Anarchism

By Crowder, George

Anarchism is the view that a society without the state, or government, is both possible and desirable. Although there have been intimations of the anarchist outlook throughout history, ...

Obligation, political

By Simmons, A. John

The problem of political obligation has been one of the central concerns of political philosophy throughout the history of the subject. Political obligations are the moral obligations of ...

Obligation, political

The problem of political obligation has been one of the central concerns of political philosophy throughout the history of the subject. Political obligations are the moral obligations of ...

Kropotkin, Pëtr Alekseevich (1842–1921)

By Cahm, Caroline

A founder of anarchist communism and guiding spirit of the international anarchist movement after the death of Bakunin, Kropotkin was also a distinguished geographer, a scientist and a ...

Environmental ethics

By Brennan, Andrew

Theories of ethics try to answer the question, ‘How ought we to live?’. An environmental ethic refers to our natural surroundings in giving the answer. It may claim ...

Libertarianism

By Wolff, Jonathan

In political philosophy ’libertarianism’ is a name given to a range of views which take as their central value liberty or freedom. Although occasionally the term is applied ...

State, the

By Nicholson, Peter P.

States are inescapable, powerful and fundamentally important in the modern world. They spend a substantial portion of their members’ wealth; they tax, confiscate or compulsorily purchase private property; ...

Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich (1814–76)

By Kelly, Aileen

Bakunin was the leading proponent in the second half of the nineteenth century of a variety of anarchism rooted in a Romantic cult of primitive spontaneity, and one ...

Godwin, William (1756–1836)

By Philp, Mark

William Godwin is considered the founder of philosophical anarchism. His An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) contends that although government is a corrupt force in society, perpetuating dependence ...

Libertarianism

In political philosophy ‘libertarianism’ is a name given to a range of views that take as their central value liberty or freedom. Although occasionally the term is applied ...

Nihilism, Russian

By Lovell, Stephen

The term ’Nihilist’, although it was first used in Russian as early as 1829, only acquired its present significance in Turgenev’s novel Ottsy i deti (Fathers and Sons) ...

Epistemic relativism

By Stich, Stephen P.

An account of what makes a system of reasoning or belief revision a good one is relativistic if it is sensitive to facts about the person or group ...

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834)

By Milnes, Timothy

In addition to being one of the finest poets of the Romantic generation, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was a philosopher, theologian, and literary theorist whose work exerted a ...

Nozick, Robert (1938–2002)

By Wolff, Jonathan

Although Robert Nozick published on an enormous range of topics, he is best known as a political philosopher, and especially for his powerful and entertaining statement of libertarianism. ...

Nozick, Robert (1938–2002)

By Wolff, Jonathan; Blackburn, Simon

Although Robert Nozick published on an enormous range of topics, he is best known as a political philosopher, and especially for his powerful and entertaining statement of libertarianism. ...

Chinese philosophy

By Hall, David L.; Ames, Roger T.

Any attempt to survey an intellectual tradition which encompasses more than four thousand years would be a daunting task even if it could be presumed that the reader ...

Logic in China

By Hansen, Chad

Technically, classical China had semantic theory but no logic. Western historians, confusing logic and theory of language, used the term ‘logicians’ to describe those philosophers whom the Chinese ...

Vico, Giambattista (1668–1744)

By Pompa, Leon

Vico lived in a period in which the successes of the natural sciences were frequently attributed to the Cartesian method of a priori demonstration. His own first interest, ...

Authority

By Green, Leslie

The notion of authority has two main senses: expertise and the right to rule. To have authority in matters of belief (to be ’an authority’) is to have ...

Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805–72)

By Bellamy, Richard

Mazzini was a leading figure in the struggle for Italian unification during the nineteenth century. A theorist of nationalism as well as an activist, he also promoted nationalist ...

Nietzsche: impact on Russian thought

By Rosenthal, Bernice Glatzer

Nietzsche’s thought had a massive influence on Russian literature and the arts, religious philosophy and political culture. His popularizers were writers, artists and political radicals who read his ...

Russian philosophy of law

By Walicki, Andrzej

Russian thought is rarely associated with philosophy of law. The intellectuals of pre-revolutionary Russia are known rather for their uncompromising critique of legalism, passing sometimes into a genuine ...

Communism

By Sargent, Lyman Tower

Communism is the belief that society should be organized without private property, all productive property being held communally, publicly or in common. A communist system is one based ...

Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832)

By Harrison, Ross

Jeremy Bentham held that all human and political action could be analysed in terms of pleasure and pain, and so made comprehensible. One such analysis is how people ...

Bodin, Jean (1529/30–96)

By Franklin, Julian H.

Jean Bodin was one of the great universal scholars of the later Renaissance. Despite political distractions, he made major contributions to historiography and the philosophy of history, economic ...