Multiculturalism

By Ripstein, Arthur

Multicultural political philosophy explores ways of accommodating cultural diversity fairly. Public policies often have different consequences for members of different cultural groups. For example, given the importance of ...

Global Justice

By Tan, Kok-Chor

For introductions to the current debate on global justice, the obvious entries to start with are Simon Caney’s Global Justice, recent work on and Charles Beitz’s International Relations, ...

Nussbaum, Martha Craven (1947–)

By van Zyl, Liezl

A characteristic feature of Nussbaum’s work is the way in which she draws upon ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and literature to examine some of the most pressing ...

Postmodernism and political philosophy

By White, Stephen K.

Just as there is much disagreement over both what is meant by ‘postmodernism’ and which thinkers fall under this rubric, so also is there disagreement over its implications ...

Taylor, Charles (1931–)

By Calhoun, Craig

Among the most influential of late twentieth-century philosophers, Taylor has written on human agency, identity and the self; language; the limits of epistemology; interpretation and explanation in social ...

Taylor, Charles (1931–)

Among the most influential of twentieth-century philosophers, Taylor writes on human agency, identity and the self; language; epistemology; interpretation and explanation in social science; ethics; multiculturalism, and democratic ...

Education, philosophy of

By Curren, Randall R.

The philosophy of education is primarily concerned with the nature, aims and means of education, and also with the character and structure of educational theory, and its own ...

Feminist literary criticism

By Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty

Feminist literary criticism looks at literature assuming its production from a male-dominated perspective. It re-examines canonical works to show how gender stereotypes are involved in their functioning. It ...

Okin, Susan Moller (1946–2004)

By Satz, Debra

Susan Moller Okin was a liberal theorist whose feminist perspective challenged contemporary liberal theory’s complacency about gender and the family. She insisted that liberalism, properly understood as a ...

Postcolonial philosophy of science

By Harding, Sandra G.

Are there laws of nature that today’s modern sciences are ill-designed to discover? Does the universal use of these modern sciences require their value-neutrality, or are their social ...

Postcolonialism

By Quayson, Ato

The term ‘postcolonialism’ is sometimes spelled with a hyphen – post-colonial – and sometimes without. There is no strict general practice, but the hyphenated version is often used ...

Epistemology of education

By Siegel, Harvey

Philosophical thinking about education has always been centrally concerned with epistemological matters, alongside metaphysical, moral and social/political concerns. The most basic question concerns the epistemic aims of education: ...

Feminist philosophy

By Mason, Elinor

Feminist philosophy is philosophy that is aimed at understanding and challenging the oppression of women. Feminist philosophy examines issues that are traditionally found in practical ethics and political ...

Human rights

By Jones, Peter

Human rights are rights ascribed to human beings simply as human beings. While people may possess some rights only if they occupy a special position or role, such ...

Human rights

Human rights have traditionally been conceived as rights that people possess merely in virtue of being human. People may possess other rights if and because they possess a ...

Islamic philosophy, modern

By Morewedge, Parviz; Leaman, Oliver

There are a number of major trends in modern Islamic philosophy. First, there is the challenge of the West to traditional Islamic philosophical and cultural principles and 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 ...

Toleration

By Horton, John

Toleration emerged as an important idea in the seventeenth century, receiving its fullest defence in John Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689). Initially developed in the context of ...

New Zealand, philosophy in

By Nola, Robert

Philosophy as an academic discipline in New Zealand came into its own during the late 1930s under the influence of J.N. Findlay and Karl Popper. Arthur Prior was ...

Phenomenology of religion

By Westphal, Merold

The phenomenology of religion is a descriptive approach to the philosophy of religion. Instead of debating whether certain religious beliefs are true, it asks the question ‘What is ...

Phenomenology of religion

By Westphal, Merold

The phenomenology of religion is a descriptive approach to the philosophy of religion. Instead of debating whether certain religious beliefs are true, it asks the question ‘What is ...

Pluralism

By Craig, Edward

‘Pluralism’ is a broad term, applicable to any doctrine which maintains that there are ultimately many things, or many kinds of thing; in both these senses it is ...

Address and the politics of aesthetics

By Roelofs, Monique

Major accounts of the aesthetic field and its relation to politics employ the notion of address in an implicit or explicit manner. This essay explores the central functions ...

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 ...

Immigration and refugees

By Gibney, Matthew J.

Immigration has emerged as one of the most controversial issues for liberal states in the current era of economic globalization. Debates over the entrance of non-citizens are contentious ...