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


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