Atomic theory traces itself back to the pre-Socratics when the philosopher Leucippus (d. 370 BCE) and his student Democritus (371 BCE) proposed that everything is composed of indestructible particles moving through empty […]
The word “nihilism” (derived from the Latin root nihil, meaning nothing, that which does not exist) was popularized by Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), a 19th-century Russian writer, in his work Fathers and […]
John Locke (1632-1704) was a political philosopher and theorist active within the Age of Enlightenment and often considered the father of British empiricism. This entry focuses on Locke’s empiricism and empiricist theory […]
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was a prominent English political philosopher reputable for his political philosophy, a field he is often credited with being its founder. This entry brings into focus Hobbes’ materialist and […]
The Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), most notable for his ideas in the philosophy of language and logic, had a vested interest in the use of language because he believed philosophical problems […]
Logical positivism was a philosophical movement that flourished between 1920 and 1960 in several centers across Europe and the United States. The movement’s proponents were all empiricists of a kind (those who […]
The pre-Socratic intellectual tradition is thought to have begun with Thales of Miletus of the Ionian school. There are two other pre-Socratic schools: the Italians and Athenians. The Italian philosophers, who were […]
The pre-Socratic philosophers were thinkers within the Western intellectual tradition (mostly) preceding the life Socrates (c. 469 – c. 399 BC) living in Ionia (coast of modern day Turkey), Italy, and Greece. […]
“Sophist” refers to a number of intellectuals in the 5th century BC representing a school of thought arising out of an intellectual impasse reached between the Ionian and Italian pre-Socratic philosophers. A […]
Many historians and philosophers will claim that of all the Ancient Greek philosophers Socrates (468-399 BC) is the most recognizable. He stands in as the symbolic figure of the philosopher (the ‘lover […]
