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PHILOSOPHER

 Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was

an Austrian-British philosopher who
worked primarily in logic, the
philosophy of mathematics, the
philosophy of mind, and the L u d w ig

philosophy of language. W it t g e n s t e in

Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Wittgenstein argued for a

representational theory of language. He described this as a
'picture theory' of language: reality ('the world') is a vast
collection of facts that we can picture in language, assuming
that our language has an adequate logical form.
 Martin Heidegger was a key German
philosopher of the 20th Century. He is
best known for contributions to
phenomenology, hermeneutics, and
existentialism. In Heidegger's
fundamental text Being and Time,
"Dasein" is introduced as a term for the
r
M a r t in H e id e g g e
type of being that humans possess.

Heidegger shows “Human reality” (Dasein) is

often lost in inauthentic and everyday life.
But human being can also find his
authenticity and open the mystery of the
Being, source of all things.
 St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was the
preeminent Christian philosopher and
theologian of late antiquity. His writings
adapted aspects of Neoplatonic philosophy
to the exposition and defense of Christian
orthodoxy, imbuing those religious
doctrines with philosophical sophistication
S t . A u g u s t in e o f
and influencing the character of Western
H ip p o
philosophy and theology for more than

1,000 years.
Augustine believed in the existence of a physical Hell
as a punishment for sin, but argued that those who
choose to accept the salvation of Jesus Christ will go to
Heaven. He believed that the existence of goodness
allows evil to exist, through the fault of humans.
St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of
the Scholastic philosophers. He
produced a comprehensive synthesis of
Christian theology and Aristotelian
philosophy that influenced Roman
Catholic doctrine for centuries and was
adopted as the official philosophy of the S t . T h o m a s A q u in
as

church in 1917.

Saint Thomas Aquinas believed that the existence of God could be proven
in five ways, mainly by: 1) observing movement in the world as proof of
God, the "Immovable Mover"; 2) observing cause and effect and identifying
God as the cause of everything; 3) concluding that the impermanent nature
of beings proves the existence of a necessary being, God, who originates
only from within himself; 4) noticing varying levels of human perfection
and determining that a supreme, perfect being must therefore exist; and 5)
knowing that natural beings could not have intelligence without it being
granted to them it by God.
English mathematician and philosopher
who collaborated with Bertrand Russell
on Principia Mathematica (1910–13)
and, from the mid-1920s, taught at
Harvard University and developed a
comprehensive metaphysical theory.
Alfred North

W h it e h e a d

Whitehead argued that reality consists of

processes rather than material objects, and
that processes are best defined by their
relations with other processes, thus rejecting
the theory that reality is fundamentally
constructed by bits of matter that exist
independently of one another.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872–1970)
was a British philosopher, logician, essayist
and social critic best known for his work in
mathematical logic and analytic philosophy.
In the public mind, he was famous as much
for his evangelical atheism as for his
contributions to technical philosophy. Bertrand Russel
l

Russell is generally credited with being one of the

founders of analytic philosophy, but he also produced
a body of work that covers logic, the philosophy of
mathematics, metaphysics, ethics and epistemology.
 John Stuart Mill was an English
philosopher, economist, and
exponent of utilitarianism. He was
prominent as a publicist in the
reforming age of the 19th century
and remains of lasting interest as a
J o h n S t u a r t M il l
logician and an ethical theorist.

The ethical theory of John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) is most

extensively articulated in his classical text
Utilitarianism (1861). Its goal is to justify the utilitarian
principle as the foundation of morals. This principle
says actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote overall human happiness.
 influential British Realist
philosopher and professor whose
systematic approach to ethical
problems and remarkably
meticulous approach to philosophy
G. E. Moore
made him an outstanding modern
British thinker.
Moore's main contributions to philosophy were in the areas
of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and philosophical
methodology. In epistemology, Moore is remembered as a
stalwart defender of commonsense realism.
Peter Abelard was a medieval
French scholastic philosopher,
leading logician, theologian,
teacher, musician, composer,
and poet Peter Abelard

Abelard develops a theory of moral

responsibility based on the agent's
intentions. Moral goodness is defined as
intending to show love of God and
neighbor and being correct in that
intention.
 German-born American
philosopher of logical positivism.
He made important contributions
to logic, the analysis of language,
the theory of probability, and the
Rudolf Carnap
philosophy of science.
Carnap introduced the idea of a 'linguistic framework' or
a 'form of language' that uses a precise specification of
the definitions of and the relations between entities. The
discussion of a proposition within a framework can take
on a logical or an empirical (that is, factual) aspect.
 11o
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 Best known for the concept of satyagraha

(nonviolent resistance), this Indian
independence fighter changed his
philosophical ideas over time in response to
particular situations. His overarching goal,
however, was a more humane way of life
based on self-government, self-sufficiency,
and a deep connection to one's community.
The twin cardinal principles of Gandhi's thought are
truth and nonviolence. It should be remembered that
the English word "truth" is an imperfect translation of
Mahatma Gandhi, महात्मा
the Sanskrit, "satya", and "nonviolence", an even
more imperfect translation of "ahimsa".
 Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra,
Zarathushtra Spitama or Ashu
Zarathushtra, was an ancient Iranian
prophet who founded what is now
known as Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrianism, a belief system that spread
throughout the near East and parts of the West.
Zarathustra's greatest insight was that the universe is
characterized by dualism, with good and evil locked in
a cosmic conflict in which individuals must choose one
side or the other. Zarathustra, Founder

Zoroaster Isme
 the Indian ruler and Buddhist
convert whose role in the spread
of Buddhism is similar to that of
Emperor Constantine's in
Christianity.
Ashoka's adherence to the
Buddhist philosophy which, as in
Hinduism, is called dharma,
"Law". The inscriptions show his
efforts to develop the Buddhist Ashoka II, King of Maurya III

dharma throughout his kingdom

 Regarded as the "father of Japanese
Buddhism," he made Buddhism the state
religion by constructing major Buddhist
temples such as Horyu-ji near Nara. His
was goal was to create a harmonious
society.
Shotoku started using the Chinese philosophy of
moral society and government called Confucianism
in Japanese politics to rewrite the constitution and
reorganize the government. He also brought the
major Asian religion Buddhism into Japan, and
managed to balance it with the native religion Prince Shotoku
called Shinto.
 Patanjali, also called Gonardiya, or Gonikaputra,
(flourished 2nd century BCE or 5th century CE), author or
one of the authors of two great Hindu classics: the first,
Yoga-sutras, a categorization of Yogic thought arranged in
four volumes with the titles “Psychic Power,” “Practice of
Yoga,” “Samadhi” (state of profound contemplation of the
Absolute), and “Kaivalya” (separateness); and the second,
the Mahabhashya (“Great Commentary”), which is both a
defense of the grammarian Panini against his chief critic
and detractor Katyayana and a refutation of some of
Panini’s aphorisms.

the Indian philosopher who developed yoga

as a means not for stress reduction or
flexibility but for people to escape life's patanjali
suffering and achieve spiritual liberation.
 Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was one of the
greatest religious innovators of all time and
the founder of the Sikh religion. His family
were Hindus, but Nanak soon showed an
advanced interest in religion and studied Islam
and Hinduism extensively.
Guru Nanak, a great advocate of
humanism of the 15th century of India is
considered as the model of interreligious
harmony. He dedicated his whole life to
promote harmony among the people of
different faiths. Guru Nanak
 Bodhidharma's teachings and practice
centered on meditation and the Laṅkāvatāra
Sūtra. The Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall
(952) identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th
Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line
that extends all the way back to the Gautama
Buddha himself.
Introduced a regimen of martial
excercises, which became the
foundation of many later schools of
Kung Fu.
Bodhidharma


Zhuangzi is best known through the book that bears

his name, the Zhuangzi, also known as Nanhua
zhenjing (“The Pure Classic of Nanhua”). At about
the turn of the 4th century ce, Guo Xiang, the first
and perhaps the best commentator on the
Zhuangzi, established the work as a primary source
for Daoist thought.
Zhuangzi taught that what
can be known or said
of the Dao is not the Dao. It has neither initial
beginning nor final end, nor limitations or
demarcations. Life is the ongoing transformation
of the Dao, in which there is no better or worse, Zhuang Zi

no good or evil.

 Sun Tzu advocates that the best way to

achieve peace is by a swift victory or, even
better, by defeating the enemy before war is
even begun. He writes: "To fight and
conquer in all your battles is not supreme
excellence; supreme excellence consists in
breaking the enemy's resistance without
fighting"
have authored The Art of War, an influential
ancient Chinese book on military strategy.
Sun Tzu's The Art of War grew in global
popularity and his work has continued to
influence both Asian and Western culture Sun tzu
and politics.
 philosopher who was one of the three great Confucian
philosophers of the classical period in China. He elaborated
and systematized the work undertaken by Confucius and
Mencius, giving a cohesiveness, comprehensiveness, and
direction to Confucian thought that was all the more
compelling for the rigour with which he set it forth; and the
strength he thereby gave to that philosophy has been largely
responsible for its continuance as a living tradition for over
2,000 years.
Xunzi’s most famous dictum is that “the nature of
man is evil; his goodness is only acquired training.”
What Xunzi preached was thus essentially a
philosophy of culture. Human nature at birth, he
maintained, consists of instinctual drives which, left
to themselves, are selfish, anarchic, and antisocial. Xun Kuang
Society as a whole, however, exerts a civilizing
influence upon the individual, gradually training and
molding him until he becomes a disciplined and
morally conscious human being.