The-Philosophy-Book-DK_345

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 299

See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Gilles Deleuze 338

When knowledge becomes data it is
no longer the indefinable matter of
minds, but a commodity that can be
transferred, stored, bought, or sold.

but Lyotard’s definition is very technologies we use to deal with becoming disconnected from
clear. Postmodernism, he writes, it. Computers have fundamentally questions of truth. It is being judged
is a matter of “incredulity towards transformed our attitudes, as not in terms of how true it is, but in
meta-narratives.” Meta-narratives knowledge has become information terms of how well it serves certain
are overarching, single stories that that can be stored in databases, ends. When we cease to ask
attempt to sum up the whole of moved to and fro, and bought and questions about knowledge such
human history, or that attempt to sold. This is what Lyotard calls the as “is it true?” and start asking
put all of our knowledge into a “mercantilization” of knowledge. questions such as “how can this
single framework. Marxism (the be sold?”, knowledge becomes a
view that history can be seen as a This has several implications. commodity. Lyotard is concerned
series of struggles between social The first, Lyotard points out, is that that once this happens, private
classes) is an example of a meta- knowledge is becoming externalized. corporations may begin to seek to
narrative. Another is the idea that It is no longer something that helps control the flow of knowledge, and
humanity’s story is one of progress toward the development of minds; decide who can access what types
toward deeper knowledge and something that might beable to of knowledge, and when. ■
social justice, brought about by transform us. Knowledge is also
greater scientific understanding.

Externalized knowledge
Our incredulity toward these meta-
narratives implies a new scepticism.
Lyotard suggests that this is due to
a shift in the way we have related
to knowledge since World War II,
and to the huge change in the

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard was born a university professor, teaching
in Versailles, France in 1924. He philosophy first at the Sorbonne
studied philosophy and literature and then in many other
at the Sorbonne, Paris, becoming countries around the world,
friends with Gilles Deleuze. After including the US, Canada,
graduating, he taught philosophy Brazil, and France. Lyotard
in schools for several years in retired as Professor Emeritus at
France and Algeria. the University of Paris VIII, and
died of leukemia in 1998.
Lyotard became involved
in radical left-wing politics in the Key works
1950s, and was a well-known
defender of the 1954–62 Algerian 1971 Discourse, Figure
revolution, but his philosophical 1974 Libidinal Economy
development ultimately led him 1979 The Postmodern Condition:
to become disillusioned with the A Report on Knowledge
meta-narratives of Marxism. In 1983 The Differend
the 1970s he began working as

300

FOR THE BLACK MAN,
THERE IS ONLY
ONE DESTINY
AND IT IS WHITE

FRANTZ FANON (1925–1961)

IN CONTEXT P hilosopher and psychiatrist peoples have been formed by
Frantz Fanon first published the dominant colonial culture.
BRANCH his psychoanalytic study of European colonial cultures tended
Political philosophy colonialism and racism, Black Skin, to equate “blackness” with
White Masks, in 1952. In the book impurity, which shaped the self-
APPROACH Fanon attempts to explore the view of those who were subject
Existentialism psychological and social legacy to colonial rule, so that they came
of colonialism among non-white to see the color of their skin as
BEFORE communities around the world. a sign of inferiority.
4th century BCE Aristotle
argues in the Nicomachean In saying that “for the black The only way out of this
Ethics that slavery is a man, there is only one destiny”, predicament seems to be an
natural state. and this destiny is white, Fanon is aspiration to achieve a “white
saying at least two things. First, existence”; but this will always fail,
19th century Africa is he says that “the black man wants because the fact of having dark
partitioned and colonized to be like the white man”; that is, skin will always mean that one will
by European countries. the aspirations of many colonized fail to be accepted as white. For

1930s The French négritude White colonial cultures Colonized people want
movement calls for a unified equate “blackness” to escape from this
black consciousness. “inferior” position.
with inferiority.
AFTER
1977 Steve Biko, an anti- The only escape is Colonized people start
apartheid activist inspired to reject “blackness.” to take on the assumed
by Fanon, dies in police superiority of colonial cultures.
custody in South Africa.
For the black man
1978 Edward Said, influenced there is only one
by Fanon’s work, writes destiny. And it is white.
Orientalism, a post-colonial
study of Western perspectives
on the Middle East in the
19th century.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 301

See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71 ■ Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274–75 ■ Edward Said 321

There is a fact: Fanon writes that “the black man’s address these injustices. “I find
White men consider soul is a white man’s artefact.” In myself in the world and I recognize
themselves superior other words, the idea of what it that I have one right alone,” Fanon
means to be black is the creation writes at the end of his book; “that
to black men. of patterns of fundamentally racist of demanding human behavior from
Frantz Fanon European thought. the other.” Fanon’s thought has been
of widespread importance in anti-
Fanon, this aspiration to achieve Here Fanon is, in part, responding colonial and anti-racist movements,
“a white existence” not only fails to what was known in France as and has influenced social activists
to address racism and inequality, the négritude (or “blackness”) such as anti-apartheid campaigner
but it also masks or even condones movement. This was a movement of Steve Biko and scholars such as
these things by implying that there French and French-speaking black Edward Said. ■
is an “unarguable superiority” to writers from the 1930s who wanted
white existence. to reject the racism and colonialism The inferiority associated with being
of mainstream French culture, and black led many colonized people to
At the same time, Fanon is argued for an independent, shared adopt the “mother country’s cultural
saying something more complex. black culture. But Fanon believes standards”, says Fanon, and even to
It might be thought that, given this that this idea of négritude is one aspire to a “white existence.”
tendency to aspire to a kind of that fails to truly address the
“white existence”, the solution would problems of racism that it seeks to
be to argue for an independent view overcome, because the way that it
of what it means to be black. Yet thinks about “blackness” simply
this, too, is subject to all kinds of repeats the fantasies of mainstream
problems. Elsewhere in his book, white culture.

Human rights
In one sense, Fanon believes that
the solution can only come when
we move beyond racial thinking;
that if we remain trapped within
the idea of race we cannot ever

Frantz Fanon entering France surprised him. It developed leukemia. During his
played a huge role in shaping his illness, he wrote his final book,
Frantz Fanon was born in 1925 philosophy, and one year after The Wretched of the Earth,
in Martinique, a Caribbean qualifying as a psychiatrist in arguing for a different world. It
island that was at that time a 1951, he published his book Black was published in the year of his
French colony. He left Martinique Skin, White Masks. death with a preface by Jean-
to fight with the Free French Paul Sartre, a friend who had
Forces in World War II, after In 1953 Fanon moved to first influenced Fanon, then
which he studied both medicine Algeria where he worked as a been influenced by him.
and psychiatry in Lyon, France. hospital psychiatrist. After two
He also attended lectures on years of hearing his patients’ Key works
literature and philosophy, tales of the torture they endured
including those given by the during the 1954–62 Algerian War 1952 Black Skin, White Masks
philosopher Merleau-Ponty. The of Independence, he resigned his 1959 A Dying Colonialism
young Fanon had thought of government-funded post, moved 1961 The Wretched of the Earth
himself as French, and the to Tunisia, and began working 1969 Toward the African
racism he encountered on first for the Algerian independence Revolution (collected short works)
movement. In the late 1950s, he

302

MAN IS AN
INVENTION OF
RECENT DATE

MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926–1984)

IN CONTEXT We treat the idea But an archaeology of our
of “man” or humankind thinking shows that the idea
BRANCH of “man” arose as an object of
Epistemology as if it is a natural
and eternal idea. study at the beginning
APPROACH of the 19th century.
Discursive archaeology Man is an
invention of
BEFORE recent date.
Late 18th century Immanuel
Kant lays the foundation for the T he idea that man is an we find ourselves. What we take to
19th-century model of “man.” invention of recent date be the “common sense” background
appears in The Order of to how we think and talk about the
1859 Charles Darwin’s On Things: An Archaeology of the world is in fact shaped by these rules
the Origin of Species causes Human Sciences by French and these conditions. However, the
a revolution in how we philosopher Michel Foucault. To rules and conditions change over
understand ourselves. understand what Foucault means time, and consequently so do our
by this, we need to know what he discourses. For this reason, an
1883 Friedrich Nietzsche, means by archaeology, and why he “archaeology” is needed to unearth
in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, thinks that we should apply it both the limits and the conditions
announces that man is to the history of thought. of how people thought and talked
something to be surpassed. about the world in previous ages.
Foucault is interested in how We cannot take concepts that we
AFTER our discourse—the way in which use in our present context (for
1991 Daniel Dennett’s we talk and think about things— example, the concept of “human
Consciousness Explained is formed by a set of largely nature”) and assume that they are
calls into question many of unconscious rules that arise out of somehow eternal, and that all we
our most cherished notions the historical conditions in which
about consciousness.

1991 American philosopher
Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg
Manifesto attempts to imagine
a post-human future.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 303

See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274–75 ■ Daniel Dennett 339

need is a “history of ideas” to trace The 19th century saw a revolution in end—one that may soon be erased
their genealogy. For Foucault, it is anatomy, as shown in this illustration “like a face drawn in the sand at
simply wrong to assume that our from a medical text book. Foucault the edge of the sea.”
current ideas can be usefully believes that our modern concept of
applied to any previous point in man dates from this period. Is Foucault right? In a time of
history. The ways in which we use rapid advances in computing and
the words “man”, “mankind”, and by abandoning the old question human-machine interfaces, and
“human nature”, Foucault believes, “Why is the world the way it is?” when philosophers informed by
are examples of this. and asking “Why do we see the cognitive science, such as Daniel
world the way we do?” We take our Dennett and Dan Wegner, are
The roots of this idea lie firmly idea of what it is to be human as questioning the very nature of
in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, fundamental and unchanging, but subjectivity, it is hard not to feel
who turned philosophy on its head it is in fact only a recent invention. that, even if the face in the sand is
Foucault locates the beginning of not about to be erased, the tide is
our particular idea of “man” at the lapping alarmingly at its edges. ■
beginning of the 19th century,
around the time of the birth of the Man is neither the oldest nor
natural sciences. This idea of “man” the most constant problem
is, Foucault considers, paradoxical:
we see ourselves both as objects in that has been posed for
the world, and so as objects of study, human knowledge.
and as subjects who experience and Michel Foucault
study the world—strange creatures
that look in two directions at once.

The human self-image
Foucault suggests that not only is
this idea of “man” an invention of
recent date, it is also an invention
that may be close to coming to its

Michel Foucault Foucault was born in Poitiers, strikes in Paris of 1968, he
France, in 1926 to a family of became involved in political
doctors. After World War II, he activism, and continued to
entered the École Normale work both as a lecturer and an
Supérieure, where he studied activist for the rest of his life.
philosophy under Maurice
Merleau-Ponty. In 1954 he spent Key works
time in Uppsala, Sweden, and
then lived for a time both in 1961 A History of Madness
Poland and Germany, only 1963 The Birth of the Clinic:
returning to France in 1960. An Archaeology of Medical
Perception
He received a PhD in 1961 for 1966 The Order of Things:
his study A History of Madness, An Archaeology of the
which argued that the distinction Human Sciences
between madness and sanity is 1975 Discipline and Punish:
not real, but a social construct. The Birth of the Prison
After the month-long student

304

IF WE CHOOSE,WE CAN
LIVE IN A WORLD OF
COMFORTING ILLUSION

NOAM CHOMSKY (1928–)

IN CONTEXT A lthough originally famous governments are not by themselves
for his work in linguistics, sufficient for us to reach the truth
BRANCH Noam Chomsky is today about political power. Governments
Ethics best known for his analyses of may speak the language of “facts”
political power. Since the publication as a way of justifying their actions,
APPROACH of his first political book, American but unless their claims are
Universalism Power and the New Mandarins, in supported by evidence, then they
1969, he has claimed that there is are only illusions, and the actions
BEFORE often a mismatch between the way to which they lead lack justification.
c.380 BCE In The Republic, that states exert power and the If we are to understand more clearly
Plato claims that many of rhetorical claims that they make. He how states operate, it is necessary
us live in a world of illusion. maintains that rhetorical claims by to move beyond the battle between

1739 David Hume publishes If we assume that ... we are choosing
A Treatise of Human Nature. our own government is to live in a world of
Though an empiricist, he naturally more ethical comforting illusion.
claims that there must be than other governments...
some fixed principles from
which morality derives. To break with this
illusion we need to…
1785 Immanuel Kant, in
his Groundwork of the ... look at the evidence ... apply the same ethical
Metaphysic of Morals, for what our government principles that we apply
argues that morality should to other governments
be based on universality. actually does.
to our own.
Early 20th century John
Dewey argues that politics
is the shadow cast on society
by big business.

1971 John Rawls revives
Kant’s notion of universality
in his A Theory of Justice.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 305

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■
John Dewey 228–31 ■ John Rawls 294–95

States are not moral agents; out that if anyone making a moral Noam Chomsky
people are. claim is also violating universality,
then their claim cannot be taken Chomsky was born in 1928
Noam Chomsky seriously and should be rejected. in Pennsylvania, USA, and
was raised in a multilingual
rival forms of rhetoric, and instead If we are to cut through the Jewish household. He studied
to look at history, at institutional rhetoric and examine political mathematics, philosophy, and
structures, at official policy morality in a rigorous fashion, linguistics at the University
documents, and so forth. it seems that universality is a of Pennsylvania, where he
necessary starting point. Some of wrote a groundbreaking thesis
Ethics and universality Chomsky’s specific claims about on philosophical linguistics.
Chomsky’s ethical analyses are the nature of global power have In 1957, his book Syntactic
based on what he calls the caused considerable controversy, Structures secured his
“principle of universality.” At root, but this does not invalidate his reputation as one of the
this principle is relatively simple. central insight. For if we wish leading figures in linguistics,
It says that at the very least we to call his specific claims into and revolutionized the field.
should apply to ourselves the same question, then we should do so in
standards that we apply to others. the light of universality and of all Although continuing to
This is a principle that Chomsky the available evidence. If his claims teach and publish in linguistics,
claims has always been central to turn out to be false, then they should Chomsky became increasingly
any responsible system of ethics. be rejected or modified; but if they involved in politics. He was a
The central psychological insight turn out to be true, then they prominent opponent of the
here is that we are fond of using should be acted upon. ■ Vietnam War, which prompted
ethical language as a way of him to publish his critique of
protesting about others, but that we Uncle Sam, the personification of the US intellectual culture, The
are less inclined to pass judgment United States, is one of countless props Responsibility of Intellectuals,
on ourselves. Nevertheless, if we used by governments to foster public in 1967. Today, he continues to
claim to uphold any set of ethical or support. Chomsky warns that such write and lecture on linguistics,
moral standards, and if we wish to images can distract us from the truth. philosophy, politics, and
be consistent, then we must apply international affairs.
to others the standards we apply to
ourselves. In terms of government, Key works
this means that we must analyze
our political actions rigorously, 1967 The Responsibility of
instead of allowing ourselves to Intellectuals
be blinded by rhetoric. 1969 American Power and the
New Mandarins
This is both a moral and an 2001 9-11
intellectual imperative. For Chomsky, 2006 Failed States: The Abuse
these are closely related. He points of Power and the Assault
on Democracy

306

SOCIETY IS
DEPENDENT UPON
A CRITICISM OF ITS
OWN TRADITIONS

JURGEN HABERMAS (1929– )

IN CONTEXT According to the German Reason, for him, is not about
philosopher Jürgen discovering abstract truths, but
BRANCH Habermas, modern society about the need we have to justify
Political philosophy depends not only on technological ourselves to others.
advances, but also upon our ability
APPROACH to criticize and reason collectively Creating a public sphere
Social theory about our own traditions. Reason, In the 1960s and 1970s, Habermas
says Habermas, lies at the heart concluded that there was a link
BEFORE of our everyday communications. between communicative reason
1789 The French Revolution Somebody says or does something, and what he calls the “public
begins, marking the end of and we say, “Why did you do that?” sphere.” Up until the 18th century,
a “representational” power or “Why did you say that?” We he states, European culture was
structure in France. continually ask for justifications, largely “representational”, meaning
which is why Habermas talks that the ruling classes sought to
1791 Jeremy Bentham about “communicative” reason. “represent” themselves to their
writes Of Publicity, an early subjects with displays of power
exploration of the idea of Coffee houses became a focus of that required no justification, such
the “public.” social and political life in the major cities as impressive pageants or grand
of 18th-century Europe. Noted as places architectural projects. But in the
1842 Karl Marx writes his where “the dissaffected met”, attempts 18th century, a variety of public
essay On Freedom of the Press. were frequently made to close them. spaces emerged that were outside
state control, including literary
AFTER salons and coffee houses. These
1986 Edward Said criticizes were places where individuals could
Habermas and the Frankfurt gather to engage in conversation or
School for their Eurocentric reasoned debate. This growth of
views and their silence on the public sphere led to increased
racist theory and imperialism. opportunities to question the
authority of representational state
1999 Canadian author Naomi culture. The public sphere became
Klein’s No Logo explores the a “third space”, a buffer between
fate of the public sphere in an the private space of our immediate
era dominated by advertising friends and family, and the space
and the mass media. occupied by state control.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 307

See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■ Edgar Morin 338 ■
Niklas Luhmann 339 ■ Noam Chomsky 304–05 ■ Edward Said 321

By establishing a public sphere, we A society’s traditions are Individuals need to be
also open up more opportunities for not necessarily in the best able to question and
recognizing that we have interests interests of individuals.
in common with other private change these traditions.
individuals—interests that the
state may fail to serve. This can They can do this by reasoning together
lead to questioning the actions of in the public sphere, which…
the state. Habermas believes that
the growth of the public sphere …builds …brings about …strengthens
helped to trigger the French consensus. change. society.
Revolution in 1789.
Society is dependent upon a
The expansion of the public criticism of its own traditions.
sphere, from the 18th century
onward, has led to a growth of
democratically elected political
institutions, independent courts,
and bills of rights. But Habermas
believes that many of these brakes
on the arbitrary use of power are
now under threat. Newspapers, for
example, can offer opportunities
for reasoned dialogue between
private individuals, but if the press
is controlled by large corporations,
such opportunities may diminish.
Informed debate on issues of
substance is replaced with
celebrity gossip, and we are
transformed from critical, rational
agents into mindless consumers. ■

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas grew up in 1993. More recently, Habermas
Germany under the Nazi regime. has himself taken an active role
His realization that “we had been in the public sphere, entering
living in a criminal system”, into debates on Holocaust denial
following the Nuremburg trials and global terrorism.
(1945–46), was to have a lasting
effect on his philosophy. Key works

On completing his doctorate in 1962 The Structural
1954, he studied with members of Transformation of the
the Frankfurt School, including Public Sphere
Max Horkheimer and Theodor 1981 The Theory of
Adorno. During the 1960s and Communicative Action
1970s, he lectured at universities 1985 The Philosophical
in Bonn and Gottingen. In 1982, he Discourse of Modernity
became Professor of Philosophy at 2005 Between Naturalism
the University at Frankfurt, where and Religion
he taught until his retirement in

THERE IS

NOTHING

OUTSIDE OF THE TEXT

JACQUES DERRIDA (1930–2004)



310 JACQUES DERRIDA

IN CONTEXT We are all mediators, Derrida aims to broaden our
translators. understanding of what texts are
BRANCH and what they do, and to show the
Epistemology Jacques Derrida complexity that lies behind even
the most apparently simple works.
APPROACH Often when we pick up a book, Deconstruction is a way of reading
Deconstruction whether a philosophy book or a texts to bring these hidden
novel, we imagine that what we paradoxes and contradictions out
BEFORE have in our hands is something into the open. This is not, however,
4th century BCE Plato’s Meno that we can understand or interpret just a matter of how we read
explores the idea of “aporia.” as a relatively self-contained whole. philosophy and literature; there are
When it comes to philosophical much broader implications to
Early 20th century Charles texts, we might be expected to Derrida’s approach that bring into
Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand imagine that these are especially question the relationship between
de Saussure begin the study of systematic and logical. Imagine language, thought, and even ethics.
signs and symbols (semiotics), that you go into a bookshop and
which would become a key pick up a copy of Of Grammatology. At this point, it would help to
influence on Of Grammatology. You would think that, if you were to introduce an important technical
read the book, by the end of it you term from Derrida’s vocabulary:
1961 Emmanuel Levinas would have a reasonable grasp of “différance.” This may look like a
publishes Totality and Infinity, what “grammatology” itself might typographical error—and indeed,
which Derrida would respond be, what Derrida’s main ideas were when the term différance first
to in Writing and Difference. on the subject, and what this said entered the French dictionary, the
Levinas becomes a growing about the world. But, for Derrida, story goes that even Derrida’s
influence in Derrida’s later texts do not work in this way. mother sternly said to him, “But
explorations of ethics. Jacques, that is not how you spell
Aporia and différance it!” But in fact différance is a word
AFTER Even the most straightforward that Derrida coined himself to point
1992 English philosopher texts (and Of Grammatology is not to a curious aspect of language.
Simon Critchley’s Ethics of one such text) are riddled with
Deconstruction explores what Derrida calls “aporias”. The “Différance” (with an “a”) is a
aspects of Derrida’s work. word “aporia” comes from the play both on the French “différence”
Ancient Greek, where it means (with an “e”), meaning “to differ”,
J acques Derrida remains one something like “contradiction”, and the French “deférrer” meaning
of the most controversial “puzzle”, or “impasse.” For Derrida, “to defer.” To understand how this
20th-century philosophers. all written texts have such gaps,
His name is associated, first and holes, and contradictions and his A typesetter can check plates of type
foremost, with “deconstruction”, method of deconstruction is a way closely before they are printed, but the
a complex and nuanced approach of reading texts while looking out ideas they express are full of “aporias”,
to how we read and understand the for these puzzles and impasses. In or contradictions, says Derrida, which
nature of written texts. If we are to exploring these contradictions as no amount of analysis can eliminate.
understand what Derrida means they appear in different texts,
when he says in his famous book
Of Grammatology that there is
nothing outside of the text (the
original French is “il n’y a pas de
hors-texte”, also translated as
“there is no outside-text”), we need
to take a closer look at Derrida’s
deconstructive approach in general.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 311

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ Ferdinand de Saussure 223 ■ Emmanuel Levinas 273 ■
Louis Althusser 338 ■ René Girard 338 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03

I try to explain what Derrida
means when he says that “there

is nothing outside of the text.”

But I can never completely
explain the idea because…

The meaning of what we write is, …the meaning of …the meaning of the
for Derrida, changed by what we write what I say depends on words I use depends
next. Even the deceptively simple act what I (or others) go on their relationship
of writing a letter can lead to a deferral
of meaning in the text itself. on to say later. to the words I am
not using.
word works, it would be useful to
consider how this deferring and So meaning is
differing might actually take place always incomplete.
in practice. Let us start with
deferring. Imagine that I say “The So I say more to
cat…”, then I add, “that my friend clarify things.
saw…”. After a pause, I say, “in the
garden was black and white…”, In this way, my explanation …there is
and so on. The precise meaning of of Derrida’s idea can nothing outside
the word “cat” as I am using it is
continually deferred, or put off, as grow until it is infinitely of the text.
more information is given. If I had large, and I realize...
been cut off after saying “The cat…”
and had not mentioned my friend
or the garden, the meaning of “cat”
would have been different. The
more I add to what I say, in other
words, the more the meaning of
what I have already said is revised.
Meaning is deferred in language.

But there is something else
going on as well. The meaning of
“cat”, Derrida believes, cannot be
considered as something that rests
in the relationship between my
words and actual things in the
world. The word takes its ❯❯

312 JACQUES DERRIDA

We think only in signs. latter has been taken as the primary puzzles and the impasses. All of a
Jacques Derrida means of communication. Derrida sudden, language begins to look
wants to reverse this; according to a little more complicated.
meaning from its position in a whole him, the written word shows us
system of language. So when I say something about language that the Questioning meaning
“cat”, this is meaningful not because spoken word does not. When Derrida says that there is
of some mysterious link between nothing outside of the text, he does
the word and an actual cat, but The traditional emphasis on not mean that all that matters is the
because this term differs from, for speech as a means of transmitting world of books, that somehow the
example, “dog” or “lion” or “zebra.” philosophical ideas has fooled us world “of flesh and bone” does not
all, Derrida believes, into thinking matter. Nor is he trying to play
Taken together, these two that we have immediate access to down the importance of any social
ideas of deferring and differing meaning. We think that meaning is concerns that might lie behind the
say something quite strange about about “presence”—when we speak text. So what exactly is he saying?
language in general. On the one with another person, we imagine
hand, the meaning of anything we that they make their thoughts First, Derrida is suggesting that
say is ultimately always deferred, “present” for us, and that we are if we take seriously the idea that
because it depends on what else doing the same for them. If there is meaning is a matter of différance,
we say; and the meaning of that, any confusion, we ask the other of differing and of deferring, then
in turn, depends on what else we person to clarify. And if there are if we want to engage with the
say, and so on. And on the other any puzzles, or aporias, we either question of how we ought think
hand, the meaning of any particular ask for clarification, or these simply about the world, we must always
term we use depends on all the slide past us without our noticing. keep alive to the fact that meaning
things that we don’t mean. So This leads us to think that meaning is never as straightforward as we
meaning is not self-contained in general is about presence—to think it is, and that this meaning
within the text itself. think, for example, that the real is always open to being examined
meaning of “cat” can be found in by deconstruction.
The written word the presence of a cat on my lap.
For Derrida, différance is an aspect Second, Derrida is suggesting
of language that we become aware But when we deal with a that in our thinking, our writing,
of thanks to writing. Since ancient written text, we are freed from this and our speaking, we are always
Greek times, philosophers have naïve belief in presence. Without implicated in all manner of political,
been suspicious of written the author there to make their historical, and ethical questions
language. In Plato’s dialogue, the excuses and explain for us, we start that we may not even recognize or
Phaedrus, Socrates tells a legend to notice the complexities and the acknowledge. For this reason, some
about the invention of writing, and
says that writing provides only “the Derrida’s own thesis that there is nothing
appearance of wisdom” and not its outside of the text is open to be analyzed
reality. Writing, when philosophers using his own deconstructive methods.
have thought about it at all, has Even the idea as explained in this book
tended to be seen simply as a pale is subject to différance.
reflection of the spoken word; the

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 313

Derrida registered his opposition latter’s response to this, perhaps, Jacques Derrida
to the Vietnam War in a lecture given might be to say that the idea of
in the US in 1968. His involvement in having a thesis is itself based on Jacques Derrida was born to
numerous political issues and debates the idea of “presence” that he is Jewish parents in the then
informed much of his later work. attempting to call into question. French colony of Algeria. He
This may seem like dodging the was interested in philosophy
philosophers have suggested that issue; but if we take Derrida’s idea from an early age, but also
deconstruction is essentially an seriously, then we have to admit nurtured dreams of becoming
ethical practice. In reading a text that the idea that there is nothing a professional soccer player.
deconstructively, we call into outside of the text is itself not Eventually it was philosophy
question the claims that it is outside of the text. To take this that won out and, in 1951, he
making, and we open up difficult idea seriously, then, is to treat it entered the École Normale
ethical issues that may have sceptically, to deconstruct it, and Supérieure in Paris. There he
remained hidden. Certainly in to explore the puzzles, impasses, formed a friendship with Louis
his later life, Derrida turned his and contradictions that—according Althusser, also of Algerian
attention to some of the very real to Derrida himself—lurk within it. ■ origin, who, like Derrida, went
ethical puzzles and contradictions on to become one of the most
that are raised by ideas such as prominent thinkers of his day.
“hospitality” and “forgiveness.”
The publication in 1967 of
Critics of Derrida I never give in Of Grammatology, Writing and
Given that Derrida’s idea is based to the temptation to Difference, and Speech and
on the notion that meaning can be difficult just for the Phenomena sealed Derrida’s
never be completely present in the sake of being difficult. international reputation. A
text, it is perhaps not surprising Jacques Derrida regular visiting lecturer at a
that Derrida’s work can often be number of European and
difficult. Michel Foucault, one of American universities, he took
Derrida’s contemporaries, attacked up the post of Professor of
Derrida’s thinking for being wilfully Humanities at the University
obscure; he protested that often it of California, Irvine, in 1986.
was impossible to say exactly what His later work increasingly
Derrida’s thesis actually was. The focused on issues of ethics,
partly due to the influence
of Emmanuel Levinas.

Key works

1967 Of Grammatology
1967 Writing and Difference
1967 Speech and Phenomena
1994 The Politics of Friendship

THERE IS NOTHING

DEEP DOWN INSIDE US

EXCEPT

WHAT WE HAVE PUT THERE

OURSELVES

RICHARD RORTY (1931–2007)



316 RICHARD RORTY T he soul is a curious thing. Philosophy makes
Even if we cannot say progress not by becoming
IN CONTEXT much about our souls or
describe what a soul is like, many more rigorous but by
BRANCH of us nonetheless hold firmly to becoming more imaginative.
Ethics the belief that, somewhere deep
down, we each have such a thing. Richard Rorty
APPROACH Not only this, we might claim that
Pragmatism this thing is the fundamental self pragmatists consider statements in
(“me”) and, at the same time, is quite a different way, asking instead:
BEFORE somehow connected directly with “what are the practical implications
5th century BCE Socrates the truth or reality. of accepting this as true?”
disputes the nature of justice,
goodness, and other concepts The tendency to picture Rorty’s first major book,
with the citizens of Athens. ourselves as possessing a kind of Philosophy and the Mirror of
“double”—a soul or a deep self that Nature, published in 1979, was an
4th century BCE Aristotle “uses Reality’s own language”—is attempt to argue against the idea
writes a treatise on the nature explored by American philosopher that knowledge is a matter of
of the soul. Richard Rorty in the introduction correctly representing the world,
to his book, The Consequences of like some kind of mental mirror.
1878 Charles Sanders Peirce Pragmatism (1982). Rorty argues Rorty argues that this view of
coins the term “pragmatism.” that, to the extent that we have knowledge cannot be upheld, for
such a thing at all, a soul is a two reasons. First, we assume that
1956 American philosopher human invention; it is something our experience of the world is
Wilfrid Sellars publishes that we have put there ourselves. directly “given” to us—we assume
Empiricism and the Philosophy that what we experience is the raw
of Mind, calling into question Knowledge as a mirror
the “myth of the given.” Rorty was a philosopher who worked
within the American tradition of
AFTER pragmatism. In considering a
1994 South-African-born statement, most philosophical
philosopher John McDowell traditions ask “is this true?” , in
publishes Mind and World, a the sense of: “does this correctly
book strongly influenced by represent the way things are?”. But
Rorty’s work.

Some theories of knowledge claim that we gain
knowledge by processing “raw data” like a camera
captures light, but Rorty says our perceptions
are tangled up with our beliefs, which we
impose on things in the world.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 317

See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ William James 206–09 ■ John Dewey 228–31 ■
Jürgen Habermas 306–07

data of how the world is. Second, When we say ‘‘I know in
we assume that once this raw data my heart it is wrong…’’
has been collected, our reason (or
some other faculty of mind) then …we assume there …we assume that
starts to work on it, reconstructing is an eternal truth the knowledge we have
how this knowledge fits together about ‘‘wrongness.’’ is certain knowledge.
as a whole, and mirroring what is
in the world. But we cannot find But absolutely certain
any eternal truths knowledge of how things
Rorty follows the philosopher
Wilfrid Sellars in claiming that about ethics. are is not possible.
the idea of experience as “given”
is a myth. We cannot ever access is a matter of conversation
anything like raw data—it is not and social practice.
possible for us to experience a dog,
for instance, outside of thought or There is nothing
language. We only become aware of deep down inside us
something through conceptualizing except what we have
it, and our concepts are learned put there ourselves.
through language. Our perceptions
are therefore inextricably tangled up
with the habitual ways that we use
language to divide up the world.

Rorty suggests that knowledge
is not so much a way of mirroring
nature as “a matter of conversation
and social practice.” When we
decide what counts as knowledge,
our judgement rests not on how
strongly a “fact” correlates to the
world, so much as whether it is
something “that society lets us
say.” What we can and cannot
count as knowledge is therefore
limited by the social contexts that
we live in, by our histories, and by
what those around us will allow us
to claim. “Truth,” said Rorty, “is
what your contemporaries let you
get away with saying.”

Reasons for judgement
But does truth really reduce down to
a matter of what we can get away
with? Rorty is aware that there are
some disturbing implications here,
especially in questions of ethics.
Imagine, for instance, that I kidnap
my neighbor’s pet hamster and ❯❯

318 RICHARD RORTY

Using children as soldiers may seem What sort of a world can when we say “I know, in my heart
intrinsically wrong, but Rorty says there we prepare for our of hearts, that it is wrong”, we are
are no ethical absolutes. Ethics is a speaking as if there is something
matter of doing our best, in solidarity great-grandchildren? out there in the world that is
with others, to realize a better world. Richard Rorty “wrongness”, and that this thing is
knowable. Or, as some philosophers
subject it to all manner of cruel moral philosophers being the kinds put it, we are speaking as if there
tortures, simply for the fun of of beings they are, you might find is an essence of “wrongness” to
hearing it squeak. We might all that for every reason you can think which this particular instance
agree that doing such a thing to the of, your philosopher friend has a of wrongness corresponds.
poor hamster (or, for that matter, counter-reason or leads you into
doing such a thing to my neighbor) some kind of contradiction. Second, by saying that we just
is a morally blameable act. We “know” in our heart of hearts, we
might claim that there is something This is, in fact, precisely what imply that this mysterious entity
absolutely and fundamentally the philosopher Socrates did in —our “heart of hearts”—is a thing
wrong about doing such a thing to ancient Athens. Socrates wanted that, for reasons unknown, has a
another living being; and we might to find out what concepts such as particular grasp of truth.
all agree that we ought not let other “goodness” and “justice” really
people get away with such things. were, so he questioned people who Third, we seem to be speaking
used these concepts, to find out as if there is a straightforward
But when we look at the reasons whether they really knew what relationship between our “heart
that we give for saying that this is these things were. As the dialogues of hearts” and this “wrongness”
a morally blameable act, things of Plato show, most of the people that lies out there in the world,
become interesting. For example, Socrates talked to were surprisingly such that if we know something
imagine that you are asked by unclear about what it was they in our heart of hearts, we can have
a particularly awkward moral were actually talking about, despite access to an absolutely certain kind
philosopher why it is wrong to treat their earlier conviction that they of knowledge. In other words, this
hamsters (or horses, or humans) fully grasped the relevant concepts. is just another version of the idea
in this way. At first you might In the same way, after an hour or that knowledge is a way of mirroring
suggest all manner of reasons. But two of being interrogated by a the world. And this, Rorty believes,
philosophy being what it is, and modern-day Socrates about how is unacceptable.
to treat hamsters, you might blurt
out in frustration the following A world without absolutes
sentence: “But I just know, in my In order for his beliefs to be
heart of hearts, that it is wrong!” consistent, Rorty has to give up
on the idea of fundamental moral
My heart of hearts truths. There can be no absolute
We say or think this kind of thing right or wrong if knowledge is
relatively frequently, but it is not
immediately clear what exactly we If we can rely on
mean. To examine the idea more one another, we need
closely, we can break it down into not rely on anything else.
three parts. First, it seems that
Richard Rorty

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 319

“what society lets us say.” Rorty gone away or ceased to matter. Richard Rorty
recognizes that this is a difficult These problems are still with us,
thing to accept. But is it necessary and in the absence of absolute Richard Rorty was born in
to believe that on doing something moral laws we are thrown back New York, USA in 1931. His
morally wrong you are betraying upon our own resources. We are parents were political activists,
something deep within you? Must left, Rorty writes, with “our loyalty and Rorty describes his early
you believe that there is “some to other human beings clinging years as being spent reading
truth about life, or some absolute together against the dark.” There about Leon Trotsky, the
moral law, that you are violating” is no absolute sense of rightness Russian revolutionary. He said
in order to maintain even a shred of and wrongness to be discovered. that he knew by the age of 12
human decency? Rorty thinks not. So we simply have to hold on to that “the point of being human
He maintains that we are finite our hopes and loyalties, and was to spend one’s life fighting
beings, whose existence is limited continue to participate in involved social injustice.” He began
to a short time on Earth, and none conversations in which we talk attending the University of
of us have a hotline to some deeper, about these difficult issues. Chicago early, at the age of 15,
more fundamental moral truth. going on to take a PhD at Yale
However, this does not imply that Perhaps, Rorty is saying, these in 1956. He was then drafted
the problems of life have either things are enough: the humility into the army for two years,
that comes from recognizing that before becoming a professor.
We do not need to believe in an there is no absolute standard of He wrote his most important
absolute moral law in order to live as truth; the solidarity we have with book, Philosophy and the
ethical beings. Conversation, social hope, others; and our hopes that we may Mirror of Nature, while
and solidarity with others allow us to be able to contribute to, and to professor of philosophy at
form a working definition of “the good.” bequeath to those who come after Princeton. He wrote widely
us, a world that is worth living in. ■ on philosophy, literature, and
politics and, unusually for a
20th-century philosopher, drew
on both the so-called analytic
and the continental traditions.
Rorty died of cancer aged 75.

Key works

1979 Philosophy and the
Mirror of Nature
1989 Contingency, Irony,
and Solidarity
1998 Achieving Our Country
2001 Philosophy and Social
Hope

320

EVERY DESIRE
HAS A RELATION
TO MADNESS

LUCE IRIGARAY (1932– )

IN CONTEXT T he Belgian philosopher and authentically female ways of
analyst Luce Irigaray is speaking and desiring that are
BRANCH concerned above all else free from male-centeredness.
Political philosophy with the idea of sexual difference.
A former student of Jacques Lacan, Wisdom and desire
APPROACH a psychoanalyst who famously To address this problem, Irigaray
Feminism explored the linguistic structure suggests that all thinking—even
of the unconscious, Irigaray claims the most apparently sober and
BEFORE that all language is essentially objective-sounding philosophy,
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft’s masculine in nature. with its talk of wisdom, certainty,
A Vindication of the Rights of rectitude, and moderation—is
Woman first initiates serious In Sex and Genealogies (1993) underpinned by desire. In failing
debate about the place of she writes: “Everywhere, in to acknowledge the desire that
women in society. everything, men’s speech, men’s underpins it, traditional male-
values, dreams, and desires are centered philosophy has also failed
1890s Austrian psychologist law.” Irigaray’s feminist work can to acknowledge that beneath its
Sigmund Freud establishes be seen as a struggle to find apparent rationality simmer all
his psychoanalytic method, manner of irrational impulses.
which will greatly influence One must assume the
Irigaray’s work. feminine role deliberately. Irigaray suggests that each sex
has its own relationship to desire,
1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s Luce Irigaray and as a result each sex has a
The Second Sex explores relation to madness. This calls
the implications of sexual into question the long tradition
difference. of equating maleness with this
rationality, and femaleness with
AFTER irrationality. It also opens the
1993 Luce Irigaray turns to way to the possibility of new
non-Western modes of thought ways of writing and thinking
about sexual difference in about philosophy, for both men
An Ethics of Sexual Difference. and women. ■

See also: Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Hélène Cixous 322 ■ Julia Kristeva 323

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 321

EVERY EMPIRE TELLS
ITSELF AND THE WORLD
THAT IT IS UNLIKE ALL
OTHER EMPIRES

EDWARD SAID (1935–2003)

IN CONTEXT T he Palestinian writer civilization to the world—a view
Edward Said was one of not shared by the people they
BRANCH the 20th century’s foremost claimed to be helping. Empires
Political philosophy critics of imperialism. In 1978 he plunder and control, while masking
published Orientalism, which their abuses of power by talking
APPROACH explored how the depictions of about their “civilizing” missions.
Post-colonialism Islamic societies by 19th-century If this is the case, Said warns, we
European scholars were closely should be wary of present-day
BEFORE related to the imperialist ideologies claims by any state undertaking
19th century European of European states. foreign interventions. ■
scholars research the histories
of their colonial subjects. In his later work, Said remained The British Empire was one of many
critical of all forms of imperialism, 19th-century empires that claimed
1940S In the aftermath of past and present. He points out that to believe it was bringing the benefits
World War II, the European although we may be critical of of civilization to the countries it
colonial empires begin to empires of the past, these empires colonized, such as India.
fragment and collapse. saw themselves as bringing

1952 Frantz Fanon writes See also: Frantz Fanon 300–01 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03 ■ Noam Chomsky 304–05
Black Skin, White Masks, an
early study of the damage
caused by colonialism.

AFTER
1988 Indian philosopher
Gayatri Spivak publishes
Can the Subaltern Speak?
examining post-colonialism.

From 2000 Scholars such as
Noam Chomsky increasingly
interpret American global
power according to a model
of imperialism.

322

THOUGHT HAS
ALWAYS WORKED
BY OPPOSITION

HELENE CIXOUS (1937– )

IN CONTEXT I n 1975, the French poet, Woman must write
novelist, playwright, and herself and bring woman
BRANCH philosopher Hélène Cixous
Epistemology wrote Sorties, her influential into literature.
exploration of the oppositions that Hélène Cixous
APPROACH often define the way we think
Feminism about the world. For Cixous, a philosophical systems, but also for
thread that runs through centuries our social and political institutions.
BEFORE of thought is our tendency to group Cixous herself, however, refuses to
1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s elements of our world into opposing play the game of setting up binary
The Second Sex explores the pairs, such as culture/nature, day/ oppositions, of victors and losers,
philosophical implications of night, and head/heart. Cixous as a structural framework for our
sexual difference. claims that these pairs of elements thinking. Instead she conjures up
are always by implication ranked the image of “millions of species
1962 French anthropologist hierarchically, underpinned by a of mole as yet not recognized”,
Claude Lévi-Strauss writes tendency to see one element as tunnelling away under the edifices
The Savage Mind, a study of being dominant or superior and of our world view. And what will
binary oppositions in culture. associated with maleness and happen when these edifices start to
activity, while the other element or crumble? Cixous does not say. It is
1967 Controversial French weaker aspect is associated with as if she is telling us that we can
philosopher Jacques Derrida femaleness and passivity. make no assumptions, that the only
publishes Of Grammatology, thing we can do is wait and see. ■
introducing the concept of Time for change
deconstruction, which Cixous Cixous believes that the authority
uses in her study of gender. of this hierarchical pattern of
thinking is now being called into
AFTER question by a new blossoming of
1970s The French literary feminist thought. She questions
movement of écriture féminine what the implications of this
(“women’s writing”) explores change might be, not only for our
appropriate use of language in
feminist thinking, taking its See also: Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■
inspiration from Cixous. Jacques Derrida 308–13 ■ Julia Kristeva 323 ■ Martha Nussbaum 339

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 323

WHO PLAYS GOD
IN PRESENT-DAY
FEMINISM?

JULIA KRISTEVA (1941– )

IN CONTEXT B ulgarian-born philosopher to be successful in achieving true
and psychoanalyst Julia emancipation, it must constantly
BRANCH Kristeva is often regarded question its relationship to power
Political philosophy as one of the leading voices in and established social systems—
French feminism. Nevertheless, and, if necessary “renounce belief
APPROACH the question of whether, or in what in its own identity.” If the feminist
Feminism way, Kristeva is a feminist thinker movement fails to take these steps,
has been subject to considerable Kristeva fears that it is in serious
BEFORE debate. Part of the reason for this danger of developing into little
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft’s is that for Kristeva herself, the very more than an additional strand
A Vindication of the Rights notion of feminism is problematic. in the ongoing game of power. ■
of Woman initiates serious Feminism has arisen out of the
debate about the nature of the conflict women have had with Margaret Thatcher, like many
roles women are conditioned the structures that are associated women who have achieved positions
to play in society. with male dominance or power. of great power, modified her public
Because of these roots, Kristeva image to incorporate classic male
1807 Georg Hegel explores warns, feminism carries with it concepts of strength and authority.
the dialectic between some of the same male-centered
“master” and “slave” in presuppositions that it is seeking
Phenomenology of Spirit. to question.

1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s If the feminist movement is
The Second Sex is published, to realize its goals fully, Kristeva
rapidly becoming a key text in believes that it is essential for it to
the French feminist movement. be more self-critical. She warns
that by seeking to fight what she
AFTER calls the “power principle” of a
1999 In their book Fashionable male-dominated world, feminism
Nonsense, physics professors is at risk of adopting yet another
Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont form of this principle. Kristeva is
criticize Kristeva’s misuse convinced that for any movement
of scientific language.

See also: Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■
Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Hélène Cixous 322 ■ Martha Nussbaum 339

324

PHILOSOPHY IS NOT
ONLY A WRITTEN
ENTERPRISE

HENRY ODERA ORUKA (1944–1995)

IN CONTEXT H enry Odera Oruka was philosophers in general tend to work
born in Kenya in 1944 with written texts. Some people
BRANCH and he was interested in have claimed that philosophy is
Metaphilosophy metaphilosophy, or philosophizing necessarily connected with written
about philosophy. In his book Sage recording, but Oruka disagrees.
APPROACH Philosophy (1994), he looks at why
Ethnography philosophy in sub-Saharan Africa In order to explore philosophy
has often been overlooked, and within the oral traditions of Africa,
BEFORE concludes that it is because it is Oruka proposed an approach that
600–400 BCE Greek thinkers primarily an oral tradition, while he called “philosophic sagacity”. He
such as Thales, Pythagoras, borrowed the ethnographic approach
and Plato all study in Egypt, Oruka claims that philosophy has of anthropology, where people are
Africa, which was a center of decreed the thoughts of certain races observed in their everyday settings,
philosophical study in the to be more important than others, but it and their thoughts and actions
ancient world. must encompass the sayings of African recorded in context. Oruka himself
sages just as it does Greek sages. traveled into villages and recorded
AFTER conversations with people who
20th century After the retreat were considered wise by their local
of European colonial power, community. His aim was to find out
African philosophy begins to whether they had systematic views
flourish across the continent. underpinning their perspectives.
The growth of anthropology Those sages who had critically
and ethnography also leads examined their ideas about
to a deeper understanding traditional philosophical topics,
of indigenous traditions of such as God or freedom, and found
thought in Africa. a rational foundation for them could,
Oruka believes, be considered
Late 20th century Ghanian philosophic sages. These systematic
philosopher Kwasi Wiredu views deserve to be explored in
argues that philosophic the light of wider philosophical
sagacity and folk wisdom concerns and questions. ■
must be distinguished from
philosophy proper. See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Friedrich Schlegel 177 ■ Jacques Derrida 308–13

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 325

IN SUFFERING,
THE ANIMALS
ARE OUR EQUALS

PETER SINGER (1946– )

IN CONTEXT T he Australian philosopher cause such pain. However, like
Peter Singer became known all utilitarians, Singer applies the
BRANCH as one of the most active “greatest happiness principle”,
Ethics advocates of animal rights following which says that we should make
the publication of his book Animal decisions in such a way that they
APPROACH Liberation in 1975. Singer takes result in the greatest happiness
Utilitarianism a utilitarian approach to ethics, for the greatest number. Singer
following the tradition developed points out that he has never said
BEFORE by Englishman Jeremy Bentham in that no experiment on an animal
c.560 BCE Indian sage and the late 18th century. could ever be justified; rather that
Jainist leader Mahavira calls we should judge all actions by their
for strict vegetarianism. Utilitarianism asks us to judge consequences, and “the interests
the moral value of an act by the of animals count among those
1789 Jeremy Bentham sets consequences of that act. For consequences”; they form part
out the theory of utilitarianism Bentham, the way to do this is by of the equation. ■
in his book, Introduction to calculating the sum of pleasure or
the Principles of Morals and pain that results from our actions,
Legislation, arguing: “each to like a mathematical equation.
count for one, and none for
more than one.” Animals are sentient beings The value of life is a
Singer’s utilitarianism is based notoriously difficult
1863 In his book Utilitarianism, on what he refers to as an “equal
John Stuart Mill develops consideration of interests.” Pain, he ethical question.
Bentham’s utilitarianism from says, is pain, whether it is yours or Peter Singer
an approach that considers mine or anybody else’s. The extent
individual acts to one that to which non-human animals can
considers moral rules. feel pain is the extent to which we
should take their interests into
AFTER account when making decisions
1983 American philosopher that affect their lives, and we
Tom Regan publishes The should refrain from activities that
Case for Animal Rights.

See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93

326

ALL THE BEST MARXIST
ANALYSES ARE ALWAYS
ANALYSES OF A FAILURE

SLAVOJ ZIZEK (1949– )

IN CONTEXT T he idea that all the best The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
Marxist analyses have in 1968 led to the end of the short-lived
BRANCH traditionally been analyses “Prague Spring” period of liberalization.
Political philosophy of failure appears in an interview All moves toward democracy were
with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj suppressed until 1989.
APPROACH Žižek given in 2008. In this
Marxism interview, Žižek was asked about power, or truly tested by action.
the events in Czechoslovakia in He describes this stance as the
BEFORE 1968, when a period of reform, “comfortable position of resistance”,
1807 Georg Hegel publishes aimed at decentralizing and which allows an avoidance of the
The Phenomenology of the democratizing the country, was real issues—such as re-evaluating
Spirit, laying the groundwork brutally brought to an end by the the nature of political revolution.
for Marxist thought. Soviet Union and its allies. For Žižek, a dedicated Marxist,
serious questions about the nature
1867 Karl Marx and Friedrich Žižek’s claim is that the of political power are obscured
Engels publish their crushing of the reforms became by endlessly trying to justify
Communist Manifesto. the very thing that later sustained utopia's elusiveness. ■
a myth held by the political left—
1867 Marx publishes the first namely that, had the reforms gone
volume of Capital (Das Kapital), ahead, some kind of social and
a treatise on political economy. political paradise would have
followed. According to Žižek, those
1899 In The Interpretation on the political left are prone to
of Dreams, psychoanalyst dwelling on their failures, because
Sigmund Freud claims that doing so allows myths to be
much of human behavior is generated about what would have
driven by unconscious forces. happened if they had succeeded.
Žižek says that these failures allow
1966 Psychoanalytical theorist those on the left to maintain a “safe
Jacques Lacan, one of Žižek’s moralistic position”, because their
major influences, revisits failures mean that they are never in
Freud's ideas in Écrits.

See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■
Martin Heidegger 252–55



DIRECTO

RY

330

DIRECTORY

T hough the ideas already presented in this book show the broad
range of philosophical thought expressed by some of history’s
best minds, there are many more people who have helped to shape
the story of philosophy. Some of these thinkers—such as Empedocles,
Plotinus, or William of Ockham—have had ideas that form the starting
point for other, more well-known theories, and their influence on later
philosophers 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.

ANAXIMANDER the universe was made. He opted otherwise it could not have come
for air, pointing out that just as air into being. 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 Athens 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: Thales of Miletus 22–23
was a pupil of Thales, the “father” evidence to support his ideas.
of Western philosophy. Like Thales, Blowing with pursed lips produced EMPEDOCLES
he thought there was a single basic cold air; with relaxed lips, warm
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 ANAXAGORAS the weather. He reasserted the
declared that Earth was an object notion of Heraclitus 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 Parmenides’ 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
ANAXIMENES OF MILETUS the world center of philosophy and air—continually combine, move
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 cosmology. 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

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ZENO OF ELEA PLOTINUS IAMBLICHUS

c.490–430 BCE c.205–270 CE c.245–325 CE

Little is known about Zeno of Elea, Born in Egypt, Plotinus studied A Syrian Neo-Platonist philosopher,
other than his paradoxes of motion, in Alexandria, then considered Iamblichus was reputedly born into
which are mentioned by Aristotle. 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 Platonism, 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 Plato 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
reality—which is in fact motionless, by Mind, Soul, Nature, and finally Pythagoras, 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 ■ Christianity, 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 ■
PYRRHO 30–33 ■ Plato 50–55 Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331

c.360–272 BCE WANG BI HYPATIA 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 mathematics,
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 chaos 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 Confucianism ensured the survival Bishop 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 Buddhism across China. with inventing a graduated brass
See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Siddhartha hydrometer and the plane astrolabe.
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, Proclus 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
Syrianus 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 Arabic. 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
religion, 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 theology, 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 ■ Boethius nature of God and the human soul, Ideas of the Citizens of the Virtuous
74–75 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 as well as prophetic knowledge. City describes a Platonic utopia
See also: Al-Fârâbî 332 ■ ruled by philosopher prophets.
JOHN PHILOPONUS Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■
Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83
490–570 CE JOHANNES SCOTUS
ERIUGENA AL-GHAZALI
Almost nothing is known about
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 Gods. 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 Hippo 72–73 Moses Maimonides 84–85

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PIERRE ABELARD IBN BAJJA MEISTER ECKHART

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 Spain. 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 RAMON LLULL JOHN DUNS SCOTUS

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 Mallorca, 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 vision of Christ, he joined in Scotland, he taught at Oxford
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 religions, 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

WILLIAM OF OCKHAM MOSES OF NARBONNE of Salamanca. Called the “father of
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 pope 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 GIORDANO BRUNO
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
empiricism, a movement begun in GIOVANNI PICO Giordano Bruno was influenced by
the 17th century by John Locke. DELLA MIRANDOLA Nikolaus von Kues and the Corpus
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle Hermeticum—a set of occult
56–63 ■ Francis Bacon 110–11 ■ 1463–1494 treatises believed, at the time, to
John Locke 130–33 predate ancient Greek philosophy.
Pico della Mirandola was a member From von Kues, he took the idea of
NICOLAUS OF AUTRECOURT of the Platonic Academy in Florence an infinite universe, in which our
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 astrology and magic, led to him
period, he explored the logic 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 paganism 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. FRANCISCO SUAREZ
reactions, cannot be uncovered by See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle
logic alone. In 1346, Pope Clement 56–63 ■ Desiderius Erasmus 97 1548–1617
VI condemned his ideas as heretical.
He was ordered to recant his FRANCISCO DE VITORIA 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 metaphysics. 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 FRIEDRICH SCHELLING
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle
56–63 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 NICOLAS DE CONDORCET 1775–1854

BERNARD MANDEVILLE 1743–1794 Friedrich Schelling started out as
a theologian but, inspired by the
c.1670–1733 Nicolas, Marquis de Condorcet, was ideas of Immanuel Kant, 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 idealism” 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 French Revolution, 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. Johann Gottlieb Fichte 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 Ethics (1874), (1879), meaning “conceptual
the medieval period in Europe, he explored the problems of free will 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 positivism would first college for female students. Ludwig Wittgenstein 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. ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
See also: John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ FRANZ BRENTANO
Karl Marx 196–203 1861–1947
1838–1917
RALPH WALDO EMERSON 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 philosophy of science. 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 process philosophy. 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: Edmund Husserl 224–25 Willard Van Orman Quine 278–79
204 ■ William James 206–09 ■
Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 GOTTLOB FREGE 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 Tokyo
Trinity College, Cambridge. In his His first major work Begriffsschrift University. He went on to teach

DIRECTORY 337

at Kyoto University, 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 Japan. 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 Zen 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 MICHAEL OAKESHOTT
self and world, are lost. Foucault 302–03
See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Siddharta 1901–1990
Gautama 30–33 ■ Confucius ERNST BLOCH
34–39 ■ Hajime Tanabe 244–45 Michael Oakeshott was a British
c.1885–1977 political theorist and philosopher.
ERNST CASSIRER He taught at Cambridge and Oxford
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 Rationalism 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 AYN RAND
fled Europe to escape the rise of heaven on earth is attainable.
Nazism, 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
Martin Heidegger 252–55 GILBERT RYLE Rand was born in Russia, but
moved to the United States in 1926.
GASTON BACHELARD 1900–1976 She was working as a screenwriter
when her novel 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 Objectivism, 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
GILLES DELEUZE
1917–2003 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 philosophy of mind. 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 event 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 philosophy of language, 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: Henri Bergson 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, political philosophy, 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 ■ John Rawls 294–95
MICHEL SERRES MARCEL GAUCHET
ISABELLE STENGERS
1930– 1946–
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 individualism 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 Determinism 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
Aesthetics 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 beings
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
Analytic philosophy 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. Logical positivism 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 Materialism 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 Metaphilosophy 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.
Existentialism 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 Monism 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 Intuition 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 Mysticism 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. Naturalism 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
Humanism 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 Pragmatism 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 Philosophy of religion 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
Ontology 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 epistemology. 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 Utilitarianism 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 pain.
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
Social contract 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,
Solipsism 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
Sophist 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 sophists 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.

344

INDEX

Numbers in bold refer to main entries, those Apology, Plato 47, 48, 52 Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre 213
in italics refer to the captions to illustrations. Aquinas, Thomas 63, 71, 88–95, 91, 97 Being and Time, Martin Heidegger 213, 253,

95 Theses, Martin Luther 100 Aristotle 79 255
900 Thesis, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 334 Francisco de Vitoria 334 Benjamin, Walter 258
John Duns Scotus 333 Bentham, Jeremy 65, 144, 174, 191, 192, 325
A John Locke 133 Bergson, Henri 188, 226–7
Meister Eckhart 333 Berkeley, George 60, 63, 101, 130, 134,
A History of Madness, Michel Foucault 303 Arendt, Hannah 255, 272
A Lover’s Discourse, Roland Barthes 290 Aristocles see Plato 138–41, 150, 166
A Theory of Justice, John Rawls 294, 295 Aristotelianism 71, 76, 82, 83, 90 Berlin, Isaiah 203, 280–81
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Aristotle 12, 21, 55, 56–63, 59, 70, 71, 91, 94, Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon 288,

Human Knowledge, George Berkeley 101 95, 274, 340 300, 301
A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume al-Fârâbî 332 Bloch, Ernst 337
Averroes 82, 83 body 13, 54, 77, 78, 79, 115, 122, 127, 128, 139,
150, 153 Avicenna 76, 77, 78, 79, 79
Abélard, Pierre 95, 333 Benedictus Spinoza 126, 129 275
Adorno, Theodor 266–7 Boethius 75 Boethius, Anicius 70, 74–5, 83
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Friedrich Schlegel 177 Bonaparte, Napoleon 145, 184, 184
God and the future 74 Boyle, Robert 110, 133, 140
Theory of Knowledge, Paul Feyerabend human flourishing 235 Brahe, Tycho 111
297 Iamblichus 331 Brahmanism 30, 33
Agathon 291 inductive argument 49 Brentano, Franz 336
al-Fârâbî 76, 332 infinite universe 90–95 Bruno, Giordano 334
al-Ghazâlî 78, 332 logic 14, 63, 75 Buckle, H.T. 163
al-Kindî 76, 332 mind and body 76, 77 Buddha 20, 21, 30, 32, 233
Alcibiades 291 observation 58, 59, 62 Buddha Amitabha 245, 245
Althusser, Louis 288, 313, 338 religion and philosophy 82, 83 Buddhism 15, 20, 30, 33, 188, 245, 331
American Power and the New Mandarins, Richard Rorty 316 Burke, Edmund 172–3
Noam Chomsky 304, 305 Robert Grosseteste 333
Amitabha, Buddha 245, 245 Socrates 49 C
An Essay Concerning Human Thomas Aquinas 63, 90–95
Understanding, John Locke 101 women 276 Camus, Albert 213, 221, 284–5
Analects, Confucius 36, 37, 38 Arouet, François Marie see Voltaire Candide, Voltaire 144
analytic philosophy 212, 340 Ars Magna, Ramon Llull 333 Canon of Medicine, Avicenna 77, 78
Bertrand Russell 236 arts 15, 16, 157, 157, 296 Carnap, Rudolf 257
Gottlob Frege 336 atheism 128, 189, 270 Cassirer, Ernst 337
Isaiah Berlin 280–81 atomism 16, 45 Chomsky, Naom 133, 304–5
Karl Popper 262 Augustine, Aurelius see St. Augustine Christianity 15, 70, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95
Mary Midgley 292 Austin, John Langshaw 338
Paul Feyerabend 297 Averroes 62, 76, 82–3, 90, 91 Aristotle 21, 63, 63, 71, 90
Richard Wollheim 296 Avicenna 62, 71, 76–9, 90 Avicenna 79
Willard Van Orman Quine 278 Blaise Pascal 124, 125
Anaxagoras 330 B Francis Bacon 111
Anaximander 23, 330 Friedrich Nietzsche 216, 219
Anaximenes of Miletus 23, 40, 330 Bachelard, Gaston 337 Niccolò Machiavelli 105, 106
Animal Liberation, Peter Singer 325 Bacon, Francis 49, 100, 101, 110–11, 113, 118 Plato 72, 74, 96
Anselm of Canterbury 80–81 Barthes, Roland 290–91 Ramon Llull 333
Anti-Oedipus, René Girard & Félix Guattari Beast and Man, Mary Midgley 292 St. Augustine of Hippo 73
338 Begriffsschrift, Gottlob Frege 336 Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau 204
Cixous, Hélène 289, 322
Collection of Pythagorean Doctrines,

Iamblichus 331

INDEX 345

Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, Proclus 332 Edmund Husserl 225 Epicureanism 21, 64, 65
Commentry on Euclid, Proclus 332 Friedrich Schlegel 177 Epicurus 64–5, 67
communism 198, 202, 203, 213, 288, 289 George Berkeley 138, 142 epistemology 13, 341, 342
Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx 15, 145, 159 Gottfried Leibniz 134
Comte, Auguste 335 Immanuel Kant 166, 167, 171 Albert Camus 284
Condorcet’s Paradox 335 John Locke 130, 132 Aristotle 58, 60
Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo 70 Jose Ortega y Gasset 242 Boethius 74
Confucianism 21, 36, 331 Maurice Merleau-Ponty 275 Charles Sanders Peirce 205
Confucius 20, 25, 30, 34–9 St. Anselm 80 David Hume 150, 153
consciousness 17 Dewey, John 209, 228–31 Gottfried Leibniz 134, 137
dialectic 46, 49, 60, 70, 180, 182, 182, 183, Hélène Cixous 322
Albert Camus 285 Henri Bergson 226–7
Daniel Dennett 339 184, 185, 200, 201, 202, 203, 340 Immanuel Kant 171
David Chalmers 114 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Jacques Derrida 310
Georg Hegel 180, 181, 182, 184, 185 Jean-François Lyotard 298
Immanuel Kant 166 David Hume 150 Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176
Max Scheler 240 Diderot, Denis 16, 144, 156 John Dewey 228
Miguel de Unamuno 233 Diogenes of Sinope (the Cynic) 66, 67, 252, John Locke 130
conservatism 172, 173, 173 Karl Jaspers 245
Copernicus, Nicolaus 100, 110, 293 253 Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274
Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson 227 Discourse on the Method, René Descartes 63, Michel Foucault 302
Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant 144, Paul Feyerabend 297
120, 150 Plato 52
168, 171 Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of René Descartes 118, 121
Cynics 21, 66, 67 Socrates 46
Inequality Among Men, Jean-Jacques Voltaire 146
D Rousseau 157, 158 William James 206
Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, Erasmus, Desiderius 71, 97, 100
d’Alembert, Jean 156 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 157 Eriugena, Johannes Scotus 332
Damasio, Antonio 267 Discourses on the Ten Books of Titus Levy, Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
Daode jing, Laozi 25 Niccolò Machiavelli 106, 107
Daoism 15, 21, 24, 25, 331 Du Bois, William 234–5 John Locke 131
Darwin, Charles 61, 145, 212, 229, 230 Dukkha 31 Essays, Michel de Montaigne 108, 109
Davidson, Donald 338 Duns Scotus, John 71, 95, 333 Essays on the Human Understanding,
de Beauvoir, Simone 213, 269, 271, 276–7,
E Gottfried Leibniz 133
288, 289 ethics (moral philosophy) 14, 15, 17, 212, 341,
De Cive, Thomas Hobbes 113 Eckhart, Meister 333
de Condorcet, Nicolas 335 Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt 272 343
De Corpore, Thomas Hobbes 115 Either/Or, Søren Kierkegaard 145 Ahad Ha’am 222
De Homine Figuris, René Descartes 118, 122 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 206, 207, 336 Alfred North Whitehead 336
De Maistre, Joseph 335 Emile, or On Education, Jean-Jacques Aristotle 61, 62
de’ Medici family 104, 105, 105, 107 Arne Naess 282
de Montaigne, Michel 108–9, 124 Rousseau 159, 175 Bertrand Russell 236
de Saussure, Ferdinand 223 Empedocles 20, 187, 330 Confucius 37
de Unamuno, Miguel 233 empiricism 60, 63, 101, 134, 135, 144, 145, Diogenes of Sinope 66
de Vitoria, Francisco 334 Emmanuel Levinas 273
Deceit, Desire and the Novel, René Girard 340, 343 Epicurus 64
Aristotle 58, 59 Friedrich Nietzsche 216–21
338 David Hume 150, 153 Hajime Tanabe 244
deconstruction 288, 310, 311, 312 Francis Bacon 110 Hannah Arendt 272
deduction 29, 264, 265, 340, 341 George Berkeley 138, 139, 150 Henry Sidgwick 336
Deleuze, Gilles 338 Immanuel Kant 166, 171, 171 Isaiah Berlin 280–81
Democritus 45, 65 John Locke 130, 133, 150 Jean-Paul Sartre 268
Dennett, Daniel 303, 339 John Stuart Mill 191 Jeremy Bentham 174
Derrida, Jacques 221, 288, 308–13 William of Ockham 334 John Dewey 230, 231
Descartes, René 14, 15-16, 60, 63, 78, 79, 100, Encylopédie, Denis Diderot & Jean Laozi 25
Ludwig Wittgenstein 250
101, 113, 115, 116–23, 128, 240 d’Alembert 144, 156 Martha Nussbaum 339
David Hume 150 Engels, Friedrich 145, 189, 198, 203 Max Scheler 240
enlightenment (Buddhism) 31, 32, 33, 245 Michel de Montaigne 108
Enneads, Plotinus 331 Noam Chomsky 304
environmental philosophy 282, 283 Peter Singer 325

346 INDEX

Plato 55 Girard, René 338 Ibn Sînâ see Avicenna
Protagoras 42, 43 Grosseteste, Robert 333 idealism 139, 145, 341
Richard Rorty 316, 317, 318 Guattari, Félix 338
St. Augustine of Hippo 72 Guide of the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides Arthur Schopenhauer 186
Siddhartha Gautama 33 Georg Hegel 180
Simone de Beauvoir 276 84, 85 George Berkeley 138
Tetsuro Watsuji 256 Gutenberg, Johannes 71 Immanuel Kant 166, 169, 170, 171, 176
Theodor Adorno 266 Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176
Walter Benjamin 258 H imperialism 321
William Du Bois 234 In Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus 97
Zeno of Citium 67 Ha’am, Ahad 222 In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell 236
Ethics, Benedictus Spinoza 128 Habermas, Jürgen 289, 306–7 Introduction to the Principles of Morals and
Euclid 29 Hegel, Georg 145, 159, 178–85, 259, 340
existentialism 213, 341, 343 Legislation, Jeremy Bentham 144
Ahad Ha’am 222 Arthur Schopenhauer 186, 188 Invention of Modern Science, Martha
Albert Camus 284 Friedrich Schlegel 177
Frantz Fanon 300 Immanuel Kant 171 Nussbaum 339
Friedrich Nietzsche 216–21 Karl Marx 199, 200, 201, 202 Iqbal, Muhammed 87
Hannah Arendt 272 Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach 189 Irigaray, Luce 289, 320
Jean-Paul Sartre 268 Søren Kierkegaard 194, 195 Islam 15, 21, 71, 90, 332
Jose Ortega y Gasset 242 Heidegger, Martin 195, 213, 245, 252–5, 260
Karl Jaspers 245 Edmund Husserl 225 Aristotle 62
Martin Heidegger 255 Immanuel Kant 171 Averroes 82, 83
Marxist existentialism 288 Heisenberg, Werner 255 Avicenna 77, 79
Miguel de Unamuno 233 Heraclitus 36, 40, 230 Jakobson, Roman 223
Simone de Beauvoir 277 history, philosophy of 232, 260–61 Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi 86–7
Søren Kierkegaard 194, 195 History of Great Britain, David Hume 153 James, William 145, 193, 206–9
Tetsuro Watsuji 256, 262, 263 Hobbes, Thomas 100, 101, 112–15, 156, 158 Jaspers, Karl 245
How the “Real World” at Last Became a Jews & Judaism 84, 85, 90, 333, 334
F Jung, Carl 188, 221
Myth, Friedrich Nietzsche 218
Fanon, Frantz 288, 289, 300–301 How to do Things With Words, John K
Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard 145
feminism 175, 276, 277, 289, 320, 322, 323, 339 Langshaw Austin 338 Kant and the Philosophic Method, John
Feuerbach, Ludwig 189, 201, 202 How to Make our Ideas Clear, Charles Dewey 230
Feyerabend, Paul 297
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb 145, 171, 176 Sanders Peirce 228 Kant, Immanuel 60, 63, 134, 144, 145,
Foucault, Michel 288, 302–3, 313 humanism 71, 97, 100, 108, 341 164–71, 176, 220, 227, 248, 303, 340
Frege, Gottlob 212, 336 Hume, David 17, 33, 60, 63, 73, 130, 134, 144,
Freud, Sigmund 188, 212, 213, 221 Arthur Schopenhauer 186, 187, 188
148–53 David Hume 153
G Adam Smith 160, 161 Georg Hegel 181, 182, 183
Edmund Burke 173 Gottfried Leibniz 137
Gottfried Leibniz 137 St. Anselm 80, 81
Immanuel Kant 166 Kepler, Johannes 100
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 159 Keynes, John Maynard 193
John Stuart Mill 190, 191 Kierkegaard, Søren 145, 194–5, 213
Karl Popper 262, 263 King, Martin Luther 204, 235, 235
Husserl, Edmund 171, 212, 213, 224–5, 243, Kong Fuzi see Confucius
Kristeva, Julia 323
253, 255, 275 Kuhn, Thomas 288, 293, 297
Hypatia of Alexandria 276, 331

Gadamer, Hans-Georg 255, 260–61 IJ L
Galilei, Galileo 100, 110, 113, 168
Gandhi, Mahatma 204, 204 Iamblichus 331 Lacan, Jacques 288, 320
Gassendi, Pierre 113 Ibn Bajja 333 language 14, 212, 290, 291, 341
Gauchet, Marcel 339 Ibn Rushd see Averroes
Gaunilo of Marmoutiers 80 Donald Davidson 338
Gautama, Siddhartha 20, 21, 30–33, 233
Ginzberg, Asher 222

INDEX 347

Emmanuel Levinas 273 Mann, Thomas 221 Mohism 44
Ferdinand de Saussure 223 Mao Zedong 44, 203, 213 Monadology, Gottfried Leibniz 135
Georg Hegel 180 Marcuse, Herbert 259 monads 136, 137, 334
Gilbert Ryle 337 Marx, Karl 15, 145, 159, 189, 196–203, 204, monism 22, 40, 41, 126, 139, 180, 341
Jacques Derrida 312 morality 14, 15, 21, 212
John Langshaw Austin 338 212, 238
John Locke 133 Marxism 171, 213, 238, 299, 326, 338 Friedrich Nietzsche 216
Ludwig Wittgenstein 248–51, 296 Marxist existentialism 288 Laozi 25
Rudolf Carnap 257 materialism 341 Niccolò Machiavelli 105, 106
language, philosophy of, mathematics 14, 17, 20, 71 Plato 55
Ferdinand de Saussure 223 Socrates 47, 48
Ludwig Wittgenstein 248–51 Age of Reason 101 Theodor Adorno 266, 267
Roland Barthes 290 Aristotle 59 More, Thomas 100
Willard Van Orman Quine 278 Blaise Pascal 125 Morin, Edgar 338
Laozi (Lao Tzu) 24–5, 30 David Hume 151, 151 Moses of Narbonne 83, 334
Leibniz, Gottfried 14, 60, 63, 101, 134–7 Immanuel Kant 167, 169 Mozi 44
Immanuel Kant 167 John Locke 132 Muhammad 70
John Locke 130, 132, 133 Pythagoras 27, 28, 29 Muslims 70, 78, 83, 83, 333
Leopold, Aldo 282, 283 Thomas Hobbes 113 Mussolini, Benito 107
Leucippus 45, 65 Voltaire 147 Mythologies, Roland Barthes 291
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes 101, 113 Mawlana see Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
Levinas, Emmanuel 255, 273, 313 Mawlawi Order of Sufism 87, 87 N
liberal democracy 144, 213 Meditations on First Philosophy, René
liberalism 191, 193, 281 Naess, Arne 282–3
Linnaeus, Carol 60 Descartes 100, 115, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, Nagel, Thomas 285, 295
Llull, Ramon 333 166 naturalism 232, 341
Locke, John 101, 130–33, 146, 147, 150, 156, Meditations on Quixote, Jose Ortega y negative theology 84
Gasset 242 neo-Platonism 70, 331, 332
158, 173, 175 Mencius 39 neopragmatism 209
Arthur Schopenhauer 187 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice 274–5 New Confucianism 39
empiricists 60, 63, 134 Mersenne, Marin 113 New Essays of Human Understanding,
George Berkeley 138, 142 metaphilosophy 177, 324, 341
Immanuel Kant 166, 171 metaphysics 13, 15, 16, 341 Gottfried Leibniz 101
John Stuart Mill 190 Alfred North Whitehead 336 New Organon, Francis Bacon 100
logic 14, 17, 212, 337, 340, 341 Arthur Schopenhauer 186 Newlands, John 29
Aristotle 61, 62, 62, 63 Avicenna 76 Newton, Isaac 101, 110, 146
David Hume 151, 151 Benedictus Spinoza 126 Nicolaus of Autrecourt 334
Ludwig Wittgenstein 248, 249, 250, 251 Democritus 45 Nietzsche, Friedrich 188, 195, 212, 213,
Rudolf Carnap 257 Francisco Suárez 334
Logic, Aristotle 70 Georg Hegel 180 214–21
logical form 250, 250 George Berkeley 138 Nirodha 31
logical positivism 153, 257 Heraclitus 40 Nishida Kitaro 336
Lorenzo (de’ Medici) the Magnificent 104, Immanuel Kant 166, 171 Northern Lights, Philip Pullman 79
Leucippus 45 noumenon 169, 182, 187, 188, 342, 343
105, 105 Parmenides 41 number 20, 27, 28, 29
Love and Knowledge, Max Scheler 240 Pythagoras 26 Nussbaum, Martha 295, 339
Luhmann, Niklas 339 René Descartes 118
Luther, Martin 100, 110 Søren Kierkegaard 194 O
Lyotard, Jean-François 289, 298–9 Thales of Miletus 22
Thomas Aquinas 90 Oakeshott, Michael 337
M Thomas Hobbes 112 Objectivism 337
Method, Edgar Morin 338 Ockham’s Razor 334
Machiavelli, Niccolò 100, 102–7, 108, 109 Methods of Ethics, Henry Sidgwick 336 Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida 310, 313
Magga 31 Midgley, Mary 292 Offray de la Mettrie, Julien 335
Maimonides, Moses 84–5 Mill, James 191
Man a Machine, Julien Offray de la Mettrie 335 Mill, John Stuart 65, 144, 145, 190–93
Mandeville, Bernard 335 mimetic desire, theory of 338
mind 13, 77, 78, 79, 114, 115, 122, 127, 128,
129, 139, 275
philosophy of 124, 338
Minima Moralia, Theodor Adorno 266, 267
Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides 85, 85

348 INDEX

On Being Conservative, Michael Oakeshott philosophy of language, Julia Kristeva 323
337 Ferdinand de Saussure 223 Jürgen Habermas 306
Ludwig Wittgenstein 248–51 Karl Marx 198
On Liberty, James Mill 193 Roland Barthes 290 Luce Irigaray 320
On My Philosophy, Karl Jaspers 245 Willard Van Orman Quine 278 Martha Nussbaum 339
On Sense and Reference, Gottlob Frege Mary Wollstonecraft 175
Philosophy of Metaphysics, Hajime Tanabe Niccolò Machiavelli 104
336 245 Slavoj Zizek 326
On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin politics 16
philosophy of mind 124, 338 Confucianism 37, 39
145, 229 philosophy of religion 342 Edgar Morin 338
On the Pope, Joseph De Maistre 335 John Locke 133
On the Soul, Aristotle 83 Averroes 82 Laozi 25
On the Soul, Avicenna 78 Desiderius Erasmus 97 Protagoras 43
One-Way Street, Walter Benjamin 258, 290 Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach 189 Popper, Karl 153, 193, 213, 257, 262–5
Ontological Argument 80, 81 Moses Maimonides 84 Porphyry 27
Ontological Relativity, Willard Van Orman Nikolaus von Kues 96 positivism 171, 335, 341
St. Anselm 80 postcolonialism 321
Quine 278 philosophy of science 342 post-humanism 339
ontology 13, 224, 233, 242, 252, 253, 342 Alfred North Whitehead 336 postmodernism 288, 289, 298, 299, 342
oppression 280, 281 Francis Bacon 110 Power and Invention, Martha Nussbaum 339
Oration on the Dignity of Man, Giovanni Pico Karl Popper 262 pragmatism 145, 342
Mary Midgley 292 Charles Sanders Peirce 205, 206
della Mirandola 334 Paul Feyerabend 297 John Dewey 228
Order out of Chaos, Martha Nussbaum & Ilya Rudolf Carnap 257 Richard Rorty 316
Thomas Kuhn 293 William Du Bois 234
Priggogine 339 physicalism 112 William James 206, 209
Organon, Aristotle 63 Physics, The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle Priestley, Joseph 173
Orientalism, Edward Said 321 Principia Mathematica, Bertrand Russell &
Ortega y Gasset, Jose 242–3 63
Oruka, Henry Odera 289, 324 Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni 334 Alfred North Whitehead 212, 236, 338
Oxford philosophy 338 Piero (de’ Medici) the Unfortunate 104 printing press 71
Plato 12, 15, 21, 50–55, 59, 91, 219, 220, 291, process philosophy 336
PQ Proclus 332
312, 318 Proslogion, St. Anselm 71
Parmenides 41 Aristotle 58, 59, 60, 62 Protagoras 42–3, 52, 55
Pascal, Blaise 101, 124–5, 240 Avicenna 77 psychology 17
Peirce, Charles Sanders 205, 206, 207, 208, Christian theologians 96 Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint,
Diogenes of Sinope 66
209, 228, 231 Iamblichus 331 Franz Brentano 336
Pensées, Blaise Pascal 101, 124, 125 John Locke 131, 132 Ptolemy 21
perception 13, 139, 140, 141, 187, 275 Martin Heidegger 252 Pullman, Philip 79
Phaedo, Plato 47, 49, 312 Protagoras 43 Pure Land Buddhism 245, 245
phenomenology 213, 342 Pythagoras 29 Pyrrho 331
rediscovered in Europe 71 Pythagoras 14, 20, 23, 26–9, 30, 36, 331
Edmund Husserl 224, 225, 243, 253 St. Augustine of Hippo 63, 72 Quine, Willard Van Orman 278–9
Emmanuel Levinas 273 Socrates 46, 47 Qur’an 82, 83, 86, 87
Gaston Bachelard 337 Sophists 43
Hajime Tanabe 244 Platonic-Aristotelian approach 80 R
Immanuel Kant 171 Platonism 52, 70, 331
Martin Heidegger 252 Christian 72, 74, 96 racism 235, 300, 301
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274, 275 Plotinus 70, 331 radical empiricism 209
Max Scheler 240 political activism 235 Rambam see Maimonides, Moses
Simone de Beauvoir 277 political oppression 281 Rand, Ayn 337
Phenomenology of Spirit, Georg Hegel 145, political philosophy 15, 212 rationalism 60, 63, 101, 144, 145, 167, 343
Adam Smith 160
180, 184, 185 Edmund Burke 172 David Hume 153
phenomenon 187, 188, 342 Edward Said 321 Gottfried Leibniz 134, 135
Philoponus, John 90, 91, 92, 332 Frantz Fanon 300
philosophes 144 Henry David Thoreau 204
philosophic sagacity 324 Herbert Marcuse 259
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Jean-Jacques Rousseau 156
John Rawls 294–5
Rorty 316, 319 John Stuart Mill 190
philosophy of history 232, 260–61