Universal language

By Rutherford, Donald

Most often associated with attempts to establish an international language such as Esperanto, the idea of a universal language is rooted in the biblical claim of an original ...

Universal language

Most often associated with attempts to establish an international language such as Esperanto, the idea of a universal language is rooted in the biblical claim of an original ...

Meaning in Islamic philosophy

By Leaman, Oliver

The discussion of the notion of meaning in Islamic philosophy is heavily influenced by theological and legal debates about the interpretation of Islam, and about who has the ...

Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat (1689–1755)

By Hulliung, Mark

Montesquieu, one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment, was famous in his own century both in France and in foreign lands, from Russia to the American colonies. ...

Lambert, Johann Heinrich (1728–77)

By Zoller, Gunter

Lambert was a German mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher, who was among the leading figures of German intellectual life in the late eighteenth century. As a practising scientist, ...

Gentile, Giovanni (1875–1944)

By Bellamy, Richard

Best known as the self-styled philosopher of Fascism, Gentile, along with Benedetto Croce, was responsible for the ascendance of Hegelian idealism in Italy during the first half of ...

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 ...

Berkeley, George (1685–1753)

By Tipton, Ian

George Berkeley, who was born in Ireland and who eventually became Bishop of Cloyne, is best known for three works that he published while still very young: An ...

Condorcet, Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de (1743–94)

By Williams, David

The Marquis de Condorcet belongs to the second generation of eighteenth-century French philosophes. He was by training and inclination a mathematician, and his work marks a major ...

East Asian philosophy

By Ames, Roger T.

Sinitic civilization, which includes the Chinese-influenced cultures of Japan and Korea, established an early lead over the rest of the world in the development of its material culture ...

Language, early modern philosophy of

By Szabo, Zoltan Gendler

Philosophical interest in language during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was strong but largely derivative. Most thinkers shared Leibniz’s view ‘that languages are the best mirror of the ...

Levinas, Emmanuel (1906–95)

By Bernasconi, Robert

In the 1930s Levinas helped to introduce the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl and Heidegger to the French. Subsequently his work attained classic status in its own right for ...

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716)

By Garber, Daniel

Leibniz was one of the central figures of seventeenth-century philosophy, indeed, one of the central intellectual figures of his age. Born and educated in Germany, he travelled to ...

Humboldt, Wilhelm von (1767–1835)

By Beiser, Frederick

Along with Schiller and Goethe, Humboldt was one of the chief representatives of Weimar classicism, a movement that aspired to revive German culture along the lines of ancient ...

French Revolution, philosophical background and influence of

By Millhorn, Jim

The French Revolution is clearly defined as a benchmark event of the modern era. It remains the revolution by which all others are measured. Any discussion of political ...

Language, Renaissance philosophy of

By Ashworth, E.J.

Renaissance philosophy of language is in its essentials a continuation of medieval philosophy of language as it developed in the fourteenth century. However, there were three big changes ...

Comenius, John Amos (1592–1670)

By Zumr, Josef

Comenius (Jan Amos Komensky), a Czech philosopher and theologian, was one of the founders of modern educational theory. As a Protestant minister he had to leave Bohemia during ...

Logic machines and diagrams

By Dipert, Randall R.

By ‘logical diagrams’ we generally mean any two-dimensional representations of logical relationships, such as of class inclusion or consequence. One usually also means representations using non-typographical symbols or ...

Unity of science

By Cat, Jordi

How should our scientific knowledge be organized? Is scientific knowledge unified and, if so, does it mirror a unity of the world as a whole? Or is it ...

Reinhold, Karl Leonhard (1757–1823)

By di Giovanni, George

A catalyst in the rise of post-Kantian idealism, Reinhold popularized Kant’s critical philosophy by systematizing it in the form of a theory of consciousness. Reinhold shifted from one ...

Carnap, Rudolf (1891–1970)

By Creath, Richard

Carnap was one of the most significant philosophers of the twentieth century, and made important contributions to logic, philosophy of science, semantics, modal theory and probability. Viewed as ...

Logic in the 17th and 18th centuries

By Capozzi, Mirella

Logic in the seventeenth century was characterized by attempts to reconcile older viewpoints, such as those of Ramus and Melanchthon, and by criticism of the nature and scope ...