Aristotle (384–322 BC)

By Irwin, T.H.

Aristotle of Stagira is one of the two most important philosophers of the ancient world, and one of the four or five most important of any time or ...

Social sciences, philosophy of

By Ruben, David-Hillel

Although some of the topics and issues treated in the philosophy of social science are as old as philosophy itself (for example, the contrast between nature and convention ...

Latin America, philosophy in

By Oliver, Amy A.

Geographically, Latin America extends from the Mexican–US border to those regions of Antarctica to which various Latin American countries have laid claim. It includes the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Philosophy ...

Metaphysics

By Craig, Edward

Metaphysics is a broad area of philosophy marked out by two types of inquiry. The first aims to be the most general investigation possible into the nature of ...

Biology, philosophy of

By Lewens, Tim

Biologists sometimes look perplexed when they are told of the existence of a subject called ‘The Philosophy of Biology’. What, they ask, is there to philosophise about in ...

Political philosophy

By Miller, David

Political philosophy can be defined as philosophical reflection on how best to arrange our collective life - our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic ...

Aristotle Commentators

By Sorabji, Richard

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Aristotle Commentators

Aristotle’s school treatises were given renewed prominence by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century bc, and from then on numerous commentaries were written on them. The ...

Ammonius, son of Hermeas (c. AD 440–521)

By Wildberg, Christian

The Greek philosopher Ammonius, ‘son of Hermeas’ was an Alexandrian Neoplatonist. Educated by Proclus in Athens, he succeeded his father as head of the school in Alexandria, where ...

Archē

By McKirahan, Richard

Archē, or ‘principle’, is an ancient Greek philosophical term. Building on earlier uses, Aristotle established it as a technical term with a number of related meanings, including ‘originating ...

Katharsis

By Most, Glenn W.

One of the central concepts of Aristotle’s Poetics, katharsis (’purgation’ or ‘purification’; often spelled catharsis) defines the goal of the tragic poet: by depiction of human ...

Nous

By Long, A.A.

Commonly translated as ‘mind’ or ‘intellect’, the Greek word nous is a key term in the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus. What gives nous its ...

Keckermann, Bartholomew (1571/3–1609)

By Mercer, Christia

Calvinist philosopher and theologian, Bartholomew Keckermann wrote textbooks in logic, ethics and metaphysics which were widely read and in which he advanced his notion of a system of ...

Introduction to Philosophy

By Crane, Tim

REP can be approached at so many different levels: philosophers at any stage can lose themselves in the interconnected web of entries. ...

Mimēsis

By Most, Glenn W.

A crucial term in the literary theories of Plato and Aristotle, mimesis describes the relation between the words of a literary work and the actions and events ...

Peripatetics

By Sharples, R.W.

The title ‘Peripatetics’ designates followers of the philosophical tradition founded by Aristotle: at first those who continued his inquiries, and in the Roman period those who interpreted and ...

Aretē

By Sedley, David

A pivotal term of ancient Greek ethics, aretē is conventionally translated ‘virtue’, but is more properly ‘goodness’ – the quality of being a good human being. Philosophy ...

Formal and informal logic

By Walton, Douglas

Formal logic abstracts the form of an argument from an instance of it that may be encountered, and then evaluates the form as being valid or invalid. The ...

Cratylus (late 5th/early 4th century BC)

By Long, A.A.

Probably an Athenain, Cratylus was a radical Heraclitean, holding that the world is in constant and total flux. Through this doctrine he had a seminal influence on Plato. ...

Leucippus (5th century BC)

By Taylor, C.C.W.

The early Greek philosopher Leucippus was the founder of atomism. Virtually nothing is known of his life, and his very existence was disputed in antiquity, but his role ...

Hippias (late 5th century BC)

By Kahn, Charles H.

The Greek Sophist Hippias of Elis is a familiar figure in Plato’s dialogues. He served his city as ambassador, and he earned a great deal of money from ...

Alcmaeon (c. early to mid 5th century BC)

By Schofield, Malcolm

Alcmaeon of Croton was a Greek thinker with philosophical and medical interests. His work focused on the nature of man. Health was the outcome of ‘equal rights’ between, ...

Platonism in Islamic philosophy

By Burrell, David

Plato seems to have been more an icon and an inspiration than an authentic source for Islamic philosophers. So far as is known, the only works available to ...

Iamblichus (c. AD 242–327)

By Siorvanes, Lucas

The late ancient philosopher Iamblichus was, alongside Plotinus and Porphyry, a founder of Neoplatonism. He established a new curriculum for the teaching of philosophy and formulated many distinctions ...

Fallacies

By Walton, Douglas

Fallacies are common types of arguments that have a strong tendency to go badly wrong, or to be used as deceptive tricks when two parties reason together. In ...