The symbol of yin and yang is a central one to the philosophy of Taoism. Tao, which means “way,” is concerned primarily with understanding and yielding to the natural order and ebb and flow of existence. Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/duncan1890
Socrates was perhaps the first Western philosopher to focus on the value of human experience, instead of simply examining the world from a distance. He played a role in educating many of the brightest minds of his age, and his development of the Socratic method was one of the key milestones in all of human thought and knowledge. Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/thegreekphotoholic
David Hume was a leading proponent of empiricism, the idea that valid knowledge comes from experience. This basis in rational, empirical study set the stage for many of the scientific and philosophical advances of the later eighteenth century. Photo Credit: 123rf.com
In philosophical terms, Buddhism examines the human failings that Buddhists believe lead to continual rebirth in the “false world” that we all inhabit. In order to escape the cycle of death and reincarnation, it is necessary to quench passion and desire, and to see the world clearly for what it is—the elusive enlightenment. Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/Nikada
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was one of the most influential and important seventeenth-century philosophers, a key voice in the development of rationalism. He was talented across a wide range of disciplines, however, and is credited with inventing calculus independent of Sir Isaac Newton, along with discovering the binary system. Photo Credit: 123rf.com
This image is an encapsulation of Descartes’s famous “Cogito ergo sum” dictum— “I think; therefore I am.” This argument was the cornerstone of Descartes’s philosophy, and accepting this as fact allowed him to move outward and attempt to prove the existence of God, a “philosophical perfection.” Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/zuki
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote an incredible number of philosophical texts, which touched on many different subjects, ranging from natural philosophy and the work of Aristotle to theology and the Bible. His most famous and extensive work, Summa Theologiae, is where Aquinas’s most famous philosophical text, the Five Ways, is found. In this, Aquinas sets out to prove the existence of God. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Via The Yorck Project
Copyright © 2013 by F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews. Published by Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc. 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A. www.adamsmedia.com ISBN 10: 1-4405-6767-0 ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6767-4 eISBN 10: 1-4405-6768-9 eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-6768-1 Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their product are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and F+W Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters. Cover images © Jupiterimages Corporation and 123rf.com. Interior illustrations by Eric Andrews.