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For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock. Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist (metaphysics); the nature of knowledge (epistemology); and the principles of reasoning (logic).[1][2] The word is of Ancient Greek origin: φιλοσοφία (philosophía), meaning "love of knowledge", "love of wisdom"[3][4][5]. Philosophy, φιλοσοφια Philosophy, a song by Tom Snare Philosophy, a brand of cosmetics. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This page is about the Classical Greek philosopher. ... Species Conium chaerophylloides (Thunb. ... Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... Beginning of Homers Odyssey The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage of the Greek language[1] as it existed during the Archaic (9th–6th centuries BC) and Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) periods in Ancient Greece. ... Etymologies redirects here. ... For other uses, see Love (disambiguation). ... For the apocryphal book of the Bible, see Book of Wisdom. ... Contents 1 Definition of philosophy 2 Branches of philosophy 3 History of philosophy 3.1 Greco-Roman philosophy 3.2 Medieval philosophy 3.3 Early modern philosophy (c. 1600 – c. 1800) 3.4 Later modern philosophy (c. 1800 – c. 1960) 3.5 Contemporary philosophy (c. 1960 – present) 4 Philosophical doctrines 4.1 Realism and nominalism 4.2 Rationalism and empiricism 4.3 Skepticism 4.4 Idealism 4.5 Pragmatism 4.6 Phenomenology 4.7 Existentialism 4.8 Structuralism and post-structuralism 4.9 The analytic tradition 4.10 Ethics and political 4.10.1 Human nature and political legitimacy 4.10.2 Consequentialism, deontology, and the aretaic turn 5 Eastern philosophy 5.1 Babylonian philosophy 5.2 Chinese philosophy 5.3 Indian philosophy 5.4 Persian philosophy 6 Non-Western/Eastern philosophy 6.1 African philosophy 7 Applied philosophy 8 References 9 Further reading 9.1 Introductions 9.2 Topical introductions 9.3 Anthologies 9.4 Reference works 10 See also 11 External links [edit] Definition of philosophy Main article: Definition of philosophy There is no universally accepted definition of precisely what range of inquiry the study of philosophy encompasses. The field has historically expanded and changed depending upon what kinds of questions were interesting or relevant in a given era. It is generally agreed that philosophy is a method, rather than a set of claims, propositions, or theories. Its investigations are based upon rational thinking, striving to make no unexamined assumptions nor leaps based on faith or pure analogy. Different philosophers have had varied ideas about the nature of reason. Philosophy (from the Greek words philos and sophia meaning love of wisdom) is understood in different ways historically and by different philosophers. ... Rationality as a term is related to the idea of reason, a word which following Websters may be derived as much from older terms referring to thinking itself as from giving an account or an explanation. ... There is also disagreement about the subject matter of philosophy. Some posit that philosophy examines the process of inquiry itself, while others assert it is the task of philosophy to answer essentially philosophical propositions.[6] Although the word "philosophy" originates in Ancient Greece, meaning literally "love of knowledge," many notable figures in the history of different cultures have addressed similar topics in an analogous fashion.[7] The philosophers of East and South Asia are discussed in Eastern philosophy, while the philosophers of North Africa and the Middle East, because of their strong interactions with Europe, are usually considered part of Western philosophy. This article is about the geographical region. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Persian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, and Korean philosophy. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Western philosophy is a modern claim that there is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in ancient Greece (Greek philosophy) and the ancient Near East (the Abrahamic religions), that continues to this day. ... [edit] Branches of philosophy "The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it." – Bertrand Russell, (From The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, Lecture II) Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... To give an exhaustive list of the main divisions of philosophy is difficult because various topics have been studied by philosophers at various times. Ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and logic are usually included. Other topics include politics, aesthetics, and religion. In addition, most academic subjects have a philosophy, for example the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics, and the philosophy of history. For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Aesthetics is commonly perceived as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. ... Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, especially in the natural sciences and social sciences. ... // Philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. ... Philosophy of history or historiosophy is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. ... Metaphysics was first studied systematically by Aristotle. He did not use that term; the term emerged because in later editions of Aristotle's works the book on what is now called metaphysics came after Aristotle's study of physics. He calls the subject "first philosophy" (or sometimes just "wisdom"), and says it is the subject that deals with "first causes and the principles of things".[8] The modern meaning of the term is any inquiry dealing with the ultimate nature of what exists. "What's out there?" is a common way of summarizing the nature of metaphysical questions. Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible. "How do you know?" is the canonical epistemic question. Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Ethics, or 'moral philosophy', is concerned with questions of how agents ought to act. Plato's early dialogues constitute a search for definitions of virtue. Metaethics is the study of whether ethical value judgments can be objective at all. Ethics can also be conducted within a religious context. If the other two branches so far ask "What is out there?" and "How do you know?", then Ethics asks "What should we do about it?" Ethics questions are either concerned directly with actions (normative ethics), or concerned with Good and Evil in general (metaethics). For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... In philosophy, ethics is commonly divided into two branches, normative ethics and meta-ethics. ... Normative ethics is the branch of the philosophical study of ethics concerned with classifying actions as right and wrong, as opposed to descriptive ethics. ... In philosophy, ethics is commonly divided into two branches, normative ethics and meta-ethics. ... Logic has two broad divisions: mathematical logic (formerly symbolic logic) and philosophy of logic Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... Mathematical logic is a major area of mathematics, which grew out of symbolic logic. ... Philosophy of logic is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature and justification of systems of logic. ... [edit] History of philosophy The history of Western philosophy is often divided into three periods: Ancient philosophy, Medieval philosophy, and Modern philosophy. This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosophy. ... Philosophy seated between the seven liberal arts – Picture from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad von Landsberg (12th century) Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Europe and the Middle East in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Roman... 17th-century philosophy in the West is generally regarded as seeing the start of modern philosophy, and the shaking off of the mediæval approach, especially scholasticism. ... For a map with the dates and places of birth of most western philosophers see here. [edit] Greco-Roman philosophy This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. WikiProject Philosophy or the Philosophy Portal may be able to help recruit one. If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly.(March 2008) Main articles: Greek philosophy and Hellenistic philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy may be divided into the pre-Socratic period, the Socratic period, and the post-Aristotelian period (or Hellenistic period). The pre-Socratic period was characterized by metaphysical speculation, often preserved in the form of grand, sweeping statements, such as "All is fire" or "All changes". Important pre-Socratic philosophers include Pythagoras, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Democritus, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Empedocles. Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Hellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy that was developed in the Hellenistic civilization following Aristotle and ending with Neo-Platonism. ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ... The Hellenistic period (4th - 1st c. ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; born between 580 and 572 BC, died between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian Greek mathematician[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... For the Defense and Security Company, see Thales Group. ... This article is about the Pre-Socratic philosopher. ... Anaximenes (in Greek: Άναξιμένης) of Miletus (585 BC - 525 BC) was a Greek philosopher from the latter half of the 6th century, probably a younger contemporary of Anaximander, whose pupil or friend he is said to have been. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Parmenides of Elea (Greek: , early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy. ... Heraclitus of Ephesus (Ancient Greek - Herákleitos ho Ephésios (Herakleitos the Ephesian)) (about 535 - 475 BC), known as The Obscure (Ancient Greek - ho Skoteinós), was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor. ... Empedocles (Greek: , ca. ... The Socratic period is named in honor of Socrates, who, along with his pupil Plato, revolutionized philosophy through the use of the Socratic method, which developed the very general philosophical methods of definition, analysis, and synthesis. While no writings of Socrates survive, his influence as a "skeptic" is transmitted through Plato's works. Plato's writings are often considered basic texts in philosophy as they defined the fundamental issues of philosophy for future generations. These issues and others were taken up by Aristotle, who studied at Plato's school, the Academy, and who often disagreed with what Plato had written. This page is about the Classical Greek philosopher. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Socratic Method (or Method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate) is a dialectic method of inquiry, largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts and first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. ... For other uses, see Definition (disambiguation). ... Analysis, in philosophy, is an account of the meaning or content of a word, phrase, or concept. ... Synthesis (from the ancient Greek σύν (with) and θεσις (placing), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Academy (disambiguation). ... The subsequent period ushered in such philosophers as Euclid, Epicurus, Chrysippus, Hipparchia the Cynic, Pyrrho, and Sextus Empiricus. Though many of these philosophers may seem irrelevant given current scientific knowledge, their systems of thought continue to influence both philosophy and science today. For other uses, see Euclid (disambiguation). ... Epicure redirects here. ... Chrysippus of Soli (279-207 BC) was Cleanthess pupil and eventual successor to the head of the stoic philosophy (232-204 BC). ... Hipparchia the Cynic was a female Greek philosopher said to have been born around 340 BC. Little is known about Hipparchia, for several reasons. ... Pyrrho (c. ... Sextus Empiricus (fl. ... St. Thomas Aquinas Depiction of St. ... Depiction of St. ... [edit] Medieval philosophy Main article: Medieval philosophy Further information: Early Islamic philosophy, Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800 - 1400), Avicennism, Averroism and Scholasticism Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during what is now known as the medieval era or the Middle Ages, roughly extending from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance period. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek philosophy and Hellenistic philosophy, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate sacred doctrine (in Islam, Judaism and Christianity) and secular learning. Philosophy seated between the seven liberal arts – Picture from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad von Landsberg (12th century) Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Europe and the Middle East in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Roman... Early Muslim philosophy is considered influential in the rise of modern philosophy. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Averroism is the term applied to either of two philosophical trends among scholastics in the late 13th century, the first of which was based on the Arab philosopher Averroës or Ibn Rushd interpretations of Aristotle and the resolution of various conflicts between the writings of Aristotle and the Muslim... Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus, which means that [which] belongs to the school, and is the school of philosophy taught by the academics (or schoolmen) of medieval universities circa 1100–1500. ... A current understanding of Western Europe. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Hellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy that was developed in the Hellenistic civilization following Aristotle and ending with Neo-Platonism. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... This article is about secularism. ... 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. For other uses, see Faith (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Reason (disambiguation). ... This article is about the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... Plato (Left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. ... Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhacen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer and Averroes; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Christian philosophers Anselm, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan. For the Christian theologian, see Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. ... Al Farabi (870-950) was born of a Turkish family and educated by a Christian physician in Baghdad, and was himself later considered a teacher on par with Aristotle. ... (Arabic: أبو علي الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم, Latinized: Alhacen or (deprecated) Alhazen) (965 – 1039), was an Arab[1] Muslim polymath[2][3] who made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to anatomy, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, ophthalmology, philosophy, physics, psychology, visual perception, and to science in general with his introduction of the... (Persian: ابن سينا) (c. ... Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-GhazzālÄ« (1058-1111) (Persian: ), known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia (modern day Iran). ... Ibn Bajjah ابن باجة Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn al-Sayegh أبو بكر محمد بن يحيى بن الصايغ was an Andalusian Muslim philosopher and physician who was known in the West using his latinized name, Avempace. ... Ibn Tufail (c. ... Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes (1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics, and medicine. ... Commonly used image indicating one artists conception of Maimonidess appearance Maimonides (March 30, 1135 or 1138–December 13, 1204) was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt during the Middle Ages. ... Levi ben Gershon (Levi son of Gerson), better known as Gersonides or the Ralbag (1288-1344), was a famous rabbi, philosopher, mathematician and Talmudic commentator. ... Anselm may refer to any of several historical figures: Saint Anselm, 8th-century Abbot of Nonantula Saint Anselm of Canterbury (ca 1033 - 1109), Archbishop of Canterbury Anselm of Laon (died 1117), Medieval theologian Anselm of Liège (1008-1056), chronicler Saint Anselm of Lucca (ca 1036 - 1086) This is a disambiguation... Abaelardus and Heloïse surprised by Master Fulbert, by Romanticist painter Jean Vignaud (1819) Pierre Abélard (in English, Peter Abelard) or Abailard (1079 – April 21, 1142) was a French scholastic philosopher, theologian, and logician. ... For the Nova Scotia premier see Roger Bacon (politician). ... Aquinas redirects here. ... Blessed John Duns Scotus (c. ... William of Ockham (also Occam or any of several other spellings, IPA: ) (c. ... Jean Buridan, in Latin Joannes Buridanus (1300 - 1358) was a French priest who sowed the seeds of religious scepticism in Europe. ... [edit] Early modern philosophy (c. 1600 – c. 1800) Main article: Early modern philosophy Modern philosophy is usually considered to begin with the revival of skepticism and the genesis of modern physical science. Canonical figures include Montaigne, Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.[9] Chronologically, this era spans the 17th and 18th centuries, and is generally considered to end with Kant's systematic attempt to reconcile Newtonian physics with traditional metaphysical topics.[10] The term Early modern philosophy is variously applied to 17th-century philosophy and 18th-century philosophy, the same as the long form of The Enlightenment running from, roughly, Descartes through Kant. ... Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (February 28, 1533 - September 13, 1592) was an influential French Renaissance writer, generally considered to be the inventor of the personal essay. ... René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... Baruch Spinoza Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 - February 21, 1677), named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Spinoza or Bento dEspiñoza in the community in which he grew up. ... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... For the second husband of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, see George Berkeley (MP). ... For other persons named David Hume, see David Hume (disambiguation). ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... [edit] Later modern philosophy (c. 1800 – c. 1960) Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the 19th-century.[11] German idealists, such as Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling, expanded on the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational mind-like process, and as such is entirely knowable.[12] Kant redirects here. ... German idealism was a philosophical movement in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. ... Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 – January 27, 1814) was a German philosopher. ... Hegel redirects here. ... Notable people with the last name of Schelling include: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher Thomas Schelling, American economist and Nobel laureate Category: ... Rejecting idealism, other philosophers, many working from outside the university, initiated lines of thought that would occupy academic philosophy in the early and mid-20th century: Peirce and William James initiated the school of pragmatism Husserl initiated the school of phenomenology Kierkegaard and Nietzsche laid the groundwork for existentialism Frege's work in logic and Sidgwick's work in ethics provided the tools for early analytic philosophy Charles Sanders Peirce (IPA: /pɝs/), (September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American polymath, physicist, and philosopher, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Pragmatism is a philosophic school that originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce, who first stated the pragmatic maxim. ... Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (IPA: ; April 8, 1859 – April 26, 1938) was a philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology. ... This article is about the philosophical movement. ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (pronounced , but usually Anglicized as ;  ) (5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and philologist. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement that posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them. ... Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (8 November 1848, Wismar – 26 July 1925, IPA: ) was a German mathematician who became a logician and philosopher. ... Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English philosopher. ... Analytic philosophy (sometimes, analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century. ... [edit] Contemporary philosophy (c. 1960 – present) In the last hundred years, philosophy has increasingly become an activity practiced within the modern research university, and accordingly it has grown more specialized and more distinct from the natural sciences. Much of philosophy in this period concerns itself with explaining the relation between the theories of the natural sciences and the ideas of the humanities or common sense. It is arguable that later modern philosophy ended with contemporary philosophy's shift of focus from 19th century philosophers to 20th century philosophers. Philosophers such as Heidegger, the later Wittgenstein, and Dewey, occupied philosophical discourses exemplified in thinkers such as Derrida, Quine, Kripke, and Rorty. Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) (IPA ) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Wittgenstein redirects here. ... John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. ... Jacques Derrida (IPA: in French [1], in English ) (July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher, known as the founder of deconstruction. ... For people named Quine, see Quine (surname). ... Saul Aaron Kripke (born in November 13, 1940 in Bay Shore, New York) is an American philosopher and logician now emeritus from Princeton and teaches as distinguished professor of philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center. ... Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 - June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. ... [edit] Philosophical doctrines [edit] Realism and nominalism Main articles: Realism and Nominalism Realism sometimes means the position opposed to the 18th-century Idealism, namely that some things have real existence outside the mind. Classically, however, realism is the doctrine that abstract entities corresponding to universal terms like 'man' have a real existence. It is opposed to nominalism, the view that abstract or universal terms are words only, or denote mental states such as ideas, beliefs, or intentions. The latter position, famously held by William of Ockham, is conceptualism. Look up realism, realist, realistic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In philosophy, nominalism is the theory that abstract terms, general terms, or universals do not represent objective real existents, but are merely names, words, or vocal utterances (flatus vocis). ... Look up realism, realist, realistic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In philosophy, nominalism is the theory that abstract terms, general terms, or universals do not represent objective real existents, but are merely names, words, or vocal utterances (flatus vocis). ... William of Ockham (also Occam or any of several other spellings, IPA: ) (c. ... Conceptualism is a doctrine in philosophy intermediate between nominalism and realism, that universals exist only within the mind and have no external or substantial reality. ... [edit] Rationalism and empiricism René Descartes Main articles: Rationalism and Empiricism Rationalism is any view emphasizing the role or importance of human reason. Extreme rationalism tries to base all knowledge on reason alone. Rationalism typically starts from premises that cannot coherently be denied, then attempts by logical steps to deduce every possible object of knowledge. In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... The first rationalist, in this broad sense, is often held to be Parmenides (fl. 480 BCE), who 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 properties – for example, that it cannot 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). Zeno of Elea (born c. 489 BCE) was a disciple of Parmenides, and argued that motion is impossible, since the assertion that it exists implies a contradiction. Parmenides of Elea (Greek: , early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy. ... Zeno of Elea (pronounced , Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης) (ca. ... The School of Athens, fresco by Raphael, Italy, 1511 Plato (427–347 BCE) was also influenced by Parmenides, but combined rationalism with a form of realism. The philosopher's work is to consider being, and the essence 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (966x720, 186 KB) The School of Athens - fresco by Raffaello Sanzio (w) From the web gallery of art wga. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (966x720, 186 KB) The School of Athens - fresco by Raffaello Sanzio (w) From the web gallery of art wga. ... The School of Athens or in Italian is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. ... This article is about the Renaissance artist. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Contemporary philosophical realism, also referred to as metaphysical realism, is the belief in a reality that is completely ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. ... 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: René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... 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. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... René Descartes (1596–1650) Cogito, ergo sum (Latin: I think, therefore I am) or Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (Latin: I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am) is a philosophical statement used by René Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western philosophy. ... An ontological argument for the existence of God is one that attempts the method of a priori proof, which utilizes intuition and reason alone. ... Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Leibniz redirects here. ... Christian Wolff (less correctly Wolf; also known as Wolfius) (January 24, 1679 - April 9, 1754) was a German philosopher. ... Empiricism, in contrast to rationalism, downplays or dismisses the ability of reason alone to yield knowledge of the world, preferring to base any knowledge we have on our senses. John Locke propounded the classic empiricist view in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, developing a form of naturalism and empiricism on roughly scientific (and Newtonian) principles. In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is one of John Lockes two most famous works, the other being his Second Treatise on Civil Government. ... This article is about methodological naturalism. ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ... During this era, religious ideas played a mixed role in the struggles that preoccupied secular philosophy. Bishop Berkeley's famous idealist refutation of key tenets of Isaac Newton is a case of an Enlightenment philosopher who drew substantially from religious ideas. Other influential religious thinkers of the time include Blaise Pascal, Joseph Butler, and Jonathan Edwards. Other major writers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Edmund Burke, took a rather different path. The restricted interests of many of the philosophers of the time foreshadow the separation and specialization of different areas of philosophy that would occur in the 20th century. For the second husband of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, see George Berkeley (MP). ... This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedias quality standards. ... Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ... Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 20 [[1624 // ]] – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... Joseph Butler (May 18, 1692 O.S. – June 16, 1752) was an English bishop, theologian, apologist, and philosopher. ... Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703- March 22, 1758) was a colonial American Congregational preacher and theologian. ... Rousseau redirects here. ... Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729[1] – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... [edit] Skepticism Main article: Skepticism Skepticism is a philosophical attitude that questions the possibility of obtaining any sort of knowledge. It was first articulated by Pyrrho, who believed that everything could be doubted except appearances. Sextus Empiricus (2nd century CE) describes skepticism as an "ability to place in antithesis, in any manner whatever, appearances and judgments, and thus […] to come first of all to a suspension of judgment and then to mental tranquility."[13] Skepticism so conceived is not merely the use of doubt, but is the use of doubt for a particular end: a calmness of the soul, or ataraxia. Skepticism poses itself as a challenge to dogmatism, whose adherents think they have found the truth.[14] This article is about the psychological term. ... Pyrrho (c. ... Sextus Empiricus (fl. ... Ataraxia (Ἀταραξία) is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for freedom from worry or any other preoccupation, and for Epicurus to achieve Hêdonê, the great pleasure. ... This article is on dogma in religion. ... Sextus noted that the reliability of perception may be questioned, because it is idiosyncratic to the perceiver. The appearance of individual things changes depending on whether they are in a group: for example, the shavings of a goat's horn are white when taken alone, yet the intact horn is black. A pencil, when viewed lengthwise, looks like a stick; but when examined at the tip, it looks merely like a circle. Skepticism was revived in the early modern period by Michel de Montaigne and Blaise Pascal. Its most extreme exponent, however, was David Hume. Hume argued that there are only two kinds of reasoning: what he called probable and demonstrative (cf Hume's fork). Neither of these two forms of reasoning can lead us to a reasonable belief in the continued existence of an external world. Demonstrative reasoning cannot do this, because demonstration (that is, deductive reasoning from well-founded premises) alone cannot establish the uniformity of nature (as captured by scientific laws and principles, for example). Such reason alone cannot establish that the future will resemble the past. We have certain beliefs about the world (that the sun will rise tomorrow, for example), but these beliefs are the product of habit and custom, and do not depend on any sort of logical inferences from what is already given certain. But probable reasoning (inductive reasoning), which aims to take us from the observed to the unobserved, cannot do this either: it also depends on the uniformity of nature, and this supposed uniformity cannot be proved, without circularity, by any appeal to uniformity. The best that either sort of reasoning can accomplish is conditional truth: if certain assumptions are true, then certain conclusions follow. So nothing about the world can be established with certainty. Hume concludes that there is no solution to the skeptical argument – except, in effect, to ignore it.[15] Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French pronounced ) (February 28, 1533–September 13, 1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. ... Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 20 [[1624 // ]] – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... For other persons named David Hume, see David Hume (disambiguation). ... For the novel of the same name, see Humes Fork (novel). ... Deductive reasoning is reasoning whose conclusions are intended to necessarily follow from its premises. ... Aristotle appears first to establish the mental behaviour of induction as a category of reasoning. ... Even if these matters were resolved in every case, we would have in turn to justify our standard of justification, leading to an infinite regress (hence the term regress skepticism).[16][17] An infinite regress is a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P1 requires the support of proposition P2, and for any proposition in the series Pn, the truth of Pn requires the support of the truth of Pn+1. ... Many philosophers have questioned the value of such skeptical arguments. The question of whether we can achieve knowledge of the external world is based on how high a standard we set for the justification of such knowledge. If our standard is absolute certainty, then we cannot progress beyond the existence of mental sensations. We cannot even deduce the existence of a coherent or continuing "I" that experiences these sensations, much less the existence of an external world. On the other hand, if our standard is too low, then we admit follies and illusions into our body of knowledge. This argument against absolute skepticism asserts that the practical philosopher must move beyond solipsism, and accept a standard for knowledge that is high but not absolute. Solipsism (Latin: solus, alone + ipse, self) is the philosophical idea that My mind is the only thing that I know exists. ... [edit] Idealism Immanuel Kant Main article: Idealism Idealism is the epistemological doctrine that nothing can be directly known outside of the minds of thinking beings. Or in an alternative stronger form, it is the metaphysical doctrine that nothing exists apart from minds and the "contents" of minds. In modern Western philosophy, the epistemological doctrine begins as a core tenet of Descartes – that what is in the mind is known more reliably than what is known through the senses. The first prominent modern Western idealist in the metaphysical sense was George Berkeley. Berkeley argued[18] that there is no deep distinction between mental states, such as feeling pain, and the ideas about so-called "external" things, that appear to us through the senses. There is no real distinction, in this view, between certain sensations of heat and light that we experience, which lead us to believe in the external existence of a fire, and the fire itself. Those sensations are all there is to fire. Berkeley expressed this with the Latin formula esse est percipi: to be is to be perceived. In this view the opinion, "strangely prevailing upon men", that houses, mountains, and rivers have an existence independent of their perception by a thinking being is false. Image File history File links Immanuel_Kant_(painted_portrait). ... Image File history File links Immanuel_Kant_(painted_portrait). ... This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedias quality standards. ... For the second husband of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, see George Berkeley (MP). ... 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 cannot be brought under the conditions of objective judgment. Kant wrote his Critique of Pure Reason (1781–1787) 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.[19] 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 data – a framework including space and time themselves – he maintained that things-in-themselves existed independently of our perceptions and judgments; he was therefore not an idealist in any simple sense. Indeed, 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. Kant redirects here. ... Title page of the 1781 edition. ... For the concept in aesthetics and art criticism, see The Conceptual Framework. ... Look up Framework in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 – January 27, 1814) was a German philosopher. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (January 27, 1775 – August 20, 1854) was a German philosopher. ... The most notable work of this German idealism was G.W.F. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, of 1807. Hegel admitted his ideas weren't 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 in the Hegelian tradition 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. German idealism was a philosophical movement in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. ... Hegel redirects here. ... Hegels work Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807) is called The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind in English; the German word Geist has connotations of both spirit and mind in English. ... In classical philosophy, dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is controversy, Viz. ... This article refers to the philosopher. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Engels redirects here. ... British idealism was a philosophical movement that was influential in Britain during the mid to late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. ... Thomas Hill Green (April 7, 1836 - March 26, 1882) was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. ... John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (1866-1925) was an Idealist metaphysician of great range, invention, precision, and power. ... Francis Herbert Bradley (30 January 1846 - 18 September 1924) was a British philosopher. ... 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. [edit] Pragmatism William James Main article: Pragmatism Main article: Instrumentalism Pragmatism was founded in the spirit of finding a scientific concept of truth, which is not dependent on either personal insight (or revelation) or reference to some metaphysical realm. The truth of a statement should be judged by the effect it has on our actions and truth should be seen as that which the whole of scientific enquiry will ultimately agree on(cf [20]). This should probably be seen as a guiding principle more than a definition of what it means for something to be true, though the details of how this principle should be interpreted have been subject to discussion since Peirce first conceived it. Like Rorty many seem convinced that Pragmatism holds that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality, but in their usefulness and efficacy.[21] Image File history File links Wm_james. ... Image File history File links Wm_james. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Pragmatism is a philosophic school that originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce, who first stated the pragmatic maxim. ... In the philosophy of science, instrumentalism is the view that concepts and theories are merely useful instruments whose worth is measured not by whether the concepts and theories are true or false (or correctly depict reality), but by how effective they are in explaining and predicting phenomena. ... The late 19th-century American philosophers Charles 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 that