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Home , Ammonius Hermiae, Hajime Tanabe, Ramon Llull

330 DIRECTORY

hough the ideas already presented in this book show the broad range of philosophical thought expressed by some of history’s T best minds, there are many more people who have helped to shape the story of . Some of these thinkers—such as , , or —have had ideas that form the starting point for other, more well-known theories, and their influence on later is clear. Some, such as Friedrich Schelling or Gilles Deleuze, have taken the works of previous philosophers and added an interesting twist that sheds new light on the subject. Whatever their relationship is to the history of philosophy, the people discussed below have all helped to broaden the boundaries of philosophical thought.

the universe was made. He opted otherwise it could not have come for air, pointing out that just as air into . Sentenced to death for c.610–546 BCE gives life to the human body, so impiety after insisting that the sun a universal kind of air gives life was a fiery rock, he fled and Born in Miletus, in what is now to the cosmos. He was the first spent his final years in exile. southwest Turkey, Anaximander thinker on record to use observed See also: 22–23 was a pupil of Thales, the “father” evidence to support his ideas. of . Like Thales, Blowing with pursed lips produced he thought there was a single basic cold air; with relaxed lips, warm EMPEDOCLES substance from which everything air. He argued, therefore, that c.490–430 BCE had evolved. He decided it must be when something condenses, it infinite and eternal and called it cools; when it expands it heats up. Empedocles was a member of a apeiron (“indefinite”). Anaximander Likewise, when air condenses, it high-ranking political family in also challenged Thales’ suggestion becomes visible; first as mist, then the then-Greek colony of Sicily. that Earth was supported by a sea as rain, and ultimately, he believed, His knowledge of the natural world of water, reasoning that this sea as rock, thus giving birth to Earth. led to him being credited with would have to be supported by See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 miraculous powers, such as the something else. Lacking evidence ability to cure diseases and control for this supporting structure, he the weather. He reasserted the declared that Earth was an object notion of that we live hanging in space. He went on to c.500–428 BCE in an ever-changing world, as publish what is believed to be opposed to ’ theory the first map of the world. Born in Ionia, off the southern coast that everything is ultimately one See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 of present-day Turkey, Anaxagoras fixed entity. He believed that four played a key role in making Athens elements—fire, water, earth, and the world center of philosophy and air—continually combine, move ANAXIMENES OF MILETUS scientific enquiry. Central to his apart, and recombine in a finite c.585–528 BCE thinking were his views on the number of ways. This idea remained material world and . He part of Western thinking up until Like other Milesian philosophers, reasoned that everything in the the Renaissance period. Anaximenes searched for the material world was made up of a See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ fundamental material from which small part of everything else, Heraclitus 40 ■ Parmenides 41 DIRECTORY 331

ZENO OF ELEA PLOTINUS c.490–430 BCE c.205–270 CE c.245–325 CE

Little is known about , Born in Egypt, Plotinus studied A Syrian Neo-Platonist , other than his paradoxes of motion, in Alexandria, then considered Iamblichus was reputedly born into which are mentioned by . the intellectual hub of the world. an influential aristocratic family. Zeno is thought to have produced He later moved to Rome, where he He founded a school near modern- more than 40 of these, although only taught his own brand of , day Antioch, where he taught a a few survive. In them, he defended known as Neo-Platonism. Plotinus curriculum based mainly on the claim of his teacher Parmenides divided the cosmos into layers, with the ideas of and Aristotle, that the changing and varied the indefinable source of all being although he is best known for world we perceive around us is not —the “One”—at the top, followed his expansion of the theories of —which is in fact motionless, by Mind, Soul, Nature, and finally , which he recorded uniform, and simple. Movement, the Material World. He believed in in his Collection of Pythagorean Zeno believed, is an illusion of the reincarnation and the immortality Doctrines. Iamblichus introduced senses. Each of his paradoxes of the soul; by striving for the concept of the soul being began from the position that he enlightenment individuals could embodied in matter, both of which wished to refute—that movement, achieve mystical union with the he believed to be divine. Salvation, and hence change, is real—then “One”, and so escape the cycle of or the return of the soul to its pure continued by revealing the rebirth. His ideas, presented in the immortal form, he stated, was contradictory consequences that Enneads, were widely influential, achieved through the performance lead to the rejection of this notion. particularly those that supported of specific religious rituals, and not See also: Heraclitus 40 ■ , which was taking root just the contemplation of abstract Parmenides 41 ■ Aristotle 56–63 in the Roman Empire at the time. ideas alone. See also: Siddhartha Gautama See also: Pythagoras 26–29 ■ 30–33 ■ Plato 50–55 Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331 c.360–272 BCE WANG BI OF ALEXANDRIA Pyrrho was born on the Ionian 226–249 CE c.370–415 CE island of Elis. He was exposed to Asian culture while serving on In 220 CE, the ruling Chinese Han Hypatia taught , Alexander the Great’s military Dynasty collapsed, heralding an astronomy, and philosophy at the campaigns, and was also the first era of moral confusion. Philosopher Museum of Alexandria, eventually noted philosopher to place doubt Wang Bi helped to bring order to succeeding her father as its head. at the center of to his thinking. this by reconciling two Although she was an esteemed Pyrrho treated the suspension of dominant schools of thought. He Neo-Platonist intellectual and the judgment about beliefs as the only argued that Daoist texts should first notable female mathematician, reasonable reaction to the fallibility not be read literally, but more it was her martyrdom that ensured of the senses, and to the fact that like works of poetry, thus making her fame. She was murdered by a both sides of any argument can them compatible with the highly Christian mob, who blamed her for seem to be equally valid. Pyrrho left practical Confucian ideals of the religious turmoil resulting from no writings, but he did inspire the political and moral wisdom. His conflict between her friend, the Skeptical school in ancient Greek fresh appraisals of Daoism and Roman prefect Orestos, and Cyril, philosophy, which developed the ensured the survival of Alexandria. No works of idea that the suspension of belief of both, and paved the way for the hers survive, but she is credited leads to a tranquil mind. spread of across China. with inventing a graduated brass See also: 46–49 ■ See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Siddhartha hydrometer and the plane . Al-Ghazâlî 332 Gautama 30–33 ■ Confucius 34–39 See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331 332 DIRECTORY

PROCLUS AL-KINDI AL-FARABI c.412–485 CE 801-873 CE c.872–950 CE

Born in Constantinople, The Iraqi polymath Al-Kindî was It is disputed whether Al-Fârâbî succeeded his Platonist teacher one of the first Islamic scholars to was born in what is now Iran or in as head of the Academy introduce ancient Greek ideas to Kazakhstan, but it is certain that at Athens. His Commentary on the Islamic world. He worked at he arrived in Baghdad in 901, Euclid is the main account of Baghdad’s House of Wisdom, where where he spent much of his life. the early development of Greek he supervised the translation of the Although a Neo-Platonist, he was geometry, and his Commentary on great Classical texts into . also highly influenced by Aristotle Plato’s Timaeus has been described He wrote extensively on a variety of and wrote commentaries on his as the most important ancient subjects, most notably psychology work, as well as on other subjects, Neo-Platonist text. A scientist, and cosmology, mixing his own including medicine, science, and mathematician, lawyer, and Neo-Platonist approach with the music. He regarded philosophy as poet, with a deep interest in authority of Aristotelian argument. a calling conferred by Allah and as , he was to become an He had a special interest in the the only route to true knowledge. influence on many thinkers in compatibility of philosophy and In this life, he said, philosophers both the medieval Islamic and the Islamic , and many of his have a duty to guide people in all Christian schools of philosophy. works are concerned with the matters of daily life; his book The See also: Plato 50–55 ■ nature of and the human soul, Ideas of the Citizens of the Virtuous 74–75 ■ 88–95 as well as prophetic knowledge. City describes a Platonic See also: Al-Fârâbî 332 ■ ruled by philosopher prophets. 76–79 ■ 82–83 See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 490–570 CE JOHANNES SCOTUS Almost is known about ERIUGENA AL-GHAZALI Philoponus’s early life other than c.815–877CE c.1058–1111 he studied in Alexandria with the Aristotelian Ammonius Hermiae. His Latin name is often translated Born what is now Iran, Al-Ghazâlî A philosopher and natural scientist, as John the Scot, but the theologian was head of the prestigious Philoponus’s methods of enquiry and philosopher Johannes Scotus Nizamiyyah school in Baghdad were shaped by Christian beliefs. Eriugena was Irish—the medieval from 1092 to 1096, when he wrote By arguing that the universe had an Latin for Ireland being “Scotia”. He The Opinions of the Philosophers, absolute beginning, and that this argued that there was no conflict which explains the Neo-Platonist beginning was caused by God, he between knowledge that was and Aristotelian views of Islamic became the first serious critic of derived from reason and knowledge scholars. His lectures brought him Aristotle, opening up paths of from divine revelation. He even set great respect and wealth, but after enquiry which became major out to demonstrate that all Christian concluding that truth comes from influences on future scientists, doctrine had in fact a rational basis. faith and mystical practices, and not notably the Italian astronomer This brought him into conflict with from philosophy, he abandoned his Galileo Galilei. Unpopular with the Church, on the grounds that his teaching post and possessions to his colleagues, he later gave up theories made both revelation and become a wandering Sufi preacher. philosophy and turned to theology, faith redundant. Eruigena’s defense He came to believe that all causal again causing controversy by was that reason is the judge of all links between events were only suggesting that the Trinity was authority, and that it is needed for made possible by the will of God. not one but three separate . us to interpret revelation. See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 St. Augustine of 72–73 Moses 84–85 DIRECTORY 333

PIERRE ABELARD IBN BAJJA 1079–1142 c.1095–1138 c.1260–1327

Remembered less for his philosophy A political advisor, poet, scientist, Little is known about the early life than for his tragic love affair with and philosopher, Ibn Bâjja was one of the German theologian Meister his pupil Héloïse, Pierre Abélard of the great thinkers of Moorish Eckhart, other than he studied in was nevertheless a remarkable . Born in Saragossa, he used Paris, joined the Dominican order, thinker. A brilliant student, he the ideas of Plato and Aristotle and held various administrative attended the Cathedral School of in his treatises, and influenced and teaching posts around Europe. Nôtre Dame, Paris, and became a Averroes. He set out to show the A follower of Thomas Aquinas, he charismatic teacher. By the age of compatibility between reason is best known for his vivid sermons, 22, he had set up his own school, and faith, stating that the path which dwelt on the presence of God and went on to become head at to true knowledge, and therefore within the human soul, and for the Nôtre Dame in 1115. Renowned for enlightenment and a link with the mystical imagery of his prose. He his skills in argument, Abélard divine, came only from thinking was accused of heresy, and during stood against the popular belief in and acting rationally. But, Ibn Bâjja his trial he acknowledged that the universal forms, inherited from warned, each individual must make florid and emotive language he Plato, stating that terms such as their own journey to enlightenment. used to inspire his listeners might “oak tree”, are just words that do If the enlightened attempt to pass have led him to stray from the path not denote anything real about the their wisdom directly to others, of orthodoxy. It is thought that he many particular oaks that exist. they place themselves at risk of died before a verdict was delivered. See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle contamination by the ignorant. See also: St. Anselm 80–81 ■ 56–63 ■ Boethius 74–75 ■ William See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■ Ramon of Ockham 334 56–63 ■ Averroes 82–83 Llull 333 ■ Nikolaus von Kues 96

ROBERT GROSSETESTE JOHN 1175–1253 1232–1316 c.1266–1308

The child of a poor English peasant Educated at the Majorcan royal Duns Scotus, a Franciscan friar, family, Grosseteste’s formidable court in , Llull developed a was among the most influential of intelligence was spotted by the mystical version of Neo-Platonism. the medieval philosophers. Born Mayor of Lincoln, who arranged After a of Christ, he joined in Scotland, he taught at for him to be educated. Evidence the Franciscan order and worked University and later in Paris. Duns indicates that he studied at Oxford as a missionary in North Africa. Scotus’s arguments were noted for University and in Paris, before Convinced that rational argument their rigor and intricacy. He argued joining the clergy and going on could persuade Muslims and Jews against Thomas Aquinas that to become Bishop of Lincoln. An to convert to Christianity, Llull attributes, when applied to God, outspoken critic of the Church wrote Ars Magna. In this work, he retain the same meaning as when in his time, Grosseteste is noted used complex reasoning to generate used of ordinary objects. On the for his scientific thinking. He different combinations of the basic issue of universals, he stated that was one of the first medieval tenets of all monotheistic , we can perceive particulars philosophers to grasp Aristotle’s hoping to demonstrate the truths of directly, without the assistance of dual path of scientific reasoning: Christianity. He was convinced general concepts. He also claimed generalizing from particular that if everybody was of one faith, that knowledge can be acquired by observations into a universal law, all human knowledge would the proper use of the senses, without and then back again from universal combine into a single system. the need for divine “illumination.” laws to the prediction of particulars. See also: Plato 50–55 ■ St. Anselm See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle See also: Aristotle 56–63 80–81 ■ Meister Eckhart 333 56–63 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 334 DIRECTORY

of . Called the “father of WILLIAM OF OCKHAM MOSES OF NARBONNE international law”, he is primarily c.1285–1347 DIED c.1362 known for developing a code for international relations. He grew up The English theologian and Moses of Narbonne, also known at the time of Spain’s unification philosopher William of Ockham as Moses ben Joshua, was a Jewish and its colonization of the Americas. studied and taught at Oxford. He philosopher and physician. Born in Although he did not argue against was a Franciscan friar, and was Perpignan, in the Catalan region of Spain’s right to build an empire, he excommunicated for claiming France, he later moved to Spain. He thought that Christianity should that the had no authority to believed that Judaism was a guide not be imposed on the indigenous exercise temporal power. He is best to the highest degree of truth. He peoples of South America and that known to students of philosophy for also stated that the Torah (the first they should be afforded rights to the principle that bears his name: part of the Hebrew Bible and the property and self-government. Ockham’s Razor, which states that basis of Jewish law) has two levels See also: Thomas Aquinas 88–95 the best possible explanation of of meaning: the literal and the anything is always the simplest. metaphysical. The latter is not In his support for the idea that accessible to the layman. universals are abstractions from See also: Averroes 82–83 ■ Moses 1548–1600 experience of particulars, he is Maimonides 84–85 regarded as a forerunner of British The Italian astronomer and thinker , a movement begun in Giordano Bruno was influenced by the 17th century by John Locke. GIOVANNI PICO Nikolaus von Kues and the Corpus See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle DELLA MIRANDOLA Hermeticum—a set of occult 56–63 ■ 110–11 ■ 1463–1494 treatises believed, at the time, to John Locke 130–33 predate . Pico della Mirandola was a member From von Kues, he took the idea of of the in Florence an infinite universe, in which our NICOLAUS OF AUTRECOURT and is best known for his Oration on solar system is just one of many c.1298–1369 the Dignity of Man, which argued supporting intelligent life. God, that the potential of the individual argued Bruno, is a part of, not Born near Verdun, France, Nicolaus was limitless, the only restrictions separate from, a universe made of Autrecourt studied theology at being self-imposed. It was written up of “monads”, or animate atoms. the Sorbonne in Paris. Unusually for as an introduction to 900 Theses, These views, and his interest in a philosopher of the medieval his compendium of intellectual and magic, led to him period, he explored the of achievement, in which he aimed to being found guilty of heresy and skepticism, concluding that truth reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian burned at the stake. and the truth of its contradiction thinking. Papal objections to the See also: Nikolaus von Kues 96 ■ are not logically compatible, so that inclusion of the merits of Gottfried Leibniz 134–35 absolute truth or knowledge, and saw Mirandola briefly jailed, after the causal links between events or which he was forced to flee France. reactions, cannot be uncovered by See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle FRANCISCO SUAREZ logic alone. In 1346, Pope Clement 56–63 ■ Desiderius 97 1548–1617 VI condemned his ideas as heretical. He was ordered to recant his Born in Granada, Spain, the Jesuit statements and his books were philosopher Francisco Suárez wrote burnt in public. With the exception 1480–1546 on many topics, but is best known of his Universal Treatise and a few for his writings on . In letters, little of his work survives. A Dominican friar, Francisco de the controversy over universal See also: Pyrrho 331 ■ Al-Ghazâlî Vitoria was a follower of Thomas forms that dominated so much 332 ■ David Hume 148–53 Aquinas and founder of the School philosophy of the time, he argued DIRECTORY 335 that only particulars exist. Suárez in a thesis he published in 1745, flee. He became a passionate also maintained that between stating that emotions are the result counter-revolutionary. Mankind Thomas Aquinas’s two types of of physical changes in the body, was inherently weak and sinful, divine knowledge—the knowledge caused outrage, forcing him to flee he declared, and the dual powers of of what is actual and the knowledge from France to Holland. In 1747 he monarch and God were essential to of what is possible—there exists published Man a Machine, in which social order. In On the Pope (1819), “middle knowledge” of what would he expanded his materialist ideas De Maistre argues that government have been the case had things and rejected Descartes’ theory that should be in the hands of a single been different. He believed that the mind and body are separate. authority figure, ideally linked to God has “middle knowledge” of all The book’s reception caused him religion, such as the pope. our actions, without this meaning to flee again, this time to Berlin. See also: Edmund Burke 172–73 that God caused them to happen See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ or that they are unavoidable. René Descartes 116–23 See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle FRIEDRICH SCHELLING 56–63 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 NICOLAS DE CONDORCET 1775–1854 1743–1794 Friedrich Schelling started out as BERNARD MANDEVILLE a theologian but, inspired by the c.1670–1733 Nicolas, , was ideas of , he turned an early exponent of the French to philosophy. Born in southern Bernard Mandeville was a Dutch tradition of approaching moral and Germany, he studied with Georg philosopher, satirist, and physician, political issues from a mathematical Hegel at Tübingen and taught at the who made his home in London. His perspective. His famous formula, universities of Jena, Munich, and best-known work, The Fable of known as Condorcet’s Paradox, Berlin. Schelling coined the term Bees (1729) concerns a hive of drew attention to a paradox in the “absolute ” for his view of industrious bees which, when voting system by showing that nature as an ongoing, evolutionary suddenly made virtuous, stop majority preferences become process driven by Geist, or spirit. working and go and live quietly in intransitive when there are more He argued that all of nature, both a nearby tree. Its central argument than three candidates. A liberal mind and matter, is involved in one is that the only way any society can thinker, he advocated equal rights continuous organic process, and progress is through vice, and that and free education for all, including that purely mechanistic accounts virtues are lies employed by the women. He played a key role in the of reality are inadequate. Human ruling elite to subdue the lower , but was branded consciousness is nature become classes. Economic growth, stated a traitor for opposing the execution conscious, so that in the form of Mandeville, stems only from the of Louis XVI, and died in prison. man, nature has arrived at a state individual’s ability to satisfy his See also: René Descartes 116-23 ■ of self-awareness. greed. His ideas are often seen as Voltaire 146–47 ■ Jean-Jacques See also: Benedictus Spinoza the forerunners to the theories of Rousseau 154–59 126–29 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Adam Smith in the 18th century. 176 ■ Georg See also: Adam Smith 160–63 JOSEPH DE MAISTRE Hegel 178–85 JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA 1753–1821 AUGUSTE COMTE METTRIE Born in the French region of Savoy, 1798–1857 1709-1751 which was then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Joseph de Maistre was The French thinker Auguste Comte Julien Offray de la Mettrie was born a lawyer and political philosopher. is noted for his theory of intellectual in Brittany. He studied medicine He was a ruling senator when the and social evolution, which divides and served as an army physician. French revolutionary army invaded human progress into three key The atheist sentiments expressed Savoy in 1792, and was forced to stages. The earliest stage, the 336 DIRECTORY theological stage, represented by key work Methods of (1874), (1879), meaning “conceptual the medieval period in Europe, he explored the problems of notation”, and The Foundations is characterized by belief in the by examining intuitive principles of of Arithmetic (1884) effected a supernatural. This gave way to conduct. The pursuit of pleasure, he revolution in philosophical logic, the metaphysical stage, in which claimed, does not exclude altruism, allowing the discipline to develop speculation on the nature of reality or the providing of pleasure for rapidly. In On Sense and Reference developed. Finally, there came the others, since providing pleasure for (1892) he showed that sentences “positivist” age—which Comte others is itself a pleasure. A liberal are meaningful for two reasons— saw as emerging at the time he philanthropist and a champion of for having a thing that they refer was writing—with a genuinely women’s rights to education, to, and a unique way in which scientific attitude, based solely on Sidgwick was instrumental in that reference is made. observable regularities. Comte setting up Newnham, Cambridge’s See also: Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■ believed this would first college for female students. 246–51 ■ help to create a new social order, See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ Rudolf Carnap 257 to redress the chaos generated by John Stuart Mill 190–93 the French Revolution. See also: John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD Karl Marx 196–203 FRANZ BRENTANO 1861–1947 1838–1917 An English mathematician, Alfred Born in Prussia, the philosopher North Whitehead had a significant 1803–1882 Franz Brentano is best known for influence on ethics, metaphysics, establishing psychology as a and the . With Born in Boston, the American poet discipline in its own right. Initially his ex-pupil Bertrand Russell, he Ralph Waldo Emerson was also a a priest, he was unable to reconcile wrote the landmark study on noted philosopher. Inspired by the himself with the concept of papal mathematical logic, Principia Romantic movement, he believed infallibility, and left the Church in Mathematica (1910–13). In 1924, at in the unity of nature, with every 1873. Brentano believed that mental the age of 63, he accepted a chair single particle of matter and each processes were not passive, but in philosophy at Harvard. There he individual mind being a microcosm should be seen as intentional acts. developed what became known as of the entire universe. Emerson His most highly regarded work is . This was based was famous for his public lectures, Psychology from an Empirical on his conviction that traditional which urged the rejection of social Standpoint. Its publication in philosophical categories were conformity and traditional authority. 1874 led to him being offered a inadequate in dealing with the Emerson advocated personal professorship at the University interactions between matter, space, integrity and self-reliance as the of Vienna, where he taught and and time, and that “the living organ only moral imperatives, stressing inspired a host of illustrious or experience is the living body as that every human being has the students, including the founder of a whole” and not just the brain. power to shape his own destiny. psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. See also: Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■ See also: Henry David Thoreau See also: 224–25 278–79 204 ■ William James 206–09 ■ 214–21 NISHIDA KITARO HENRY SIDGWICK 1848–1925 1870–1945 1838–1900 A professor of mathematics at Jena Japanese philosopher Nishida University, the German philosopher Kitaro studied Daoism and The English moral philosopher Gottlob Frege was a pioneer of the Confucianism at school and Henry Sidgwick was a fellow of the analytic tradition in philosophy. Western philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge. In his His first major work University. He went on to teach DIRECTORY 337 at , where he symbolism of dreams and the Ryle stated, are the cause of much established Western philosophy as phenomenology of imagination. He philosophical confusion, so careful an object of serious study in . contested Auguste Comte’s view attention to the underlying function Key to his thinking is the “logic that scientific advancement was of ordinary language is the way to of place”, designed to overcome continuous, claiming instead that overcome philosophical problems. traditional Western oppositions science often moves through shifts See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ between subject and object through in historical perspective allowing Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■ the “pure experience” of fresh interpretations of old concepts. Daniel Dennett 339 Buddhism, in which distinctions See also: Auguste Comte 335 ■ between knower and thing known, Thomas Kuhn 293 ■ Michel self and world, are lost. Foucault 302–03 MICHAEL OAKESHOTT See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Siddharta 1901–1990 Gautama 30–33 ■ Confucius 34–39 ■ Hajime Tanabe 244–45 ERNST BLOCH Michael Oakeshott was a British c.1885–1977 political theorist and philosopher. He taught at Cambridge and Oxford ERNST CASSIRER A German Marxist philosopher, universities, before becoming 1874-1945 Ernst Bloch’s work focuses on the Professor of Political Science at the possibility of a humanistic utopian London School of Economics. Works Born in Bresslau, in what is now world, free of exploitation and such as On Being Conservative Poland, the German philosopher oppression. During World War I (1956) and in Politics and Ernst Cassirer lectured at Berlin he took refuge from the conflict in Other Essays (1962) cemented his University and then at Hamburg, Switzerland, and in 1933 fled the fame as a political theorist. He where he had access to the vast Nazis, ending up in the United had an important influence on collection of studies on tribal States. Here he began his key Conservative party politics in the cultures and myths in the Warburg work, The Principle of Hope (1947). late 20th century. However, since Library. These were to inform his After World War II, Bloch taught in he frequently revised his opinions, major work The Philosophy of Leipzig—but with the building of his work defies categorization. Symbolic Forms (1923–29), in which the Berlin Wall in 1961, he sought See also: Edmund Burke 172–73 ■ he incorporated mythical thinking asylum in West Germany. Although Georg Hegel 178–85 into a philosophical system similar he was an atheist, Bloch believed to Immanuel Kant’s. In 1933, Cassirer that religion’s mystical vision of fled Europe to escape the rise of heaven on earth is attainable. AYN RAND , continuing his work in See also: Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ 1905–1982 America, and later Sweden. Karl Marx 196–203 See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ The writer and philosopher Ayn 252–55 Rand was born in Russia, but GILBERT RYLE moved to the United States in 1926. 1900–1976 She was working as a screenwriter GASTON BACHELARD when her The Fountainhead 1884–1962 Born in Brighton on the south coast (1943), the story of an ideal man, of England, Gilbert Ryle studied made her famous. She is the The French philosopher Gaston and taught at Oxford University. He founder of , which Bachelard studied physics before believed that many problems in challenges the idea that man’s switching to philosophy. He taught philosophy arise from the abuse of moral duty is to live for others. at Dijon University, going on to language. He showed that we often Reality exists as an objective become the first professor of history assume expressions that function absolute and man’s reasoning is and philosophy of the sciences at in a similar way grammatically are his manner of perceiving it. the Sorbonne in Paris. His study of members of the same logical See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ thought processes encompasses the category. Such “category mistakes”, Adam Smith 160–63 338 DIRECTORY

JOHN LANGSHAW AUSTIN LOUIS ALTHUSSER RENE GIRARD 1911–1960 1918–1990 1923–

Educated at Oxford University, Born in Algeria, the French Marxist The French philosopher and where he also taught, the British scholar Louis Althusser argued historian René Girard writes and philosopher John Langshaw Austin that there is a radical difference teaches across a wide range of was a leading figure in “ordinary between Marx’s early writings and subjects, from economics to literary language” or “Oxford” philosophy, the “scientific” period of Capital criticism. He is best known for his which became fashionable in the (Das Kapital). The early works of theory of mimetic desire. In Deceit, 1950s. Austin argued that rigorous Marx reflect the times with their Desire and the Novel (1961), Girard analysis of how language operates focus on Hegelian concepts such as uses ancient mythology and modern in ordinary everyday usage can alienation, whereas in the mature fiction to show that human desire, lead to the discovery of the subtle work, history is seen as having its as distinct from animal appetite, is linguistic distinctions needed to own momentum, independent of always aroused by the desire of resolve profound philosophical the intentions and actions of human another. His study of the origins of problems. He is best known from agents. Therefore Althusser’s claim violence, Violence and the Sacred his papers and lectures that were that we are determined by the (1972), goes further by arguing published after his death as How structural conditions of society that this imitated desire leads to to do Things with Words (1962) and involves the controversial rejection conflict and violence. Religion, Sense and Sensibilia (1964). of human autonomy, denying Girard states, originated with the See also: Bertrand Russell individual agency a role in history. process of victimization or sacrifice 236–39 ■ Gilbert Ryle 337 See also: Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ that was used to quell the violence. Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Michel See also: Michel Foucault 302–03 DONALD DAVIDSON Foucault 302–03 ■ Slavoj Žižek 326 1917–2003 GILLES DELEUZE EDGAR MORIN 1925–1995 The American philosopher Donald 1921– Davidson studied at Harvard and Gilles Deleuze was born in Paris went on to a distinguished career The French philosopher Edgar and spent most of his life there. teaching at various American Morin was born in Paris, the son of He saw philosophy as a creative universities. He was involved in Jewish immigrants from Greece. process for constructing concepts, several areas of philosophy, notably His positive view of the progress of rather than an attempt to discover the . He held a Western civilization is tempered by and reflect reality. Much of his work materialist position, stating that what he perceives as the negative was in the history of philosophy, each token mental was also effects of technical and scientific yet his readings did not attempt to a physical event, although he did advances. Progress may create disclose the “true” Nietzsche, for not believe that the mental could be wealth but also seems to bring with example. Instead they rework the entirely reduced to, or explained in it a breakdown of responsibility and conceptual mechanisms of a terms of, the physical. Davidson global awareness. Morin developed philosopher’s subject to produce also made notable contributions to what became known as “complex new ideas, opening up new avenues the , arguing thought” and coined the term of thought. Deleuze is also known for that a language must have a finite “politics of civilization.” His six- collaborations with psychoanalyst number of elements and that its volume Method (1977–2004) is a Félix Guattari—Anti-Oedipus (1972) meaning is a product of these compendium of his thoughts and and What is Philosophy (1991)—and elements and rules of combination. ideas, offering a broad insight into for his commentaries on literature, See also: Ludwig Wittgenstein the nature of human enquiry. film, and art. 246–51 ■ Willard Van Orman See also: Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■ See also: 226–27 ■ Quine 278–79 Jürgen Habermas 306–07 Michel Foucault 302–03 DIRECTORY 339

NIKLAS LUHMANN DANIEL DENNETT MARTHA NUSSBAUM 1927–1998 1942– 1947–

Born in Lüneburg, Germany, Niklas Born in Beirut, the American Born in New York City, American Luhmann was captured by the philosopher Daniel Dennett is an philosopher Martha Nussbaum is Americans during World War II, acclaimed expert on the nature of the Ernst Freund Distinguished when he was just 17. After the war cognitive systems. Professor of Service Professor of Law and Ethics he worked as a lawyer until, in Philosophy at Tufts University, at the University of Chicago. She 1962, he took a sabbatical to study Massachusetts, he is noted for has published numerous books sociology in America. He went his wide-ranging expertise in and papers, mainly on ethics and on to become one of the most linguistics, artificial intelligence, , where the rigor important and prolific social neuroscience, and psychology. of her academic enquiry is always theorists of the 20th century. Using memorable and creative informed by a passionate Luhmann developed a grand labels, such as “Joycean machine” liberalism. Her exploration of theory, to explain every element for stream of consciousness, he ancient Greek ethics, The Fragility of social life, from complex well- argues that the source of free will of Goodness (1986), first brought established societies to the briefest and consciousness is the brain’s her acclaim, but she is now equally of exchanges, lasting just seconds. computational circuitry, which well-known for her liberal views on In his most important work, The tricks us into thinking we are more feminism, as expressed in Sex and Society of Society (1997), he argues intelligent than we actually are. Social Justice (1999), which argues that communication is the only See also: Gilbert Ryle 337 ■ for radical change in gender and genuinely social phenomenon. Willard Van Orman Quine 278–79 ■ family relationships. See also: Jürgen Habermas 306-07 Michel Foucault 302–03 See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ 294–95 MICHEL SERRES MARCEL GAUCHET 1930– 1946– ISABELLE STENGERS 1949– The French author and philosopher The French philosopher, historian, Michel Serres studied mathematics and sociologist Marcel Gauchet Isabelle Stengers was born in before taking up philosophy. He is has written widely on democracy Belgium and studied chemistry a professor at Stanford University and the role of religion in the at the Free University of Brussels, in California and a member of the modern world. He is the editor of where she is now Professor of prestigious Académie Française. the intellectual French periodical Philosophy. She was awarded the His lectures and books are Le Débat and a professor at the grand prize for philosophy by the presented in French, with an École des Hautes Etudes en Académie Française in 1993. A elegance and fluidity that is hard Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. distinguished thinker on science, to translate. His post-humanist His key work, The Disenchantment Stengers has written extensively enquiries take the form of “maps”, of the World: A Political History of about modern scientific processes, where the journeys themselves Religion (1985), explores the modern with a focus on the use of science play an major role. He has been cult of in the context for social ends and its relationship described as a “thinker for whom of man’s religious past. As religious to power and authority. Her books voyaging is invention”, finding belief declines across the Western include Power and Invention (1997) truths in the chaos, discord, and world, Gauchet argues that elements and The Invention of Modern disorder revealed in the links of the sacred has been incorporated Science (2000), and Order Out of between the sciences, arts, and into human relationships and other Chaos (1984) with the Nobel Prize- contemporary culture. social activities. winning chemist Ilya Prigogine. See also: Roland Barthes 290–91 ■ See also: Maurice Merleau-Ponty See also: Alfred North Whitehead Jacques Derrida 308–13 274–75 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03 336 ■ Edgar Morin 338 340 GLOSSARY the Absolute Ultimate reality A priori Something known to be The view that conceived of as an all-embracing, valid in advance of (or without nothing can happen other than single principle. Some thinkers need of) experience. what does happen, because every have identified this principle with event is the necessary outcome God; others have believed in the Argument A process of reasoning of causes preceding it—which Absolute but not in God; others in logic that purports to show its themselves were the necessary have not believed in either. The conclusion to be true. outcome of causes preceding them. philosopher most closely associated The opposite is indeterminism. with the idea is Georg Hegel. Category The broadest class or group into which things can be Dialectic i) Skill in questioning or A branch of philosophy divided. Aristotle and Immanuel argument. ii) The idea that any concerned with the principles of art Kant both tried to provide a assertion, whether in word or deed, and the notion of beauty. complete list of categories. evokes opposition, the two of which are reconciled in a synthesis that Agent The doing self, as distinct Concept A thought or idea; the includes elements of both. from the knowing self; the self that meaning of a word or term. decides or chooses or acts. Dualism A view of something as Contingent May or may not be the made up of two irreducible parts, Analysis The search for a deeper case; things could be either way. such as the idea of human understanding of something by The opposite is necessary. as consisting of bodies and minds, taking it to pieces and looking at the two being radically unlike. each part. The opposite approach Contradictory Two statements is synthesis. are contradictory if one must be Emotive Expressing emotion. In true and the other false: they philosophy the term is often used A view of cannot both be true, nor can they in a derogatory way for utterances philosophy that sees its aim as both be false. that pretend to be objective or clarification—the clarification of impartial while in fact expressing concepts, statements, methods, Contrary Two statements are emotional attitudes, as for example arguments, and theories by contrary if they cannot both be in “emotive definition.” carefully taking them apart. true but may both be false. Empirical knowledge Knowledge Analytic statement A statement Corroboration Evidence that of the empirical world. whose truth or falsehood can be lends support to a conclusion established by analysis of the without necessarily proving it. Empirical statement A statement statement itself. The opposite is about the empirical world; what is a synthetic statement. Cosmology The study of the whole or could be experienced. universe, the cosmos. Anthropomorphism The Empirical world The world as attribution of human characteristics Deduction Reasoning from the revealed to us by our actual or to something that is not human; for general to the particular—for possible experience. instance to God or to the weather. instance, “If all men are mortal then Socrates, being a man, must be Empiricism The view that all A posteriori Something that can mortal.” It is universally agreed that knowledge of anything that be considered valid only by means deduction is valid. The opposite actually exists must be derived of experience. process is called induction. from experience. GLOSSARY 341

Epistemology The branch of Hypothesis A theory whose truth Logic The branch of philosophy philosophy concerned with what is assumed for the time being that makes a study of rational sort of thing, if anything, we can because it forms a useful starting argument itself—its terms, know; how we know it; and what point for further investigation, concepts, rules, and methods. knowledge is. In practice it is the despite limited evidence to prove dominant branch of philosophy. its validity. The view that the only empirical statements Essence The essence of a thing is Idealism The view that reality that are meaningful are those that that which is distinctive about it consists ultimately of something are verifiable. and makes it what it is. For instance, nonmaterial, whether it be mind, the essence of a unicorn is that it is the contents of mind, spirits, or The doctrine that a horse with a single horn on its one spirit. The opposite point of all real existence is ultimately of head. Unicorns do not exist of view is materialism. something material. The opposite course—so essence does not imply point of view is idealism. existence. This distinction is Indeterminism The view that not important in philosophy. all events are necessary outcomes The branch of of events that may have preceeded philosophy that looks at the nature Ethics A branch of philosophy them. The opposite is point of view and methods of philosophy itself. that is concerned with questions is determinism. about how we should live, and Metaphysics The branch of therefore about the nature of right Induction Reasoning from the philosophy concerned with the and wrong, good and bad, ought particular to the general. An ultimate nature of what exists. It and ought not, duty, and other example would be “Socrates died, questions the natural world “from such concepts. Plato died, Aristotle died, and each outside”, and its questions cannot other individual man who was born be answered by science. A philosophy more than 130 years ago has died. that begins with the contingent Therefore all men are mortal.” Methodology The study of methods existence of the individual human Induction does not necessarily yield of enquiry and argument. being and regards that as the results that are true, so whether it primary enigma. It is from this is genuinely a logical process is A view of something as starting point that philosophical disputed. The opposite process is formed by a single element; for understanding is pursued. called deduction. example, the view that human beings do not consist of elements Fallacy A seriously wrong Direct knowing, whether that are ultimately separable, like argument, or a false conclusion by sensory perception or by insight; a body and a soul, but are of one based on such an argument. a form of knowledge that makes no single substance. use of reasoning. Falsifiability A statement, or set Intuitive knowledge of statements, is falsifiable if it Irreducible An irreducible thing that transcends the natural world. can be proved wrong by empirical is one that cannot be brought to a testing. According to Karl Popper, simpler or reduced form. The view that reality falsifiability is what distinguishes is explicable without reference to science from nonscience. Linguistic philosophy Also anything outside the natural world. known as linguistic analysis. The A philosophical view that philosophical problems Necessary Must be the case. The approach based on the assumption arise from a muddled use of opposite is contingent. Hume that mankind is the most important language, and are to be solved, or believed that necessary connections thing that exists, and that there can dissolved, by a careful analysis existed only in logic, not in the real be no knowledge of a supernatural of the language in which they world, a view that has been upheld world, if any such world exists. have been expressed. by many philosophers since. 342 GLOSSARY

Necessary and sufficient Phenomenon An experience that A theory of truth. conditions For X to be a husband is immediately present. If I look at It holds that a statement is true if it is a necessary condition for X to an object, the object as experienced it does all the jobs required of it: be married. However, this is not a by me is a phenomenon. Immanuel accurately describes a situation; sufficient condition—for what if X Kant distinguished this from the prompts us to anticipate experience is female? A sufficient condition for object as it is in itself, independently correctly; fits in with already well- X to be a husband is that X is both of being experienced: this he called attested statements; and so on. a man and married. One of the the noumenon. commonest forms of error in Premise The starting point of an thinking is to mistake necessary Philosophy Literally, “the love of argument. Any argument has to conditions for sufficient conditions. wisdom.” The word is widely used start from at least one premise, and for any sustained rational reflection therefore does not prove its own Noncontradictory Statements are about general principles that has premises. A valid argument proves considered noncontradictory if their the aim of achieving a deeper that its conclusions follow from its truth-values are independent of understanding. Philosophy provides premises—but this is not the same one another. training in the disciplined analysis as proving that its conclusions are and clarification of arguments, true, which is something no Noumenon The unknowable theories, methods, and utterances argument can do. reality behind what presents itself of all kinds, and the concepts of to human consciousness, the latter which they make use. Traditionally, Presupposition Something taken being known as phenomenon. A its ultimate aim has been to attain for granted but not expressed. All thing as it is in itself, independently a better understanding of the world, utterances have presuppositions, of being experienced, is said to be though in the 20th century a good and these may be conscious or the noumenon. “The noumenal” has deal of philosophy became devoted unconscious. If a presupposition is therefore become a term for the to attaining a better understanding mistaken, an utterance based on it ultimate nature of reality. of its own procedures. may also be mistaken, though the mistake may not evident in the Numinous Anything regarded as The utterance itself. The study of mysterious and awesome, bearing branch of philosophy that looks at philosophy teaches us to become intimations from outside the natural human belief systems and the real more aware of presuppositions. realm. Not to be confused with the or imaginary objects, such as gods, noumenal; see noumenon above. that form the basis for these beliefs. Primary and secondary qualities John Locke divided the properties A branch of philosophy Philosophy of science A branch of a physical object into those that asks what actually exists, as of philosophy concerned with the that are possessed by the object distinct from the nature of our nature of scientific knowledge and independently of being experienced, knowledge of it, which is covered the practice of scientific endeavor. such as its location, dimensions, by the branch of . velocity, mass, and so on (which he Ontology and epistemology taken Political philosophy The branch called primary qualities), and those together constitute the central of philosophy that questions the that involve the interaction of an tradition of philosophy. nature and methods of the state experiencing observer, such as the and deals with such subjects as object’s color and taste (which he Phenomenology An approach justice, law, social hierarchies, called secondary qualities). to philosophy which investigates political power, and constitutions. objects of experience (known as Property In philosophy this phenomena) only to the extent Postmodernism A viewpoint that word is commonly used to mean a that they manifest themselves in holds a general distrust of theories, characteristic; for example “fur or our consciousness, without making narratives, and ideologies that hair is a defining property of a any assumptions about their attempt to put all knowledge into mammal.” See also primary and nature as independent things. a single framework. secondary qualities. GLOSSARY 343

Rational Based on, or according Synthetic statement A statement Universalism The belief that to, the principles of reason or logic. that has to be set against facts we should apply to ourselves the outside itself for its truth to be same standards and values that we Proposition The content of a determined. The opposite is an apply to others. Not to be confused statement that confirms or denies analytic statement. with universal, above. whether something is the case, and is capable of being true or false. Teleology A study of ends or A theory of politics goals. A teleological explanation and ethics that judges the morality Rationalism The view that we is one that explains something in of actions by their consequences, can gain knowledge of the world terms of the ends that it serves. that regards the most desirable through the use of reason, without consequence of any action as the relying on sense-perception, which Theology Enquiry into scholarly greatest good of the greatest is regarded by rationalists as and intellectual questions number, and that defines “good” unreliable. The opposite view concerning the nature of God. in terms of pleasure and the is known as empiricism. Philosophy, by contrast, does not absence of . assume the existence of God, Scepticism The view that it is though some philosophers have Validity An argument is valid impossible for us to know anything attempted to prove his existence. if its conclusion follows from its for certain. premises. This does not necessarily Thing-in-itself Another term for mean that the conclusion is true: it Semantics The study of meanings a noumenon, from the German may be false if one of the premises in linguistic expressions. Ding-an-sich. is false, though the argument itself is still valid. Semiotics The study of signs Transcendental Outside the and symbols, in particular their world of sense experience. Verifiability A statement or set relationships with the things they Someone who believes that ethics of statements can be verified if it are meant to signify. are transcendental believes that can be proved to be true by looking ethics have their source outside the at empirical evidence. Logical An implicit empirical world. Thoroughgoing positivists believed that the only agreement among members of a empiricists do not believe that empirical statements that were society to cooperate in order to anything transcendental exists, meaningful were those that were achieve goals that benefit the whole and nor did Friedrich Nietzsche verifiable. David Hume and Karl group, sometimes at the expense or humanist existentialists. Popper pointed out that scientific of individuals within it. laws were unverifiable. Truth-value Either of two values, The view that only the namely true or false, that can be World In philosophy the word existence of the self can be known. applied to a statement. “world” has been given a special sense, meaning “the whole of Someone whose aim in Universal A concept of general empirical reality”, and may argument is not to seek the truth application, like “red” or “woman.” therefore also be equated with but to win the argument. In ancient It has been disputed whether the totality of actual and possible Greece, young men aspiring to universals have an existence of experience. True empiricists public life were taught by their own. Does “redness” exist, or believe that the world is all there is, to learn the various methods of are there only individual red objects? but philosophers with different winning arguments. In the Middle Ages, philosophers views believe that the world does who believed that “redness” had a not account for total reality. Such Synthesis Seeking a deeper real existence were called “realists”, philosophers believe that there is a understanding of something by while philosophers who maintained transcendental realm as well as putting the pieces together. The that it was no more than a word an empirical realm, and they may opposite is analysis. were called “nominalists.” believe that both are equally real.