The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:Free online encyclopedia. Edited by James Fieser, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Martin.
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.
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 positivism 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.
