitudes ( e.g. beliefs and desires ) cause that individual 's neurons to fire and his muscles to contract . These comprise some of the puzzles that have confronted epistemologists and philosophers of mind from at least the time of Ren Descartes. # Dualist solutions to the mindbody problem # Dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter ( or body ) . It begins with the claim that mental phenomena are , in some respects , non-physical . One of the earliest known formulations of mindbody dualism was expressed in the eastern Sankhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy ( c. 650 BCE ) , which divided the world into purusha ( mind/spirit ) and prakriti ( material substance ) . Specifically , the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali presents an analytical approach to the nature of the mind . In Western Philosophy , the earliest discussions of dualist ideas are in the writings of Plato who maintained that humans ' intelligence ( a faculty of the mind or soul ) could not be identified with , or explained in terms of , their physical body . However , the best-known version of dualism is due to Ren Descartes ( 1641 ) , and holds that the mind is a non-extended , non-physical substance , a res cogitans . Descartes was the first to clearly identify the mind with consciousness and self-awareness , and to distinguish this from the brain , which was the seat of intelligence . He was therefore the first to formulate the mindbody problem in the form in which it still exists today . # Arguments for dualism # The most frequently used argument in favour of dualism is that it appeals to the common-sense intuition that conscious experience is distinct from inanimate matter . If asked what the mind is , the average person would usually respond by identifying it with their self , their personality , their soul , or some other such entity . They would almost certainly deny that the mind simply is the brain , or vice versa , finding the idea that there is just one ontological entity at play to be too mechanistic , or simply unintelligible . Many modern philosophers of mind think that these intuitions are misleading and that we should use our critical faculties , along with empirical evidence from the sciences , to examine these assumptions to determine whether there is any real basis to them . Another important argument in favor of dualism is that the mental and the physical seem to have quite different , and perhaps irreconcilable , properties . Mental events have a subjective quality , whereas physical events do not . So , for example , one can reasonably ask what a burnt finger feels like , or what a blue sky looks like , or what nice music sounds like to a person . But it is meaningless , or at least odd , to ask what a surge in the uptake of glutamate in the dorsolateral portion of the hippocampus feels like . Philosophers of mind call the subjective aspects of mental events qualia or raw feels . There is something that it is like to feel pain , to see a familiar shade of blue , and so on . There are qualia involved in these mental events that seem particularly difficult to reduce to anything physical . If consciousness ( the mind ) can exist independently of physical reality ( the brain ) , one must explain how physical memories are created concerning consciousness . Dualism must therefore explain how consciousness affects physical reality . One possible explanation is that of a miracle , proposed by Arnold Geulincx and Nicolas Malebranche , where all mindbody interactions require the direct intervention of God . Another possible argument that has been proposed by C. S. Lewis is the Argument from Reason : if , as monism implies , all of our thoughts are the effects of physical causes , then we have no reason for assuming that they are also the consequent of a reasonable ground . Knowledge , however , is apprehended by reasoning from ground to consequent . Therefore , if monism is correct , there would be no way of knowing thisor anything elsewe could not even suppose it , except by a fluke . The zombie argument is based on a thought experiment proposed by Todd Moody , and developed by David Chalmers in his book ' ' The Conscious Mind ' ' . The basic idea is that one can imagine one 's body , and therefore conceive the existence of one 's body , without any conscious states being associated with this body . Chalmers ' argument is that it seems very plausible that such a being could exist because all that is needed is that all and only the things that the physical sciences describe about a zombie must be true of it . Since none of the concepts involved in these sciences make reference to consciousness or other mental phenomena , and any physical entity can be by definition described scientifically via physics , the move from conceivability to possibility is not such a large one . Others such as Dennett have argued that the notion of a philosophical zombie is an incoherent , or unlikely , concept . It has been argued under physicalism that one must either believe that anyone including oneself might be a zombie , or that no one can be a zombiefollowing from the assertion that one 's own conviction about being ( or not being ) a zombie is a product of the physical world and is therefore no different from anyone else 's . This argument has been expressed by Dennett who argues that Zombies think they are conscious , think they have qualia , think they suffer painsthey are just ' wrong ' ( according to this lamentable tradition ) in ways that neither they nor we could ever discover ! See also the problem of other minds . # Interactionist dualism # Interactionist dualism , or simply interactionism , is the particular form of dualism first espoused by Descartes in the ' ' Meditations ' ' . In the 20th century , its major defenders have been Karl Popper and John Carew Eccles . It is the view that mental states , such as beliefs and desires , causally interact with physical states . Descartes ' famous argument for this position can be summarized as follows : Seth has a clear and distinct idea of his mind as a thinking thing that has no spatial extension ( i.e. , it can not be measured in terms of length , weight , height , and so on ) . He also has a clear and distinct idea of his body as something that is spatially extended , subject to quantification and not able to think . It follows that mind and body are not identical because they have radically different properties . At the same time , however , it is clear that Seth 's mental states ( desires , beliefs , etc. ) have causal effects on his body and vice versa : A child touches a hot stove ( physical event ) which causes pain ( mental event ) and makes her yell ( physical event ) , this in turn provokes a sense of fear and protectiveness in the caregiver ( mental event ) , and so on . Descartes ' argument crucially depends on the premise that what Seth believes to be clear and distinct ideas in his mind are necessarily true . Many contemporary philosophers doubt this . For example , Joseph Agassi suggests that several scientific discoveries made since the early 20th century have undermined the idea of privileged access to one 's own ideas . Freud claimed that a psychologically-trained observer can understand a person 's unconscious motivations better than the person himself does . Duhem has shown that a philosopher of science can know a person 's methods of discovery better than that person herself does , while Malinowski has shown that an anthropologist can know a person 's customs and habits better than the person whose customs and habits they are . He also asserts that modern psychological experiments that cause people to see things that are not there provide grounds for rejecting Descartes ' argument , because scientists can describe a person 's perceptions better than the person herself can . The weakness common to all these arguments against interactionism is that they put all introspective insight in doubt . We know people make mistakes about the world ( including another 's internal states ) , but not always . Therefore , it is logically absurd to assume persons are always in error about their own mental states and judgements about the nature of the mind itself . # Other forms of dualism # # #Psychophysical parallelism# # Psychophysical parallelism , or simply parallelism , is the view that mind and body , while having distinct ontological statuses , do not causally influence one another . Instead , they run along parallel paths ( mind events causally interact with mind events and brain events causally interact with brain events ) and only seem to influence each other . This view was most prominently defended by Gottfried Leibniz . Although Leibniz was an ontological monist who believed that only one type of substance , the monad , exists in the universe , and that everything is reducible to it , he nonetheless maintained that there was an important distinction between the mental and the physical in terms of causation . He held that God had arranged things in advance so that minds and bodies would be in harmony with each other . This is known as the doctrine of pre-established harmony . # #Occasionalism# # Occasionalism is the view espoused by Nicholas Malebranche that asserts that all supposedly causal relations between physical events , or between physical and mental events , are not really causal at all . While body and mind are different substances , causes ( whether mental or physical ) are related to their effects by an act of God 's intervention on each specific occasion . # #Property dualism# # Property dualism is the view that the world is constituted of just one kind of substance the physical kind and there exist two distinct kinds of properties : physical properties and mental properties . In other words , it is the view that non-physical , mental properties ( such as beliefs , desires and emotions ) inhere in some physical bodies ( at least , brains ) . How mental and physical properties relate causally depends on the variety of property dualism in question , and is not always a clear issue . Sub-varieties of property dualism include : #Strong emergentism asserts that when matter is organized in the appropriate way ( i.e. in the way that living human bodies are organized ) , mental properties emerge in a way not fully accountable for by physical laws . Hence , it is a form of emergent materialism . These emergent properties have an independent ontological status and can not be reduced to , or explained in terms of , the physical substrate from which they emerge . They are dependent on the physical properties from which they emerge , but opinions vary as to the coherence of topdown causation , i.e. the causal effectiveness of such properties . A form of property dualism has been espoused by David Chalmers and the concept has undergone something of a renaissance in recent years , but was already suggested in the 19th century by William James . #Epiphenomenalism is a doctrine first formulated by Thomas Henry Huxley . It consists of the view that mental phenomena are causally ineffectual , where one or more mental states do not have any influence on physical states . Physical events can cause other physical events and physical events can cause mental events , but mental events can not cause anything , since they are just causally inert by-products ( i.e. epiphenomena ) of the physical world . This view has been defended most strongly in recent times by Frank Jackson . #Non-reductive Physicalism is the view that mental properties form a separate ontological class to physical properties : mental states ( such as qualia ) are not reducible to physical states . The ontological stance towards qualia in the case of non-reductive physicalism does not imply that qualia are causally inert ; this is what distinguishes it from epiphenomenalism. #Panpsychism is the view that all matter has a mental aspect , or , alternatively , all objects have a unified center of experience or point of view . Superficially , it seems to be a form of property dualism , since it regards everything as having both mental and physical properties . However , some panpsychists say mechanical behaviour is derived from primitive mentality of atoms and moleculesas are sophisticated mentality and organic behaviour , the difference being attributed to the presence or absence of complex structure in a compound object . So long as the ' ' reduction ' ' of non-mental properties to mental ones is in place , panpsychism is not a ( strong ) form of property dualism ; otherwise it is. # #Dual aspect theory# # Dual aspect theory or dual-aspect monism is the view that the mental and the physical are two aspects of , or perspectives on , the same substance . ( Thus it is a mixed position , which is monistic in some respects ) . In modern philosophical writings , the theory 's relationship to neutral monism has become somewhat ill-defined , but one proffered distinction says that whereas neutral monism allows the context of a given group of neutral elements and the relationships into which they enter to determine whether the group can be thought of as mental , physical , both , or neither , dual-aspect theory suggests that the mental and the physical are manifestations ( or aspects ) of some underlying substance , entity or process that is itself neither mental nor physical as normally understood . Various formulations of dual-aspect monism also require the mental and the physical to be complementary , mutually irreducible and perhaps inseparable ( though distinct ) . # Monist solutions to the mindbody problem # In contrast to dualism , monism does not accept any fundamental divisions . The fundamentally disseparate nature of reality has been central to forms of eastern philosophies for over two millennia . In Indian and Chinese philosophy , monism is integral to how experience is understood . Today , the most common forms of monism in Western philosophy are physicalist . Physicalistic monism asserts that the only existing substance is physical , in some sense of that term to be clarified by our best science . However , a variety of formulations ( see below ) are possible . Another form of monism , idealism , states that the only existing substance is mental . Although pure idealism , such as that of George Berkeley , is uncommon in contemporary Western philosophy , a more sophisticated variant called panpsychism , according to which mental experience and properties may be at the foundation of physical experience and properties , has been espoused by some philosophers such as Alfred North Whitehead and David Ray Griffin . Phenomenalism is the theory that representations ( or sense data ) of external objects are all that exist . Such a view was briefly adopted by Bertrand Russell and many of the logical positivists during the early 20th century . A third possibility is to accept the existence of a basic substance that is neither physical nor mental . The mental and physical would then both be properties of this neutral substance . Such a position was adopted by Baruch Spinoza and was popularized by Ernst Mach in the 19th century . This neutral monism , as it is called , resembles property dualism. # Physicalistic monisms # # #Behaviorism# # Behaviorism dominated philosophy of mind for much of the 20th century , especially the first half . In psychology , behaviorism developed as a reaction to the inadequacies of introspectionism . Introspective reports on one 's own interior mental life are not subject to careful examination for accuracy and can not be used to form predictive generalizations . Without generalizability and the possibility of third-person examination , the behaviorists argued , psychology can not be scientific . The way out , therefore , was to eliminate the idea of an interior mental life ( and hence an ontologically independent mind ) altogether and focus instead on the description of observable behavior . Parallel to these developments in psychology , a philosophical behaviorism ( sometimes called logical behaviorism ) was developed . This is characterized by a strong verificationism , which generally considers unverifiable statements about interior mental life senseless . For the behaviorist , mental states are not interior states on which one can make introspective reports . They are just descriptions of behavior or dispositions to behave in certain ways , made by third parties to explain and predict another 's behavior . Philosophical behaviorism has fallen out of favor since the latter half of the 20th century , coinciding with the rise of cognitivism . Cognitivists reject behaviorism due to several perceived problems . For example , behaviorism could be said to be counter-intuitive when it maintains that someone is talking about behavior in the event that a person is experiencing a painful headache . # #Identity theory# # Type physicalism ( or type-identity theory ) was developed by John Smart and Ullin Place as a direct reaction to the failure of behaviorism . These philosophers reasoned that , if mental states are something material , but not behavioral , then mental states are probably identical to internal states of the brain . In very simplified terms : a mental state ' ' M ' ' is nothing other than brain state ' ' B ' ' . The mental state desire for a cup of coffee would thus be nothing more than the firing of certain neurons in certain brain regions . Despite its initial plausibility , the identity theory faces a strong challenge in the form of the thesis of multiple realizability , first formulated by Hilary Putnam . It is obvious that not only humans , but many different species of animals can , for example , experience pain . However , it seems highly unlikely that all of these diverse organisms with the same pain experience are in the identical brain state . And if this is the case , then pain can not be identical to a specific brain state . The identity theory is thus empirically unfounded . On the other hand , even granted the above , it does not follow that identity theories of all types must be abandoned . According to token identity theories , the fact that a certain brain state is connected with only one mental state of a person does not have to mean that there is an absolute correlation between types of mental state and types of brain state . The typetoken distinction can be illustrated by a simple example : the word green contains four types of letters ( g , r , e , n ) with two tokens ( occurrences ) of the letter ' ' e ' ' along with one each of the others . The idea of token identity is that only particular occurrences of mental events are identical with particular occurrences or tokenings of physical events . Anomalous monism ( see below ) and most other non-reductive physicalisms are token-identity theories . Despite these problems , there is a renewed interest in the type identity theory today , primarily due to the influence of Jaegwon Kim . # #Functionalism# # Functionalism was formulated by Hilary Putnam and Jerry Fodor as a reaction to the inadequacies of the identity theory . Putnam and Fodor saw mental states in terms of an empirical computational theory of the mind . At about the same time or slightly after , D.M. Armstrong and David Kellogg Lewis formulated a version of functionalism that analyzed the mental concepts of folk psychology in terms of functional roles . Finally , Wittgenstein 's idea of meaning as use led to a version of functionalism as a theory of meaning , further developed by Wilfrid Sellars and Gilbert Harman . Another one , psychofunctionalism , is an approach adopted by naturalistic Philosophy of Mind associated with Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn . What all these different varieties of functionalism share in common is the thesis that mental states are characterized by their causal relations with other mental states and with sensory inputs and behavioral outputs . That is , functionalism abstracts away from the details of the physical implementation of a mental state by characterizing it in terms of non-mental functional properties . For example , a kidney is characterized scientifically by its functional role in filtering blood and maintaining certain chemical balances . From this point of view , it does not really matter whether the kidney be made up of organic tissue , plastic nanotubes or silicon chips : it is the role that it plays and its relations to other organs that define it as a kidney . # #Non-reductive physicalism# # Non-reductionist philosophers hold firmly to two essential convictions with regard to mindbody relations : 1 ) Physicalism is true and mental states must be physical states , but 2 ) All reductionist proposals are unsatisfactory : mental states can not be reduced to behavior , brain states or functional states . Hence , the question arises whether there can still be a non-reductive physicalism . Donald Davidson 's anomalous monism is an attempt to formulate such a physicalism . Davidson uses the thesis of supervenience : mental states supervene on physical states , but are not reducible to them . Supervenience therefore describes a functional dependence : there can be no change in the mental without some change in the physicalcausal reducibility between the mental and physical without ontological reducibility . Because non-reductive physicalist theories attempt to both retain the ontological distinction between mind and body and to try to solve the surfeit of explanations puzzle in some way ; critics often see this as a paradox and point out the similarities to epiphenomenalism , in that it is the brain that is seen as the root cause not the mind , and the mind seems to be rendered inert . Epiphenomenalism regards one or more mental states as the byproduct of physical brain states , having no influence on physical states . The interaction is one-way ( solving the surfeit of explanations puzzle ) but leaving us with non-reducible mental states ( as a byproduct of brain states ) both ontologically and causally irreducible to physical states . Pain would be seen by epiphenomenaliasts as being caused by the brain state but as not having effects on other brain states , though it might have effects on other mental states ( i.e. cause distress ) . # #Weak emergentism# # Weak emergentism is a form of non-reductive physicalism that involves a layered view of nature , with the layers arranged in terms of increasing complexity and each corresponding to its own special science . Some philosophers hold that emergent properties causally interact with more fundamental levels , while others maintain that higher-order properties simply supervene over lower levels without direct causal interaction . The latter group therefore holds a less strict , or weaker , definition of emergentism , which can be rigorously stated as follows : a property P of composite object O is emergent if it is metaphysically impossible for another object to lack property P if that object is composed of parts with intrinsic properties identical to those in O and has those parts in an identical configuration . Sometimes emergentists use the example of water having a new property when Hydrogen H and Oxygen O combine to form H <sub> 2 </sub> O ( water ) . In this example there emerges a new property of a transparent liquid that would not have been predicted by understanding hydrogen and oxygen as gases . This is analogous to physical properties of the brain giving rise to a mental state . Emergentists try to solve the notorious mindbody gap this way . One problem for emergentism is the idea of causal closure in the world that does not allow for a mind-to-body causation . # #Eliminative materialism# # If one is a materialist and believes that all aspects of our common-sense psychology will find reduction to a mature cognitive neuroscience , and that non-reductive materialism is mistaken , then one can adopt a final , more radical position : eliminative materialism . There are several varieties of eliminative materialism , but all maintain that our common-sense folk psychology badly misrepresents the nature of some aspect of cognition . Eliminativists such as Patricia and Paul Churchland argue that while folk psychology treats cognition as fundamentally sentence-like , the non-linguistic vector/matrix model of neural network theory or connectionism will prove to be a much more accurate account of how the brain works . The Churchlands often invoke the fate of other , erroneous popular theories and ontologies that have arisen in the course of history . For example , Ptolemaic astronomy served to explain and roughly predict the motions of the planets for centuries , but eventually this model of the solar system was eliminated in favor of the Copernican model . The Churchlands believe the same eliminative fate awaits the sentence-cruncher model of the mind in which thought and behavior are the result of manipulating sentence-like states called propositional attitudes . # Non-physicalist monisms # # #Idealism# # Idealism is the form of monism that sees the world as consisting of minds , mental contents and or consciousness . Idealists are not faced with explaining how minds arise from bodies : rather , the world , bodies and objects are regarded as mere appearances held by minds . However , accounting for the mindbody problem is not usually the main motivation for idealism ; rather , idealists tend to be motivated by skepticism , intentionality , and the unique nature of ideas . Idealism is prominent in Eastern religious and philosophical thought . It has gone through several cycles of popularity and neglect in the history of Western philosophy . Different varieties of idealism may hold that there are  multiple minds ( pluralistic idealism )  only one human mind ( solipsism )  or a single Absolute , Anima Mundi , One or Over-soul. # #Neutral monism# # Neutral monism , in philosophy , is the metaphysical view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the same elements , which are themselves neutral , that is , neither physical nor mental . This view denies that the mental and the physical are two fundamentally different things . Rather , neutral monism claims the universe consists of only one kind of stuff , in the form of neutral elements that are in themselves neither mental nor physical . These neutral elements might have the properties of color and shape , just as we experience those properties . But these shaped and colored elements do not exist in a mind ( considered as a substantial entity , whether dualistically or physicalistically ) ; they exist on their own . # Mysterianism # Some philosophers take an epistemic approach and argue that the mindbody problem is currently unsolvable , and perhaps will always remain unsolvable to human beings . This is usually termed New mysterianism . Colin McGinn holds that human beings are cognitively closed in regards to their own minds . According to McGinn human minds lack the concept-forming procedures to fully grasp how mental properties such as consciousness arise from their causal basis . An example would be how an elephant is cognitively closed in regards to particle physics . A more moderate conception has been expounded by Thomas Nagel , which holds that the mind body problem is currently unsolvable at the present stage of scientific development and that it might take a future scientific paradigm shift or revolution to bridge the explanatory gap . Nagel posits that in the future a sort of objective phenomenology might be able to bridge the gap between subjective conscious experience and its physical basis . # Linguistic criticism of the mindbody problem # Each attempt to answer the mindbody problem encounters substantial problems . Some philosophers argue that this is because there is an underlying conceptual confusion . These philosophers , such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and his followers in the tradition of linguistic criticism , therefore reject the problem as illusory . They argue that it is an error to ask how mental and biological states fit together . Rather it should simply be accepted that human experience can be described in different waysfor instance , in a mental and in a biological vocabulary . Illusory problems arise if one tries to describe the one in terms of the other 's vocabulary or if the mental vocabulary is used in the wrong contexts . This is the case , for instance , if one searches for mental states of the brain . The brain is simply the wrong context for the use of mental vocabularythe search for mental states of the brain is therefore a category error or a sort of fallacy of reasoning . Today , such a position is often adopted by interpreters of Wittgenstein such as Peter Hacker . However , Hilary Putnam , the originator of functionalism , has also adopted the position that the mindbody problem is an illusory problem which should be dissolved according to the manner of Wittgenstein . # Externalism and internalism # Where is the mind located ? If the mind is a physical phenomenon of some kind , it has to be located somewhere . According to some , there are two possible options : either the mind is internal to the body ( internalism ) or the mind is external to it ( externalism ) . More generally , either the mind depends only on events and properties taking place inside the subject 's body or it depends also on factors external to it . Proponents of internalism are committed to the view that neural activity is sufficient to produce the mind . Proponents of externalism maintain that the surrounding world is in some sense constitutive of the mind . Externalism differentiates into several versions . The main ones are semantic externalism , cognitive externalism , phenomenal externalism . Each of these versions of externalism can further be divided whether they refer only to the content or to the vehicles of mind . Semantic externalism holds that the semantic content of the mind is totally or partially defined by state of affairs external to the body of the subject . Hilary Putnam 's Twin earth thought experiment is a good example . Cognitive externalism is a very broad collection of views that suggests the role of the environment , of tools , of development , and of the body in fleshing out cognition . Embodied cognition , the extended mind , and enactivism are good examples . Phenomenal externalism suggests that the phenomenal aspects of the mind are external to the body . Authors who addressed this possibility are Ted Honderich , Edwin Holt , Francois Tonneau , Kevin O'Regan , Riccardo Manzotti , Teed Rockwell and Max Velmans. # Naturalism and its problems # The thesis of physicalism is that the mind is part of the material ( or physical ) world . Such a position faces the problem that the mind has certain properties that no other material thing seems to possess . Physicalism must therefore explain how it is possible that these properties can nonetheless emerge from a material thing . The project of providing such an explanation is often referred to as the naturalization of the mental . Some of the crucial problems that this project attempts to resolve include the existence of qualia and the nature of intentionality. # Qualia # Many mental states seem to be experienced subjectively in different ways by different individuals . And it is characteristic of a mental state that it has some experiential ' ' quality ' ' , e.g. of pain , that it hurts . However , the sensation of pain between two individuals may not be identical , since no one has a perfect way to measure how much something hurts or of describing exactly how it feels to hurt . Philosophers and scientists therefore ask where these experiences come from . The existence of cerebral events , in and of themselves , can not explain why they are accompanied by these corresponding qualitative experiences . The puzzle of why many cerebral processes occur with an accompanying experiential aspect in consciousness seems impossible to explain . Yet it also seems to many that science will eventually have to explain such experiences . This follows from an assumption about the possibility of reductive explanations . According to this view , if an attempt can be successfully made to explain a phenomenon reductively ( e.g. , water ) , then it can be explained why the phenomenon has all of its properties ( e.g. , fluidity , transparency ) . In the case of mental states , this means that there needs to be an explanation of why they have the property of being experienced in a certain way . The 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger criticized the ontological assumptions underpinning such a reductive model , and claimed that it was impossible to make sense of experience in these terms . This is because , according to Heidegger , the nature of our subjective experience and its ' ' qualities ' ' is impossible to understand in terms of Cartesian substances that bear properties . Another way to put this is that the very concept of qualitative experience is incoherent in terms ofor is semantically incommensurable with the concept ofsubstances that bear properties . This problem of explaining introspective first-person aspects of mental states and consciousness in general in terms of third-person quantitative neuroscience is called the explanatory gap . There are several different views of the nature of this gap among contemporary philosophers of mind . David Chalmers and the early Frank Jackson interpret the gap as ontological in nature ; that is , they maintain that qualia can never be explained by science because physicalism is false . There are two separate categories involved and one can not be reduced to the other . An alternative view is taken by philosophers such as Thomas Nagel and Colin McGinn . According to them , the gap is epistemological in nature . For Nagel , science is not yet able to explain subjective experience because it has not yet arrived at the level or kind of knowledge that is required . We are not even able to formulate the problem coherently . For McGinn , on other hand , the problem is one of permanent and inherent biological limitations . We are not able to resolve the explanatory gap because the realm of subjective experiences is cognitively closed to us in the same manner that quantum physics is cognitively closed to elephants . Other philosophers liquidate the gap as purely a semantic problem . This semantic problem , of course , led to the famous ' ' Qualia Question ' ' , which is : ' ' Does Red cause Redness ' ' ? # Intentionality # Intentionality is the capacity of mental states to be directed towards ( ' ' about ' ' ) or be in relation with something in the external world . This property of mental states entails that they have contents and semantic referents and can therefore be assigned truth values . When one tries to reduce these states to natural processes there arises a problem : natural processes are not true or false , they simply happen . It would not make any sense to say that a natural process is true or false . But mental ideas or judgments are true or false , so how then can mental states ( ideas or judgments ) be natural processes ? The possibility of assigning semantic value to ideas must mean that such ideas are about facts . Thus , for example , the idea that Herodotus was a historian refers to Herodotus and to the fact that he was a historian . If the fact is true , then the idea is true ; otherwise , it is false . But where does this relation come from ? In the brain , there are only electrochemical processes and these seem not to have anything to do with Herodotus. # Philosophy of perception # Philosophy of perception is concerned with the nature of perceptual experience and the status of perceptual objects , in particular how perceptual experience relates to appearances and beliefs about the world . The main contemporary views within philosophy of perception include naive realism , enactivism and representional views . # Philosophy of mind and science # Humans are corporeal beings and , as such , they are subject to examination and description by the natural sciences . Since mental processes are intimately related to bodily processes , the descriptions that the natural sciences furnish of human beings play an important role in the philosophy of mind . There are many scientific disciplines that study processes related to the mental . The list of such sciences includes : biology , computer science , cognitive science , cybernetics , linguistics , medicine , pharmacology , and psychology . # Neurobiology # The theoretical background of biology , as is the case with modern natural sciences in general , is fundamentally materialistic . The objects of study are , in the first place , physical processes , which are considered to be the foundations of mental activity and behavior . The increasing success of biology in the explanation of mental phenomena can be seen by the absence of any empirical refutation of its fundamental presupposition : there can be no change in the mental states of a person without a change in brain states . Within the field of neurobiology , there are many subdisciplines that are concerned with the relations between mental and physical states and processes : Sensory neurophysiology investigates the relation between the processes of perception and stimulation . Cognitive neuroscience studies the correlations between mental processes and neural processes . Neuropsychology describes the dependence of mental faculties on specific anatomical regions of the brain . Lastly , evolutionary biology studies the origins and development of the human nervous system and , in as much as this is the basis of the mind , also describes the ontogenetic and phylogenetic development of mental phenomena beginning from their most primitive stages . Evolutionary biology furthermore places tight constraints on any philosophical theory of the mind , as the gene-based mechanism of natural selection does not allow any giant leaps in the development of neural complexity or neural software but only incremental steps over long time periods . The methodological breakthroughs of the neurosciences , in particular the introduction of high-tech neuroimaging procedures , has propelled scientists toward the elaboration of increasingly ambitious research programs : one of the main goals is to describe and comprehend the neural processes which correspond to mental functions ( see : neural correlate ) . Several groups are inspired by these advances . # Computer science # Computer science concerns itself with the automatic processing of information ( or at least with physical systems of symbols to which information is assigned ) by means of such things as computers . From the beginning , computer programmers have been able to develop programs that permit computers to carry out tasks for which organic beings need a mind . A simple example is multiplication . But it is clear that computers do not use a mind to multiply . Could they , someday , come to have what we call a mind ? This question has been propelled into the forefront of much philosophical debate because of investigations in the field of artificial intelligence . Within AI , it is common to distinguish between a modest research program and a more ambitious one : this distinction was coined by John Searle in terms of a weak AI and strong AI . The exclusive objective of weak AI , according to Searle , is the successful simulation of mental states , with no attempt to make computers become conscious or aware , etc . The objective of strong AI , on the contrary , is a computer with consciousness similar to that of human beings . The program of strong AI goes back to one of the pioneers of computation Alan Turing . As an answer to the question Can computers think ? , he formulated the famous Turing test . Turing believed that a computer could be said to think when , if placed in a room by itself next to another room that contained a human being and with the same questions being asked of both the computer and the human being by a third party human being , the computer 's responses turned out to be indistinguishable from those of the human . Essentially , Turing 's view of machine intelligence followed the behaviourist model of the mindintelligence is as intelligence does . The Turing test has received many criticisms , among which the most famous is probably the Chinese room thought experiment formulated by Searle . The question about the possible sensitivity ( qualia ) of computers or robots still remains open . Some computer scientists believe that the specialty of AI can still make new contributions to the resolution of the mind body problem . They suggest that based on the reciprocal influences between software and hardware that takes place in all computers , it is possible that someday theories can be discovered that help us to understand the reciprocal influences between the human mind and the brain ( wetware ) . # Psychology # Psychology is the science that investigates mental states directly . It uses generally empirical methods to investigate concrete mental states like joy , fear or obsessions . Psychology investigates the laws that bind these mental states to each other or with inputs and outputs to the human organism . An example of this is the psychology of perception . Scientists working in this field have discovered general principles of the perception of forms . A law of the psychology of forms says that objects that move in the same direction are perceived as related to each other . This law describes a relation between visual input and mental perceptual states . However , it does not suggest anything about the nature of perceptual states . The laws discovered by psychology are compatible with all the answers to the mindbody problem already described . # Cognitive science # Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the mind and its processes . It examines what cognition is , what it does , and how it works . It includes research on intelligence and behavior , especially focusing on how information is represented , processed , and transformed ( in faculties such as perception , language , memory , reasoning , and emotion ) within nervous systems ( human or other animal ) and machines ( e.g. computers ) . Cognitive science consists of multiple research disciplines , including psychology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , neuroscience , linguistics , anthropology , sociology , and education . It spans many levels of analysis , from low-level learning and decision mechanisms to high-level logic and planning ; from neural circuitry to modular brain organisation . Rowlands argues that cognition is enactive , embodied , embedded , affective and ( potentially ) extended . The position is taken that the classical sandwich of cognition sandwiched between perception and action is artificial ; cognition has to be seen as a product of a strongly coupled interaction that can not be divided this way . # Philosophy of mind in the continental tradition # Most of the discussion in this article has focused on one style or tradition of philosophy in modern Western culture , usually called analytic philosophy ( sometimes described as Anglo-American philosophy ) . Many other schools of thought exist , however , which are sometimes subsumed under the broad ( and vague ) label of continental philosophy . In any case , though topics and methods here are numerous , in relation to the philosophy of mind the various schools that fall under this label ( phenomenology , existentialism , etc. ) can globally be seen to differ from the analytic school in that they focus less on language and logical analysis alone but also take in other forms of understanding human existence and experience . With reference specifically to the discussion of the mind , this tends to translate into attempts to grasp the concepts of thought and perceptual experience in some sense that does not merely involve the analysis of linguistic forms . Immanuel Kant 's ' ' Critique of Pure Reason ' ' , first published in 1781 and presented again with major revisions in 1789 , represents a major intervention into what will later become known as the philosophy of mind . Kant 's first Critique is generally recognized as among the most significant works of modern philosophy in the West . Kant is a figure whose influence is marked in both continental and Analytic/Anglo-American philosophy . Kant 's work develops an in-depth study of transcendental consciousness , or the life of the mind as conceived through universal categories of consciousness . In Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 's Philosophy of Mind ( frequently translated as the Philosophy of Spirit or Geist ) , the third part of his Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences , Hegel discusses three distinct types of mind : the subjective mind/spirit , the mind of an individual ; the objective mind/spirit , the mind of society and of the State ; and the Absolute mind/spirit , the position of religion , art , and philosophy . See also Hegel 's Phenomenology of Spirit . Nonetheless , Hegel 's work differs radically from the style of Anglo-American philosophy of mind . In 1896 , Henri Bergson made in ' ' Matter and Memory ' ' Essay on the relation of body and spirit a forceful case for the ontological difference of body and mind by reducing the problem to the more definite one of memory , thus allowing for a solution built on the ' ' empirical test case ' ' of aphasia . In modern times , the two main schools that have developed in response or opposition to this Hegelian tradition are phenomenology and existentialism . Phenomenology , founded by Edmund Husserl , focuses on the contents of the human mind ( see noema ) and how processes shape our experiences . Existentialism , a school of thought founded upon the work of Sren Kierkegaard , focuses on Human predicament and how people deal the situation of being alive . *25;256058;TOOLONG represents a major branch of continental philosophy ( they are not contradictory ) , rooted in the work of Husserl but expressed in its fullest forms in the work of Martin Heidegger , Jean-Paul Sartre , Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty . See Heidegger 's Being and Time , Merleau-Ponty 's Phenomenology of Perception , Sartre 's Being and Nothingness , and Simone de Beauvoir 's The Second Sex . # Mind in Eastern philosophy # # Mind in Hindu philosophy # # #Dualism# # Substance Dualism is a common feature of several orthodox Hindu schools including the Skhya , Nyya , Yoga and Dvaita Vedanta . In these schools a clear difference is drawn between matter and a non-material soul , which is eternal and undergoes samsara , a cycle of death and rebirth . The Nyya school argued that qualities such as cognition and desire are inherent qualities which are not possessed by anything solely material , and therefore by process of elimination must belong to a non-material self , the atman . Many of these schools see their spiritual goal as moksha , liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. # #Vedanta monistic idealism# # In the Advaita Vedanta of the 8th century Indian philosopher akara , the mind , body and world are all held to be the same unchanging eternal conscious entity called Brahman . Advaita means non-dual and is a kind of Idealism which holds that all that exists is pure absolute consciousness . The fact that the world seems to be made up of changing entities is an illusion , or Maya . The only thing that exists is Brahman , which is described as Satchitananda ( Being , consciousness and bliss ) . Advaita Vedanta is best described by a verse which states Brahman is alone True , and this world of plurality is an error ; the individual self is not different from Brahman . Another form of monistic Vedanta is Vishishtadvaita ( Qualified Non-Dualism ) as posited by the eleventh century philosopher Ramanuja . Ramanuja criticized Advaita Vedanta by arguing that consciousness is always intentional and that it is also always a property of something . Ramanuja 's Brahman is defined by a multiplicity of qualities and properties in a single monistic entity . This doctrine is called samanadhikaranya ( several things in a common substrate ) . # #Materialism# # Arguably the first exposition of empirical materialism in the history of philosophy is in the Crvka school ( a.k.a Lokyata ) . The Crvka school rejected the existence of anything but matter ( which they defined as being made up of the four elements ) , including God and the soul . Therefore they held that even consciousness was nothing but a construct made up of atoms . A section of the Crvka school believed in a material soul made up of air or breath , but since this also was a form of matter , it was not said to survive death . # Buddhist philosophy of mind # A salient feature of Buddhist philosophy which sets it apart from Indian orthodoxy is the centrality of the doctrine of not-self ( Pli . anatta , Skt. antman ) . The Buddha 's not-self doctrine sees humans as an impermanent composite of five psychological and physical aspects instead of a single fixed self . In this sense , what is called ego or the self is merely a convenient fiction , an illusion that does not apply to anything real but to an erroneous way of looking at the ever changing stream of five interconnected aggregate factors . The relationship between these aggregates is said to be one of dependent-arising ( prattyasamutpda ) . This means that all things , including mental events , arise co-dependently from a plurality of other causes and conditions . This seems to reject both causal determinist and epiphenomenalist conceptions of mind . # #Abhidharma theories of mind# # Three centuries after the death of the Buddha ( c. 150 BCE ) saw the growth of a large body of literature called the Abhidharma in several contending Buddhist schools . In the Abdhidharmic analysis of mind , the ordinary thought is defined as prapaca ( ' conceptual proliferation ' ) . According to this theory , perceptual experience is bound up in multiple conceptualizations ( expectations , judgments and desires ) . This proliferation of conceptualizations form our illusory superimposition of concepts like self and other upon an ever changing stream of aggregate phenomena . In this conception of mind no strict distinction is made between the conscious faculty and the actual sense perception of various phenomena . Consciousness is instead said to be divided into six sense modalities , five for the five senses and sixth for perception of mental phenomena . The arising of cognitive awareness is said to depend on sense perception , awareness of the mental faculty itself which is termed mental or ' introspective awareness ' ( ' ' manovijna ' ' ) and attention ( ' ' vartana ' ' ) , the picking out of objects out of the constantly changing stream of sensory impressions . Rejection of a permanent agent eventually led to the philosophical problems of the seeming continuity of mind and also of explaining how rebirth and karma continue to be relevant doctrines without an eternal mind . This challenge was met by the Theravda school by introducing the concept of mind as a factor of existence . This life-stream ( Bhavanga-sota ) is an undercurrent forming the condition of being . The continuity of a karmic person is therefore assured in the form of a mindstream ( citta-santana ) , a series of flowing mental moments arising from the subliminal life-continuum mind ( Bhavanga-citta ) , mental content , and attention . # #Indian Mahayana# # The Sautrntika school held a form of phenomenalism that saw the world as imperceptible . It held that external objects exist only as a support for cognition , which can only apprehend mental representations . This influenced the later Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism . The Yogcra school is often called the mind-only school because of its internalist stance that consciousness is the ultimate existing reality . The works of Vasubandhu have often been interpreted as arguing for some form of Idealism . Vasubandhu uses the dream argument and a mereological refutation of atomism to attack the reality of external objects as anything other than mental entities . Scholarly interpretations of Vasubandhu 's philosophy vary widely , and include phenomenalism , neutral monism and realist phenomenology . The Indian Mahayana schools were divided on the issue of the possibility of reflexive awareness ( ' ' svasavedana ' ' ) . Dharmakrti accepted the idea of reflexive awareness as expounded by the Yogacara school , comparing it to lamp that illuminates itself while also illuminating other objects . This was strictly rejected by Mdhyamika scholars like Candrakrti . Since in the philosophy of the Mdhyamika all things and mental events are characterized by emptiness , they argued that consciousness could not be an inherently reflexive ultimate reality since that would mean it was self validating and therefore not characterized by emptiness . These views were ultimately reconciled by the 8th century thinker ntarakita . In ntarakita 's synthesis he adopts the idealist Yogcra views of reflexive awareness as a conventional truth into the structure of the two truths doctrine . Thus he states : By relying on the Mind-Only system , know that external entities do not exist . And by relying on this Middle Way system , know that no self exists at all , even in that mind . The Yogcra school also developed the theory of the repository consciousness ( ' ' layavijna ' ' ) to explain continuity of mind in rebirth and accumulation of karma . This repository consciousness acts as a storehouse for karmic seeds ( bija ) when all other senses are absent during the process of death and rebirth as well as being the causal potentiality of dharmic phenomena . Thus according to B. Alan Wallace : # No constituents of the bodyin the brain or elsewheretransform into mental states and processes . Such subjective experiences do not emerge from the body , but neither do they emerge from nothing . Rather , all objective mental appearances arise from the substrate , and all subjective mental states and processes arise from the substrate consciousness # # #Tibetan Buddhism# # Tibetan Buddhist theories of mind evolved directly from the Indian Mahayana views . Thus the founder of the Gelug school , Je Tsongkhapa discusses the Yogcra system of the Eight Consciousnesses in his ' ' Explanation of the Difficult Points ' ' . He would later come to repudiate ntarakita 's pragmatic idealism . According to the 14th Dalai Lama the mind can be defined as an entity that has the nature of mere experience , that is , ' clarity and knowing ' . It is the knowing nature , or agency , that is called mind , and this is non-material . The simultaneously dual nature of mind is as follows : : : 1 . Clarity ( ' ' gsal ' ' ) The mental activity which produces cognitive phenomena ( ' ' snang-ba ' ' ) . : : 2 . Knowing ( ' ' rig ' ' ) The mental activity of perceiving cognitive phenomena . Because Tibetan philosophy of mind is ultimately soteriological , it focuses on meditative practices such as Dzogchen and Mahamudra that allow a practitioner to experience the true reflexive nature of their mind directly . This unobstructed knowledge of one 's primordial , empty and non-dual Buddha nature is called rigpa . The mind 's innermost nature is described among various schools as pure luminosity or clear light ( ' od gsal ) and is often compared to a crystal ball or a mirror . Sogyal Rinpoche speaks of mind thus : Imagine a sky , empty , spacious , and pure from the beginning ; its essence is like this . Imagine a sun , luminous , clear , unobstructed , and spontaneously present ; its nature is like this . # #Zen Buddhism# # The central issue in Chinese Zen philosophy of mind is in the difference between the pure and awakened mind and the defiled mind . Chinese Chan master Huangpo described the mind as without beginning and without form or limit while the defiled mind was that which was obscured by attachment to form and concepts . The pure Buddha-mind is thus able to see things as they truly are , as absolute and non-dual thusness ( Tathat ) . This non-conceptual seeing also includes the paradoxical fact that there is no difference between a defiled and a pure mind , as well as no difference between samsara and nirvana . In the Shobogenzo , the Japanese philosopher Dogen argued that body and mind are neither ontologically nor phenomenologically distinct but are characterized by a oneness called ' ' shin jin ' ' ( bodymind ) . According to Dogen , casting off body and mind ( ' ' Shinjin datsuraku ' ' ) in zazen will allow one to experience things-as-they-are ( ' ' genjokoan ' ' ) which is the nature of original enlightenment ( ' ' hongaku ' ' ) . # Topics related to philosophy of mind # There are countless subjects that are affected by the ideas developed in the philosophy of mind . Clear examples of this are the nature of death and its definitive character , the nature of emotion , of perception and of memory . Questions about what a person is and what his or her identity consists of also have much to do with the philosophy of mind . There are two subjects that , in connection with the philosophy of the mind , have aroused special attention : free will and the self . # Free will # In the context of philosophy of mind , the problem of free will takes on renewed intensity . This is certainly the case , at least , for materialistic determinists . According to this position , natural laws completely determine the course of the material world . Mental states , and therefore the will as well , would be material states , which means human behavior and decisions would be completely determined by natural laws . Some take this reasoning a step further : people can not determine by themselves what they want and what they do . Consequently , they are not free . This argumentation is rejected , on the one hand , by the compatibilists . Those who adopt this position suggest that the question Are we free ? can only be answered once we have determined what the term free means . The opposite of free is not caused but compelled or coerced . It is not appropriate to identify freedom with indetermination . A free act is one where the agent could have done otherwise if it had chosen otherwise . In this sense a person can be free even though determinism is true . The most important compatibilist in the history of the philosophy was David Hume . More recently , this position is defended , for example , by Daniel Dennett . On the other hand , there are also many incompatibilists who reject the argument because they believe that the will is free in a stronger sense called libertarianism . These philosophers affirm the course of the world is either a ) not completely determined by natural law where natural law is intercepted by physically independent agency , b ) determined by indeterministic natural law only , or c ) determined by indeterministic natural law in line with the subjective effort of physically non-reducible agency . Under Libertarianism , the will does not have to be deterministic and , therefore , it is potentially free . Critics of the second proposition ( b ) accuse the incompatibilists of using an incoherent concept of freedom . They argue as follows : if our will is not determined by anything , then we desire what we desire by pure chance . And if what we desire is purely accidental , we are not free . So if our will is not determined by anything , we are not free . # Self # The philosophy of mind also has important consequences for the concept of self . If by self or I one refers to an essential , immutable nucleus of the ' ' person ' ' , most modern philosophers of mind will affirm that no such thing exists . The idea of a self as an immutable essential nucleus derives from the idea of an immaterial soul . Such an idea is unacceptable to most contemporary philosophers , due to their physicalistic orientations , and due to a general acceptance among philosophers of the scepticism of the concept of self by David Hume , who could never catch himself ' ' not ' ' doing , thinking or feeling anything . However , in the light of empirical results from developmental psychology , developmental biology and neuroscience , the idea of an essential inconstant , material nucleusan integrated representational system distributed over changing patterns of synaptic connectionsseems reasonable . The view of the self as an illusion is accepted by some philosophers , including Daniel Dennett . 
@@10649725 Hellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy that was developed in the Hellenistic civilization following Aristotle and ending with the beginning of Neoplatonism. # Hellenistic schools of thought # # Pythagoreanism # Pythagoreanism is the name given to the system of philosophy and science developed by Pythagoras , which influenced nearly all the systems of Hellenistic philosophy that followed . Two schools of Pythagorean thought eventually developed , one based largely on mathematics and continuing his line of scientific work , the other focusing on his more esoteric teachings , though each shared a part of the other .  Pythagoras of Croton ( 570-495 BCE )  Hippasus ( 5th century BCE ) # Sophism # In Ancient Greece , the sophists were a category of teachers who specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric for the purpose of teaching aret excellence , or virtue predominantly to young statesmen and nobility .  Protagoras ( 490-420 BCE )  Gorgias ( 485-380 BCE )  Antiphon ( 480-411 BCE ) # Cynicism # The Cynics were an ascetic sect of philosophers beginning with Antisthenes in the 4th century BCE and continuing until the 5th century CE . They believed that one should live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature . This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth , power , health , or fame , and living a life free from possessions .  Antisthenes ( 445-365 BCE )  Diogenes of Sinope ( 412-323 BCE )  Crates of Thebes ( 365-285 BCE )  Menippus ( c. 275 BCE )  Demetrius ( 10-80 CE ) # Cyrenaicism # The Cyrenaics were an ultra-hedonist school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC , by Aristippus of Cyrene . They held that pleasure was the supreme good , especially immediate gratifications . The school was replaced within a century by the more moderate doctrine of Epicureanism.  Aristippus of Cyrene ( 435-360 BCE ) # Platonism # Platonism is the name given to the philosophy of Plato , which was maintained and developed by his followers . The central concept was the theory of Forms : the transcendent , perfect archetypes , of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies . The highest form was the Form of the Good , the source of being , which could be known by reason . In the 3rd century BCE , Arcesilaus adopted skepticism , which became a central tenet of the school until 90 BCE when Antiochus added Stoic elements , rejecting skepticism . With the adoption of oriental mysticism in the 3rd century CE , Platonism evolved into Neoplatonism.  Speusippus ( 407-339 BCE )  Xenocrates ( 396-314 BCE )  Arcesilaus ( 316-232 BCE )  Carneades ( 214-129 BCE )  Antiochus of Ascalon ( 130-68 BCE )  Plutarch ( 46-120 CE ) # Peripateticism # The Peripatetics was the name given to the philosophers who maintained and developed the philosophy of Aristotle . They advocated examination of the world to understand the ultimate foundation of things . The goal of life was the happiness which originated from virtuous actions , which consisted in keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little .  Aristotle ( 384-322 BCE )  Theophrastus ( 371-287 BCE )  Strato of Lampsacus ( 335-269 BCE )  Alexander of Aphrodisias ( c. 200 CE ) # Pyrrhonism # Pyrrhonism , or Skepticism , was a school of skepticism beginning with Pyrrho in the 3rd century BCE , and further advanced by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BCE . It advocated total philosophical skepticism about the world in order to attain ataraxia or a tranquil mind , maintaining that nothing could be proved to be true so we must suspend judgement .  Pyrrho ( 365-275 BCE )  Timon ( 320-230 BCE )  Aenesidemus ( 1st century BCE )  Sextus Empiricus ( 2nd century CE ) # Epicureanism # Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus in the 3rd century BCE . It viewed the universe as being ruled by chance , with no interference from gods . It regarded absence of pain as the greatest pleasure , and advocated a simple life . It was the main rival to Stoicism until both philosophies died out in the 3rd century CE.  Epicurus ( 341-270 BCE )  Metrodorus ( 331-278 BCE )  Zeno of Sidon ( 1st century BCE )  Philodemus ( 110-40 BCE )  Lucretius ( 99-55 BCE ) # Stoicism # Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium in the 3rd century BCE . Based on the ethical ideas of the Cynics , it taught that the goal of life was to live in accordance with Nature . It advocated the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions . It was the most successful school of philosophy until it died out in the 3rd century CE.  Zeno of Citium ( 333-263 BCE )  Cleanthes ( 331-232 BCE )  Chrysippus ( 280-207 BCE )  Panaetius ( 185-110 BCE )  Posidonius ( 135-51 BCE )  Seneca ( 4 BCE-65 CE )  Epictetus ( 55-135 CE )  Marcus Aurelius ( 121-180 CE ) # Eclecticism # Eclecticism was a system of philosophy which adopted no single set of doctrines but selected from existing philosophical beliefs those doctrines that seemed most reasonable . Its most notable advocate was Cicero.  Varro Reatinus ( 116-27 BCE )  Cicero ( 106-43 BCE )  Seneca the Younger ( 4 BCE-65 CE ) # Hellenistic Judaism # Hellenistic Judaism was an attempt to establish the Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism . Its principal representative was Philo of Alexandria .  Philo of Alexandria ( 30 BC-45 CE )  Josephus ( 37-100 CE ) # Neopythagoreanism # Neopythagoreanism was a school of philosophy reviving Pythagorean doctrines , which was prominent in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE . It was an attempt to introduce a religious element into Greek philosophy , worshipping God by living an ascetic life , ignoring bodily pleasures and all sensuous impulses , to purify the soul .  Nigidius Figulus ( 98-45 BCE )  Apollonius of Tyana ( 40-120 CE )  Numenius of Apamea ( 2nd century CE ) # Hellenistic Christianity # Hellenistic Christianity was the attempt to reconcile Christianity with Greek philosophy , beginning in the late 2nd century . Drawing particularly on Platonism and the newly emerging Neoplatonism , figures such as Clement of Alexandria sought to provide Christianity with a philosophical framework .  Clement of Alexandria ( 150-215 CE )  Origen ( 185-254 CE )  Augustine of Hippo ( 354-430 CE ) # Neoplatonism # Neoplatonism , or Plotinism , was a school of religious and mystical philosophy founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century CE and based on the teachings of Plato and the other Platonists . The summit of existence was the One or the Good , the source of all things . In virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One , the true function of human beings . It was the main rival to Christianity until dying out in the 6th century .  Plotinus ( 205-270 CE )  Porphyry ( 233-309 CE )  Iamblichus of Chalcis ( 245-325 CE ) 
@@13692155 Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems , such as those connected with reality , existence , knowledge , values , reason , mind , and language . Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical , generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument . In more casual speech , by extension , philosophy can refer to the most basic beliefs , concepts , and attitudes of an individual or group . The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek ( ' ' philosophia ' ' ) , which literally means love of wisdom . The introduction of the terms philosopher and philosophy has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. # Areas of inquiry # Philosophy is divided into many sub-fields . These include epistemology , logic , metaphysics , ethics , and aesthetics . Some of the major areas of study are considered individually below . # Epistemology # Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge , such as the relationships between truth , belief , and theories of justification . Skepticism is the position which questions the possibility of completely justifying any truth . The regress argument , a fundamental problem in epistemology , occurs when , in order to completely prove any statement , its justification itself needs to be supported by another justification . This chain can do three possible options , all of which are unsatisfactory according to the Mnchhausen trilemma . One option is infinitism , where this chain of justification can go on forever . Another option is foundationalism , where the chain of justifications eventually relies on basic beliefs or axioms that are left unproven . The last option , such as in coherentism , is making the chain circular so that a statement is included in its own chain of justification . Rationalism is the emphasis on reasoning as a source of knowledge . Empiricism is the emphasis on observational evidence via sensory experience over other evidence as the source of knowledge . Rationalism claims that every possible object of knowledge can be deduced from coherent premises without observation . Empiricism claims that at least some knowledge is only a matter of observation . For this , Empiricism often cites the concept of tabula rasa , where individuals are not born with mental content and that knowledge builds from experience or perception . Epistemological solipsism is the idea that the existence of the world outside the mind is an unresolvable question . Parmenides ( fl. 500 BC ) argued that it is impossible to doubt that thinking actually occurs . But thinking must have an object , therefore something ' ' beyond ' ' thinking really exists . Parmenides deduced that what really exists must have certain propertiesfor example , that it can not come into existence or cease to exist , that it is a coherent whole , that it remains the same eternally ( in fact , exists altogether outside time ) . This is known as the third man argument . Plato ( 427347 BC ) combined rationalism with a form of realism . The philosopher 's work is to consider being , and the essence ( ousia ) of things . But the characteristic of essences is that they are universal . The nature of a man , a triangle , a tree , applies to all men , all triangles , all trees . Plato argued that these essences are mind-independent forms , that humans ( but particularly philosophers ) can come to know by reason , and by ignoring the distractions of sense-perception . Modern rationalism begins with Descartes . Reflection on the nature of perceptual experience , as well as scientific discoveries in physiology and optics , led Descartes ( and also Locke ) to the view that we are directly aware of ideas , rather than objects . This view gave rise to three questions : # Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents ? Sensation is not a direct interaction between bodily objects and our sense , but is a physiological process involving representation ( for example , an image on the retina ) . Locke thought that a secondary quality such as a sensation of green could in no way resemble the arrangement of particles in matter that go to produce this sensation , although he thought that primary qualities such as shape , size , number , were really in objects . # How can physical objects such as chairs and tables , or even physiological processes in the brain , give rise to mental items such as ideas ? This is part of what became known as the mind-body problem . # If all the contents of awareness are ideas , how can we know that anything exists apart from ideas ? Descartes tried to address the last problem by reason . He began , echoing Parmenides , with a principle that he thought could not coherently be denied : I ' ' think ' ' , therefore I ' ' am ' ' ( often given in his original Latin : ' ' Cogito ergo sum ' ' ) . From this principle , Descartes went on to construct a complete system of knowledge ( which involves proving the existence of God , using , among other means , a version of the ontological argument ) . His view that reason alone could yield substantial truths about reality strongly influenced those philosophers usually considered modern rationalists ( such as Baruch Spinoza , Gottfried Leibniz , and Christian Wolff ) , while provoking criticism from other philosophers who have retrospectively come to be grouped together as empiricists. # Logic # Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning . Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning . Deductive reasoning is when , given certain statements ( called premises ) , other statements ( called conclusions ) are unavoidably implied . Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method , modus ponens , where given A and If A then B , then B must be concluded . A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism . An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does follow from its premises , whether the premises are true or not , while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true . Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions , which are declarations that are either true or false , while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables . These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier ( always apply ) or the existential quantifier ( applies at least once ) . Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning . For example , if 90% of humans are right-handed and Joe is human then Joe is probably right-handed . Fields in logic include mathematical logic ( formal symbolic logic ) and philosophical logic . # Metaphysics # Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality , such as existence , time , the relationship between mind and body , objects and their properties , wholes and their parts , events , processes , and causation . Traditional branches of metaphysics include cosmology , the study of the world in its entirety , and ontology , the study of being . Within metaphysics itself there are a wide range of differing philosophical theories . Idealism , for example , is the belief that reality is mentally constructed or otherwise immaterial while realism holds that reality , or at least some part of it , exists independently of the mind . Subjective idealism describes objects as no more than collections or bundles of sense data in the perceiver . The 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley contended that existence is fundamentally tied to perception with the phrase ' ' Esse est aut percipi aut percipere ' ' or To be is to be perceived or to perceive . In addition to the aforementioned views , however , there is also an ontological dichotomy within metaphysics between the concepts of particulars and universals as well . Particulars are those objects that are said to exist in space and time , as opposed to abstract objects , such as numbers . Universals are properties held by multiple particulars , such as redness or a gender . The type of existence , if any , of universals and abstract objects is an issue of serious debate within metaphysical philosophy . Realism is the philosophical position that universals do in fact exist , while nominalism is the negation , or denial of universals , abstract objects , or both . Conceptualism holds that universals exist , but only within the mind 's perception . The question of whether or not existence is a predicate has been discussed since the Early Modern period . Essence is the set of attributes that make an object what it fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity . Essence is contrasted with accident : a property that the substance has contingently , without which the substance can still retain its identity . # Ethics and political philosophy # Ethics , or moral philosophy , is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live , and secondarily , concerning the question of whether this question can be answered . The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics , normative ethics , and applied ethics . Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical thought , such as the origins of the words good and bad , and origins of other comparative words of various ethical systems , whether there are absolute ethical truths , and how such truths could be known . Normative ethics are more concerned with the questions of how one ought to act , and what the right course of action is . This is where most ethical theories are generated . Lastly , applied ethics go beyond theory and step into real world ethical practice , such as questions of whether or not abortion is correct . Ethics is also associated with the idea of morality , and the two are often interchangeable . One debate that has commanded the attention of ethicists in the modern era has been between consequentialism ( actions are to be morally evaluated solely by their ' ' consequences ' ' ) and deontology ( actions are to be morally evaluated solely by consideration of agents ' ' ' duties ' ' , the ' ' rights ' ' of those whom the action concerns , or both ) . Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are famous for propagating utilitarianism , which is the idea that the fundamental moral rule is to strive toward the greatest happiness for the greatest number . However , in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader doctrine of consequentialism . Adopting a position opposed to consequentialism , Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason . Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake , since it denies the necessity of practical maxims in governing the working of the will . According to Kant , reason requires that we conform our actions to the categorical imperative , which is an absolute duty . An important 20th-century deontologist , W.D . Ross , argued for weaker forms of duties called ' ' prima facie ' ' duties . More recent works have emphasized the role of character in ethics , a movement known as the ' ' aretaic turn ' ' ( that is , the ' ' turn towards virtues ' ' ) . One strain of this movement followed the work of Bernard Williams . Williams noted that rigid forms of consequentialism and deontology demanded that people behave impartially . This , Williams argued , requires that people abandon their personal projects , and hence their personal integrity , in order to be considered moral . G.E.M . Anscombe , in an influential paper , Modern Moral Philosophy ( 1958 ) , revived virtue ethics as an alternative to what was seen as the entrenched positions of Kantianism and consequentialism . Aretaic perspectives have been inspired in part by research of ancient conceptions of virtue . For example , Aristotle 's ethics demands that people follow the ' ' Aristotelian mean ' ' , or balance between two vices ; and Confucian ethics argues that virtue consists largely in striving for harmony with other people . Virtue ethics in general has since gained many adherents , and has been defended by such philosophers as Philippa Foot , Alasdair MacIntyre , and Rosalind Hursthouse . Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals ( or families and clans ) to communities including the state . It includes questions about justice , law , property , and the rights and obligations of the citizen . Politics and ethics are traditionally inter-linked subjects , as both discuss the question of what is good and how people should live . From ancient times , and well beyond them , the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature . In ' ' The Republic ' ' , Plato presented the argument that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings , since those best at philosophy are best able to realize the good . Even Plato , however , required philosophers to make their way in the world for many years before beginning their rule at the age of fifty . For Aristotle , humans are political animals ( i.e. social animals ) , and governments are set up to pursue good for the community . Aristotle reasoned that , since the state ( ' ' polis ' ' ) was the highest form of community , it has the purpose of pursuing the highest good . Aristotle viewed political power as the result of natural inequalities in skill and virtue . Because of these differences , he favored an aristocracy of the able and virtuous . For Aristotle , the person can not be complete unless he or she lives in a community . His ' ' The Nicomachean Ethics ' ' and ' ' The Politics ' ' are meant to be read in that order . The first book addresses virtues ( or excellences ) in the person as a citizen ; the second addresses the proper form of government to ensure that citizens will be virtuous , and therefore complete . Both books deal with the essential role of justice in civic life . Nicolas of Cusa rekindled Platonic thought in the early 15th century . He promoted democracy in Medieval Europe , both in his writings and in his organization of the Council of Florence . Unlike Aristotle and the Hobbesian tradition to follow , Cusa saw human beings as equal and divine ( that is , made in God 's image ) , so democracy would be the only just form of government . Cusa 's views are credited by some as sparking the Italian Renaissance , which gave rise to the notion of Nation-States . Later , Niccol Machiavelli rejected the views of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as unrealistic . The ideal sovereign is not the embodiment of the moral virtues ; rather the sovereign does whatever is successful and necessary , rather than what is morally praiseworthy . Thomas Hobbes also contested many elements of Aristotle 's views . For Hobbes , human nature is essentially anti-social : people are essentially egoistic , and this egoism makes life difficult in the natural state of things . Moreover , Hobbes argued , though people may have natural inequalities , these are trivial , since no particular talents or virtues that people may have will make them safe from harm inflicted by others . For these reasons , Hobbes concluded that the state arises from a common agreement to raise the community out of the state of nature . This can only be done by the establishment of a sovereign , in which ( or whom ) is vested complete control over the community , and is able to inspire awe and terror in its subjects . Many in the Enlightenment were unsatisfied with existing doctrines in political philosophy , which seemed to marginalize or neglect the possibility of a democratic state . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was among those who attempted to overturn these doctrines : he responded to Hobbes by claiming that a human is by nature a kind of noble savage , and that society and social contracts corrupt this nature . Another critic was John Locke . In ' ' Second Treatise on Government ' ' he agreed with Hobbes that the nation-state was an efficient tool for raising humanity out of a deplorable state , but he argued that the sovereign might become an abominable institution compared to the relatively benign unmodulated state of nature . Following the doctrine of the fact-value distinction , due in part to the influence of David Hume and his student Adam Smith , appeals to human nature for political justification were weakened . Nevertheless , many political philosophers , especially moral realists , still make use of some essential human nature as a basis for their arguments . Marxism is derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . Their idea that capitalism is based on exploitation of workers and causes alienation of people from their human nature , the historical materialism , their view of social classes , etc. , have influenced many fields of study , such as sociology , economics , and politics . Marxism inspired the Marxist school of communism , which brought a huge impact on the history of the 20th century . # Aesthetics # Aesthetics deals with beauty , art , enjoyment , sensory-emotional values , perception , and matters of taste and sentiment . # Specialized branches #  Philosophy of language explores the nature , the origins , and the use of language .  Philosophy of law ( often called jurisprudence ) explores the varying theories explaining the nature and the interpretations of the law in society .  Philosophy of mind explores the nature of the mind , and its relationship to the body , and is typified by disputes between dualism and materialism . In recent years there has been increasing similarity between this branch of philosophy and cognitive science .  Philosophy of religion explores the questions regarding religion , including the nature and existence of God , the examination of religious experiences , analysis of religious vocabulary and texts , and the relationship of religion and science .  Philosophy of science explores the foundations , methods , implications , and purpose of science .  Metaphilosophy explores the aims of philosophy , its boundaries , and its methods . Many academic disciplines have also generated philosophical inquiry . These include history , logic , and mathematics . # History # Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other 's works . Eastern philosophy is organized by the chronological periods of each region . Historians of western philosophy usually divide the subject into three or more periods , the most important being ancient philosophy , medieval philosophy , and modern philosophy . # Ancient philosophy # # #Egypt and Babylon# # There are authors who date the philosophical maxims of Ptahhotep before the 25th century . For instance , Pulitzer Prize winning historian Will Durant dates these writings as early as 2880 BCE within ' ' The Story of Civilization : Our Oriental History ' ' . Durant claims that Ptahhotep could be considered the very first philosopher in virtue of having the earliest and surviving fragments of moral philosophy ( i.e. , The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep ) . Ptahhotep 's grandson , Ptahhotep Tshefi , is traditionally credited with being the author of the collection of wise sayings known as ' ' The Maxims of Ptahhotep ' ' , whose opening lines attribute authorship to the vizier Ptahhotep : ' ' Instruction of the Mayor of the city , the Vizier Ptahhotep , under the Majesty of King Isesi ' ' . The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia , which embodied certain philosophies of life , particularly ethics , in the forms of dialectic , dialogues , epic poetry , folklore , hymns , lyrics , prose , and proverbs . The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation . The Babylonian text ' ' Dialog of Pessimism ' ' contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists , the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts , and the dialogues of Plato , as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato . The Milesian philosopher Thales is also traditionally said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia. # #Ancient Chinese# # Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on Chinese civilization , and throughout East Asia . The majority of Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era , during a period known as the Hundred Schools of Thought , which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments . It was during this era that the major philosophies of China , Confucianism , Mohism , Legalism , and Taoism , arose , along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity , like Agriculturalism , Chinese Naturalism , and the Logicians . Of the many philosophical schools of China , only Confucianism and Taoism existed after the Qin Dynasty suppressed any Chinese philosophy that was opposed to Legalism . Confucianism is humanistic , philosophy that believes that human beings are teachable , improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including self-cultivation and self-creation . Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics , the most basic of which are ' ' ren ' ' , ' ' yi ' ' , and ' ' li ' ' . ' ' Ren ' ' is an obligation of altruism and humaneness for other individuals within a community , ' ' yi ' ' is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good , and ' ' li ' ' is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act within a community . Taoism focuses on establishing harmony with the Tao , which is origin of and the totality of everything that exists . The word Tao ( or Dao , depending on the romanization scheme ) is usually translated as way , path or principle . Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao : compassion , moderation , and humility , while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature , the relationship between humanity and the cosmos ( ) ; health and longevity ; and wu wei , action through inaction . Harmony with the Universe , or the origin of it through the Tao , is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices . # #Ancient Graeco-Roman# # Ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy is a period of Western philosophy , starting in the 6th century c. 585 BC to the 6th century AD . It is usually divided into three periods : the pre-Socratic period , the Ancient Classical Greek period of Plato and Aristotle , and the post-Aristotelian ( or Hellenistic ) period . A fourth period that is sometimes added includes the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity . The most important of the ancient philosophers ( in terms of subsequent influence ) are Plato and Aristotle . Plato specifically , is credited as the founder of Western philosophy . The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said of Plato : The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato . I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings . I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them . It was said in Roman Ancient history that Pythagoras was the first man to call himself a philosopher , or lover of wisdom , and Pythagorean ideas exercised a marked influence on Plato , and through him , all of Western philosophy . Plato and Aristotle , the first Classical Greek philosophers , did refer critically to other simple wise men , which were called in Greek sophists , and which were common before Pythagoras ' time . From their critique it appears that a distinction was then established in their own Classical period between the more elevated and pure lovers of wisdom ( the true Philosophers ) , and these other earlier and more common traveling teachers , who often also earned money from their craft . The main subjects of ancient philosophy are : understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the universe ; explaining it in an economical way ; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe , with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it ; questions about things that can not be perceived by the senses , such as numbers , elements , universals , and gods . Socrates is said to have been the initiator of more focused study upon the human things including the analysis of patterns of reasoning and argument and the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it ; the explication of the concept of justice , and its relation to various political systems . In this period the crucial features of the Western philosophical method were established : a critical approach to received or established views , and the appeal to reason and argumentation . This includes Socrates ' dialectic method of inquiry , known as the Socratic method or method of elenchus , which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and Justice . To solve a problem , it would be broken down into a series of questions , the answers to which gradually distill the answer a person would seek . The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the scientific method , in which hypothesis is the first stage . # #Ancient Indian# # The term Indian philosophy ( Sanskrit : ' ' Darshanas ' ' ) , refers to any of several schools of philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent , including Hindu philosophy , Buddhist philosophy , and Jain philosophy . Having the same or rather intertwined origins , all of these philosophies have a common underlying themes of Dharma and Karma , and similarly attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation . They have been formalized and promulgated chiefly between 1000 BC to a few centuries AD . India 's philosophical tradition dates back to the composition of the Upanisads in the later Vedic period ( c. 1000-500 BCE ) . Subsequent schools ( Skt : ' ' Darshanas ' ' ) of Indian philosophy were identified as orthodox ( Skt : ' ' astika ' ' ) or non-orthodox ( Skt : ' ' nastika ' ' ) depending on whether they regarded the Vedas as an infallible source of knowledge . By some classifications , there are six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy and three heterodox schools . The orthodox are Nyaya , Vaisesika , Samkhya , Yoga , Purva mimamsa and Vedanta . The Heterodox are Jain , Buddhist and materialist ( Crvka ) . Other classifications also include Pashupata , Saiva , Rasevara and Pini Darana with the other orthodox schools . Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years , especially between 500 BC to 200 AD . Some like the Jain , Buddhist , Shaiva and Vedanta schools survived , while others like Samkhya and Ajivika did not , either being assimilated or going extinct . The Sanskrit term for philosopher is ' ' ' ' , one who is familiar with the systems of philosophy , or ' ' ' ' . In the history of the Indian subcontinent , following the establishment of a Vedic culture , the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of ' ' astika ' ' , or orthodox , Indian or Hindu philosophy . These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of Hinduism , which was a development of the early Vedic religion . # #Ancient Persian# # Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts , with their ancient Indo-Iranian roots . These were considerably influenced by Zarathustra 's teachings . Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the Macedonian , the Arab , and the Mongol invasions of Persia , a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose . These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions , extending from Old Iranian and mainly *25;84772;TOOLONG traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era , such as Manicheism and Mazdakism , as well as various post-Islamic schools . Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the old Iranian philosophy , the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy . Illuminationism and the transcendent theosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia . Zoroastrianism has been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy . # 5th16th centuries # # #Europe# # # #Medieval# # Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages , roughly extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance . Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy , and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of Abrahamic religion ( Islam , Judaism , and Christianity ) with secular learning . The history of western European medieval philosophy is traditionally divided into two main periods : the period in the Latin West following the Early Middle Ages until the 12th century , when the works of Aristotle and Plato were preserved and cultivated ; and the golden age of the 12th , 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West , which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy , and significant developments in the field of philosophy of religion , logic and metaphysics . The medieval era was disparagingly treated by the Renaissance humanists , who saw it as a barbaric middle period between the classical age of Greek and Roman culture , and the rebirth or ' ' renaissance ' ' of classical culture . Yet this period of nearly a thousand years was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe , and possibly the richest . Jorge Gracia has argued that in intensity , sophistication , and achievement , the philosophical flowering in the thirteenth century could be rightly said to rival the golden age of Greek philosophy in the fourth century B.C. Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason , the existence and unity of God , the object of theology and metaphysics , the problems of knowledge , of universals , and of individuation . Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo , Boethius , Anselm , Gilbert of Poitiers , Peter Abelard , Roger Bacon , Bonaventure , Thomas Aquinas , Duns Scotus , William of Ockham and Jean Buridan ; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides ; and the Muslim philosophers Alkindus , Alfarabi , Alhazen , Avicenna , Algazel , Avempace , Abubacer , Ibn Khaldn , and Averroes . The medieval tradition of Scholasticism continued to flourish as late as the 17th century , in figures such as Francisco Suarez and John of St. Thomas . Aquinas , father of Thomism , was immensely influential in Catholic Europe , placed a great emphasis on reason and argumentation , and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle 's metaphysical and epistemological writing . His work was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism. # #Renaissance# # The Renaissance ( rebirth ) was a period of transition between the Middle Ages and modern thought , in which the recovery of classical texts helped shift philosophical interests away from technical studies in logic , metaphysics , and theology towards eclectic inquiries into morality , philology , and mysticism . The study of the classics and the humane arts generally , such as history and literature , enjoyed a scholarly interest hitherto unknown in Christendom , a tendency referred to as humanism . Displacing the medieval interest in metaphysics and logic , the humanists followed Petrarch in making man and his virtues the focus of philosophy . The study of classical philosophy also developed in two new ways . On the one hand , the study of Aristotle was changed through the influence of Averroism . The disagreements between these Averroist Aristotelians , and more orthodox catholic Aristotelians such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas eventually contributed to the development of a humanist Aristotelianism developed in the Renaissance , as exemplified in the thought of Pietro Pomponazzi and Giacomo Zabarella . Secondly , as an alternative to Aristotle , the study of Plato and the Neoplatonists became common . This was assisted by the rediscovery of works which had not been well known previously in Western Europe . Notable Renaissance Platonists include Nicholas of Cusa , and later Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola . The Renaissance also renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories of nature considered as an organic , living whole comprehensible independently of theology , as in the work of Nicholas of Cusa , Nicholas Copernicus , Giordano Bruno , Telesius , and Tommaso Campanella . Such movements in natural philosophy dovetailed with a revival of interest in occultism , magic , hermeticism , and astrology , which were thought to yield hidden ways of knowing and mastering nature ( e.g. , in Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ) . These new movements in philosophy developed contemporaneously with larger religious and political transformations in Europe : the Reformation and the decline of feudalism . Though the theologians of the Protestant Reformation showed little direct interest in philosophy , their destruction of the traditional foundations of theological and intellectual authority harmonized with a revival of fideism and skepticism in thinkers such as Erasmus , Montaigne , and Francisco Sanches . Meanwhile , the gradual centralization of political power in nation-states was echoed by the emergence of secular political philosophies , as in the works of Niccol Machiavelli ( often described as the first modern political thinker , or a key turning point towards modern political thinking ) , Thomas More , Erasmus , Justus Lipsius , Jean Bodin , and Hugo Grotius. # #East Asia# # Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is primarily defined by the development of Neo-Confucianism . During the Tang Dynasty , Buddhism from Nepal also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline . ( It should be noted that philosophy and religion were clearly distinguished in the West , whilst these concepts were more continuous in the East due to , for example , the philosophical concepts of Buddhism . ) Neo-Confucianism is a philosophical movement that advocated a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Daoism and Buddhism that had influenced Confucianism during and after the Han Dynasty . Although the Neo-Confucianists were critical of Daoism and Buddhism , the two did have an influence on the philosophy , and the Neo-Confucianists borrowed terms and concepts from both . However , unlike the Buddhists and Daoists , who saw metaphysics as a catalyst for spiritual development , religious enlightenment , and immortality , the Neo-Confucianists used metaphysics as a guide for developing a rationalist ethical philosophy . Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the Tang Dynasty ; the Confucianist scholars Han Yu and Li Ao are seen as forbears of the Neo-Confucianists of the Song Dynasty . The Song Dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi is seen as the first true pioneer of Neo-Confucianism , using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy . Elsewhere in East Asia , Japanese Philosophy began to develop as indigenous Shinto beliefs fused with Buddhism , Confucianism and other schools of Chinese philosophy and Indian philosophy . Similar to Japan , in Korean philosophy the emotional content of Shamanism was integrated into the Neo-Confucianism imported from China . # #India# # The period between 5th and 9th centuries CE was the most brilliant epoch in the development of Indian philosophy as Hindu and Buddhist philosophies flourished side by side . Of these various schools of thought the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta emerged as the most influential The major philosophers of this school were Gaudapada , Adi Shankara and Vidyaranya . Advaita Vedanta rejects theism and dualism by insisting that Brahman ultimate reality is without parts or attributes ... one without a second . Since Brahman has no properties , contains no internal diversity and is identical with the whole reality , it can not be understood as God . Brahman though being indescribable is at best described as Satchidananda ( merging Sat + Chit + Ananda , i.e. , Existence , Consciousness and Bliss ) by Shankara . Advaita ushered a new era in Indian philosophy and as a result , many new schools of thought arose in the medieval period . Some of them were Visishtadvaita ( qualified monism ) , Dvaita ( dualism ) , Dvaitadvaita ( dualism-nondualism ) , Suddhadvaita ( pure non-dualism ) , Achintya Bheda Abheda and Pratyabhija ( the recognitive school ) . # #Middle East# # In early Islamic thought , which refers to philosophy during the Islamic Golden Age , traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries , two main currents may be distinguished . The first is Kalam , that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions . These include the Mu'tazili and Ash'ari . The other is Falsafa , that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism . There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends , notably by Ibn Sina ( Avicenna ) who founded the school of Avicennism , Ibn Rushd ( Averros ) who founded the school of Averroism , and others such as Ibn al-Haytham ( Alhacen ) and Ab Rayhn al-Brn. # 17th20th centuries # # #Early modern philosophy# # Chronologically , the early modern era of Western philosophy is usually identified with the 17th and 18th centuries , with the 18th century often being referred to as the Enlightenment . Modern philosophy is distinguished from its predecessors by its increasing independence from traditional authorities such as the Church , academia , and Aristotelianism ; a new focus on the foundations of knowledge and metaphysical system-building ; and the emergence of modern physics out of natural philosophy . Other central topics of philosophy in this period include the nature of the mind and its relation to the body , the implications of the new natural sciences for traditional theological topics such as free will and God , and the emergence of a secular basis for moral and political philosophy . These trends first distinctively coalesce in Francis Bacon 's call for a new , empirical program for expanding knowledge , and soon found massively influential form in the mechanical physics and rationalist metaphysics of Ren Descartes . Thomas Hobbes was the first to apply this methodology systematically to political philosophy and is the originator of modern political philosophy , including the modern theory of a social contract . The academic canon of early modern philosophy generally includes Descartes , Spinoza , Leibniz , Locke , Berkeley , Hume , and Kant , though influential contributions to philosophy were made by many thinkers in this period , such as Galileo Galilei , Pierre Gassendi , Blaise Pascal , Nicolas Malebranche , Isaac Newton , Christian Wolff , Montesquieu , Pierre Bayle , Thomas Reid , Jean d'Alembert , and Adam Smith . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a seminal figure in initiating reaction against the Enlightenment . The approximate end of the early modern period is most often identified with Immanuel Kant 's systematic attempt to limit metaphysics , justify scientific knowledge , and reconcile both of these with morality and freedom . # #19th-century philosophy# # Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the 19th century . German philosophy exercised broad influence in this century , owing in part to the dominance of the German university system . German idealists , such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling , transformed the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational or mind-like process , and as such is entirely knowable . Arthur Schopenhauer 's identification of this world-constituting process as an irrational will to live influenced later 19th- and early 20th-century thinking , such as the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud . After Hegel 's death in 1831 , 19th-century philosophy largely turned against idealism in favor of varieties of philosophical naturalism , such as the positivism of Auguste Comte , the empiricism of John Stuart Mill , and the materialism of Karl Marx . Logic began a period of its most significant advances since the inception of the discipline , as increasing mathematical precision opened entire fields of inference to formalization in the work of George Boole and Gottlob Frege . Other philosophers who initiated lines of thought that would continue to shape philosophy into the 20th century include :  Gottlob Frege and Henry Sidgwick , whose work in logic and ethics , respectively , provided the tools for early analytic philosophy .  Charles Sanders Peirce and William James , who founded pragmatism .  Sren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche , who laid the groundwork for existentialism and post-structuralism. # #20th-century philosophy# # Within the last century , philosophy has increasingly become a professional discipline practiced within universities , like other academic disciplines . Accordingly , it has become less general and more specialized . In the view of one prominent recent historian : Philosophy has become a highly organized discipline , done by specialists primarily for other specialists . The number of philosophers has exploded , the volume of publication has swelled , and the subfields of serious philosophical investigation have multiplied . Not only is the broad field of philosophy today far too vast to be embraced by one mind , something similar is true even of many highly specialized subfields . In the English-speaking world , analytic philosophy became the dominant school for much of the 20th century . In the first half of the century , it was a cohesive school , shaped strongly by logical positivism , united by the notion that philosophical problems could and should be solved by attention to logic and language . The pioneering work of Bertrand Russell was a model for the early development of analytic philosophy , moving from a rejection of the idealism dominant in late 19th-century British philosophy to an neo-Humean empiricism , strengthened by the conceptual resources of modern mathematical logic . In the latter half of the 20th century , analytic philosophy diffused into a wide variety of disparate philosophical views , only loosely united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified commitment to clarity and rigor . The post-war transformation of the analytic program led in two broad directions : on one hand , an interest in ordinary language as a way of avoiding or redescribing traditional philosophical problems , and on the other , a more thoroughgoing naturalism that sought to dissolve the puzzles of modern philosophy via the results of the natural sciences ( such as cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology ) . The shift in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein , from a view congruent with logical positivism to a therapeutic dissolution of traditional philosophy as a linguistic misunderstanding of normal forms of life , was the most influential version of the first direction in analytic philosophy . The later work of Russell and the philosophy of W.V.O. Quine are influential exemplars of the naturalist approach dominant in the second half of the 20th century . But the diversity of analytic philosophy from the 1970s onward defies easy generalization : the naturalism of Quine and his epigoni was in some precincts superseded by a new metaphysics of possible worlds , as in the influential work of David Lewis . Recently , the experimental philosophy movement has sought to reappraise philosophical problems through social science research techniques . On continental Europe , no single school or temperament enjoyed dominance . The flight of the logical positivists from central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s , however , diminished philosophical interest in natural science , and an emphasis on the humanities , broadly construed , figures prominently in what is usually called continental philosophy . 20th-century movements such as phenomenology , existentialism , modern hermeneutics , critical theory , structuralism , and poststructuralism are included within this loose category . The founder of phenomenology , Edmund Husserl , sought to study consciousness as experienced from a first-person perspective , while Martin Heidegger drew on the ideas of Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , and Husserl to propose an unconventional existential approach to ontology . In the Arab-speaking world Arab nationalist philosophy became the dominant school of thought , involving philosophers such as Michel Aflaq , Zaki al-Arsuzi , Salah al-Din al-Bitar of ba'athism and Sati ' al-Husri . These people disregarded much of Marx 's research , and were mostly concerned with the individual 's spirituality which would , in the fight against imperialism and oppression , lead to a united Arab Nation . # Major traditions # # German idealism # Forms of idealism were prevalent in philosophy from the 18th century to the early 20th century . Transcendental idealism , advocated by Immanuel Kant , is the view that there are limits on what can be understood , since there is much that can not be brought under the conditions of objective judgment . Kant wrote his ' ' Critique of Pure Reason ' ' ( 17811787 ) in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting approaches of rationalism and empiricism , and to establish a new groundwork for studying metaphysics . Kant 's intention with this work was to look at what we know and then consider what must be true about it , as a logical consequence of the ' ' way ' ' we know it . One major theme was that there are fundamental features of reality that escape our direct knowledge because of the natural limits of the human faculties . Although Kant held that objective knowledge of the world required the mind to impose a conceptual or categorical framework on the stream of pure sensory dataa framework including space and time themselveshe maintained that ' ' things-in-themselves ' ' existed independently of our perceptions and judgments ; he was therefore not an idealist in any simple sense . Kant 's account of ' ' things-in-themselves ' ' is both controversial and highly complex . Continuing his work , Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling dispensed with belief in the independent existence of the world , and created a thoroughgoing idealist philosophy . The most notable work of this German idealism was G. W. F. Hegel 's ' ' Phenomenology of Spirit ' ' , of 1807 . Hegel admitted his ideas were not new , but that all the previous philosophies had been incomplete . His goal was to correctly finish their job . Hegel asserts that the twin aims of philosophy are to account for the contradictions apparent in human experience ( which arise , for instance , out of the supposed contradictions between being and not being ) , and also simultaneously to resolve and preserve these contradictions by showing their compatibility at a higher level of examination ( being and not being are resolved with becoming ) . This program of acceptance and reconciliation of contradictions is known as the Hegelian dialectic . Philosophers influenced by Hegel include Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach , who coined the term projection as pertaining to our inability to recognize anything in the external world without projecting qualities of ourselves upon those things ; Karl Marx ; Friedrich Engels ; and the British idealists , notably T. H. Green , J. M. E. McTaggart and F. H. Bradley . Few 20th-century philosophers have embraced idealism . However , quite a few have embraced Hegelian dialectic . Immanuel Kant 's Copernican Turn also remains an important philosophical concept today . # Pragmatism # Pragmatism was founded in the spirit of finding a scientific concept of truth that does not depend on personal insight ( revelation ) or reference to some metaphysical realm . The meaning or purport of a statement should be judged by the effect its acceptance would have on practice . Truth is that opinion which inquiry taken far enough would ultimately reach . For Charles Sanders Peirce these were principles of the inquirer 's self-regulation , implied by the idea and hope that inquiry is not generally fruitless . The details of how these principles should be interpreted have been subject to discussion since Peirce first conceived them . Peirce 's maxim of pragmatism is as follows : Consider what effects , which might conceivably have practical bearings , we conceive the object of our conception to have . Then , our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object . Like postmodern neo-pragmatist Richard Rorty , many are convinced that pragmatism asserts that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality , but in their usefulness and efficacy . The late 19th-century American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce and William James were its co-founders , and it was later developed by John Dewey as instrumentalism . Since the usefulness of any belief at any time might be contingent on circumstance , Peirce and James conceptualised final truth as something only established by the future , final settlement of all opinion . Critics have accused pragmatism falling victim to a simple fallacy : because something that is true proves useful , that usefulness is the basis for its truth . Thinkers in the pragmatist tradition have included John Dewey , George Santayana , W. V. O. Quine and C. I. Lewis . Pragmatism has more recently been taken in new directions by Richard Rorty , John Lachs , Donald Davidson , Susan Haack , and Hilary Putnam. # Phenomenology # Edmund Husserl 's phenomenology was an ambitious attempt to lay the foundations for an account of the structure of conscious experience in general . An important part of Husserl 's phenomenological project was to show that all conscious acts are directed at or about objective content , a feature that Husserl called ' ' intentionality ' ' . In the first part of his two-volume work , the ' ' Logical Investigations ' ' ( 1901 ) , he launched an extended attack on psychologism . In the second part , he began to develop the technique of ' ' descriptive phenomenology ' ' , with the aim of showing how objective judgments are grounded in conscious experiencenot , however , in the first-person experience of particular individuals , but in the properties essential to any experiences of the kind in question . He also attempted to identify the essential properties of any act of meaning . He developed the method further in ' ' Ideas ' ' ( 1913 ) as ' ' transcendental phenomenology ' ' , proposing to ground actual experience , and thus all fields of human knowledge , in the structure of consciousness of an ideal , or transcendental , ego . Later , he attempted to reconcile his transcendental standpoint with an acknowledgement of the intersubjective life-world in which real individual subjects interact . Husserl published only a few works in his lifetime , which treat phenomenology mainly in abstract methodological terms ; but he left an enormous quantity of unpublished concrete analyses . Husserl 's work was immediately influential in Germany , with the foundation of phenomenological schools in Munich and Gttingen . Phenomenology later achieved international fame through the work of such philosophers as Martin Heidegger ( formerly Husserl 's research assistant ) , Maurice Merleau-Ponty , and Jean-Paul Sartre . Through the work of Heidegger and Sartre , Husserl 's focus on subjective experience influenced aspects of existentialism. # Existentialism # Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who , despite profound doctrinal differences , shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subjectnot merely the thinking subject , but the acting , feeling , living human individual . In existentialism , the individual 's starting point is characterized by what has been called the existential attitude , or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world . Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophy , in both style and content , as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience . Although they did not use the term , the 19th-century philosophers Sren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are widely regarded as the fathers of existentialism . Their influence , however , has extended beyond existentialist thought . The main target of Kierkegaard 's writings was the idealist philosophical system of Hegel which , he thought , ignored or excluded the inner subjective life of living human beings . Kierkegaard , conversely , held that truth is subjectivity , arguing that what is most important to an actual human being are questions dealing with an individual 's inner relationship to existence . In particular , Kierkegaard , a Christian , believed that the truth of religious faith was a subjective question , and one to be wrestled with passionately . Although Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were among his influences , the extent to which the German philosopher Martin Heidegger should be considered an existentialist is debatable . In ' ' Being and Time ' ' he presented a method of rooting philosophical explanations in human existence ( ' ' Dasein ' ' ) to be analysed in terms of existential categories ( ' ' existentiale ' ' ) ; and this has led many commentators to treat him as an important figure in the existentialist movement . However , in ' ' The Letter on Humanism ' ' , Heidegger explicitly rejected the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre . Sartre became the best-known proponent of existentialism , exploring it not only in theoretical works such as ' ' Being and Nothingness ' ' , but also in plays and novels . Sartre , along with Simone de Beauvoir , represented an avowedly atheistic branch of existentialism , which is now more closely associated with their ideas of nausea , contingency , bad faith , and the absurd than with Kierkegaard 's spiritual angst . Nevertheless , the focus on the individual human being , responsible before the universe for the authenticity of his or her existence , is common to all these thinkers . # Structuralism and post-structuralism # Inaugurated by the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure , structuralism sought to clarify systems of signs through analyzing the discourses they both limit and make possible . Saussure conceived of the sign as being delimited by all the other signs in the system , and ideas as being incapable of existence prior to linguistic structure , which articulates thought . This led continental thought away from humanism , and toward what was termed the decentering of man : language is no longer spoken by man to express a true inner self , but language speaks man . Structuralism sought the province of a hard science , but its positivism soon came under fire by poststructuralism , a wide field of thinkers , some of whom were once themselves structuralists , but later came to criticize it . Structuralists believed they could analyze systems from an external , objective standing , for example , but the poststructuralists argued that this is incorrect , that one can not transcend structures and thus analysis is itself determined by what it examines , while the distinction between the signifier and signified was treated as crystalline by structuralists , poststructuralists asserted that every attempt to grasp the signified results in more signifiers , so meaning is always in a state of being deferred , making an ultimate interpretation impossible . Structuralism came to dominate continental philosophy throughout the 1960s and early 1970s , encompassing thinkers as diverse as Claude Lvi-Strauss , Roland Barthes and Jacques Lacan . Post-structuralism came to predominate over the 1970s onwards , including thinkers such as Michel Foucault , Jacques Derrida , Gilles Deleuze and even Roland Barthes ; it incorporated a critique of structuralism 's limitations . # The analytic tradition # The term ' ' analytic philosophy ' ' roughly designates a group of philosophical methods that stress detailed argumentation , attention to semantics , use of classical logic and non-classical logics and clarity of meaning above all other criteria . Some have held that philosophical problems arise through misuse of language or because of misunderstandings of the logic of our language , while some maintain that there are genuine philosophical problems and that philosophy is continuous with science . Michael Dummett in his ' ' Origins of Analytical Philosophy ' ' makes the case for counting Gottlob Frege 's ' ' The Foundations of Arithmetic ' ' as the first analytic work , on the grounds that in that book Frege took the linguistic turn , analyzing philosophical problems through language . Bertrand Russell and G.E . Moore are also often counted as founders of analytic philosophy , beginning with their rejection of British idealism , their defense of realism and the emphasis they laid on the legitimacy of analysis . Russell 's classic works ' ' The Principles of Mathematics ' ' , ' ' On Denoting ' ' and ' ' Principia Mathematica ' ' with Alfred North Whitehead , aside from greatly promoting the use of mathematical logic in philosophy , set the ground for much of the research program in the early stages of the analytic tradition , emphasizing such problems as : the reference of proper names , whether ' existence ' is a property , the nature of propositions , the analysis of definite descriptions , the discussions on the foundations of mathematics ; as well as exploring issues of ontological commitment and even metaphysical problems regarding time , the nature of matter , mind , persistence and change , which Russell tackled often with the aid of mathematical logic . Russell and Moore 's philosophy , in the beginning of the 20th century , developed as a critique of Hegel and his British followers in particular , and of grand systems of speculative philosophy in general , though by no means all analytic philosophers reject the philosophy of Hegel ( see Charles Taylor ) nor speculative philosophy . Some schools in the group include logical positivism , and ordinary language both markedly influenced by Russell and Wittgenstein 's development of Logical Atomism the former positively and the latter negatively . In 1921 , Ludwig Wittgenstein , who studied under Russell at Cambridge , published his ' ' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ' ' , which gave a rigidly logical account of linguistic and philosophical issues . At the time , he understood most of the problems of philosophy as mere puzzles of language , which could be solved by investigating and then minding the logical structure of language . Years later , he reversed a number of the positions he set out in the ' ' Tractatus ' ' , in for example his second major work , ' ' Philosophical Investigations ' ' ( 1953 ) . ' ' Investigations ' ' was influential in the development of ordinary language philosophy , which was promoted by Gilbert Ryle , J.L. Austin , and a few others . In the United States , meanwhile , the philosophy of W.V.O. Quine was having a major influence , with such classics as Two Dogmas of Empiricism . In that paper Quine criticizes the distinction between analytic and synthetic statements , arguing that a clear conception of analyticity is unattainable . He argued for holism , the thesis that language , including scientific language , is a set of interconnected sentences , none of which can be verified on its own , rather , the sentences in the language depend on each other for their meaning and truth conditions . A consequence of Quine 's approach is that language as a whole has only a thin relation to experience . Some sentences that refer directly to experience might be modified by sense impressions , but as the whole of language is theory-laden , for the whole language to be modified , more than this is required . However , most of the linguistic structure can in principle be revised , even logic , in order to better model the world . Notable students of Quine include Donald Davidson and Daniel Dennett . The former devised a program for giving a semantics to natural language and thereby answer the philosophical conundrum what is meaning ? . A crucial part of the program was the use of Alfred Tarski 's semantic theory of truth . Dummett , among others , argued that truth conditions should be dispensed within the theory of meaning , and replaced by assertibility conditions . Some propositions , on this view , are neither true nor false , and thus such a theory of meaning entails a rejection of the law of the excluded middle . This , for Dummett , entails antirealism , as Russell himself pointed out in his ' ' An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth ' ' . By the 1970s there was a renewed interest in many traditional philosophical problems by the younger generations of analytic philosophers . David Lewis , Saul Kripke , Derek Parfit and others took an interest in traditional metaphysical problems , which they began exploring by the use of logic and philosophy of language . Among those problems some distinguished ones were : free will , essentialism , the nature of personal identity , identity over time , the nature of the mind , the nature of causal laws , space-time , the properties of material beings , modality , etc . In those universities where analytic philosophy has spread , these problems are still being discussed passionately . Analytic philosophers are also interested in the methodology of analytic philosophy itself , with Timothy Williamson , Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford , publishing recently a book entitled ' ' The Philosophy of Philosophy ' ' . Some influential figures in contemporary analytic philosophy are : Timothy Williamson , David Lewis , John Searle , Thomas Nagel , Hilary Putnam , Michael Dummett , Peter van Inwagen and Saul Kripke . Analytic philosophy has sometimes been accused of not contributing to the political debate or to traditional questions in aesthetics . However , with the appearance of ' ' A Theory of Justice ' ' by John Rawls and ' ' Anarchy , State and Utopia ' ' by Robert Nozick , analytic political philosophy acquired respectability . Analytic philosophers have also shown depth in their investigations of aesthetics , with Roger Scruton , Nelson Goodman , Arthur Danto and others developing the subject to its current shape . # Applied philosophy # The ideas conceived by a society have profound repercussions on what actions the society performs . The applied study of philosophy yields applications such as those in ethicsapplied ethics in particularand political philosophy . The political and economic philosophies of Confucius , Sun Zi , Chanakya , Ibn Khaldun , Ibn Rushd , Ibn Taimiyyah , Niccol Machiavelli , Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , John Locke , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Adam Smith , Karl Marx , John Stuart Mill , Leo Tolstoy , Mahatma Gandhi , Martin Luther King Jr. , and othersall of these have been used to shape and justify governments and their actions . In the field of philosophy of education , progressive education as championed by John Dewey has had a profound impact on educational practices in the United States in the 20th century . Descendants of this movement include the current efforts in philosophy for children , which are part of philosophy education . Carl von Clausewitz 's political philosophy of war has had a profound effect on statecraft , international politics , and military strategy in the 20th century , especially in the years around World War II . Logic has become crucially important in mathematics , linguistics , psychology , computer science , and computer engineering . Other important applications can be found in epistemology , which aid in understanding the requisites for knowledge , sound evidence , and justified belief ( important in law , economics , decision theory , and a number of other disciplines ) . The philosophy of science discusses the underpinnings of the scientific method and has affected the nature of scientific investigation and argumentation . As such , philosophy has fundamental implications for science as a whole . For example , the strictly empirical approach of Skinner 's behaviorism affected for decades the approach of the American psychological establishment . Deep ecology and animal rights examine the moral situation of humans as occupants of a world that has non-human occupants to consider also . Aesthetics can help to interpret discussions of music , literature , the plastic arts , and the whole artistic dimension of life . In general , the various philosophies strive to provide practical activities with a deeper understanding of the theoretical or conceptual underpinnings of their fields . Often philosophy is seen as an investigation into an area not sufficiently well understood to be its own branch of knowledge . For example , what were once philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields such as psychology , sociology , linguistics , and economics . 
@@13704154 Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world . Historically , the term was recently invented to refer to the philosophical thinking of Western civilization , beginning with Greek philosophy in ancient Greece , and eventually covering a large area of the globe . The word ' ' philosophy ' ' itself originated in ancient Greece : ' ' philosophia ' ' ( ) , literally , the love of wisdom ( ' ' philein ' ' , to love and ' ' sophia ' ' , wisdom ) . # Origins # The scope of philosophy in the ancient understanding , and the writings of ( at least some of ) the ancient philosophers , were ' ' all ' ' intellectual endeavors . This included the problems of philosophy as they are understood today ; but it also included many other disciplines , such as pure mathematics and natural sciences such as physics , astronomy , and biology ( Aristotle , for example , wrote on all of these topics . ) The term Western philosophy is at times unhelpful and vague , since the definition involves a vast variety of distinct traditions , political groups , religious groups , and individual writers over thousands of years . # Western philosophical subdisciplines # Western philosophers have often been divided into some major branches , or schools , based either on the questions typically addressed by people working in different parts of the field , or notions of ideological undercurrents . In the ancient world , the most influential division of the subject was the Stoics ' division of philosophy into Logic , Ethics , and Physics ( conceived as the study of the nature of the world , and including both natural science and metaphysics ) . In contemporary philosophy , specialties within the field are more commonly divided into metaphysics , epistemology , ethics and aesthetics ( the latter two of which together comprise axiology ) . Logic is sometimes included as a main branch of philosophy , sometimes as a separate science philosophers happen to work on , and sometimes just as a characteristically philosophical method applying to all branches of philosophy . Within these broad branches there are now numerous sub-disciplines of philosophy . At the broadest level there is the division between Analytic ( the English-speaking world and Nordic countries ) and Continental Philosophy ( in the rest of Europe ) . For Continental Philosophy subdividing philosophy between experts is problematic for the very nature of the interdisciplinary task of philosophy itself ; however , for most of Analytic Philosophy further divisions simplify the task for philosophers in each area . The interest in particular sub-disciplines waxes and wanes over time ; sometimes sub-disciplines become particularly hot topics and can occupy so much space in the literature that they almost seem like major branches in their own right . ( Over the past 40 years or so philosophy of mindwhich is , generally speaking , mainly a sub-discipline of metaphysicshas taken on this position within Analytic philosophy , and has attracted so much attention that some suggest philosophy of mind as ' ' the ' ' paradigm for what contemporary Analytic philosophers do. ) # Philosophy contrasted with other disciplines # # Natural science # Originally the term philosophy was applied to ' ' all ' ' intellectual endeavours . Aristotle studied what would now be called biology , meteorology , physics , and cosmology , alongside his metaphysics and ethics . Even in the eighteenth century physics and chemistry were still classified as natural philosophy , that is , the philosophical study of nature . Today these latter subjects are popularly referred to as sciences , and as separate from philosophy . But the distinction is not clear ; some philosophers still contend that science retains an unbroken and unbreakable link to philosophy . More recently , psychology , economics , sociology , and linguistics were once the domain of philosophers insofar as they were studied at all , but now have only a weaker connection with the field . In the late twentieth century cognitive science and artificial intelligence could be seen as being forged in part out of philosophy of mind . Philosophy is done primarily through reflection and critical thought . It does not tend to rely on experiment . However , in some ways philosophy is close to science in its character and method ; some Analytic philosophers have suggested that the method of philosophical analysis allows philosophers to emulate the methods of natural science ; Quine holds that philosophy does no more than clarify the arguments and claims of other sciences . This suggests that philosophy might be the study of meaning and reasoning generally ; but some still would claim either that this is not a science , or that if it is it ought not to be pursued by philosophers . All these views have something in common : whatever philosophy essentially is or is concerned with , it tends on the whole to proceed more abstractly than most ( or most other ) natural sciences . It does not depend as much on experience and experiment , and does not contribute as directly to technology . It clearly would be a mistake to identify philosophy with any one natural science ; whether it can be identified with science very broadly construed is still an open question . This is an active discipline pursued by both trained philosophers and scientists . Philosophers often ' ' refer to ' ' , and interpret , experimental work of various kinds ( as in philosophy of physics and philosophy of psychology ) . But this is not surprising : such branches of philosophy aim at philosophical understanding ' ' of ' ' experimental work . It is not the philosophers in their capacity ' ' as ' ' philosophers , who perform the experiments and formulate the scientific theories under study . Philosophy of science should not be confused with science it studies any more than biology should be confused with plants and animals . # Theology and religious studies # Like philosophy , most religious studies are not experimental . Parts of theology , including questions about the existence and nature of gods , clearly overlap with philosophy of religion . Aristotle considered theology a branch of metaphysics , the central field of philosophy , and most philosophers prior to the twentieth century have devoted significant effort to theological questions . So the two are not unrelated . But other part of religious studies , such as the comparison of different world religions , can be easily distinguished from philosophy in just the way that any other social science can be distinguished from philosophy . These are closer to history and sociology , and involve specific observations of particular phenomena , here particular religious practices . The Empiricist tradition in modern philosophy often held that religious questions are beyond the scope of human knowledge , and many have claimed that religious language is literally meaningless : there are not even questions to be answered . Some philosophers have felt that these difficulties in evidence were irrelevant , and have argued for , against , or just about religious beliefs on moral or other grounds . Nonetheless , in the main stream of twentieth century philosophy there were very few philosophers who give serious consideration to religious questions . # Mathematics # Mathematics uses very specific , rigorous methods of proof that philosophers sometimes ( only rarely ) try to emulate . Most philosophy is written in ordinary prose , and while it strives to be precise it does not usually attain anything like mathematical clarity . As a result , mathematicians hardly ever disagree about results , while philosophers of course do disagree about their results , as well as their methods . The philosophy of mathematics is a branch of philosophy of science ; but in many ways mathematics has a special relationship to philosophy . This is because the study of logic is a central branch of philosophy , and mathematics is a paradigm example of logic . In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries logic made great advances , and mathematics has been proven to be reducible to logic ( at least , to first-order logic with some set theory ) . The use of formal , mathematical logic in philosophy now resembles the use of maths in science , although it is not as frequent . 
@@19187131 Cynicism ( ) is a school of ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the Cynics ( , ) . For the Cynics , the purpose of life was to live in virtue , in agreement with nature . As reasoning creatures , people could gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for humans , rejecting all conventional desires for wealth , power , sex , and fame . Instead , they were to lead a simple life free from all possessions . The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes , who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 5th century BC . He was followed by Diogenes of Sinope , who lived in a tub on the streets of Athens . Diogenes took Cynicism to its logical extremes , and came to be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher . He was followed by Crates of Thebes who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens . Cynicism spread with the rise of Imperial Rome in the 1st century , and Cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout the cities of the Empire . It finally disappeared in the late 5th century , although some have claimed that early Christianity adopted many of its ascetic and rhetorical ideas . By the 19th century , emphasis on the negative aspects of Cynic philosophy led to the modern understanding of cynicism to mean a disposition of disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions . # Origin of the Cynic name # The name Cynic derives ( genitive : ' ' kynos ' ' ) . One explanation offered in ancient times for why the Cynics were called ' ' dogs ' ' was because the first Cynic , Antisthenes , taught in the Cynosarges gymnasium at Athens . The word ' ' Cynosarges ' ' means the place of the ' ' white dog ' ' . It seems certain , however , that the word ' ' dog ' ' was also thrown at the first Cynics as an insult for their shameless rejection of conventional manners , and their decision to live on the streets . Diogenes , in particular , was referred to as ' ' the Dog ' ' , a distinction he seems to have revelled in , stating that other dogs bite their enemies , I bite my friends to save them . Later Cynics also sought to turn the word to their advantage , as a later commentator explained : # There are four reasons why the ' ' Cynics ' ' are so named . First because of the ' ' indifference ' ' of their way of life , for they make a cult of indifference and , like dogs , eat and make love in public , go barefoot , and sleep in tubs and at crossroads . The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal , and they make a cult of shamelessness , not as being beneath modesty , but as superior to it . The third reason is that the dog is a good guard , and they guard the tenets of their philosophy . The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies . So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy , and receive them kindly , while those unfitted they drive away , like dogs , by barking at them . # # Philosophy # Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the Hellenistic philosophies . It offered people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty . Although there was never an official Cynic doctrine , the fundamental principles of Cynicism can be summarised as follows : Navia , Luis E. Classical Cynicism : A Critical Study . pg 140. # The goal of life is Eudaimonia and mental clarity or lucidity ( ) - freedom from ( smoke ) which signified ignorance , mindlessness , folly and conceit . # Eudaimonia is achieved by living in accord with Nature as understood by human reason . # ( Arrogance ) is caused by false judgments of value , which cause negative emotions , unnatural desires and a vicious character . # Eudaimonia or human flourishing , depends on self-sufficiency ( ) , equanimity , arete , love of humanity , parrhesia and indifference to the vicissitudes of life ( ) . # One progresses towards flourishing and clarity through ascetic practices ( ) which help one become free from influences &amp;ndash ; such as wealth , fame , or power &amp;ndash ; that have no value in Nature . Examples include Diogenes ' practice of living in a tub and walking barefoot in winter . # A Cynic practices shamelessness or impudence ( ) and defaces the Nomos of society ; the laws , customs and social conventions which people take for granted . Thus a Cynic has no property and rejects all conventional values of money , fame , power or reputation . A life lived according to nature requires only the bare necessities required for existence , and one can become free by unshackling oneself from any needs which are the result of convention . The Cynics adopted Hercules as their hero , as epitomizing the ideal Cynic . Hercules was he who brought Cerberus , the hound of Hades , from the underworld , a point of special appeal to the dog-man , Diogenes . According to Lucian , Cerberus and Cynic are surely related through the dog . The Cynic way of life required continuous training , not just in exercising one 's judgments and mental impressions , but a physical training as well : # Diogenes used to say , that there were two kinds of exercise : that , namely , of the mind and that of the body ; and that the latter of these created in the mind such quick and agile impressions at the time of its performance , as very much facilitated the practice of virtue ; but that one was imperfect without the other , since the health and vigour necessary for the practice of what is good , depend equally on both mind and body . # None of this meant that the Cynic would retreat from society . Cynics would in fact live in the full glare of the public 's gaze and would be quite indifferent in the face of any insults which might result from their unconventional behaviour . The Cynics are said to have invented the idea of cosmopolitanism : when he was asked where he came from , Diogenes replied that he was a citizen of the world , ( ' ' kosmopolits ' ' ) . The ideal Cynic would evangelise ; as the watchdog of humanity , it was their job to hound people about the error of their ways . The example of the Cynic 's life ( and the use of the Cynic 's biting satire ) would dig-up and expose the pretensions which lay at the root of everyday conventions . Although Cynicism concentrated solely on ethics , Cynic philosophy had a big impact on the Hellenistic world , ultimately becoming an important influence for Stoicism . The Stoic Apollodorus writing in the 2nd century BC stated that Cynicism is the short path to virtue . # History of Cynicism # The classical Greek and Roman Cynics regarded virtue as the only necessity for happiness , and saw virtue as entirely sufficient for attaining happiness . Classical Cynics followed this philosophy to the extent of neglecting everything not furthering their perfection of virtue and attainment of happiness , thus , the title ' ' Cynics ' ' , derived from the Greek word ' ' ' ' ( meaning dog ) because they allegedly neglected society , hygiene , family , money , etc. , in a manner reminiscent of dogs . They sought to free themselves from conventions ; become self-sufficient ; and live only in accordance with nature . They rejected any conventional notions of happiness involving money , power , or fame , to lead entirely virtuous , and thus happy , lives . The ancient Cynics rejected conventional social values , and would criticise the types of behaviours , such as greed , which they viewed as causing suffering . Emphasis on this aspect of their teachings led , in the late 18th and early 19th century , to the modern understanding of cynicism as an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity , especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others . This modern definition of cynicism is in marked contrast to the ancient philosophy , which emphasized virtue and moral freedom in liberation from desire . # Influences # Various philosophers , such as the Pythagoreans , had advocated simple living in the centuries preceding the Cynics . In the early 6th century BC , Anacharsis , a Scythian sage had combined plain living together with criticisms of Greek customs in a manner which would become standard among the Cynics . Perhaps of importance were tales of Indian philosophers , known to later Greeks as the Gymnosophists , who had adopted a strict asceticism together with a disrespect for established laws and customs . By the 5th century BC , the Sophists had begun a process of questioning many aspects of Greek society such as religion , law and ethics . However , the most immediate influence for the Cynic school was Socrates . Although he was not an ascetic , he did profess a love of Virtue and an indifference to wealth , together with a disdain for general opinion . These aspects of Socrates ' thought , which formed only a minor part of Plato 's philosophy , became the central inspiration for another of Socrates ' pupils , Antisthenes. # Antisthenes # The story of Cynicism traditionally begins with Antisthenes ( c. 445365 BC ) , who was an older contemporary of Plato and a pupil of Socrates . At about 25 years his junior , Antisthenes was one of the most important of Socrates ' disciples . Although later classical authors had little doubt about labelling him as the founder of Cynicism , his philosophical views seem to be more complex than the later simplicities of pure Cynicism . In the list of works ascribed to Antisthenes by Diogenes Lartius , writings on Language , Dialogue and Literature far outnumber those on Ethics or Politics , although they may reflect how his philosophical interests changed with time . It is certainly true that Antisthenes preached a life of poverty : # I have enough to eat till my hunger is stayed , to drink till my thirst is sated ; to clothe myself as well ; and out of doors not even Callias there , with all his riches , is more safe than I from shivering ; and when I find myself indoors , what warmer shirting do I need than my bare walls ? # # Diogenes of Sinope # Diogenes of Sinope ( c. 412323 BC ) dominates the story of Cynicism like no other figure . He originally went to Athens , fleeing his home city , after he and his father , who was in charge of the mint at Sinope , got into trouble for falsifying the coinage . ( The phrase defacing the currency later became proverbial in describing Diogenes ' rejection of conventional values . ) Later tradition claimed that Diogenes became the disciple of Antisthenes , but it is by no means certain that they ever met . Diogenes did however adopt Antisthenes ' teachings and the ascetic way of life , pursuing a life of self-sufficiency ( ' ' autarkeia ' ' ) , austerity ( ' ' asksis ' ' ) , and shamelessness ( ' ' anaidei ' ' a ) . There are many anecdotes about his extreme asceticism ( sleeping in a tub ) , his shameless behaviour ( eating raw meat ) , and his criticism of conventional society ( bad people obey their lusts as servants obey their masters ) , and although it is impossible to tell which of these stories are true , they do illustrate the broad character of the man , including an ethical seriousness . # Crates of Thebes # Crates of Thebes ( c. 365c. 285 BC ) is the third figure who dominates Cynic history . He is notable because he renounced a large fortune to live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens . He is said to have been a pupil of Diogenes , but again this is uncertain . Crates married Hipparchia of Maroneia after she had fallen in love with him and together they lived like beggars on the streets of Athens , where Crates was treated with respect . Crates ' later fame ( apart from his unconventional lifestyle ) lies in the fact that he became the teacher of Zeno of Citium , the founder of Stoicism . The Cynic strain to be found in early Stoicism ( such as Zeno 's own radical views on sexual equality spelled out in his ' ' Republic ' ' ) can be ascribed to Crates ' influence . # Other Cynics # There were many other Cynics in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC , including Onesicritus ( who sailed with Alexander the Great to India ) , and the moral satirists Bion of Borysthenes and Menippus of Gadara . However , with the rise of Stoicism in the 3rd century BC , Cynicism as a serious philosophical activity underwent a decline , and it is not until the Roman era that Cynicism underwent a revival . # Cynicism in the Roman World # There is little record of Cynicism in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC ; Cicero ( c. 50 BC ) , who was much interested in Greek philosophy , had little to say about Cynicism , except that it is to be shunned ; for it is opposed to modesty , without which there can be neither right nor honor . However , by the 1st century AD , Cynicism reappeared with full force . The rise of Imperial Rome , like the Greek loss of independence under Philip and Alexander three centuries earlier , may have led to a sense of powerlessness and frustration among many people , which allowed a philosophy which emphasized self-sufficiency and inner-happiness to flourish once again . Cynics could be found throughout the empire , standing on street corners , preaching about Virtue . Lucian complained that every city is filled with such upstarts , particularly with those who enter the names of Diogenes , Antisthenes , and Crates as their patrons and enlist in the Army of the Dog , and Aelius Aristides observed that they frequent the doorways , talking more to the doorkeepers than to the masters , making up for their lowly condition by using impudence . The most notable representative of Cynicism in the 1st century AD was Demetrius , whom Seneca praised as a man of consummate wisdom , though he himself denied it , constant to the principles which he professed , of an eloquence worthy to deal with the mightiest subjects . Cynicism in Rome was both the butt of the satirist and the ideal of the thinker . In the 2nd century AD , Lucian , whilst pouring scorn on the Cynic philosopher Peregrinus Proteus , nevertheless praised his own Cynic teacher , Demonax , in a dialogue . Cynicism came to be seen as an idealised form of Stoicism , a view which led Epictetus to eulogise the ideal Cynic in a lengthy discourse . According to Epictetus , the ideal Cynic must know that he is sent as a messenger from Zeus to people concerning good and bad things , to show them that they have wandered . Unfortunately for Epictetus , many Cynics of the era did not live up to the ideal : consider the present Cynics who are dogs that wait at tables , and in no respect imitate the Cynics of old except perchance in breaking wind . Unlike Stoicism , which declined as an independent philosophy after the 2nd century AD , Cynicism seems to have thrived into the 4th century . The Emperor Julian ( ruled 361363 ) , like Epictetus , praised the ideal Cynic and complained about the actual practitioners of Cynicism . The final Cynic noted in classical history is Sallustius of Emesa in the late 5th century . A student of the Neoplatonic philosopher Isidore of Alexandria , he devoted himself to living a life of Cynic asceticism . # Cynicism and Christianity # # Jesus as a Jewish Cynic # Some historians have noted the similarities between the life and teachings of Jesus and those of the Cynics . Some scholars have argued that the Q document , a hypothetical common source for the gospels of Matthew and Luke , has strong similarities with the teachings of the Cynics . Scholars on the quest for the historical Jesus , such as Burton L. Mack and John Dominic Crossan of the Jesus Seminar , have argued that 1st century AD Galilee was a world in which Hellenistic ideas collided with Jewish thought and traditions . The city of Gadara , only a day 's walk from Nazareth , was particularly notable as a centre of Cynic philosophy , and Mack has described Jesus as a rather normal Cynic-type figure . For Crossan , Jesus was more like a Cynic sage from an Hellenistic Jewish tradition than either a Christ who would die as a substitute for sinners or a Messiah who wanted to establish an independent Jewish state of Israel . Other scholars doubt that Jesus was deeply influenced by the Cynics , and see the Jewish prophetic tradition as of much greater importance . # Cynic influences on early Christianity # Many of the ascetic practices of Cynicism may have been adopted by early Christians , and Christians often employed the same rhetorical methods as the Cynics . Some Cynics were actually martyred for speaking out against the authorities . One Cynic , Peregrinus Proteus , lived for a time as a Christian before converting to Cynicism , whereas in the 4th century , Maximus of Alexandria , although a Christian , was also called a Cynic because of his ascetic lifestyle . Christian writers would often praise Cynic poverty , although they scorned Cynic shamelessness : Augustine stating that they had , in violation of the modest instincts of men , boastfully proclaimed their unclean and shameless opinion , worthy indeed of dogs . The ascetic orders of Christianity also had direct connection with the Cynics , as can be seen in the wandering mendicant monks of the early church who in outward appearance , and in many of their practices were little different from the Cynics of an earlier age . 
@@20785947 Objectivity is a central philosophical concept , related to reality and truth , which has been variously defined by sources . Generally , objectivity means the state or quality of being true even outside of a subject 's individual biases , interpretations , feelings , and imaginings . A proposition is generally considered objectively true ( to have objective truth ) when its truth conditions are met and are bias-free ; that is , existing without biases caused by , feelings , ideas , etc. of a sentient subject . A second , broader meaning of the term refers to the ability in any context to judge fairly , without bias or external influence ( see journalistic objectivity ) ; this second meaning of ' ' objectivity ' ' is sometimes used synonymously with ' ' neutrality ' ' . # Objectivism # Objectivism is a term that describes a branch of philosophy that originated in the early nineteenth century . Gottlob Frege was the first to apply it , when he expounded an epistemological and metaphysical theory contrary to that of Immanuel Kant . Kant 's rationalism attempted to reconcile the failures he perceived in philosophical realism . Stronger versions of this claim hold that there is only one correct description of this reality . If it is true that reality is mind-independent , then reality might include objects that are unknown to consciousness and thus might include objects not the subject of intensionality . Objectivity in referring requires a definition of truth . According to metaphysical objectivists , an object may truthfully be said to have this or that attribute , as in the statement This object exists , whereas the statement This object is true or false is meaningless . For them , only propositions have truth values . The terms objectivity and objectivism are not synonymous , with objectivism being an ontological theory that incorporates a commitment to the objectivity of objects . Plato 's realism was a form of metaphysical objectivism , holding that the Ideas exist objectively and independently . Berkeley 's empiricist idealism , on the other hand , could be called a subjectivism : he held that things only exist to the extent that they are perceived . Both theories claim methods of objectivity . Plato 's definition of objectivity can be found in his epistemology , which takes as a model mathematics , and his metaphysics , where knowledge of the ontological status of objects and ideas is resistant to change . Plato considered knowledge of geometry a condition of philosophical knowledge , both being concerned with universal truths . Plato 's opposition between objective knowledge and ' ' doxa ' ' ( opinions ) became the basis for later philosophies intent on resolving the problem of reality , knowledge , and human existence . Personal opinions belong to the changing sphere of the sensible , opposed to a fixed and eternal incorporeal realm that is mutually intelligible . Where Plato distinguishes between what and how we know things ( epistemology ) , and their ontological status as things ( metaphysics ) , subjectivism such as Berkeley 's and a mind dependence of knowledge and reality fails to distinguish between what one knows and what is to be known , or at least explains the distinction superficially . In Platonic terms , a criticism of subjectivism is that it is difficult to distinguish between knowledge , ' ' doxa ' ' , and subjective knowledge ( true belief ) , distinctions that Plato makes . The importance of perception in evaluating and understanding objective reality is debated . Realists argue that perception is key in directly observing objective reality , while instrumentalists hold that perception is not necessarily useful in directly observing objective reality , but is useful in interpreting and predicting reality . The concepts that encompasses these ideas are important in the philosophy of science . # Objectivity in ethics # # Ethical subjectivism # The term , ethical subjectivism , covers two distinct theories in ethics . According to cognitive versions of ethical subjectivism , the truth of moral statements depends upon people 's values , attitudes , feelings , or beliefs . Some forms of cognitivist ethical subjectivism can be counted as forms of realism , others are forms of anti-realism . David Hume is a foundational figure for cognitive ethical subjectivism . On a standard interpretation of his theory , a trait of character counts as a moral virtue when it evokes a sentiment of approbation in a sympathetic , informed , and rational human observer . Similarly , Roderick Firth 's ideal observer theory held that right acts are those that an impartial , rational observer would approve of . William James , another ethical subjectivist , held that an end is good ( to or for a person ) just in the case it is desired by that person ( see also ethical egoism ) . According to non-cognitive versions of ethical subjectivism , such as emotivism , prescriptivism , and expressivism , ethical statements can not be true or false , at all : rather , they are expressions of personal feelings or commands . For example , on A. J. Ayer 's emotivism , the statement , Murder is wrong is equivalent in meaning to the emotive , Murder , Boo ! # Ethical objectivism # According to the ethical objectivist , the truth or falsity of typical moral judgments does not depend upon the beliefs or feelings of any person or group of persons . This view holds that moral propositions are analogous to propositions about chemistry , biology , or history : they describe ( or fail to describe ) a mind-independent reality . When they describe it accurately , they are trueno matter what anyone believes , hopes , wishes , or feels . When they fail to describe this mind-independent moral reality , they are falseno matter what anyone believes , hopes , wishes , or feels . There are many versions of ethical objectivism , including various religious views of morality , Platonistic intuitionism , Kantianism , utilitarianism , and certain forms of ethical egoism and contractualism . Note that Platonists define ethical objectivism in an even more narrow way , so that it requires the existence of intrinsic value . Consequently , they reject the idea that contractualists or egoists could be ethical objectivists . Objectivism , in turn , places primacy on the origin of the frame of referenceand , as such , considers any arbitrary frame of reference ultimately a form of ethical subjectivism by a transitive property , even when the frame incidentally coincides with reality and can be used for measurements . 
@@21031297 Doctor of Philosophy , abbreviated as PhD , Ph.D . , D.Phil. , or DPhil in English-speaking countries and originally as Dr.Philos. ( for the Latin ' ' philosophiae doctor ' ' or ' ' doctor philosophiae ' ' ) , is in many countries a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities . The academic level known as a Doctorate of philosophy varies considerably according to the country , institution , and time period , from entry-level research degrees to higher doctorates . A person who attains a doctorate of philosophy is automatically awarded the academic title of doctor . In the context of academic degrees , the term philosophy does not refer solely to the field of philosophy , but is used in a broader sense in accordance with its original Greek meaning , which is love of wisdom . In most of Europe , all fields other than theology , law , and medicine were traditionally known as philosophy , and in Germany and elsewhere in Europe the basic faculty of ( liberal ) arts was known as the faculty of philosophy . The doctorate of philosophy as it exists today thus originated as a doctorate in the liberal arts at the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitt , the buildings of which are today used by the Humboldt University of Berlin , becoming common in large parts of the world in the 20th century . # History # In the universities of Medieval Europe , study was organised in four faculties : the basic faculty of arts , and the three higher faculties of theology , medicine , and law ( canonical and civil ) . All of these faculties awarded intermediate degrees ( bachelor of arts , of theology , of laws , of medicine ) and final degrees . Initially , the titles of master and doctor were used interchangeably for the final degrees , but by the late Middle Ages the terms Master of Arts and Doctor of Theology/Divinity , Doctor of Law , and Doctor of Medicine had become standard in most places ( though in the German and Italian universities the term Doctor was used for all faculties ) . The doctorates in the higher faculties were quite different from the current Ph.D . degree in that they were awarded for advanced scholarship , not original research . No dissertation or original work was required , only lengthy residency requirements and examinations . Besides these degrees , there was the licentiate . Originally this was a license to teach , awarded shortly before the award of the master or doctor degree by the diocese in which the university was located , but later it evolved into an academic degree in its own right , in particular in the continental universities . So in theory the full course of studies might lead in succession to the degrees of , e.g. , Bachelor of Arts , Licentiate of Arts , Master of Arts , Bachelor of Medicine , Licentiate of Medicine , Doctor of Medicine . There were many exceptions to this however , e.g. , most students left the university before becoming masters of arts , whereas regulars ( members of monastic orders ) could skip the arts faculty entirely . This situation changed in the early 19th century through the educational reforms in Germany , most strongly embodied in the model of the Humboldt University . The arts faculty , which in Germany was labelled the faculty of philosophy , started demanding contributions to research , attested by a dissertation , for the award of their final degree , which was labelled Doctor of Philosophy ( abbreviated as Ph.D. ) - originally this was just the German equivalent of the Master of Arts degree . Whereas in the Middle Ages the arts faculty had a set curriculum , based upon the trivium and the quadrivium , by the 19th century it had come to house all the courses of study in subjects now commonly referred to as sciences and humanities . These reforms proved extremely successful , and fairly quickly the German universities started attracting foreign students , notably from the United States . The American students would go to Germany to obtain a Ph.D . after having studied for a bachelor 's degrees at an American college . So influential was this practice that it was imported to the United States , where in 1861 Yale University started granting the Ph.D . degree to younger students who , after having obtained the bachelor 's degree , had completed a prescribed course of graduate study and successfully defended a thesis or dissertation containing original research in science or in the humanities . This research degree of doctor of philosophy was the first to be given in North America . Even though in Germany the name of the doctorate was adapted accordingly after the philosophy faculty started being split up - e.g. Dr. rer. nat . for doctorates in the faculty of natural sciences - in most of the Anglo-Saxon world the name of Doctor of Philosophy was retained for research doctorates in all disciplines . From the United States , the Ph.D . degree spread to Canada in 1900 , and then to the United Kingdom in 1917 . In particular in the English universities the introduction of the research doctorate largely happened to compete with Germany for American students , but the initiative was first halted by internal criticism . In first instance , in particular at the University of London ( from about 1860 onwards ) , the degrees of Doctor of Science ( DSc ) and Doctor of Literature ( DLit ) were introduced , which could be awarded upon presentation of a thesis containing original work . This involved no research training however , and did not have the desired effect of attracting foreign research students . Finally in 1917 the current degree of Ph.D . was introduced , along the lines of the American and German model , and quickly became popular with both British and foreign students . The slightly older degrees of Doctor of Science and Doctor of Literature/Letters still exist in British universities ; together with the much older degrees of Doctor of Divinity ( DD ) , Doctor of Music ( DMus ) , Civil Law ( DCL ) and Doctor of Medicine ( MD ) they form the higher doctorates , but apart from honorary degrees they are only infrequently awarded . It should be noted that in the English ( but not the Scottish ) universities the Faculty of Arts had become dominant by the early 19th century . Indeed , the higher faculties had largely atrophied , since medical training had shifted to teaching hospitals , the legal training for the common law system was provided by the Inns of Court ( with some minor exceptions , see Doctors ' Commons ) , and few students undertook formal study in theology . This is contrast with the situation in the continental European universities at the time , where the preparatory role of the Faculty of Philosophy or Arts was to a great extent taken over by secondary education , as is testified by the ongoing use to this day of the degree of Baccalaureat in France as the qualification obtained after secondary studies . The reforms at the Humboldt University transformed the Faculty of Philosophy or Arts ( and its more recent successors such as the Faculty of Sciences ) from a lower faculty into one on par with the Faculties of Law and Medicine . A similar evolution happened in many other continental European universities , and at least until reforms in the early 21st century many European countries ( e.g. Belgium , Spain and the Scandinavian countries ) had in all faculties triple degree structures of bachelor ( or candidate ) - licentiate - doctor as opposed to bachelor - master - doctor ; the meaning of the different degrees varied a lot from country to country however . To this day this is also still the case for the pontifical degrees in theology and canon law : for instance , in Sacred theology the degrees are Bachelor of Sacred Theology ( STB ) , Licentiate of Sacred Theology ( STL ) , and Doctor of Sacred Theology ( STD ) , and in Canon law : Bachelor of Canon Law ( JCB ) , Licentiate of Canon Law ( JCL ) , and Doctor of Canon Law ( JCD ) . # Requirements # The detailed requirements for award of a Ph.D . degree vary throughout the world and even from school to school . It is usually required for the student to hold an Honours degree or a Master 's Degree with high academic standing , in order to be considered for a PhD programme . In the US , Canada , India and Denmark , for example , many universities require coursework in addition to research for Ph.D . degrees . In other countries ( such as the UK ) there is generally no such condition , though this varies by university and field . Some individual universities or departments specify additional requirements for students not already in possession of a bachelor 's degree or equivalent or higher . A candidate must submit a project or thesis or dissertation often consisting of a body of original academic research , which is in principle worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed context . In many countries a candidate must defend this work before a panel of expert examiners appointed by the university ; in other countries , the dissertation is examined by a panel of expert examiners who stipulate whether the dissertation is in principle passable and the issues that need to be addressed before the dissertation can be passed . Some universities in the non-English-speaking world have begun adopting similar standards to those of the Anglophone PhD degree for their research doctorates ( see the Bologna process ) . A Ph.D . student or candidate is conventionally required to study on campus under close supervision . With the popularity of distance education and e-learning technologies , some universities now accept students enrolled into a distance education part-time mode . In a sandwich Ph.D . program , Ph.D . candidates do not spend their entire study period at the same university . Instead , the Ph.D . candidates spend the first and last periods of the program at their home universities , and in between conduct research at another institution or field research . Occasionally a sandwich Ph.D . will be awarded by two universities . # Value and criticism # PhD students are often motivated to pursue the PhD by scientific and humanistic curiosity ; the desire to contribute to the academic community , service to others , or personal development . A career in academia generally requires a PhD , though in some countries , it is possible to reach relatively high positions without a doctorate . In North America , professors are increasingly being required to have a PhD , because the percentage of faculty with a PhD is used as a university ratings measure . The motivation may also include increased salary , but in many cases this is not the result . Research by Casey suggests that , over all subjects , PhDs provide an earnings premium of 26% , but notes that masters degrees provide a premium of 23% already . While this is a small return to the individual ( or even an overall deficit when tuition and lost earnings during training are accounted for ) , he claims there are significant benefits to society for the extra research training . However , some research suggests that overqualified workers are often less satisfied and less productive at their jobs . These difficulties are increasingly being felt by graduates of professional degrees , such as law school , looking to find employment . PhD students often have to take on debt to undertake their degree . A PhD is also required in some positions outside of academia , such as research jobs in major international agencies . As well , in some cases , the Executive Directors of some types of foundations may be expected to hold a PhD . ' ' The Economist ' ' published an article citing various criticisms against the state of PhDs . Richard B. Freeman explains that , based on pre-2000 data , at most only 20% of life science PhD students end up getting jobs specifically in research . In Canada , where the overflow of PhD degree holders is not as severe , 80% of postdoctoral research fellows earn less than or equal to the average construction worker ( roughly $38,000 a year ) during their postdoctoral research tenure . Only in the fastest developing countries ( e.g. China or Brazil ) is there a shortage of PhDs . Higher education systems often offer little incentive to move students through PhD programs quickly ( and may even provide incentive to slow them down ) . To counter this , the United States introduced the Doctor of Arts degree in 1970 with seed money from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching . The aim of the Doctor of Arts degree was to shorten the time needed to complete the degree by focusing on pedagogy over research , although the Doctor of Arts still contains a significant research component . Germany is one of the few nations engaging these issues , and it has been doing so by reconceptualising PhD programs to be training for careers , outside of academia , but still at high-level positions . This development can be seen in the extensive number of PhD holders , typically from the fields of law , engineering and economics , at the very top corporate and administrative positions . To a lesser extent , the UK research councils have tackled the issue by introducing , since 1992 , the EngD . Mark C. Taylor opines that total reform of PhD programs in almost every field is necessary in the U.S. , and that pressure to make the necessary changes will need to come from many sources ( students , administrators , public and private sectors , etc . ) . These issues and others are discussed in an April 2011 issue of the journal ' ' Nature ' ' . Within the research occupations in which a PhD is widely viewed as being necessary , career progression is typically aided by publication in peer-reviewed journals ; yet many such journals print research papers without any reference to academic certificates in their author by-lines . The quality of a peer reviewed publication is expected to be self-evident , and letters after authors ' names are therefore superfluous . In contrast , applicants for research grants may be required to disclose which academic certificates they hold , leading to the risk that a PhD qualification representing as little as three years ' work will outweigh a rival applicant 's superior publication record and thus leave academic reviewers ( whose employers may have a financial stake in the PhD system ) open to accusations of self-interest . Given the need for self-evident quality in research publications , the role played by PhD degrees in research occupations differs markedly from the quality assurance role played by professional qualifications in other fields . # Degrees around the globe # UNESCO states that Programmes to be classified at ISCED level 8 are referred to in many ways around the world such as PhD , DPhil , D.Lit , D.Sc , LL.D , Doctorate or similar terms . However , it is important to note that programmes with a similar name to doctor should only be included in ISCED level 8 if they satisfy the criteria described in Paragraph 263 . For international comparability purposes , the term doctoral or equivalent is used to label ISCED level 8 . # Argentina # # #Admission# # In Argentina , the admission to a PhD program at public Argentinian University requires the full completion of a Master 's degree or a Licentiate 's degree . Non-Argentinian Master 's titles are generally accepted into a PhD program when the degree comes from a recognized university . # #Fundings# # While a significant portion of postgraduate students finance their tuition and living costs with teaching or research work at private and state-run institutions , international institutions , such as the Fulbright Program and the Organization of American States ( OAS ) , have been known to grant full scholarships for tuition with apportions for housing . # #Requirements for completion# # Upon completion of at least two years ' research and course work as a graduate student , a candidate must demonstrate truthful and original contributions to his or her specific field of knowledge within a frame of academic excellence . The doctoral candidate 's work should be presented in a dissertation or thesis prepared under the supervision of a tutor or director , and reviewed by a Doctoral Committee . This Committee should be composed of examiners that are external to the program , and at least one of them should also be external to the institution . The academic degree of Doctor , respective to the correspondent field of science that the candidate has contributed with original and rigorous research , is received after a successful defense of the candidate 's dissertation. # Australia # # #Admission# # Admission to a PhD program in Australia requires applicants to demonstrate capacity to undertake research in the proposed field of study . The standard requirement is a Bachelor 's degree with either first-class or upper second-class honours . Research Master 's degrees and coursework Master 's degrees with a 25% research component are usually considered equivalent . It is also possible for research Master 's degree students to ' upgrade ' to PhD candidature after demonstrating sufficient progress . # #Scholarships# # PhD students are sometimes offered a scholarship to study for their PhD degree . The most common of these are the government-funded Australian Postgraduate Award ( APA ) , which provides a living stipend to students of approximately A$22,500 a year ( tax free ) . APAs are paid for a duration of 3 years , while a 6 month extension is usually possible upon citing delays out of the control of the student . Some universities also fund a similar scholarship that matches the APA amount . Due to a continual increase in living costs , many PhD students are forced to live under the poverty line . In addition to the more common APA and university scholarships , Australian students have other sources of scholarship funding . # #Fees# # Australian citizens , permanent residents and New Zealand citizens are not charged course fees for their PhD or research Master 's degree , with exception to the student services and amenities fee ( SSAF ) which is set by each university and typically involves the largest amount allowed by the Australian government . All fees are paid for by the Australian government , except for the SSAF , under the Research Training Scheme . International students and coursework Master 's degree students must pay course fees , unless they receive a scholarship to cover them . # #Requirements for completion# # Completion requirements vary . Most Australian PhD programs do not have a required coursework component . The credit points attached to the degree are all in the product of the research , which is usually an 80,000 word thesis that makes a significant new contribution to the field . The PhD thesis is sent to external examiners who are experts in the field of research and who have not been involved in the work . Examiners are nominated by the candidate 's university and their identities are often not revealed to the candidate until the examination is complete . A formal oral defence is generally not part of the examination of the thesis , largely because of the distances that would need to be traveled by the overseas examiners. # Canada # # #Admission# # Admission to a PhD program at a Canadian university usually requires completion of a Master 's degree in a related field , with sufficiently high grades and proven research ability . In some cases , a student may progress directly from an Honours Bachelor 's degree to a PhD program ; other programs allow a student to fast-track to a doctoral program after one year of outstanding work in a Master 's program ( without having to complete the Master 's ) . An application package typically includes a research proposal , letters of reference , transcripts , and in some cases , a writing sample or Graduate Record Examination scores . A common criterion for prospective PhD students is the comprehensive or qualifying examination , a process that often commences in the second year of a graduate program . Generally , successful completion of the qualifying exam permits continuance in the graduate program . Formats for this examination include oral examination by the student 's faculty committee ( or a separate qualifying committee ) , or written tests designed to demonstrate the student 's knowledge in a specialized area ( see below ) or both . At English-speaking universities , a student may also be required to demonstrate English language abilities , usually by achieving an acceptable score on a standard examination ( e.g. , Test of English as a Foreign Language ( TOEFL ) . Depending on the field , the student may also be required to demonstrate ability in one or more additional languages . A prospective student applying to French-speaking universities may also have to demonstrate some English language ability . # #Funding# # While some students work outside the university ( or at student jobs within the university ) , in some programs students are advised ( or must agree ) not to devote more than ten hours per week to activities ( e.g. , employment ) outside of their studies , particularly if they have been given funding . For large and prestigious scholarships , such as those from NSERC , this is an absolute requirement . At some Canadian universities , most PhD students receive an award equivalent to part or all of the tuition amount for the first four years ( this is sometimes called a tuition deferral or tuition waiver ) . Other sources of funding include teaching assistantships and research assistantships ; experience as a teaching assistant is encouraged but not requisite in many programs . Some programs may require all PhD candidates to teach , which may be done under the supervision of their supervisor or regular faculty . Besides these sources of funding , there are also various competitive scholarships , bursaries , and awards available , such as those offered by the federal government via NSERC , CIHR , or SSHRC. # #Requirements for completion# # In general , the first two years of study are devoted to completion of coursework and the comprehensive examinations . At this stage , the student is known as a PhD student or doctoral student . It is usually expected that the student will have completed most of his or her required coursework by the end of this stage . Furthermore , it is usually required that by the end of eighteen to thirty-six months after the first registration , the student will have successfully completed the comprehensive exams . Upon successful completion of the comprehensive exams , the student becomes known as a PhD candidate . From this stage on , the bulk of the student 's time will be devoted to his or her own research , culminating in the completion of a PhD thesis or dissertation . The final requirement is an oral defense of the thesis , which is open to the public in some , but not all , universities . At most Canadian universities , the time needed to complete a PhD degree typically ranges from four to six years . It is , however , not uncommon for students to be unable to complete all the requirements within six years , particularly given that funding packages often support students for only two to four years ; many departments will allow program extensions at the discretion of the thesis supervisor and/or department chair . Alternate arrangements exist whereby a student is allowed to let their registration in the program lapse at the end of six years and re-register once the thesis is completed in draft form . The general rule is that graduate students are obligated to pay tuition until the initial thesis submission has been received by the thesis office . In other words , if a PhD student defers or delays the initial submission of their thesis they remain obligated to pay fees until such time that the thesis has been received in good standing . # France # # #Admission# # Students pursuing the PhD degree must first complete a Master 's degree program , which takes two years after graduation with a Bachelor 's degree ( five years in total ) . The candidate must find funding and a formal doctoral advisor ( Directeur de thse ) with an habilitation throughout the doctoral program . The Masters program is divided into two branches : master professionnel , which orientates the students towards the working world , and Master of Research ( Master-recherche ) , which is oriented towards research . The PhD admission is granted by a graduate school ( in French , cole doctorale ) . A PhD Student has to follow some courses offered by the graduate school while continuing his/her research at laboratory . His/her research may be carried out in a laboratory , at a university , or in a company . In the last case , the company hires the student as an engineer and the student is supervised by both the company 's tutor and a labs ' professor . The validation of the PhD degree requires generally 3 to 4 years after the Master degree . # #Funding# # The financing of PhD studies comes mainly from funds for research of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research . The most common procedure is a short-term employment contract called doctoral contract : the institution of higher education is the employer and the PhD candidate the employee . However , the student can apply for funds from a company who can host him/her at its premises ( as in the case where PhD students do their research in a company ) . Many other resources come from some regional/city projects , some associations , etc. # India # # #Admission# # In India , generally a Masters degree is required to gain admission to a doctoral program . Direct admission to a Ph.D programme after bachelors is also offered by the IIT <nowiki/> s , the NIT <nowiki/> s and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research . In some subjects , doing a Masters in Philosophy ( M.Phil. ) is a prerequisite to starting a Ph.D . For funding/fellowship , it is required to qualify for the National Eligibility Test for Lectureship and Junior Research fellowship ( NET for LS and JRF ) conducted by the federal research organisation Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR ) and University Grants Commission ( UGC ) . In the last few years , there have been many changes in the rules relating to a Ph.D in India . According to the new rules described by UGC , universities must have to conduct entrance exams in general ability and the selected subject . After clearing these tests , the shortlisted candidates need to appear for an interview by the available supervisor/guide . After successful completion of the course work , the students are required to give presentations of the research proposal ( plan of work or synopsis ) at the beginning , submit progress reports , give a pre-submission presentation and finally defend the thesis in an open defence viva-voce. # Germany # # #Admission# # In Germany , admission to a doctoral program is generally on the basis of having an advanced degree ( i.e. , a master 's degree , ' ' diplom ' ' , ' ' magister ' ' , or ' ' staatsexamen ' ' ) , more often than not in a related field , and above-average grades . A candidate must also find a tenured professor or ' ' Privatdozent ' ' to serve as the formal advisor and supervisor ( ' ' Betreuer ' ' ) of the dissertation throughout the doctoral program . This supervisor is informally referred to as ' ' Doktorvater ' ' or ' ' Doktormutter ' ' , which literally translate as doctor 's father or doctor 's mother , respectively . # #Structure# # Doctoral candidates ( ' ' Doktorand/-in ' ' ) , or doctoral students , are generally not required to attend formal classes or lectures ; instead , under the tutelage of a single professor or advisory committee , they are expected to conduct independent research . In addition to doctoral studies , many doctoral candidates work as teaching assistants ( TAs ) or research assistants ( RAs ) . Many universities have established research-intensive ' ' Graduiertenkollegs ' ' ( graduate colleges ) , which are graduate schools that provide funding for doctoral studies . # #Duration# # The usual duration of a doctoral program largely depends on the subject and area of research ; but , often three to five years of full-time research work are required . As of 2012 , the average age of new Ph.D . graduates is 32.7 years of age . # Other nations # In German-speaking nations ; most Eastern European nations ; successor states of the former Soviet Union ; most parts of Africa , Asia , and many Spanish-speaking countries , the corresponding degree to a Doctor of Philosophy is simply called Doctor ( ' ' Doktor ' ' ) , and the subject area is distinguished by with a Latin suffix ( e.g. , Dr. med. for ' ' ' ' , Doctor of Medicine ; Dr. rer. nat . for ' ' ' ' , Doctor of the Natural Sciences ; Dr. phil . for ' ' ' ' , Doctor of Philosophy ; Dr. iur. for ' ' ' ' , Doctor of Laws ) . # USSR , Russian Federation and former Soviet Republics # The degree of Candidate of Sciences ( - Kandidat Nauk ) was the first advanced research qualification in the former USSR and some Eastern Bloc countries ( Czechoslovakia , Hungary ) and is still awarded in some post-Soviet states ( Russian Federation , Ukraine , Belarus and others ) . According to , in countries with a two-tier system of doctoral degrees ( like Russian Federation , some post-Soviet states , Germany , Poland , Austria and Switzerland ) , should be considered for recognition at the level of the first doctoral degree , and in countries with only one doctoral degree , the degree of Kandidat Nauk should be considered for recognition as equivalent to this PhD degree . As most education systems only have one advanced research qualification granting doctoral degrees or equivalent qualifications ( ISCED 2011 , par.270 ) , the degree of Candidate of Sciences ( Kandidat Nauk ) of the former USSR counties is usually considered at the same level as the doctorate or PhD degrees of those countries . According to the Joint Statement by the Permanent Conference of the Ministers for Education and Cultural Affairs of the Lnder of the Federal Republic of Germany ( Kultusministerkonferenz , KMK ) , German Rectors ' Conference ( HRK ) and the Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation , the degree of Kandidat Nauk is recognised in Germany at the level of the German degree of Doktor and the degree of Doktor Nauk at the level of German Habilitation . The Russian degree of Kandidat Nauk is also officially recognised by the Government of the French Republic as equivalent to French doctorate . In the Ukraine , the Supreme Certifying Commission ( official English self-denomination , also known as Higher Attestation Commission or VAK , ) , before it was merged into the Ministry of Education and Science , Youth and Sport of the Ukraine , would issue official international diploma supplements to holders of Ukrainian degrees of Kandydat Nauk ( Candidate of Sciences , ) stating that the degree was comparable to the academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy , Ph.D . . In several former Eastern Bloc countries ( Czech Republic , Slovakia , Hungary ) , in which the Candidate of Sciences degrees used to be modeled after the Soviet ones , those degrees have been replaced with Ph.D . or equivalent doctoral degrees , with the recognition of the essential equivalency between the old and the new degrees . According to the , for purposes of international educational statistics , Kandidat Nauk ( Candidate of Sciences ) belongs to ISCED level 8 , or doctoral or equivalent , together with PhD , DPhil , D.Lit , D.Sc , LL.D , Doctorate or similar . It is mentioned in the Russian version of ISCED 2011 ( par.262 ) on the UNESCO website as an equivalent to PhD belonging to this level . In the same way as PhD degrees awarded in many English-speaking countries , Kandidat Nauk ( Candidate of Sciences ) allows its holders to reach the level of the Docent . The second doctorate ( or post-doctoral degree ) in some post-Soviet states called Doctor of Sciences ( - Doktor Nauk ) is given as an example of second advanced research qualifications or higher doctorates in ISCED 2011 ( par.270 ) and is similar to Habilitation in Germany , Poland and several other countries . It constitutes a higher qualification compared to PhD as against the or . About 88% of Russian students studying at state universities study at the expense of budget funds . The average stipend in Russia ( as of August 2011 ) is $430 a year ( $35/month ) . The average tuition fee in graduate school is $2,000 per year . # Italy # The ' ' Dottorato di ricerca ' ' ( research doctorate ) , abbreviated to Dott . Ric. or Ph.D . , is an academic title awarded at the end of a course of not less than three years , admission to which is based on entrance examinations and academic rankings in the Bachelor of Arts ( Laurea Triennale ) and Master of Arts ( Laurea Magistrale or Laurea Specialistica ) . While the standard Ph.D . follows the Bologna process , the MD/PhD programme may be completed in two years . The first institution in Italy to create a doctoral program ( Ph.D. ) was Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 1927 under the historic name ' ' Diploma di Perfezionamento ' ' . Further , the research doctorates or PhD ( Italian : ' ' Dottorato di ricerca ' ' ) in Italy were introduced by law and Presidential Decree in 1980 , referring to the reform of academic teaching , training and experimentation in organisation and teaching methods . Hence , the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy ( Grandes coles ) ( Italian : ' ' Scuola Superiore Universitaria ' ' ) , also called ' ' Schools of Excellence ' ' ( Italian : ' ' Scuole di Eccellenza ' ' ) such as Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies still keep their reputed historical ' ' Diploma di Perfezionamento ' ' PhD title by law and MIUR Decree . Doctorate courses are open , without age or citizenship limits , to all those who already hold a laurea magistrale ( master degree ) or similar academic title awarded abroad which has been recognised as equivalent to an Italian degree by the Committee responsible for the entrance examinations . The number of places on offer each year and details of the entrance examinations are set out in the examination announcement . Nepal In People 's Republic of Nepal , generally a Masters degree is required to gain admission to a doctoral program . Direct admission to a Ph.D programme after bachelors is also offered by the NIT <nowiki/> s , the NIT <nowiki/> s and the ACSIR . In some subjects , doing a Masters in Philosophy ( M.Phil. ) is a prerequisite to starting a Ph.D . For funding/fellowship , it is required to qualify for the Nepal Eligibility Test for Lectureship and Junior Research fellowship ( NET for LS and JRF ) conducted by the federal research organisation Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( Nepal ) ( CSIR ) and University Grants Commission ( UGC ) . In the last few years , there have been many changes in the rules relating to a Ph.D in Nepal . According to the new rules , most universities conduct entrance exams in general ability and the selected subject . # Poland # A doctoral degree ( Pol . ' ' doktor ' ' ) , abbreviated to PhD ( Pol . ' ' dr ' ' ) is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities in most fields as well as by the Polish Academy of Sciences , regulated by the Polish parliament acts and the government orders , in particular by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland . Commonly , students with a master 's degree or equivalent are accepted to a doctoral entrance exam . The title of PhD is awarded to a scientist who 1 ) completed a minimum of 3 years of PhD studies ( Pol . ' ' studia doktoranckie ' ' ) , 2 ) finished his/her theoretical and/or laboratory 's scientific work , 3 ) passed all PhD examinations , 4 ) submitted his/her dissertation- a document presenting the author 's research and findings , 5 ) successfully defended his/her doctoral thesis . Typically , upon completion , the candidate undergoes an oral examination , always public , by his/her supervisory committee with expertise in the given discipline . # Scandinavia # The doctorate was introduced in Sweden in 1477 and in Denmark-Norway in 1479 and awarded in theology , law and medicine , while the magister 's degree was the highest degree at the Faculty of Philosophy , equivalent to the doctorate . Scandinavian countries were among the early adopters of a degree known as a doctorate of philosophy , based upon the German model . Denmark and Norway both introduced the Dr.Phil(os). degree in 1824 , replacing the Magister 's degree as the highest degree , while Uppsala University of Sweden renamed its Magister 's degree ' ' Filosofie Doktor ' ' ( Fil.Dr. ) in 1863 . These degrees , however , became comparable to the German Habilitation rather than the doctorate , as Scandinavian countries did not have a separate Habilitation . The degrees were uncommon and not a prerequisite for employment as a professor ; rather , they were seen as distinctions similar to the British ( higher ) doctorates ( D.Litt. , D.Sc . ) . Denmark introduced an American-style PhD in 1989 ; it formally replaced the Licentiate 's degree , and is considered a lower degree than the dr. phil . degree ; officially , the PhD is not considered a doctorate , but unofficially , it is referred to as the smaller doctorate , as opposed to the dr. phil. , the grand doctorate . Holders of a PhD degree are not entitled to style themselves as Dr. Currently Denmark and Norway are both awarding the traditional ( higher ) dr. phil(os). degree , and American-style PhDs . In Sweden , the doctorate of philosophy was introduced at Uppsala University 's Faculty of Philosophy in 1863 . In Sweden , the Latin term is officially translated into Swedish ' ' filosofie doktor ' ' , and is officially , as is established by law , abbreviated Fil.Dr. or FD regardless of language . The degree represents the traditional Faculty of Philosophy and encompasses subjects from biology , physics and chemistry , to languages , history and social sciences . Sweden currently has two research-level degrees , the Licentiate 's degree , which is comparable to the Danish degree formerly known as the Licentiate 's degree and now as the PhD , and the higher doctorate of philosophy , ' ' Filosofie Doktor ' ' . Some universities in Sweden also use the term ' ' teknologie doktor ' ' for doctorates awarded by institutes of technology ( for doctorates in engineering or natural science related subjects such as materials science , molecular biology , computer science etc. ) . # Spain # Doctoral degrees are regulated by Royal Decree ( R.D. 1393/2007 ) , ' ' Real Decreto ' ' ( in Spanish ) , and will be regulated by Royal Decree ( R.D. 99/2011 ) , starting with the 2014/2015 academic year . They are granted by a university on behalf of the King , and its diploma has the force of a public document . The Ministry of Science keeps a National Registry of Theses called TESEO . All doctoral programs are of a research nature . A minimum of three years of study are required , in one only stage : # A 3-year ( or longer ) period of research . Extensions may be requested for maximum 5 years . The student must write his thesis presenting a new discovery or original contribution to science . If approved by his thesis director , the study will be presented to a panel of 3 distinguished scholars . Any doctor attending the public presentations is allowed to challenge the candidate with questions on his research . If approved , he will receive the doctorate . Four marks can be granted ( Unsatisfactory , Pass , Satisfactory , and Excellent ) . Can be added the denomination Cum laude to the Excellent ones . Is only applicable to the candidates who get the highest score by unanimity of the members of the tribunal . A doctoral degree is required to apply to a long-term teaching position at a university . The social standing of doctors in Spain is evidenced by the fact that only Ph.D . holders , Grandees and Dukes can take seat and cover their heads in the presence of the King . All Doctor Degree holders are reciprocally recognized as equivalent in Germany and Spain ( Bonn Agreement of November 14 , 1994 ) . # United Kingdom # # #Admission# # Universities admit applicants to PhD programmes on a case-by-case basis ; depending on the university , admission is typically conditional on the prospective student having successfully completed an undergraduate degree with at least upper second-class honours , or a postgraduate master 's degree , but requirements can vary . In the case of the University of Oxford , for example , The one essential condition of being accepted .. is evidence of previous academic excellence , and of future potential . The University of Oxford also abbreviates their Doctor of Philosophy degree as DPhil but in other respects is equivalent to a PhD . Commonly , students are first accepted on to an MPhil programme and may transfer to PhD regulations upon satisfactory progress and is referred to as APG ( Advanced Postgraduate ) status . This is typically done after one or two years , and the research work done may count towards the PhD degree . If a student fails to make satisfactory progress , he or she may be offered the opportunity to write up and submit for an MPhil degree . In contrast , in other universities such as the University of Cambridge and University College London the MPhil is offered as a taught or stand-alone research degree . In addition , PhD students from countries outside the EU/EFTA area are required to comply with the Academic Technology Approval Scheme ( ATAS ) , which involves undergoing a security clearance process with the Foreign Office for certain courses in medicine , mathematics , engineering and material sciences . This requirement was introduced in 2007 due to concerns about terrorism and weapons proliferation . # #Funding# # In the United Kingdom , funding for PhD students is sometimes provided by government-funded Research Councils or the European Social Fund , usually in the form of a tax-free bursary which consists of tuition fees together with a stipend of around 13,000 per year for three years ( higher in London ) , whether or not the degree continues for longer . Scientific studentships are usually paid at a higher rate , for example , in London , Cancer Research UK , the ICR and the Wellcome Trust stipend rates start at around 19,000 and progress annually to around 23,000 a year ; an amount that is tax and national insurance free . Research Council funding is sometimes ' earmarked ' for a particular department or research group , who then allocate it to a chosen student , although in doing so they are generally expected to abide by the usual minimum entry requirements ( typically a first degree with upper second class honours , although successful completion of a postgraduate master 's degree is usually counted as raising the class of the first degree by one division for these purposes ) . However , the availability of funding in many disciplines ( especially humanities , social studies , and pure science subjects ) means that in practice only those with the best research proposals , references and backgrounds are likely to be awarded a studentship . The ESRC ( Economic and Social Science Research Council ) explicitly state that a 2.1 minimum ( or 2.2 plus additional masters degree ) is required no additional marks are given for students with a first class honours or a distinction at masters level . Since 2002 , there has been a move by research councils to fund interdisciplinary doctoral training centres which concentrate resources on fewer higher quality centres . Many students who are not in receipt of external funding may choose to undertake the degree part-time , thus reducing the tuition fees , as well as creating free time in which to earn money for subsistence . Students may also take part in tutoring , work as research assistants , or ( occasionally ) deliver lectures , at a rate of typically 2530 per hour , either to supplement existing low income or as a sole means of funding . # #Completion# # There is usually a preliminary assessment to remain in the programme and the thesis is submitted at the end of a 3- to 4-year programme . These periods are usually extended pro rata for part-time students . With special dispensation , the final date for the thesis can be extended for up to four additional years , for a total of seven , but this is rare . For full-time PhDs , a 4 year time limit has now been fixed and students must apply for an extension to submit a thesis past this point . Since the early 1990s , British funding councils have adopted a policy of penalising departments where large proportions of students fail to submit their theses in four years after achieving PhD-student status ( or pro rata equivalent ) by reducing the number of funded places in subsequent years . There has recently been an increase in the number of Integrated PhD programs available , such as at the University of Southampton . These courses include a Master of Research ( MRes ) in the first year , which consists of a taught component as well as laboratory rotation projects . The PhD must then be completed within the next 3 years . As this includes the MRes all deadlines and timeframes are brought forward to encourage completion of both MRes and PhD within 4 years from commencement . These programmes are designed to provide students with a greater range of skills than a standard PhD ; and for the university they are a means of gaining an extra years ' fees from public sources . # #Other doctorates# # In the United Kingdom PhD degrees are distinct from other doctorates , most notably the higher doctorates such as D.Litt . ( Doctor of Letters ) or D.Sc . ( Doctor of Science ) , which may be granted on the recommendation of a committee of examiners on the basis of a substantial portfolio of submitted ( and usually published ) research . However , some UK universities still maintain the option of submitting a thesis for the award of a higher doctorate . Recent years have seen the introduction of professional doctorates ( D.Prof or ProfD ) , which are the same level as PhDs but more specific in their field . These tend not to be solely academic , but combine academic research , a taught component and a professional qualification . These are most notably in the fields of engineering ( Eng.D. ) , education ( Ed.D. ) , educational psychology ( D.Ed.Psych ) , occupational psychology ( D.Occ Psych. ) clinical psychology ( D.Clin.Psych. ) , social work ( D.S.W ) , nursing ( D.N.P ) , public administration ( D.P.A. ) , business administration ( D.B.A. ) , and music ( D.M.A. ) . These typically have a more formal taught component consisting of smaller research projects , as well as a 40,00060,000 word thesis component , which collectively is equivalent to that of a PhD degree . # United States # # #Overview# # In the United States , the Ph.D . degree is the terminal degree Another two to eight years are usually required for the composition of a substantial and original contribution to human knowledge in the form of a written dissertation , which in the social sciences and humanities typically ranges from 50 to 450 pages . In many cases , depending on the discipline , a dissertation consists of a comprehensive literature review , an outline of methodology , and several chapters of scientific , social , historical , philosophical , or literary analysis . Typically , upon completion , the candidate undergoes an oral examination , sometimes public , by his or her supervisory committee with expertise in the given discipline . # #Admission# # There are 282 universities in the United States that award the PhD degree , and those universities vary widely in their criteria for admission , as well as the rigor of their academic programs . Typically , PhD programs require applicants to have a Bachelor 's degree in a relevant field ( and , in many cases in the humanities , a master 's degree ) , reasonably high grades , several letters of recommendation , relevant academic coursework , a cogent statement of interest in the field of study , and satisfactory performance on a graduate-level exam specified by the respective program ( e.g. , Graduate Record Exam The number of PhD diplomas awarded by US universities has risen nearly every year since 1957 , according to data compiled by the US National Science Foundation . In 1957 , US universities awarded 8,611 PhD diplomas ; 20,403 in 1967 ; 31,716 in 1977 ; 32,365 in 1987 ; 42,538 in 1997 ; and 48,133 in 2007 . Over this same period , the grading of students in US universities has trended upward as well . In a study of 135 universities and colleges , Rojstaczer and Healy found that grade point distributions have undergone gradual but significant changes since the 1960s so that ' on average , A is now by far the most common grade awarded on American four year campuses . ' The authors hypothesize that this phenomenon may be due to a general desire by schools and instructors to elicit positive evaluations by students ; the high grades ' bear little relation to performance . ' # #Master 's degree en route # # As applicants to many Ph.D . programs are not required to have master 's degrees , many programs award a Master of Arts ( postgraduate ) # #Time# # Depending on the specific field of study , completion of a PhD program usually takes four to eight years of study after the Bachelor 's Degree ; those students who begin a PhD program with a master 's degree may complete their PhD degree a year or two sooner . As PhD programs typically lack the formal structure of undergraduate education , there are significant individual differences in the time taken to complete the degree . Many U.S. universities have set a ten-year limit for students in PhD programs , or refuse to consider graduate credit older than ten years as counting towards a PhD degree . Similarly , students may be required to re-take the comprehensive exam if they do not defend their dissertations within five years after submitting it to their self-chosen dissertation advisors . # #Funding# # PhD students are usually discouraged from engaging in external employment during the course of their graduate training . As a result , PhD students at U.S. universities typically receive a tuition waiver and some form of annual stipend . # #PhD candidacy# # Candidate of Philosophy is a certification or a status , rather than a separate degree , that a postgraduate student achieves ' ' en route ' ' to a doctorate . It is abbreviated PhD ( cand ) , PhDc , or simply PhC . Postgraduate programs vary in their requirements for completion of a doctorate , but most follow a pattern : completion of class requirements , a lower level exam , an upper level exam , and a final exam . Candidacy is conferred or certified when the student has successfully satisfied specific requirements towards a doctorate , pending the completion of research projects and defense of a written dissertation . The completion of research , however , might or might not be necessary for candidacy . Rather , it depends on requirements that are specific to the program of study . The term ABD ( ' ' All But Dissertation ' ' or ' ' All But Defended ' ' ) usually means that a candidate has only to complete the writing and defense of the dissertation . Although it is a minor distinction in postgraduate study , candidacy occasionally provides some benefits . It might mean an increase in the student 's stipend and/or make the student eligible for employment opportunities . Neither of these , however , is guaranteed by candidacy . The primary benefit of PhD candidacy is that completion of the doctorate is nominally imminent so long as the student completes the final defense . This is , of course , not a given because a written dissertation and an oral defense of the student 's work are typically not treated lightly by the faculty . It is worth noting that the Candidate of Philosophy is not to be confused with Candidate of Sciences , an academic degree that has been used in certain countries in place of a PhD . Some programs also include a Master of Philosophy degree as part of the PhD program . The MPhil , in those universities that offer it , is usually awarded after the appropriate MA or MS ( as above ) is awarded , and the degree candidate has completed all further requirements for the PhD degree ( which may include additional language requirements , course credits , teaching experiences , and comprehensive exams ) aside from the writing and defense of the dissertation itself . # Models of supervision # At some universities , there may be training for those wishing to supervise PhD/DPhil studies . There is now a lot of literature published for academics who wish to do this , such as Delamont , Atkinson and Parry ( 1997 ) . Indeed , Dinham and Scott ( 2001 ) have argued that the worldwide growth in research students has been matched by increase in a number of what they term how-to texts for both students and supervisors , citing examples such as Pugh and Phillips ( 1987 ) . These authors report empirical data on the benefits that a PhD/DPhil candidate may gain if he or she publishes work , and note that PhD/DPhil students are more likely to do this with adequate encouragement from their supervisors . Wisker ( 2005 ) has noticed how research into this field has distinguished between two models of supervision : The technical-rationality model of supervision , emphasising technique ; The negotiated order model , being less mechanistic and emphasising fluid and dynamic change in the PhD/DPhil process . These two models were first distinguished by Acker , Hill and Black ( 1994 ; cited in Wisker , 2005 ) . Considerable literature exists on the expectations that supervisors may have of their students ( Phillips &amp; Pugh , 1987 ) and the expectations that students may have of their supervisors ( Phillips &amp; Pugh , 1987 ; Wilkinson , 2005 ) in the course of PhD supervision . Similar expectations are implied by the Quality Assurance Agency 's Code for Supervision ( Quality Assurance Agency , 1999 ; cited in Wilkinson , 2005 ) . # International PhD/DPhil equivalent degrees #  Afghanistan :  Algeria : Doctorat ,  Argentina : Doctorado ( Dr. )  Azerbaijan : Doktorantura ( Dr. )  Armenia : ,  Austria : Doktor ( Dr. , plural : DDr. )  Belarus : : by :  Belgium ( Dutch-speaking ) : Doctor  Belgium ( French-speaking ) : Doctorat  Brazil : Doutorado  Bulgaria :  China :  Chile : Doctorado  Colombia : Doctorado  Croatia : Doktor  Czech Republic : CSc. and DrSc. was used till 1998 , since 1998 PhD written as Ph.D . is used  Denmark : Licentiate , Magister , PhD ( the ' ' doctorates ' ' are higher degrees )  Dominican Republic : Doctorado  Ecuador : Doctorado  El Salvador : Doctorado  Egypt : Doctorat ,  Estonia : Doktor  Finland : Tohtori  France : Doctorat  Germany : Doktor  Greece :  Hong Kong : ( Doctor )  India : Doctorate  Indonesia : Doktor  Iran : ( Doctora )  Iraq : ( Duktorah )  Ireland : an Doctireacht  Israel : ( doctorat )  Italy : Dottorato di ricerca  Japan :  Korea :  Kuwait : ( Dektoraah )  Latin America : Doctorado/Doctorate  Latvia : Zintu doktors  Lebanon : ( doktorah )  Lithuania : Daktaras  Macau : ( Doutoramento )  Macedonia :  Malaysia : Doktor Falsafah  Mexico : Doctorado  Mongolia :  Morocco : Doctorat  Netherlands : Doctor  Nigeria : Doctor of Philosophy ( PhD )  Norway : Magister , Licentiate , doctorates ( traditionally considered higher degrees ) , PhD  Pakistan : Doctor  Paraguay : PhD or Doctorado ( Dr. )  Peru : Doctorado  Philippines : Doktor  Poland : Doktor  Portugal : Doutoramento  Romania : Doctorat  Russia : : ru :  Saudi Arabia  Singapore : Doctor  Serbia :  Slovakia : CSc. was used during communism and some years in 90s , now PhD written as Ph.D . is used ; DrSc. is a higher degree .  Slovenia : Doktor  Spain : Doctorado  Switzerland : Doctorat  Syria : ( doktorah )  Taiwan  Thailand :  Tunisia : ( doktorah )  Turkey : Doktora  United States : Doctor of Philosophy ( PhD )  Ukraine : : uk : ( CSc. )  Uzbekistan : Fan nomzodi ( CSc. )  Venezuela : Doctorado  Vietnam : Tin s # See also # Related terminology :  Doctor of Arts -- Preparation for academic position in the arts .  Doctor of Education -- Preparation for academic , administrative , clinical , or research positions in the field of education .  PhD in Management -- A program designed for students interested in becoming university professors in the field of business .  Doctorate -- A general term describing a set of degrees analogous to the PhD .  Magister ( degree ) -- A degree awarded in Argentina and Uruguay .  Terminal degree -- The highest degree awarded in a field , usually a PhD .  Graduate student -- A student pursuing education past the bachelor 's degree , such as a master 's degree or a PhD .  C.Phil. ( also ABD ) -- Term , usually used unofficially , for a graduate student who has completed all PhD coursework but has yet to defend his or her dissertation.  ( ' ' Kandidat nauk ' ' ) -- Degree awarded by the USSR and some post-Soviet states ( e.g. , Russia , Ukraine ) .  ( ' ' Doktor nauk ' ' ) -- Degree awarded by the USSR and some post-Soviet states ( e.g. , Russia , Ukraine ) .  Licentiate Degree awarded in various countries , including Portugal , Belgium , the UK , Argentina , Germany , Sweden , Finland , Australia , New Zealand , Mexico , and Poland .  Postdoctoral research  Sandwich PhD Programme  PhD confirmation PhD/DPhil in popular culture :  Piled Higher and Deeper Life ( or the lack thereof ) in Academia , a comic strip by Jorge Cham # Notes and references # # Bibliography #  Delamont , S. , Atkinson , P. &amp; Parry , O. ( 1997 ) . Supervising the Ph.D. : A guide to success . Buckingham : Open University Press . ISBN 0-335-19516-4  Dinham , S. &amp; Scott , C. ( 2001 ) . The experience of the results of disseminating the results of doctoral research . Journal of Further and Higher Education , 25 ( 1 ) 4555 . ISSN : 1469-9486  Drury , V. , Francis , K. , &amp; Chapman , Y. ( 2006 ) . Walking the void being a rural PhD student . Australian Journal of Rural Health , 14 , p233.  MacGillivray , Alex ; Potts , Gareth ; Raymond , Polly . ' ' Secrets of Their Success ' ' ( London : New Economics Foundation , 2002 ) .  Phillips , E. &amp; Pugh , D.S. ( 1987 ) . How to get a PhD : managing the peaks and troughs of research / Estelle M. Phillips and D.S. Pugh . Milton Keynes : Open University Press ISBN 0-335-15537-5  Simpson , Renate . ' ' How the PhD came to Britain : A century of struggle for postgraduate education ' ' , Society for Research into Higher Education , Guildford ( 1983 ) .  Wellington , J. Bathmaker , A.M. , Hunt , C. , McCullough , G. &amp; Sikes , P. ( 2005 ) . Succeeding with your doctorate . London : Sage . ISBN 1-4129-0116-2  Wilkinson , D. ( 2005 ) The essential guide to postgraduate study . London : SAGE ISBN 1-4129-0062-X ( hbk. )  Wisker , G. ( 2005 ) The Good Supervisor : Supervising Postgraduate and Undergraduate Research for Doctoral Theses and Dissertations . Palgrave Macmillan . ISBN 1-4039-0395-6. 
@@21350938 The Absolute is the concept of an unconditional reality which transcends limited , conditional , everyday existence . It is sometimes used as an alternate term for God or the Divine especially , but by no means exclusively , by those who feel that the term God lends itself too easily to anthropomorphic presumptions . The concept of The Absolute may or may not ( depending on one 's specific doctrine ) possess discrete will , intelligence , awareness , or a personal nature . It is sometimes conceived of as the source through which all being emanates . It contrasts with finite things , considered individually , and known collectively as the relative . This is reflected in its Latin origin ' ' absoltus ' ' which means loosened from or unattached. # Similarities and differences in various traditions # Examples of religions and philosophies which embrace the concept of the Absolute in one form or another include Hermeticism , Hinduism , Jainism , Taoism , Islam , some forms of Jewish philosophy , and existential or metaphysical forms of Christianity . Terms which serve to identify The Absolute among such beliefs include Wu Chi , Brahman , Adibuddha , Allah , Para Brahman , Tetragrammaton , the Karmic Loom , God , the Divine , and numerous other appellations . In East Asia , the concept of the Tao , and in South Asia , the concept of Nirvana is synonymous in description to the attributes of the Absolute as used in the West . The human vital essence - Soul ( spirit ) The general commonalities between the various versions of the Absolute are : infinity , indescribability , formlessness , transcendence and immanence . An additional commonality is that one must renounce and/or transcend physical existence and its distractions , in some cases even to the point of extinguishing identity and individual awareness , in order to understand or co-exist with the Absolute . Uniformly , human passions and vices are regarded as barriers to spiritual advancement , and such virtues as humility , charity and righteousness or pacifism are felt to help pave the way to enlightenment . # Thing in itself # Roughly , the Absolute may be distinguished from the following concepts , although there is debate of the synonymity between them :  ' ' Thing-in-itself ' ' , an actual object and its properties independent of any observer . The ' ' noumenon ' ' is a posited object or event that is known ( if at all ) without the use of the senses . However , rather than distinguishing from the ' ' relative ' ' , the ' ' thing in itself ' ' is used to distinguish an actual object from phenomenon ( the appearance of things-in-themselves to the senses ) . # The Absolute in philosophy # Heraclitus concerned himself with the knowable portion of the Absolute with his Logos . Plotinus , a Neo-Platonic philosopher , saw all forms of existence as emanating from ' The One ' . The One of Plotinus is a trans-sentient power or force . The concept of the Absolute was re-introduced into philosophy by Hegel , Schelling , and their followers ; it is associated with various forms of philosophical idealism . The Absolute , either under that name , or as the Ground of Being , or some similar concept , also figures in several of the attempted proofs of the existence of God , particularly the ontological argument and the cosmological argument . In scholastic philosophy the Absolute was regarded as Pure Act , unadulterated with remaining potential . The concept was adopted into neo-Hegelian British idealism ( though without Hegel 's complex logical and dialectical apparatus ) , where it received an almost mystical exposition at the hands of F.H . Bradley . Bradley ( followed by others including Timothy L.S. Sprigge ) conceived the Absolute as a single all-encompassing experience , rather along the lines of Shankara and Advaita Vedanta . Likewise , Josiah Royce in the United States conceived the Absolute as a unitary Knower Whose experience constitutes what we know as the external world . The mathematician Georg Cantor equated the mathematical concept of the Absolute Infinite with God . However , the concept need not be taken to imply a universal unitary consciousness . American philosopher Brand Blanshard , for example , conceived the Absolute as a single overarching intelligible system but declined to characterize it in terms of consciousness or experience . In eastern philosophy the Absolute is known as ' ' Parabrahman ' ' and to occult philosophy is known as the Void or Ever-Darkness . According to I. K. Taimni both the Vedas and the Upanishads contain indirect hints to an Ultimate Reality an unknowable principle . Taimni describes the Parabrahman as unknowable by the human mind and unthinkable but the highest object of realization and the most profound object of philosophical enquiry . Taimni wrote that : # Criticism # From a Buddhist perspective , there is no text in which the Buddha explicitly argues that the universe lacks an essence ; he instead critiques positions regarding an ultimate nature of reality such as those found in the Upanishads in the manner of later Prasangikas . The Buddha of the early texts does speak of experiencing luminous consciousness beyond the six sense media . Passages in which the Buddha criticizes those who talk about things not amenable to experience are quite common in the early texts . Nagarjuna , one of the most prominent philosophers of Mahayana Buddhism , was considered by early scholarship as propounding an absolutist doctrine with his development of the Buddhist concept of shunyata . This is criticized by many modern scholars as incorrect and not grounded on textual evidence . The consensus is that Nagarjuna defended the classical Buddhist emphasis on phenomena . For him shunyata is explicitly used as a middle way between eternalism and nihilism , and that is where its soteriological power lies . It does not refer specifically to an ultimate , universal , or absolute nature of reality . Holding up emptiness as an absolute or ultimate truth without reference to that which is empty is the last thing either the Buddha or Nagarjuna would advocate . Nagarjuna criticized those who conceptualized shunyata : The Victorious Ones have announced that emptiness is the relinquishing of all views . Those who are possessed of the view of emptiness are said to be incorrigible . By contrast , many schools of Mahayana Buddhism , particularly those in alignment with the Tathagatagarbha scriptures , affirmed some notions regarding a positive absolute , identifying it with the true or original substance or Self of the Buddha . # Quotations # Kant questioned whether the absolute can be thought . Nietzsche criticized Hegel 's claims about the non-relative Absolute . 
@@26282360 footnotes = The Philosophy Documentation Center is a non-profit publisher and resource center that provides access to scholarly materials in applied ethics , classics , philosophy , religious studies , and related disciplines . It publishes academic journals , conference proceedings , anthologies , and online research databases , often in cooperation with scholarly and professional associations . It also provides membership management and electronic publishing services , and hosts electronic journals , series , and other publications from several countries . # History # The Philosophy Documentation Center was established in 1966 at Bowling Green State University in Ohio to manage the publication of specialized reference works in philosophy . It was founded by two members of the university philosophy department , Ramona Cormier and Richard Lineback , who recognized a need to improve access to the growing body of philosophical literature in English and other languages . Its first publication was ' ' The Philosophers Index ' ' , which provided bibliographic listings , indexed by subject and author , of recently published journal articles in philosophy . In 1970 PDC assumed responsibility for the publication of the ' ' Directory of American Philosophers ' ' and the ' ' International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers ' ' . In 1974 , PDC began publishing a series of specialized research bibliographies that provided systematic overviews of the primary and secondary work of major philosophers . In 1975 the PDC published its first journal , ' ' Philosophy Research Archives ' ' , a bilingual microfilm journal , in cooperation with the American Philosophical Association and the Canadian Philosophical Association . From 1975-1981 this project was published entirely in microfiche format in an effort to overcome the space limitations of traditional journals . It was one of the first experiments with non-traditional formats in journal publishing . In 1977 , PDC published a collection of papers from the First National Workshop-Conference on Teaching Philosophy , its first publishing work in support of a new professional organization . That same year PDC began to provide publishing services for independent philosophy journals and its work on serial publications in print and electronic format has grown in increments . PDC currently produces dozens of print and electronic journals and series in philosophy and neighboring disciplines . It also provides online access to complete sets of discontinued journals . In 1995 the editor and original owner of ' ' The Philosophers Index ' ' retired from Bowling Green State University and ended his long association with PDC . Since 1995 he has continued to publish ' ' Philosopher 's Index ' ' separate from PDC with his own organization ( Philosopher 's Information Center ) . PDC continued to develop other publications and services , with a focus on the publishing and membership management needs of professional associations and scholarly societies . The scope of this work increased over time , with notable projects such as the ' ' Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy ' ' ( 1999-2001 ) and the production of the major publications of the American Philosophical Association ( 1999-2000 ) . Fields covered by PDC now include applied ethics , classics , philosophy , religious studies , and semiotics . It manages memberships for twenty organizations , and this work includes secure hosting , digital work flow management , authenticated access to electronic resources , and online conference registration . In 2001 PDC relocated its operations and most of its staff to Charlottesville , Virginia as a consequence of increasing technical demands of this expanding range of services . # Electronic resources # In 1979 , PDC launched dial-up access to ' ' The Philosopher 's Index ' ' database in cooperation with DIALOG ; ' ' Philosopher 's Index ' ' was made available on CD-ROM in 1990 . In 1992 , PDC published ' ' The Logic Works ' ' , an instructional software program for introductory logic courses , in cooperation with Rob Brady . A number of versions of this DOS-based program were published by PDC for 10 years . PDC also published ' ' EthicsWorks ' ' , a software package for introductory ethics courses , in cooperation with Robert Pielke . In 1996 , PDC partnered with InteLex Corporation to develop POIESIS : Philosophy Online Serials . This project made the content of dozens of print journals accessible online in conjunction with print subscriptions . It also allowed for the creation of complete back issue collections of several journals on CD-ROM , including ' ' Business Ethics Quarterly ' ' , ' ' Philosophy &amp; Theology ' ' , ' ' The Review of Metaphysics ' ' , and ' ' Teaching Philosophy ' ' . In 2009 , PDC launched its eCollection of journals and series from several countries , with onlince access for institutions , single individuals , and membership organizations . PDC partnered with PORTICO to ensure long term preservation of this collection and also participates in the CLOCKSS digital archive . In 2010 , PDC launched the International Directory of Philosophy , an online database consolidating the content of the ' ' Directory of American Philosophers ' ' and the ' ' International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers ' ' . This database contains information on university philosophy departments and programs , professional societies , research centers , journals , and publishers in approximately 130 countries . In 2011 , PDC launched the Philosophy Research Index , a new indexing database not associated with ' ' The Philosopher 's Index ' ' , the ' ' International Philosophical Bibliography ' ' , or other resource . The goal of the project was to build complete bibliographic coverage of philosophical literature in several languages and by July 2014 it contained over 1.3 million listings . At that time PDC partnered with the PhilPapers Foundation and Philosophy Research Index was incorporated into the PhilPapers database . PDC provides single document access options for non-subscribers for all journals and series on its site , including a free preview of the first page of each document . The implementation allows each publication to choose its own access terms . Pre-publication access to forthcoming articles is provided for select titles . PDC is a member of CrossRef and integrates digital object identifiers into all journals it publishes . PDC also participates in CrossRef 's Cited-By Linking and CrossMark version control services . # See also #  Academic journals published by PDC # References # 
@@26571896 Medieval philosophy is the philosophy in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages , the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century C.E. to the Renaissance in the 16th century . Medieval philosophy , understood as a project of independent philosophical inquiry , began in Baghdad , in the middle of the 8th century , and in France , in the itinerant court of Charlemagne , in the last quarter of the 8th century . It is defined partly by the process of rediscovering the ancient culture developed in Greece and Rome in the classical period , and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine with secular learning . The history of medieval philosophy is traditionally divided into two main periods : the period in the Latin West following the Early Middle Ages until the 12th century , when the works of Aristotle and Plato were preserved and cultivated and the ' golden age ' of the 12th , 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West , which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy , along with a reception of its Arabic commentators , and significant developments in the field of Philosophy of religion , Logic and Metaphysics . The medieval era was disparagingly treated by the Renaissance humanists , who saw it as a barbaric ' middle ' period between the classical age of Greek and Roman culture , and the ' rebirth ' or ' ' renaissance ' ' of classical culture . Modern historians consider the medieval era to be one of philosophical development , although one heavily influenced by Christian theology . One of the most notable thinkers of the era , Thomas Aquinas , never considered himself a philosopher , and criticized philosophers for always falling short of the true and proper wisdom to be found in Christian revelation . The problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason , the existence and simplicity of God , the purpose of theology and metaphysics , and the problems of knowledge , of universals , and of individuation. # Character of medieval philosophy # Medieval philosophy is characteristically ' ' theological ' ' : With the possible exceptions of Avicenna and Averroes , medieval thinkers did not consider themselves philosophers at all . Their concerns are theological : For them , the philosophers were the ancient pagan writers such as Plato and Aristotle . However , the theological works of medieval writers use the ideas and logical techniques of the ancient philosophers to address difficult theological questions , and points of doctrine . Thomas Aquinas , following Peter Damian , argued that philosophy is the handmaiden of theology ( ' ' ancilla theologiae ' ' ) . The three principles that underlie all their work are the use of logic , dialectic , and analysis to discover the truth , known as ' ' ratio ' ' , respect for the insights of ancient philosophers , in particular Aristotle , and deference to their authority ( ' ' auctoritas ' ' ) , and the obligation to co-ordinate the insights of philosophy with theological teaching and revelation ( ' ' concordia ' ' ) . One of the most heavily debated topics of the period was that of faith versus reason . Avicenna and Averroes both leaned more on the side of reason . Augustine stated that he would never allow his philosophical investigations to go beyond the authority of God . Anselm attempted to defend against what he saw as partly an assault on faith , with an approach allowing for both faith and reason . The Augustinian solution to the faith/reason problem is to ( 1 ) believe , and then ( 2 ) seek to understand . # History # # Early medieval Christian philosophy # The boundaries of the early medieval period are a matter of controversy . It is generally agreed that it begins with Augustine ( 354 430 ) who strictly belongs to the classical period , and ends with the lasting revival of learning in the late eleventh century , at the beginning of the high medieval period After the collapse of the Roman empire , Western Europe lapsed into the so-called Dark Ages . Monasteries were among the limited number of focal points of formal academic learning , which might be presumed to be a result of a rule of St Benedict 's in 525 , which required monks to read the Bible daily , and his suggestion that at the beginning of Lent , a book be given to each monk . In later periods , monks were used for training administrators and churchmen . Early Christian thought , in particular in the patristic period , tends to be intuitional and mystical , and is less reliant on reason and logical argument . It also places more emphasis on the sometimes-mystical doctrines of Plato , and less upon the systematic thinking of Aristotle . Much of the work of Aristotle was unknown in the West in this period . Scholars relied on translations by Boethius into Latin of Aristotle 's Categories , the logical work On Interpretation , and his Latin translation of Porphyry 's Isagoge , a commentary on Aristotle 's Categories . Two Roman philosophers had a great influence on the development of medieval philosophy : Augustine and Boethius . Augustine is regarded as the greatest of the Church Fathers . He is primarily a theologian and a devotional writer , but much of his writing is philosophical . His themes are truth , God , the human soul , the meaning of history , the state , sin , and salvation . For over a thousand years , there was hardly a Latin work of theology or philosophy that did not quote his writing , or invoke his authority . Some of his writing had an influence on the development of early modern philosophy , such as that of Descartes . Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius ( 480 c.525 ) was a Christian philosopher born in Rome to an ancient and influential family . He became consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths . His influence on the early medieval period was also marked ( so much so that it is sometimes called the ' ' Boethian period ' ' ) . He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin , and translated many of Aristotles logical works , such as On Interpretation , and the Categories . He wrote commentaries on these works , and on the Isagoge by Porphyry ( a commentary on the Categories ) . This introduced the problem of universals to the medieval world . The first significant renewal of learning in the West came when Charlemagne , advised by Peter of Pisa and Alcuin of York , attracted the scholars of England and Ireland , and by imperial decree in 787 AD established schools in every abbey in his empire . These schools , from which the name Scholasticism is derived , became centres of medieval learning . Johannes Scotus Eriugena ( c. 815 - 877 ) , successor of Alcuin of York as head of the Palace School , was an Irish theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher . He is notable for having translated and made commentaries upon the work of Pseudo-Dionysius , initially thought to be from the apostolic age . Around this period several doctrinal controversies emerged , such as the question of whether God had predestined some for salvation and some for damnation . Eriugena was called in to settle this dispute . At the same time , Paschasius Radbertus raised an important question about the real presence of Christ at the Eucharist . Is the host the same as Christ 's historical body ? How can it be present at many places and many times ? Radbertus argued that Christ 's real body is present , veiled by the appearance of bread and wine , and is present at all places and all times , by means of God 's incomprehensible power . This period also witnessed a revival of scholarship . At Fleury , Theodulphus , bishop of Orlans , established a school for young noblemen recommended there by Charlemagne . By the mid-ninth century , its library was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled in the West , and scholars such as Lupus of Ferrires ( d. 862 ) traveled there to consult its texts . Later , under St. Abbo of Fleury ( abbot 988-1004 ) , head of the reformed abbey school , Fleury enjoyed a second golden age . Remigius of Auxerre , at the beginning of the tenth century , produced glosses or commentaries on the classical texts of Donatus , Priscian , Boethius , and Martianus Capella . The Carolingian period was followed by a small dark age that was followed by a lasting revival of learning in the eleventh century , which owed much to the rediscovery of Greek thought from Arabic translations and Muslim contributions such as Avicenna 's ' ' On the soul ' ' . # High Middle Ages # The period from the middle of the eleventh century to the middle of the fourteenth century is known as the ' High medieval ' or ' scholastic ' period . It is generally agreed to begin with Saint Anselm of Canterbury ( 10331109 ) an Italian philosopher , theologian , and church official who is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God . The 13th and early 14th centuries are generally regarded as the high period of scholasticism . The early 13th century witnessed the culmination of the recovery of Greek philosophy . Schools of translation grew up in Italy and Sicily , and eventually in the rest of Europe . Scholars such as Adelard of Bath travelled to Sicily and the Arab world , translating works on astronomy and mathematics , including the first complete translation of Euclids Elements . Powerful Norman kings gathered men of knowledge from Italy and other areas into their courts as a sign of their prestige . William of Moerbeke 's translations and editions of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century helped in forming a clearer picture of Greek philosophy , and in particular of Aristotle , than was given by the Arabic versions they had previously relied on , which had distorted or obscured the relation between Platonic and Aristotelian systems of philosophy . His work formed the basis of the major commentaries that followed . The universities developed in the large cities of Europe during this period , and rival clerical orders within the Church began to battle for political and intellectual control over these centers of educational life . The two main orders founded in this period were the Franciscans and the Dominicans . The Franciscans were founded by Francis of Assisi in 1209 . Their leader in the middle of the century was Bonaventure , a traditionalist who defended the theology of Augustine and the philosophy of Plato , incorporating only a little of Aristotle in with the more neoplatonist elements . Following Anselm , Bonaventure supposed that reason can discover truth only when philosophy is illuminated by religious faith . Other important Franciscan writers were Duns Scotus , Peter Auriol , and William of Ockham . By contrast , the Dominican order , founded by St Dominic in 1215 placed more emphasis on the use of reason and made extensive use of the new Aristotelian sources derived from the East , and Moorish Spain . The great representatives of Dominican thinking in this period were Albertus Magnus and ( especially ) Thomas Aquinas , whose artful synthesis of Greek rationalism and Christian doctrine eventually came to define Catholic philosophy . Aquinas placed more emphasis on reason and argumentation , and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle 's metaphysical and epistemological writing . This was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism . Aquinas showed how it was possible to incorporate much of the philosophy of Aristotle without falling into the errors of the Commentator Averroes . The start of the 20th-century historian and philosopher Martin Grabmann was the first scholar to work out the outlines of the ongoing development of thought in scholasticism and to see in Thomas Aquinas a response and development of thought rather than a single , coherently emerged and organic whole . Although Grabmann 's works in German are numerous , only Thomas Aquinas ( 1928 ) is available in English . However , Grabmann 's thought was instrumental in the whole modern understanding of scholasticism and the pivotal role of Aquinas. # Authority ; reinterpretation and context changes to circumvent it # Medieval philosophers wanted authority to be absolute , but faced a problem that the authorities might not be in agreement with more recently gained knowledge , or their own point of view . A formal characteristic found in medieval philosophical texts is the citation of authoritative texts , e.g. , the Bible or Aristotle . A way to forge agreements with and among authorities was a reinterpretation of them . This was a way to bring an author 's view into conversation , and to be in agreement with contemporary discussions . For example , Maimonides argues that , just as a boy reared on an island without women would have difficulty imagining how children might be conceived and born , Aristotle might have had an experience too limited to allow him to develop any other accounts of the origin of things . In addition to reinterpretation , medieval interpreters might also take a given citation out of context . For example , Aquinas cites Augustine out of context to claim that theology is a science analogous to the Aristotelian science of Posterior Analytics , by failing to note that Augustine uses the term science in a much older and less technical way . Alan of Lille supports the empiricist Pauline claim that the invisible things of God are known through the visible things that are made , but with a different context , whereby the kind of knowledge in question is the knowledge of faith , not of the world . Likewise , Aquinas cites and supports the categorization of sin in terms of Gregory the Great 's scheme of the seven deadly sins , but he subordinates Gregory 's classification to his own way of organizing notions of sin . This change of contexts to make a point is not necessarily done in bad faith ; their strategies for harmonizing authorities discordant with each other and with their own views may be part of a hermeneutic whose basic assumption is that these authorities are all seeking and attempting to express part of a single Truth , so it is not a distortion of an authoritative source to put its views in a new context when new concepts and knowledge demands this be done . Silano points out that many of the tensions and even outright contradictions between authoritative sources would have disappeared had the compilers , commentators , and masters determining a question placed those authoritative claims in their historical/cultural context rather than simply set them against each other , and that they might not have done so because this would deprive these sources of their normative status , making it contingent as a judicial decision , interpreted in terms of its historical/cultural context , is no longer binding . Silano wanted the task of the 12th and 13th centuries in the Latin West to be the establishment of absolute authorities , which would bound all discussion and dissention , rather than knocking them down through arguments of relativism. # Topics in medieval philosophy # All the main branches of philosophy today were a part of Medieval philosophy . Medieval philosophy also included most of the areas originally established by the pagan philosophers of antiquity , in particular Aristotle . However , the discipline now called Philosophy of religion was , it is presumed , a unique development of the Medieval era , and many of the problems that define the subject first took shape in the Middle Ages , in forms that are still recognisable today . # Theology # Medieval philosophy is characteristically theological . Subjects discussed in this period include :  The problem of the compatibility of the divine attributes : How are the attributes traditionally ascribed to the Supreme Being , such as unlimited power , knowledge of all things , infinite goodness , existence outside time , immateriality , and so on , logically consistent with one another ?  The problem of evil : The classical philosophers had speculated on the nature of evil , but the problem of how an all-powerful , all-knowing , kind God could create a system of things in which evil exists first arose in the medieval period .  The problem of free will : A similar problem was to explain how ' divine foreknowledge ' - God 's knowledge of what will happen in the future - is compatible with our belief in our own free will . # Metaphysics # After the ' rediscovery ' of Aristotle 's Metaphysics in the mid-twelfth century , many scholastics wrote commentaries on this work ( in particular Aquinas and Scotus ) . The problem of universals was one of the main problems engaged during that period . Other subjects included :  Hylomorphism - development of the Aristotelian doctrine that individual things are a compound of material and form ( the statue is a compound of granite , and the form sculpted into it )  Existence - being qua being  Causality - Discussion of causality consisted mostly of commentaries on Aristotle , mainly the Physics , On the Heavens , On Generation and Corruption . The approach to this subject area was uniquely medieval , the rational investigation of the universe being viewed as a way of approaching God . Duns Scotus ' proof of the existence of God is based on the notion of causality .  Individuation . The problem of individuation is to explain how we individuate or numerically distinguish the members of any kind for which it is given . The problem arose when it was required to explain how individual angels of the same species differ from one another . Angels are immaterial , and their numerical difference can not be explained by the different matter they are made of . The main contributors to this discussion were Aquinas and Scotus. # Natural philosophy # In natural philosophy and the philosophy of science , medieval philosophers were mainly influenced by Aristotle . However , from the fourteenth century onward , the increasing use of mathematical reasoning in natural philosophy prepared the way for the rise of science in the early modern period . The more mathematical reasoning techniques of William Heytesbury and William of Ockham are indicative of this trend . Other contributors to natural philosophy are Albert of Saxony , John Buridan , and Nicholas of Autrecourt . See also the article on the Continuity thesis , the hypothesis that there was no radical discontinuity between the intellectual development of the Middle Ages and the developments in the Renaissance and early modern period . # Logic # The great historian of logic I. M. Bochenski regarded the Middle Ages as one of the three great periods in the history of logic . From the time of Abelard until the middle of the fourteenth century , scholastic writers refined and developed Aristotelian logic to a remarkable degree . In the earlier period , writers such as Peter Abelard wrote commentaries on the works of the Old logic ( Aristotle 's Categories , On interpretation , and the Isagoge of Porphyry ) . Later , new departments of logical enquiry arose , and new logical and semantic notions were developed . For logical developments in the Middle Ages , see the articles on Insolubilia , Medieval theories of modality , Obligations , Properties of terms , Medieval theories of singular terms , Syllogism , and Sophismata . Other great contributors to medieval logic include Albert of Saxony , John Buridan , John Wyclif , Paul of Venice , Peter of Spain , Richard Kilvington , Walter Burley , William Heytesbury , and William of Ockham. # Philosophy of mind # Medieval philosophy of mind is based on Aristotle 's De Anima , another work discovered in the Latin West in the twelfth century . It was regarded as a branch of the philosophy of nature . Some of the topics discussed in this area include :  Divine illumination - The doctrine of Divine illumination was an alternative to naturalism . It holds that humans need a special assistance from God in their ordinary thinking . The doctrine is most closely associated with Augustine and his scholastic followers . It reappeared in a different form in the early modern era.  theories of demonstration  mental representation - The idea that mental states have ' intentionality ' ; i.e. , ' ' despite being a state of the mind , they are able to represent things outside the mind ' ' is intrinsic to the modern philosophy of mind . It has its origins in medieval philosophy . ( The word ' intentionality ' was revived by Franz Brentano , who was intending to reflect medieval usage ) . Ockham is well known for his theory that language signifies mental states primarily by convention , real things secondarily , whereas the corresponding mental states signify real things of themselves and necessarily . Writers in this area include Saint Augustine , Duns Scotus , Nicholas of Autrecourt , Thomas Aquinas , and William of Ockham. # Ethics # For details on some of the wider developments in medieval ethics , see the articles on Medieval theories of conscience , practical reason , Medieval theories of natural law . Writers in this area include Anselm , Augustine , Peter Abelard , Scotus , Peter of Spain , Aquinas , and Ockham . Writers on political theory include Dante , John Wyclif , and Ockham. # See also # Christian philosophy Jewish philosophy Early Muslim philosophy Scholastic philosophy Renaissance of the 12th century Supposition Theory Nominalism <timeline> ImageSize = width:590 height:120 PlotArea = width:570 height:25 left:5 bottom:60 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal DateFormat = yyyy Period = from : -250 till:2000 AlignBars = early ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:200 start : -200 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:50 start : -200 Colors = id:turkiz value:rgb(0,0.76,0.76) id:treaty value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.6) id:lightgrey value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.4) id:darkgrey value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0) id:Celadon value:rgb(0.67,1,0.68) id:TeaGreen *25;76275;TOOLONG Define $hx = 15 # shift text to right side of bar PlotData = bar:Leaders color:blue width:20 align:left fontsize:s from : -250 till:0 color:treaty shift : ( -10 , $hx ) text:Zugot from:0 till:220 color:turkiz shift : ( -15 , $hx ) text:Tannaim from:220 till:500 color:TeaGreen shift : ( -20 , $hx ) text:Amoraim from:500 till:625 color:darkgrey shift : ( -20 , $hx ) text:Savoraim from:625 till:1050 color:turkiz shift : ( -15 , $hx ) text:Geonim from:1050 till:1500 color:TeaGreen shift : ( -20 , $hx ) text:Rishonim from:1500 till:2000 color:treaty shift : ( -20 , $hx ) text:Acharonim LineData = # layer:fro wa # all lines in front of bars unless stated otherwise from:1138 till:1204 atpos:65 color:red width:2 Legend = columns:4 left:125 top:25 columnwidth:150 Colors = id:aaa value:red legend:Maimonides </timeline> # Notes # # References # The offers many suggestions on what to read , depending on the student 's familiarity with the subject :  Brentano , The Distinction between Mental and Physical Phenomena , translated by D.B. Terrell , in ' ' Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint ' ' , 1874.  Gallatin , H.K. ,  Gracia , J.G. and Noone , T.B. , ' ' A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages ' ' , London 2003  Hyman , J. and Walsh , J.J. , ' ' Philosophy in the Middle Ages ' ' , Indianapolis 1973  Kretzmann , N. and Stump , E. , ' ' The Cambridge Companion to Augustine ' ' , Cambridge 2000.  McGavin , J. , . Maurer , Armand A. 1982 . ' ' Medieval Philosophy ' ' . 2nd ed . Toronto : Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies . Russell , B. , ' ' History of Western Philosophy ' ' , Routledge 1996 ( originally published 1946 ) Schoedinger , Andrew B. , ed. 1996 . ' ' Readings in Medieval Philosophy ' ' . New York : Oxford University Press .  Jana K. Schulman ' ' The Rise of the Medieval World , 500-1300 ' ' , Greenwood Publishing Group , 2002 
@@27110661 campus = Urban The University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy ( ) , founded in the early 19th century within the Belgrade Higher School , is the oldest and most prominent institution of higher education in Serbia and among the oldest in the South-Eastern Europe . It employs 255 teaching staff and has approximately 6000 undergraduate and graduate students within ten departments : Department of Philosophy , Department of Classics , Department of History , Department of Art History , Department of Archeology , Department of Ethnology and Anthropology , Department of Sociology , Department of Psychology , Department of Andragogy and Department of Pedagogy. # Notable alumni # Mira Adanja-Polak , Freelance producer , journalist and presenter Mehdi Bardhi , Founder of the Institute of Albanology in Pritina Gani Bobi , Albanian philosopher and sociologist Milan Budimir , Serbian classical scholar Miodrag Bulatovi , Montenegrin Serb novelist and playwright Branko opi , Bosnian and Yugoslav writer Zija Dizdarevi , Bosnian prose writer Zoran ini , Prime Minister of Serbia ( 20012003 ) Rajko uri , Serbian Romani writer Jelena Geni , Serbian tennis coach Trivo Ini , Advisor to the Serbian President ( 20042012 ) arko Kora , Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of Serbia ( 2001-2004 ) Desanka Kovaevi-Koji , Serbian historian Sonja Licht , President of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence ( 2003present ) Sima Lozani , first Rector of the University of Belgrade Desanka Maksimovi , Serbian poet Miroslav Marcovich , philologist and university professor Simo Elakovi , Serbian philosopher and economist Mihailo Markovi , Serbian philosopher Dragoljub Miunovi , Serbian politician and philosopher Nikola Miloevi , Serbian writer and political philosopher Dragoslav Mitrinovi , Serbian mathematician Vasko Popa , Serbian poet of Romanian descent Neboja Radmanovi , President of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 20082009 ) erbo Rastoder , Montenegrin Bosniak philosopher and historian Vladislav F. Ribnikar , founder of ' ' Politika ' ' , the oldest Serbian newspaper Veljko Rus , Slovenian philosopher and politician Bogoljub ijakovi , Serbian Minister of Religion ( 20082012 ) Boris Tadi , President of Serbia ( 20042012 ) Ljubomir Tadi , one of the founders of the Democratic Party in Serbia 
@@39127306 Mechanism is the belief that natural wholes ( principally living things ) are like complicated machines or artifacts , composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other . Thus , the source of an apparent thing 's activities is not the whole itself , but its parts or an external influence on the parts . The doctrine of mechanism in philosophy comes in two different flavors . They are both doctrines of metaphysics , but they are different in scope and ambitions : the first is a global doctrine about nature ; the second is a local doctrine about humans and their minds , which is hotly contested . For clarity , we might distinguish these two doctrines as universal mechanism and anthropic mechanism . # Universal mechanism # The older doctrine , here called universal mechanism , is the ancient philosophies closely linked with materialism and reductionism , especially that of the atomists and to a large extent , stoic physics . They held that the universe is reducible to completely mechanical principlesthat is , the motion and collision of matter . Later mechanists believed the achievements of the scientific revolution had shown that all phenomenon could eventually be explained in terms of ' mechanical ' laws , natural laws governing the motion and collision of matter that imply a thorough going determinism : if ' ' all ' ' phenomena can be explained ' ' entirely ' ' through the motion of matter under physical laws , then even more surely than the gears of a clock determine that it must strike 2:00 an hour after striking 1:00 , ' ' all ' ' phenomena must be completely determined : whether past , present or future . The French mechanist and determinist Pierre Simon de Laplace formulated the sweeping implications of this thesis by saying : One of the first and most famous expositions of universal mechanism is found in the opening passages of ' ' Leviathan ' ' by Thomas Hobbes ( 1651 ) . What is less frequently appreciated is that Ren Descartes was a staunch mechanist , though today , in Philosophy of Mind , he is remembered for introducing the mindbody problem in terms of dualism and physicalism . Descartes was a substance dualist , and argued that reality was composed of two radically different types of substance : extended matter , on the one hand , and immaterial mind , on the other . Descartes argued that one can not explain the conscious mind in terms of the spacial dynamics of mechanistic bits of matter cannoning off each other . Nevertheless , his understanding of biology was thoroughly mechanistic in nature : : I should like you to consider that these functions ( including passion , memory , and imagination ) follow from the mere arrangement of the machines organs every bit as naturally as the movements of a clock or other automaton follow from the arrangement of its counter-weights and wheels . ( Descartes , Treatise on Man , p.108 ) His scientific work was based on the traditional mechanistic understanding that animals and humans are completely mechanistic automata . Descartes ' dualism was motivated by the seeming impossibility that mechanical dynamics could yield mental experiences . Isaac Newton ushered in a much weaker acceptation of mechanism that tolerated the antithetical , and as yet inexplicable , action at a distance of gravity . However , his work seemed to successfully predict the motion of both celestial and terrestrial bodies according to that principle , and the generation of philosophers who were inspired by Newton 's example carried the mechanist banner nonetheless . Chief among them were French philosophers such as Julien Offray de La Mettrie and Denis Diderot ( see also : French materialism ) . # Anthropic mechanism # The debate over anthropic mechanism seems here to stay , at least for the time being . The thesis in anthropic mechanism is not that everything can be completely explained in mechanical terms ( although some anthropic mechanists may ' ' also ' ' believe that ) , but rather that everything about human beings can be completely explained in mechanical terms , as surely as can everything about clockwork or gasoline engines . One of the chief obstacles that all mechanistic theories have faced is providing a mechanistic explanation of the human mind ; Descartes , for one , endorsed dualism in spite of endorsing a completely mechanistic conception of the material world because he argued that mechanism and the notion of a mind were logically incompatible . Hobbes , on the other hand , conceived of the mind and the will as purely mechanistic , completely explicable in terms of the effects of perception and the pursuit of desire , which in turn he held to be completely explicable in terms of the materialistic operations of the nervous system . Following Hobbes , other mechanists argued for a thoroughly mechanistic explanation of the mind , with one of the most influential and controversial expositions of the doctrine being offered by Julien Offray de La Mettrie in his ' ' Man a Machine ' ' ( 1748 ) . Today , as in the past , the main points of debate between anthropic mechanists and anti-mechanists are mainly occupied with two topics : the mind -- and consciousness , in particular -- and free will . Anti-mechanists argue that anthropic mechanism is incompatible with our commonsense intuitions : in philosophy of mind they argue that unconscious matter can not completely explain the phenomenon of consciousness , and in metaphysics they argue that anthropic mechanism implies determinism about human action , which ( they argue ) is incompatible with our understanding of ourselves as creatures with free will . Contemporary philosophers who have argued for this position include Norman Malcolm and David Chalmers . Anthropic mechanists typically respond in one of two ways . In the first , they agree with anti-mechanists that mechanism conflicts with some of our commonsense intuitions , but go on to argue that our commonsense intuitions are simply mistaken and need to be revised . Down this path lies eliminative materialism in philosophy of mind , and hard determinism on the question of free will . This option is popular with some scientists , but it is rejected by most philosophers , although not by its most well-known advocate , the eliminative materialist philosopher Paul Churchland . What is far from clear is how eliminative materialism is compatibile with the freedom of will apparently required for anyone ( including its adherents ) to make truth claims . The second option , common amongst philosophers who adopt anthropic mechanism , is to argue that the arguments given for incompatibility are specious : whatever it is we mean by consciousness and free will , they urge , it is fully compatible with a mechanistic understanding of the human mind and will . As a result they tend to argue for one or another non-eliminativist physicalist theories of mind , and for compatibilism on the question of free will . Contemporary philosophers who have argued for this sort of account include J. J. C. Smart and Daniel Dennett . # Gdelian arguments # Some scholars have debated over what , if anything , Gdel 's incompleteness theorems imply about anthropic mechanism . Much of the debate centers on whether the human mind is equivalent to a Turing machine , or by the Church-Turing thesis , any finite machine at all . If it is , and if the machine is consistent , then Gdel 's incompleteness theorems would apply to it . One of the earliest attempts to use incompleteness to reason about human intelligence was by Gdel himself in his 1951 Gibbs lecture entitled Some basic theorems on the foundations of mathematics and their philosophical implications . In this lecture , Gdel uses the incompleteness theorem to arrive at the following disjunction : ( a ) the human mind is not a consistent finite machine , or ( b ) there exist Diophantine equations for which it can not decide whether solutions exist . Gdel finds ( b ) implausible , and thus seems to have believed the human mind was not equivalent to a finite machine , i.e. , its power exceeded that of any finite machine . He recognized that this was only a conjecture , since one could never disprove ( b ) . Yet he considered the disjunctive conclusion to be a certain fact . In subsequent years , more direct anti-mechanist lines of reasoning were apparently floating around the intellectual atmosphere . In 1960 , Hilary Putnam published a paper entitled Minds and Machines , in which he points out the flaws of a typical anti-mechanist argument . Informally , this is the argument that the ( alleged ) difference between what can be mechanically proven and what can be seen to be true by humans shows that human intelligence is not mechanical in nature . Or , as Putnam puts it : # Let T be a Turing machine which represents me in the sense that T can prove just the mathematical statements I prove . Then using Gdel 's technique I can discover a proposition that T can not prove , and moreover I can prove this proposition . This refutes the assumption that T represents me , hence I am not a Turing machine . # Hilary Putnam objects that this argument ignores the issue of consistency . Gdel 's technique can only be applied to consistent systems . It is conceivable , argues Putnam , that the human mind is inconsistent . If one is to use Gdel 's technique to prove the proposition that T can not prove , one must first prove ( the mathematical statement representing ) the consistency of T , a daunting and perhaps impossible task . Later Putnam suggested that while Gdel 's theorems can not be applied to humans , since they make mistakes and are therefore inconsistent , it may be applied to the human faculty of science or mathematics in general . If we are to believe that it is consistent , then either we can not prove its consistency , or it can not be represented by a Turing machine . J. R. Lucas in Minds , Machines and Gdel ( 1963 ) , and later in his book ' ' The Freedom of the Will ' ' ( 1970 ) , lays out an anti-mechanist argument closely following the one described by Putnam , including reasons for why the human mind can be considered consistent . Lucas admits that , by Gdel 's second theorem , a human mind can not formally prove its own consistency , and even says ( perhaps facetiously ) that women and politicians are inconsistent . Nevertheless , he sets out arguments for why a male non-politician can be considered consistent . These arguments are philosophical in nature and are the subject of much debate ; Lucas provides references to responses on his own . Another work was done by Judson Webb in his 1968 paper Metamathematics and the Philosophy of Mind . Webb claims that previous attempts have glossed over whether one truly can see that the Gdelian statement ' ' p ' ' pertaining to oneself , is true . Using a different formulation of Gdel 's theorems , namely , that of Raymond Smullyan and Emil Post , Webb shows one can derive convincing arguments for oneself of both the truth and falsity of ' ' p ' ' . He furthermore argues that all arguments about the philosophical implications of Gdel 's theorems are really arguments about whether the Church-Turing thesis is true . Later , Roger Penrose entered the fray , providing somewhat novel anti-mechanist arguments in his books , ' ' The Emperor 's New Mind ' ' ( 1989 ) ENM and ' ' Shadows of the Mind ' ' ( 1994 ) SM . These books have proved highly controversial . Martin Davis responded to ENM in his paper , where he argues that Penrose ignores the issue of consistency . Solomon Feferman gives a critical examination of SM in his paper . One of the most lucid statements of a Gdel based anti-mechanism argument can be found in Douglas Hofstadter 's Pulitzer Prize winning book ' ' Gdel , Escher , Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid ' ' . This is particularly interesting , in that Hofstadter is widely viewed as one of the better known skeptics of such argument : # Looked at this way , Gdel 's proof suggests &amp;ndash ; though by no means does it prove ! &amp;ndash ; that there could be some high-level way of viewing the mind/brain , involving concepts which do not appear on lower levels , and that this level might have explanatory power that does not exist &amp;ndash ; not even in principle &amp;ndash ; on lower levels . It would mean that some facts could be explained on the high level quite easily , but not on lower levels at all . No matter how long and cumbersome a low-level statement were made , it would not explain the phenomena in question . It is analogous to the fact that , if you make derivation after derivation in Peano arithmetic , no matter how long and cumbersome you make them , you will never come up with one for G &amp;ndash ; despite the fact that on a higher level , you can see that the Gdel sentence is true . What might such high-level concepts be ? It has been proposed for eons , by various holistically or soulistically inclined scientists and humanists that consciousness is a phenomenon that escapes explanation in terms of brain components ; so here is a candidate at least . There is also the ever-puzzling notion of free will . So perhaps these qualities could be emergent in the sense of requiring explanations which can not be furnished by the physiology alone ( ' ' Gdel , Escher , Bach ' ' , p. 708 ) . # # See also # Automaton Causality Descartes Digital philosophy Neural Darwinism in relation to anthropic mechanism Philosophy of physics 
@@42796964 Naturalism is the idea or belief that only laws of nature ( physical law ) ( as opposed to supernatural or spiritual ) and forces operate in the world ; the idea or belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world . Adherents of naturalism ( i.e. , naturalists ) assert that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe , that the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws . Naturalism can intuitively be separated into a metaphysical and a methodological component . Metaphysical here refers to the philosophical study of the nature of reality . Some philosophers equate naturalism with materialism . For example , philosopher Paul Kurtz argues that nature is best accounted for by reference to material principles . These principles include mass , energy , and other physical and chemical properties accepted by the scientific community . Further , this sense of naturalism holds that spirits , deities , and ghosts are not real and that there is no purpose in nature . Such an absolute belief in naturalism is commonly referred to as ' ' metaphysical naturalism ' ' . In contrast , assuming naturalism in working methods , without necessarily considering naturalism as an absolute truth with philosophical entailments , is called ' ' methodological naturalism ' ' . The subject matter here is a philosophy of acquiring knowledge . With the exception of pantheistswho believe that Nature and God are one and the same thingtheists challenge the idea that nature contains all of reality . According to some theists , natural laws may be viewed as so-called secondary causes of god(s) . In the 20th century , Willard Van Orman Quine , George Santayana , and other philosophers argued that the success of naturalism in science meant that scientific methods should also be used in philosophy . Science and philosophy are said to form a continuum , according to this view . As a cosmological argument for naturalism , Carl Sagan stated : # Origins and history # The ideas and assumptions of philosophical naturalism were first seen in the works of the Ionian pre-Socratic philosophers . One such was Thales , considered to be the father of science , as he was the first to give explanations of natural events without the use of supernatural causes . These early philosophers subscribed to principles of empirical investigation that strikingly anticipate naturalism . The modern emphasis in methodological naturalism primarily originated in the ideas of medieval scholastic thinkers during the Renaissance of the 12th century : : By the late Middle Ages the search for natural causes had come to typify the work of Christian natural philosophers . Although characteristically leaving the door open for the possibility of direct divine intervention , they frequently expressed contempt for soft-minded contemporaries who invoked miracles rather than searching for natural explanations . The University of Paris cleric Jean Buridan ( a. 1295-ca. 1358 ) , described as perhaps the most brilliant arts master of the Middle Ages , contrasted the philosopher 's search for appropriate natural causes with the common folk 's habit of attributing unusual astronomical phenomena to the supernatural . In the fourteenth century the natural philosopher Nicole Oresme ( ca. 132082 ) , who went on to become a Roman Catholic bishop , admonished that , in discussing various marvels of nature , there is no reason to take recourse to the heavens , the last refuge of the weak , or demons , or to our glorious God as if He would produce these effects directly , more so than those effects whose causes we believe are well known to us . : Enthusiasm for the naturalistic study of nature picked up in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as more and more Christians turned their attention to discovering the so-called secondary causes that God employed in operating the world . The Italian Catholic Galileo Galilei ( 15641642 ) , one of the foremost promoters of the new philosophy , insisted that nature never violates the terms of the laws imposed upon her . During the Enlightenment , a number of philosophers including Francis Bacon and Voltaire outlined the philosophical justifications for removing appeal to supernatural forces from investigation of the natural world . Subsequent scientific revolutions would offer modes of explanation not inherently theistic for biology , geology , physics , and other natural sciences . Pierre Simon de Laplace , when asked about the lack of mention of God in his work on celestial mechanics , is said to have replied , I had no need of that hypothesis . According to Steven Schafersman , president of Texas Citizens for Science , an advocacy group opposing creationism in public schools , the progressive adoption of methodological naturalismand later of metaphysical naturalismfollowed the advances of science and the increase of its explanatory power . These advances also caused the diffusion of positions associated with metaphysical naturalism , such as existentialism . The current usage of the term naturalism derives from debates in America in the first half of the last century . The self-proclaimed ' naturalists ' from that period included John Dewey , Ernest Nagel , Sidney Hook and Roy Wood Sellars . For them nature is the only reality . There is no such thing as ' supernatural ' . The scientific method is to be used to investigate all reality , including the human spirit : So understood , ' naturalism ' is not a particularly informative term .. The great majority of contemporary philosophers would happily .. reject ' supernatural ' entities , and allow that science is a possible route ( if not necessarily the only one ) to important truths about the ' human spirit ' . # Etymology # The term methodological naturalism for this approach is much more recent . According to Ronald Numbers , it was coined in 1983 by Paul de Vries , a Wheaton College philosopher . De Vries distinguished between what he called methodological naturalism , a disciplinary method that says nothing about God 's existence , and metaphysical naturalism , which denies the existence of a transcendent God . The term methodological naturalism had been used in 1937 by Edgar S. Brightman in an article in ' ' The Philosophical Review ' ' as a contrast to naturalism in general , but there the idea was not really developed to its more recent distinctions . # Metaphysical naturalism # Metaphysical naturalism , also called ontological naturalism and philosophical naturalism , is a philosophical worldview and belief system that holds that there is nothing but natural elements , principles , and relations of the kind studied by the natural sciences , i.e. , those required to understand our physical environment by mathematical modeling . Methodological naturalism , on the other hand , refers exclusively to the methodology of science , for which metaphysical naturalism provides only one possible ontological foundation . Metaphysical naturalism holds that all properties related to consciousness and the mind are reducible to , or supervene upon , nature . Broadly , the corresponding theological perspective is religious naturalism or spiritual naturalism . More specifically , metaphysical naturalism rejects the supernatural concepts and explanations that are part of many religions . # Methodological naturalism # Methodological naturalism concerns itself not with claims about what exists but with methods of learning what nature is . It is strictly the idea that all scientific endeavorsall hypotheses and eventsare to be explained and tested by reference to natural causes and events . The genesis of nature ( for example , by an act of God ) is not addressed . This second sense of naturalism seeks only to provide a framework within which to conduct the scientific study of the laws of nature . Methodological naturalism is a way of acquiring knowledge . It is a distinct system of thought concerned with a cognitive approach to reality , and is thus a philosophy of knowledge . Studies by sociologist Elaine Ecklund suggest that religious scientists in practice apply methodological naturalism . They report that their religious beliefs affect the way they think about the implications - often moral - of their work , but not the way they practice science . In a series of articles and books from 1996 onward , Robert T. Pennock wrote using the term methodological naturalism to clarify that the scientific method confines itself to natural explanations without assuming the existence or non-existence of the supernatural , and is not based on dogmatic metaphysical naturalism ( as claimed by creationists and proponents of intelligent design , in particular Phillip E. Johnson ) . Pennock 's testimony as an expert witness at the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial was cited by the Judge in his ' ' Memorandum Opinion ' ' concluding that Methodological naturalism is a ' ground rule ' of science today : : Expert testimony reveals that since the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries , science has been limited to the search for natural causes to explain natural phenomena ... While supernatural explanations may be important and have merit , they are not part of science . Methodological naturalism is thus a self-imposed convention of science . It is a ground rule that requires scientists to seek explanations in the world around us based upon what we can observe , test , replicate , and verify . # Views # # Alvin Plantinga # Alvin Plantinga , Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at University of Notre Dame ' ' ( See also supernormal stimuli ) . ' ' Plantinga argues that together , naturalism and evolution provide an insurmountable ' ' defeater ' ' for the belief that our cognitive faculties are reliable , i.e. , a skeptical argument along the lines of Descartes ' Evil demon or Brain in a vat. # Robert T. Pennock # Robert T. Pennock contends that as supernatural agents and powers are above and beyond the natural world and its agents and powers and are not constrained by natural laws , only logical impossibilities constrain what a supernatural agent could not do . He states : If we could apply natural knowledge to understand supernatural powers , then , by definition , they would not be supernatural . As the supernatural is necessarily a mystery to us , it can provide no grounds on which to judge scientific models . Experimentation requires observation and control of the variables ... But by definition we have no control over supernatural entities or forces . Science does not deal with meanings ; the closed system of scientific reasoning can not be used to define itself . Allowing science to appeal to untestable supernatural powers would make the scientist 's task meaningless , undermine the discipline that allows science to make progress , and would be as profoundly unsatisfying as the ancient Greek playwright 's reliance upon the ' ' deus ex machina ' ' to extract his hero from a difficult predicament . Naturalism of this sort says nothing about the existence or nonexistence of the supernatural , which by this definition is beyond natural testing . As a practical consideration , the rejection of supernatural explanations would merely be pragmatic , thus it would nonetheless be possible , for an ontological supernaturalist to espouse and practice methodological naturalism . For example , scientists may believe in God while practicing methodological naturalism in their scientific work . This position does not preclude knowledge that is somehow connected to the supernatural . Generally however , anything that can be scientifically examined and explained would not be supernatural , simply by definition . # W. V. Quine # W. V. Quine describes naturalism as the position that there is no higher tribunal for truth than natural science itself . There is no better method than the scientific method for judging the claims of science , and there is neither any need nor any place for a first philosophy , such as ( abstract ) metaphysics or epistemology , that could stand behind and justify science or the scientific method . Therefore , philosophy should feel free to make use of the findings of scientists in its own pursuit , while also feeling free to offer criticism when those claims are ungrounded , confused , or inconsistent . In Quine 's view , philosophy is continuous with science and ' ' both ' ' are empirical . Naturalism is not a dogmatic belief that the modern view of science is entirely correct . Instead , it simply holds that science is the best way to explore the processes of the universe and that those processes are what modern science is striving to understand . However , this Quinean Replacement Naturalism finds relatively few supporters among philosophers . # Karl Popper # Karl Popper equated naturalism with inductive theory of science . He rejected it based on his general critique of induction ( see problem of induction ) , yet acknowledged its utility as means for inventing conjectures . Popper instead proposed that science should adopt a methodology based on falsifiability for demarcation , because no number of experiments can ever prove a theory , but a single experiment can contradict one . Popper holds that scientific theories are characterized by falsifiability. # See also #  Empiricism  Hylomorphism  Liberal naturalism  Materialism  Metaphysical naturalism  Naturalistic pantheism  Platonism  Physicalism  Religious naturalism  Sociological naturalism  Supernaturalism # Notes # # References #       # Further reading #  Mario De Caro and David Macarthur ( eds ) ' ' Naturalism in Question . ' ' Cambridge , Mass : Harvard University Press , 2004.  Mario De Caro and David Macarthur ( eds ) ' ' Naturalism and Normativity . ' ' New York : Columbia University Press , 2010.  Friedrich Albert Lange , ' ' The History of Materialism , ' ' London : Kegan Paul , Trench , Trubner &amp; Co Ltd , 1925 , ISBN 0-415-22525-6  David Macarthur , Quinean Naturalism in Question , Philo. vol 11 , no. 1 ( 2008 ) . 
@@43069524 Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx 's materialist approach to theory , or works written by Marxists . Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism , which drew out of various sources , and the official philosophy in the Soviet Union , which enforced a rigid reading of Marx called dialectical materialism , in particular during the 1930s . Marxist philosophy is not a strictly defined sub-field of philosophy , because the diverse influence of Marxist theory has extended into fields as varied as aesthetics , ethics , ontology , epistemology , theoretical psychology and philosophy of science , as well as its obvious influence on political philosophy and the philosophy of history . The key characteristics of Marxism in philosophy are its materialism and its commitment to political practice as the end goal of all thought . Marxist theorist Louis Althusser , for example , defined philosophy as class struggle in theory , thus radically separating himself from those who claimed philosophers could adopt a God 's eye view as a purely neutral judge . # Marxism and philosophy # The philosopher tienne Balibar wrote in 1993 that there is no Marxist philosophy and there never will be ; on the other hand , Marx is more important for philosophy than ever before . So even the existence of Marxist philosophy is debatable ( the answer may depend on what is meant by philosophy , a complicated question in itself ) . Balibar 's remark is intended to explain the significance of the final line of Karl Marx 's 11 ' ' Theses on Feuerbach ' ' ( 1845 ) , which can be read as an epitaph for philosophy : The philosophers have only interpreted the world , in various ways ; the point is to change it . If this claim ( which Marx originally intended as a criticism of German Idealism and the more moderate Young Hegelians ) is still more or less the case in the 21st century , as many Marxists would claim , then Marxist theory is in fact the practical continuation of the philosophical tradition , while much of philosophy is still politically irrelevant . Many critics , both philosophers outside Marxism and some Marxist philosophers , feel that this is too quick a dismissal of the post-Marxian philosophical tradition . Much sophisticated and important thought has taken place after the writing of Marx and Engels ; much or perhaps even all of it has been influenced , subtly or overtly , by Marxism . Simply dismissing all philosophy as sophistry might condemn Marxism to a simplistic empiricism or economism , crippling it in practice and making it comically simplistic at the level of theory . Nonetheless , the force of Marx 's opposition to Hegelian idealism and to any philosophy divorced from political practice remains powerful even to a contemporary reader . Marxist and Marx-influenced 20th century theory , such as ( to name a few random examples ) the critical theory of the Frankfurt School , the political writing of Antonio Gramsci , and the neo-Marxism of Fredric Jameson , must take Marx 's condemnation of philosophy into account , but many such thinkers also feel a strong need to remedy the perceived theoretical problems with orthodox Marxism . Such problems might include a too-simple economic determinism , an untenable theory of ideology as false consciousness , or a simplistic model of state power rather than hegemony . So Marxist philosophy must continue to take account of advances in the theory of politics developed after Marx , but it must also be wary of a descent into theoreticism or the temptations of idealism . tienne Balibar claimed that if one philosopher could be called a Marxist philosopher , that one would doubtlessly be Louis Althusser : # Althusser proposed a ' new definition ' of philosophy as class struggle in theory .. marxism had proper signification ( and original problematic ) ' ' only ' ' insofar as it was the theory of ' ' the ' ' tendency towards communism , and ' ' in view ' ' of its realization . The criteria of acceptation or rejectal of a ' marxist ' proposition was always the same , whether it was presented as ' epistemological ' or as ' philosophical ' : it was in the act of rendering intelligible a ' ' communist policy ' ' , or not . ( ' ' Ecrits pour Althusser ' ' , 1991 , p.98 ) . # However , Althusser never ceased to put in question the ' ' images of communism ' ' that Marxist theory and ideology carried on : but he did it in the name of communism itself . Althusser thus criticized the evolutionist image which made of communism an ultimate stage of history , as well as the apocalyptic images which made it a society of transparence , without contradiction nor ideology . Balibar observes that , in the end , Althusser enjoined the most sober definition of communism , exposed by Marx in ' ' The German Ideology ' ' : ' ' Communism is not a state of the future , but the real movement which destroys the existing state of being . . ' ' # The Philosophy of Marx # There are endless interpretations of the philosophy of Marx , from the interior of the Marxist movement as well as in its exterior . Although some have separated Marx 's works between a young Marx ( in particular the ' ' Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 ' ' ) and a mature Marx or also by separating it into purely philosophical works , economics works and political and historical interventions , tienne Balibar ( 1993 ) has pointed out that Marx 's works can be divided into economic works ( ' ' Das Kapital ' ' , 1867 ) , philosophical works and historical works ( ' ' The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte ' ' , the 1871 ' ' Civil War in France ' ' which concerned the Paris Commune and acclaimed it as the first dictatorship of the proletariat , etc . ) Marx 's philosophy is thus inextricably linked to his critique of political economy and to his historical interventions in the workers ' movement , such as the 1875 ' ' Critique of the Gotha Program ' ' or ' ' The Communist Manifesto ' ' , written with Engels ( who was observing the Chartist movement ) a year before the Revolutions of 1848 . Both after the defeat of the French socialist movement during Louis Napoleon Bonaparte 's 1851 coup and then after the crushing of the 1871 Paris Commune , Marx 's thought transformed itself . Marxism 's philosophical roots were thus commonly explained as derived from three sources : English political economy , French republicanism and radicalism , and German idealist philosophy . Although this three sources model is an oversimplification , it still has some measure of truth . On the other hand , Costanzo Preve ( 1990 ) has assigned four masters to Marx : Epicurus ( to whom he dedicated his thesis , ' ' Difference of natural philosophy between Democritus and Epicurus ' ' , 1841 ) for his materialism and theory of clinamen which opened up a realm of liberty ; Jean-Jacques Rousseau , from which come his idea of egalitarian democracy ; Adam Smith , from whom came the idea that the grounds of property is labour ; and finally Hegel . Vulgar Marxism ( or codified dialectical materialism ) was seen as little other than a variety of economic determinism , with the alleged determination of the ideology # Hegel # Marx develops a comprehensive , theoretical understanding of political reality early in his intellectual and activist career by means of a critical adoption and radicalization of the categories of 18th and 19th century German Idealist thought . Of particular importance is Hegel 's appropriation of Aristotle 's organicist and essentialist categories in the light of Kant 's transcendental turn . Marx builds on four contributions Hegel makes to our philosophical understanding . They are : ( 1 ) the replacement of mechanism and atomism with Aristotelean categories of organicism and essentialism , ( 2 ) the idea that world history progresses through stages , ( 3 ) the difference between natural and historical ( dialectical ) change , and ( 4 ) the idea that dialectical change proceeds through contradictions in the thing itself . ( 1 ) Aristotelian Organicism and Essentialism ( a ) Hegel adopts the position that chance is not the basis of phenomena and that events are governed by laws . Some have falsely attributed to Hegel the position that phenomena are governed by transcendent , supersensible ideas that ground them . On the contrary , Hegel argues for the organic unity between universal and particular . Particulars are not mere token types of universals ; rather , they relate to each other as a part relates to a whole . This latter has import for Marx 's own conception of law and necessity . ( b ) In rejecting the idea that laws merely describe or independently ground phenomena , Hegel revives the Aristotlean position that law or principle is something implicit in a thing , a potentiality which is not actual but which is in the process of becoming actual . This means that if we want to know the principle governing something , we have to observe its typical life-process and figure out its characteristic behavior . Observing an acorn on its own , we can never deduce that it is an oak tree . To figure out what the acorn is - and also what the oak tree is - we have to observe the line of development from one to the other . ( c ) The phenomena of history arise from a whole with an essence which undergoes transformation of form and which has an end or telos . For Hegel , the essence of humanity is freedom , and the telos of that essence is the actualization of that freedom . Like Aristotle , Hegel believes the essence of a thing is revealed in the entire , typical process of development of that thing . Looked at purely formally , human society has a natural line of development in accordance with its essence just like any other living thing . This process of development appears as a succession of stages of world history . ( 2 ) The Stages of World History Human history passes through several stages , in each of which is materialized a higher level of human consciousness of freedom . Each stage also has its own principle or law according to which it develops and lives in accordance with this freedom . Yet the law is not free-standing . It is delivered by means of the actions of men which spring from their needs , passions , and interests . Teleology , according to Hegel , is not opposed to the efficient causation provided by passion ; on the contrary , the latter is the vehicle realizing the former . Hegel consistently lays more stress on passion than on the more historically specifiable interests of men . Marx will reverse this priority . ( 3 ) The Difference Between Natural and Historical Change Hegel distinguishes as Aristotle did not between the application of organic , essentialist categories to the realm of human history and the realm of organic nature . According to Hegel , human history strives toward perfectibility , but nature does not . Marx deepens and expands this idea into the claim that humankind itself can adapt society to its own purposes rather than adapting themselves to it . Natural and historical change , according to Hegel , have two different kinds of essences . Organic natural entities develop through a straightforward process , relatively simple to comprehend at least in outline . Historical development , however , is a more complex process . Its specific difference is its dialectical character . The process of natural development occurs in a relatively straight line from the germ to the fully realized being and back to the germ again . Some accident from the outside might come along to interrupt this process of development , but if left to its own devices , it proceeds in a relatively straightforward manner . Society 's historical development is internally more complex . The transaction from potentiality to actuality is mediated by consciousness and will . The essence realized in the development of human society is freedom , but freedom is precisely that ability to negate the smooth line of development and go off in novel , hitherto unforeseen directions . As humankind 's essence reveals itself , that revelation is at the same time the subversion of itself . Spirit is constantly at war with itself . This appears as the contradictions constituting the essence of Spirit . ( 4 ) Contradiction In the development of a natural thing , there is by and large no contradiction between the process of development and the way that development must appear . So the transition from an acorn , to an oak , to an acorn again occurs in a relatively uninterrupted flow of the acorn back to itself again . When change in the essence takes place , as it does in the process of evolution , we can understand the change mostly in mechanical terms using principles of genetics and natural selection . The historical process , however , never attempts to preserve an essence in the first place . Rather , it develops an essence through successive forms . This means that at any moment on the path of historical change , there is a contradiction between what exists and what is in the process of coming-to-be . The realization of a natural thing like a tree is a process that by and large points back toward itself : every step of the process takes place in order to reproduce the genus . In the historical process , however , what exists , what is actual , is imperfect . It is inimical to the potential . What is trying to come into existence - freedom - inherently negates everything preceding it and everything existing , since no actual existing human institution can possibly embody pure human freedom . So the actual is both itself and its opposite ( as potential ) . And this potential ( freedom ) is never inert but constantly exerts an impulse toward change . # The rupture with German Idealism and the Young Hegelians # Marx did not study directly with Hegel , but after Hegel died Marx studied under one of Hegel 's pupils , Bruno Bauer , a leader of the circle of Young Hegelians to whom Marx attached himself . However , Marx and Engels came to disagree with Bruno Bauer and the rest of the Young Hegelians about socialism and also about the usage of Hegel 's dialectic . Having achieved his thesis on the ' ' Difference of natural philosophy between Democritus and Epicurus ' ' in 1841 , the young Marx progressively broke away with the Prussian university and its teachings impregnated by German Idealism ( Kant , Fichte , Schelling and Hegel ) . Along with Engels , who observed the Chartist movement in the United Kingdom , he cut away with the environment in which he grew up and encountered the proletariat in France and Germany . He then wrote a scathing criticism of the Young Hegelians in two books , The Holy Family ( 1845 ) , and ' ' The German Ideology ' ' ( 1845 ) , in which he criticized not only Bauer but also Max Stirner 's ' ' The Ego and Its Own ' ' ( 1844 ) , considered as one of the founding book of individualist anarchism . Max Stirner claimed that all ideals were inherently alienating , and that replacing God with Humanity , as did Ludwig Feuerbach in ' ' The Essence of Christianity ' ' ( 1841 ) , was not sufficient . According to Stirner , any ideals , God , Humanity , the Nation , or even the Revolution alienated the Ego . Marx also criticized Proudhon , who had become famous with his cry Property is theft ! , in ' ' The Poverty of Philosophy ' ' ( 1845 ) . Marx 's early writings are thus a response towards Hegel , German Idealism and a break with the rest of the Young Hegelians . Marx , stood Hegel on his head , in his own view of his role , by turning the idealistic dialectic into a materialistic one , in proposing that material circumstances shape ideas , instead of the other way around . In this , Marx was following the lead of Feuerbach . His theory of alienation , developed in the ' ' Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 ' ' ( published in 1932 ) , inspired itself from Feuerbach 's critique of the alienation of Man in God through the objectivation of all his inherent characteristics ( thus man projected on God all qualities which are in fact man 's own quality which defines the human nature ) . But Marx also criticized Feuerbach for being insufficiently materialistic , as Stirner himself had pointed out , and explained that the alienation described by the Young Hegelians was in fact the result of the structure of the economy itself . Furthermore , he criticized Feuerbach 's conception of human nature in his sixth thesis on Feuerbach as an abstract kind which incarnated itself in each singular individual : Feuerbach resolves the essence of religion into the essence of man ( ' ' menschliche Wesen ' ' , human nature ) . But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual . In reality , it is the ensemble of the social relations . Thereupon , instead of founding itself on the singular , concrete individual subject , as did classic philosophy , including contractualism ( Hobbes , John Locke and Rousseau ) but also political economy , Marx began with the totality of social relations : labour , language and all which constitute our human existence . He claimed that individualism was the result of commodity fetishism or alienation . Some critics have claimed that meant that Marx enforced a strict social determinism which destroyed the possibility of free will . # # Criticisms of the human rights # # In the same way , following Babeuf , considered as one of the founder of communism during the French Revolution , he criticized the 1789 ' ' Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ' ' as a bourgeois declaration of the rights of the egoistic individual , ultimately based on the right to private property , which economism deduced from its own implicit philosophy of the subject , which asserts the preeminence of an individual and universal subject over social relations . On the other hand , Marx also criticized Bentham 's utilitarianism . Alongside Freud , Nietzsche , and Durkheim , Marx thus takes a place amongst the 19th century philosophers who criticized this pre-eminence of the subject and its consciousness . Instead , Marx saw consciousness as political . According to Marx , the recognition of these individual rights was the result of the universal extension of market relations to all of society and to all of the world , first through the primitive accumulation of capital ( including the first period of European colonialism ) and then through the globalization of the capitalist sphere . Such individual rights were the symmetric of the right for the labourer to freely sell his labor force on the marketplace through juridical contracts , and worked in the same time as an ideological means to discompose the collective grouping of producers required by the Industrial Revolution : thus , in the same time that the Industrial Era requires masses to concentrate themselves in factories and in cities , the individualist , bourgeois ideology separated themselves as competing homo economicus . Marx 's critique of the ideology of the human rights thus departs from the counterrevolutionary critique by Edmund Burke , who dismissed the rights of Man in favour of the rights of the individual : it is not grounded on an opposition to the Enlightenment 's universalism and humanist project on behalf of the right of tradition , as in Burke 's case , but rather on the claim that the ideology of economism and the ideology of the human rights are the reverse sides of the same coin . However , as tienne Balibar puts it , the accent put on those contradictions can not not ring out on the signification of ' human rights ' , since these therefore appears ' ' both ' ' as the language in which exploitation masks itself and as the one in which the exploited class struggle express itself : more than a truth or an illusion , it is therefore a ' ' stake ' ' . ' ' Das Kapital ' ' ironizes on the pompous catalogue of the human rights in comparison to the modest ' ' Magna Charta ' ' of a day work limited by law : But the communist revolution does not end with the negation of individual liberty and equality ( collectivism ) , but with the negation of the negation : individual property in the capitalist regime is in fact the expropriation of the immediate producers . Self-earned private property , that is based , so to say , on the fusing together of the isolated , independent laboring-individual with the conditions of his labor , is supplanted by capitalistic private property , which rests on exploitation of the nominally free labor of others , i.e. , on wage-labor .. The capitalist mode of appropriation , the result of the capitalist mode of production , produces capitalist private property . This is the first negation of individual private property , as founded on the labor of the proprietor . But capitalist production begets , with the inexorability of a law of Nature , its own negation . It is the negation of negation . This does not re-establish private property for the producer , but gives him individual property based on the acquisition of the capitalist era : i.e. , on co-operation and the possession in common of the land and of the means of production . # # Criticisms of Feuerbach # # What distinguished Marx from Feuerbach was his view of Feuerbach 's humanism as excessively abstract , and so no less ahistorical and idealist than what it purported to replace , namely the reified notion of God found in institutional Christianity that legitimized the repressive power of the Prussian state . Instead , Marx aspired to give ontological priority to what he called the real life process of real human beings , as he and Engels said in ' ' The German Ideology ' ' ( 1846 ) : # In direct contrast to German philosophy , which descends from heaven to earth , here we ascend from earth to heaven . That is to say , we do not set out from what men say , imagine , conceive , nor from men as narrated , thought of , imagined , conceived , in order to arrive at men in the flesh . We set out from real , active men , and on the basis of their real life process we demonstrate the development of the ideological reflexes and echoes of this life process . The phantoms formed in the human brain are also , necessarily , sublimates of their material life process , which is empirically verifiable and bound to material premises . Morality , religion , metaphysics , all the rest of ideology and their corresponding forms of consciousness , thus no longer retain the semblance of independence . They have no history , no development ; but men , developing their material production and their material intercourse , alter , along with this , their real existence , their thinking , and the products of their thinking . Life is not determined by consciousness , but consciousness by life . # Also , in his ' ' Theses on Feuerbach ' ' ( 1845 ) , in which the young Marx broke with Feuerbach 's idealism , he writes that the philosophers have only described the world , in various ways , the point is to change it , and his materialist approach allows for and empowers such change . This opposition between various subjective interpretations given by philosophers , which may be , in a sense , compared with ' ' Weltanschauung ' ' designed to legitimize the current state of affairs , and effective transformation of the world through ' ' praxis ' ' , which combines theory and practice in a materialist way , is what distinguish Marxist philosophers with the rest of philosophers . Indeed , Marx 's break with German Idealism involves a new definition of philosophy ; Louis Althusser , founder of Structural Marxism in the 1960s , would define it as class struggle in theory . Marx 's movement away from university philosophy and towards the workers ' movement is thus inextricably linked to his rupture with his earlier writings , which pushed Marxist commentators to speak of a young Marx and a mature Marx , although the nature of this cut poses problems . A year before the Revolutions of 1848 , Marx and Engels thus wrote ' ' The Communist Manifesto ' ' , which was prepared to an imminent revolution , and ended with the famous cry : Proletarians of all countries , unite ! . However , Marx 's thought changed again following Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte 's December 2 , 1851 coup , which put an end to the French Second Republic and created the Second Empire which would last until the 1870 Franco-Prussian War . Marx thereby modified his theory of alienation exposed in the ' ' Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 ' ' and would later arrive to his theory of commodity fetishism , exposed in the first chapter of the first book of ' ' Das Kapital ' ' ( 1867 ) . This abandonment of the early theory of alienation would be amply discussed , and several Marxist theorists , including Marxist humanists such as the Praxis School , would return to it . Others , such as Althusser , would claim that the epistemological break between the young Marx and the mature Marx was such that no comparisons could be done between both works , marking a shift to a scientific theory of society . In 1844-5 , when Marx was starting to settle his account with Hegel and the Young Hegelians in his writings , he critiqued the Young Hegelians for limiting the horizon of their critique to religion and not taking up the critique of the state and civil society as paramount . Indeed in 1844 , by the look of Marx 's writings in that period ( most famous of which is the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 , a text that most explicitly elaborated his theory of alienation ) , Marx 's thinking could have taken at least three possible courses : the study of law , religion , and the state ; the study of natural philosophy ; and the study of political economy . He chose the last as the predominant focus of his studies for the rest of his life , largely on account of his previous experience as the editor of the newspaper ' ' Rheinische Zeitung ' ' on whose pages he fought for freedom of expression against Prussian censorship and made a rather idealist , legal defense for the Moselle peasants ' customary right of collecting wood in the forest ( this right was at the point of being criminalized and privatized by the state ) . It was Marx 's inability to penetrate beneath the legal and polemical surface of the latter issue to its materialist , economic , and social roots that prompted him to critically study political economy . # # Historical materialism # # Marx summarized the materialistic aspect of his theory of history , otherwise known as historical materialism ( this term was coined by Engels and popularised by Karl Kautsky and Georgi Plekhanov ) , in the 1859 preface to ' ' A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy ' ' : # In the social production of their existence , men inevitably enter into definite relations , which are independent of their will , namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production . The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society , the real foundation , on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness . The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social , political and intellectual life . It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence , but their social existence that determines their consciousness . # In this brief popularization of his ideas , Marx emphasized that social development sprang from the inherent contradictions within material life and the social superstructure . This notion is often understood as a simple historical narrative : primitive communism had developed into slave states . Slave states had developed into feudal societies . Those societies in turn became capitalist states , and those states would be overthrown by the self-conscious portion of their working-class , or proletariat , creating the conditions for socialism and , ultimately , a higher form of communism than that with which the whole process began . Marx illustrated his ideas most prominently by the development of capitalism from feudalism , and by the prediction of the development of socialism from capitalism . The base-superstructure and stadialist formulations in the 1859 preface took on canonical status in the subsequent development of orthodox Marxism , in particular in dialectical materialism ( ' ' diamat ' ' , as it was known in the Soviet Union ) . They also gave way to a vulgar Marxism as plain economic determinism ( or economism ) , which has been criticized by various Marxist theorists . Vulgar Marxism was seen as little other than a variety of economic determinism , with the alleged determination of the ideological superstructure by the economical infrastructure . However , this positivist reading , which mostly based itself on Engels ' latter writings in an attempt to theorize scientific socialism ( an expression coined by Engels ) has been challenged by Marxist theorists , such as Antonio Gramsci or Althusser . Some believe that Marx regarded them merely as a shorthand summary of his huge ongoing work-in-progress ( which was only published posthumously over a hundred years later as ' ' Grundrisse ' ' ) . These sprawling , voluminous notebooks that Marx put together for his research on political economy , particularly those materials associated with the study of primitive communism and pre-capitalist communal production , in fact , show a more radical turning Hegel on his head than heretofore acknowledged by most mainstream Marxists and Marxiologists . In lieu of the Enlightenment belief in historical progress and stages espoused by Hegel ( often in a racist , Eurocentric manner , as in his ' ' Lectures on the Philosophy of History ' ' ) , Marx pursues in these research notes a decidedly empirical approach to analyzing historical changes and different modes of production , emphasizing without forcing them into a teleological paradigm the rich varieties of communal productions throughout the world and the critical importance of collective working-class antagonism in the development of capitalism . Moreover , Marx 's rejection of the necessity of bourgeois revolution and appreciation of the obschina , the communal land system , in Russia in his letter to Vera Zasulich ; respect for the egalitarian culture of North African Muslim commoners found in his letters from Algeria ; and sympathetic and searching investigation of the global commons and indigenous cultures and practices in his notebooks , including the ' ' Ethnological Notebooks ' ' that he kept during his last years , all point to a historical Marx who was continuously developing his ideas until his deathbed and does not fit into any pre-existing ideological straitjacket. # Differences within Marxist philosophy # Some varieties of Marxist philosophy are strongly influenced by Hegel , emphasizing totality and even teleology : for example , the work of Georg Lukcs , whose influence extends to contemporary thinkers like Fredric Jameson . Others consider totality merely another version of Hegel 's spirit , and thus condemn it as a crippling , secret idealism . Theodor Adorno , a leading philosopher of the Frankfurt School , who was strongly influenced by Hegel , tried to take a middle path between these extremes : Adorno contradicted Hegel 's motto the true is the whole with his new version , the whole is the false , but he wished to preserve critical theory as a negative , oppositional version of the utopia described by Hegel 's spirit . Adorno believed in totality and human potential as ends to be striven for , but not as certainties . The status of humanism in Marxist thought has been quite contentious . Many Marxists , especially Hegelian Marxists and also those committed to political programs ( such as many Communist Parties ) , have been strongly humanist . These humanist Marxists believe that Marxism describes the true potential of human beings , and that this potential can be fulfilled in collective freedom after the Communist revolution has removed capitalism 's constraints and subjugations of humanity . A particular version of the humanism within the marxism is represented by the school of Lev Vygotsky and his school in theoretical psychology ( Alexis Leontiev , Laszlo Garai ) . The Praxis school based its theory on the writings of the young Marx , emphasizing the humanist and dialectical aspects thereof . However , other Marxists , especially those influenced by Louis Althusser , are just as strongly anti-humanist . Anti-humanist Marxists believe that ideas like humanity , freedom , and human potential are pure ideology , or theoretical versions of the bourgeois economic order . They feel that such concepts can only condemn Marxism to theoretical self-contradictions which may also hurt it politically . # Key works and authors #  the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels : especially the earlier writings such as ' ' The 1844 Manuscripts ' ' , ' ' The German Ideology ' ' and Theses on Feuerbach , but also the ' ' Grundrisse ' ' , ' ' Das Kapital ' ' and other works inspired  V.I . Lenin  Lev Trotsky  Rosa Luxemburg  Karl Korsch  Georg Lukcs : ' ' History and Class Consciousness ' ' developed the theory of ideology to include a more complex model of class consciousness  Antonio Gramsci  Laszlo Garai  Ernst Bloch  The Frankfurt School , esp . Theodor Adorno , Herbert Marcuse and Jrgen Habermas  Walter Benjamin  Bertolt Brecht  Socialisme ou Barbarie ( Cornelius Castoriadis , Claude Lefort , etc. )  Louis Althusser and his students ( e.g. tienne Balibar , Alain Badiou , Jacques Rancire , Pierre Macherey )  Praxis school  Situationist International  Fredric Jameson  Antonio Negri and autonomist Marxism  Helmut Reichelt  Slavoj iek  Mao Zedong # See also # :Category:Marxist theorists and List of contributors to Marxist theory Critical theory Dialectical materialism Frankfurt School 's critical theory Freudo-Marxism Marxist sociology Neo-Marxism Orthodox Marxism Post-Marxism Analytical Marxism  ' ' Rethinking Marxism ' ' , a review