Totalitarianism

By Canovan, Margaret

A term adopted in the 1920s by the Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile to describe the ideal fascist state, ‘totalitarianism’ quickly acquired negative connotations as it was applied to ...

Arendt, Hannah (1906–75)

By Parekh, B.

Hannah Arendt was one of the leading political thinkers of the twentieth century. She observed Nazi totalitarianism at close quarters and devoted much of her life to making ...

Voegelin, Eric (1901–85)

By Hopfl, H.M.

Throughout his career, Voegelin was concerned with modernity; unlike his contemporaries he sought the explanation of its character and deformities (especially totalitarianism) in the restoration of ‘political science’ ...

Civil society

By Cohen, Jean L.

In modern social and political philosophy civil society has come to refer to a sphere of human activity and a set of institutions outside state or government. ...

Jaspers, Karl (1883–1969)

By Salamun, Kurt

Karl Jaspers is generally known as an existentialist, but he also developed interesting conceptions in other fields of philosophy: in philosophy of religion, the concepts of Transcendence, cipher ...

Slovakia, philosophy in

By Zumr, Josef

Until as late as 1918, social and national circumstances were not favourable to the development of philosophy in Slovakia. The enforced retardation of the country had an obviously ...

Nagel, Ernest (1901–85)

By Levi, Isaac

Ernest Nagel was arguably the pre-eminent American philosopher of science from the mid 1930s to the 1960s. He taught at Columbia University for virtually his entire career. Although ...

Tkachëv, Pëtr Nikitich (1844–86)

By Walicki, Andrzej

Pëtr Tkachëv, the leading theorist of the ‘Jacobin’ current within Russian revolutionary populism, was a belated disciple of Gracchus (Francois Noël) Babeuf and a forerunner of Vladimir Lenin. ...

Critical theory

By Geuss, Raymond

The term ‘critical theory’ designates the approach to the study of society developed between 1930 and 1970 by the so-called ‘Frankfurt School’. A group of theorists associated with ...

Critical theory

The term ‘critical theory’ designates the approach to the study of society developed between 1930 and 1970 by the so-called ‘Frankfurt School’. A group of theorists associated with ...

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 ...

Post-structuralism in the social sciences

By Gutting, Gary

Structuralism was a twentieth-century approach in various social scientific disciplines (the ‘human sciences’) that promised to put them on a solid scientific basis. The origin and model of ...

Constant de Rebecque, Henri-Benjamin (1767–1830)

By Wood, Dennis

Benjamin Constant combined the activities of a religious historian, autobiographer and novelist with a career as a political theorist and politician. Constant’s intellectual outlook was shaped by French ...

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770–1831)

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is one of the most influential thinkers of the nineteenth century. His thought had a profound impact on later philosophers, social theorists and theologians, ...

Frankfurt School

By Honneth, Axel
Translated by Thomson, Bridget; Bull, Michael

The origins of the circle of philosophers and social scientists now known as the Frankfurt School lie in the 1920s when a number of critics and intellectuals were ...

Anti-positivist thought in Latin America

By Weinstein, Michael A.

Anti-positivist philosophy arose in Latin America at the turn of the twentieth century in response to the dominance of closed positivistic systems of historical development in the climate ...

Conservatism

By O’Hear, Anthony

Conservatism is an approach to human affairs which mistrusts both a priori reasoning and revolution, preferring to put its trust in experience and in the gradual improvement of ...

Utopianism

By Sargent, Lyman Tower

Utopianism is the general label for a number of different ways of dreaming or thinking about, describing or attempting to create a better society. Utopianism is derived from ...

Popper, Karl Raimund (1902–94)

By Jarvie, Ian C.

Popper belongs to a generation of Central European émigré scholars that profoundly influenced thought in the English-speaking countries in this century. His greatest contributions are in philosophy of ...

Watsuji Tetsurō (1890–1960)

By Odin, Steve

Watsuji Tetsurō stands out as the leading thinker on ethics in twentieth century Japanese philosophy. He is regarded as a peripheral member of the ‘Kyoto School’ of philosophers ...

Art and morality

By Tanner, Michael

A complex set of questions is raised by an examination of the relationship between art and morality. First there is a set of empirical considerations about the effect ...

Polanyi, Michael (1891–1976)

By Allen, R.T.

Michael Polanyi was almost unique among philosophers in not only fully acknowledging but in arguing from the tacit dimensions of our knowledge which concern the many things which ...

Blanchot, Maurice (1907–2003)

By Milchman, Alan; Rosenberg, Alan

Maurice Blanchot was a dominant voice in French philosophy and letters from the 1940s, initiating a postmodern discourse which has had a profound impact on Bataille, Levinas, Foucault ...

Hayek, Friedrich August von (1899–1992)

By Kukathas, Chandran

An Austrian-born British economist who turned political philosopher, Hayek was best known for his critique of socialism and the modern welfare state. Writing as an avowed classical liberal ...

Niebuhr, Reinhold (1892–1971)

By Marty, Martin

Reinhold Niebuhr is widely regarded as the foremost public theologian in twentieth-century America. A ‘public’ theologian is one who is responsive to the biblical tradition and responsible to ...