Forms, Platonic

By Brennan, Tad

Plato thought that in addition to the changeable, extended bodies we perceive around us, there are also unchangeable, extensionless entities, not perceptible by the senses, that structure the ...

Platonism, medieval

By Moran, Dermot

Medieval Platonism includes the medieval biographical tradition, the transmission of the dialogues, a general outlook spanning commitment to extramental ideas, intellectualism in cognition, emphasis on self-knowledge as the ...

Cambridge Platonism

By Beiser, Frederick

Cambridge Platonism was an intellectual movement broadly inspired by the Platonic tradition, centred in Cambridge from the 1630s to the 1680s. Its hallmark was a devotion to reason ...

Platonism, Early and Middle

By Dillon, John

Platonism is the body of doctrine developed in the school founded by Plato, both before and (especially) after his death in 347 bc. The first phase, usually ...

Platonism, Renaissance

By Hankins, James

Though it never successfully challenged the dominance of Aristotelian school philosophy, the revival of Plato and Platonism was an important phenomenon in the philosophical life of the Renaissance ...

Plato (427–347 BC)

Plato was an Athenian Greek of aristocratic family, active as a philosopher in the first half of the fourth century bc. He was a devoted follower of ...

Plato (427–347 BC)

By Schofield, Malcolm

Plato was an Athenian Greek of aristocratic family, active as a philosopher in the first half of the fourth century bc. He was a devoted follower of ...

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 ...

Karsavin, Lev Platonovich (1882–1952)

By Meerson, Michael A.

Karsavin belongs to the Russian philosophical school of all-oneness (vseedinstvo) and God’s humanity (bogochelovechestvo) originating with Vladimir Solov’ëv in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Karsavin’s thought ...

Kudriavtsev-Platonov, Viktor Dmitrievich (1828–91)

By Nemeth, Thomas

Calling his position ‘transcendental monism’, Kudriavtsev held that neither the material nor the ideal spheres can be reduced to the other, but together form a harmonious whole under ...

Renaissance philosophy

By Ashworth, E.J.

The term ‘Renaissance’ means rebirth, and was originally used to designate a rebirth of the arts and literature that began in mid-fourteenth century Italy (see Humanism, Renaissance). Here ...

African philosophy

By Appiah, K. Anthony

In order to indicate the range of some of the kinds of material that must be included in a discussion of philosophy in Africa, it is as well ...

Ancient philosophy

By Sedley, David

The philosophy of the Greco-Roman world from the sixth century bc to the sixth century ad laid the foundations for all subsequent Western philosophy. Its greatest ...

Medieval philosophy

By MacDonald, Scott; Kretzmann, Norman

Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe from about ad 400–1400, roughly the period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance. Medieval philosophers are the ...

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 ...

Czech Republic, philosophy in

By Zumr, Josef
Translated by Burša, G.R.F.

The foundation of the University of Prague in 1348 contributed significantly to establishing Bohemia as a centre of philosophical thought. The main philosophers and theologians from the University ...

Ryle, Gilbert (1900–76)

By Lyons, William

Alongside Wittgenstein and Austin, Ryle was one of the dominant figures in that middle period of twentieth-century English language philosophy which became known as ‘Linguistic Analysis’. His views ...

Socratic dialogues

By Kahn, Charles H.

After Socrates’ death in 399 bc, a number of his followers composed imaginary dialogues between Socrates and various persons, usually historical. In addition to the dialogues of ...

Plotinus (AD 204/5–70)

By Emilsson, Eyjólfur Kjalar

Plotinus was the founder of Neoplatonism, the dominant philosophical movement of the Graeco-Roman world in late antiquity, and the most significant thinker of the movement. He is sometimes ...

Proper names

By Forbes, Graeme

The Roman general Julius Caesar was assassinated on 14 March 44 bc by conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. It is a remarkable fact that, in so ...

Creativity

By Young, James O.

Article Summary ...

Vlastos, Gregory (1907–91)

By Graham, Daniel W.

A leading figure in the study of ancient Greek philosophy, Vlastos was a pioneer in the application to ancient philosophers of the techniques of analytic philosophy. Concentrating on ...

Ikhwan al-Safa’

By Netton, Ian Richard

The philosophy of the group of Arab philosophers of the fourth or fifth century AH (tenth or eleventh century ad) known as the Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Brethren ...

Apuleius (c. AD 125–180)

By Dillon, John

The Latin writer Apuleius of Madaura was a professional rhetorician, a novelist and an amateur Platonist. His handbook of Platonism and his essay on the guardian spirit of ...

Eusebius (c. AD 264–c.339)

By Stead, Christopher

Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine from c.314, was the foremost Christian scholar of his age and wrote extensively on history, geography, chronology, apologetics and philosophical and ...