Alienation

By Wood, Allen W.

‘Alienation’ is a prominent term in twentieth-century social theory and social criticism, referring to any of various social or psychological evils which are characterized by a harmful separation, ...

Tibetan philosophy

By Tillemans, Tom J.F.

Tibetan philosophy – if we can make a rough separation between what is predominantly argument-oriented and analytical and what is more a question of ritual, devotion or vision ...

South Slavs, philosophy of

By Lazovic, Zivan; Pavkovic, Aleksandar

Philosophy as a distinct intellectual activity emerged in the coastal towns of the Adriatic during the Renaissance. Philosophers from this area wrote in Latin and taught philosophy in ...

Sport and ethics

By Hyland, Drew A.

Ethical controversies have formed some of the liveliest debate in the philosophy of sport. Some of the issues arise out of the very nature of sport as a ...

Marx, Karl (1818–83)

By Rosen, Michael

Karl Marx was the most important of all theorists of socialism. He was not a professional philosopher, although he completed a doctorate in philosophy. His life was devoted ...

Marxism, Chinese

By Munro, Donald J.

Chinese Marxism is a mixture of elements from Confucianism, German Marxism, Soviet Leninism and China’s own guerrilla experience. Because Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was in power longer than any ...

Romanticism, German

By Beiser, Frederick

Because Romanticism has many meanings which vary according to time and place, it is best to examine the movement in a specific culture and period. Of all the ...

Political philosophy, history of

By Hampsher-Monk, Iain

The history of political philosophy attempts to yield a connected account of past speculation on the character of human association at its most inclusive level. ‘History’ or ‘philosophy’ ...

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69)

By Bernstein, J.M.

Philosopher, musicologist and social theorist, Theodor Adorno was the philosophical architect of the first generation of Critical Theory emanating from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. ...

Marginality

By Oliver, Amy A.

Traditional definitions of marginal persons include those who live in two worlds, but do not feel well integrated into either and those who live in societies which are ...

Psychoanalysis, post-Freudian

By Hopkins, James

The basic concepts of psychoanalysis are due to Sigmund Freud. After establishing psychoanalysis Freud worked in Vienna until he and other analysts fled the Nazi occupation. Post-Freudian psychoanalysis ...

Work, philosophy of

By Arneson, Richard

Unlike play, work is activity that has to involve significant expenditure of effort and be directed toward some goal beyond enjoyment. The term ‘work’ is also used to ...

Romanticism, German

Because Romanticism has many meanings which vary according to time and place, it is best to examine the movement in a specific culture and period. Of all the ...

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69)

Philosopher, musicologist and social theorist, Theodor Adorno was the philosophical architect of the first generation of Critical Theory emanating from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. ...

Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937)

By Bellamy, Richard

An Italian Marxist theorist and activist, Gramsci’s main contribution lies in his critique of dialectical materialism. This school treated both the power of the bourgeois state and the ...

Luther, Martin (1483–1546)

By Higton, M.A.

Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk who found the theology and penitential practices of his times inadequate for overcoming fears about his salvation. He turned first to a ...

Beauvoir, Simone de (1908–86)

By Lundgren-Gothlin, Eva

Simone de Beauvoir, a French novelist and philosopher belonging to the existentialist-phenomenological tradition, elaborated an anthropology and ethics inspired by Kierkegaard, Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre in Pyrrhus et ...

Market, ethics of the

By Miller, David

Markets are systems of exchange in which people with money or commodities to sell voluntarily trade these for other items which they prefer to have. Most economic transactions ...

Property

By Munzer, Stephen R.

Most of the great philosophers have expressed views on property, its justification and limits, and especially on the justification of having private property; generally, one must understand these ...

Lefebvre, Henri (1901–91)

By Shields, Rob

Henri Lefebvre was a Marxist and existential philosopher, a sociologist and a theorist of the state. His humanistic neo-Marxism has been influential throughout Europe. In the English-speaking world ...

Sartre, Jean-Paul (1905–80)

By Richmond, Sarah

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) is one of the best-known philosophers of the twentieth century. He was also a novelist, literary critic, playwright, essayist, biographer, autobiographer, journalist, and political theorist. ...

Anti-Semitism

By Leaman, Oliver; Nyman, Clive

Anti-Semitism is a form of racism which sees Jews as a dangerous and despicable group in society. It has solid philosophical sources in the work of German Idealism ...

Categories

By Westerhoff, Jan

Even though categories play an important role in philosophy (especially in ontology and metaphysics), it is clear that not all categories play such a role. Philosophers are ...

Existentialism and Aesthetics

By Wicks, Robert

Through Kierkegaard’s inspiration, the existentialist aesthetics of Sartre, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Camus presents two kinds of art – benighted and enlightened – varying in their definition according to ...

Lifeworld and science

By Dodd, James

In phenomenology, ‘lifeworld’ (Lebenswelt) denotes the immediate, everyday, concrete whole of the subjectively experienced world. Its original elaboration in the thought of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) played a central ...