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Philosophy Guide
Philosophy Guide
HAS NO DECIDES
WE ONLY THINK WHEN
GENDER WE ARE CONFRONTED EVERYTHING THE UNIVERSE
HAS NOT ALWAYS
WITH PROBLEMS
TO BE IS TO BE EXISTED
THE
MAN IS THE
MEASURE OF
PHILOSOPHY
ALL THINGS
BOOK
BIG IDEAS SIMPLY EXPLAINED
MAN IS A
MACHINE
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
CLIVE HILL
The publishers would also like to thank Richard
A lecturer in political theory and British history, Osborne, lecturer of philosophy and critical theory at
Clive Hill has a particular interest in the role of Camberwell College of Arts, UK, for his enthusiasm
the intellectual in the modern world. and assistance in planning this book, and Stephanie
Chilman for her help putting the Directory together.
PETER J. KING
A doctor of philosophy who lectures at Pembroke
College, University of Oxford, UK, Peter J. King is the
author of the recent book One Hundred Philosophers:
A Guide to the World’s Greatest Thinkers.
CONTENTS
10 INTRODUCTION 46 The life which is
unexamined is not THE MEDIEVAL
THE ANCIENT WORLD
worth living
Socrates
WORLD
Karl Jaspers
228 We only think when we are 257 Logic is the last scientific 274 In order to see the world
confronted with problems ingredient of philosophy we must break with our
John Dewey Rudolf Carnap familiar acceptance of it
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
232 Those who cannot 258 The only way of knowing
remember the past are a person is to love them 276 Man is defined as
condemned to repeat it without hope a human being and
George Santayana Walter Benjamin woman as a female
Simone de Beauvoir
233 It is only suffering that 259 That which is cannot
makes us persons be true Herbert Marcuse 278 Language is a social art
Miguel de Unamuno Willard Van Orman Quine
260 History does not belong
234 Believe in life to us but we belong to it 280 The fundamental sense of
William du Bois Hans-Georg Gadamer freedom is freedom from
chains Isaiah Berlin
236 The road to happiness lies 262 In so far as a scientific
in an organized diminution statement speaks about 282 Think like a mountain
of work Bertrand Russell reality, it must be Arne Naess
falsifiable Karl Popper
240 Love is a bridge from 284 Life will be lived all the
poorer to richer knowledge 266 Intelligence is a moral better if it has no meaning
Max Scheler category Theodor Adorno Albert Camus
322 Thought has always
CONTEMPORARY worked by opposition
PHILOSOPHY
Hélène Cixous
P
hilosophy is not just the “schools” to teach not just the any big ideas as the conclusions of
preserve of brilliant but conclusions they had come to, but his thinking. Indeed, he prided
eccentric thinkers that it is the way they had come to them. himself on being the wisest of men
popularly supposed to be. It is what They encouraged their students to because he knew he didn’t know
everyone does when they’re not disagree and criticize ideas as a anything. His legacy lay in the
busy dealing with their everyday means of refining them and coming tradition he established of debate
business and get a chance simply up with new and different ones. A and discussion, of questioning the
to wonder what life and the popular misconception is that of assumptions of other people to gain
universe are all about. We human the solitary philosopher arriving at deeper understanding and elicit
beings are naturally inquisitive his conclusions in isolation, but this fundamental truths. The writings
creatures, and can’t help wondering is actually seldom the case. New of Socrates’ pupil, Plato, are almost
about the world around us and our ideas emerge through discussion invariably in the form of dialogues,
place in it. We’re also equipped with and the examination, analysis, and with Socrates as a major character.
a powerful intellectual capability, criticism of other people’s ideas. Many later philosophers also
which allows us to reason as well adopted the device of dialogues
as just wonder. Although we may Debate and dialogue to present their ideas, giving
not realize it, whenever we reason, The archetypical philosopher in arguments and counterarguments
we’re thinking philosophically. this respect was Socrates. He rather than a simple statement of
Philosophy is not so much about didn’t leave any writings, or even their reasoning and conclusions.
coming up with the answers to The philosopher who presents
fundamental questions as it is his ideas to the world is liable to
about the process of trying to find be met with comments beginning
these answers, using reasoning “Yes, but ...” or “What if ...” rather
rather than accepting without than wholehearted acceptance.
question conventional views or In fact, philosophers have fiercely
traditional authority. The very first Wonder is very much the disagreed with one another about
philosophers, in ancient Greece and affection of a philosopher; almost every aspect of philosophy.
China, were thinkers who were not for there is no other Plato and his pupil Aristotle, for
satisfied with the established beginning of philosophy example, held diametrically
explanations provided by religion than this. opposed views on fundamental
and custom, and sought answers Plato philosophical questions, and their
which had rational justifications. different approaches have divided
And, just as we might share our opinions among philosophers ever
views with friends and colleagues, since. This has, in turn, provoked
they discussed their ideas with more discussion and prompted yet
one another, and even set up more fresh ideas.
INTRODUCTION 13
But how can it be that these metaphysics such as “Why is there in order to reason correctly. We also
philosophical questions are still something rather than nothing?” need to determine the scope and
being discussed and debated? are not so simply answered. limits of our knowledge. Otherwise
Why haven’t thinkers come up Because we, too, exist as a part we cannot be sure that we actually
with definitive answers? What are of the universe, metaphysics also do know what we think we know,
these “fundamental questions” that considers the nature of human and haven’t somehow been “tricked”
philosophers through the ages have existence and what it means to be into believing it by our senses.
wrestled with? a conscious being. How do we
perceive the world around us, and Logic and language
Existence and knowledge do things exist independently of Reasoning relies on establishing
When the first true philosophers our perception? What is the the truth of statements, which can
appeared in ancient Greece some relationship between our mind and then be used to build up a train of
2,500 years ago, it was the world body, and is there such a thing as thought leading to a conclusion. This
around them that inspired their an immortal soul? The area of might seem obvious to us now, but
sense of wonder. They saw the metaphysics concerned with the idea of constructing a rational
Earth and all the different forms of questions of existence, ontology, is argument distinguished philosophy
life inhabiting it; the sun, moon, a huge one and forms the basis for from the superstitious and religious
planets, and stars; and natural much of Western philosophy. explanations that had existed before
phenomena such as the weather, Once philosophers had started the first philosophers. These
earthquakes, and eclipses. They to put received wisdom to the test thinkers had to devise a way of
sought explanations for all these of rational examination, another ensuring their ideas had validity. ❯❯
things—not the traditional myths fundamental question became
and legends about the gods, but obvious: “How can we know?” The
something that would satisfy their study of the nature and limits of
curiosity and their intellect. The knowledge forms a second main
first question that occupied these branch of philosophy, epistemology.
early philosophers was “What is the At its heart is the question of
universe made of?”, which was soon how we acquire knowledge, how Superstition sets the
expanded to become the wider we come to know what we know; whole world in flames;
question of “What is the nature is some (or even all) knowledge philosophy quenches them.
of whatever it is that exists?” innate, or do we learn everything Voltaire
This is the branch of philosophy from experience? Can we know
we now call metaphysics. Although something from reasoning alone?
much of the original question has These questions are vital to
since been explained by modern philosophical thinking, as we need
science, related questions of to be able to rely on our knowledge
14 INTRODUCTION
What emerged from their thinking Zeno of Elea’s famous paradoxes justice?” or “What is beauty?” not
was logic, a technique of reasoning reached absurd conclusions from only to elicit meanings, but also to
that was gradually refined over time. apparently faultless arguments. explore the concepts themselves.
At first simply a useful tool for A large part of the problem is In discussions of this sort, Socrates
analyzing whether an argument that philosophical logic, unlike challenged assumptions about the
held water, logic developed rules mathematics, is expressed in words way we live our lives and the things
and conventions, and soon became rather than numbers or symbols, we consider to be important.
a field of study in its own right, and is subject to all the ambiguities The examination of what it
another branch of the expanding and subtleties inherent in language. means to lead a “good” life, what
subject of philosophy. Constructing a reasoned argument concepts such as justice and
Like so much of philosophy, involves using language carefully happiness actually mean and how
logic has intimate connections and accurately, examining our we can achieve them, and how we
with science, and mathematics in statements and arguments to make should behave, forms the basis for
particular. The basic structure of sure they mean what we think they the branch of philosophy known as
a logical argument, starting from mean; and when we study other ethics (or moral philosophy); and the
a premise and working through people’s arguments, we have to related branch stemming from the
a series of steps to a conclusion, is analyze not only the logical steps question of what constitutes beauty
the same as that of a mathematical they take, but also the language and art is known as aesthetics.
proof. It’s not surprising then that they use, to see if their conclusions
philosophers have often turned to hold water. Out of this process came
mathematics for examples of self- yet another field of philosophy that
evident, incontrovertible truths, nor flourished in the 20th century, the
that many of the greatest thinkers, philosophy of language, which
from Pythagoras to René Descartes examined terms and their meanings.
and Gottfried Leibniz, were also O philosophy, life’s guide!
accomplished mathematicians. Morality, art, and politics O searcher-out of virtue
Although logic might seem to Because our language is imprecise, and expeller of vices!
be the most exact and “scientific” philosophers have attempted to What could we and every
branch of philosophy, a field where clarify meanings in their search for age of men have been
things are either right or wrong, answers to philosophical questions. without thee?
a closer look at the subject shows The sort of questions that Socrates Cicero
that it is not so simple. Advances asked the citizens of Athens tried
in mathematics in the 19th century to get to the bottom of what they
called into question the rules of actually believed certain concepts
logic that had been laid down by to be. He would ask seemingly
Aristotle, but even in ancient times simple questions such as “What is
INTRODUCTION 15
From considering ethical questions human construct—and this in turn form an integral part of Eastern
about our individual lives, it is a has raised the whole debate as to philosophy that has no parallel in
natural step to start thinking about what extent humanity has free will. the West. Eastern and Western
the sort of society we would like to In the Eastern philosophies philosophy also differ in their
live in—how it should be governed, that evolved in China and India starting points. Where the ancient
the rights and responsibilities of (particularly Daoism and Buddhism) Greeks posed metaphysical
its citizens, and so on. Political the lines between philosophy and questions, the first Chinese
philosophy, the last of the major religion are less clear, at least to philosophers considered these
branches of philosophy, deals with Western ways of thinking. This adequately dealt with by religion,
these ideas, and philosophers have marks one of the major differences and instead concerned themselves
come up with models of how they between Western and Eastern with moral and political philosophy.
believe society should be organized, philosophies. Although Eastern
ranging from Plato’s Republic to philosophies are not generally a Following the reasoning
Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. result of divine revelation or Philosophy has provided us with
religious dogma, they are often some of the most important and
Religion: East and West intricately linked with what we influential ideas in history. What
The various branches of philosophy would consider matters of faith. this book presents is a collection
are not only interlinked, but overlap Even though philosophical of ideas from the best-known
considerably, and it is sometimes reasoning is frequently used to philosophers, encapsulated in well
difficult to say in which area a justify faith in the Judeo-Christian known quotes and pithy summaries
particular idea falls. Philosophy also and Islamic world, faith and belief of their ideas. Perhaps the best-
encroaches on many completely known quotation in philosophy is
different subjects, including the Descartes’ “cogito, ergo sum” (often
sciences, history, and the arts. With translated from the Latin as “I think,
its beginnings in questioning the therefore I am”). It ranks as one of
dogmas of religion and superstition, the most important ideas in the
philosophy also examines religion history of philosophy, and is widely
itself, specifically asking questions There is nothing either considered a turning point in
such as “Does god exist?” and “Do good or bad, but thinking thinking, leading us into the modern
we have an immortal soul?” These makes it so. era. On its own however, the
are questions that have their roots William Shakespeare quotation doesn’t mean much. It is
in metaphysics, but they have the conclusion of a line of argument
implications in ethics too. For about the nature of certainty, and
example, some philosophers have only when we examine the
asked whether our morality comes reasoning leading to it does the
from god or whether it is a purely idea begin to make sense. And ❯❯
16 INTRODUCTION
it’s only when we see where ideas here that raise issues that prescient—the theories of the
Descartes took the idea—what the philosophers still puzzle over. ancient Greek atomists for example.
consequences of that conclusion Some ideas may relate to other More importantly, these thinkers
are—that we see its importance. thoughts and theories in different established the processes of
Many of the ideas in this book fields of the same philosopher’s philosophy, ways of thinking and
may seem puzzling at first glance. thinking, or have come from an organizing our thoughts. We must
Some may appear self-evident, analysis or criticism of another remember that these ideas are only
others paradoxical or flying in the philosopher’s work. These latter a small part of a philosopher’s
face of common sense. They might ideas form part of a line of thinking—usually the conclusion
even appear to prove Bertrand reasoning that may extend over to a longer line of reasoning.
Russell’s flippant remark that “the several generations or even
point of philosophy is to start with centuries, or be the central idea of Science and society
something so simple as not to seem a particular “school” of philosophy. These ideas spread their influence
worth stating, and to end with Many of the great philosophers beyond philosophy too. Some have
something so paradoxical that no formed integrated “systems” of spawned mainstream scientific,
one will believe it.” So why are philosophy with interconnecting political, or artistic movements.
these ideas important? ideas. For example, their opinions Often the relationship between
about how we acquire knowledge science and philosophy is a back-
Systems of thought led to a particular metaphysical and-forth affair, with ideas from one
Sometimes the theories presented view of the universe and man’s informing the other. Indeed, there
in this book were the first of their soul. This in turn has implications is a whole branch of philosophy
kind to appear in the history of for what kind of life the philosopher that studies the thinking behind
thought. While their conclusions believes we should lead and what
may seem obvious to us now, in type of society would be ideal. And
hindsight, they were startlingly in turn, this entire system of ideas
new in their time, and despite their has been the starting point for
apparent simplicity, they may make subsequent philosophers.
us reexamine things that we take We must remember too that
for granted. The theories presented these ideas never quite become Scepticism is the first
here that seem to be paradoxes and outdated. They still have much to step towards truth.
counter-intuitive statements are the tell us, even when their conclusions Denis Diderot
ideas that really call into question have been proved wrong by
our assumptions about ourselves subsequent philosophers and
and the world—and they also make scientists. In fact, many ideas that
us think in new ways about how had been dismissed for centuries
we see things. There are many were later to be proved startlingly
INTRODUCTION 17
scientific methods and practices. and still more in dense, abstract often come to radically different
The development of logical thinking language that takes time to unpick. conclusions in their investigations
affected how math evolved and If you read these ideas in the into questions that science cannot
became the basis for the scientific original texts, you will not only —and religion does not—explain.
method, which relies on systematic agree or disagree with the what
observation to explain the world. they say, and follow the reasoning Enjoying philosophy
Ideas about the nature of the self by which they reached their If wonder and curiosity are human
and consciousness have developed conclusions, but also get a feeling attributes, so too are the thrill of
into the science of psychology. of what kind of person is behind it. exploration and the joy of discovery.
The same is true of philosophy’s You might, for example, warm to We can gain the same sort of
relationship with society. Ethics of the witty and charming Hume, “buzz” from philosophy that we
all sorts found adherents in political appreciating his beautifully clear might get from physical activity,
leaders throughout history, shaping prose, while not altogether feeling and the same pleasure that we
the societies we live in today, and at home with what he has to say; or enjoy from an appreciating the arts.
even prompting revolutions. The find Schopenhauer both persuasive Above all, we gain the satisfaction
ethical decisions made in all kinds and a delight to read, while getting of arriving at beliefs and ideas that
of professions have moral dimensions the distinct feeling that he was not are not handed down or forced upon
that are informed by the ideas of a particularly likeable man. us by society, teachers, religion, or
the great thinkers of philosophy. Above all these thinkers were even philosophers, but through our
(and still are) interesting and own individual reasoning. ■
Behind the ideas stimulating. The best were also
The ideas in this book have come great writers too, and reading
from people living in societies and their original writings can be as
cultures which have shaped those rewarding as reading literature; we
ideas. As we examine the ideas, we can appreciate not just their literary
get a picture of certain national and style, but also their philosophical
regional characteristics, as well as style, the way they present their The beginning of thought
a flavor of the times they lived in. arguments. As well as being is in disagreement—not
The philosophers presented here thought-provoking, it can be as only with others but also
emerge as distinct personalities— uplifting as great art, as elegant as with ourselves.
some thinkers are optimistic, others a mathematical proof, and as witty Eric Hoffer
pessimistic; some are meticulous as an after-dinner speaker.
and painstaking, others think in Philosophy is not simply about
broad sweeps; some express ideas—it’s a way of thinking. There
themselves in clear, precise are frequently no right or wrong
language, others in a poetic way, answers, and different philosophers
THE ANC
WORLD
700 –250
BCE CE
IENT
20 INTRODUCTION
Birth of Pythagoras, The powerful Greek Birth of Socrates, whose Defeat in the
the Greek thinker who city-state of Athens methods of questioning Peloponnesian
combined philosophy adopts a democratic in Athens formed the War leads to the
and mathematics. constitution. basis for much of later decline of Athens’
Western philosophy. political power.
F
rom the beginning of human He passed on to his followers not acquired mystical significance for
history, people have asked only his answers, but the process Pythagoras and his followers, their
questions about the world of thinking rationally, together with numerical explanation of the cosmos
and their place within it. For early an idea of what kind of explanations had a profound influence on the
societies, the answers to the most could be considered satisfactory. beginnings of scientific thought.
fundamental questions were found For this reason Thales is generally
in religion: the actions of the gods regarded as the first philosopher. Classical Greek philosophy
explained the workings of the The main concern of the early As the Greek city-states grew in
universe, and provided a framework philosophers centered around stature, philosophy spread across
for human civilizations. Thales’ basic question: “What is the Greek world from Ionia, and in
Some people, however, found the the world made of?” Their answers particular to Athens, which was
traditional religious explanations form the foundations of scientific rapidly becoming the cultural
inadequate, and they began to thought, and forged a relationship center of Greece. It was here that
search for answers based on reason between science and philosophy philosophers broadened the scope of
rather than convention or religion. that still exists today. The work of philosophy to include new questions,
This shift marked the birth of Pythagoras marked a key turning such as “How do we know what we
philosophy, and the first of the great point, as he sought to explain the know?” and “How should we live
thinkers that we know of was Thales world not in terms of primal matter, our lives?” It was an Athenian,
of Miletus—Miletus was a Greek but in terms of mathematics. He and Socrates, who ushered in the short
settlement in modern-day Turkey. his followers described the but hugely influential period of
Thales used reason to inquire into structure of the cosmos in numbers Classical Greek philosophy. Although
the nature of the universe, and and geometry. Although some of he left no writings, his ideas were so
encouraged others to do likewise. these mathematical relationships important that they steered the
THE ANCIENT WORLD 21
Ptolemy, a Roman
Zeno of Citium citizen of Egypt, Galen of Pergamum
Plato founds his formulates his stoic proposes the idea that produces extraordinary
hugely influential philosophy, which Earth is at the center medical research that
Academy in goes on to find favor of the universe and remains unsurpassed until
Athens. in the Roman Empire. does not move. the work of Vesalius in 1543.
Aristotle, Plato’s The death of Alexander Construction begins The collapse of the
student, opens his own the Great signals the end on Hadrian’s Wall in Han Dynasty
school in Athens—the of the cultural and political Britain, marking the marks the end of
Lyceum. dominance of Greece in northernmost border a unified China.
the ancient world. of the Roman Empire. The Period of
Disunity begins.
future course of philosophy, and once again became rivals. Following philosophies that were less
all philosophers before him became the death of Aristotle in 322 BCE, concerned with the nature of
known as the pre-socratics. His pupil philosophy also divided into very the universe than with how best
Plato founded a philosophical school different schools of thought, as the to organize a just society and
in Athens called the Academy (from cynics, sceptics, epicureans, and provide moral guidelines for the
which the word “academic” derives) stoics argued their positions. individuals within it; in the process
where he taught and developed his Over the next couple of centuries, examining what constitutes a
master’s ideas, passing them on to Greek culture waned as the Roman “good” life. The so-called “Hundred
students such as Aristotle, who was Empire grew. The Romans had Schools of Thought” flourished in
a pupil and teacher there for 20 years. little time for Greek philosophy this period, and the most significant
The contrasting ideas and methods apart from stoicism, but Greek of these were Confucianism and
of these great thinkers—Socrates, ideas persisted, mainly because Daoism, both of which continued
Plato, and Aristotle—form the basis they were preserved in the to dominate Chinese philosophy
of Western philosophy as we know manuscripts and translations of until the 20th century.
it today, and their differences of the Arab world. They resurfaced To the south of China an equally
opinion have continued to divide later, during medieval times, with influential philosopher appeared:
philosophers throughout history. the rise of Christianity and Islam. Siddhartha Gautama, later known
The Classical period of ancient as the Buddha. From his teaching
Greece effectively came to an end Eastern philosophies in northern India around 500 BCE,
with the death of Alexander the Thinkers throughout Asia were also his philosophy spread across the
Great in 323 BCE. This great leader questioning conventional wisdom. subcontinent and over most of
had unified Greece, and Greek city- Political upheaval in China from southern Asia, where it is still
states that had worked together 771 to 481 BCE led to a collection of widely practiced. ■
22
EVERYTHING
IS MADE
OF WATER
THALES OF MILETUS (C.624–546 BCE)
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH
Monism
BEFORE From observation, Thales deduced that specific
2500–900 BCE The Minoan weather conditions, not appeals to the gods, led to a good
civilization in Crete and the harvest. Predicting a high yield of olives one year, he is
later Mycenaean civilization said to have bought up all the local olive presses, then
profited by renting them out to meet increased demand.
in Greece rely on religion to
explain physical phenomena.
D
uring the Archaic period have predicted the total eclipse of
c.1100 BCE The Babylonian
(mid-8th–6th century BCE), the sun in 585 BCE. This practical
creation myth, Enûma Eliš,
the peoples of the Greek turn of mind led him to believe that
describes the primal state of peninsula gradually settled into a events in the world were not due to
the world as a watery mass. group of city-states. They developed supernatural intervention, but had
c.700 BCE Theogony by the an alphabetical system of writing, natural causes that reason and
Greek poet Hesiod relates how as well as the beginnings of what observation would reveal.
the gods created the universe. is now recognized as Western
philosophy. Previous civilizations Fundamental substance
AFTER had relied on religion to explain Thales needed to establish a first
Early 5th century BCE phenomena in the world around principle from which to work, so
Empedocles proposes the four them; now a new breed of thinkers he posed the question, “What is
basic elements of the cosmos: emerged, who attempted to find the basic material of the cosmos?”
earth, water, air, and fire. natural, rational explanations. The idea that everything in the
c.400 BCE Leucippus and The first of these new scientific universe can be ultimately reduced
thinkers that we are aware of was to a single substance is the theory
Democritus conclude that the
Thales of Miletus. Nothing survives of monism, and Thales and his
cosmos is made up solely of
of his writings, but we know that followers were the first to propose
atoms and empty space. he had a good grasp of geometry it within Western philosophy.
and astronomy, and is reputed to Thales reasons that the fundamental
THE ANCIENT WORLD 23
See also: Anaximander 330 ■ Anaximenes of Miletus 330 ■ Pythagoras 26–29 ■
It must be…
Thales of Miletus
Although we know that
Thales was born and lived in
Miletus, on the coast of what
…something is now Turkey, we know very
from which …essential …capable …capable little about his life. None of his
everything to life. of motion. of change. writings, if indeed he left any,
can be formed. have survived. However, his
reputation as one of the key
early Greek thinkers seems
deserved, and he is referred
to in some detail by both
Aristotle and Diogenes
Everything is Laertius, the 3rd-century
made of water. biographer of the ancient
Greek philosophers.
Anecdotal evidence
suggests that as well as
being a philosopher, Thales
material of the universe had to be When anything occurs to cause
was actively involved in
something out of which everything ripples or tremors in this water,
politics and was a very
else could be formed, as well as Thales states, we experience successful businessman. He
being essential to life, and capable them as earthquakes. is thought to have traveled
of motion and therefore of change. However, as interesting as widely around the eastern
He observes that water is clearly the details of Thales’ theories are, Mediterranean, and while
necessary to sustain all forms of they are not the main reason why visiting Egypt, to have learned
life, and that it moves and changes, he is considered a major figure in the practical geometry that
assuming different forms – from the history of philosophy. His true was to become the basis of his
liquid to solid ice and vaporous importance lies in the fact that he deductive reasoning.
mist. So Thales concludes that all was the first known thinker to seek However, Thales was
matter, regardless of its apparent naturalistic, rational answers to above all a teacher, the first of
properties, must be water in some fundamental questions, rather than the so-called Milesian School
stage of transformation. to ascribe objects and events to the of philosophers. Anaximander,
Thales also notes that every whims of capricious gods. By doing his pupil, expanded his
scientific theories, and in
landmass appears to come to an so, he and the later philosophers
turn became a mentor to
end at the water’s edge. From this of the Milesian School laid the Anaximenes, who is believed
he deduces that the whole of the foundations for future scientific to have taught the young
earth must be floating on a bed of and philosophical thought across mathematician Pythagoras.
water, from which it has emerged. the Western world. ■
24
I
n the 6th century BCE, China that was produced by these officials
IN CONTEXT moved toward a state of became known as the Hundred
internal warfare as the ruling Schools of Thought.
TRADITION
Zhou Dynasty disintegrated. This All this coincided with the
Chinese philosophy
change bred a new social class of emergence of philosophy in Greece,
APPROACH administrators and magistrates and shared some of its concerns,
Daoism within the courts, who occupied such as seeking stability in a
themselves with the business of constantly changing world, and
BEFORE devising strategies for ruling more alternatives to what had previously
1600–1046 BCE During the effectively. The large body of ideas been prescribed by religion. But
Shang Dynasty, people believe
fate is controlled by deities and
practice ancestor worship.
1045–256 BCE Under the Zhou Dao
The source of (the Way)… The root of
Dynasty, the Mandate of all things, seen
Heaven (god-given authority) all existence.
and unseen.
justifies political decisions.
AFTER
5th century BCE Confucius …is achieved
(Kong Fuzi) sets out his rules through…
for personal development and A solitary Acting
for ethical government. life of meditation thoughtfully,
4th century BCE Philosopher and reflection. not impulsively.
Zhuangzi moves the focus of
Daoist teaching more toward
…wu wei
the actions of the individual,
(non-action).
rather than those of the state.
Living in peace, Acting in
3rd century CE Scholars Wang
simplicity, and harmony
Bi and Guo Xiang create a tranquility.
Neo-Daoist school. with nature.
THE ANCIENT WORLD 25
See also: Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Confucius 34–39 ■ Mozi 44 ■ Wang Bi 331 ■ Hajime Tanabe 244–45
Laozi So little is known for certain about rituals and ceremonies. Legend
the author of the Daode jing, who states that Laozi left the court
is traditionally assumed to be as the Zhou dynasty declined,
Laozi (Lao Tzu). He has become and journeyed west in search
an almost mythical figure; it has of solitude. As he was about to
even been suggested that the cross the border, one of the
book was not by Laozi, but is in guards recognized him and
fact a compilation of sayings by a asked for a record of his wisdom.
number of scholars. What we do Laozi wrote the Daode jing for
know is that there was a scholar him, and then continued on his
born in the state of Chu, with the way, never to be seen again.
name Li Er or Lao Tan, during
the Zhou dynasty, who became Key works
known as Laozi (the Old Master).
Several texts indicate that he was c.6th century BCE
an archivist at the Zhou court, and Daode jing (also known
that Confucius consulted him on as the Laozi)
26
IN CONTEXT
NUMBER IS
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH
THE RULER
Pythagoreanism
BEFORE
6th century BCE Thales
proposes a non-religious
OF FORMS
explanation of the cosmos.
AFTER
c.535–c.475 BCE Heraclitus
dismisses Pythagoreanism
AND IDEAS
and says that the cosmos is
governed by change.
c.428 BCE Plato introduces
his concept of perfect Forms,
which are revealed to the
W
estern philosophy was
in its infancy when
Pythagoras was born.
In Miletus, Greece, a group of
philosophers known collectively as
the Milesian School had started to
seek rational explanations for natural
phenomena only a generation or so
earlier, marking the beginning of
the Western philosophical tradition.
Pythagoras spent his childhood not
far from Miletus, so it is very likely
that he knew of them, and may
even have studied in their academy.
Like Thales, the founder of the
Milesian School, Pythagoras is
said to have learnt the rudiments
of geometry during a trip to Egypt.
With this background, it is not
THE ANCIENT WORLD 27
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ René Descartes 116–23
surprising that he should approach following strict behavioral and Pythagoras’s beliefs—the mystical
philosophical thinking in a dietary rules, while studying his and the scientific—seem to be
scientific and mathematical way. religious and philosophical theories. irreconcilable, but Pythagoras
The Pythagoreans, as his disciples himself does not see them as
The Pythagorean academy were known, saw his ideas as contradictory. For him, the goal
Pythagoras was also, however, a mystical revelations, to the extent of life is freedom from the cycle
deeply religious and superstitious that some of the discoveries of reincarnation, which can be
man. He believed in reincarnation attributed to him as “revelations” gained by adhering to a strict
and the transmigration of souls, and may in fact have come from others set of behavioral rules, and by
he established a religious cult, with in the community. His ideas were contemplation, or what we would
himself cast as a virtual messiah, in recorded by his students, who call objective scientific thinking.
Croton, southern Italy. His disciples included his wife, Theano of Crotona, In geometry and mathematics he
lived in a collective commune, and daughters. The two sides of found truths that he regarded ❯❯
c2 There is geometry in
the humming of the strings,
there is music in the
b2 b c spacing of the spheres.
Pythagoras
a
a2
triangular shape made up of rows of
dots) had a particular significance
in Pythagorean ritual. Less
HAPPY IS
TRADITION
Eastern philosophy
APPROACH
HE WHO HAS
Buddhism
BEFORE
c.1500 BCE Vedism reaches
the Indian subcontinent.
OVERCOME
c.10th–5th centuries BCE
Brahmanism replaces
Vedic beliefs.
AFTER
HIS EGO
3rd century BCE Buddhism
spreads from the Ganges
valley westward across India.
1st century BCE The
teachings of Siddhartha
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA (C.563–483 BCE) Gautama are written down
for the first time.
1st century CE Buddhism
starts to spread to China
and Southeast Asia. Different
schools of Buddhism begin
to evolve in different areas.
S
iddhartha Gautama, later
known as the Buddha, “the
enlightened one”, lived in
India during a period when religious
and mythological accounts of the
world were being questioned. In
Greece, thinkers such as Pythagoras
were examining the cosmos using
reason, and in China, Laozi and
Confucius were detaching ethics
from religious dogma. Brahmanism,
a religion that had evolved from
Vedism—an ancient belief based
on the sacred Veda texts—was
the dominant faith in the Indian
subcontinent in the 6th century BCE,
and Siddhartha Gautama was the
first to challenge its teachings with
philosophical reasoning.
THE ANCIENT WORLD 31
See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Pythagoras 26–29 ■ Confucius 34–39 ■
David Hume 148–53 ■ Arthur Schopenhauer 186–188 ■ Hajime Tanabe 244–45
The “not-self”
The next step in Gautama’s Believe nothing,
reasoning is that the elimination no matter where you
of attachments will prevent any read it, or who said it,
disappointment, and so avoid unless it agrees with
suffering. To achieve this, he your own reason.
suggests a root cause of our Siddhartha Gautama
attachments—our selfishness,
and by selfishness he means more
than just our tendency to seek
gratification. For Gautama,
selfishness is self-centeredness
The Buddha cut off his hair as part of and self-attachment—the domain
his renunciation of the material world. of what today we would call the notion of being a unique “self”, is
According to Buddhist teaching, the “ego.” So, to free ourselves from the key to losing that attachment,
temptations of the world are the source
attachments that cause us pain, and finding a release from suffering.
of all suffering, and must be resisted.
it is not enough merely to renounce
the things we desire—we must The Eightfold Path
they need. He also recognized that overcome our attachment to that Gautama’s reasoning from the
the sensual pleasure we indulge which desires—the “self.” causes of suffering to the way to
in to relieve suffering is rarely But how can this be done? achieve happiness is codified in
satisfying, and that when it is, the Desire, ambition, and expectation Buddhist teachings in the Four
effects are transitory. He found the are part of our nature, and for Noble Truths: that suffering is
experience of extreme asceticism most of us constitute our very universal; that desire is the cause
(austerity and abstinence) equally reasons for living. The answer, of suffering; that suffering can be
dissatisfying, bringing him no for Gautama, is that the ego’s avoided by eliminating desire;
nearer to an understanding of how world is illusory—as he shows, that following the Eightfold Path
to achieve happiness. again, by a process of reasoning. will eliminate desire. This last
Gautama came to the conclusion He argues that nothing in the Truth refers to what amounts to
that there must be a “middle way” universe is self-caused, for a practical guide to the “middle
between self-indulgence and self- everything is the result of some way” that Gautama laid out for his
mortification. This middle way, previous action, and each of us is followers to achieve enlightenment.
he believed, should lead to true only a transitory part of this eternal
happiness, or “enlightenment”, process—ultimately impermanent
and to find it he applied reason and without substance. So, in
to his own experiences. reality, there is no “self” that is not
Suffering, he realized, is part of the greater whole—or the
universal. It is an integral part of “not-self”—and suffering results
existence, and the root cause of our from our failure to recognize this. Peace comes
suffering is the frustration of our This does not mean that we should from within. Do not
desires and expectations. These deny our existence or personal seek it without.
desires he calls “attachments”, and identity, rather that we should Siddhartha Gautama
they include not only our sensual understand them for what they
desires and worldly ambitions, are—transient and insubstantial.
but our most basic instinct for Grasping the concept of being a
self-preservation. Satisfying constituent part of an eternal “not-
these attachments, he argues, self”, rather than clinging to the
THE ANCIENT WORLD 33
The Eightfold Path (right action, experience. It is an eternal and Gautama’s teachings spread as far
right intention, right livelihood, unchanging state of not-being, as the Greek empire by the 3rd
right effort, right concentration, and so the ultimate freedom from century BCE, but had little influence
right speech, right understanding, the suffering of existence. on Western philosophy. However,
and right mindfulness) is in effect Gautama spent many years there were similarities between
a code of ethics—a prescription for after his enlightenment traveling Gautama’s approach to philosophy
a good life and the happiness that around India, preaching and and that of the Greeks, not least
Gautama first set out to find. teaching. During his lifetime, he Gautama’s emphasis on reasoning
gained a considerable following, as a means of finding happiness, and
Nirvana and Buddhism became established his disciples’ use of philosophical
Gautama sees the ultimate goal of as a major religion as well as a dialogues to elucidate his teachings.
life on Earth to be the ending of the philosophy. His teachings were His thoughts also find echoes in the
cycle of suffering (birth, death, and passed down orally from generation ideas of later Western philosophers,
rebirth) into which we are born. By to generation by his followers, until such as in Hume’s concept of the
following the Eightfold Path, a man the 1st century CE, when they were self and Schopenhauer’s view of
can overcome his ego and live a written down for the first time. the human condition. But it was
life free from suffering, and through Various schools began to appear not until the 20th century that
his enlightenment he can avoid the as Buddhism spread across India, Buddhism was to have any direct
pain of rebirth into another life of and later spread eastward into influence on Western thinking.
suffering. He has realized his place China and Southeast Asia, where Since then, more and more
in the “not-self”, and become at one it rivalled Confucianism and Westerners have turned to it
with the eternal. He has attained Daoism in its popularity. for guidance on how to live. ■
the state of Nirvana—which is
variously translated as “non-
The dharma wheel, one of the oldest
attachment”, “not-being”, or literally Buddhist symbols, represents the
“blowing out” (as of a candle). Eightfold Path to Nirvana. In Buddhism,
In the Brahmanism of Gautama’s the word “dharma” refers to the teachings
time, and the Hindu religion that of the Buddha.
followed, Nirvana was seen as Right
becoming one with god, but Mindfulness
Gautama carefully avoids any
mention of a deity or of an ultimate
Right Right
purpose to life. He merely describes Understanding Action
Nirvana as “unborn, unoriginated,
uncreated, and unformed”, and
transcending any sensory
The
Right Eightfold Right
Speech Intention
Path
The mind is
everything. What you
think, you become.
Siddhartha Gautama
Right Right
Concentration Livelihood
Right
Effort
HOLD
FAITHFULNESS
AND SINCERITY
AS FIRST PRINCIPLES
CONFUCIUS (551–479 )
BCE
36 CONFUCIUS
F
rom 770 to 220 BCE, China
IN CONTEXT enjoyed an era of great
cultural development, and
TRADITION
the philosophies that emerged
Chinese philosophy
at this time were known as the
APPROACH Hundred Schools of Thought. By The superior man does
Confucianism the 6th century BCE, the Zhou what is proper to the station
Dynasty was in decline—moving in which he is; he does not
BEFORE from the stability of the Spring
7th century BCE The Hundred
desire to go beyond this.
and Autumn Period to the aptly Confucius
Schools of Thought emerge. named Warring States Period—
6th century BCE Laozi and it was during this time that
proposes acting in accordance Kong Fuzi, the Master Kong, or
with the dao (the Way). Confucius, was born. Like other
philosophers of the age—such as
AFTER Thales, Pythagoras, and Heraclitus
c.470–c.380 BCE Chinese of Greece—Confucius sought A rigid social hierarchy existed in
philosopher Mozi argues constants in a world of change, China, but Confucius was part of
against Confucian ideas. and for him this meant a search a new class of scholars who acted
for moral values that could enable as advisors to the courts—in effect
372–289 BCE Chinese thinker rulers to govern justly. a class of civil servants—and they
Meng Zi revives Confucianism. achieved their status not through
221–202 BCE Confucianism is The Analects inheritance, but by merit. It was
suppressed by the Qin Dynasty. Unlike many of the early Chinese Confucius’s integration of the
philosophers, Confucius looked old ideals with the emerging
136 BCE The Han Dynasty to the past for his inspiration. He meritocracy that produced his
introduces civil service was conservative by nature, and unique new moral philosophy.
examinations modelled on had a great respect for ritual and The main source we have for
Confucian texts. ancestor worship—both of which the teachings of Confucius is the
9th century CE Confucianism were maintained by the Zhou Analects, a collection of fragments
is reborn as Neo-Confucianism. Dynasty, whose rulers received of his writings and sayings compiled
authority from the gods via the by his disciples. It is primarily
so-called Heavenly Mandate. a political treatise, made up of
aphorisms and anecdotes that form Heaven, as the source of moral blessing of the Heavenly Mandate,
a sort of rule book for good order. According to the Analects, Confucius argues that the virtuous
government—but his use of the we humans are the agents that man is not simply one who stands
word junzi (literally “gentleman”) to Heaven has chosen to embody its at the top of the social hierarchy,
denote a superior, virtuous man, will and to unite the world with but one who understands his
indicates that his concerns were as the moral order—an idea that was place within that hierarchy and
much social as political. Indeed, in line with traditional Chinese embraces it to the full. And to
many passages of the Analects thinking. What breaks with define the various means of acting
read like a book of etiquette. But tradition, however, is Confucius’s in accordance with de—virtue—he
to see the Analects as merely a belief that de—virtue—is not turns to traditional Chinese values:
social or political treatise is to miss something Heaven-sent for the zhong, loyalty; xiao, filial piety; li,
its central point. At its heart lies a ruling classes, but something that ritual propriety; and shu, reciprocity.
comprehensive ethical system. can be cultivated—and cultivated The person who sincerely observes
by anyone. Having himself risen to these values Confucius called junzi,
The virtuous life be a minister of the Zhou court, the gentleman or superior man, by
Before the appearance of the he believed that it was a duty of which he means a man of virtue,
Hundred Schools of Thought, the middle classes, as well as the learning, and good manners.
the world had been explained by rulers, to strive to act with virtue The values of de had evolved
mythology and religion, and power and benevolence (ren) to achieve within the ruling classes but had
and moral authority were generally a just and stable society. become little more than empty
accepted to be god-given. Confucius To reconcile the fact that society gestures in the disintegrating
is pointedly silent about the gods, was a rigid class system with his world of the Zhou Dynasty.
but he often refers to tian, or belief that all men can receive the Confucius is attempting to ❯❯
EVERYTHING
IS FLUX
HERACLITUS (C.535–475 BCE)
W
here other early Greek leads to the unity of the universe,
IN CONTEXT philosophers seek to or the idea everything is part of a
uncover scientific single fundamental process or
BRANCH
explanations for the physical nature substance—the central tenet of
Metaphysics
of the cosmos, Heraclitus sees it as monism. But he also states that
APPROACH being governed by a divine logos. tension is constantly generated
Monism Sometimes interpreted to mean between these pairs of opposites,
“reason” or “argument”, Heraclitus and he therefore concludes that
BEFORE considers the logos to be a universal, everything must be in a permanent
6th century BCE The Milesian cosmic law, according to which all state of flux, or change. Day, for
philosophers claim that the things come into being, and by instance, changes into night, which
cosmos is made up of a single which all the material elements of in turn changes back again to day.
specific substance. the universe are held in balance. Heraclitus offers the example
6th century BCE Pythagoras It is the balancing of opposites, of a river to illustrate his theory:
such as day and night and hot and “You can never step into the same
states that the universe has
cold, which Heraclitus believes river twice.” By this, he means that
an underlying structure that
at the very moment you step into a
can be defined mathematically. river, fresh waters will immediately
AFTER replace those into which you initially
Early 5th century BCE placed your foot, and yet the river
Parmenides uses logical itself is always described as one
deduction to prove change The road up and fixed and unchanging thing.
is impossible. the road down are Heraclitus’s belief that every
one and the same. object in the universe is in a state
Late 4th century BCE Plato of constant flux runs counter to the
describes the world as being Heraclitus
thinking of the philosophers of the
in a state of flux, but dismisses Milesian school, such as Thales
Heraclitus as contradictory. and Anaximenes, who define all
Early 19th century Georg things by their quintessentially
unchanging essence. ■
Hegel bases his dialectic
system of philosophy on the
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Anaximenes of Miletus 330 ■
integration of opposites. Pythagoras 26–29 ■ Parmenides 41 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85
THE ANCIENT WORLD 41
ALL IS ONE
PARMENIDES (C.515–445 BCE)
T
he ideas put forward by
IN CONTEXT Parmenides mark a key
turning point in Greek
BRANCH
philosophy. Influenced by the
Metaphysics
logical, scientific thinking of
APPROACH Pythagoras, Parmenides employs
Monism deductive reasoning in an attempt
to uncover the true physical nature
BEFORE of the world. His investigations lead
6th century BCE Pythagoras him to take the opposite view to
sees mathematical structure, that of Heraclitus.
rather than a substance, as From the premise that something Understanding the cosmos is one of
the foundation of the cosmos. exists (“It is”), Parmenides deduces the oldest philosophical quests. In the
that it cannot also not exist (“It is 20th century, evidence from quantum
c.500 BCE Heraclitus says that physics emerged to support ideas that
not”), as this would involve a logical
everything is in a state of flux. Parmenides reached by reason alone.
contradiction. It follows therefore
AFTER that a state of nothing existing is
Late 5th century BCE Zeno impossible—there can be no void. unchanging, and must have an
of Elea presents his paradoxes Something cannot then come from indivisible unity—“all is one.”
to demonstrate the illusory nothing, and so must always have More importantly for subsequent
nature of our experience. existed in some form. This philosophers, Parmenides shows by
permanent form cannot change, his process of reasoning that our
c.400 BCE Democritus and because something that is perception of the world is faulty and
Leucippus say the cosmos is permanent cannot change into full of contradictions. We seem to
composed of atoms in a void. something else without it ceasing experience change, and yet our
Late 4th century BCE Plato to be permanent. Fundamental reason tells us that change is
presents his theory of Forms, change is therefore impossible. impossible. The only conclusion
claiming that abstract ideas Parmenides concludes from this we can come to is that we can
are the highest form of reality. pattern of thought that everything never rely on the experience that
that is real must be eternal and is delivered to us by our senses. ■
1927 Martin Heidegger writes
Being and Time, reviving the See also: Pythagoras 26–29 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Democritus and Leucippus 45 ■
question of the sense of being. Zeno of Elea 331 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–255
42
MAN IS THE
MEASURE OF
ALL THINGS
PROTAGORAS (C.490–420 BCE)
AFTER
Early 4th century BCE
The truth depends on Man is the
Plato’s theory of Forms states
perspective and is measure of
that there are “absolutes” or therefore relative. all things.
ideal forms of everything.
1580 French writer Michel de
Montaigne espouses a form of
D
relativism to describe human uring the 5th century BCE, taken to court was required to
Athens evolved into an plead his own case; there were no
behavior in his Essays.
important and prosperous advocates, but a recognized class
1967–72 Jacques Derrida uses city-state, and under the leadership of advisors soon evolved. Among
his technique of deconstruction of Pericles (445–429 BCE) it entered this group was Protagoras.
to show that any text contains a “Golden Age” of scholarship and
irreconcilable contradictions. culture. This attracted people from Everything is relative
all parts of Greece, and for those Protagoras lectured in law and
2005 Benedict XVI warns
who knew and could interpret the rhetoric to anybody who could
“we are moving towards a law, there were rich pickings to be afford him. His teachings were
dictatorship of relativism” in had. The city was run on broadly essentially about practical matters,
his first public address as pope. democratic principles, with an arguing to win a civil case rather
established legal system. Anyone than to prove a point, but he could
THE ANCIENT WORLD 43
See also: Parmenides 41 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Michel de Montaigne 108–09 ■ Jacques Derrida 308–13
politics at that time, was new to Protagoras was the most influential
philosophy. By placing human of a group of itinerant teachers of
beings at its center, it continued law and rhetoric that became
a tradition of taking religion out known as the Sophists (from the
of philosophical argument, and it Greek sophia, meaning wisdom).
Many things prevent also shifted the focus of philosophy Socrates and Plato derided the
knowledge, including away from an understanding of Sophists as mere rhetoricians,
the obscurity of the nature of the universe to an but with Protagoras there was a
the subject and the examination of human behavior. significant step in ethics toward
brevity of human life. Protagoras is mainly interested in the view that there are no absolutes
Protagoras practical questions. Philosophical and that all judgements, including
speculations on the substance of moral judgements, are subjective. ■
the cosmos or about the existence
of the gods seem pointless to him,
as he considers such things to be
ultimately unknowable.
The main implication of “man
see the philosophical implications is the measure of all things” is that
of what he taught. For Protagoras, belief is subjective and relative.
every argument has two sides, This leads Protagoras to reject the
and both may be equally valid. existence of absolute definitions
He claims that he can “make the of truth, justice, or virtue. What is
worse case the better”, proving not true for one person may be false for
the worth of the argument, but the another, he claims. This relativism
persuasiveness of its proponent. In also applies to moral values, such
this way, he recognizes that belief as what is right and what is wrong.
According to Protagoras, any “truth”
is subjective, and it is the man To Protagoras, nothing is inherently uncovered by these two philosophers,
holding the view or opinion that is good in itself. Something is ethical, depicted on a 5th-century BCE Greek
the measure of its worth. This style or right, only because a person or drinking vessel, will depend on their
of reasoning, common in law and society judges it to be so. use of rhetoric and their debating skill.
NOTHING EXISTS
EXCEPT ATOMS
AND EMPTY SPACE
DEMOCRITUS ( . 460–371 )
C BCE
AND LEUCIPPUS (EARLY 5TH CENTURY BCE)
F
rom the 6th century BCE exist. The atoms that make up our
IN CONTEXT onward, philosophers began bodies, for example, do not decay
to consider whether the and disappear when we die, but are
BRANCH
universe was made from a single dispersed and can be reconstituted.
Metaphysics
fundamental substance. During the Known as atomism, the theory
APPROACH 5th century BCE, two philosophers that Democritus and Leucippus
Atomism from Abderra in Greece, named devised offered the first complete
Democritus and Leucippus, mechanistic view of the universe,
BEFORE suggested that everything was without any recourse to the notion
Early 6th century BCE Thales made up of tiny, indivisible, and of a god or gods. It also identified
says that the cosmos is made unchangeable particles, which they fundamental properties of matter
of one fundamental substance. called atoms (atomos is Greek for that have proved critical to the
c.500 BCE Heraclitus declares uncuttable). development of the physical
that everything is in a state of sciences, particularly from the 17th
constant flux, or change.
First atomic theory century onward, right up to the
Democritus and Leucippus also atomic theories that revolutionized
AFTER claim that a void or empty space science in the 20th century.■
c.300 BCE The Epicurians separates atoms, allowing them to
conclude that there is no move around freely. As the atoms
afterlife, as the body’s atoms move, they may collide with each
disperse after death. other to form new arrangements of
atoms, so that objects in the world
1805 British chemist John will appear to change. The two
Dalton proposes that all pure
Man is a microcosm
thinkers consider that there are of the universe.
substances contain atoms of an infinite number of these eternal
a single type that combine
Democritus
atoms, but that the number of
to form compounds. different combinations they can
1897 The British physicist arrange themselves into is finite.
J.J. Thomson discovers that This explains the apparent fixed
number of different substances that
atoms can be divided into
even smaller particles.
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Epicurus 64–65
46
IN CONTEXT
IS UNEXAMINED
APPROACH
Dialectical method
BEFORE
c.600–450 BCE Pre-Socratic
IS NOT WORTH
philosophers in Ionia and Italy
attempt to explain the nature
of the cosmos.
LIVING
Early 5th century BCE
Parmenides states that we
can only understand the
universe through reasoning.
S
ocrates is often referred to
as one of the founders of
Western philosophy, and
yet he wrote nothing, established
no school, and held no particular
theories of his own. What he did do,
however, was persistently ask the
questions that interested him, and
in doing so evolved a new way of
thinking, or a new way of examining
what we think. This has been called
the Socratic, or dialectical, method
(“dialectical” because it proceeds
as a dialogue between opposing
views), and it earned him many
enemies in Athens, where he lived.
He was vilified as a Sophist
(someone who argues for the sake
of deception), and was sentenced to
THE ANCIENT WORLD 47
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Pythagoras 26–29 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■
IN CONTEXT
world
BRANCH of Ideas, which contains
Epistemology the Ideal Forms of everything.
APPROACH
Rationalism
BEFORE
6th century BCE The Milesian We are born The illusory world in which
philosophers propose theories with the concepts of we live—the world of the
these Ideal Forms senses—contains imperfect
to explain the nature and
in our minds. copies of the Ideal Forms.
substance of the cosmos.
c.500 BCE Heraclitus argues
that everything is constantly
in a state of flux or change.
c.450 BCE Protagoras says We recognize things in the world,
that truth is relative. such as dogs, because we recognize
they are imperfect copies of the
AFTER concepts in our minds.
c.335 BCE Aristotle teaches
that we can find truth by
observing the world around us.
c.250 CE Plotinus founds
the Neo-Platonist school, a
religious take on Plato’s ideas.
Everything in this world is
386 St. Augustine of Hippo a “shadow” of its Ideal Form
integrates Plato’s theories into in the world of Ideas.
Christian doctrine.
I
n 399 BCE, Plato’s mentor Initially Plato’s concerns were very his predecessors, Plato concluded
Socrates was condemned to much those of his mentor: to search that the “unchanging” in nature is
death. Socrates had left no for definitions of abstract moral the same as the “unchanging” in
writings, and Plato took it upon values such as “justice” and morals and society.
himself to preserve what he had “virtue”, and to refute Protagoras’s
learnt from his master for notion that right and wrong are Seeking the Ideal
posterity—first in the Apology, his relative terms. In the Republic, In the Republic, Plato describes
retelling of Socrates’ defense at his Plato set out his vision of the ideal Socrates posing questions about
trial, and later by using Socrates as city-state and explored aspects of the virtues, or moral concepts, in
a character in a series of dialogues. virtue. But in the process, he also order to establish clear and precise
In these dialogues, it is sometimes tackled subjects outside moral definitions of them. Socrates had
difficult to untangle which are philosophy. Like earlier Greek famously said that “virtue is
Socrates’ thoughts and which are thinkers, he questioned the nature knowledge”, and that to act justly,
the original thoughts of Plato, but a and substance of the cosmos, and for example, you must first ask what
picture emerges of Plato using the explored how the immutable and justice is. Plato decides that before
methods of his master to explore eternal could exist in a seemingly referring to any moral concept in
and explain his own ideas. changing world. However, unlike our thinking or reasoning, we must
THE ANCIENT WORLD 53
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Protagoras 42–43 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Plotinus 331 ■
A
ristotle was 17 years old It is tempting to imagine that
IN CONTEXT when he arrived in Athens Aristotle’s arguments had already
to study at the Academy had some influence on Plato, who
BRANCH
under the great philosopher Plato. in his later dialogues admitted
Epistemology
Plato himself was 60 at the time, some flaws in his earlier theories,
APPROACH and had already devised his theory but it is impossible to know for
Empiricism of Forms. According to this theory, certain. We do know, though, that
all earthly phenomena, such as Plato was aware of the Third Man
BEFORE justice and the color green, are argument, which Aristotle used to
399 BCE Socrates argues that shadows of ideal counterparts, called refute his theory of Forms. This
virtue is wisdom. Forms, which give their earthly argument runs as follows: if there
c.380 BCE Plato presents his models their particular identities. exists in a realm of Forms a perfect
theory of Forms in his Socratic Aristotle was a studious type, Form of Man on which earthly men
dialogue, The Republic. and no doubt learnt a great deal from are modelled, this Form, to have
his master, but he was also of a very any conceivable content, would
AFTER different temperament. Where Plato have to be based on a Form of the
9th century CE Aristotle’s was brilliant and intuitive, Aristotle Form of Man—and this too would
writings are translated was scholarly and methodical. have to be based on a higher Form
into Arabic. Nevertheless, there was an obvious on which the Forms of the Forms
mutual respect, and Aristotle stayed are based, and so on ad infinitum.
13th century Translations at the Academy, both as a student Aristotle’s later argument
of Aristotle’s works appear and a teacher, until Plato died 20 against the theory of Forms was
in Latin. years later. Surprisingly, he was not more straightforward, and more
1690 John Locke establishes chosen as Plato’s successor, and so directly related to his studies of the
a school of British empiricism. he left Athens and took what would natural world. He realized that it
prove to be a fruitful trip to Ionia. was simply unnecessary to assume
1735 Zoologist Carl Linnaeus that there is a hypothetical realm
lays the foundations of modern Plato’s theory questioned of Forms, when the reality of things
taxonomy in Systema Naturae, The break from teaching gave can already be seen here on Earth,
based on Aristotle’s system Aristotle the opportunity to indulge inherent in everyday things.
of biological classification. his passion for studying wildlife, Perhaps because his father
which intensified his feeling that had been a physician, Aristotle’s
Plato’s theory of Forms was wrong. scientific interests lay in what we
The syllogism
In the process of classification,
Does it fly? Aristotle formulates a systematic
form of logic which he applies
to each specimen to determine ❯❯
Yes No
whether it belongs to a certain innate faculty, which is necessary power in the Mediterranean, and the
category. For example, one of the for us to learn from experience. philosophy it adopted from Greece
characteristics common to all And as he applied this fact to his was that of the Stoics. The rival
reptiles is that they are cold-blooded; hierarchical system, he saw that schools of Plato and Aristotle—
so, if this particular specimen is the innate power of reason is what Plato’s Academy and the Lyceum
warm-blooded, then it cannot be a distinguishes us from all other Aristotle founded in Athens—
reptile. Likewise, a characteristic living creatures, and placed us at continued to operate, but they
common to all mammals is that the top of the hierarchy. had lost their former eminence.
they suckle their young; so, if this As a result of this neglect, many
specimen is a mammal, it will suckle Decline of Classical Greece of Aristotle’s writings were lost. It
its young. Aristotle sees a pattern The sheer scope of Aristotle’s ideas, is believed that he wrote several
in this way of thinking—that of and the revolutionary way in which hundred treatises and dialogues
three propositions consisting of he overturns Plato’s theory of Forms, explaining his theories, but all that
two premises and a conclusion, for should have ensured that his remain are fragments of his work,
example in the form: if As are Xs, philosophy had a far greater impact mainly in the form of lectures and
and B is an A, then B is an X. than it did during his lifetime. That teacher’s notes. Luckily for posterity,
The “syllogism”, as this form of is not to say that his work was these were preserved by his
reasoning is known, is the first without fault—his geography and followers, and there is enough
formal system of logic ever devised, astronomy were flawed; his ethics contained in them to give a picture
and it remained the basic model for supported the use of slaves and of the full range of his work.
logic up until the 19th century. considered women to be inferior
But the syllogism was more than human beings; and his logic was Aristotle’s legacy
simply a by-product of Aristotle’s incomplete by modern standards. With the emergence of Islam in the
systematic classification of the However, what he got right 7th century CE, Aristotle’s works
natural world. By using analytical amounted to a revolution both were translated into Arabic and
reasoning in the form of logic, in philosophy and in science. spread throughout the Islamic world,
Aristotle realized that the power But Aristotle lived at the end of becoming essential reading for
of reason was something that did an era. Alexander the Great, whom Middle Eastern scholars such as
not rely on the senses, and that he taught, died shortly before him, Avicenna and Averroes. In Western
it must therefore be an innate and so began the Hellenistic period Europe, however, Boethius’s Latin
characteristic—part of what it is of Greek history which saw a decline translation of Aristotle’s treatise on
to be human. Although we have no in Athens’ influence. The Roman logic (made in the 6th century CE)
innate ideas, we do possess this Empire was becoming the dominant remained the only work of Aristotle’s
THE ANCIENT WORLD 63
and the Organon. In the 13th
century, Thomas Aquinas braved
a ban on Aristotle’s work and
integrated it into Christian
philosophy, in the same way that
St. Augustine had adopted Plato,
There is nothing in
and Plato and Aristotle came to
lock horns again.
the mind except was
Aristotle’s notes on logic (laid first in the senses.
out in the Organon) remained the John Locke
standard text on logic until the
emergence of mathematical logic
in the 19th century. Likewise,
his classification of living things
dominated Western thinking
throughout the Middle Ages,
becoming the Christian scala Again, the differences between the
naturae (the “ladder of nature”), philosophers were as much about
or the Great Chain of Being. This temperament as they were about
depicted the whole of creation substance—the Continental versus
The influence of Aristotle on the dominated by man, who stood the English, the poetic versus the
history of thought can be seen in second only to God. And during the academic, the Platonic versus the
the Great Chain of Being, a medieval Renaissance, Aristotle’s empirical Aristotelian. Although the debate
Christian depiction of life as a hierarchy
method of enquiry held sway. died down in the 19th century,
in which with God presides over all.
In the 17th century, the debate there has been a revival of interest
between empiricists and rationalists in Aristotle in recent times, and
available until the 9th century CE, reached its zenith after René a reappraisal of his significance.
when all of Aristotle’s works began Descartes published his Discourse His ethics in particular have
to be translated from Arabic into on the Method. Descartes, and been of great appeal to modern
Latin. It was also at this time that Leibniz and Kant after him, chose philosophers, who have seen in
his ideas were collected into the the rationalist route; in response, his functional definition of “good”
the books we know today—such as Locke, Berkeley, and Hume lined a key to understanding the way
Physics, The Nicomachean Ethics, up as the empiricist opposition. we use ethical language. ■
DEATH IS
NOTHING TO US
EPICURUS (341–270 BCE)
E
picurus grew up in a time Central to the philosophy that
IN CONTEXT when the philosophy of Epicurus developed is the view
ancient Greece had already that peace of mind, or tranquillity,
BRANCH
reached a pinnacle in the ideas of is the goal of life. He argues that
Ethics
Plato and Aristotle. The main focus pleasure and pain are the roots of
APPROACH of philosophical thinking was good and evil, and qualities such
Epicureanism shifting from metaphysics toward as virtue and justice derive from
ethics—and also from political to these roots, as “it is impossible to
BEFORE personal ethics. Epicurus, however, live a pleasant life without living
Late 5th century BCE found the seeds of a new school of wisely, honorably, and justly, and
Socrates states that seeking thought in the quests of earlier it is impossible to live wisely,
knowledge and truth is the philosophers, such as Socrates’ honorably, and justly without living
key to a worthwhile life. examination of the truth of basic pleasantly.” Epicurianism is often
c.400 BCE Democritus and human concepts and values. mistakenly interpreted as simply
being about the pursuit of sensual
Leucippus conclude that
pleasures. For Epicurus, the
the cosmos consists solely of
greatest pleasure is only attainable
atoms, moving in empty space.
through knowledge and friendship,
AFTER and a temperate life, with freedom
c.50 BCE Roman philosopher from fear and pain.
Lucretius writes De rerum
natura, a poem exploring Fear of death
Epicurus’s ideas. One of the obstacles to enjoying the
peace of a tranquil mind, Epicurus
1789 Jeremy Bentham reasons, is the fear of death, and
advocates the utilitarian idea this fear is increased by the
of “the greatest happiness for religious belief that if you incur
the greatest number.” the wrath of the gods, you will be
1861 John Stuart Mill argues severely punished in the afterlife.
But rather than countering this fear
that intellectual and spiritual Terrifying images of the merciless
god of death Thanatos were used to by proposing an alternative state
pleasures have more value
depict the pain and torment ancient of immortality, Epicurus tries to
than physical pleasures.
Greeks might incur for their sins, both explain the nature of death itself.
when they died and in the afterlife. He starts by proposing that when
THE ANCIENT WORLD 65
See: Democritus and Leucippus 45 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■
Epicurus
Born to Athenian parents on
Our unhappiness the Aegean island of Samos,
is caused by fear,
Death is Epicurus was first taught
and our main nothing philosophy by a disciple of
fear is of death. to fear. Plato. In 323 BCE, Alexander
the Great died and, in the
political conflicts that
followed, Epicurus and his
family were forced to move
to Colophon (now in Turkey).
There he continued his studies
If we can with Nausiphanes, a follower
overcome fear of Democritus.
of death, we Epicurus taught briefly
can be happy. in Mytilene on the island of
Lesbos, and in Lampsacus on
the Greek mainland, before
moving to Athens in 306 BCE.
He founded a school, known
we die, we are unaware of our are unable to feel anything, mentally
as the The Garden, consisting
death, since our consciousness or physically, when you die, it is of a community of friends and
(our soul) ceases to exist at the foolish to let the fear of death cause followers. There he set down
point of death. To explain this, you pain while you are still alive. in great detail the philosophy
Epicurus takes the view that the Epicurus attracted a small but that was to become known
entire universe consists of either devoted following in his lifetime, as Epicureanism.
atoms or empty space, as argued but he was perceived as being Despite frequent ill health,
by the atomist philosophers dismissive of religion, which made and often being in great pain,
Democritus and Leucippus. him unpopular. His thinking was Epicurus lived to the age
Epicurus then reasons that the soul largely ignored by mainstream of 72. True to his beliefs, he
could not be empty space, because philosophy for centuries, but it described the last day of his
it operates dynamically with the resurfaced in the 18th century, in life as a truly happy day.
body, so it must be made up of the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and
Key works
atoms. He describes these atoms John Stuart Mill. In revolutionary
of the soul as being distributed politics, the tenets of Epicureanism Early 3rd century BCE
around the body, but as being so are echoed in the words of the On Nature
fragile that they dissolve when United States’ Declaration of Prinicipal Doctrines,
we die, and so we are no longer Independence: “life, liberty, and Vatican Sayings
capable of sensing anything. If you the pursuit of happiness.” ■
66
P
lato once described
IN CONTEXT Diogenes as “a Socrates
gone mad.” Although this
BRANCH
was meant as an insult, it is not
Ethics
far from the truth. Diogenes shares
APPROACH Socrates’ passion for virtue and
Cynicism rejection of material comfort, but
takes these ideas to the extreme.
BEFORE He argues that in order to lead a
Late 5th century BCE good life, or one that is worth living,
Socrates teaches that the it is necessary to free oneself from
ideal life is one spent in the external restrictions imposed Rejecting worldly values, Diogenes
search of truth. by society, and from the internal chose to live on the streets. He flouted
discontentment that is caused convention, by eating only discarded
Early 4th century BCE scraps and dressing—when he actually
by desire, emotion, and fear. This
Socrates’ pupil Antisthenes bothered to do so—in filthy rags.
can be achieved, he states, by
advocates an ascetic life, lived
being content to live a simple life,
in harmony with nature. governed by reason and natural can do this, as Diogenes himself
AFTER impulses, rejecting conventions did by living a life of poverty with
c.301 BCE Influenced by without shame, and renouncing only an abandoned tub for shelter,
Diogenes, Zeno of Citium the desire for property and comfort. the nearer one will be to leading
founds a school of Stoics. Diogenes was the first of a group the ideal life.
of thinkers who became known as The happiest person, who in
4th century CE St. Augustine the Cynics, a term taken from the Diogenes’ phrase, “has the most”,
of Hippo denounces the often Greek kunikos, meaning “dog-like.” is therefore someone who lives
shameless behavior of the It reflects the determination of the in accordance with the rhythms
Cynics, although they become Cynics to spurn all forms of social of the natural world, free from
the model for several ascetic custom and etiquette, and instead the conventions and values of
Christian orders. live in as natural a state as possible. civilized society, and “content
They asserted that the more one with the least.” ■
1882 Friedrich Nietzsche
refers to Diogenes and his
See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ Zeno of Citium 67 ■
ideas in The Gay Science. St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21
THE ANCIENT WORLD 67
THE GOAL OF
LIFE IS LIVING
IN AGREEMENT
WITH NATURE
ZENO OF CITIUM ( .332–265 ) C BCE
T
wo main schools of control, and be indifferent to pain
IN CONTEXT philosophical thought and pleasure, poverty and riches.
emerged after Aristotle’s But if a person does so, Zeno is
BRANCH
death. These were the hedonistic, convinced that he will achieve a
Ethics
godless ethic of Epicurus, which life that is in harmony with nature
APPROACH had limited appeal, and the more in all its aspects, good or bad, and
Stoicism popular and longer-lasting Stoicism live in accordance with the rulings
of Zeno of Citium. of the supreme lawgiver.
BEFORE Zeno studied with a disciple of Stoicism was to find favor across
c.380 BCE Plato states his Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic, and much of Hellenistic Greece. But it
thoughts on ethics and the shared his no-nonsense approach drew in even more followers in the
city-state in The Republic. to life. He had little patience with expanding Roman empire, where it
4th century BCE Diogenes metaphysical speculation and came flourished as a basis for ethics—
of Sinope lives in extreme to believe that the cosmos was both personal and political—until it
governed by natural laws that were was supplanted by Christianity in
poverty to demonstrate his
ordained by a supreme lawgiver. the 6th century. ■
Cynic principles.
Man, he declares, is completely
AFTER powerless to change this reality,
c.40–45 CE Roman statesman and in addition to enjoying its
and philosopher Seneca the many benefits, man also has to
Younger continues the Stoic accept its cruelty and injustice.
tradition in his Dialogues.
Free will Happiness is a good
c.150–180 Roman emperor However, Zeno also declares that flow of life.
Marcus Aurelius writes his man has been given a rational soul Zeno of Citium
12-volume Meditations on with which to exercise free will.
Stoic philosophy. No one is forced to pursue a “good”
1584 Flemish humanist life. It is up to the individual to
Justus Lipsius writes De choose whether to put aside the
things over which he has little or no
Constantia, combining
Stoicism with Christianity to
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Epicurus 64–65 ■ Diogenes of Sinope 66
found a school of Neo-Stoicism.
THE MED
WORLD
250–1500
IEVAL
70 INTRODUCTION
P
hilosophy did not play a became the dominant authority in exploration of questions such as
large part in Roman culture, Western Europe, remaining so for “Is there a God?” or “Does man
other than Stoicism, which almost 1,000 years. The Greek idea have an immortal soul?” as a search
was admired by the Romans for of philosophy as rational examination for a rational justification for the
its emphasis on virtuous conduct independent of religious doctrine belief in God and an immortal soul.
and doing one’s duty. The broader sat uncomfortably with the rise of
philosophical tradition that had Christianity. Questions about the The Dark Ages
been established by the Classical nature of the universe and what As the Roman Empire shrank and
Greeks was therefore effectively constitutes a virtuous life were held eventually fell, Europe sank into the
marginalized under the Roman to be answered in the scriptures; “Dark Ages” and most of the culture
Empire. Philosophy continued to be they were not considered subjects it had inherited from Greece and
taught in Athens, but its influence for philosophical discussion. Rome disappeared. The Church
dwindled, and no significant Early Christian philosophers such held the monopoly on learning,
philosophers emerged until Plotinus as St. Augustine of Hippo sought and the only true philosophy that
in the 3rd century CE, who founded to integrate Greek philosophy into survived was a form of Platonism
an important Neo-Platonist school. the Christian religion. This process deemed compatible with
During the first millennium of was the main task of scholasticism, Christianity, and Boethius’s
the Common Era, Roman influence a philosophical approach that translation of Aristotle’s Logic.
also waned, both politically and stemmed from the monastic schools Elsewhere, however, culture
culturally. Christianity became and was renowned for its rigorous thrived. China and Japan in
assimilated into the Roman culture, dialectical reasoning. The work of particular enjoyed a “Golden Age”
and after the fall of the empire in scholastic philosophers such as of poetry and art, while traditional
the 5th century, the Church Augustine was not so much an eastern philosophies coexisted
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 71
The “House of
Wisdom” is Fall of the Byzantine
established in Empire, the eastern
Baghdad, attracting The Black Death remnant of the Roman
scholars from around St. Anselm reaches Europe, killing Empire, when its capital
the world to share writes the more than a third of the Constantinople is captured
and translate ideas. Proslogion. continent’s population. by the Ottoman Turks.
happily with their religions. In thinking within the medieval knowledge to medieval Europe.
the lands that had been part of Christian Church. But whereas Aristotle’s scientific methods had
Alexander the Great’s empire, the Plato’s philosophy had been been refined to sophisticated levels
Greek legacy commanded more comparatively easy to assimilate in Persia, and advances in chemistry,
respect than in Europe. Arabic and into Christian thought, because it physics, medicine, and particularly
Persian scholars preserved and provided rational justification for astronomy undermined the authority
translated the works of the Classical belief in God and the immortal of the Church when they arrived
Greek philosophers, incorporating human soul, Aristotle was treated in Europe.
their ideas into Islamic culture from with suspicion by the Church The re-introduction of Greek
the 6th century onward. authorities. Nevertheless, Christian thinking and the new ideas that led
As Islam spread eastward into philosophers including Roger to Europe’s Renaissance in the late
Asia and across north Africa and Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Duns 15th century sparked a change of
into Spain, its influence began to be Scotus, and William of Ockham mood as people began to look more
felt in Europe. By the 12th century, enthusiastically embraced the new toward reason rather than faith to
news of ideas and inventions from Aristotelianism and eventually provide them with answers. There
the Islamic world were reaching as convinced the Church of its was dissent even within the
far north as Britain, and European compatibility with Christian faith. Church, as humanists such as
scholars started to rediscover Erasmus provoked the Reformation.
Greek mathematics and philosophy A new rationality Philosophers themselves turned
through Islamic sources. The works Along with the philosophy that their attention away from questions
of Aristotle in particular came as revitalized the Church, the Islamic of God and the immortal soul
something of a revelation, and they world also introduced a wealth of toward the problems posed by
sparked a resurgence of philosophical technological and scientific science and the natural world. ■
72
GOD IS NOT
THE PARENT
OF EVILS
ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354–430 CE)
A
ugustine was especially
IN CONTEXT interested in the problem
Humans are
rational beings. of evil. If God is entirely
BRANCH
good and all-powerful, why is there
Ethics
evil in the world? For Christians
APPROACH such as Augustine, as well as for
Christian Platonism adherents of Judaism and Islam, this
was, and remains, a central question.
BEFORE In order to be This is because it makes an obvious
c.400 BCE In Gorgias, Plato rational, humans must
fact about the world—that it
argues that evil is not a thing, have free will.
contains evil—into an argument
but an absence of something. against the existence of God.
3rd century CE Plotinus Augustine is able to answer
revives Plato’s view of one aspect of the problem quite
easily. He believes that although
good and evil.
This means they must God created everything that exists,
AFTER be able to choose he did not create evil, because evil is
c.520 Boethius uses an between good or evil. not a thing, but a lack or deficiency
Augustinian theory of evil in of something. For example, the evil
The Consolation of Philosophy. suffered by a blind man is that he is
without sight; the evil in a thief is
c.1130 Pierre Abelard rejects that he lacks honesty. Augustine
the idea that there are not borrowed this way of thinking from
evil things. Plato and his followers.
Humans can therefore
1525 Martin Luther, the act badly or well.
German priest who inspired An essential freedom
the Protestant reformation, But Augustine still needs to explain
publishes On the Bondage why God should have created the
of the Will, arguing that the world in such a way as to allow
there to be these natural and moral
human will is not free.
God is not the evils, or deficiencies. His answer
parent of evils. revolves around the idea that
humans are rational beings. He
argues that in order for God to
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 73
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Plotinus 331 ■ Boethius 74–75 ■ Pierre Abelard 333 ■
Key works
A world without evil, Augustine says,
would be a world without us—rational c.388–95 On Free Will
beings able to choose their actions. c.397–401 Confessions
Just as for Adam and Eve, our moral c.413–27 On the City of God
choices allow for the possibility of evil.
74
GOD FORSEES
OUR FREE THOUGHTS
AND ACTIONS
BOETHIUS ( .480–525 )
C CE
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH God lives in the God knows the future
Epistemology eternal present. as if it were the present.
APPROACH
Christian Platonism
BEFORE
c.350 BCE Aristotle outlines the
problems of claiming as true
any statement about the I am free not to go God knows that I will
outcome of a future event. to the cinema today. go to the cinema today.
c.300 BCE Syrian philosopher
Iamblichus says that what can
be known depends upon the
knower’s capacity.
God foresees our free
AFTER thoughts and actions.
c.1250–70 Thomas Aquinas
agrees with Boethius that God
exists outside of time, and so
T
is transcendent and beyond he Roman philosopher afternoon I might go to the cinema,
human understanding. Boethius was trained in or I might spend time writing. As it
the Platonist tradition of turns out, I go to the cinema. That
c.1300 John Duns Scotus says philosophy, and was also a Christian. being the case, it is true now (before
that human freedom rests on He is famous for his solution to a the event) that I will go the cinema
God’s own freedom to act, and problem that predates Aristotle: this afternoon. But if it is true now,
that God knows our future, free if God already knows what we are then it seems that I do not really have
actions by knowing his own, going to do in the future, how can the choice of spending the afternoon
unchanging—but free—will. we be said to have free will? writing. Aristotle was the first to
The best way to understand the define this problem, but his answer
dilemma is to imagine a situation in to it is not very clear; he seems to
everyday life. For instance, this have thought that a sentence such
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 75
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■ John Duns Scotus 333 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■
Boethius Anicius Boethius was a Christian Theoderic. Some five years later
Roman aristocrat, born at a time he became a victim of court
when the Roman Empire was intrigue, was wrongly accused
disintegrating and the Ostrogoths of treason, and sentenced to
ruled Italy. He became an orphan death. He wrote his most
at the age of seven and was famous work, The Consolation
brought up by an aristocratic of Philosophy, while in prison
family in Rome. He was extremely awaiting execution.
well educated, speaking fluent
Greek and having an extensive Key works
knowledge of Latin and Greek
literature and philosophy. He c.510 Commentaries on
devoted his life to translating Aristotle’s “Categories”
and commenting on Greek texts, c.513–16 Commentaries on
especially Aristotle’s works on Aristotle’s “On Interpretation”
logic, until he was made chief c.523–26 The Consolation of
adviser to the Ostrogothic king Philosophy
76
IN CONTEXT
THE SOUL
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH
IS DISTINCT
Arabic Aristotelianism
BEFORE
c.400 BCE Plato argues that
mind and body are distinct
FROM
substances.
4th century BCE Aristotle
argues that mind is the “form”
of the body.
THE BODY
c.800–950 CE Aristotle’s works
are translated into Arabic for
the first time.
AFTER
1250s–60s Thomas Aquinas
AVICENNA (980–1037) adapts Aristotle’s account of
the mind and body.
1640 René Descartes argues
for dualism in his Meditations.
1949 Gilbert Ryle describes
dualism as a “category mistake”
in The Concept of Mind.
A
vicenna, also known as
Ibn Sînâ, is the most
important philosopher in
the Arabic tradition, and one of the
world’s greatest thinkers. Like his
predecessors, al-Kindî and al-Fârâbî,
and his successor, Averroes,
Avicenna self-consciously marked
himself out as a philosopher rather
than an Islamic theologian, choosing
to follow Greek wisdom and the
path of reasoning and proof. In
particular, he saw himself as a
follower of Aristotle, and his main
writings are encyclopedias of
Aristotelian philosophy.
However, these works explain
Aristotle’s philosophy as re-thought
and synthesized by Avicenna. On
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 77
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Al-Kindî 332 ■ Al-Fârâbî 332 ■
If I were blindfolded
and suspended in the …I would not know
air, touching nothing… that I have a body.
Avicenna
So my soul is not But I would know
a body, but something that I—my “self” Ibn Sînâ, or Avicenna as the
different. or “soul”—exists. Europeans called him, was
born in 980 in a village near
Bukhara, now in Uzbekhistan.
Although he wrote mainly in
Arabic, the language of
learning throughout the
Islamic world, he was a native
Persian speaker. Avicenna
The soul is was a child prodigy, rapidly
surpassing his teachers not
distinct from only in logic and philosophy,
the body. but also in medicine. While
still in his teens, he became
known to the Samanid ruler
Nuh ibn Mansur as a brilliant
physician, and was given the
use of his magnificent library.
Avicenna’s life was spent
some doctrines, such as the idea reason Aristotle does not seem to
in the service of various
that the universe has always existed, think it possible for anything to princes, both as physician and
Avicenna kept to the Aristotelian survive the death of the body. political adviser. He started
view despite the fact that it clashed By contrast, Avicenna is one of writing at the age of 21, and
with Islamic orthodoxy, but in other the most famous “dualists” in the went on to write more than
areas he felt free to depart radically history of philosophy—he thinks 200 texts, on subjects as
from Aristotle. One striking example that the body and the mind are two diverse as metaphysics,
is his explanation of the relationship distinct substances. His great animal physiology, mechanics
between mind (self or soul) and body. predecessor in this view was Plato, of solids, and Arabic syntax.
who thought of the mind as a He died when his medications
Mind and body are distinct distinct thing that was imprisoned for colic were altered, possibly
Aristotle claims that the body and in the body. Plato believed that at maliciously, while on campaign
mind of humans (and other animals) the point of death, the mind would with his patron Alâ al-Dawla.
are not two different things (or be released from its prison, to be
Key works
“substances”), but one unit, and that later reincarnated in another body.
the mind is the “form” of the human In seeking to prove the divided c.1014–20 Book of Healing
body. As such, it is responsible for nature of mind and body, Avicenna c.1015 Canon of Medicine
all the activities a human being can devised a thought-experiment c.1030 Pointers and Reminders
perform, including thinking. For this known as the “Flying Man”. This ❯❯
78 AVICENNA
appears as a treatise, On the Soul, from each other, so I can touch
within his Book of Healing, and it nothing. Suppose I am entirely
aims to strip away any knowledge without any sensations. None the
that can possibly be disproved, and less, I will be sure that I myself exist.
leave us only with absolute truths. But what is this self, which is me?
It remarkably anticipates the much It cannot be any of the parts of my The secret conversation
later work of Descartes, the famous body, because I do not know that I is a direct encounter
dualist of the 17th century, who also have any. The self that I affirm as between God and the soul,
decided to believe nothing at all existing does not have length or abstracted from all
except that which he himself could breadth or depth. It has no extension, material constraints.
know for certain. Both Avicenna or physicality. And, if I were able Avicenna
and Descartes want to demonstrate to imagine, for instance, a hand,
that the mind or self exists because I would not think that it belonged
it knows it exists; and that it is to this self which I know exists.
distinct from the human body. It follows from this that the
human self—what I am—is distinct
The Flying Man from my body, or anything physical.
In the Flying Man experiment, The Flying Man experiment, says by anything material. It is easy to
Avicenna wants to examine what Avicenna, is a way of alerting and see how the parts of physical, shaped
we can know if we are effectively reminding oneself of the existence things fit with the parts of a physical,
robbed of our senses, and cannot of the mind as something other shaped sense organ: the image of
depend on them for information. than, and distinct from, the body. the wall that I see is stretched over
He asks us each to imagine this: Avicenna also has other ways the lens of my eye, each of its parts
suppose I have just come into to show that the mind cannot be corresponding to a part of the lens.
existence, but I have all my normal something material. Most are But the mind is not a sense organ;
intelligence. Suppose, too, that I am based on the fact that the type of what it grasps are definitions, such
blindfolded and that I am floating in intellectual knowledge the mind as “Man is a rational, mortal animal”.
the air, and my limbs are separated can grasp cannot not be contained The parts of this phrase need to be
grasped at once, together. The mind
therefore cannot be in any way like
or part of the body.
JUST BY THINKING
ABOUT GOD WE CAN
KNOW HE EXISTS
ST. ANSELM (1033–1109)
A
lthough Christian thinkers can be thought”, and second,
IN CONTEXT believe as a matter of faith that existence is superior to
that God exists, in the non-existence. By the end of the
BRANCH
Middle Ages they were keen to argument the Fool is forced to
Philosophy of religion
show that God’s existence could either take up a self-contradictory
APPROACH also be proved by rational argument. position or admit that God exists.
Platonic-Aristotelian The Ontological Argument invented The argument has been accepted
by Anselm—an 11th-century Italian by many great philosophers, such as
BEFORE philosopher who worked on the René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza.
c.400 CE St. Augustine of basis of Aristotelian logic, Platonic But there have been many others
Hippo argues for God’s thinking, and his own genius—is who took up the Fool’s side. One
existence through our grasp probably the most famous of all. contemporary of Anselm’s, Gaunilo
of unchanging truths. Anselm imagines himself of Marmoutiers, said that we could
1075 In his Monologion, arguing with a Fool, who denies use the same argument to prove that
that God exists (see opposite). The there exists somewhere a marvellous
Anselm develops Augustine’s
argument rests on an acceptance island, greater than any island that
proof of God’s existence.
of two things: first, that God is can be thought. In the 18th century
AFTER “that than which nothing greater Immanuel Kant objected that the
1260s Thomas Aquinas argument treats existence as if it
rejects Anselm’s Ontological were an attribute of things—as if I
Argument. might describe my jacket like this:
“it’s green, made of tweed, and it
1640 René Descartes uses a exists.” Existing is not like being
form of Anselm’s Ontological green: if it did not exist, there would
Argument in his Meditations. We believe that be no jacket to be green or tweed.
1979 American philosopher
You [God] are that Kant holds that Anselm is also
Alvin Plantinga reformulates
than which nothing wrong to say that what exists in
Anselm’s Ontological Argument
greater can be thought. reality as well as in the mind is
using a form of modal logic
St. Anselm greater than what exists in the
mind alone, but other philosophers
to establish its truth.
disagree. Is there not a sense in
which a real painting is greater
than the mental concept the painter
has before he starts work? ■
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 81
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
PHILOSOPHY AND
RELIGION ARE NOT
INCOMPATIBLE
AVERROES (1126–1198)
A
verroes worked in the legal everyone else should be obliged to
IN CONTEXT profession; he was a qâdî accept the teaching of the Qur’an
(an Islamic judge) who literally. Averroes does not think
BRANCH
worked under the Almohads, one of that the Qur’an provides a completely
Philosophy of religion
the strictest Islamic regimes in the accurate account of the universe if
APPROACH Middle Ages. Yet he spent his nights read in this literal way, but says that
Arabic Aristotelian writing commentaries on the work it is a poetic approximation of the
of an ancient pagan philosopher, truth, and this is the most that the
BEFORE Aristotle—and one of Averroes’ avid uneducated can grasp.
1090s Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî readers was none other than the However, Averroes believes that
launches an attack on Islamic Almohad ruler, Abû Yacqûb Yûsuf. educated people have a religious
Aristotelian philosophers. Averroes reconciles religion and obligation to use philosophical
1120s Ibn Bâjja (Avempace) philosophy through a hierarchical reasoning. Whenever reasoning
establishes Aristotelian theory of society. He thinks that shows the literal meaning of the
only the educated elite are capable Qur’an to be false, Averroes says
philosophy in Islamic Spain.
of thinking philosophically, and that the text must be “interpreted”;
AFTER
1270 Thomas Aquinas
criticizes the Averroists for
accepting conflicting truths true.
from Christianity and
Aristotelian philosophy.
1340s Moses of Narbonne
publishes commentaries on But some parts of it are
Averroes’ work. demonstrably false.
1852 French philosopher
Ernest Renan publishes a
study of Averroes, on the
basis of which he becomes an Philosophy and The text is a poetic truth,
important influence on modern religion are not and must be interpreted using
Islamic political thought. incompatible. philosophical reasoning.
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 83
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Al-Ghazâlî 332 ■ Ibn Bâjja 333 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
GOD HAS
NO ATTRIBUTES
MOSES MAIMONIDES (1135–1204)
M
aimonides wrote on both who thinks this, he says, should
IN CONTEXT Jewish law (in Hebrew) be excluded from the Jewish
and Aristotelian thought community. But in the Guide of the
BRANCH
(in Arabic). In both areas, one of his Perplexed, Maimonides pushes this
Philosophy of religion
central concerns was to guard idea to its farthest extent, developing
APPROACH against anthropomorphizing God, a strand of thought known as
Jewish Aristotelian which is the tendency to think “negative theology.” This already
about God in the same way as a existed in Christian theology, and
BEFORE human being. For Maimonides, the it focuses on describing God only
c.400 CE The philosopher worst mistake of all is to take the in terms of what God is not.
Pseudo-Dionysius establishes Torah (the first part of the Hebrew God, Maimonides says, has no
the tradition of Christian Bible) as literal truth, and to think attributes. We cannot rightly say
negative theology, which that God is a bodily thing. Anyone that God is “good” or “powerful.”
states that God is not being,
but more than being.
860s John Scotus Eriugena
suggests that God creates Attributes are either…
the universe from the nothing
which is himself.
AFTER …accidental. …essential.
1260s Thomas Aquinas
moderates Maimonides’
negative theology in his
Summa Theologiae. But God has Essential attributes
Early 1300s Meister Eckhart no accidents. define.
develops his negative theology.
1840–50s Søren Kierkegaard
claims that it is impossible
to provide any form of external God has But God
description of God. no attributes. is indefinable.
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 85
See also: Johannes Scotus Eriugena 332 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
DON’T GRIEVE.
ANYTHING YOU LOSE
COMES ROUND IN
ANOTHER FORM
JALAL AD-DIN MUHAMMAD RUMI (1207–1273)
in one form t
IN CONTEXT is a
o exis
lw st
BRANCH a se
y
a
E
e
Islamic philosophy sr endl
ess conti
tc
v
nu
eb
e
e
um on
th a
APPROACH
r
in
.
ythi
rn i
e
Sufism
ur
ng
present to the fut
n
Anythi
ng in the un
BEFORE
another fo
ife.
Mohammed’s cousin and
rm
the
of l
successor, becomes Caliph.
ive
he d
an
T
w
r
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se
ast
flo
interpretation of the Qur’an is lin r ese
,i
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ing dl
AFTER en
1273 Rumi’s followers found m an, is art of an
p
the Mawlawi Order of Sufism.
1925 After the founding of a
S
secular Republic of Turkey, ufism, the mystical and family moved from the eastern
the Mawlawi Order is banned aesthetic interpretation of edges of Persia to Anatolia in the
in Turkey. It remains illegal the Qur’an, had been part mid-13th century. The Sufi concept
until 1954, when it receives of Islam since its foundation in the of uniting with God through love
the right to perform on 7th century, but had not always caught his imagination, and from
certain occasions. been accepted by mainstream this he developed a version of
Islamic scholars. Jalal ad-Din Sufism that sought to explain the
Today Rumi’s works continue Muhammad Rumi, better known relationship of man with the divine.
to be translated into many simply as Rumi, was brought up in Rumi became a teacher in a Sufi
languages around the world. orthodox Islam, and first came into order, and as such he believed he
contact with Sufism when his was a medium between God and
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 87
See also: Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■
T
he opinions of people today can only be caused by change and
IN CONTEXT are still divided into those motion. So there could never have
that hold that the universe been a first change or motion: the
BRANCH
had a beginning, and those that universe must have been moving
Metaphysics
hold that it has always existed. and changing for ever.
APPROACH Today we tend to look to physics The great Arabic philosophers,
Christian Aristotelian and astronomy for an answer, but Avicenna and Averroes, were
in the past this was a question for willing to accept Aristotle’s view,
BEFORE philosophers and theologians. The even though it put them at odds
c.340 BCE Aristotle says that answer given by the Catholic priest with Islamic orthodoxy. Medieval
the universe is eternal. and philosopher Thomas Aquinas, Jewish and Christian thinkers,
c.540 CE John Philoponus the most famous of all medieval however, struggled to do so. They
argues that the universe must Christian philosophers, is especially held that, according to the Bible,
have a beginning. interesting. It is still a plausible the universe has a beginning, so
way of thinking about the problem, Aristotle must be wrong: the
1250s–60s French theologians and it also tells us a great deal about universe has not always existed.
adopt Philoponus’s argument. how Aquinas combined his faith But was this view something that
with his philosophical reasoning, had to be accepted on faith, or
AFTER despite their apparent contradictions. could it be refuted by reasoning?
1290s French philosopher John Philoponus, a Greek
Henry of Ghent criticizes Aristotle’s influence Christian writer of the 6th century,
Aquinas, saying the universe The central figure in Aquinas’s believed that he had found an
cannot have always existed. thinking is Aristotle, the ancient argument to show that Aristotle
1781 Immanuel Kant claims Greek philosopher whose work was must be wrong, and that the
he can show that the universe intensively studied by medieval universe had not always existed.
has always existed, and that thinkers. Aristotle was certain that His reasoning was copied and
it has not always existed. the universe has always existed, developed by a number of thinkers
and that it has always been home in the 13th century, who needed to
1931 Belgian priest and to different things, from inanimate find a flaw in Aristotle’s reasoning
scientist Georges Lemaître objects like rocks, to living species, in order to protect the teachings of
proposes the “Big Bang” theory such as humans, dogs, and horses. the Church. Their line of argument
of the origins of the universe. He argued that the universe is was especially clever, because it
changing and moving, and this took Aristotle’s own ideas about
no way of knowing that it had not. soul—but of saying at the same types of plants and of living things.
Aquinas believes that there are time that according to reason, Aquinas calls this “intellectual
a number of other doctrines central these positions could be shown knowledge”, because we gain it
to Christianity that the ancient to be wrong. by using the innate power of our
philosophers did not know and intellect to seize, on the basis of
could not have known—such as How we gain knowledge sense-impressions, the reality that
the belief that God is a Trinity Aquinas keeps to these principles lies behind them. Animals other
made up of three persons, and that throughout his work, but they are than humans lack this inborn
one person of the Trinity, the Son, particularly clear in two central capacity, which is why their
became a human. But in Aquinas’s areas of his thought: his account knowledge cannot stretch beyond
opinion, whenever humans reason of how we gain knowledge and his the senses. All of our scientific
correctly, they cannot come to any treatment of the relation between understanding of the world is based
conclusion which contradicts mind and body. According to on this intellectual knowledge.
Christian doctrine. This is because Aquinas, human beings acquire Aquinas’s theory of knowledge
both human reason and Christian knowledge through using their owes much to Aristotle, although
teaching come from the same senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, he clarifies and elaborates upon ❯❯
source—God—and so they can and taste. These sense-impressions,
never contradict each other. however, only tell us what things
Aquinas taught in convents are like superficially. For example,
and universities in France and Italy, from where John sits, he has a visual
and the idea that human reason impression of a tree-shaped object,
could never conflict with Christian which is green and brown. I, on the We should see whether
doctrine often placed him in fierce other hand, am standing next to the there is a contradiction
conflict with some of his academic tree, and can feel the roughness of between something being
contemporaries, especially those its bark and smell the scent of the created by God, and its
who specialized in the sciences, forest. If John and I were dogs, our existing forever.
which at the time were derived knowledge of the tree would be
Thomas Aquinas
from the work of Aristotle. Aquinas limited to these sense-impressions.
accused his fellow scholars of But as human beings we are able to
accepting certain positions on go beyond them and grasp what a
faith—for example, the position tree is in a rational way, defining it
that we each have an immortal and distinguishing it from other
94 THOMAS AQUINAS
the latter’s thinking. For Aquinas, as what he calls “life-activity”, such between the intellect and the body,
a Christian thinker, human beings as growing and reproducing, for so they could accommodate the
are only one type of the various plants; moving, sensing, seeking, Christian teaching that the human
sorts of beings that are capable of and avoiding, for animals; and soul survives death. Aquinas,
knowing things intellectually: souls thinking for humans. however, refuses to distort
separated from their bodies in the Aristotle believes that “form” is Aristotle’s position. This made it
afterlife, angels, and God himself what makes matter into the thing far more difficult for him to argue—
can also do this. These other that it is. Within the human body, as he did—for the immortality of
knowing beings do not have this form is the soul, which makes the human soul, in yet another
to acquire knowledge through the the body into the living thing that example of his resolve to be a good
senses. They can directly grasp it is by giving it a particular set of Aristotelian, and philosopher, while
the definitions of things. This life-activities. As such, the soul is remaining a faithful Christian.
aspect of Aquinas’s theory has tied to the body, and so Aristotle
no parallel in Aristotle, but it is a thinks that, even in the case of After Aquinas
coherent development of Aristotle’s humans, the life-soul survives only Since the Middle Ages, Aquinas
principles. Once again Aquinas so long as it animates a body, and has come to be regarded as the
is able to hold Christian beliefs at death it perishes. official orthodox philosopher of
without contradicting Aristotle, Aquinas follows Aristotle’s the Catholic Church. In his own
but going beyond him. teaching about living things and time, when translations of Greek
their souls, and he insists that a philosophy were being made from
The human soul human being has just one form: Arabic, complete with Arabic
According to Aristotle, the intellect his or her intellect. Although other commentaries, he was one of the
is the life-principle or “soul” of a 13th- and 14th-century thinkers thinkers keenest to follow Aristotle’s
human being. All living things have also adopted the main lines of train of philosophical reasoning,
a soul, he believes, which explains Aristotle’s view, they cut the even when it did not fit neatly with
their capacity for different levels of connection Aristotle had made Christian doctrine. He always
?
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 95
Cosmic background radiation
provides evidence of the “Big Bang”
that started the universe, but we can
still argue, like Aquinas, that this was
not the only possible way for it to exist.
GOD IS THE
NOT-OTHER
NIKOLAUS VON KUES (1401–1464)
N
ikolaus von Kues belongs some early Christian theologians
IN CONTEXT to a long tradition of talk of God as “above being.” Von
medieval philosophers Kues, writing around 1440, goes
BRANCH
who attempt to describe the nature further, stating that God is what
Philosophy of religion
of God, stressing how God is unlike comes before everything, even
APPROACH anything that the human mind is before the possibility of something
Christian Platonism capable of grasping. Von Kues existing. Yet reason tells us the
begins with the idea that we gain possibility of any phenomenon
BEFORE knowledge by using our reason to existing must come before its
380–360 BCE Plato writes on define things. So in order to know actual existence. It is impossible
“the Good” or “the One” as God, he deduces that we must try for something to come into being
the ultimate source of reason, to define the basic nature of God. before the possibility of it arises.
knowledge, and all existence. Plato describes “the Good” or The conclusion that von Kues
Late 5th century CE “the One” as the ultimate source of comes to, therefore, is that
all other forms and knowledge, and something that is said to do this
The Greek theologian and
must be described as “Not-other.”
philosopher Dionysius the
Areopagite describes God Beyond apprehension
as “above being.” However, the use of the word
c.860 Johannes Scotus “thing” in the line of reasoning that
Eriugena promotes the ideas Whatever-I-know von Kues adopts is misleading, as
of Dionysius the Areopagite. is not God and the “Not-other” has no substance.
whatever-I-conceive It is, according to von Kues, “beyond
AFTER apprehension”, and is before all
1492 Giovanni Pico della is not like God.
Nikolaus von Kues things in such a way that “they
Mirandola’s On Being and are not subsequent to it, but exist
the One marks a turning through it.” For this reason too,
point in Renaissance von Kues thinks “Not-other” comes
thinking about God. closer to a definition of God than
any other term. ■
1991 French philosopher
Jean-Luc Marion explores the
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Johannes Scotus Eriugena 332 ■ Meister Eckhart 333 ■
theme of God as not a being. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 334
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 97
TO KNOW NOTHING
IS THE HAPPIEST
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (1466–1536)
LIFE
T
he treatise In Praise of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas,
IN CONTEXT of Folly, which Erasmus as theological intellectualizing,
wrote in 1509, reflects claiming that it is the root cause
BRANCH
the Humanist ideas that were of the corruption of religious faith.
Philosophy of religion
beginning to flood across Europe Instead, Erasmus advocates a
APPROACH during the early years of the return to simple heartfelt beliefs,
Humanism Renaissance, and were to play with individuals forming a personal
a key role in the Reformation. It relationship with God, and not one
BEFORE is a witty satire on the corruption prescribed by Catholic doctrine.
354–430 CE St. Augustine and doctrinal wranglings of the Erasmus advises us to embrace
of Hippo integrates Platonism Catholic Church. However, it also what he sees as the true spirit of
into Christianity. has a serious message, stating that the Scriptures—simplicity, naivety,
c.1265–1274 Thomas Aquinas folly—by which Erasmus meant and humility. These, he says, are
combines Aristotelian and naive ignorance—is an essential the fundamental human traits that
part of being human, and is what hold the key to a happy life. ■
Christian philosophy in his
ultimately brings us the most
Summa Theologica.
happiness and contentment. He
AFTER goes on to claim that knowledge,
1517 Theologian Martin on the other hand, can be a burden
Luther writes The Ninety-Five and can lead to complications that
Theses, protesting against may make for a troublesome life. Happiness is
clerical abuses. It triggers the reached when a
start of the Reformation. Faith and folly person is ready to
Religion is a form of folly too, be what he is.
1637 René Descartes writes Erasmus states, in that true belief
Discourse on the Method, Desiderius Erasmus
can only ever be based on faith,
putting human beings at the never on reason. He dismisses the
center of philosophy. mixing of ancient Greek rationalism
1689 John Locke argues with Christian theology by medieval
philosophers, such as St. Augustine
for separation of government
and religion in A Letter
See also: St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■
Concerning Toleration. René Descartes 116–23 ■ John Locke 130–33
RENAISS
AND THE
OF REAS
1500–1750
ANCE
AGE
ON
100 INTRODUCTION
Martin Luther nails his The Edict of Nantes Galileo Galilei is The last ruling
95 Theses to the door of is issued by Henri IV, excommunicated by the dynasty of
Castle Church in granting Protestants rights Church and imprisoned China, the Qing
Wittenberg, triggering within Catholic France. for life, for upholding (Manchu) dynasty,
the Reformation. the theory that Earth takes power.
revolves around the Sun.
T
he Renaissance—a cultural By the end of the 15th century, Ptolemaic model of the universe
“rebirth” of extraordinary Renaissance ideas had spread with Earth at its center was
creativity in Europe—began across Europe and virtually eclipsed mistaken, and their demonstrations
in 14th-century Florence. It was to the Church’s monopoly of learning. overturned centuries of Christian
spread across Europe, lasting until Although Christian philosophers teaching. The Church fought back,
the 17th century, and it is now such as Erasmus and Thomas More ultimately imprisoning Galileo for
viewed as the bridge between the had contributed to the arguments heresy, but advances in all the
medieval and modern periods. within the Church that had sparked sciences soon followed those in
Marked by a renewed interest in the the Reformation, a purely secular astronomy, providing alternative
whole of Greek and Latin Classical philosophy had yet to emerge. explanations for the workings of
culture—not just the philosophical Unsurprisingly, the first truly the universe, and a basis for a new
and mathematical texts assimilated Renaissance philosopher was a kind of philosophy.
by medieval Scholasticism—it was Florentine – Niccolò Machiavelli – The victory of rational, scientific
a movement that viewed humans, and his philosophy marked a discovery over Christian dogma
not God, at its center. This new definitive movement from the epitomized the thinking of the
humanism was reflected first in the theological to the political. 17th century. British philosophers,
art and then the political and social notably Francis Bacon and Thomas
structure of Italian society; republics The Age of Reason Hobbes, took the lead in integrating
such as Florence and Venice soon The final nail in the coffin of the scientific and philosophical
abandoned medieval feudalism Church’s authority came from reasoning. It was the beginning
in favor of plutocracies where science. First Nicolaus Copernicus, of a period that became known as
commerce flourished alongside then Johannes Kepler, and finally the Age of Reason, which produced
the new scientific discoveries. Galileo Galilei showed that the the first great “modern” philosophers
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 101
Isaac Newton
The execution of King begins compiling his George Berkeley
Charles I brings an notes on “Certain John Locke publishes publishes A Treatise
end to the English Philosophical An Essay concerning Concerning the Principles
Civil War. Questions.” Human Understanding. of Human Knowledge.
Thomas Hobbes’ great Blaise Pascal’s Gottfried Leibniz Britain’s first factory
political work, Leviathan, Pensées are published writes New Essays on opens, accelerating
is published. posthumously. Human Understanding. the Industrial
Revolution.
and revived the connection between century. At the same time, a very being answered by scientists such
philosophy and science, especially different philosophical tradition as Isaac Newton—to questioning
mathematics, that dated back to was being established in Britain. how we can know what we know,
pre-Socratic Greece. Following the scientific reasoning and they now began to investigate
espoused by Francis Bacon, John the nature of the human mind and
The birth of rationalism Locke came to the conclusion that self. But these new philosophical
In the 17th century, many of the our knowledge of the world comes strands had moral and political
most significant philosophers in not from reason, but experience. implications. Just as the Church’s
Europe were also accomplished This view, known as empiricism, authority had been undermined by
mathematicians. In France, René characterized British philosophy the ideas of the Renaissance, so the
Descartes and Blaise Pascal made during the 17th and 18th centuries. aristocracies and monarchies were
major contributions to mathematics, Despite the division between threatened by the new ideas of the
as did Gottfried Leibniz in Germany. continental rationalism and British Enlightenment, as this period came
They believed that its reasoning empiricism (the same division that to be known. If the old rulers were
process provided the best model for had separated the philosophies of removed from power, what sort of
how to acquire all our knowledge of Plato and Aristotle), both had in society was to replace them?
the world. Descartes’s investigation common the placing of the human In Britain, Hobbes and Locke
of the question “What can I know?” at their centers: it is this being had laid the foundations for
led him to a position of rationalism, whose reason or experience leads democratic thinking during the
which is the belief that knowledge to knowledge. Philosophers on both turbulent 17th century, but it was
comes from reason alone. This sides of the Channel had moved another 100 years before a
became the predominant belief in from asking questions about the questioning of the status quo
continental Europe for the next nature of the universe—which were began in earnest elsewhere. ■
THE END
JUSTIFIES
THE MEANS
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (1469–1527)
104 NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH The success of a state
Political philosophy or nation is paramount.
APPROACH
Realism
BEFORE
1st century BCE Plato argues Whoever governs the
in his Republic that the state state or nation must
should be governed by a strive to secure...
philosopher-king.
1st century BCE The Roman
writer Cicero argues that the
Roman Republic is the best
form of government. ...his or her own glory. ...the success of the state.
AFTER
16th century Machiavelli’s
peers begin to use the adjective
“Machiavellian” to describe
acts of devious cunning. In order to do this, they
cannot be bound by morality.
1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
argues that people should hold
on to their liberty and resist
the rule of princes.
1928 Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini describes The The end justifies
Prince as “the statesman’s the means.
supreme guide.”
I
n order fully to understand Piero the Unfortunate), whose and burnt as a heretic. This led
Machiavelli’s views on power, reign was short-lived. The French to Machiavelli’s first known
it is necessary to understand under Charles VIII invaded Italy in involvement in Florentine politics,
the background to his political considerable force in 1494, and and he became Secretary to the
concerns. Machiavelli was born in Piero was forced to surrender and second Chancery in 1498.
Florence, Italy, during a time of then flee the city, as the citizens
almost constant upheaval. The rebelled against him. Florence was Career and influences
Medici family had been in open but declared a republic that same year. The invasion by Charles VIII in
unofficial control of the city-state The Dominican prior of the 1494 had sparked a turbulent period
for some 35 years, and the year of San Marco monastery, Girolamo in the history of Italy, which at the
Machiavelli’s birth saw Lorenzo de’ Savonarola, then came to dominate time was divided into five powers:
Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) Florentine political life. The city- the papacy, Naples, Venice, Milan,
succeed his father as ruler, ushering state entered a democratic period and Florence. The country was
in a period of great artistic activity under his guidance, but after fought over by various foreign
in Florence. Lorenzo was succeeded accusing the pope of corruption powers, mainly France, Spain, and
in 1492 by his son Piero (known as Savonarola was eventually arrested the Holy Roman Empire. Florence
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 105
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Francis Bacon 110–11 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■ Karl Marx 196–203
The Prince
Machiavelli’s book The Prince was
witty and cynical, and showed a
great understanding of Italy in
general and Florence in particular.
In it, Machiavelli sets out his
argument that the goals of a ruler
was weak in the face of their armies, man who impressed Machiavelli justify the means used to obtain
and Machiavelli spent 14 years with both his military ability and them. The Prince differed markedly
travelling between various cities his cunning. But tension between from other books of its type in its
on diplomatic missions, trying to France and the papacy led to resolute setting aside of Christian
shore up the struggling republic. Florence fighting with the French morality. Machiavelli wanted to ❯❯
In the course of his diplomatic against the pope and his allies,
activities, Machiavelli met Cesare the Spanish. The French lost, and
Borgia, the illegitimate son of Pope Florence with them. In 1512 the
Alexander VI. The pope was a Spanish dissolved the city-state’s
powerful figure in northern Italy, government, the Medicis returned,
and a significant threat to Florence. and what was in effect a tyranny
Although Cesare was Florence’s under Cardinal de’ Medici was How difficult it is
enemy, Machiavelli—despite his installed. Machiavelli was fired for a people accustomed
republican views—was impressed from his political office and exiled to live under a prince to
by his vigor, intelligence, and to his farm in Florence. His political preserve their liberty!
ability. Here we see one of the career might have revived under Niccolò Machiavelli
sources for Machiavelli’s famous the rule of the Medicis, but in
work, The Prince. February 1513 he was falsely
Pope Alexander VI died in 1503, implicated in a plot against the
and his successor Pope Julius II family, and he was tortured,
was another strong and successful fined, and imprisoned.
106 NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
give ruthlessly practical advice to a sometimes virtù is used to mean prince to be feared than to be
prince and, as his experience with “success”, and describes a state loved. But the people must not
extremely successful popes and that is to be admired and imitated. hate him, for this is likely to lead
cardinals had shown him, Christian Part of Machiavelli’s point is to rebellion. Also, a prince who
values should be cast aside if they that a ruler cannot be bound by mistreats his people unnecessarily
got in the way. morality, but must do what it takes will be despised—a prince should
Machiavelli’s approach centers to secure his own glory and the have a reputation for compassion,
on the notion of virtù, but this is not success of the state over which he not for cruelty. This might involve
the modern notion of moral virtue. rules—an approach that became harsh punishment of a few in order
It shares more similarities with the known as realism. But Machiavelli to achieve general social order,
medieval notion of virtues as the does not argue that the end justifies which benefits more people in
powers or functions of things, such the means in all cases. There are the long run.
as the healing powers of plants or certain means that a wise prince In cases where Machiavelli
minerals. Machiavelli is writing must avoid, for though they might does think that the end justifies
about the virtues of princes, and achieve the desired ends, they lay the means, this rule applies only
these were the powers and functions him open to future dangers. to princes. The proper conduct of
that concerned rule. The Latin root The main means to be avoided citizens of the state is not at all the
of virtù also relates it to manliness consist of those that would make same as that of the prince. But even
(as in “virile”), and this feeds into the people hate their prince. They for ordinary citizens, Machiavelli
what Machiavelli has to say in may love him, they may fear him— generally disdains conventional
its application both to the prince preferably both, Machiavelli says, Christian morality as being weak
himself and to the state—where though it is more important for a and unsuitable for a strong city.
Prince or republic
A ruler needs to know how to act
like a beast, Machiavelli says in The There are reasons to suspect that
Prince, and must imitate the qualities The Prince does not represent
of the fox as well as the lion. Machiavelli’s own views. Perhaps
the most important is the disparity
between the ideas it contains and
those expressed in his other main
work, Discourses on the Ten Books
of Titus Livy. In the Discourses
Machiavelli argues that a republic
is the ideal regime, and that it
It must be understood
that a prince cannot
observe all those things
which are considered
good in men.
A ruler must have the A ruler must have the Niccolò Machiavelli
ferocity of the lion to cunning of the fox
frighten those who seek to recognize snares
to depose him. and traps.
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 107
should be instituted whenever a Ruthlessness has been a virtue of
reasonable degree of equality leadership throughout history. In the
exists or can be established. A 20th century, the fascist dictator Benito
Mussolini used a mixture of fear and
princedom is only suitable when love to hold on to power in Italy.
equality does not exist in a state,
and cannot be introduced. However,
it can be argued that The Prince
represents Machiavelli’s genuine
ideas about how the ruler should
rule in such cases; if princedoms
are sometimes a necessary evil, it
is best that they be ruled as well as The world has become more
possible. Moreover, Machiavelli did like that of Machiavelli.
believe that Florence was in such Bertrand Russell
political turmoil that it needed a
strong ruler to get it into shape.
FAME AND
TRANQUILLITY
CAN NEVER BE
BEDFELLOWS
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533–1592)
I
n his essay “On Solitude”
IN CONTEXT (from the first volume of his
Tranquillity depends Essays), Montaigne takes up a
BRANCH
upon detachment theme that has been popular since
Ethics
from the opinion of others. ancient times: the intellectual and
APPROACH moral dangers of living among
Humanism others, and the value of solitude.
Montaigne is not stressing the
BEFORE importance of physical solitude, but
4th century BCE Aristotle, rather of developing the ability to
in his Nicomachean Ethics, resist the temptation to mindlessly
argues that to be virtuous, a If we seek fame—which fall in with the opinion and actions
person must be sociable and is glory in the eyes of of the mob. He compares our desire
form close relationships with others—we must seek for the approval of our fellow humans
their good opinion.
others; only a bestial man or to being overly attached to material
a god can flourish alone. wealth and possessions. Both
passions diminish us, Montaigne
AFTER claims, but he does not conclude
Late 18th century Anglican that we should relinquish either,
evangelical clergyman Richard only that we should cultivate a
Cecil states, “Solitude shows If we seek fame detachment from them. By doing so,
us what we should be; society we cannot we may enjoy them—and even
shows us what we are.” reach detachment. benefit from them—but we will not
Late 19th century Friedrich become emotionally enslaved to
Nietzsche describes solitude them, or devastated if we lose them.
“On Solitude” then considers
as necessary to the task of
how our desire for mass approval
self-examination, which he
is linked to the pursuit of glory, or
claims can alone free humans
fame. Contrary to thinkers such
from the temptation just to Fame and as Niccolò Machiavelli, who see
thoughtlessly follow the mob. tranquillity can glory as a worthy goal, Montaigne
never be bedfellows. believes that constant striving
for fame is the greatest barrier to
peace of mind, or tranquility. He
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 109
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Niccolò Machiavelli 102–07 ■
says of those who present glory as a of those around us will corrupt us,
desirable goal that they “only have either because we end up imitating
their arms and legs out of the those who are evil, or become so
crowd; their souls, their wills, are consumed by hatred for them that
more engaged with it than ever.” we lose our reason.
Montaigne is not concerned
with whether or not we achieve Glory’s pitfalls
glory. His point is that we should Montaigne returns to his attack
shake off the desire for glory in the on the pursuit of glory in his later
eyes of other people—that we writings, pointing out that the
should not always think of other acquisition of glory is often so Michel de Montaigne
people’s approval and admiration much a matter of mere chance
as being valuable. He goes on to that it makes little sense to hold it Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
recommend that instead of looking in such reverence. “Many times I’ve was born and brought up in
his wealthy family’s chateau
for the approbation of those around seen [fortune] stepping out ahead
near Bordeaux. However, he
us, we should imagine that some of merit, and often a long way was sent to live with a poor
truly great and noble being is ahead,” he writes. He also points peasant family until the age
constantly with us, able to observe out that encouraging statesmen of three, so that he would be
our most private thoughts, a being and political leaders to value glory familiar with the life led by
in whose presence even the mad above all things, as Machiavelli the ordinary workers. He
would hide their failings. By doing does, merely teaches them never received all his education at
this, we will learn to think clearly to attempt any endeavor unless home, and was allowed to
and objectively and behave in a an approving audience is on hand, speak only Latin until the age
more thoughtful and rational ready and eager to bear witness to of six. French was effectively
manner. Montaigne claims that the remarkable nature of their his second language.
caring too much about the opinion powers and achievements. ■ From 1557, Montaigne
spent 13 years as a member
of his local parliament, but
resigned in 1571, on inheriting
the family estates.
Montaigne published his
first volume of Essays in 1580,
going on to write two more
Contagion is very volumes before his death in
dangerous in crowds. You 1592. In 1580, he also set out
must either imitate the on an extensive tour of Europe,
vicious or hate them. partly to seek a cure for kidney
Michel de Montaigne stones. He returned to politics
in 1581, when he was elected
Mayor of Bordeaux, an office
he held until 1585.
Key works
1569 In Defence of
Montaigne experienced the results Raymond Sebond
of mindless mob violence during the 1580–1581 Travel Journal
French Wars of Religion (1562–98), 1580, 1588, 1595 Essays
including the atrocities of the St. (3 volumes)
Bartholomew Day Massacre of 1572.
110
KNOWLEDGE
IS POWER
FRANCIS BACON (1561–1626)
B
acon is often credited with the Scientific Revolution—produced
IN CONTEXT being the first in a tradition an astonishing number of scientific
of thought known as British thinkers, including Galileo Galilei,
BRANCH
empiricism, which is characterized William Harvey, Robert Boyle,
Philosophy of science
by the view that all knowledge Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton.
APPROACH must come ultimately from sensory Although the Church had been
Empiricism experience. He was born at a time broadly welcoming to science for
when there was a shift from the much of the medieval period, this
BEFORE Renaissance preoccupation with was halted by the rise of opposition
4th century BCE Aristotle the rediscovered achievements of to the Vatican’s authority during
sets observation and inductive the ancient world toward a more the Renaissance. Several religious
reasoning at the center of scientific approach to knowledge. reformers, such as Martin Luther,
scientific thinking. There had already been some had complained that the Church
13th century English scholars innovative work by Renaissance had been too lax in countering
scientists such as the astronomer scientific challenges to accounts
Robert Grosseteste and Roger
Nicolaus Copernicus and the of the world based on the Bible.
Bacon add experimentation to
anatomist Andreas Vesalius, but In response, the Catholic Church,
Aristotle’s inductive approach
this new period—sometimes called which had already lost adherents to
to scientific knowledge.
AFTER
1739 David Hume’s Treatise
of Human Nature argues It advances steadily and
against the rationality of Scientific knowledge cumulatively, discovering
inductive thinking. builds upon itself. new laws and making new
inventions possible.
1843 John Stuart Mill’s
System of Logic outlines the
five inductive principles that
together regulate the sciences.
1934 Karl Popper states that
falsification, not induction, Knowledge is It enables people to do
things that otherwise
defines the scientific method. power. could not be done.
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 111
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Robert Grosseteste 333 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■
MAN IS A
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH
MACHINE
Physicalism
BEFORE
4th century BCE Aristotle
disagrees with Plato’s theory
of a distinct human soul and
THOMAS HOBBES (1588–1679) argues that the soul is a form
or function of the body.
1641 René Descartes
publishes his Meditations on
First Philosophy, arguing that
mind and body are completely
different and distinct entities.
AFTER
1748 Julien Offray de la
Mettrie’s The Man Machine
presents a mechanistic view
of human beings.
1949 Gilbert Ryle states that
Descartes’ idea that mind and
body are separate “substances”
is a “category mistake.”
A
lthough he is best known
for his political philosophy,
Thomas Hobbes wrote on a
wide range of subjects. Many of his
views are controversial, not least
his defence of physicalism—the
theory that everything in the world
is exclusively physical in nature,
allowing no room for the existence
of other natural entities, such as the
mind, or for supernatural beings.
According to Hobbes, all animals,
including humans, are nothing more
than flesh-and-blood machines.
The kind of metaphysical theory
that Hobbes favors was becoming
increasingly popular at the time of
his writing, in the mid-17th century.
Knowledge in the physical sciences
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 113
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Francis Bacon 110–11 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■
Thomas Hobbes
A human Orphaned in infancy, Thomas
Man is a Hobbes was fortunately taken
being is therefore
machine. entirely physical. in by a wealthy uncle, who
offered him a good education.
A degree from the University
of Oxford earned him the post
of tutor to the sons of the Earl
of Devonshire. This job gave
was growing rapidly, bringing that is to say, body.” He goes on to Hobbes the opportunity to
clearer explanations of phenomena say that each of these bodies has travel widely throughout
that had long been obscure or “length, breadth, and depth”, and Europe, where he met noted
misunderstood. Hobbes had met “that which is not body is no part scientists and thinkers, such
the Italian astronomer Galileo, of the universe.” Although Hobbes as the Italian astronomer
frequently regarded as the “father is stating that the nature of Galileo Galilei as well as the
of modern science”, and had been everything is purely physical, he French philosophers Marin
closely associated with Francis is not claiming that because of Mersenne, Pierre Gassendi,
Bacon, whose thinking had helped this physicality everything can be and René Descartes.
In 1640, Hobbes fled to
to revolutionize scientific practice. perceived by us. Some bodies or
France to escape the English
In science and mathematics, objects, Hobbes declares, are
Civil War, staying there for
Hobbes saw the perfect counter to imperceptible, even though they 11 years. His first book, De
the medieval Scholastic philosophy occupy physical space and have Cive, was published in Paris in
that had sought to reconcile the physical dimensions. These, he 1642. But it was his ideas on
apparent contradictions between calls “spirits.” Some of them, ❯❯ morality, politics, and the
reason and faith. In common with functions of society and the
many thinkers of his time, he state, set out in Leviathan,
believed there was no limit to what that made him famous.
science could achieve, taking it as Also respected as a skilled
a matter of fact that any question translator and mathematician,
about the nature of the world could Hobbes continued to write until
be answered with a scientifically Life is but his death at the age of 91.
formulated explanation. a motion of limbs.
Thomas Hobbes Key works
Hobbes’ theory 1642 De Cive
In Leviathan, his major political 1651 Leviathan
work, Hobbes proclaims: “The 1656 De Corpore
universe—that is, the whole mass 1658 De Homine
of things that are—is corporeal,
114 THOMAS HOBBES
Hobbes believed that “spirits” carried
information needed to function around
the body. We now know that this is done
by electrical signals, travelling along
the neurons of the nervous system.
R
ené Descartes lived in the In the Meditations on First
IN CONTEXT early 17th century, during Philosophy, Descartes’ most
a period sometimes called accomplished and rigorous work
BRANCH
the Scientific Revolution, an era on metaphysics (the study of being
Epistemology
of rapid advances in the sciences. and reality) and epistemology (the
APPROACH The British scientist and philosopher study of the nature and limits of
Rationalism Francis Bacon had established a knowledge), he seeks to demonstrate
new method for conducting scientific the possibility of knowledge even
BEFORE experiments, based on detailed from the most skeptical of positions,
4th century BCE Aristotle observations and deductive and from this, to establish a firm
argues that whenever we reasoning, and his methodologies foundation for the sciences. The
perform any action, including had provided a new framework for
thinking, we are conscious investigating the world. Descartes
that we perform it, and in shared his excitement and optimism,
this way we are conscious but for different reasons. Bacon
that we exist. considered the practical applications
of scientific discoveries to be their
c.420 CE St. Augustine writes whole purpose and point, whereas
in The City of God that he is Descartes was more fascinated by
certain he exists, because if he the project of extending knowledge
is mistaken, this itself proves and understanding of the world.
his existence—in order to be During the Renaissance—the
mistaken, one must exist. preceding historical era—people
AFTER had become more skeptical about
1781 In his Critique of Pure science and the possibility of
genuine knowledge in general, and
Reason, Immanuel Kant argues
this view continued to exert an
against Descartes, but adopts
influence in Descartes’ time. So a
the First Certainty—“I think major motivation of his “project of
therefore I exist”—as the heart pure enquiry”, as his work has
Descartes’ book De Homine Figuris
and starting point of his takes a biological look at the causes
become known, was the desire to of knowledge. In it, he suggests that
idealist philosophy. rid the sciences of the annoyance the pineal gland is the link between
of skepticism once and for all. vision and conscious action.
Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ Gottfried Leibniz 134–37 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71
KI N G ?
The only question that Descartes is definitely
H AVE A BO HI N
I DY IT
DO
able to answer using his method of doubt is whether
?
AM
he is thinking. He cannot prove the existence of his
body or of the external world.
René Descartes René Descartes was born near he was invited to Sweden by
Tours, France, and was educated Queen Christina to discuss
at the Jesuit Collège Royale, in philosophy; he was expected to
La Flèche. Due to ill-health, he was get up very early, much against
allowed to stay in bed until late in his normal practice. He believed
the mornings, and he formed the that this new regime—and the
habit of meditating. From the age Swedish climate—caused him
of 16 he concentrated on studying to contract pneumonia, of which
mathematics, breaking off his he died a year later.
studies for four years to volunteer
as a soldier in Europe’s Thirty Key works
Years War. During this time he
found his philosophical calling, 1637 Discourse on the Method
and after leaving the army, he 1641 Meditations on First
settled first in Paris and then in Philosophy
the Netherlands, where he spent 1644 Principles of Philosophy
most of the rest of his life. In 1649 1662 De Homine Fuguris
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 123
Certainty as a premise from which also clearly true that he did not and to establish a firm, rational
to derive further knowledge—all exist; so it is not true that anything foundation for knowledge. He is
he needs is that there be a self for that thinks exists. also well known for proposing that
him to point to. So even if “I exist” We might say that in so far as the mind and the body are two
only succeeds in pointing to the Hamlet thought, he thought in the distinct substances—one material
meditator, then he has an escape fictional world of a play, but he also (the body) and the other immaterial
from the whirlpool of doubt. existed in that fictional world; in so (the mind)—which are nonetheless
far as he did not exist, he did not capable of interaction. This famous
An unreal thinker exist in the real world. His “reality” distinction, which he explains in
For those who have misunderstood and thinking are linked to the same the Sixth Meditation, became
Descartes to have been offering world. But Descartes’ critics might known as Cartesian dualism.
an argument from the fact of his respond that that is precisely the However, it is the rigor of
thinking to the fact of his existence, point: knowing that someone called Descartes’ thought and his rejection
we can point out that the First Hamlet was thinking—and no more of any reliance on authority that are
Certainty is a direct intuition, not than this—does not assure us that perhaps his most important legacy.
a logical argument. Why, though, this person exists in the real world; The centuries after his death were
would it be a problem if Descartes for that, we should have to know dominated by philosophers who
had been offering an argument? that he was thinking in the real either developed his ideas or those
As it stands, the apparent world. Knowing that something or who took as their main task the
inference “I am thinking, therefore I someone—like Descartes—is refutation of his thoughts, such as
exist” is missing a major premise; thinking, is not enough to prove Thomas Hobbes, Benedictus
that is, in order for the argument to their reality in this world. Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz. ■
work it needs another premise, The answer to this dilemma lies
such as “anything that is thinking in the first-person nature of the
exists.” Sometimes an obvious Meditations, and the reasons for
premise is not actually stated in an Descartes’ use of the “I” throughout
argument, in which case it is now becomes clear. Because while
known as a suppressed premise. I might be unsure whether Hamlet
But some of Descartes’ critics was thinking, and therefore existed,
complain that this suppressed in a fictional world or the real world,
premise is not at all obvious. For I cannot be unsure about myself.
example, Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s
play, thought a great deal, but it is Modern philosophy
In the “Preface to the Reader” of the
Meditations, Descartes accurately
predicted that many readers would
approach his work in such a way
that most would “not bother to grasp
We ought to enquire the proper order of my arguments
as to what sort of and the connection between them,
knowledge human reason but merely try to carp at individual
is capable of attaining, sentences, as is the fashion.” On
before we set about the other hand, he also wrote that
acquiring knowledge “I do not expect any popular approval,
or indeed any wide audience”, and
of things in particular.
in this he was much mistaken. He
René Descartes is often described as the father of
The separation of mind and body
modern philosophy. He sought to theorized by Descartes leaves open the
give philosophy the certainty of following question: since all we can see
mathematics without recourse to of ourselves is our bodies, how could
any kind of dogma or authority, we prove that a robot is not conscious?
124
IMAGINATION
DECIDES
EVERYTHING
BLAISE PASCAL (1623–1662)
P
ascal’s best-known book,
IN CONTEXT Pensées, is not primarily a
Imagination is a philosophical work. Rather,
BRANCH powerful force in it is a compilation of fragments from
Philosophy of mind human beings. his notes for a projected book on
APPROACH Christian theology. His ideas were
Voluntarism aimed primarily at what he called
libertins—ex-Catholics who had
BEFORE left religion as a result of the sort
c.350 BCE Aristotle says that of free thinking encouraged by
It can override our reason.
“imagination is the process by skeptical writers such as Montaigne.
which we say that an image In one of the longer fragments,
is presented to us,” and that Pascal discusses imagination. He
“the soul never thinks without offers little or no argument for his
a mental image.” claims, being concerned merely to
set down his thoughts on the matter.
1641 René Descartes claims But it can lead either to Pascal’s point is that imagination
that the philosopher must truths or falsehoods. is the most powerful force in human
train his imagination for the beings, and one of our chief sources
sake of gaining knowledge. of error. Imagination, he says,
AFTER causes us to trust people despite
1740 In his Treatise of Human what reason tells us. For example,
Nature, David Hume argues because lawyers and doctors dress
We may see beauty, justice, or up in special clothes, we tend to
that “nothing we imagine is happiness where it does not
absolutely impossible.” trust them more. Conversely, we
really exist. pay less attention to someone who
1787 Immanuel Kant claims looks shabby or odd, even if he is
that we synthesize the talking good sense.
incoherent messages from What makes things worse is that,
our senses into images, and though it usually leads to falsehood,
then into concepts, using Imagination leads imagination occasionally leads to
the imagination. us astray. truth; if it were always false, then we
could use it as a source of certainty
by simply accepting its negation.
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 125
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Michel de Montaigne 108–09 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont- that was later declared heretical),
Ferrand, France. He was the son and then to Christianity proper.
of a government functionary who This led him to abandon his
had a keen interest in science and mathematical and scientific
mathematics and who educated work in favor of religious
Pascal and his two sisters. Pascal writings, including the Pensées.
published his first mathematical In 1660–62 he instituted the
paper at the age of 16, and had world’s first public transport
invented the first digital calculator service, giving all profits to the
by the time he was 18. He also poor, despite suffering from
corresponded with the famous severe ill health from the 1650s
mathematician Pierre Fermat, with until his death in 1662.
whom he laid the foundations of
probability theory. Key works
Pascal underwent two religious
conversions, first to Jansenism 1657 Lettres Provinciales
(an approach to Christian teaching 1670 Pensées
126
IN CONTEXT
OF ALL THINGS,
APPROACH
Substance monism
L
ike most philosophies of the
17th century, Spinoza’s
philosophical system has the
notion of “substance” at its heart.
This concept can be traced back to
Aristotle, who asked “What is it
about an object that stays the same
when it undergoes change?” Wax,
for example, can melt and change
its shape, size, color, smell, and
texture, and yet still remain “wax”,
prompting the question: what are
we referring to when we speak of
“the wax”? Since it can change in
every way that we can perceive, the
wax must also be something beyond
its perceptible properties, and for
Aristotle this unchanging thing is
the wax’s “substance.” More
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 127
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Moses Maimonides 84–85 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■ Donald Davidson 338
It provides everything
in our universe with its…
...process of
formation, ... its purpose, ... its shape, ... and its matter.
generally, substance is anything definition of substance. Furthermore, attributes. He does not specify
that has properties—or that which he argues, since there is only one how many attributes substance
underlies the world of appearance. such substance, there can, in fact, has, but he says that human
Spinoza employs “substance” in a be nothing but that substance, and beings, at least, can conceive of
similar way, defining it as that which everything else is in some sense a two—namely, the attribute of
is self-explanatory—or that which part of it. Spinoza’s position is extension (physicality) and the
can be understood by knowing its known as “substance monism”, attribute of thought (mentality). For
nature alone, as opposed to all other which claims that all things are this reason, Spinoza is also known
things that can be known only by ultimately aspects of a single thing, as an “attribute dualist”, and he
their relationships with other things. as opposed to “substance dualism”, claims that these two attributes
For example, the concept “cart” can which claims that there are cannot be explained by each other,
only be understood with reference ultimately two kinds of things in and so must be included in any
to other concepts, such as “motion”, the universe, most commonly complete account of the world. As
“transport”, and so on. Moreover, for defined as “mind” and “matter.” for substance itself, Spinoza says
Spinoza, there can only be one such that we are right to call it “God” or
substance, for if there were two, Substance as God or nature “nature” (Deus sive natura)—that
understanding one would entail For Spinoza, then, substance self-explaining thing which, in
understanding its relationship with underlies our experience, but it human form, sees itself under the
the other, which contradicts the can also be known by its various attributes of body and mind. ❯❯
128 BENEDICTUS SPINOZA
and a mental thing (in so far as it
is conceived under the attribute
of thought). In particular, a human
mind is a modification of substance
conceived under the attribute of
thought, and the human brain is
the same modification of substance
Mind and body
conceived under the attribute of
are one.
extension. In this way, Spinoza Benedictus Spinoza
avoids any question about the
interaction between mind and
body: there is no interaction, only
a one-to-one correspondence.
However, Spinoza’s theory
All changes, from a change of mood commits him to the view that it is
to a change in a candle’s shape, are, not only human beings that are that God is the world, and that the
for Spinoza, alterations that occur to minds as well as bodies, but world is God. Pantheism is often
a single substance that has both
everything else too. Tables, rocks, criticized by theists (people who
mental and physical attributes.
trees—all of these are modifications believe in God), who argue that
of the one substance under the it is little more than atheism by
At the level of individual things, attributes of thought and extension. another name. However, Spinoza’s
including human beings, Spinoza’s So, they are all both physical and theory is in fact much closer to
attribute dualism is intended in mental things, although their panentheism—the view that the
part to deal with the question of mentality is very simple and they world is God, but that God is more
how minds and bodies interact. are not what we should call minds. than the world. For in Spinoza’s
The things that we experience as This aspect of Spinoza’s theory is system, the world is not a mass of
individual bodies or minds are in difficult for many people either to material and mental stuff—rather,
fact modifications of the single accept or to understand. the world of material things is a
substance as conceived under form of God as conceived under
one of the attributes. Each The world is God the attribute of extension, and the
modification is both a physical Spinoza’s theory, which he explains world of mental things is that same
thing (in so far as it is conceived fully in Ethics, is often referred to form of God as conceived under the
under the attribute of extension) as a form of pantheism—the belief attribute of thought. Therefore the
Benedictus Spinoza Benedictus (or Baruch) Spinoza Spinoza was a modest, intensely
was born in Amsterdam, the moral man who turned down
Netherlands, in 1632. At the age numerous lucrative teaching
of 23 he was excommunicated positions for the sake of his
by the synagogue of Portuguese intellectual freedom. Instead
Jews in Amsterdam, who probably he lived a frugal life in various
wished to distance themselves places in the Netherlands,
from Spinoza’s teachings. Spinoza’s making a living by private
Theological-Political Treatise philosophy teaching and as
was later attacked by Christian a lens grinder. He died from
theologians and banned in tuberculosis in 1677.
1674—a fate that had already
befallen the work of the French Key works
philosopher René Descartes. The
furore caused him to withhold 1670 Theological-Political
publication of his greatest work, Treatise
the Ethics, until after his death. 1677 Ethics
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 129
According to Spinoza, all objects, whether animal,
vegetable, or mineral, have a mentality. Both their
bodies and their mentalities are a part of God,
who is greater than all the world’s physical and
mental attributes. God, for Spinoza, is the
“substance” that underlies reality.
The human mind
is part of the infinite
intellect of God.
Benedictus Spinoza Every object in
the universe, even
a rock, has a body Body and mind
and a mind. are attributes of
substance.
NO MAN’S BRANCH
Epistemology
KNOWLEDGE HERE
APPROACH
Empiricism
CAN GO BEYOND
BEFORE
c.380 BCE In his dialogue,
Meno, Plato argues that we
HIS EXPERIENCE
remember knowledge from
previous lives.
Mid-13th century Thomas
Aquinas puts forward the
JOHN LOCKE (1632–1704) principle that “whatever is
in our intellect must have
previously been in the senses.”
AFTER
Late 17th century Gottfried
Leibniz argues that the mind
may seem to be a tabula rasa
at birth, but contains innate,
underlying knowledge, which
experience gradually uncovers.
1966 Noam Chomsky, in
Cartesian Linguistics, sets out
his theory of innate grammar.
J
ohn Locke is traditionally
included in the group of
philosophers known as the
British Empiricists, together with
two later philosophers, George
Berkeley and David Hume. The
empiricists are generally thought
to hold the view that all human
knowledge must come directly or
indirectly from the experience of
the world that we acquire through
the use of our senses alone. This
contrasts with the thinking of the
rationalist philosophers, such
as René Descartes, Benedictus
Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz,
who hold that in principle, at least,
it is possible to acquire knowledge
solely through the use of reason.
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 131
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Thomas Aquinas 88–95 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■
Gottfried Leibniz 134–37 ■ George Berkeley 138–41 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ Noam Chomsky 304–05
John Locke John Locke was born in 1632, the property. Locke fled England
son of an English country lawyer. twice, as a political exile, but
Thanks to wealthy patrons, he returned in 1688, after the
received a good education, first accession to the throne of
at Westminster School in London, William and Mary. He remained
then at Oxford. He was impressed in England, writing as well as
with the empirical approach to holding various government
science adopted by the pioneering positions, until his death in 1704.
chemist Robert Boyle, and he
both promoted Boyle’s ideas and Key works
assisted in his experimental work.
Though Locke’s empiricist ideas 1689 A Letter Concerning
are important, it was his political Toleration
writing that made him famous. He 1690 An Essay Concerning
proposed a social-contract theory of Human Understanding
the legitimacy of government and 1690 Two Treatises of
the idea of natural rights to private Government
134
IN CONTEXT
KINDS OF TRUTHS:
APPROACH
Rationalism
TRUTHS OF
BEFORE
1340 Nicolaus of Autrecourt
argues that there are no
REASONING AND
necessary truths about the
world, only contingent truths.
1600s René Descartes claims
TRUTHS OF FACT
that ideas come to us in three
ways; they can be derived from
experience, drawn from reason,
or known innately (being
GOTTFRIED LEIBNIZ (1646–1716) created in the mind by God).
AFTER
1748 David Hume explores the
distinction between necessary
and contingent truths.
1927 Alfred North Whitehead
postulates “actual entities”,
similar to Leibniz’s monads,
which reflect the whole
universe in themselves.
E
arly modern philosophy
is often presented as being
divided into two schools—
that of the rationalists (including
René Descartes, Benedictus
Spinoza, and Immanuel Kant) and
that of the empiricists (including
John Locke, George Berkeley, and
David Hume). In fact, the various
philosophers did not easily fall into
two clear groups, each being like
and unlike each of the others in
complex and overlapping ways.
The essential difference between
the two schools, however, was
epistemological—that is, they
differed in their opinions about
what we can know, and how we
know what we know. Put simply,
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 135
See also: Nicolaus of Autrecourt 334 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■ David Hume
148–53 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Alfred North Whitehead 336
TO BE IS TO
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH
BE PERCEIVED
Idealism
BEFORE
c.380 BCE In The Republic,
Plato presents his theory of
Forms, which states that the
GEORGE BERKELEY (1685–1753) world of our experience is an
imperfect shadow of reality.
AFTER
1781 Immanuel Kant develops
Berkeley’s theory into
“transcendental idealism”,
according to which the
world that we experience
is only appearance.
1807 Georg Hegel replaces
Kant’s idealism with “absolute
idealism”—the theory that
absolute reality is Spirit.
1982 In his book The Case
for Idealism, the British
philosopher John Foster
argues for a version of
Berkeley’s idealism.
L
ike John Locke before him,
George Berkeley was an
empiricist, meaning that
he saw experience as the primary
source of knowledge. This view,
which can be traced back to
Aristotle, stands in contrast to the
rationalist view that, in principle, all
knowledge can be gained through
rational reflection alone. Berkeley
shared the same assumptions as
Locke, but reached very different
conclusions. According to Berkeley,
Locke’s empiricism was moderate;
it still allowed for the existence of
a world independent of the senses,
and followed René Descartes in
RENAISSANCE AND THE AGE OF REASON 139
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■
John Locke 130–33 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85
What we perceive
are ideas, not things
from perception. in themselves.
George Berkeley
George Berkeley was born and
So the world A thing in brought up at Dysart Castle,
consists only itself must lie near the town of Kilkenny,
of ideas... outside experience. Ireland. He was educated first
at Kilkenny College, then at
Trinity College, Dublin. In
1707 he was elected a Fellow
of Trinity, and was ordained
an Anglican priest. In 1714,
having written all his major
philosophical works, he left
Ireland to travel around
A thing only exists in Europe, spending most
... and minds that of his time in London.
perceive those ideas. so far as it perceives
When he returned to
or is perceived. Ireland he became Dean of
Derry. His main concern,
however, had become a
project to found a seminary
college in Bermuda. In 1728
he sailed to Newport, Rhode
seeing humans as being made Island, with his wife, Anne
up of two distinct substances, Foster, and spent three years
namely mind and body. trying to raise money for the
Berkeley’s empiricism, on the seminary. In 1731, when it
other hand, was far more extreme, became clear that funds were
and led him to a position known not forthcoming, he returned
as “immaterialist idealism.” This There is no to London. Three years later
means that he was a monist, such thing as he became Bishop of Cloyne,
believing that there is only one what philosophers call Dublin, where he lived for
kind of substance in the universe, material substance. the rest of his life.
and an idealist, believing that George Berkeley Key works
this single substance is mind,
or thought, rather than matter.
1710 Treatise Concerning the
Berkeley’s position is often Principles of Human Knowledge
summarized by the Latin phrase 1713 Three Dialogues Between
esse est percipi (“to be is to be Hylas and Philonous
perceived”), but it is perhaps ❯❯
140 GEORGE BERKELEY
mistake it for a physical thing itself.
Ideas, then, can only resemble
other ideas. And as our only
experience of the world comes
through our ideas, any claim that
we can even understand the notion
If there were An idea can be like nothing of “physical things” is mistaken.
external bodies, it is but an idea; a color or What we are really understanding
impossible we should figure can be like nothing are mental things. The world is
ever come to know it. but another color or figure. constructed purely of thought, and
George Berkeley George Berkeley whatever is not itself perceiving,
exists only as one of our perceptions.
Voltaire publishes Candide, The Treaty of Paris Jeremy Bentham develops The storming of
a novel that satirizes Liebniz’s makes Britain the the theory of utilitarianism the Bastille in Paris
notion that “all is for the best in main colonial power in his Introduction to the marks the start
the best of all possible worlds.” in North America. Principles of Morals and of the French
Legislation, eventually Revolution.
published in 1789.
D
uring the Renaissance, growing urban middle-class with The situation in France, however,
Europe had evolved into unprecedented prosperity. The was less stable. The rationalism
a collection of separate richest nations, such as Britain, of René Descartes gave way to a
nation states, having previously France, Spain, Portugal, and the generation of philosophes, radical
been a continent unified under the Netherlands, established colonies political philosophers who were to
control of the Church. As power and empires around the world. popularize the new scientific way
devolved to separate countries, of thinking. They included the
distinctive national cultures formed, France and Britain literary satirist Voltaire and the
which were most obvious in arts Philosophy increasingly focused on encyclopedist Denis Diderot, but
and literature, but could also be social and political issues, also along the most revolutionary was Jean-
seen in the philosophical styles that national lines. In Britain, where a Jacques Rousseau. His vision of a
emerged during the 17th century. revolution had already come and society governed on the principles
During the Age of Reason there gone, empiricism reached a peak of liberté, egalité, and fraternité
was a very clear difference between in the works of David Hume, while (liberty, equality, and fraternity)
the rationalism of continental the new utilitarianism dominated provided the battle cry of the
Europe and the empiricism of political philosophy. This evolved French Revolution in 1789, and has
British philosophers, and in the alongside the Industrial Revolution inspired radical thinkers ever since.
18th century philosophy continued that had started in the 1730s, as Rousseau believed that civilization
to center on France and Britain, as thinkers such as John Stuart Mill was a corrupting influence on
the Enlightenment period unfolded. refined the utilitarianism of Jeremy people, who are instinctively good,
Old values and feudal systems Bentham and helped to establish and it was this part of his thinking
crumbled as the new nations both a liberal democracy and a set the tone for Romanticism, the
founded on trade gave rise to a framework for modern civil rights. movement that followed.
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 145
Georg Hegel publishes Karl Marx publishes his John Stuart Mill The leading
Phenomenology of Spirit. Communist Manifesto. publishes pragmatist
Revolutionary movements Utilitarianism. William James
sweep across Europe. publishes The
Principles of
Psychology.
In the Romantic period, European than Hume and Rousseau, Kant writing the Communist Manifesto
literature, painting, and music belonged to the next generation: with Friedrich Engels, he wrote Das
became preoccupied with an his major philosophical works were Kapital, arguably one of the most
idealized view of nature, in marked written after their deaths, and his influential philosophical works of all
contrast to the sophisticated urban new explanation of the universe time. Within decades of his death,
elegance of the Enlightenment. and our knowledge of it managed countries across the world had set
Perhaps the key difference was the to integrate the approaches of up revolutionary states on the
way in which the Romantics valued rationalism and empiricism in a way principles that he had proposed.
feeling and intuition above reason. more suited both to Romanticism Meanwhile in the US, which
The movement took hold throughout and to Germanic culture. had overthrown British colonial rule
Europe, continuing until the end of Kant’s followers included Fichte, and established a republic based
the 19th century. Schelling, and Hegel, who together on Enlightenment values, an
became known as the German American culture independent
German Idealism Idealists, but also Schopenhauer, of its European roots began to
German philosophy came to whose idiosyncratic interpretation develop. At first Romantic, by the
dominate the 19th century, largely of Kant’s philosophy incorporated end of the 19th century it had
due to the work of Immanuel Kant. ideas from Eastern philosophy. produced a homegrown strand
His idealist philosophy, which Among the followers of Hegel’s of philosophy, pragmatism, which
claimed that we can never know rigid Idealism was Karl Marx, who examines the nature of truth.
anything about things that exist brilliantly brought together German This was in keeping with the
beyond our selves, radically altered philosophical methods, French country’s democratic roots and
the course of philosophical thought. revolutionary political philosophy, well suited to the culture of
Although only a few years younger and British economic theory. After the new century. ■
146
DOUBT IS NOT A
PLEASANT CONDITION,
BUT CERTAINTY
IS ABSURD
VOLTAIRE (1694–1778)
V
oltaire was a French of what, why, and how things
IN CONTEXT intellectual who lived in existed, but both scientists and
the Age of Enlightenment. philosophers had begun to
BRANCH
This period was characterized by demonstrate different approaches
Epistemology
an intense questioning of the world to establishing the truth. In 1690
APPROACH and how people live in it. European the philosopher John Locke had
Scepticism philosophers and writers turned argued that no ideas were innate
their attention to the acknowledged (known at birth), and that all ideas
BEFORE authorities—such as the Church arise from experience alone. His
350 BCE Aristotle makes and state—to question their validity argument was given further weight
the first reference to a child’s and their ideas, while also searching by scientist Isaac Newton whose
mind as a “blank slate”, for new perspectives. Until the 17th experiments provided new ways of
which later became known century, Europeans had largely discovering truths about the world.
as a tabula rasa. accepted the Church’s explanations It was against this background of
1690S John Locke argues that
sense experience allows both
children and adults to acquire
reliable knowledge about the Every fact and theory We are not born with
in history has been ideas and concepts
external world. already in our heads.
revised at some point.
AFTER
1859 John Stuart Mill argues
against assuming our own
infallibility in On Liberty.
Every idea and theory
1900S Hans-Georg Gadamer can be challenged.
and the postmodernists apply
sceptical reasoning to all
forms of knowledge, even that
gained through empirical
(sense-based) information. Doubt is not a
pleasant condition, but
certainty is absurd.
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 147
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■
D
avid Hume was born at dividing the contents of our minds
IN CONTEXT a time when European into two kinds of phenomena, and
philosophy was dominated then asking how these relate to
BRANCH
by a debate about the nature of each other. The two phenomena
Epistemology
knowledge. René Descartes had are “impressions”—or direct
APPROACH in effect set the stage for modern perceptions, which Hume calls
Empiricism philosophy in his Discourse on the the “sensations, passions, and
Method, instigating a movement emotions”—and “ideas”, which
BEFORE of rationalism in Europe, which are faint copies of our impressions,
1637 René Descartes claimed that knowledge can be such as thoughts, reflections,
espouses rationalism in his arrived at by rational reflection and imaginings. And it is while
Discourse on the Method. alone. In Britain, John Locke had analyzing this distinction that
1690 John Locke sets out the countered this with his empiricist Hume draws an unsettling
case for empiricism in An argument that knowledge can only conclusion—one that calls into
be derived from experience. George question our most cherished
Essay Concerning Human
Berkeley had followed, formulating
Understanding.
his own version of empiricism,
AFTER according to which the world only
1781 Immanuel Kant is exists in so far as it is perceived.
inspired by Hume to write But it was Hume, the third of the
his Critique of Pure Reason. major British empiricists, who dealt
the biggest blow to rationalism in In our reasonings
1844 Arthur Schopenhauer an argument presented in his concerning fact, there are
acknowledges his debt to Treatise of Human Nature. all imaginable degrees
Hume in The World as Will of assurance. A wise man
and Representation. Hume’s fork therefore proportions his
1934 Karl Popper proposes With a remarkable clarity of belief to the evidence.
falsification as the basis for the language, Hume turns a sceptical David Hume
scientific method, as opposed eye to the problem of knowledge,
and argues forcibly against the
to observation and induction.
notion that we are born with
“innate ideas” (a central tenet of
rationalism). He does so by first
FREE
YET EVERYWHERE HE
IS IN CHAINS
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712–1778)
156 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH Man in a When the idea of
Political philosophy “state of nature” is private property developed,
fundamentally good. society had to develop
APPROACH a system to protect it.
Social contract theory
BEFORE
1651 Thomas Hobbes puts
forward the idea of a social
contract in his book Leviathan.
1689 John Locke’s Two
Treatises of Government This system evolved
asserts a human’s natural right These laws bind as laws imposed by
to defend “life, health, liberty, people in unjust ways. those with property onto
or possessions.” those without property
AFTER
1791 Thomas Paine’s Rights of
Man argues that government’s
only purpose is to safeguard
the rights of the individual.
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels publish The
Communist Manifesto. Man is born free,
yet everywhere
1971 John Rawls develops the he is in chains.
idea of “Justice as Fairness” in
his book A Theory of Justice.
R
ousseau was very much a begun to question the status quo, Like them, Rousseau compared an
product of the mid- to late- undermining the authority of both idea of humanity in a hypothetical
18th-century period known the Church and the aristocracy, “natural state” with how people
as the Enlightenment, and an and advocates of social reform such actually live in a civil society.
embodiment of the continental as Voltaire continually fell foul of But he took such a radically
European philosophy of the time. the overbearing censorship of the different view of this natural
As a young man he tried to make establishment. Unsurprisingly in state and the way it is affected
his name as both a musician and this context, Rousseau’s main by society, that it could be
composer, but in 1740 he met Denis area of interest became political considered a form of “counter-
Diderot and Jean d’Alembert, the philosophy. His thinking was Enlightenment” thinking. It held
philosopher compilers of the new influenced not only by his French within it the seeds of the next
Encyclopédie, and became contemporaries, but also by the great movement, Romanticism.
interested in philosophy. The work of English philosophers—and
political mood in France at this in particular the idea of a social Science and art corrupt
time was uneasy. Enlightenment contract as proposed by Thomas Hobbes had envisaged life in the
thinkers in France and England had Hobbes and refined by John Locke. natural state as “solitary, poor,
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 157
See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ Edmund Burke 172–73 ■
John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ John Rawls 294–95
nasty, brutish, and short.” In his controversially puts forward the idea
view humanity is instinctively self- that the arts and sciences corrupt
interested and self-serving, and and erode morals. He argues that far
that civilization is necessary to place from improving minds and lives, the
restrictions on these instincts. arts and sciences decrease human
Rousseau, however, looks more virtue and happiness.
kindly on human nature, and sees
civil society as a much less The inequality of laws
benevolent force. Having broken with established
The idea that society might be thinking in his prize-winning and
a harmful influence first occurred publicly acclaimed essay, Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau
to Rousseau when he wrote an essay took the idea a stage further in a
for a competition organized by the second essay, the Discourse on the Jean-Jacques Rousseau was
Academy of Dijon, answering the Origin and Foundations of Inequality born to a Calvinist family in
Geneva. His mother died only
question: “Has the restoration of the among Men. The subject matter
a few days after his birth, and
sciences and the arts contributed chimed with the mood of the time, his father fled home following
to refining moral practices?” The echoing the calls for social reform a duel a few years later, leaving
expected answer from thinkers of from writers such as Voltaire, but ❯❯ him in the care of an uncle.
the time, and especially from a Aged 16, he left for France
musician such as Rousseau, was an and converted to Catholicism.
The Romantic movement in art
enthusiastic affirmative, but in fact and literature that dominated the late While trying to make his name
Rousseau argued the opposite case. 18th and early 19th centuries reflected as a composer, he worked as a
His Discourse on the Sciences and Rousseau’s vision of the state of nature civil servant and was posted to
Arts, which won him first prize, as one of beauty, innocence, and virtue. Venice for two years, but on
his return he began to write
philosophy. His controversial
views led to his books being
banned in Switzerland and
France, and warrants being
issued for his arrest. He was
forced to accept David Hume’s
invitation to live in England for
a short time, but after they
quarrelled he returned to
France under a false name. He
was later allowed to return to
Paris, where he lived until his
death at the age of 66.
Key works
MAN IS AN
BRANCH
Political philosophy
APPROACH
ANIMAL THAT
Classical economics
BEFORE
c.350 BCE Aristotle emphasizes
the importance of domestic
MAKES
production (“economy”) and
explains the role of money.
Early 1700s Dutch thinker
Bernard Mandeville argues
BARGAINS
that selfish actions can
lead indirectly to socially
desirable consequences.
AFTER
1850s British writer John
S
cottish writer Adam Smith
is often considered the most
important economist the
world has ever known. The concepts
of bargaining and self-interest that
he explored, and the possibility of
different types of agreements and
interests—such as “the common
interest”—are of recurring appeal
to philosophers. His writings are
also important because they give
a more general and abstract form
to the idea of the “commercial”
society that was developed by
his friend David Hume.
Like his Swiss contemporary,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Smith
assumes that the motives of human
beings are partly benevolent and
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 161
See also: David Hume 148–53 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■
Edmund Burke 172–73 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Noam Chomsky 304–05
Adam Smith
We must therefore Man is
agree to exchange an animal The “father of modern
goods or money between that makes economics” was born in
us in a way that benefits Kirkcaldy, Fife, in 1723. An
bargains. academic prodigy, Smith
both parties.
became a professor first at
Edinburgh University, then at
Glasgow University where he
became a professor in 1750. In
partly self-interested, but that they need help, because life requires the 1760s, he took a lucrative
self-interest is the stronger trait “the cooperation and assistance of job as a personal tutor to a
and so is a better guide to human great multitudes.” For example, to young Scottish aristocrat,
behavior. He believes that this can stay comfortably at an inn for a Henry Scott, with whom he
be confirmed by social observation, night we require the input of many visited France and Switzerland.
and so, broadly speaking, his people—to cook and serve the food, Already acquainted with
approach is an empirical one. In one to prepare the room and so on— David Hume and other Scottish
of his most famous discussions of none of whose services can be Enlightenment thinkers, he
the psychology of bargaining, he depended on through good will seized the chance to meet
leading figures of the European
contends that the most frequent alone. For this reason, “man is an
Enlightenment as well. On his
opening gambit in a bargain is for animal that makes bargains”—and
return to Scotland, he spent a
one party to urge the other—“the the bargain is struck by proposing decade writing The Wealth of
best way for you to get what you a deal that appears to be in the Nations, before returning to
want is for you to give me what I self-interest of both parties. public service as Commissioner
want.” In other words, “we address of Customs, a position that
ourselves, not to [another’s] The division of labor allowed him to advise the
humanity, but to their self-love.” In his account of the emergence of British government on various
Smith goes on to claim that market economies, Smith argues economic policies. In 1787, he
the exchange of useful objects is a that our ability to make bargains rejoined Glasgow University,
distinctively human characteristic. put an end to the once universal and spent the last three years
He notes that dogs are never requirement that every person, of his life as its rector.
observed exchanging bones, and or at least every family, be
that should an animal wish to economically self-sufficient. Thanks Key works
obtain something, the only way it to bargaining, it became possible
1759 The Theory of Moral
can do so is to “gain the favor of for us to concentrate on producing
Sentiments
those whose service it requires”. fewer and fewer goods, and 1776 The Wealth of Nations
Humans may also depend on this ultimately to produce just a single 1795 Essays on Philosophical
sort of “fawning or servile attention”, good, or offer a single service, and Subjects
but they cannot resort to it whenever to exchange this for everything ❯❯
162 ADAM SMITH
else we required. This process was
revolutionized by the invention of
money, which abolished the need
to barter. From then on, in Smith’s
view, only those who were unable
to work had to depend on charity. The greatest improvement Civilized society stands
Everyone else could come to the in the productive at all times in need of
marketplace to exchange their powers of labor seem the cooperation
labor—or the money they earned to have been the effects and assistance
through labor—for the products of the division of labor. of great multitudes.
of other people’s labor. Adam Smith Adam Smith
This elimination of the need to
provide everything for ourselves led
to the emergence of people with
particular sets of skills (such as
the baker and the carpenter), and
then to what Smith calls a “division
of labor” among workers. This is Smith illustrates the importance of it, pointing it, and grinding it, to
Smith’s phrase for specialization, specialization at the beginning of joining it to a pinhead—were able,
whereby an individual not only his masterpiece, The Wealth of in Smith’s time, to produce over
pursues a single type of work, but Nations, by showing how the 48,000 pins a day.
performs only a single task in a job making of a humble metal pin is Smith was impressed by
that is shared by several people. radically improved by adopting the the great improvements in the
factory system. Where one man productivity of labor that took place
working alone would find it hard during the Industrial Revolution—
The market is the key to establishing
an equitable society, in Smith’s view. to produce 20 perfect pins in a day, improvements that saw workers
With the freedom provided by the a group of 10 men, charged with provided with much better
buying and selling of goods, individuals different tasks—from drawing out equipment, and often saw
can enjoy lives of “natural liberty.” the wire, straightening it, cutting machines replacing workers.
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 163
The jack-of-all-trades could not within national boundaries, so it
survive in such a system, and even can flourish across them, leading to
philosophers began to specialize international trade—a phenomenon
in the various branches of their that was spreading across the
subject, such as logic, ethics, world in Smith’s time.
epistemology, and metaphysics. Smith recognized that there
were problems with the notion of
The free market a free market—in particular with
Because the division of labor the increasingly common bargain
increases productivity and makes it of wages for working time. He also
possible for everyone to be eligible acknowledged that while the
for some kind of work (since it frees division of labor had huge
us from training in a craft), Smith economic benefits, repetitive work
argues that it can lead to universal is not only boring for the worker, it
wealth in a well-ordered society. can destroy a human being—and
Indeed, he says that in conditions for this reason he proposed that
of perfect liberty, the market can governments should restrict the
lead to a state of perfect equality— extent to which the production
one in which everyone is free to line is used. Nevertheless, when
pursue his own interests in his own The Wealth of Nations was first
way, so long as it accords with the published, its doctrine of free and
laws of justice. And by equality unregulated trade was seen as The production line is an incredible
Smith is not referring to equality revolutionary, not only because of money-creating machine, but Smith
of opportunity, but to equality of its attack on established commercial warns against the dehumanizing
effects it can have on workers if it
condition. In other words, his goal and agricultural privileges and
is used without regulation.
is the creation of a society not monopolies, but also because of its
divided by competitiveness, but argument that a nation’s wealth
drawn together by bargaining depends not on its gold reserves, and consumers within his social
based on mutual self-interest. but on its labor—a view that went model, or integrating into it the
Smith’s point, therefore, is not against all economic thinking in domestic labor, performed mainly
that people should have freedom just Europe at the time. by women, that helped to keep
because they deserve it. His point is Smith’s reputation for being a society running efficiently.
that society as a whole benefits from revolutionary was bolstered during For these reasons, and with the
individuals pursuing their own the long debate about the nature rise of socialism in the 19th century,
interests. For the “invisible hand” of of society that followed the French Smith’s reputation declined, but
the market, with its laws of supply Revolution of 1789, prompting the renewed interest in free market
and demand, regulates the amount mid-Victorian historian H.T. Buckle economics in the late 20th century
of goods that are available, and to describe The Wealth of Nations saw a revival of Smith’s ideas.
prices them far more efficiently than as “probably the most important Indeed, only today can we fully
any government could. Put simply, book that has ever been written.” appreciate his most visionary
the pursuit of self-interest, far claim—that a market is more than
from being incompatible with an Smith’s legacy just a place. A market is a concept,
equitable society, is, in Smith’s view, Critics have argued that Smith was and as such can exist anywhere—
the only way of guaranteeing it. wrong to assume that the “general not only in a designated place such
In such a society, a government interest” and “consumer interest” as a town square. This foreshadows
can limit itself to performing just a are the same, and that the free the kind of “virtual” marketplace
few essential functions, such as market is beneficial to all. What is that only became possible with the
providing defense, criminal justice, true is that even though Smith was advent of telecommunications
and education, and taxes and duties sympathetic toward the victims of technology. Today’s financial
can be reduced accordingly. And poverty, he never fully succeeded in markets and online trading bear
just as bargaining can flourish balancing the interests of producers witness to Smith’s great vision. ■
THERE ARE TWO WORLDS:
OUR BODIES
AND THE EXTERNAL
WORLD
IMMANUEL KANT (1724–1804)
166 IMMANUEL KANT
went on to counter this sceptical
IN CONTEXT point of view with an argument
that claims to prove the existence
BRANCH
of God, and therefore the reality of
Metaphysics
an outside world. However, many
APPROACH philosophers (including Kant) have
Transcendental idealism not found Descartes’ proof of God
to be valid in its reasoning.
BEFORE Berkeley, on the other hand,
1641 René Descartes argued that knowledge is indeed
publishes his Meditations, in possible—but that it comes from
which he doubts all knowledge experiences our consciousness
apart from the knowledge of perceives. We have no justification
his own consciousness. for believing that these experiences According to Kant, we can only
have any external existence outside experience time through things in the
1739 David Hume publishes our own minds. world that move or change, such as
his Treatise of Human Nature, the hands of a clock. So time is only
which suggests limitations ever experienced by us indirectly.
Time and consciousness
on how the human mind Kant wants to demonstrate that
perceives reality. there is an external, material world, constantly changing “now” is found
AFTER and that its existence cannot be in material objects outside me in
19th century The German doubted. His argument begins as space (including my own physical
follows: in order for something to body). Saying that I exist requires
idealist movement develops in
exist, it must be determinable in a determinate point in time, and
response to Kant’s philosophy.
time—that is, we must be able to this, in turn, requires an actually
1900s Edmund Husserl say when it exists and for how long. existing outside world in which
develops phenomenology, the But how does this work in the case time takes place. My level of
study of objects of experience, of my own consciousness? certainty about the existence of the
using Kant’s understanding Although consciousness seems external world is thus precisely the
of consciousness. to be constantly changing with a same as my level of certainty about
continuous flow of sensations and the existence of consciousness,
thoughts, we can use the word which Descartes believed was
“now” to refer to what is currently absolutely certain.
happening in our consciousness.
I
mmanuel Kant thought it was But “now” is not a determinate time The problem of science
“scandalous” that in more than or date. Every time I say “now”, Kant also looked at how science
2,000 years of philosophical consciousness is different. understood the exterior world. He
thought, nobody had been able to Here lies the problem: what admired the awesome progress
produce an argument to prove that makes it possible to specify the that the natural sciences had made
there really is a world out there, “when” of my own existence? We over the previous two centuries,
external to us. He particularly had cannot experience time itself, compared with the relative
in mind the theories of René directly; rather, we experience time stagnation in the subject from
Descartes and George Berkeley, through things that move, change, ancient times until that point. Kant,
who both entertained doubts about or stay the same. Consider the along with other philosophers,
the existence of an external world. hands of a clock, constantly moving wondered what was suddenly being
At the start of his Meditations, slowly around. The moving hands done correctly in scientific research.
Descartes argued that we must are useless for determining time on The answer given by many thinkers
doubt all knowledge except that their own—they need something of the period was empiricism. The
of our own existence as thinking against which they change, such as empiricists, such as John Locke
beings—even the knowledge that the numbers on a clock face. Every and David Hume, argued that there
there is an external world. He then resource I have for measuring my is no knowledge except that which
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 167
See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ George Berkeley 138–41 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■
Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Friedrich Schelling 335 ■ Arthur Schopenhauer 186–88
It is precisely in
knowing its limits that There are two
philosophy exists. worlds: the world of
Immanuel Kant experience sensed
“Things-in-themselves” by our bodies and
are unknowable. the world as it
is in itself.
168 IMMANUEL KANT
These direct acquaintances he my concept of some type of thing
calls “intuitions.” Second is what (books) and my concept of a “thing”
Kant calls the “understanding”, our as such (substance). A concept
ability to have and use concepts. such as substance defines what
For Kant, a concept is an indirect it means to be a thing in general
Thoughts without content acquaintance with things as rather than defining some type
are empty; intuitions examples of a type of thing, such of thing like a book. My intuition
without concepts are as the concept of “book” in general. of a book and the concept of a book
blind… only from their Without concepts we would not are empirical, for how could I know
union can cognition arise. know our intuition was of a book; anything about books unless I had
Immanuel Kant without intuitions we would never come across them in the world?
know that there were books at all. But my intuition of space and time
Each of these elements has, in and the concept of substance are
turn, two sides. In sensibility, there a priori, meaning that they are
is my intuition of a particular thing known before or independently
in space and time (like the book) of any experience.
and my intuition of space and time A true empiricist would argue
For example, the experimental as such (my acquaintance with against Kant that all acquaintances
physicist Galileo Galilei wanted to what space and time are like in come from experience—in other
test the hypothesis that two things general). In understanding, there is words, nothing is a priori. They
of different weights will nevertheless
fall through the air at the same rate.
Kant split knowledge into intuitions, gained Key
He designed an experiment to test from direct sensibility of the world, and concepts,
this in such a way that the only Empirical
which come indirectly from our understanding.
possible explanation of the observed knowledge
Some of our knowledge—both of sensibility and
result would be the truth or falsity understanding—comes from empirical evidence, A priori
of the hypothesis. while some is known a priori. knowledge
Kant identifies the nature and
importance of the scientific method. the concept “book”
He believes that this method had
put physics and other subjects on
the “secure road of a science.” intuition of a
However, his investigations do not particular book
stop there. His next question is:
“Why is our experience of the world
such that the scientific method
works?” In other words, why is our
experience of the world always
mathematical in nature, and how
is it always possible for human
reason to put questions to nature?
Empiricism
The empiricists believed that
knowledge comes from our
experience of objects in the
world, rather than our reason.
Immanuel Kant
Transcendental Idealism Immanuel Kant was born into a
Kant’s theory of transcendental family of financially struggling
idealism stated that both reason artisans in 1724, and he lived
and experience were necessary and worked his whole life in
to understand the world. the cosmopolitan Baltic port
city of Konigsberg, then part
of Prussia. Though he never
left his native province, he
became an internationally
(using our skin, nerves, eyes, ears, After Kant, German philosophy in famous philosopher within
and so on). This provides us with particular progressed rapidly. The his own lifetime.
one way of understanding the idealists Johann Fichte, Friedrich Kant studied philosophy,
distinction between bodies and Schelling, and Georg Hegel all took physics, and mathematics at
the external world: the body as Kant’s thought in new directions the University of Konigsberg,
the medium of my sensations is and, in their turn, influenced the and taught at the same
different from other external and whole of 19th-century thought, institution for the next 27
material things. from romanticism to Marxism. years. In 1792 his unorthodox
views led King Friedrich
Kant's sophisticated critique of
Wilhelm II to ban him from
Lasting influence metaphysical thought was also
teaching, to which he returned
Kant’s book Critique of Pure Reason important in positivism, which after the king’s death five
is arguably the most significant held that every justifiable assertion years later. Kant published
single work in the history of is capable of being scientifically throughout his career, but is
modern philosophy. Indeed, the or logically verified. best known for the series of
whole subject of philosophy is often The fact that Kant locates the ground-breaking works he
divided by many modern thinkers a priori even within our intuitions produced in his 50s and 60s.
into everything that happened of the world was important for Though a bright and sociable
before Kant, and everything that 20th-century phenomenologists man, he never married, and
has happened since. such as Edmund Husserl and died at the age of 80.
Before Kant, empiricists such as Martin Heidegger, who sought to
John Locke emphasized what Kant examine objects of experience Key works
termed sensibility, but rationalists independently of any assumptions
such as Descartes tended to we may have about them. Kant’s 1781 Critique of Pure Reason
1785 Foundations of the
emphasize understanding. Kant work also remains an important
Metaphysics of Morals
argues that our experience of the reference point for contemporary 1788 Critique of Practical
world always involves both, so it is philosophers today, especially Reason
frequently said that Kant combined in the branches of metaphysics 1790 Critique of Judgement
rationalism and empiricism. and epistemology. ■
172
SOCIETY
IS INDEED
A CONTRACT
EDMUND BURKE (1729–1797)
M
any a disaffected person the idea that society is a mutual
IN CONTEXT cries “It’s not my fault... agreement between its members—
blame society!” But the like a commercial company—was
BRANCH
meaning of the word “society” is readily understood. However, this
Political philosophy
not entirely clear, and it has changed point of view also implies that it
APPROACH over time. During the 18th century, is only the material things in life
Conservatism when the Irish philosopher and that matter. Burke attempts to
statesman Edmund Burke was redress the balance by reminding
BEFORE writing, Europe was becoming us that human beings also enrich
c.350 BCE Aristotle argues that increasingly commercialized, and their lives through science, art,
society is like an organism,
and that man is by nature a
political animal. Human beings have
5th century St. Augustine of material, scientific,
Hippo argues that government artistic, and moral needs.
is a form of punishment for
“original sin.”
17th century Thomas Hobbes
They cannot meet all these
and John Locke develop the needs through their own efforts.
idea of the “social contract.”
AFTER
19th century French
philosopher Joseph de Maistre They refer to the They agree to help
points out the antidemocratic customs and religion each other since this
legacy of Burke since the of their ancestors is the best way to meet
French Revolution. wherever possible. their mutual needs.
and virtue, and that while society Jacques Rousseau, whose book,
is indeed a contract or partnership, The Social Contract, argued that
it is not simply concerned with the contract between citizens and
economics, or, as he puts it, “gross the state can be broken at any time,
animal existence.” Society embodies depending on the will of the people.
the common good (our agreement Another regular target for Burke
on customs, norms, and values), but was the English philosopher and
for Burke “society” means more scientist Joseph Priestley, who
than just the people living now— applauded the French Revolution
it also includes our ancestors and and pilloried the idea of original sin.
descendants. Moreover, because Despite his scepticism about Edmund Burke
every political constitution is part modern commercial society, Burke
of “the great primeval contract of was a great defender of private The Anglo-Irish politician
eternal society”, God himself is property, and was optimistic about Edmund Burke was born
and educated in Dublin. From
society’s ultimate guarantor. the free market. For this reason, he is
his youth onward, he was
Burke’s view has the doctrine often hailed as the “father of modern convinced that philosophy
of original sin (the idea that we are conservatism”—a philosophy that was useful training for
born sinful) at its core, so he has values both economic freedom and politics, and in the 1750s
little sympathy for anyone seeking tradition. Today, even socialists he wrote notable essays on
to blame society for their conduct. would agree with Burke that private aesthetics and the origins
Likewise, he dismisses the idea, property is a fundamental social of society. He served as an
proposed by John Locke, that we institution, but would disagree English MP from 1766 until
can be perfected by education—as with him about its value. Likewise, 1794, and he was a prominent
though we are born innocent and ecologically-minded philosophers member of the Whig party—
merely need to be given the correct share his belief in the duties of one the more liberal of the two
influences. For Burke, the fallibility generation to the next, but with aristocratic parties of the day.
of individual judgment is why we the new agenda of creating a Burke was sympathetic
need tradition, to give us the moral “sustainable society.” ■ toward the cause of American
independence—which sparked
bearings we need—an argument
a revolution that was entirely
that echoes David Hume, who
justified, in his view—and
claimed that “custom is the great later became involved in the
guide to human life.” impeachment trial of Warren
Hastings, the Governor-
Tradition and change General of India. He remained
Because society is an organic a scathing critic of colonial
structure with roots stretching malpractice for the rest of his
deep into the past, Burke believed life, and earned a reputation
its political organization should for being the conscience of
develop naturally over time. He the British Empire.
opposed the idea of sweeping or
abrupt political changes that cut Key works
through this natural process. For
this reason he opposed the French 1756 A Vindication of Natural
Society
Revolution of 1789, foreseeing its
Burke condemned the French 1770 Thoughts on the Present
dangers long before the execution Revolution for its wholesale rejection Discontents
of the king and the year-long Reign of the past. He believed that change 1790 Reflections on the
of Terror. It also prompted him on should occur gradually—an idea that Revolution in France
several occasions to criticize Jean- became central to modern conservatism.
174
THE GREATEST
HAPPINESS FOR THE
GREATEST NUMBER
JEREMY BENTHAM (1748–1832)
J
eremy Bentham, a legal ideas, you avoid the confusions and
IN CONTEXT reformer and philosopher, misinterpretations of more complex
was convinced that all political systems that can often
BRANCH
human activity was driven by lead to injustices and grievances.
Ethics
only two motivating forces—the
APPROACH avoidance of pain and the pursuit Calculating pleasure
Utilitarianism of pleasure. In The Principles of More controversially, Bentham
Morals and Legislation (1789), he proposes a “felicific calculus” that
BEFORE argues that all social and political can express mathematically the
Late 4th century BCE decisions should be made with degree of happiness experienced
Epicurus states that the main the aim of achieving the greatest by each individual. Using this
goal of life should be the happiness for the greatest number precise method, he states, provides
pursuit of happiness. of people. Bentham believes that an objective platform for resolving
Early 17th century Thomas the moral worth of such decisions ethical disputes, with decisions
relates directly to their utility, or being made in favor of the view
Hobbes argues that a strong
efficiency, in generating happiness that is calculated to produce the
legal system, with severe
or pleasure. In a society driven by highest measure of pleasure.
penalties for criminals, leads
this “utilitarian” approach, he Bentham also insists that all
to a stable and happier society. claims that conflicts of interest sources of pleasure are of equal
Mid-18th century David between individuals can be settled value, so that the happiness derived
Hume claims that emotion by legislators, guided solely by the from a good meal or close friendship
governs our moral judgement. principle of creating the broadest is equal to that derived from an
possible spread of contentment. If activity that may require effort or
AFTER everyone can be made happy, so education, such as engaging in
Mid-19th century John much the better, but if a choice is philosophical debate or reading
Stuart Mill advocates education necessary, it is always preferable poetry. This means that Bentham
for all, arguing that it would to favor the many over the few. assumes a fundamental human
improve general happiness. One of the main benefits of his equality, with complete happiness
Late 19th century Henry proposed system, Bentham states, being accessible to all, regardless
is its simplicity. By adopting his of social class or ability. ■
Sidgwick says that how moral
an action is equates directly to
See also: Epicurus 64–65 ■ Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■
the degree of pleasure it brings. John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ Henry Sidgwick 336
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 175
MIND HAS
NO GENDER
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759–1797)
F
or most of recorded history, the Rights of Woman, published
IN CONTEXT women have been seen as in 1792, was partly a response to
subordinate to men. But Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile
BRANCH
during the 18th century, the justice (1762), which recommends that girls
Political philosophy
of this arrangement began to be be educated differently to boys, and
APPROACH openly challenged. Among the that they learn deference to them.
Feminism most prominent voices of dissent Wollstonecraft’s demand that
was that of the English radical women be treated as equal citizens
BEFORE Mary Wollstonecraft. to men—with equal legal, social,
4th century BCE Plato advises Many previous thinkers had and political rights—was still
that girls should have a similar cited the physical differences largely treated with derision in the
education to boys. between the sexes to justify the late 18th century. But it did sow the
4th century CE Hypatia, a social inequality between women seeds of the suffragette and feminist
noted female mathematician and men. However, in the light of movements that were to flourish in
new ideas that had been formulated the 19th and 20th centuries. ■
and philosopher, teaches in
during the 17th century, such as
Alexandria, Egypt.
John Locke’s view that nearly all
1790 In Letters on Education, knowledge was acquired through
British historian Catherine experience and education, the
Macaulay claims the apparent validity of such reasoning was
weakness of women is caused being called into question.
by their miseducation. Let woman share
Equal education the rights and she will
AFTER Wollstonecraft argues that if men emulate the virtues of man.
1869 John Stuart Mill’s The and women are given the same Mary Wollstonecraft
Subjection of Women argues education they will acquire the
for equality of the sexes. same good character and rational
Late 20th century A surge of approach to life, because they have
feminist activism begins to fundamentally similar brains and
minds. Her book, A Vindication of
overturn most of the social and
political inequalities between
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Hypatia of Alexandria 331 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■
the sexes in Western society. Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Luce Irigaray 320 ■ Hélène Cixous 322
176
J
ohann Gottlieb Fichte was outside of causal influences, and
IN CONTEXT an 18th-century German is able to think and choose freely,
philosopher and student of independently, and spontaneously.
BRANCH
Immanuel Kant. He examined how Fichte understands idealism and
Epistemology
it is possible for us to exist as dogmatism to be entirely different
APPROACH ethical beings with free will, while starting points. They can never be
Idealism living in a world that appears to be “mixed” into one philosophical
causally determined; that is to say, system, he says; there is no way of
BEFORE in a world where every event follows proving philosophically which is
1641 René Descartes discovers on necessarily from previous events correct, and neither can be used to
that it is impossible to doubt and conditions, according to refute the other. For this reason one
that “I exist.” The self is unvarying laws of nature. can only “choose” which philosophy
therefore the one and only The idea that there is a world one believes in, not for objective,
thing of which we can be sure. like this “out there”, beyond our rational reasons, but depending
selves and independent of us, is upon “what sort of person one is.” ■
18th century Immanuel
known as dogmatism. This is an
Kant develops a philosophy of
idea that gained ground in the
idealism and the transcendental
Enlightenment period, but Fichte
ego, the “I” that synthesizes thinks that it leaves no room for
information. This forms the moral values or choice. How can
basis of Fichte’s idealism and people be considered to have free
notion of the self. will, he asks, if everything is Think the I,
AFTER determined by something else and observe what is
20th century Fichte’s that exists outside of ourselves? involved in doing this.
nationalist ideas become Fichte argues instead for a Johann Gottlieb Fichte
version of idealism similar to Kant’s,
associated with Martin
in which our own minds create all
Heidegger and the Nazi
that we think of as reality. In this
regime in Germany.
idealist world, the self is an active
1950S Isaiah Berlin holds entity or essence that exists
Fichte’s idea of true freedom
of the self as responsible for See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■
modern authoritarianism. Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Isaiah Berlin 280–81
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 177
ABOUT NO SUBJECT
IS THERE LESS
PHILOSOPHIZING THAN
ABOUT PHILOSOPHY
FRIEDRICH SCHLEGEL (1772-1829)
T
he German historian and theories about art and life. These
IN CONTEXT poet, Friedrich Schlegel, value individual human emotion
is generally credited with above rational thought, in contrast
BRANCH
introducing the use of aphorisms to most Enlightenment thinking.
Metaphilosophy
(short, ambiguous sayings) into While his charge against earlier
APPROACH later modern philosophy. In 1798 philosophy was not necessarily
Reflexivity he observed that there was little correct his contemporary, Georg
philosophizing about philosophy Hegel, took up the cause for
BEFORE (metaphilosophy), implying that we reflexivity—the modern name for
C.450 BCE Protagoras says that should question both how Western applying philosophical methods to
there are no first principles philosophy functions and its the subject of philosophy itself. ■
or absolute truths; “man is assumption that a linear type of
the measure of all things.” argument is the best approach.
1641 René Descartes claims Schlegel disagrees with the
approaches of Aristotle and René
to have found a first principle
Descartes, saying they are wrong
on which to build beliefs about
to assume that there are solid “first
existence when he states that principles” that can form a starting
“I think, therefore I am.” point. He also thinks that it is not
AFTER possible to reach any final answers,
1830 Georg Hegel says that because every conclusion of an
“the whole of philosophy argument can be endlessly perfected.
resembles a circle of circles.” Describing his own approach,
Schlegel says philosophy must
1920S Martin Heidegger always “start in the middle… it is a
argues that philosophy is a whole, and the path to recognizing
matter of our relationship with Philosophy is the art of thinking, and
it is no straight line but a circle.” Schlegel points out that its methods
our own existence. Schlegel’s holistic view—seeing affect the kind of answers it can find.
1967 Jacques Derrida claims philosophy as a whole—fits within Western and Eastern philosophies use
the broader context of his Romantic very different approaches.
that philosophical analysis can
only be made at the level of
See also: Protagoras 42–43 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ René Descartes 116–23 ■
language and texts. Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Jacques Derrida 308–13
REALITY
IS A HISTORICAL
PROCESS
GEORG HEGEL (1770–1831)
180 GEORG HEGEL
H
egel was the single most
IN CONTEXT famous philosopher in
Germany during the first
BRANCH
half of the 19th century. His central
Metaphysics
idea was that all phenomena,
APPROACH from consciousness to political
Idealism institutions, are aspects of a single
Spirit (by which he means “mind” or
BEFORE “idea”) that over the course of time
6th century BCE Heraclitus is reintegrating these aspects into
claims that all things pass into itself. This process of reintegration
their opposites, an important is what Hegel calls the “dialectic”,
factor in Hegel’s dialectic. and it is one that we (who are all
1781 Immanuel Kant publishes aspects of Spirit) understand as
“history.” Hegel is therefore a
his Critique of Pure Reason,
monist, for he believes that all
which shows the limits of
things are aspects of a single thing,
human knowledge. and an idealist, for he believes that Certain changes, such those brought
1790s The works of Johann reality is ultimately something about by the American Revolution,
that is not material (in this case are explained by Hegel as the progress
Fichte and Friedrich Schelling of Spirit from a lesser stage of its
lay the foundations for the Spirit). Hegel’s idea radically
development to a higher stage.
school of German Idealism. altered the philosophical landscape,
and to fully grasp its implications
AFTER we need to take a look at the is something that we learn and
1846 Karl Marx writes The background to his thought. change as we use it, and the same
German Ideology, which uses is true of science—scientists start
Hegel’s dialectical method. History and consciousness with a body of theory, and then go
Few philosophers would deny that on either to confirm or to disconfirm
1943 Jean-Paul Sartre’s
human beings are, to a great it. The same is also true of social
existentialist work Being and extent, historical—that we inherit institutions, such as the family, the
Nothingness relies upon things from the past, change them, state, banks, churches, and so on—
Hegel’s notion of the dialectic. and then pass them on to future most of which are modified forms
generations. Language, for example, of earlier practices or institutions.
Georg Hegel Georg Hegel was born in 1770 in became a newspaper editor and
Stuttgart, Germany, and studied then a school headmaster before
theology at Tübingen where he being appointed to the chair of
met and became friends with the philosophy first in Heidelberg
poet Friedrich Hölderlin and the and then at the prestigious
philosopher Friedrich Schelling. University of Berlin. At the age
He spent several years working of 41 he married Marie von
as a tutor before an inheritance Tucher, with whom he had
allowed him to join Schelling at three children. Hegel died in
the University of Jena. Hegel 1831 during a cholera epidemic.
was forced to leave Jena when
Napoleon’s troops occupied the Key works
town, and just managed to rescue
his major work, Phenomenology 1807 Phenomenology of Spirit
of Spirit, which catapulted him to 1812–16 Science of Logic
a dominant position in German 1817 Encyclopedia of the
philosophy. In need of funds, he Philosophical Sciences
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 181
See also: Heraclitus 40 ■ Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176 ■ Friedrich Schelling 335 ■ Arthur Schopenhauer 186–88 ■
Kant’s categories
For Kant, the basic ways in which These structures themselves Thoughts and objects are
thought works, and the basic are aspects of spirit. both aspects of spirit.
structures of consciousness, are a
priori—that is, they exist prior to
(and so are not are not derived from)
experience. This means that they All reality is spirit, and
are independent not only of what we all spirit undergoes
are thinking about, or are conscious historical development.
of, but are independent of any
historical influence or development.
Kant calls these structures
of thought “categories”, and these
include the concepts “cause”, All reality is a
“substance”, “existence”, and historical process.
“reality.” For example, experience
182 GEORG HEGEL
Hegel’s dialectic shows how opposites find resolution. they are “dialectical”—meaning
A state of tyranny, for example, generates a need for that they are always subject to
freedom—but once freedom has been achieved there change. Where Kant believes in
can only be anarchy until an element of tyranny is
an unchanging framework of
combined with freedom, creating the synthesis “law.”
experience, Hegel believes that
THESIS ANTITHESIS the framework of experience itself
is subject to change—as much,
indeed, as the world that we
experience. Consciousness,
therefore, and not merely what
we are conscious of, is part of an
evolving process. This process is
“dialectical”—a concept that has a
very specific meaning in Hegel’s
TYRANNY FREEDOM philosophical thought.
Hegel’s dialectic
The notion of dialectic is central
to what Hegel calls his immanent
(internal) account of the development
of things. He declares that his
account will guarantee four things.
First, that no assumptions are made.
Second, that only the broadest
LAW notions possible are employed, the
better to avoid asserting anything
SYNTHESIS
without justification. Third, that it
shows how a general notion gives
is dependent upon the nature of two respects to be sufficiently rise to other, more specific, notions.
the human mind, and does not thorough in his analysis. First of Fourth, that this process happens
represent the world as it really is— all, Hegel regards Kant’s notion of entirely from “within” the notion
in other words, the world as it is “in the “world in itself” as an empty itself. This fourth requirement
itself.” This “world as it is in itself” abstraction that means nothing. reveals the core of Hegel’s logic—
is what Kant calls the noumenal For Hegel, what exists is whatever namely that every notion, or
world, and he claims that it is comes to be manifested in “thesis”, contains within itself a
unknowable. All that we can consciousness—for example, as contradiction, or “antithesis”, which
know, according to Kant, is the something sensed or as something is only resolved by the emergence
world as it appears to us through thought. Kant’s second failure, Hegel of a newer, richer notion, called a
the framework of the categories— argues, is that he makes too many “synthesis”, from the original notion
and this is what Kant calls the assumptions about the nature and itself. One consequence of this
“phenomenal” world, or the world origin of the categories. immanent process is that when we
of our everyday experience. Hegel’s task is to understand become aware of the synthesis,
these categories without making we realize that what we saw as the
Hegel’s critique of Kant any assumptions whatsoever, earlier contradiction in the thesis
Hegel believes that Kant made and the worst assumption that was only an apparent contradiction,
great strides forward in eliminating Hegel sees in Kant concerns the one that was caused by some
naivety in philosophy, but that his relationships of the categories to limitation in our understanding
accounts of the “world in itself” each other. Kant assumes that the of the original notion.
and the categories still betray categories are original and distinct, An example of this logical
uncritical assumptions. Hegel and that they are totally separate progression appears at the
argues that Kant fails in at least from each other—but for Hegel beginning of Hegel’s Science of
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 183
between two aspects of a single, beginning of the dialectical process,
higher concept in which they find which goes on to repeat itself at
resolution. In the case of “being” a higher level. That is, any new
and “not-being”, the concept that synthesis turns out, on further
resolves them is “becoming.” When analysis, to involve its own
Each of the parts of we say that something “becomes”, contradiction, and this in turn
philosophy is a philosophical we mean that it moves from a state is overcome by a still richer or
whole, a circle rounded and of not-being to a state of being—so “higher” notion. All ideas, according
complete in itself. it turns out that the concept of to Hegel, are interconnected in this
Georg Hegel “being” that we started off with way, and the process of revealing
was not really a single concept at those connections is what Hegel
all, but merely one aspect of the calls his “dialectical method.”
three-part notion of “becoming.” In saying that the structures of
The vital point here is that the thought are dialectical, therefore,
concept of “becoming” is not Hegel means that they are not
introduced from “outside”, as it distinct and irreducible, as Kant
Logic, where he introduces the were, to resolve the contradiction maintained, but that they emerge
most general and all-inclusive between “being” and “not-being.” from the broadest, emptiest notions
notion of “pure being”—meaning On the contrary, Hegel’s analysis by means of this movement of self-
anything that in any sense could be shows that “becoming” was always contradiction and resolution.
said to be. He then shows that this the meaning of “being” and “not-
concept contains a contradiction— being”, and that all we had to do Dialectic and the world
namely, that it requires the opposite was analyze these concepts to see The discussion of Hegel’s dialectic
concept of “nothingness” or “not- their underlying logic. above uses terms such as “emerge”,
being” for it to be fully understood. This resolution of a thesis (being) “development”, and “movement.”
Hegel then shows that this with its antithesis (not-being) in a On the one hand, these terms
contradiction is simply a conflict synthesis (becoming) is just the reflect something important ❯❯
T1 A1
S1 / T2 A2
KEY S2 / T3 A3
T = THESIS
A = ANTITHESIS
S = SYNTHESIS S3 / T4
184 GEORG HEGEL
about this method of philosophy— development of these forms of
that it starts without assumptions consciousness. He starts with the
and from the least controversial types of consciousness that an
point, and allows ever richer and individual human being might
truer concepts to reveal themselves possess, and works up to collective
through the process of dialectical forms of consciousness. He does so
Each stage of
unfolding. On the other hand, in such a way as to show that these
however, Hegel clearly argues that types of consciousness are to be
world-history is a necessary
these developments are not simply found externalized in particular
moment in the Idea of
interesting facts of logic, but are real historical periods or events—most the World Spirit.
developments that can be seen at famously, for example, in the Georg Hegel
work in history. For example, a man American and French revolutions.
from ancient Greece and a man Indeed, Hegel even argues that
living in the modern world will at certain times in history, Spirit’s
obviously think about different next revolutionary change may
things, but Hegel claims that their manifest itself as an individual
very ways of thinking are different, (such as Napoleon Bonaparte) who,
and represent different kinds of as an individual consciousness, is of oppression —of overcoming
consciousness—or different stages completely unaware of his or her tyrannies that may themselves be
in the historical development of role in the history of Spirit. And the the result of the overcoming of
thought and consciousness. progress that these individuals previous tyrannies.
Hegel’s first major work, make is always characterized by This extraordinary idea—that
Phenomenology of Spirit, gives the freeing of aspects of Spirit (in the nature of consciousness has
an account of the dialectical human form) from recurring states changed through time, and changed
in accordance with a pattern that is
visible in history—means that
there is nothing about human
beings that is not historical in
character. Moreover, this historical
development of consciousness
cannot simply have happened at
random. Since it is a dialectical
process, it must in some sense
contain both a particular sense of
direction and an end point. Hegel
calls this end point “Absolute
Spirit”—and by this he means a
future stage of consciousness
which no longer even belongs to
individuals, but which instead
belongs to reality as a whole.
At this point in its development,
knowledge is complete—as it must
be, according to Hegel, since Spirit
encompasses, through dialectical
THE LIMITS OF
APPROACH
Idealism
OF VISION FOR
Understanding, explaining
how all our knowledge comes
from experience.
THE LIMITS OF
1781 Immanuel Kant’s Critique
of Pure Reason introduces the
concept of a “thing in itself”,
THE WORLD
which Schopenhauer used as
a starting point for his ideas.
AFTER
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788–1860) Late 19th century Friedrich
Nietzsche puts forward the
notion of a “Will to power” to
explain human motivations.
Early 20th century Austrian
psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
explores what lies behind our
basic human urges.
A
rthur Schopenhauer was not
part of the mainstream of
early 19th-century German
philosophy. He acknowledged
Immanuel Kant, whom he idolized,
as a major influence, but dismissed
the idealists of his own generation,
who held that reality ultimately
consists of something nonmaterial.
Most of all he detested the idealist
Georg Hegel for his dry writing
style and optimistic philosophy.
Using Kant’s metaphysics as
his starting point, Schopenhauer
developed his own view of the
world, which he expressed in clear,
literary language. He took Kant’s
view that the world is divided into
what we perceive through our
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 187
See also: Empedocles 330 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■
THEOLOGY IS
ANTHROPOLOGY
LUDWIG ANDREAS FEUERBACH (1804–1872)
T
he 19th-century German than anthropology (the study of
IN CONTEXT philosopher Ludwig humanity). Not only have we
Feuerbach is best known deceived ourselves into thinking
BRANCH
for his book The Essence of that a divine being exists, we have
Philosophy of religion
Christianity (1841), which inspired also forgotten or forsaken what we
APPROACH revolutionary thinkers such as Karl are ourselves. We have lost sight of
Atheism Marx and Friedrich Engels. The the fact that these virtues actually
book incorporates much of the exist in humans, not gods. For this
BEFORE philosophical thinking of Georg reason we should focus less on
C.600 BCE Thales is the first Hegel, but where Hegel saw an heavenly righteousness and more
Western philosopher to deny Absolute Spirit as the guiding force on human justice—it is people
that the universe owes its in nature, Feuerbach sees no reason in this life, on this Earth, that
existence to a god. to look beyond our experience to deserve our attention. ■
C.500 BCE The Indian school explain existence. For Feuerbach,
humans are not an externalized
of atheistic philosophy known
form of an Absolute Spirit, but the
as Carvaka is established.
opposite: we have created the idea
C.400 BCE The ancient Greek of a great spirit, a god, from our
philosopher Diagoras of Melos own longings and desires.
puts forward arguments in
defense of atheism. Imagining God
Feuerbach suggests that in our
AFTER yearning for all that is best in
Mid-19th century Karl humankind—love, compassion,
Marx uses Feuerbach’s kindness, and so on—we have
reasoning in his philosophy imagined a being that incorporates
The Israelites of the Bible, in their
of political revolution. all of these qualities in the highest need for certainty and reassurance,
possible degree, and then called created a false god—the golden calf—
Late 19th century The
it “God.” Theology (the study of to worship. Feuerbach argues that all
psychoanalyst Sigmund God) is therefore nothing more gods are created in the same way.
Freud argues that religion is
a projection of human wishes.
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203
190
IN CONTEXT
THE INDIVIDUAL
BEFORE
1651 In Leviathan, Thomas
Hobbes says that people
IS SOVEREIGN
are “brutish” and must be
controlled by a social contract.
1689 John Locke’s book, Two
Treatises of Government, looks
JOHN STUART MILL (1806–1873) at social contract theory in the
context of empiricism.
1789 Jeremy Bentham
advocates the “greatest
happiness principle.”
AFTER
1930s Economist J.M. Keynes,
influenced by Mill, develops
liberal economic theories.
1971 John Rawls publishes
A Theory of Justice, based on
the idea that laws should be
those everyone would accept.
J
ohn Stuart Mill was born into
an intellectually privileged
family, and he was aware
from an early age of the British
traditions of philosophy that had
emerged during the Enlightenment
of the 18th century. John Locke and
David Hume had established a
philosophy whose new empiricism
stood in stark contrast to the
rationalism of continental European
philosophers. But during the late
18th century, Romantic ideas from
Europe began to influence British
moral and political philosophy. The
most obvious product of this
influence was utilitarianism, which
was a very British interpretation of
the political philosophy that had
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 191
See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■ Jeremy Bentham 174 ■
Quantifying happiness
Mill then turns his attention to how
best to measure happiness. Bentham
had considered the duration and
intensity of pleasures in his felicific
calculus, but Mill thinks it is also
important to consider the quality
of pleasure. By this, he is referring
to the difference between a simple
satisfaction of desires and sensual
pleasures, and happiness gained
ANXIETY IS THE
DIZZINESS OF
FREEDOM
SØREN KIERKEGAARD (1813–1855)
IN CONTEXT
When making decisions,
BRANCH we have absolute
Metaphysics freedom of choice.
We realize that we can
APPROACH choose to do nothing,
Existentialism or anything.
BEFORE
1788 Immanuel Kant stresses Our minds reel at
the importance of freedom the thought of this
in moral philosophy in his absolute freedom.
Critique of Practical Reason.
1807–22 Georg Hegel suggests A feeling of dread
or anxiety accompanies
a historical consciousness, the thought.
or Geist, establishing a
relationship between human
consciousness and the world Anxiety is the
in which it lives. dizziness of freedom.
AFTER
1927 Martin Heidegger
explores the concepts of Angst
and existential guilt in his
S
book Being and Time. øren Kierkegaard’s philosophy development, by arguing for a more
developed in reaction to the subjective approach. He wants to
1938 Jean-Paul Sartre lays German idealist thinking examine what “it means to be a
down the foundations of his that dominated continental Europe human being”, not as part of some
existentialist philosophy. in the mid-19th century, particularly great philosophical system, but as
that of Georg Hegel. Kierkegaard a self-determining individual.
1946 Ludwig Wittgenstein
wanted to refute Hegel’s idea of Kierkegaard believes that our
acknowledges Kierkegaard’s
a complete philosophical system, lives are determined by our actions,
work in Culture and Value.
which defined humankind as which are themselves determined
part of an inevitable historical by our choices, so how we make
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 195
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■
Søren Kierkegaard Søren Kierkegaard was born in engaged, but Kierkegaard broke
Copenhagen in 1813, in what off the engagement the following
became known as the Danish year, saying that his melancholy
Golden Age of culture. His father, made him unsuitable for married
a wealthy tradesman, was both life. Though he never lost his
pious and melancholic, and his faith in God, he continually
son inherited these traits, which criticized the Danish national
were to greatly influence his church for hypocrisy. In 1855 he
philosophy. Kierkegaard studied fell unconscious in the street,
theology at the University of and died just over a month later.
Copenhagen, but attended
lectures in philosophy. When he Key works
came into a sizeable inheritance,
he decided to devote his life to 1843 Fear and Trembling
philosophy. In 1837 he met and fell 1843 Either/Or
in love with Regine Olsen, and 1844 The Concept of Anxiety
three years later they became 1847 Works of Love
THE HISTORY
OF ALL HITHERTO EXISTING
SOCIETY
IS THE HISTORY OF
CLASS STRUGGLES
KARL MARX (1818–1883)
198 KARL MARX
through the ages. Earlier approaches
IN CONTEXT to history had emphasized the role
of individual heroes and leaders, or
BRANCH
stressed the role played by ideas,
Political philosophy
but Marx focused on a long
APPROACH succession of group conflicts,
Communism including those between ancient
masters and slaves, medieval lords
BEFORE and serfs, and modern employers
c.1513 Niccolò Machiavelli and their employees. It was conflicts
discusses class struggles in between these classes, he claimed,
ancient Rome and Renaissance that caused revolutionary change.
Italy in Discourses on Livy.
1789 The French Revolution The Communist Manifesto
Marx wrote the Manifesto with
provides the template for most
the German philosopher Friedrich
19th-century philosophical
Engels, whom he had met when
arguments about revolution. they were both studying academic
1800s Georg Hegel develops philosophy in Germany during the Intellectual debate was widespread in
a theory of historical change late 1830s. Engels offered financial Germany at the time Marx was writing,
through intellectual conflict. support, ideas, and superior writing though he himself believed that it was
the task of philosophy not to discuss
skills, but Marx was acknowledged
AFTER ideas, but to bring about real change.
as the real genius behind their
1880s Friedrich Engels tries combined publications.
to develop Marx’s theories into In their private manuscripts and run his own business. Marx
a fully-fledged philosophy of from the early and mid-1840s, Marx describes how the discovery and
historical materialism. and Engels emphasized that while colonization of America, the opening
1930s Marxism becomes previous philosophers had only of the Indian and Chinese markets,
the official philosophy of the sought to interpret the world, the and the increase in the commodities
whole point of their activities was that could be exchanged had, by
Soviet Union and many other
to change it. During the 1850s and the mid-19th century, led to the
communist countries.
60s Marx refined his ideas in many rapid development of commerce
short documents, including The and industry. Craftsmen no longer
Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet produced enough goods for the
C
an the complex history of about 40 pages. growing needs of new markets, and
of the human species be The Manifesto seeks to explain so the manufacturing system had
reduced to a single formula? the values and political plans of taken their place. As the Manifesto
One of the greatest thinkers of the communism—a new belief system relates, “the markets kept growing,
19th century, Karl Marx, believed put forward by a small and relatively demand ever rising.”
that it could. He opened the first new group of radical German
chapter of his most famous work, socialists. The Manifesto claims Values of the bourgeoisie
The Communist Manifesto, with that society had simplified into Marx claims that the bourgeoisie,
the claim that all historical change two classes in direct conflict: the who controlled all this trade, had left
comes about as the result of an bourgeoisie (the capital-owning no link between people other “than
ongoing conflict between dominant class) and the proletariat (the naked self-interest, than callous
(upper) and subordinate (lower) working class). ‘cash payment.’” People were once
social classes, and that the roots The word “bourgeoisie” is valued for who they were, but the
of this conflict lie in economics. derived from the French word bourgeoisie “has resolved personal
Marx believed that he had burgeis, or burgher: a property- worth into exchange value.” Moral,
gained a uniquely important owning tradesman who had risen religious, and even sentimental
insight into the nature of society above the general populace to own values had been cast aside, as
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 199
See also: Niccolò Machiavelli 102–07 ■ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■ Adam Smith 160–63 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■
Dialectical change
The philosophy behind Marx’s
The proletariat The bourgeois or
reasoning on the process of change
owns little property ruling class owns most
came largely from his predecessor, of a country’s property
or business.
Georg Hegel, who had described and businesses.
reality not as a state of affairs, but
as a process of continual change.
The change was caused, he said,
by the fact that every idea or state
of affairs (known as the “thesis”) ❯❯
When the means of production
changes, such as from agricultural
to industrial, there are
revolutions and wars.
A
lmost a century after Jean- Thoreau’s ideas contrasted sharply
IN CONTEXT Jacques Rousseau claimed with those of his contemporary Karl
that nature was essentially Marx, and with the revolutionary
BRANCH
benign, American philosopher spirit in Europe at the time, which
Political philosophy
Henry Thoreau developed the idea called for violent action. But they
APPROACH further, arguing that “all good were later adopted by numerous
Non-conformism things are wild and free”, and that leaders of resistance movements,
the laws of man suppress rather such as Mahatma Gandhi and
BEFORE than protect civil liberties. He Martin Luther King. ■
c.340 BCE Aristotle claims that saw that political parties were
the city-state is more important necessarily one-sided, and that
than the individual. their policies often ran contrary to
1651 Thomas Hobbes says our moral beliefs. For this reason,
that society without strong he believed it was the individual’s
duty to protest against unjust laws,
government reverts to anarchy.
and argued that passively allowing
1762 In The Social Contract, such laws to be enacted effectively
Jean-Jacques Rousseau gave them justification. “Any fool
proposes government by can make a rule, and any fool will
the will of the people. mind it,” as he said about English
grammar, but the principle runs
AFTER through his political philosophy too.
1907 Mahatma Gandhi cites In his essay Civil Disobedience,
Thoreau as an influence on written in 1849, Thoreau proposes
his campaign of passive a citizen’s right to conscientious
resistance in South Africa. objection through non-cooperation
Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign of civil
and non-violent resistance—which
1964 Martin Luther King is disobedience against British rule in
he put into practice by refusing to India included the Salt March of 1930,
awarded the Nobel Peace
pay taxes that supported the war in undertaken in protest against unjust
Prize for his campaign to
Mexico and perpetuated slavery. laws controlling salt production.
end racial discrimination
through civil disobedience See also: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■ Adam Smith 160–63 ■ Edmund
and noncooperation. Burke 172–73 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Isaiah Berlin 280–81 ■ John Rawls 294–95
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 205
CONSIDER WHAT
EFFECTS THINGS HAVE
CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE (1839–1914)
C
harles Sanders Peirce was This idea, that the meaning of a
IN CONTEXT the scientist, logician, and concept is the sensory effect of its
philosopher of science object, is known as the pragmatic
BRANCH
who pioneered the philosophical maxim, and it became the founding
Epistemology
movement known as pragmatism. principle of pragmatism—the belief
APPROACH Deeply sceptical of metaphysical that the “truth” is the account of
Pragmatism ideas—such as the idea that there reality that works best for us.
is a “real” world beyond the world One of the key things Peirce
BEFORE we experience—he once asked his was trying to accomplish was to
17th century John Locke readers to consider what is wrong show that many debates in science,
challenges rationalism by with the following theory: a philosophy, and theology are
tracing the origin of our diamond is actually soft, and only meaningless. He claimed that they
ideas to sense impressions. becomes hard when it is touched. are often debates about words,
18th century Immanuel Peirce argued that there is “no rather than reality, because they
falsity” in such thinking, for there are debates in which no effect on
Kant argues that speculation
is no way of disproving it. However, the senses can be specified. ■
about what lies beyond our
he claimed that the meaning of a
experience is meaningless. concept (such as “diamond” or
AFTER “hard”) is derived from the object
1890 S William James and or quality that the concept relates
John Dewey take up the to—and the effects it has on our
philosophy of pragmatism. senses. Whether we think of the
diamond as “soft until touched” or Nothing is vital for
1920 S Logical positivists in “always hard” before our experience, science; nothing can be.
Vienna formulate the theory of therefore, is irrelevant. Under both Charles Sanders Peirce
verification—that the meaning theories the diamond feels the
of a statement is the method same, and can be used in exactly
by which it is verified. the same way. However, the first
1980 S Richard Rorty’s version theory is far more difficult to work
with, and so is of less value to us.
of pragmatism argues that the
very notion of truth can be
See also: John Locke 130–33 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ William James 206–09 ■
dispensed with. John Dewey 228–31 ■ Richard Rorty 314–19
206
IN CONTEXT
ACT AS IF
BRANCH
Epistemology
APPROACH
WHAT YOU
Pragmatism
BEFORE
1843 John Stuart Mill’s
A System of Logic studies the
DO MAKES A
ways in which we come to
believe something is true.
1870s Charles Sanders Peirce
describes his new pragmatist
DIFFERENCE
philosophy in How to Make
Our Ideas Clear.
AFTER
1907 Henri Bergson’s Creative
Evolution describes reality as a
O
ver the course of the 19th
century, as the United
States began to find its
feet as an independent nation,
philosophers from New England
such as Henry David Thoreau and
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a
recognizably American slant to
European Romantic ideas. But it
was the following generation of
philosophers, who lived almost a
century after the Declaration of
Independence, that came up with
something truly original.
The first of these, Charles
Sanders Peirce, proposed a theory
of knowledge he called pragmatism,
but his work was hardly noticed at
the time; it fell to his lifelong friend
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 207
See also: John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ Henri Bergson 226–27 ■ John Dewey 228–31 ■
If I am lost in a
…that it leads forest and see a path, ...that it leads to
nowhere. I can believe… food and shelter.
My action has
made my beliefs
come true. So I follow it and
So I do nothing, find a way out
stay lost, starve, of the forest
and die. to safety.
Act as if what
you do makes
a difference.
It does.
William James Born in New York City, William physiology at Harvard University.
James was brought up in a His increasing interest in the
wealthy and intellectual family; subjects of psychology and
his father was a famously eccentric philosophy led him to write
theologian, and his brother Henry acclaimed publications in these
became a well-known author. fields, and he was awarded
During his childhood he lived for a professorship in philosophy
several years in Europe, where he at Harvard in 1880. He taught
pursued a love of painting, but at there until his retirement in 1907.
the age of 19 he abandoned this
to study science. His studies at Key works
Harvard Medical School were
interrupted by the ill health and 1890 The Principles of Psychology
depression that were to prevent 1896 The Will to Believe
him from ever practicing medicine, 1902 The Varieties of Religious
but he eventually graduated and Experience
in 1872 took a teaching post in 1907 Pragmatism
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 209
known facts, or there is not enough interpretation of what James is
evidence, and we are forced to a saying could give the impression
decision. We have to rely on our that any belief, no matter how
beliefs to guide our actions, and outlandish, could become true by
James says that we have “the right acting upon it—which of course
to believe” in these cases. is not what he meant. There are
The pragmatic method
James explains this by taking certain conditions that an idea
the example of a man lost and must fulfil before it can be
means looking away from
starving in a forest. When he sees a considered a justifiable belief. The
principles and looking
path, it is important for him to believe available evidence must weigh in towards consequences.
that the path will lead him out of the its favor, and the idea must be William James
forest and to habitation, because if sufficient to withstand criticism.
he does not believe it, he will not In the process of acting upon the
take the path, and will remain lost belief, it must continually justify
and starving. But if he does, he will itself by its usefulness in increasing
save himself. By acting on his idea our understanding or predicting
that the path will lead him to safety, results. And even then, it is only in
it becomes true. In this way our retrospect that we can safely say state that “for pragmatism, [reality]
actions and decisions make our that the belief has become true is still in the making”, as truth is
belief in an idea become true. This through our acting upon it. constantly being made to happen.
is why James asserts “act as if what This “stream” of reality, he believes,
you do makes a difference”—to Reality as a process is not susceptible to empirical
which he adds the typically concise James was a psychologist as well analysis either, both because it is
and good-humored rider, “it does.” as a philosopher, and he sees the in continual flux and because the
We must, however, approach implications of his ideas in terms act of observing it affects the truth
this idea with caution: a shallow of human psychology as much as of the analysis. In James’s radical
in the theory of knowledge. He empiricism, from which both mind
recognized the psychological and matter are formed, the ultimate
necessity for humans to hold certain stuff of reality is pure experience.
beliefs, particularly religious ones.
James thinks that while it is not Continuing influence
justifiable as a fact, belief in a god is Pragmatism, proposed by Peirce and
useful to its believer if it allows him expounded by James, established
or her to lead a more fulfilled life, or America as a significant center
to overcome the fear of death. These for philosophical thought in the
things—a more fulfilled life and a 20th century. James’s pragmatic
fearless confrontation of death— interpretation of truth influenced
become true; they happen as the the philosophy of John Dewey, and
result of a belief, and the decisions spawned a “neopragmatist” school
and actions based upon it. of thought in America that includes
Along with his pragmatic notion philosophers such as Richard Rorty.
of truth, James proposes a type of In Europe, Bertrand Russell and
metaphysics that he calls “radical Ludwig Wittgenstein were indebted
empiricism.” This approach takes to James’s metaphysics. His
reality to be a dynamic, active work in psychology was equally
process, in the same way that truth influential, and often intimately
is a process. Like the traditional connected with his philosophy,
Religious belief can bring about
extraordinary changes in people’s lives, empiricists before him, James notably his concept of the “stream
such as the healing of the sick at places rejected the rationalist notion that of consciousness”, which in turn
of pilgrimage. This occurs regardless the changing world is in some way influenced writers such as Virginia
of whether or not a god actually exists. unreal, but he also went further to Woolf and James Joyce. ■
THE MOD
WORLD
1900–1950
ERN
212 INTRODUCTION
Albert Einstein Henry Ford produces World War I leads to the Ludwig
introduces his theory the Model T Ford— collapse of the Russian, Wittgenstein
of relativity. the world’s first German, Ottoman, and publishes his
mass-produced car. Austro-Hungarian empires. Tractatus
Logico-
Philosophicus.
T
oward the end of the traditions. In doing so, he set the analysis—which became known
19th century, philosophy agenda for much of the philosophy as analytic philosophy—was the
once again reached a of the 20th century. work of Gottlob Frege, who linked
turning point. Science, and the philosophical process of logic
particularly Charles Darwin’s A new analytical tradition with mathematics. His ideas
theory of evolution (1859), had To some extent, the traditional were enthusiastically received
thrown into doubt the idea of the concerns of philosophy—such as by a British philosopher and
universe as God’s creation, with asking what exists—were answered mathematician, Bertrand Russell.
humankind as the peak of his by science in the early 20th century. Russell applied the principles
creative genius. Moral and political Albert Einstein’s theories offered of logic that Frege had outlined to
philosophy had become entirely a more detailed explanation of the a thorough analysis of mathematics
human-centered, with Karl Marx nature of the universe, and Sigmund in the Principia Mathematica,
declaring religion “the opiate of the Freud’s psychoanalytic theories which he wrote with Alfred North
people.” Following in the footsteps gave people a radically new insight Whitehead, and then—in a move
of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich into the workings of the mind. that revolutionized philosophical
Nietzsche believed that Western As a result, philosophers turned thinking—he applied the same
philosophy, with its roots in Greek their attention to questions of principles to language. The process
and Judaeo-Christian traditions, moral and political philosophy or, of linguistic analysis was to
was ill-equipped to explain this since philosophy had become the become the major theme in
modern world view. He proposed province of professional academics, 20th century British philosophy.
a radical new approach to finding to the more abstract business of One of Russell’s pupils, Ludwig
meaning in life, one that involved logic and linguistic analysis. At the Wittgenstein, developed Russell’s
casting aside old values and vanguard of this movement of logical work on logic and language, but
THE MODERN WORLD 213
Psychoanalyst The Wall Street In World War II, the The Communists
Sigmund Freud Crash leads to global deadliest war in under Mao
publishes The Ego economic depression. history, more than Zedong proclaim
and the Id. 60 million people die. the People’s
Republic
of China.
also made key contributions in in the mid-20th century due to his Liberal democracies in Europe
areas as diverse as perception, connections with the Nazi party during the 1930s were threatened
ethics, and aesthetics, becoming during World War II, but his works by fascism, forcing many thinkers
one of the greatest thinkers of the were key to the development of to flee from the continent to Britain
20th century. Another, slightly existentialism, and were important and the US. Philosophers turned
younger Viennese philosopher, Karl to late 20th-century culture. their attention to left-wing or liberal
Popper, took his cue from Einstein, politics in reaction to the oppression
and strengthened the link between Wars and revolutions they experienced under totalitarian
scientific thinking and philosophy. Philosophy was as affected by the regimes. World War II and the Cold
Meanwhile, in Germany, massive political upheavals of the War that followed it colored the
philosophers rose to the challenge 20th century as any other cultural moral philosophy of the second
posed by Nietzsche’s ideas with a activity, but it also contributed to half of the 20th century.
philosophy based on the experience the ideologies that shaped the In France, existentialism was
of the individual in a godless modern world. The revolution that made fashionable by Jean-Paul
universe: existentialism. Edmund formed the Soviet Union in the Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and
Husserl’s phenomenology (the study 1920s had its roots in Marxism, a Albert Camus, who were all
of experience) laid the groundwork, 19th-century political philosophy. novelists. This trend was in keeping
and this was carried forward by This theory became more prevalent with the French view of philosophy
Martin Heidegger, who was also globally than any single religion, as part of an essentially literary
greatly influenced by the Danish dominating the policy of China’s culture. It was also fundamental
philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Communist Party until around to the direction that continental
Heidegger’s work, produced in the 1982, and replacing traditional philosophy was to take in the last
1920s and 30s, was largely rejected philosophies across Asia. decades of the 20th century. ■
MAN
IS SOMETHING TO BE
SURPASSED
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844–1900)
216 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH Christianity says
Ethics that everything in this
world is less important
APPROACH than that of the “next”
Existentialism after death.
BEFORE
380 BCE Plato explores the
distinction between reality
and appearance in his
dialogue, The Republic. It says we should
turn away from what We must
1st century CE The Sermon surpass this
seems important in
on the Mount, in Matthew’s limiting idea.
this life, and try
gospel in the Bible, advocates to transcend it.
turning away from this world
to the greater reality of the
world to come.
1781 Immanuel Kant’s Critique
of Pure Reason argues that we And besides,
can never know how the world God is dead!
is “in itself.”
AFTER
1930s Nietzsche’s work is
used to help construct the
But in doing this Christianity’s
mythology of Nazism. idea of “man”
we turn away from
1966 Michel Foucault’s The life itself. undermines us.
Order of Things discusses
the overcoming of “man.”
N
ietzsche’s idea that man Elsewhere Nietzsche writes about expect of philosophical works, the
is something to be philosophizing “with a hammer”, author still succeeds in setting out
surpassed appears in and here he certainly attempts to a remarkably consistent and hugely
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, perhaps shatter many of the most cherished challenging vision.
his most famous book. It was views of the Western philosophical
written in three parts in 1883–84, tradition, especially in relation to Zarathustra descends
with a fourth part added in 1885. these three things. He does so in a The name of Nietzsche’s prophet,
The German philosopher used it style that is astonishingly hot-headed Zarathustra, is an alternative name
to launch a sustained attack on and fevered, so that at times the for the ancient Persian prophet
the history of Western thought. book seems closer to prophecy than Zoroaster. The book begins by
He targets three linked ideas in philosophy. It was written quickly, telling us that at the age of 30,
particular: first, the idea we with Part I taking him only a few Zarathustra goes to live in the
have of “man” or human nature; days to set down on paper. Even so, mountains. For ten years he
second, the idea we have of God; while Nietzsche’s book does not delights in the solitude, but one
and third, the ideas we have about have the calm, analytical tone that dawn, he wakes to find that he is
morality, or ethics. people have perhaps come to weary of the wisdom he has
THE MODERN WORLD 217
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Albert Camus 284–85 ■
Friedrich Nietzsche Nietzsche was born in Prussia in was forced to resign his
1844 to a religious family; his professorship in 1879, and for
father, uncle, and grandfathers the next ten years traveled in
were all Lutheran ministers. His Europe. In 1889 he collapsed in
father and younger brother died the street while attempting to
when he was a young child, and prevent a horse from being
he was brought up by his mother, whipped, and suffered some
grandmother, and two aunts. At form of mental breakdown from
the age of 24 he became a professor which he never recovered. He
at Basel University, where he met died in 1900 aged 56.
the composer Richard Wagner,
who influenced him strongly until Key works
Wagner’s anti-semitism forced
Nietzsche to end their friendship. 1872 The Birth of Tragedy
In 1870 he contracted diphtheria 1883–85 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
and dysentery, and thereafter 1886 Beyond Good and Evil
suffered continual ill health. He 1888 Twilight of the Idols
218 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
just another showman, or perhaps total of the higher values that we mind-numbing jobs, not because
even a warm-up performer for the might hold. The death of God is not we need to, but because we feel it is
tightrope-walker. just the death of a deity; it is also our duty to do so. Nietzsche wants
In opening his book in this the death of all the so-called higher to put an end to such life-denying
unusual way, Nietzsche seems to values that we have inherited. philosophies, so that humankind
be betraying his own unease with One of the central purposes of can see itself in a different way.
the reception that his philosophy Nietzsche’s philosophy is what he
will receive, as if he is afraid that he calls the “revaluation of all values”, Blaspheming against life
will be seen as a philosophical an attempt to call into question all After Zarathustra proclaims the
showman without anything real of the ways that we are accustomed coming of the Superman, he swiftly
to say. If we want to avoid making to thinking about ethics and the moves to condemn religion. In the
the same mistake as the crowd meanings and purposes of life. past, he says, the greatest blasphemy
gathered around Zarathustra, and Nietzsche repeatedly maintains was to blaspheme against God; but
actually understand what Nietzsche that in doing so he is setting out a now the greatest blasphemy is to
is saying, it is necessary to explore philosophy of cheerfulness, which, blaspheme against life itself. This is
some of Nietzsche’s core beliefs. although it overturns everything we the error that Zarathustra believes
have thought up until now about he made upon the hillside: in turning
Overturning old values good and evil, nevertheless seeks to away from the world, and in offering
Nietzsche believes that certain affirm life. He claims that many of up prayers to a God who is not
concepts have become inextricably the things that we think are “good” there, he was sinning against life.
entangled: humankind, morality, are, in fact, ways of limiting, or of The history behind this death
and God. When his character turning away from, life. of God, or loss of faith in our higher
Zarathustra says that God is dead, We may think it is not “good” to values, is told in Nietzsche’s essay,
he is not simply launching an make a fool of ourselves in public, How the “Real World” at last Became
attack upon religion, but doing and so resist the urge to dance a Myth, which was published in
something much bolder. “God” here joyfully in the street. We may Twilight of the Idols. The essay
does not only mean the god that believe that the desires of the flesh carries the subtitle “History of an
philosophers talk about or the are sinful, and so punish ourselves Error”, and it is an extraordinarily
religious pray to; it means the sum when they arise. We may stay in condensed one-page history of
MEN WITH
SELF-CONFIDENCE
COME AND
SEE AND CONQUER
AHAD HA’AM (1856–1927)
A
had Ha’am was the pen this was a view from which he
IN CONTEXT name of the Ukrainian- later distanced himself, perhaps
born Jewish philosopher afraid that others might read what
BRANCH
Asher Ginzberg, a leading Zionist was essentially an exercise in
Ethics
thinker who advocated a Jewish satire as if it were written with
APPROACH spiritual renaissance. In 1890 he high-minded seriousness. Self-
Cultural Zionism claimed in a semi-satirical essay confidence is only warranted,
that although we worship wisdom, he later made clear, when the
BEFORE self-confidence matters more. difficulties of an undertaking are
5th century BCE Socrates In any difficult or dangerous fully understood and evaluated.
combines both confidence situation, he says, the wise are Ha’am was fond of quoting an
and an admission of his those who hold back, weighing up old Yiddish proverb: “an act of folly
own foolishness. the advantages and disadvantages which turns out well is still an act
1511 Desiderius Erasmus of any action. Meanwhile (and of folly.” On some occasions we act
writes The Praise of Folly, a greatly to the disapproval of the foolishly, without fully understanding
wise) it is the self-confident who the difficulties of the task we are
satirical work which appears
forge ahead, and often win the day. undertaking, but we win through
to praise foolish behavior.
Ha’am wants to suggest—and because luck is on our side.
1711 The English poet when reading him we should However, says Ha’am, this does
Alexander Pope writes that remember that this is a suggestion not make our prior foolishness in
“Fools rush in where angels that is meant half-seriously and any way commendable.
fear to tread.” half-satirically—that individual folly If we want our actions to bring
can often yield a result, simply results, it may indeed be the case
1843 In his book Fear and
because of the self-confidence that that we need to develop and use
Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard goes along with it. the kind of self-confidence that can
writes about founding faith occasionally be seen in acts of folly.
“on the strength of the absurd.” Wisdom and confidence At the same time, we must always
AFTER Although in his original essay temper this self-confidence with
1961 Michel Foucault writes Ha’am seemed to celebrate the wisdom, or our acts will lack true
Madness and Civilization, a potential advantages of foolishness, effectiveness in the world. ■
philosophical study of the
history of folly. See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03 ■
Luce Irigaray 320
THE MODERN WORLD 223
EVERY MESSAGE
IS MADE OF
SIGNS
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE (1857–1913)
S
aussure was a 19th-century of signs. This means that it is a
IN CONTEXT Swiss philosopher who saw system of relationships between
language as made up of sound-images and concepts.
BRANCH
systems of “signs”, with the signs However, Saussure states that the
Philosophy of language
acting as the basic units of the relationship between the signified
APPROACH language. His studies formed the and the signifier is arbitrary—so
Semiotics basis of a new theory, known as there is nothing particularly
semiotics. This new theory of signs “doggy” about the sound “dog”,
BEFORE was developed by other philosophers which is why the word can be
c.400 BCE Plato explores the during the 20th century such as chien in French, or gou in Chinese.
relationship between names Russia’s Roman Jakobson, who Saussure’s work on language
and things. summed up the semiotic approach became the basis of modern
c.250 BCE Stoic philosophers when he said that “every message linguistics, and influenced many
develop an early theory of is made of signs.” philosophers and literary theorists. ■
Saussure said that a sign is made
linguistic signs.
up of two things. Firstly, a “signifier”,
1632 Portuguese philosopher which is a sound-image. This is not
John Poinsot writes his the actual sound, but the mental
Treatise on Signs. “image” we have of the sound.
Secondly, the “signified”, or concept.
AFTER Here Saussure turns his back on a In the lives of individuals
1950s Saussure’s analysis of long tradition that says language is and of societies, language
the structures of language about the relationships between is a factor of greater
influences Noam Chomsky’s words and things, because he is importance than any other.
theory of generative grammar, saying that both aspects of a sign Ferdinand de Saussure
which aims to expose the rules are mental (our concept of a “dog”
of a language that govern its for example, and a sound-image of
possible word combinations. the sound “dog”). Saussure claims
1960s Roland Barthes explores that any message—for example
the literary implications of “my dog is called Fred”—is a system
signs and semiotics.
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein
246–51 ■ Roland Barthes 290–91 ■ Julia Kristeva 323
224
EXPERIENCE
BY ITSELF IS
NOT SCIENCE
EDMUND HUSSERL (1859–1938)
H
usserl was a philosopher
IN CONTEXT haunted by a dream that
has preoccupied thinkers
BRANCH Science aspires to
since the time of the ancient
Ontology certainty about the world.
Greek philosopher Socrates: the
APPROACH dream of certainty. For Socrates,
Phenomenology the problem was this: although we
easily reach agreement on questions
BEFORE about things we can measure (for
5th century BCE Socrates example, “how many olives are
uses argument to try to there in this jar?”), when it comes
answer philosophical But science is empirical: to philosophical questions such
questions with certainty. it depends upon as “what is justice?” or “what is
experience. beauty?”, it seems that there is no
17th century René Descartes
clear way of reaching agreement.
uses doubt as a starting point
And if we cannot know for certain
for his philosophical method.
what justice is, then how can we
1874 Franz Brentano, Husserl’s say anything about it at all?
teacher, claims that philosophy
needs a new scientific method. The problem of certainty
Experience is subject to Husserl was a philosopher who
AFTER started life as a mathematician.
assumptions and biases.
From 1920s Martin He dreamed that problems such as
Heidegger, Husserl’s student, “what is justice?” might be solved
develops his teacher’s method with the same degree of certainty
of phenomenology, leading to with which we are able to solve
the birth of existentialism. mathematical problems such as
From 1930s Husserl’s “how many olives are in the jar?” In
phenomenology reaches other words, he hoped to put all the
So experience sciences—by which he meant all
France, influencing thinkers by itself is branches of human knowledge and
such as Emmanuel Levinas not science. activity, from math, chemistry,
and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
and physics to ethics and politics –
on a completely secure footing.
THE MODERN WORLD 225
See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ Franz Brentano 336 ■ Martin Heidegger
252–55 ■ Emmanuel Levinas 273 ■ Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274–75
INTUITION GOES
IN THE VERY
DIRECTION OF
HENRI BERGSON (1859–1941)
LIFE
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH
Epistemology kinds of knowledge.
APPROACH
Vitalism
BEFORE
13th century John Duns Relative knowledge: Absolute knowledge:
Scotus distinguishes between knowing objects knowing objects in
in the world from a the world as
intuitive and abstract thought, particular perspective. they actually are.
and claims that intuitive
thought takes precedence.
1781 Immanuel Kant publishes
Critique of Pure Reason,
claiming that absolute
knowledge is impossible.
This is gained by using This is acquired
AFTER our intellect and reason; through an intuitive grasp
1890s William James begins we are distanced from of the truth; it is a very direct
to explore the philosophy the thing itself. form of knowledge.
of everyday experience,
popularizing pragmatism.
1927 Alfred North Whitehead
writes Process philosophy,
suggesting that the existence Intuition goes
of the natural world should be in the very
understood in terms of process direction of life.
and change, not things or
fixed stabilities.
THE MODERN WORLD 227
See also: John Duns Scotus 333 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ William James 206–09 ■ Alfred North Whitehead 336 ■
H
enri Bergson’s 1910 book are. Bergson believes that these are
Creative Evolution explored reached by different methods, the
his vitalism, or theory of first through analysis or intellect,
life. In it, Bergson wanted to discover and the second through intuition.
whether it is possible to really know Kant’s mistake, Bergson believes,
something—not just to know about is that he does not recognize the
it, but to know it as it actually is. full importance of our faculty of
Ever since the philosopher intuition, which allows us to grasp
Immanuel Kant published The an object’s uniqueness through
Critique of Pure Reason in 1781, direct connection. Our intuition is
many philosophers have claimed linked to what Bergson called our
that it is impossible for us to know élan vital, a life-force (vitalism) that
things as they actually are. This is interprets the flux of experience in Capturing the essence of a city,
because Kant showed that we can terms of time rather than space. person, or object may only be possible
know how things are relative to we Suppose you want to get to know through direct knowledge gained from
intuition, not analysis. Bergson says we
ourselves, given the kinds of minds a city, he says. You could compile a
underestimate the value of our intuition.
we have; but we can never step record of it by taking photographs
outside of ourselves to achieve an of every part, from every possible
absolute view of the world’s actual perspective, before reconstructing But how do we practice intuition?
“things-in-themselves.” these images to give some idea of Essentially, it is a matter of seeing
the city as a whole. But you would the world in terms of our sense of
Two forms of knowledge be grasping it at one remove, not as unfolding time. While walking
Bergson, however, does not agree a living city. If, on the other hand, through the city, we have a sense
with Kant. He says that there are you were simply to stroll around the of our own inner time, and we also
two different kinds of knowledge: streets, paying attention in the right have an inner sense of the various
relative knowledge, which involves way, you might acquire knowledge unfolding times of the city through
knowing something from our own of the city itself—a direct knowledge which we are walking. As these
unique particular perspective; of the city as it actually is. This times overlap, Bergson believes that
and absolute knowledge, which is direct knowledge, for Bergson, is we can make a direct connection
knowing things as they actually knowledge of the essence of the city. with the essence of life itself. ■
Henri Bergson Henri Bergson was one of the most League of Nations in 1913. His
influential French philosophers work was widely translated
of his time. Born in France in 1859, and influenced many other
he was the son of an English philosophers and psychologists,
mother and a Polish father. His including William James. He
early intellectual interests lay in was awarded the Nobel Prize
mathematics, at which he excelled. for Literature in 1928, and died
Despite this, he took up philosophy in 1941 at the age of 81.
as a career, initially teaching in
schools. When his book Matter Key works
and Memory was published in
1896, he was elected to the 1896 Matter and Memory
Collège de France and became 1903 An Introduction to
a university lecturer. He also had Metaphysics
a successful political career, and 1910 Creative Evolution
represented the French government 1932 The Two Sources of
during the establishment of the Morality and Religion
228
IN CONTEXT
WHEN WE ARE
APPROACH
Pragmatism
CONFRONTED
BEFORE
1859 Charles Darwin’s On
the Origin of Species puts
WITH PROBLEMS
human beings in a new,
naturalistic perspective.
1878 Charles Sanders Peirce’s
essay How to Make our Ideas
JOHN DEWEY (1859–1952) Clear lays the foundations of
the pragmatist movement.
1907 William James publishes
Pragmatism: A New Name for
Some Old Ways of Thinking,
popularizing the philosophical
term “pragmatism.”
AFTER
From 1970 Jürgen Habermas
applies pragmatic principles
to social theory.
1979 Richard Rorty combines
pragmatism with analytic
philosophy in Philosophy and
the Mirror of Nature.
J
ohn Dewey belongs to the
philosophical school known
as pragmatism, which arose
in the US in the late 19th century.
The founder is generally considered
to be the philosopher Charles
Sanders Peirce, who wrote a
groundbreaking essay in 1878
called How to Make our Ideas Clear.
Pragmatism starts from the
position that the purpose of
philosophy, or “thinking”, is not
to provide us with a true picture
of the world, but to help us to act
more effectively within it. If we are
taking a pragmatic perspective,
we should not be asking “is this the
THE MODERN WORLD 229
See also: Heraclitus 40 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ William James 206–09 ■
Problems arise
because we are trying
to make sense of…
…the challenges
of living in a
changing world.
John Dewey
John Dewey was born in
Vermont, USA, in 1859. He
We only think studied at the University of
when we are Vermont, and then worked as
confronted with a schoolteacher for three years
problems. before returning to undertake
further study in psychology
and philosophy. He taught at
various leading universities for
the remainder of his life, and
…the traditions wrote extensively on a broad
we have inherited. range of topics, from education
Philosophy is not about to democracy, psychology,
gaining a true picture of and art. In addition to his
the world, but about practical work as a scholar, he set up
problem solving. an educational institution—
the University of Chicago
Laboratory Schools—which
put into practice his
educational philosophy of
learning by doing. This
way things are?” but rather, “what practical responses to these institution is still running
are the practical implications of problems. He believes that today. Dewey’s broad range of
adopting this perspective?” philosophizing is not about being interests, and his abilities as a
For Dewey, philosophical a “spectator” who looks at the communicator, allowed his
problems are not abstract problems world from afar, but about actively influence on American public
divorced from people’s lives. He engaging in the problems of life. life to extend far beyond the
sees them as problems that occur Laboratory Schools. He wrote
because humans are living beings Evolving creatures about philosophy and social
trying to make sense of their Dewey was strongly influenced issues until he died in 1952 at
world, struggling to decide how by the evolutionary thought of the the age of 92.
best to act within it. Philosophy naturalist Charles Darwin, who
starts from our everyday human published On The Origin of Species Key works
hopes and aspirations, and from in 1859. Darwin described humans
1910 How We Think
the problems that arise in the as living creatures who are a part 1925 Experience and Nature
course of our lives. This being the of the natural world. Like the other 1929 The Quest for Certainty
case, Dewey thinks that philosophy animals, humans have evolved in 1934 Art as Experience
should also be a way of finding response to their changing ❯❯
230 JOHN DEWEY
environments. For Dewey, one of the many environments in which
the implications of Darwin’s we find ourselves are themselves
thought is that it requires us to always changing. Not only this, but
think of human beings not as fixed these environments do not change
essences created by God, but in a predictable fashion. For several
instead as natural beings. We are years there may be a good crop of
not souls who belong in some other, wheat, for instance, but then the
non-material world, but evolved harvest fails. A sailor may set sail
organisms who are trying to do our under fine weather, only to find that
best to survive in a world of which a storm suddenly blows up out of
we are inescapably a part. nowhere. We are healthy for years,
and then disease strikes us when
Everything changes we least expect it.
Dewey also takes from Darwin the In the face of this uncertainty,
idea that nature as a whole is a Dewey says that there are two
system that is in a constant state of different strategies we can adopt.
change; an idea that itself echoes We can either appeal to higher We no longer employ sacrifice as a
the philosophy of the ancient Greek beings and hidden forces in the way to ask for help from the gods, but
philosopher Heraclitus. When universe for help, or we can seek many people find themselves offering
up a silent promise to be good in return
Dewey comes to think about what to understand the world and gain
for help from some higher being.
philosophical problems are, and control of our environment.
how they arise, he takes this
insight as a starting point. Appeasing the gods can live in it more easily. We can
Dewey discusses the idea that The first of these strategies involves learn the art of forecasting the
we only think when confronted attempting to affect the world by weather, and build houses to
with problems in an essay entitled means of magical rites, ceremonies, shelter ourselves from its extremes,
Kant and the Philosophic Method and sacrifices. This approach to the and so on. Rather than attempting
(1884). We are, he says, organisms uncertainty of the world, Dewey to ally ourselves with the hidden
that find ourselves having to respond believes, forms the basis of both powers of the universe, this
to a world that is subject to constant religion and ethics. strategy involves finding ways of
change and flux. Existence is a In the story that Dewey tells, revealing how our environment
risk, or a gamble, and the world our ancestors worshipped gods and works, and then working out how
is fundamentally unstable. We spirits as a way of trying to ally to transform it to our benefit.
depend upon our environment to themselves with the “powers that Dewey points out that it is
be able to survive and thrive, but dispense fortune.” This scenario is important to realize that we can
played out in stories from around the never completely control our
world, in myths and legends such as environment or transform it to
those about unfortunate seafarers such an extent that we can drive
who pray to gods or saints to calm out all uncertainty. At best, he
the storm, and thereby survive. In says, we can modify the risky,
the same way, Dewey believes, uncertain nature of the world in
We do not solve ethics arises out of the attempts which we find ourselves. But life
philosophical problems, our ancestors made to appease is inescapably risky.
we get over them. hidden forces; but where they made
John Dewey sacrifices, we strike bargains with A luminous philosophy
the gods, promising to be good if For much of human history, Dewey
they spare us from harm. writes, these two approaches to
The alternative response to the dealing with the riskiness of life
uncertainties of our changing world have existed in tension with each
is to develop various techniques of other, and they have given rise to
mastering the world, so that we two different kinds of knowledge:
THE MODERN WORLD 231
Scientific experiments, such as those
performed by Benjamin Franklin in the
1740s, help us gain control over the
world. Dewey thought philosophical
theories should be equally useful.
A practical influence
A number of philosophers, such as
Bertrand Russell, have criticized
pragmatism by claiming that it
has simply given up on the long
philosophical quest for truth.
Nevertheless, Dewey’s philosophy
has been enormously influential in
America. Given that Dewey places
such an overriding emphasis on
responding to the practical problems
of life, it is perhaps unsurprising
that much of his influence has been
on the one hand, ethics and religion; from studying the sciences. In this in practical realms, such as in
and on the other hand, arts and context philosophy can be seen as education and in politics. ■
technologies. Or, more simply, the art of finding both theoretical
tradition and science. Philosophy, and practical responses to these
in Dewey’s view, is the process by problems and contradictions.
means of which we try to work There are two ways in which to
through the contradictions between judge whether a form of philosophy
these two different kinds of is successful. First, we should ask
response to the problems in our whether it has made the world Education is not an affair
lives. These contradictions are not more intelligible. Does this of telling and being told,
just theoretical; they are also particular philosophical theory but an active and
practical. For example, I may have make our experience “more constructive process.
inherited innumerable traditional luminous”, Dewey asks, or does it John Dewey
beliefs about ethics, meaning, and make it “more opaque”? Here
what constitutes a “good life”, but Dewey is agreeing with Peirce that
I may find that these beliefs are in philosophy’s purpose is to make our
tension with the knowledge and ideas and our everyday experience
understanding that I have gained clearer and easier to understand.
232
I
n The Life of Reason (1905), the who do not remember the past are
IN CONTEXT Spanish-American philosopher condemned to repeat it, and this is
George Santayana wrote that sometimes understood to mean
BRANCH
those who cannot remember the that we must do our best to
Philosophy of history
past are condemned to repeat it. remember past atrocities. But
APPROACH Santayana’s naturalistic approach Santayana is actually making a
Naturalism means that he sees knowledge and point about progress. For progress
belief as arising not from reasoning, to be possible, we must not only
BEFORE but through interaction between remember past experiences, but
55 BCE Lucretius, a Roman our minds and the material also be able to learn from them; to
poet, explores the origins of environment. Santayana is often see different ways of doing things.
societies and civilizations. misquoted as saying that those The psyche structures new beliefs
1730s The Italian philosopher through experiences, and this is
Giovanni Vico claims that all how we prevent ourselves from
repeating mistakes.
civilizations pass through
Real progress, Santayana
three stages: the age of the
believes, is not so much a matter
gods; the age of artistocrats of revolution as of adaptation, taking
and heroes; and democracy. what we have learned from the past
This is due to “an uninterrupted and using it to build the future.
order of causes and effects”. Civilization is cumulative, always
1807–22 Georg Hegel writes building on what has gone before,
of history as the continual in the same way that a symphony
progress of mind or spirit. builds note by note into a whole. ■
AFTER
Progress is only possible through
2004 In his book, Memory, an understanding of the past coupled
History, Forgetting, French with a sense of possible alternatives.
philosopher Paul Ricoeur The AT&T Building, New York, uses
explores the necessity not old architectural patterns in new ways.
only of remembering, but
also of forgetting the past. See also: Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ William James 206–09 ■
Bertrand Russell 236–39
THE MODERN WORLD 233
IT IS ONLY SUFFERING
THAT MAKES US
PERSONS
MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO (1864–1936)
T
he Spanish philosopher, our lives a kind of weight and
IN CONTEXT novelist, and poet, Miguel substance is to embrace this
de Unamuno, is perhaps suffering. If we turn away from
BRANCH
best known for his book The Tragic it, we are not only turning away
Ontology
Sense of Life (1913). In this he from what makes us human, we
APPROACH writes that all consciousness is are also turning away from
Existentialism consciousness of death (we are consciousness itself.
painfully aware of our lack of
BEFORE immortality) and of suffering. Love or happiness
c.500 BCE The Buddha What makes us human is the There is also an ethical dimension
claims that all life is marked fact that we suffer. to Unamuno’s ideas on suffering.
by suffering and offers the At first glance, it may seem He claims that it is essential to
Eightfold Path as a route to as if this idea is close to that of acknowledge our pain, because
release from its causes. Sidhartha Gautama, the Buddha, it is only when we face the fact of
who also said that suffering is an our own suffering that we become
c.400 CE Saint Augustine asks
inescapable part of all human life. capable of truly loving other
how there can be suffering in
But Unamuno’s response to suffering suffering beings. This presents us
a world created by a good and is very different. Unlike the Buddha, with a stark choice. On the one
all-powerful God. Unamuno does not see suffering as hand, we can choose happiness
AFTER a problem to be overcome through and do our best to turn away from
1940 The Irish author and practicing detachment. Instead he suffering. On the other hand, we
scholar C.S. Lewis explores argues that suffering is an essential can choose suffering and love.
the question of suffering in part of what it means to exist as a The first choice may be easier,
his book The Problem of Pain. human being, and a vital experience. but it is a choice that ultimately
If all consciousness amounts to limits us – indeed, severs us from
20th century Unamuno’s consciousness of human mortality an essential part of ourselves. The
philosophy of suffering and suffering, as Unamuno claims, second choice is more difficult,
influences other Spanish and if consciousness is what but it is one that opens the way
writers such as Federico makes us distinctively human, to the possibility of a life of depth
García Lorca and Juan Ramón then the only way we can lend and significance. ■
Jiménez, and the British author
Graham Greene. See also: Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ St Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■
Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Albert Camus 284–85 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71
234
BELIEVE IN LIFE
WILLIAM DU BOIS (1868–1963)
I
n 1957, close to the end of “Always,” Du Bois writes, “human
IN CONTEXT his long life, the American beings will live and progress to a
academic, political radical, greater, broader, and fuller life.”
BRANCH
and civil rights activist, William This is a statement of belief rather
Ethics
Du Bois, wrote what has become than a statement of fact. It is as if
APPROACH known as his last message to the Du Bois is saying that we must
Pragmatism world. Knowing that he did not believe in the possibility of a fuller
have much longer to live, he penned life, or in the possibility of progress,
BEFORE a short passage to be read at his to be able to progress at all. In this
4th century BCE Aristotle funeral. In this message, Du Bois idea, Du Bois shows the influence
explores the ancient Greek expresses his hope that any good of the American philosophical
ethical concept of eudaimonia he has done will survive long movement known as Pragmatism,
or “human flourishing”. enough to justify his life, and that which claims that what matters is
1845 Publication of Narrative those things he has left undone, or not just our thoughts and beliefs,
has done badly, may be taken up by but also the practical implications
of the Life of Frederick
others to be bettered or completed. of these thoughts and beliefs.
Douglass, an American Slave
boosts support for the abolition
of slavery in the United States.
Late 19th and early 20th
We aspire to
century Pragmatists, such as a broader and …believe So we must...
Charles Sanders Peirce and fuller life. in life.
William James, argue that we
should judge the value of ideas
in terms of their usefulness.
AFTER
1950s and 1960s Martin
Luther King Jr., leader of the To attain this If we lose this belief,
African-American Civil Rights we need to believe we suffer a form
movement, adopts a policy of in the possibility of death: existence
non-violent direct action to of progress. without growth.
address social segregation.
THE MODERN WORLD 235
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ William James 206–09 ■ John Dewey 228–31
Du Bois goes on to say that the He rejects scientific racism—the Martin Luther King Jr. cited Du
“only possible death” is to lose one’s idea that black people are inferior Bois’ writings as a key influence in his
belief in the prospects for human genetically to white people—that decision to become actively involved in
the battle to demolish racial divisions
progress. But there are also hints was prevalent throughout most of
and establish social equality in the US.
of deeper philosophical roots here, his life. As racial inequality has
going all the way back to the no basis in biological science,
ancient Greek idea of eudaimonia he regards it as a purely social employment are correlated with
or “human flourishing”; for the problem, one that can be addressed high levels of criminal activity.
philosopher Aristotle, this involved only by committed political and In his final message to the world,
living a life of excellence based social activism. Du Bois reminds us that the task
upon virtue and reason. Du Bois is tireless in his search of bringing about a more just society
for solutions to the problem of all is still incomplete. He states that it
Political activist forms of social inequality. He is up to future generations to believe
Du Bois considers two of the major argues that social inequality is in life, so that we can continue to
impediments to a life of excellence one of the major causes of crime, contribute to the fulfilment of
to be racism and social inequality. claiming that lack of education and “human flourishing.” ■
HAPPINESS LIES
APPROACH
Analytic philosophy
IN AN ORGANIZED
BEFORE
1867 Karl Marx publishes the
first volume of Capital.
DIMINUTION
1905 In The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism,
German sociologist Max
OF WORK
Weber argues that the
Protestant work ethic was
partly responsible for the
growth of capitalism.
BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872–1970) AFTER
1990s Growth of the trend
of “downshifting”, promoting
fewer working hours.
2005 Tom Hodgkinson,
editor of the British magazine
The Idler, publishes his leisure-
praising book How To Be Idle.
2009 British philosopher Alain
de Botton explores our working
lives in The Pleasures and
Sorrows of Work.
T
he British philosopher
Bertrand Russell was no
stranger to hard work. His
collected writings fill countless
volumes; he was responsible for
some of the most important
developments in 20th-century
philosophy, including the founding
of the school of analytic philosophy;
and throughout his long life—he
died aged 97—he was a tireless
social activist. So why is this most
active of thinkers suggesting that
we should work less?
Russell’s essay In Praise of
Idleness was first published in
1932, in the middle of the Great
THE MODERN WORLD 237
See also: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■ Adam Smith 160–163 ■ Edmund Burke 172–73 ■ Jeremy Bentham 174 ■
John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Henry David Thoreau 204 ■ Isaiah Berlin 280–81 ■ John Rawls 294–95
LOVE IS A BRIDGE
FROM POORER TO
RICHER KNOWLEDGE
MAX SCHELER (1874–1928)
T
he German philosopher knowledge possible. Scheler writes
IN CONTEXT Max Scheler belongs to the that love is “a kind of spiritual
philosophical movement midwife” that is capable of
BRANCH
known as phenomenology. This drawing us toward knowledge,
Ethics
attempts to investigate all the both knowledge of ourselves and
APPROACH phenomena of our inner experience; knowledge of the world. It is the
Phenomenology it is the study of our consciousness “primary determinant” of a person’s
and its structures. ethics, possibilities, and fate.
BEFORE Scheler says that phenomenology At root, in Scheler’s view, to
C.380 BCE Plato writes his has tended to focus too exclusively be human is not to be a “thinking
Symposium, a philosophical on the intellect in examining thing” as the French philosopher
exploration of the nature of the structures of consciousness, Descartes said in the 17th century,
love and knowledge. and has overlooked something but a being who loves. ■
17th century Blaise Pascal fundamental: the experience of
love, or of the human heart. He
writes of the logic of the
introduces the idea that love forms
human heart.
a bridge from poorer to richer
Early 20th century Edmund knowledge in an essay entitled
Husserl develops his new Love and Knowledge (1923).
phenomenological method Scheler’s starting point, which is Philosophy is a love-
for studying the experience taken from the 17th-century French determined movement toward
of the human mind. philosopher Blaise Pascal, is that participation in
there is a specific logic to the the essential reality
AFTER human heart. This logic is different of all possibles.
1954 Polish philosopher Karol from the logic of the intellect. Max Scheler
Wojtyza (later Pope John Paul
II) writes his PhD thesis on A spiritual midwife
Scheler, acknowledging the It is love, Scheler believes, that
philosopher’s influence on makes things apparent to our
Roman Catholicism. experience and that makes
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Blaise Pascal 124–25 ■ Edmund Husserl 224–25
THE MODERN WORLD 241
ONLY AS AN INDIVIDUAL
CAN MAN BECOME
AKARLPHILOSOPHER
JASPERS (1883–1969)
F
or some, philosophy is a 1941 book On my Philosophy, we
IN CONTEXT way to discover objective can philosophize only as individuals.
truths about the world. We cannot turn to anybody else to
BRANCH
For German philosopher and tell us the truth; we must discover
Epistemology
psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, on the it for ourselves, by our own efforts.
APPROACH other hand, philosophy is a personal
Existentialism struggle. Strongly influenced by A community of individuals
the philosophers Kierkegaard and Although in this sense truth is
BEFORE Nietzsche, Jaspers is an existentialist something that we realize alone,
1800s Søren Kierkegaard who suggests that philosophy is it is in communication with others
writes of philosophy as a a matter of our own attempts to that we realize the fruits of our
matter of the individual’s realize truth. Since philosophy is an efforts and raise our consciousness
struggle with truth. individual struggle, he writes in his beyond its limits. Jaspers considers
1920s Martin Heidegger his own philosophy “true” only so
far as it aids communication with
claims that philosophy is a
others. And while other people
matter of our relationship with
cannot provide us with a form of
our own existence. “ready-made truth”, philosophy
1920s Friedrich Nietzsche remains a collective endeavor. For
says that “God is dead”, there Jaspers, each individual’s search
are no absolute truths, and we for truth is carried out in community
must rethink all our values. with all those “companions in
thought” who have undergone
AFTER the same personal struggle. ■
From 1940 Hannah Arendt’s
ideas of freedom are influenced
The philosopher lives in the invisible
by Jaspers’ philosophy. realm of the spirit, struggling to realize
From 1950 Hans-Georg truth. The thoughts of other, companion,
philosophers act as signposts towards
Gadamer explores the idea potential paths to understanding.
that philosophy progresses
through a fusion of individual See also: Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin
perspectives. Heidegger 252–55 ■ Hans-Georg Gadamer 260–61 ■ Hannah Arendt 272
242
LIFE IS A SERIES
OF COLLISIONS
WITH THE FUTURE
JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET (1883–1955)
O
rtega y Gasset’s philosophy In his Meditations on Quixote,
IN CONTEXT is about life. He is not published in 1914, Ortega writes:
interested in analyzing the “I am myself and my circumstances.”
BRANCH
world in a cool and detached fashion. Descartes said that it was possible
Ontology
Instead, he wants to explore how to imagine ourselves as thinking
APPROACH philosophy can engage creatively beings, and yet to doubt the
Existentialism with life. Reason, Ortega believes, existence of the external world,
is not something passive, but including our own bodies. But
BEFORE something active—something that Ortega says that it makes no sense
1641 In his Meditations, René allows us to get to grips with the to see ourselves as separate from
Descartes argues that there circumstances in which we find the world. If we want to think
are two worlds: the world of ourselves, and allows us to change seriously about ourselves, we have
mind and the world of matter. our lives for the better. to see that we are always immersed
Early 1900s Edmund Husserl
establishes phenomenology. He
claims that philosophers must We are always immersed in
look at the world anew, putting particular circumstances, such
all preconceptions aside. as where we live, what we do,
and things we assume.
AFTER
1920s Martin Heidegger
explores questions about what
our existence means for us,
citing Ortega as an influence. We can accept or reject these The new possibilities
circumstances, by imagining collide with our current
1930s onward Ortega’s new possibilities. circumstances.
philosophy becomes popular
in Spain and Latin America,
influencing philosophers
Xavier Zubiri, José Gaos,
Ignacio Ellacuría, and María Life is a series of
Zambrano, among others. collisions with the future.
THE MODERN WORLD 243
See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Edmund Husserl
224–25 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71
in particular circumstances—
circumstances that are often
oppressive and limiting. These
limitations are not only those of
our physical surroundings, but also
of our thoughts, which contain
prejudices, and our behavior, which
I am myself and
is shaped by habit.
my circumstances.
While many people live without José Ortega y Gasset
reflecting on the nature of their
circumstances, Ortega says that José Ortega y Gasset
philosophers should not only strive
to understand their circumstances José Ortega y Gasset was
better, they should actively seek born in Madrid, Spain, in 1883.
He studied philosophy first
to change them. Indeed, he claims
in Madrid, then at various
that the philosopher’s duty is to However, there is a limit to the German universities—where
expose the assumptions that amount that we can change the he became influenced by the
lie behind all our beliefs. world. Our habitual thinking runs philosophy of Immanuel
deep, and even if we free ourselves Kant—before settling in Spain
The energy of life enough to imagine new possibilities as a university professor.
In order to transform the world and and new futures, our external Throughout his life, Ortega
to engage creatively with our own circumstances may stand in the earned a living not only as a
existence, Ortega says that we way of realizing these possibilities. philosopher but as a journalist
must look at our lives with fresh The futures that we imagine will and essayist. He was also
eyes. This means not only looking always collide with the reality of actively engaged in Spanish
anew at our external circumstances, the circumstances in which we politics in the 1920s and
but also looking inside ourselves to find ourselves. This is why Ortega 1930s, but his involvement
reconsider our beliefs and prejudices. sees life as a series of collisions came to an end with the
outbreak of the Spanish Civil
Only when we have done this will with the future.
War in 1936. Ortega then
we be able to commit ourselves to Ortega’s idea is challenging
went into exile in Argentina,
creating new possibilities. on both a personal and a political where he stayed, disillusioned
level. It reminds us that we have with politics, until 1945.
a duty to attempt to change our After three years in Portugal,
circumstances, even though we he returned to Madrid in
may encounter difficulties in doing 1948, where he founded the
so, and even though our attempts Institute of Humanities. He
may not always succeed. In The continued working as a
Revolt of the Masses, he warns that philosopher and journalist
democracy carries within it the for the remainder of his life.
threat of tyranny by the majority,
and that to live by majority rule—to Key works
live “like everyone else”—is to live
without a personal vision or moral 1914 Meditations on Quixote
1925 The Dehumanization
code. Unless we engage creatively
Every act of hope, such as celebrating of Art
Christmas on the front line in World with our own lives, we are hardly 1930 The Revolt of the Masses
War I, is a testament to our ability living at all. This is why for Ortega, 1935 History as a System
to overcome our circumstances. For reason is vital—it holds the energy 1957 What is Philosophy?
Ortega, this is “vital reason” in action. of life itself. ■
244
TO PHILOSOPHIZE,
FIRST ONE MUST
CONFESS
HAJIME TANABE (1885–1962)
B
efore you read on, confess! To answer these questions, we
IN CONTEXT This may seem like a need to look at the roots of Tanabe’s
strange idea, but it is one philosophy in both the European
BRANCH
that Japanese philosopher Tanabe and the Japanese traditions of
Ethics
Hajime wants us to take seriously. philosophy. In terms of its European
APPROACH If we want to philosophize, Tanabe roots, Tanabe traces his thought
Phenomenology believes, we cannot do so without back to the Greek philosopher
making a confession. But what is it Socrates who lived in the 5th
BEFORE that we should confess, and why? century BCE. Socrates is important
5th century BCE Socrates
claims that he is wise because
he knows he is ignorant.
4th century St. Augustine asking
of Hippo writes Confessions, deeper questions about life.
which is both an autobiography
and a work of philosophy.
Early 13th century Buddhist
monk Shinran claims that
salvation is only possible To do this,
through “other power.” we need to
1920s Martin Heidegger admit that…
writes that philosophy is a
matter of our relationship ...we do not know ...our powers of
with our own being. the answers. reason are limited.
AFTER
1990s Jacques Derrida, In order
influenced by phenomenology, to philosophize,
explores themes such as first one must
confession and forgiveness. confess.
THE MODERN WORLD 245
See also: Siddharta Gautama 30–33 ■ Socrates 46–49 ■ St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Edmund Husserl 224–25 ■
WORLD
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889–1951)
248 LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
IN CONTEXT
Language is
BRANCH The world is
made up of propositions:
Philosophy of language made up of facts:
assertions about things,
things are a certain way.
APPROACH which may be true or false.
Logic
BEFORE
4th century BCE Aristotle
sets the foundations of logic.
Late 19th century Gottlob Propositions are “pictures”
Frege develops the foundations of facts, in the same way that
of modern logic. maps are pictures of the world.
Early 20th century Bertrand
Russell develops notation that
translates natural language
into logical propositions.
AFTER Any proposition that My language is
1920s Ideas in the Tractatus does not picture facts therefore limited
are used by philosophers of the is meaningless—for to statements of facts
Vienna Circle, such as Moritz example “killing is bad.” about the world.
Schlick and Rudolf Carnap, to
develop Logical Positivism.
From 1930 Wittgenstein
rejects the ideas expressed in
the Tractatus, and begins to
explore very different ways
The limits of my language
of viewing language.
are the limits of my world.
W
ittgenstein’s Tractatus philosophical tradition that stems necessary limits of our knowledge,
Logico-Philosophicus from the 18th-century German we can then either resolve, or even
is perhaps one of the philosopher Immanuel Kant. In perhaps dissolve, nearly all of the
most forbidding texts in the history The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant philosophical problems of the past.
of 20th-century philosophy. Only set out to explore the limits of The Tractatus tackles the same
around 70 pages long in its English knowledge by posing questions kind of task that Kant did, but does
translation, the book is made up of such as “What can I know?” and so in a far more radical fashion.
a series of highly condensed and “What things will lie forever outside Wittgenstein states that he is
technical numbered remarks. of human understanding?” One setting out to make clear what can
In order to appreciate the full reason that Kant asked such be meaningfully said. In much the
significance of the Tractatus, it questions was that he believed same way that Kant strives to set
is important to set it within its many problems in philosophy arose the limits of reason, Wittgenstein
philosophical context. The fact because we fail to recognize the wants to set the limits of language
that Wittgenstein is talking about limitations of human understanding. and, by implication, of all thought.
the “limits” of my language and my By turning our attention back onto He does this because he suspects
world sets him firmly within the ourselves and asking about the that a great deal of philosophical
THE MODERN WORLD 249
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Gottlob Frege 336 ■ Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■ Rudolf Carnap 257
Logic is not
a body of doctrine
but a mirror-image
of the world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
might be related. Wittgenstein says means. The sound waves generated Consider the following idea: “You
that language “pictures” the world. by a performance of a symphony, should give half of your salary to
He formulated this idea during the score of that symphony, and the charity.” This is not picturing
World War I, when he read in a pattern formed by the grooves on anything in the world in the sense
newspaper about a court case in a gramophone recording of the meant by Wittgenstein. What can
Paris. The case concerned a symphony all share between them be said—what Wittgenstein calls
car accident, and the events were the same logical form. Wittgenstein the “totality of true propositions”—
re-enacted for those present in states, “A picture is laid against is merely the sum of all those
court using model cars and model reality like a measure.” In this way things that are the case, or the
pedestrians to represent the cars it can depict the world. natural sciences.
and pedestrians in the real world. Of course, our picture may be Discussion about religious and
The model cars and the model incorrect. It may not agree with ethical values is, for Wittgenstein,
pedestrians were able to depict reality, for example, by appearing to strictly meaningless. Because the
their counterparts, because they show that the elephant is not angry things that we are attempting to
were related to each other in when the elephant is, in fact, very talk about when we discuss such
exactly the same way as the real angry. There is no middle ground topics are beyond the limits of the
cars and real pedestrians involved here for Wittgenstein. Because he world, they also lie beyond the
in the accident. Similarly, all the starts with propositions that are, limits of our language. Wittgenstein
elements depicted on a map are by their very nature, true or false, writes, “It is clear that ethics cannot
related to each other in exactly pictures also are either true or false. be put into language.”
the same way as they are in the Language and the world, then,
landscape that the map represents. both have a logical form; and Beyond words
What a picture shares with that language can speak about the Some readers of Wittgenstein,
which it is depicting, Wittgenstein world by picturing the world, and at this point, claim that he is a
says, is a logical form. picturing it in a fashion that agrees champion of the sciences, driving
It is important here to realize with reality. It is at this point that out vague concepts involved in talk
that we are talking about logical Wittgenstein’s idea gets really of ethics, religion, and the like. But
pictures, and not about visual interesting, and it is here that we something more complex is going
pictures. Wittgenstein presents a can see why Wittgenstein is on. Wittgenstein does not think
useful example to show what he interested in the limits of language. that the “problems of life” are
THE MODERN WORLD 251
was fearless in following his
argument to its conclusion,
ultimately recognizing that the
answer to such a question must be
yes. Anybody who understands the
What we cannot Tractatus properly, he claims, will
speak about we eventually see that the propositions
must pass used in it are nonsense, too. They
over in silence. are like the steps of a philosophical
Ludwig Wittgenstein ladder that helps us to climb
altogether beyond the problems of
philosophy, but which we can kick
away once we have ascended.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Change of direction
After completing the Tractatus, Born into a wealthy Viennese
nonsensical. Instead, he believes Wittgenstein concluded that family in 1889, Wittgenstein
first studied engineering and
that these are the most important there were no more philosophical
in 1908 traveled to England
problems of all. It is simply that problems left to resolve, and so to continue his education in
they cannot be put into words, abandoned the discipline. However, Manchester. However, he soon
and because of this, they cannot over the course of the 1920s and developed an interest in logic,
become a part of philosophy. 1930s, he began to question his and by 1911 had moved to
Wittgenstein writes that these earlier thinking, becoming one of Cambridge to study under the
things, even though we cannot its fiercest critics. In particular, he philosopher Bertrand Russell.
speak of them, nevertheless make questioned his once firmly held During World War I, he
themselves manifest, adding that belief that language consists served on the Russian front
“they are what is mystical.” solely of propositions, a view that and in Italy, where he was
All of this, however, has serious ignores much of what we do in our taken prisoner. Around this
repercussions for the propositions everyday speech—from telling time, he began the Tractatus
that lie within the Tractatus itself. jokes, to cajoling, to scolding. Logico-Philosophicus, which
After all, these are not propositions Nevertheless, despite all of its was published in 1921.
Believing that the Tractatus
that picture the world. Even logic, problems, the Tractatus remains
resolved all the problems of
one of Wittgenstein’s major tools, one of the most challenging and
philosophy, Wittgenstein now
does not say anything about the compelling works of Western embarked on an itinerant
world. Is the Tractatus, therefore, philosophy—and ultimately one career as a schoolteacher,
nonsense? Wittgenstein himself of the most mysterious. ■ gardener, and architect. But
after developing criticisms of
Philosophy demands logical, unambiguous his earlier ideas, he resumed
language. Wittgenstein concludes, therefore, that it his work at Cambridge in
can only be made up of propositions, or statements 1929, becoming a professor
of fact, such as “the cat sat on the mat”, which can there in 1939. He died in 1951.
be clearly divided into their component parts.
Key works
1921 Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus
1953 Philosophical
Investigations
1958 The Blue and
+ = Brown Books
1977 Remarks on Colour
252
IN CONTEXT
THE ENTITIES
APPROACH
Phenomenology
TO BE ANALYZED
BEFORE
c.350 BCE Diogenes of Sinope
uses a plucked chicken to
parody Plato’s followers’ claim
MARTIN HEIDEGGER (1889–1976) that a human being is a
“featherless biped.”
1900–13 Edmund Husserl
proposes his phenomenological
theories and method in Logical
Investigations and Ideas I.
AFTER
1940s Jean-Paul Sartre
publishes Being and
Nothingness, which looks at
the connection between
“being” and human freedom.
1960 Hans-Georg Gadamer’s
Truth and Method, inspired by
Heidegger, explores the nature
of human understanding.
I
t is said that in ancient
Athens the followers of
Plato gathered one day to ask
themselves the following question:
“What is a human being?” After
a great deal of thought, they came
up with the following answer:
“a human being is a featherless
biped.” Everybody seemed content
with this definition until Diogenes
the Cynic burst into the lecture
hall with a live plucked chicken,
shouting, “Behold! I present you
with a human being.” After the
commotion had died down, the
philosophers reconvened and
refined their definition. A human
being, they said, is a featherless
biped with broad nails.
THE MODERN WORLD 253
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Diogenes of Sinope 66 ■ Edmund Husserl 224–25 ■ Hans-Georg Gadamer 260–61 ■
Ernst Cassirer 337 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71 ■ Hannah Arendt 272 ■ Richard Rorty 314–19
T
etsuro Watsuji was one of community, which form a network
IN CONTEXT the leading philosophers within which we exist; Watsuji calls
in Japan in the early part this “betweenness.” For Watsuji
BRANCH
of the 20th century, and he wrote ethics is a matter not of individual
Ethics
on both Eastern and Western action, but of the forgetting or
APPROACH philosophy. He studied in Japan and sacrifice of one’s self, so that the
Existentialism Europe, and like many Japanese individual can work for the benefit
philosophers of his time, his work of the wider community.
BEFORE shows a creative synthesis of these Watsuji’s nationalist ethics and
13th century Japanese two very different traditions. insistence on the superiority of the
philosopher Dōgen writes Japanese race led to his fall from
about “forgetting the self.” Forgetting the self favor following World War II,
Late 19th century Friedrich Watsuji’s studies of Western although he later distanced himself
Nietzsche writes about the approaches to ethics convinced him from these views. ■
that thinkers in the West tend to
influence of “climate” on
take an individualistic approach to
philosophy; this idea becomes
human nature, and so also to ethics.
important to Watsuji’s thought. But for Watsuji, individuals can only
1927 Martin Heidegger be understood as expressions of
publishes Being and Time. their particular times, relationships,
Watsuji goes on to rethink and social contexts, which together
Heidegger’s book in the light of constitute a “climate”. He explores
his ideas on “climate”. the idea of human nature in terms
of our relationships with the wider
AFTER
Late 20th century Japanese
Samurai warriors often sacrificed
philosopher Yuasa Yasuo their own lives in battle in order to save
further develops Watsuji’s the state, in an act of extreme loyalty
ethics of community. and self-negation that Watsuji called
kenshin, or “absolute self-sacrifice.”
O
ne of the problems for
IN CONTEXT 20th-century philosophy
is determining a role for
BRANCH
philosophy given the success of the
Philosophy of science
natural sciences. This is one of the
APPROACH main concerns of German-born
Rudolf Carnap in The Physical
In logic,
Logical positivism there are no morals.
Language as the Universal Language
BEFORE of Science (1934), which suggests Rudolf Carnap
1890 Gottlob Frege starts to that philosophy’s proper function—
explore the logical structures and its primary contribution to
of language. science—is the analysis and
1921 Ludwig Wittgenstein clarification of scientific concepts.
writes that philosophy is the Carnap claims that many
apparently deep philosophical
study of the limits of language.
problems—such as metaphysical rule out those questions that are,
AFTER ones—are meaningless, because strictly speaking, meaningless), and
1930s Karl Popper proposes they cannot be proved or disproved to find ways of talking clearly and
that science works by means through experience. He adds that unambiguously about the sciences.
of falsifiability: no amount of they are also in fact pseudo-problems Some philosophers, such as
positive proofs can prove caused by logical confusions in the Willard Quine and Karl Popper, have
something to be true, whereas way we use language. argued that Carnap’s standards for
one negative result confirms what can be said meaningfully are
that a theory is incorrect. Logical language too exacting and present an idealized
Logical positivism accepts as true view of how science operates,
1960s Thomas Kuhn explores only strictly logical statements that which is not reflected in practice.
the social dimensions of can be empirically verified. For Nevertheless, Carnap’s reminder
scientific progress, Carnap, philosophy’s real task is that language can fool us into
undermining some of the therefore the logical analysis of seeing problems that are not really
tenets of logical positivism. language (in order to discover and there is an important one. ■
See also: Gottlob Frege 336 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■ Karl Popper 262–65 ■
T
he German philosopher In the essay Benjamin does not
IN CONTEXT Walter Benjamin was an set out a grand theory. Instead
affiliate of the Frankfurt he wants to surprise us with ideas,
BRANCH
School, a group of neo-Marxist in the same way that we might be
Ethics
social theorists who explored the surprised by something catching
APPROACH significance of mass culture and our eye while on a walk. Toward
Frankfurt School communication. Benjamin was also the end of the essay, he says that
fascinated by the techniques of film “Quotations in my work are like
BEFORE and literature, and his 1926 essay wayside robbers who leap out,
c.380 BCE Plato writes his One-Way Street is an experiment in brandishing weapons, and relieve
Symposium, considered the literary construction. It is a the idler of his certainty.”
first sustained philosophical collection of observations—
account of love. intellectual and empirical—that Illuminating love
1863 The French writer apparently occur to him as he walks The idea that the only way of
down an imaginary city street. knowing a person is to love them
Charles Baudelaire explores
hopelessly appears in the middle of
the idea of the flâneur, the
the essay, under the heading “Arc
“person who walks the city to Lamp.” In a flare of light, Benjamin
experience it.” pauses and thinks just this, and no
AFTER more—the essay moves immediately
1955 Guy Debord establishes The construction of life afterward to a new section. We are
psychogeography, the study currently lies far more in forced to guess what he means. Is
of the effects of geography the hands of facts than he saying that knowledge arises
on an individual’s emotions of convictions. out of love? Or that it is only when
and behavior. Walter Benjamin we stop hoping for some outcome
that we can clearly see the beloved?
1971 Italian novelist We cannot know. All we can do is
Italo Calvino explores the walk down the street alongside
relationships between Benjamin, experiencing the flare of
cities and signs in his book light of these passing thoughts. ■
Invisible Cities.
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■
THAT WHICH IS
CANNOT BE TRUE
HERBERT MARCUSE (1898–1979)
A
t first glance, nothing harmony of freedom and oppression,
IN CONTEXT seems to be more irrational productivity and destruction,
than Marcuse’s claim that growth and regression.” We assume
BRANCH
“that which is” cannot be true, that the societies we live in are
Political philosophy
which appears in his 1941 book, based upon reason and justice,
APPROACH Reason and Revolution. If that but when we look more closely, we
Frankfurt School which is cannot be true, the reader may find that they are neither as
is tempted to ask, then what is? But just nor as reasonable as we believe.
BEFORE Marcuse’s idea is partly an attempt Marcuse is not discounting
1820 Georg Hegel writes in to overturn the claim made by the reason, but trying to point out that
his Philosophy of Right that German philosopher Hegel that reason is subversive, and that we
what is actual is rational and what is rational is actual, and also can use it to call into question the
what is rational is actual. that what is actual is rational. society in which we live. The aim
1867 Karl Marx publishes Marcuse believes this is a of philosophy, for Marcuse, is a
dangerous idea because it leads us “rationalist theory of society.” ■
the first volume of Das Kapital,
to think that what is actually the
setting out his view of the
case—such as our existing political
“laws of motion” within system—is necessarily rational.
capitalist societies, and He reminds us that those things
asserting that capitalism is we take as reasonable may be far
guilty of exploiting humans. more unreasonable than we like to
1940s Martin Heidegger admit. He also wants to shake us
begins to explore the problems up into realizing the irrational
of technology. nature of many of the things that
we -take for granted.
AFTER
2000 Slavoj Žižek explores Fast cars are the kind of consumables
Subversive reason that Marcuse accuses us of using to
the relationship between In particular, Marcuse is deeply recognize ourselves; he says we find
technology, capitalist society, uneasy with capitalist societies and “our soul” in these items, becoming
and totalitarianism. with what he calls their “terrifying mere extensions of the things we create.
See also: Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Martin Heidegger
252–55 ■ Slavoj Žižek 326
260
G
adamer is associated in by reading it carefully in the light
IN CONTEXT particular with one form of of our present understanding. If
philosophy: “hermeneutics”. we come to a line that seems strange
BRANCH
Derived from the Greek word or particularly striking, we might
Philosophy of history
hermeneuo, meaning “interpret”, need to reach for a deeper level of
APPROACH this is the study of how humans understanding. As we interpret
Hermeneutics interpret the world. individual lines, our sense of the
Gadamer studied philosophy poem as a whole might begin to
BEFORE under Martin Heidegger, who said change; and as our sense of the
Early 19th century German that the task of philosophy is to poem as a whole changes, so might
philosopher Friedrich interpret our existence. This our understanding of individual
Schleiermacher lays the interpretation is always a process lines. This is known as the
groundwork for hermeneutics. of deepening our understanding by “hermeneutic circle.”
1890s Wilhelm Dilthey, a starting from what we already Heidegger’s approach to
know. The process is similar to how philosophy moved in this circular
German philosopher, describes
we might interpret a poem. We start fashion, and this was the approach
interpretation as taking place
in the “hermeneutic circle.”
1927 Martin Heidegger
explores the interpretation This always takes place within
We understand
of being, in Being and Time. a particular historical era,
the world through
interpretation. which gives us particular
AFTER
prejudices and biases.
1979 Richard Rorty uses
a hermeneutic approach in
his book Philosophy and the
Mirror of Nature.
1983–85 French philosopher
Paul Ricoeur writes Time History does
not belong We cannot understand
and Narrative, examining things outside of these
the capacity of narrative to to us, but we prejudices and biases.
represent our feeling of time. belong to it.
THE MODERN WORLD 261
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Jürgen Habermas 306–07 ■
think are worth asking, and the and deepen our understanding
kinds of answers with which we of our own lives in the present.
are satisfied are all the product For instance, if I pick up a book by
of our history. We cannot stand Plato, and read it carefully, I might
outside of history and culture, so find not only that I am deepening
we can never reach an absolutely my understanding of Plato, but also
objective perspective. that my own prejudices and biases
But these prejudices should not become clear, and perhaps begin to
be seen as a bad thing. They are, shift. Not only am I reading Plato,
after all, our starting point, and our but Plato is reading me. Through
current understanding and sense this dialogue, or what Gadamer
of meaning are based upon these calls “the fusion of horizons”, my
prejudices and biases. Even if it understanding of the world reaches
were possible to get rid of all our a deeper, richer level. ■
prejudices, we would not find that
we would then see things clearly.
Without any given framework for
When viewing historical objects interpretation, we would not be
we should not view time as a gulf to able to see anything at all.
be bridged, says Gadamer. Its distance
is filled with the continuity of tradition,
Conversing with history Because an experience
which sheds light on our understanding. is itself within the whole
Gadamer sees the process of
understanding our lives and our of life, the whole of life
that Gadamer later explored in his selves as similar to having a is present in it too.
book Truth and Method. Gadamer “conversation with history.” As Hans-Georg Gadamer
goes on to point out that our we read historical texts that have
understanding is always from the existed for centuries, the differences
point of view of a particular point in in their traditions and assumptions
history. Our prejudices and beliefs, reveal our own cultural norms and
the kinds of questions that we prejudices, leading us to broaden
Hans-Georg Gadamer Gadamer was born in Marburg Method, was published when
in 1900, but grew up in Breslau, he was 60. It attacked the idea
Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). that science offered the only
He studied philosophy first in route to truth and its publication
Breslau and then in Marburg, brought him wider international
where he wrote a second doctoral fame. A sociable and lively man,
dissertation under the tutelage of Gadamer remained active right
the philosopher Martin Heidegger, up until his death in Heidelberg
who was an enormous influence at the age of 102.
on his work. He became an
associate professor at Marburg, Key works
beginning a long academic career
which eventually included 1960 Truth and Method
succeeding the philosopher Karl 1976 Philosophical Hermeneutics
Jaspers as Professor of Philosophy 1980 Dialogue and Dialectic
in Heidelberg in 1949. His most 1981 Reason in the Age of
important book, Truth and Science
262
IN CONTEXT
IN SO FAR AS BRANCH
Philosophy of science
A SCIENTIFIC
APPROACH
Analytic philosophy
STATEMENT SPEAKS
BEFORE
4th century BCE Aristotle
stresses the importance of
ABOUT REALITY,
observation and measurement
to understanding the world.
1620 Francis Bacon sets
IT MUST BE
out the inductive methods of
science in Novum Organum.
FALSIFIABLE
1748 David Hume’s
Enquiry concerning Human
Understanding raises the
problem of induction.
KARL POPPER (1902–1994) AFTER
1962 Thomas Kuhn criticizes
Popper in The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions.
1978 Paul Feyerabend, in
Against Method, questions the
very idea of scientific method.
W
e often think that science
works by “proving”
truths about the world.
We might imagine that a good
scientific theory is one that we
can prove conclusively to be true.
The philosopher Karl Popper,
however, insists that this is not the
case. Instead, he says that what
makes a theory scientific is that it
is capable of being falsified, or being
shown to be wrong by experience.
Popper is interested in the
method by which science finds out
about the world. Science depends
on experiment and experience, and
if we want to do science well, we
need to pay close attention to what
philosopher David Hume called
THE MODERN WORLD 263
See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Francis Bacon 110–11 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ Rudolf Carnap 257 ■
An example of the
Experiment A Experiment B Experiment C
problem of induction is
that no matter how reliably
a tennis ball behaves in
the present, we can never
know for certain how it
will behave in the future.
48° 48°
? ?
66° 66°
THE MODERN WORLD 265
sciences, we still have to rely on
induction for our premises, and
so science is lumbered with the
problem of induction.
For this reason, according to
Science may be described Popper, we cannot prove our
as the art of systematic theories to be true. Moreover, what
over-simplification. makes a theory scientific is not that
Karl Popper it can be proved at all, but that it
can be tested against reality and
shown to be potentially false. In
other words, a falsifiable theory
is not a theory that is false, but
one that can only be shown to be
false by observation. Experiments can show that certain
arguments. The banana-flavored Theories that are untestable (for phenomena reliably follow others in
cat argument, as we have seen, example, that we each have an nature. But Popper claims that no
experiment can ever verify a theory,
is valid but not sound—whereas invisible spirit guide, or that God
or even show that it is probable.
the argument about apples and created the universe) are not part
fruit is both valid and sound. of the natural sciences. This does
not mean that they are worthless, Popper’s work has not been without
Falsifiability only that they are not the kinds of its critics. Some scientists claim
Deductive arguments could be said theories that the sciences deal with. that he presents an idealized view
to be like computer programs—the The idea of falsifiability does not of how they go about their work,
conclusions they reach are only as mean we are unjustified in having and that science is practiced very
good as the data that is fed into a belief in theories that cannot be differently from how Popper
them. Deductive reasoning has falsified. Beliefs that stand up to suggests. Nevertheless, his
an important role to play in the repeated testing, and that resist idea of falsifiability is still used in
sciences, but on its own, it cannot our attempts at falsification, can be distinguishing between scientific
say anything about the world. It taken to be reliable. But even the and non-scientific claims, and
can only say “If this is the case, best theories are always open to Popper remains perhaps the most
then that is the case.” And if we the possibility that a new result important philosopher of science
want to use such arguments in the will show them to be false. of the 20th century. ■
Karl Popper Karl Popper was born in Vienna, at the University of London.
Austria, in 1902. He studied He was knighted in 1965, and
philosophy at the University of remained in England for the rest
Vienna, after which he spent six of his life. Although he retired in
years as a schoolteacher. It was 1969, he continued to write and
during this time that he published publish until his death in 1994.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery,
which established him as one Key works
of the foremost philosophers of
science. In 1937, he emigrated 1934 The Logic of Scientific
to New Zealand, where he lived Discovery
until the end of World War II, 1945 The Open Society and Its
and where he wrote his study of Enemies
totalitarianism, The Open Society 1957 The Poverty of Historicism
and Its Enemies. In 1946, he moved 1963 Conjectures and
to England to teach, first at the Refutations: The Growth of
London School of Economics, then Scientific Knowledge
266
INTELLIGENCE
IS A MORAL
CATEGORY
THEODOR ADORNO (1903–1969)
T
he idea of the holy fool has blockhead”, and wants to make the
IN CONTEXT a long tradition in the West, case that goodness involves our
dating all the way back to entire being, both our feeling and
BRANCH
Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians our understanding.
Ethics
in which he asks his followers to be The problem with the idea of
APPROACH “fools for Christ’s sake.” Throughout the holy fool, Adorno says, is that
Frankfurt School the Middle Ages this idea was it divides us into different parts,
developed into the popular cultural and in doing so makes us incapable
BEFORE figure of the saint or sage who was of acting judiciously at all. In reality,
1st century CE Saint Paul foolish or lacked intelligence, but judgement is measured by the
writes about being a “fool who was morally good or pure. extent to which we manage to
for Christ.” In his book Minima Moralia, the make feeling and understanding
500–1450 The idea of the German philosopher Theodor Adorno cohere. Adorno’s view implies that
“holy fool”, who represents an calls into question this long tradition. evil acts are not just failures of
He is suspicious of attempts to (as feeling, but also failures of
alternative view of the world,
he puts it) “absolve and beatify the intelligence and understanding.
becomes popular throughout
Medieval Europe.
20th century The global
rise of differing forms of Intelligence Emotion
mass-media communication
raises new ethical questions.
AFTER Both are needed for me
1994 Portuguese neuroscientist to make judgements about
Antonio Damasio publishes what is right and wrong.
Descartes’ Error: Emotion,
Reason, and the Human Brain.
21st century Slavoj Žižek
explores the political, social, So to act morally I need to
and ethical dimensions of be able to use my intelligence Intelligence is a
popular culture. as well as my emotions. moral category.
THE MODERN WORLD 267
See also: René Descartes 116–23 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■
Slavoj Žižek 326
EXISTENCE
BRANCH
Ethics
APPROACH
PRECEDES
Existentialism
BEFORE
4th century BCE Aristotle
asks the question “How should
ESSENCE
we live?”
1840S Søren Kierkegaard
writes Either/Or, exploring
the role played by choice in
shaping our lives.
S
ince ancient times, the
question of what it is to
be human and what makes
us so distinct from all other types
of being has been one of the main
preoccupations of philosophers.
Their approach to the question
assumes that there is such a thing
as human nature, or an essence of
what it is to be human. It also tends
to assume that this human nature
is fixed across time and space. In
other words, it assumes that there
is a universal essence of what it is
to be human, and that this essence
can be found in every single human
that has ever existed, or will ever
exist. According to this view, all
human beings, regardless of their
THE MODERN WORLD 269
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Martin Heidegger
252–55 ■ Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Albert Camus 284–85
Precision-made
screw for a smooth First of all man exists,
pivoting action. turns up, appears on the
scene, and only afterwards
defines himself.
Jean-Paul Sartre
THE MODERN WORLD 271
Sartre’s idea that we are free to shape
our own lives influenced the students
that took to the streets of Paris in May
1968 to protest against the draconian
powers of the university authorities.
THE BANALITY
OF EVIL
HANNAH ARENDT (1906–1975)
I
n 1961, the philosopher
IN CONTEXT Hannah Arendt witnessed the
trial of Adolph Eichmann, one
BRANCH
of the architects of the Holocaust.
Ethics
In her book Eichmann in Jerusalem,
APPROACH Arendt writes of the apparent
Existentialism “everydayness” of Eichmann. The
figure before her in the dock did
BEFORE not resemble the kind of monster
c.350 St Augustine of Hippo we might imagine. In fact, he
writes that evil is not a would not have looked out of place
force, but comes from a lack in a café or in the street.
of goodness.
1200s Thomas Aquinas A failure of judgement
After witnessing the trial, Arendt Eichmann committed atrocities
writes Disputed questions not through a hatred of the Jewish
came to the conclusion that evil
on evil, exploring the idea of community, Arendt suggests, but
does not come from malevolence or
evil as a lack of something, a delight in doing wrong. Instead, because he unthinkingly followed
rather than a thing in itself. orders, disengaging from their effects.
she suggests, the reasons people
AFTER act in such ways is that they fall
1971 American social scientist victim to failures of thinking and who commit terrible acts as
Philip Zimbardo conducts judgement. Oppressive political “monsters”, brings these acts
the notorious “Stanford Prison systems are able to take advantage closer to our everyday lives,
Experiment” in which ordinary of our tendencies toward such challenging us to consider how
students are persuaded to failures, and can make acts that evil may be something of which
we might usually consider to be we are all capable. We should
participate in “evil” acts that
“unthinkable” seem normal. guard against the failures of our
would normally be considered
The idea that evil is banal does political regimes, says Arendt,
unthinkable both to themselves not strip evil acts of their horror. and the possible failures in our
and to others. Instead, refusing to see people own thinking and judgement. ■
REASON LIVES
IN LANGUAGE
EMMANUEL LEVINAS (1906–1995)
L
evinas’s ideas are most easily out of the face-to-face relationships
IN CONTEXT understood through looking we have with other people. It is
at an example. Imagine that because we are faced by the needs
BRANCH
you are walking down a street on a of other human beings that we must
Ethics
cold winter evening, and you see a offer justifications for our actions.
APPROACH beggar huddled in a doorway. She Even if you do not give your change
Phenomenology may not even be asking for change, to the beggar, you find yourself
but somehow you can’t help feeling having to justify your choice. ■
BEFORE some obligation to respond to this
1920s Edmund Husserl stranger’s need. You may choose
explores our relationship to to ignore her, but even if you do,
other human beings from a something has already been
phenomenological perspective. communicated to you: the fact that
1920s Austrian philosopher this is a person who needs your help.
Martin Buber claims that
Inevitable communication
meaning arises out of our
Levinas was a Lithuanian Jew who
relationship with others. lived through the Holocaust. He says
AFTER that reason lives in language in
From 1960 Levinas’s work on Totality and Infinity (1961), explaining
relationships influences the that “language” is the way that we
thoughts of French feminist communicate with others even
philosophers such as Luce before we have started to speak.
Irigaray and Julia Kristeva. Whenever I see the face of another
person, the fact that this is another
From 1970 Levinas’s ideas human being and that I have a
Nothing else in our lives so disrupts
on responsibility influence responsibility for them is instantly our consciousness as an encounter
psychotherapy. communicated. I can turn away with another person, who, simply by
from this responsibility, but I cannot being there, calls to us and asks us
2001 Jacques Derrida explores escape it. This is why reason arises to account for ourselves.
responsibility in relation to
humanitarian questions such See also: Edmund Husserl 224–25 ■ Roland Barthes 290–91 ■ Luce Irigaray 320 ■
T
he idea that philosophy of our experience. After all, what
IN CONTEXT begins with our ability to could be more reliable than the
wonder at the world goes facts of direct perception?
BRANCH
back as far as ancient Greece. French philosopher Merleau-
Epistemology
Usually we take our everyday lives Ponty was interested in looking
APPROACH for granted, but Aristotle claimed more closely at our experience of
Phenomenology that if we want to understand the the world, and in questioning our
world more deeply, we have to put everyday assumptions. This puts
BEFORE aside our familiar acceptance of him in the tradition known as
4th century BCE Aristotle things. And nowhere, perhaps, is phenomenology, an approach to
claims that philosophy begins this harder to do than in the realm philosophy pioneered by Edmund
with a sense of wonder.
1641 René Descartes’
Meditations on First Philosophy
Our experience is Our everyday assumptions
establishes a form of mind–
filled with puzzles and prevent us from seeing these
body dualism that Merleau- contradictions. puzzles and contradictions.
Ponty will reject.
Early 1900s Edmund Husserl
founds phenomenology as a
philosophical school. We must...
1927 Martin Heidegger writes
Being and Time, a major
influence on Merleau-Ponty.
...put our everyday ...relearn to look at
AFTER assumptions to one side. our experience.
1979 Hubert Dreyfus draws
on the works of Heidegger,
Wittgenstein, and Merleau-
Ponty to explore philosophical In order to see the world,
problems raised by artificial we must break with our
intelligence and robotics. familiar acceptance of it.
THE MODERN WORLD 275
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Edmund Husserl 224–25 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein
246–51 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71
Cognitive science
Because he was interested in seeing
the world anew, Merleau-Ponty took
an interest in cases of abnormal
experience. For example, he believed
Man is in the world and that the phantom limb phenomenon
only in the world (in which an amuptee “feels” his
does he know himself. missing limb) shows that the body
Maurice Merleau-Ponty cannot simply be a machine. If it
were, the body would no longer
acknowledge the missing part—but Maurice Merleau-
it still exists for the subject because Ponty
the limb has always been bound
up with the subject’s will. In other Maurice Merleau-Ponty was
Husserl at the beginning of the words, the body is never “just” a born in Rochefort-sur-Mer,
20th century. Husserl wanted to body—it is always a “lived” body. France, in 1908. He attended
the École Normale Supérieure
explore first-person experience in Merleau-Ponty’s focus on the role
along with Jean-Paul Sartre
a systematic way, while putting all of the body in experience, and his and Simone de Beauvoir, and
assumptions about it to one side. insights into the nature of the mind graduated in philosophy in
as fundamentally embodied, have 1930. He worked as a teacher
The body-subject led to a revival of interest in his work at various schools, until joining
Merleau-Ponty takes up Husserl’s among cognitive scientists. Many the infantry during World
approach, but with one important recent developments in cognitive War II. His major work, The
difference. He is concerned that science seem to bear out his idea Phenomenology of Perception,
Husserl ignores what is most that, once we break with our familiar was published in 1945, after
important about our experience— acceptance of the world, experience which he taught philosophy
the fact that it consists not just is very strange indeed. ■ at the University of Lyon.
of mental experience, but also of Merleau-Ponty’s interests
bodily experience. In his most extended beyond philosophy
important book, The Phenomenology to include subjects such as
education and child psychology.
of Perception, Merleau-Ponty
He was also a regular
explores this idea and comes to contributor to the journal Les
the conclusion that the mind and Temps modernes. In 1952,
body are not separate entities— Merleau-Ponty became the
a thought that contradicts a long youngest-ever Chair of
philosophical tradition championed Philosophy at the College de
by Descartes. For Merleau-Ponty, France, and remained in the
we have to see that thought and post until his death in 1961,
perception are embodied, and at the age of only 53.
that the world, consciousness, and
the body are all part of a single Key works
system. And his alternative to the
disembodied mind proposed by 1942 The Structure of
Descartes is what he calls the body- Behaviour
MRI scans of the brain provide 1945 The Phenomenology
subject. In other words, Merleau- doctors with life-saving information. of Perception
Ponty rejects the dualist’s view that However, in Merleau-Ponty’s view, no 1964 The Visible and the
the world is made of two separate amount of physical information can give Invisible
entities, called mind and matter. us a complete account of experience.
276
MAN IS DEFINED AS
A HUMAN BEING AND
WOMAN AS A FEMALE
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR (1908–1986)
F
rench philosopher Simone is to be judged. It is for this reason
IN CONTEXT de Beauvoir writes in her that de Beauvoir says that the Self
book The Second Sex that (or “I”) of philosophical knowledge
BRANCH
throughout history, the standard is by default male, and his binary
Ethics
measure of what we take to be pair—the female—is therefore
APPROACH human—both in philosophy and something else, which she calls
Feminism in society at large—has been a the Other. The Self is active and
peculiarly male view. Some knowing, whereas the Other is all
BEFORE philosophers, such as Aristotle, that the Self rejects: passivity,
c.350 BCE Aristotle says, “The have been explicit in equating full voicelessness, and powerlessness.
female is a female by virtue of humanity with maleness. Others De Beauvoir is also concerned
a certain lack of qualities.” have not said as much, but have with the way that women are
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft nevertheless taken maleness as the judged to be equal only insofar as
publishes A Vindication of the standard against which humanity they are like men. Even those who
Rights of Woman, illustrating
the equality of the sexes.
1920s Martin Heidegger sets Most of those who have
written about human
out a “philosophy of existence,”
nature have been men.
prefiguring existentialism.
1940s Jean-Paul Sartre says
“existence precedes essence.”
AFTER Men have taken maleness Men have defined
1970s Luce Irigaray explores as the standard against women by how they
which they judge differ from this standard.
the philosophical implications
human nature.
of sexual difference.
From 1980 Julia Kristeva
breaks down the notions
of “male” and “female” as Man is defined as
characterized by de Beauvoir. a human being and
woman as a female.
THE MODERN WORLD 277
See also: Hypatia of Alexandria 331 ■ Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre
268–71 ■ Luce Irigaray 320 ■ Hélène Cixous 322 ■ Martha Nussbaum 339
LANGUAGE IS
A SOCIAL ART
WILLARD VAN ORMAN QUINE (1908–2000)
S
writes that there is no such ome philosophers assert of these people when a rabbit
thing as a private language. that language is about the appears, and one of the natives
relationship between words says “gavagai.” We wonder if there
AFTER and things. Quine, however, can be a connection between the
1980s Richard Rorty suggests disagrees. Language is not about event—the appearance of the
that knowledge is more like the relationship between objects rabbit—and the fact that the native
“conversation” than the and verbal signifiers, but about says “gavagai.” As time goes on,
representation of reality. knowing what to say and when to we note that every time a rabbit
1990s In Consciousness say it. It is, he says in his 1968 essay appears, somebody says “gavagai”,
Explained, Quine’s former Ontological Relativity, a social art. so we conclude that “gavagai” can
student Daniel Dennett says Quine suggests the following be reliably translated as rabbit.
thought experiment. Imagine that But, Quine insists, we are wrong.
that both meaning and inner
we come across some people— “Gavagai” could mean all manner
experience can only be
perhaps natives of another country— of things. It could mean “oh, look,
understood as social acts.
who speak a language we do not dinner!” for example, or it could
share. We are sitting with a group mean “behold, a fluffy creature!”
THE MODERN WORLD 279
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Ferdinand de Saussure 223 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
Unsettled language
In attempting to establish the
precise meaning of this mysterious be sure that the other words we of somebody uttering “gavagai”
“gavagai”, therefore, we might think found ourselves using to explain (or, for that matter, “rabbit”), and
that the solution would be to learn the meaning of “gavagai” were of this utterance being meaningful
the language of our informants themselves accurate translations. comes not from some mysterious
thoroughly, so that we could be Quine refers to this problem as link between words and things,
absolutely sure of the contexts in the “indeterminacy of translation”, but from the patterns of our
which the word was spoken. But and it has unsettling implications. behavior, and the fact that we
this would only result in multiplying It suggests that ultimately words have learned to participate in
the problem, because we could not do not have meanings. The sense language as a social art. ■
Willard Van Born in 1908 in Ohio, USA, Quine Navy intelligence. A great
Orman Quine studied at Harvard with Alfred traveler, he was said to be
North Whitehead, a philosopher prouder of the fact that he had
of logic and mathematics. While visited 118 countries than of his
there he also met Bertrand many awards and fellowships.
Russell, who was to become a Quine became professor of
profound influence on his thought. philosophy at Harvard in 1956,
After completing his PhD in 1932, and taught there until his death
Quine traveled throughout Europe, in 2000, aged 92.
meeting many of its most eminent
philosophers, including several of Key works
the Vienna Circle.
Returning to teach at Harvard, 1952 Methods of Logic
Quine’s philosophical career was 1953 From a Logical Point
briefly interrupted during World of View
War II when he spent four years 1960 Word and Object
decrypting messages for the US 1990 The Pursuit of Truth
280
THE FUNDAMENTAL
SENSE OF FREEDOM
IS FREEDOM
FROM CHAINS
ISAIAH BERLIN (1909–1997)
W
hat does it mean to be freedom. Although he is not the first
AFTER free? This is the question to draw this distinction, he does so
Present day The development explored by the British with great originality, and uses it to
philosopher Isaiah Berlin in his expose apparent inconsistencies in
of new surveillance technology
famous essay Two Concepts of our everyday notion of freedom.
raises fresh questions about
Liberty, written in 1958. Here he For Berlin, “negative” freedom
the nature of freedom.
makes a distinction between what is what he calls our “fundamental
he calls “positive” and “negative” sense” of freedom. This kind of
THE MODERN WORLD 281
See also: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 154–59 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■
Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71
THINK LIKE
A MOUNTAIN
ARNE NAESS (1912–2009)
T
he injunction to think like Working as a forester in New
IN CONTEXT a mountain has become Mexico in the early part of the
closely associated with the 20th century, Leopold shot a female
BRANCH
concept of “deep ecology”—a term wolf on the mountainside. “We
Ethics
coined in 1973 by the Norwegian reached the old wolf in time to
APPROACH philosopher and environmental watch a fierce green fire dying in
Environmental philosophy campaigner, Arne Naess. He uses her eyes," he wrote. “I realized then,
the term to stress his belief that we and have known ever since, that
BEFORE must first recognize we are part of there was something new to me in
C.1660 Benedictus Spinoza nature, and not separate from it, if those eyes—something known only
develops his philosophy of we are to avoid environmental to her and to the mountain.” It was
nature as an extension of God. catastrophe. But the notion of from this experience that Leopold
1949 Aldo Leopold’s The Sand thinking like a mountain goes back came to the idea that we should
County Almanac is published. to 1949, when it was expressed by think like a mountain, recognizing
American ecologist Aldo Leopold not just our needs or those of our
1960 British scientist James in The Sand County Almanac. fellow humans, but those of the
Lovelock first proposes his
“Gaia hypothesis”, exploring
the natural world as a single,
self-regulating system. Thinking like
a mountain is…
1962 American biologist
Rachel Carson publishes
Silent Spring, which becomes
an important influence on
Naess’s thinking. …realizing that we are part …realizing our responsibilities
of the biosphere. to all other living things.
AFTER
1984 Zen master and teacher
Robert Aitken Roshi combines
deep ecology with the ideas We must think about the
of the Japanese Buddhist long-term interests of the
philosopher Dōgen. environment as a whole.
THE MODERN WORLD 283
See also: Laozi 24–25 ■ Benedictus Spinoza 126–29 ■ Friedrich Schelling 335
IN CONTEXT
Because we have But we know that
BRANCH consciousness, we feel that the universe as a whole
Epistemology life is meaningful. has no meaning.
APPROACH
Existentialism
BEFORE
1849 Søren Kierkegaard
explores the idea of the absurd To live well, we need to Our lives are
overcome this contradiction. a contradiction.
in his book, Fear and Trembling.
1864 Russian writer Fyodor
Dostoyevsky publishes Notes
from the Underground, which
has existentialist themes.
We can do this by fully Life will be lived
1901 Friedrich Nietzsche embracing the
writes in Will to Power that meaninglessness
all the better if it
“our existence (action, of existence. has no meaning.
suffering, willing, feeling)
has no meaning.”
1927 Martin Heidegger’s
S
ome people believe that Camus’ idea appears in his essay
Being and Time lays the philosophy’s task is to The Myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus
ground for the development search for the meaning of was a Greek king who fell out of
of existential philosophy. life. But the French philosopher and favor with the gods, and so was
AFTER novelist Albert Camus thought that sentenced to a terrible fate in the
1971 Philosopher Thomas philosophy should recognize instead Underworld. His task was to roll
that life is inherently meaningless. an enormous rock to the top of a
Nagel argues that absurdity
While at first this seems a depressing hill, only to watch it roll back to
arises out of a contradiction
view, Camus believes that only by the bottom. Sisyphus then had to
within us.
embracing this idea are we capable trudge down the hill to begin the
of living as fully as possible. task again, repeating this for all
THE MODERN WORLD 285
See also: Søren Kierkegaard 194–95 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71
Albert Camus Camus was born in Algeria in writing many of his best-known
1913. His father was killed a year novels, including The Stranger.
later in World War I, and Camus He wrote many plays, novels,
was brought up by his mother in and essays, and was awarded
extreme poverty. He studied the Nobel Prize for Literature in
philosophy at the University of 1957. Camus died in a car crash
Algiers, where he suffered the aged 46, having discarded
first attack of the tuberculosis a train ticket to accept a lift
which was to recur throughout his back to Paris with a friend.
life. At the age of 25 he went to
live in France, where he became Key works
involved in politics. He joined the
French Communist Party in 1935 1942 The Myth of Sisyphus
but was expelled in 1937. During 1942 The Stranger
World War II he worked for the 1947 The Plague
French Resistance, editing an 1951 The Rebel
underground newspaper and 1956 The Fall
CONTEM
PHILOSO
1950–PRESENT
PORARY
PHY
288 INTRODUCTION
Simone de Beauvoir The Berlin Wall is The Civil Rights Act Jacques Derrida,
publishes her constructed, dividing 1964 becomes law in the founder of
groundbreaking East and West Germany the US, prohibiting deconstruction,
feminist work, until its fall in 1989. discrimination by race. publishes Writing
The Second Sex. and Difference.
T
he closing decades of the of ethnic and religious unrest, this movement was the notion
20th century were notable culminating in the US declaring of “deconstructing” texts and
for accelerating advances a “War on Terror” at the start of the revealing them to be inherently
in technology and the subsequent new millennium. unstable, with many contradictory
improvement in communications meanings. The theory’s principal
of all kinds. The increasing power Elitist philosophies proponents—French theorists Louis
of the mass media, especially Culture in the West went through Althusser, Jacques Derrida, and
television, since the end of World similarly significant changes. The Michel Foucault—linked their
War II had fuelled a rise in popular gap between popular and “high” textual analyses with left-wing
culture with its associated culture widened after the 1960s, as politics, while the analyst Jacques
antiestablishment ideals, and this the intellectual avant-garde often Lacan gave structuralism a
in turn was prompting political and decided to disregard public taste. psychoanalytic perspective. Their
social change. From the 1960s Philosophy followed a similarly ideas were soon taken up by a
onward, the old order was being elitist path, particularly after the generation of writers and artists
questioned in Europe and the US, death of Jean-Paul Sartre, whose working under the banner of
and dissent gathered momentum Marxist existentialism—beloved of “postmodernism”, which rejected
in Eastern Europe. 1960s intellectuals—now had less all possibility of a single, objective
By the 1980s, relations between of an audience. truth, viewpoint, or narrative.
the East and West were thawing, Continental philosophy was Structuralism’s contribution to
and the Cold War was coming to a dominated in the 1970s and 80s philosophy was not enthusiastically
close; the fall of the Berlin Wall in by structuralism, a movement received by philosophers in the
1989 offered hope for the new that grew from literature-based English-speaking world, who
decade. But the 1990s was a period French philosophy. Central to viewed the work at best with
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 289
Al-Qaeda terrorist
Apollo 11 becomes Jean-François Lyotard attacks on New York
the first successful publishes The Postmodern The World Wide Web and Washington,
manned mission Condition: A Report opens up to home and D.C., US, lead to the
to the moon. on Knowledge. personal use. “War on Terror.”
suspicion, and largely with derision. public, as well as businesses and Continuing in the tradition of
Within a philosophical tradition of governments, wanted more down- Simone de Beauvoir’s existential
linguistic analysis, continental to-earth guidance from philosophy. feminist philosophy, French
structuralism seemed ultimately philosophers such as Hélène
simplistic—although it was often A more practical approach Cixous and Luce Irigaray added
written in impenetrable prose that Though postmodern philosophy a postmodern perspective to
belied its literary roots. may not have found favor with the feminism, but other thinkers on
The squabbles of philosophers majority of the general public, some both sides of the Atlantic left
did not inspire the popular culture philosophers of the period chose to postmodernism completely to
of the time. This may have been focus on more pressing social, one side. Some, such as American
because postmodernism was largely political, and ethical questions philosopher John Rawls and
incomprehensible to the general that had more relevance to people’s Germany’s Jürgen Habermas,
public. Their most common everyday lives. Thinkers in returned to examining important
experience of it was postmodern art, postcolonial Africa such as Frantz everyday concepts in depth, such
which was highly conceptual and Fanon began to examine race, as justice and communication.
accompanied by knowing references identity, and the problems that The more practical approach to
by an intellectual elite. It seemed to were inherent in any struggle for philosophy in the 21st century has
deliberately exclude any possibility liberation. Later thinkers, such as led to a renewed public interest in
of mass appreciation, and became Henry David Oruka, would begin the subject. There is no way of
seen as an abstract philosophy only to amass a new history of African predicting what direction it will
enjoyed by professional academics philosophy, questioning the rules take, but philosophy is certain to
and artists, and out of touch with governing philosophy itself, and continue to provide the world with
the world most people lived in. The what it should include. thought-provoking ideas. ■
290
LANGUAGE
IS A SKIN
ROLAND BARTHES (1915–1980)
IN CONTEXT
All philosophy about love
The lover’s language
BRANCH “trembles with desire.”
is addressed toward a
Philosophy of language particular object of desire.
APPROACH
Semiotics
BEFORE When I write or speak
380 BCE Plato’s Symposium about love, my language
is the first sustained “rubs against” the secret
philosophical discussion object of my desire.
of love in the West.
4th century CE St Augustine
of Hippo writes extensively on
the nature of love. Language affects the other Language
like skin-on-skin contact. is a skin.
1916 Ferdinand de Saussure’s
Course in General Linguistics
establishes modern semiotics
T
and the study of language as he strangest, but most are no characters, and there
a series of signs. popular, book written by is nothing in the way of a plot.
philosopher and literary There are only the reflections
1966 French psychoanalyst critic Roland Barthes is A Lover’s of a lover in what Barthes calls
Jacques Lacan looks at Discourse. As the French title, “extreme solitude.”
the relationship between Fragments d’un discours amoureux, At the very beginning of the
Alcibiades, Socrates, and suggests, this is a book told in book, Barthes makes clear that a
Agathon in his Écrits. fragments and snapshots, somewhat plot is not possible, because the
like the essay One-Way Street by solitary thoughts of a lover come in
AFTER
the German philosopher Walter outbursts that are often contradictory
1990s Julia Kristeva explores Benjamin. A Lover’s Discourse is and lack any clear order. As a lover,
the relationship between love, not so much a book of philosophy Barthes suggests, I might even find
semiotics, and psychoanalysis. as it is a love story; but it is a love myself plotting against myself. The
story without any real story. There lover is somebody who might be
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 291
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ St Augustine of Hippo 72–73 ■ Ferdinand de Saussure 223 ■ Walter Benjamin 258 ■
Roland Barthes Barthes was born in Cherbourg, pieces that were collected
France, in 1915. He attended the together and published under
University of Sorbonne in Paris the title Mythologies in 1957.
from 1935, graduating in 1939, Barthes’ reputation grew
but by this time he had already steadily through the 1960s, in
contracted the tuberculosis that France and internationally, and
would afflict him for the he taught both at home and
remainder of his life. His illness abroad. He died at the age of 64,
made it difficult to acquire when he was run over by
teaching qualifications, but it a laundry van after lunching
exempted him from military with President Mitterrand.
service during World War II. After
the war, having finally qualified Key works
as a teacher, he taught in France,
Romania, and Egypt. He returned 1957 Mythologies
to live in France full time in 1952, 1973 The Pleasure of the Text
and there started to write the 1977 A Lover’s Discourse
292
HOW WOULD WE
MANAGE WITHOUT
AMARYCULTURE?
MIDGLEY (1919–)
I
n her book Beast and Man, from other animals and the things
IN CONTEXT published in 1978, the British that we share with the rest of
philosopher Mary Midgley the animal kingdom.
BRANCH
assesses the impact the natural One of the questions that she
Philosophy of science
sciences have on our understanding tackles is that of the relationship
APPROACH of human nature. It is often claimed between nature and culture in
Analytic philosophy that the findings of the sciences, human life. Her concern is to
particularly those of palaeontology address the fact that many people
BEFORE and evolutionary biology, undermine see nature and culture as somehow
4th century BCE Aristotle our views of what it is to be human. opposed, as if culture is something
defines human beings as Midgley wants to address these non-natural that is added onto
“political animals”, suggesting fears, and she does so by stressing our animal natures.
that not only are we natural both the things that set us apart Midgley disagrees with the
beings, but that the creation of idea that culture is something of
culture is a part of our nature. a wholly different order to nature.
Instead, she wants to argue that
1st century BCE Roman poet
culture is a natural phenomenon.
Titus Lucretius Carus writes In other words, we have evolved to
On the Nature of the Universe, be the kinds of creatures who have
exploring the natural roots of We mistakenly cut cultures. It could be said that we
human culture. ourselves off from other spin culture as naturally as spiders
1859 Naturalist Charles animals, trying not spin webs. If this is so, then we
Darwin publishes On the to believe we have can no more do without culture
Origin of Species, arguing that an animal nature. than a spider can do without its
all life has evolved through a Mary Midgley web: our need for culture is both
process of natural selection. innate and natural. In this way,
Midgley hopes both to account
AFTER for human uniqueness, and also
1980s onward Richard to put us in the larger context of
Dawkins and Mary Midgley our evolutionary past. ■
debate the implications of
Darwinism for our view of See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51
human nature.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 293
NORMAL SCIENCE
DOES NOT AIM AT
NOVELTIES OF FACT
OR THEORY
THOMAS KUHN (1922–1996)
A
merican physicist and accumulate until a crisis point is
IN CONTEXT historian of science reached. Following the crisis, if a
Thomas Kuhn is best new theory has been formulated,
BRANCH
known for his book The Structure there is a shift in the paradigm,
Philosophy of science
of Scientific Revolutions, published and the new theoretical framework
APPROACH in 1962. The book is both an replaces the old. Eventually this
History of science exploration of turning points in framework is taken for granted,
the history of science and an and normal science resumes—until
BEFORE attempt to set out a theory of how further anomalies arise. An example
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus revolutions in science take place. of such a shift was the shattering
publishes On the Revolutions of the classical view of space and
of the Heavenly Spheres, Paradigm shifts time following the confirmation of
leading to a paradigm shift in Science, in Kuhn’s view, alternates Einstein’s theories of relativity. ■
our view of the solar system. between periods of “normal science”
and periods of “crisis.” Normal
1934 In The Logic of Scientific
science is the routine process by
Discovery, Karl Popper defines
which scientists working within
“falsifiability” as a criterion a theoretical framework—or
for science. “paradigm”—accumulate results
AFTER that do not call the theoretical
1975 Paul Feyerabend writes underpinnings of their framework
Against Method, advocating into question. Sometimes, of
“epistemological anarchism”. course, anomalous, or unfamiliar,
results are encountered, but these
1976 In Proofs and Refutations, are usually considered to be errors
Imre Lakatos brings together on the part of the scientists
Karl Popper’s “falsificationism” Nicolaus Copernicus’s claim that
concerned—proof, according to Earth orbits the Sun was a revolution
and the work of Kuhn. Kuhn, that normal science does in scientific thinking. It led to scientists
Today Rival interpretations not aim at novelties. Over time, abandoning the belief that our planet
however, anomalous results can is at the center of the universe.
of quantum phenomena yield
rival paradigms of the
subatomic world. See also: Francis Bacon 110–11 ■ Rudolf Carnap 257 ■ Karl Popper 262–65 ■
THE PRINCIPLES OF
JUSTICE ARE CHOSEN
BEHIND A VEIL
OF IGNORANCE
JOHN RAWLS (1921–2002)
I
Hobbes’s theory in his Second n his book A Theory of Justice, social contract is made. From this
Treatise of Government. first published in 1971, political Rawls establishes principles of
philosopher John Rawls argues justice on which, he claims, all
1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau for a re-evaluation of justice in rational beings should agree.
writes The Social Contract. terms of what he calls “justice as
His views are later adopted fairness.” His approach falls into The original position
by French revolutionaries. the tradition known as social Imagine that a group of strangers is
AFTER contract theory, which sees the rule marooned on a desert island, and
1974 Robert Nozick criticizes of law as a form of contract that that, after giving up hope of being
individuals enter into because it rescued, they decide to start a new
Rawls’ “original position” in
yields benefits that exceed what society from scratch. Each of the
his influential book Anarchy,
they can attain individually. Rawls’ survivors wants to further their
State, and Utopia.
version of this theory involves a own interests, but each also sees
2001 Rawls defends his views thought experiment in which people that they can only do so by working
in his last book, Justice as are made ignorant of their place in together in some way—in other
Fairness: A Restatement. society, or placed in what he calls words, by forming a social contract.
the “original position” in which the The question is: how do they go
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 295
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■ John Locke 130–33 ■
Key works
ART IS A
FORM OF LIFE
RICHARD WOLLHEIM (1923–2003)
T
he British philosopher of
IN CONTEXT art, Richard Wollheim,
believes that we should
BRANCH
resist the tendency to see art as
Aesthetics
an abstract idea that needs to be
APPROACH analyzed and explained. If we are
Analytic philosophy to fully understand art, he believes,
we must always define it in relation
BEFORE to its social context. By describing
c.380 BCE Plato’s Republic art as a “form of life”, in Art and
explores the relationship its Objects (1968), he uses a term
between art forms and coined by the Austrian-born
political institutions. philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein
1953 Ludwig Wittgenstein’s to describe the nature of language.
For Wittgenstein, language is a What we consider art may depend
Philosophical Investigations on the context in which we view it.
“form of life”, because the way we
introduces and explores his Andy Warhol’s 32 Campbell’s Soup
use it is always a reflection of our
concept of “forms of life.” individual experiences, habits, and Cans creates fine art from images
usually associated with commerce.
1964 Arthur Danto publishes skills. He is attempting to resist the
his philosophical essay tendency of philosophy to make
The Artworld, which analyzes simplistic generalizations about beliefs, histories, emotional
artistic endeavor from an language and instead is pointing to dispositions, physical needs,
institutional viewpoint. the many different roles language and communities—and the world
plays in our lives. that they interpret is a world of
AFTER constant change. For Wollheim, one
1969 American philosopher Social setting implication of this is that there can
George Dickie develops further Wollheim is making the same point be no general “artistic impulse” or
the institutional theory of as Wittgenstein, but in relation to instinct for the creation of art
artistic creativity in his works of art. Artists, he states, are that is totally independent of the
essay Defining Art. conditioned by their context—their institutions in which it operates. ■
ANYTHING GOES
PAUL FEYERABEND (1924–1994)
B
orn in Austria, Feyerabend questions and theories about
IN CONTEXT became a student of Karl knowledge, and Feyerabend’s
Popper at the London “anarchism” is rooted in the idea
BRANCH
School of Economics, but he went that all of the methodologies used
Philosophy of science
on to depart significantly from in the sciences are limited in
APPROACH Popper’s rational model of science. scope. As a result, there is no such
Analytic philosophy During his time at the University of thing as “scientific method.” If we
California in the 1960s and 1970s, look at how science has developed
BEFORE Feyerabend became friendly with and progressed in practice, the only
1934 In The Logic of Scientific the German-born philosopher “method” that we can discern is
Discovery, Karl Popper defines Thomas Kuhn, who argued that that “anything goes.” Science,
“falsifiability” as a criterion for scientific progress is not gradual, Feyerabend maintains, has never
any scientific theory. but always jumps in “paradigm progressed according to strict
1962 Thomas Kuhn introduces shifts” or revolutions that lead to rules, and if the philosophy of
whole new frameworks for scientific science demands such rules, it
the idea of “paradigm shifts”
thinking. Feyerabend goes even will limit scientific progress. ■
in science in The Structure of
further, suggesting that when this
Scientific Revolutions. occurs, all the scientific concepts
1960s and early 1970s and terms are altered, so there is no
Feyerabend develops his ideas permanent framework of meaning.
in discussion with his friend
and fellow philosopher of Anarchy in science
science, Imre Lakatos. Feyerabend’s most famous book Science and myth
Against Method: Outline of an overlap in many ways.
AFTER Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge, Paul Feyerabend
From 1980s Feyerabend’s was first published in 1975. Here
ideas contribute to the theories he sets out his vision of what he
of the mind proposed by calls “epistemological anarchism”.
American philosophers Epistemology is the branch of
Patricia and Paul Churchland. philosophy that deals with
KNOWLEDGE
IS PRODUCED
TO BE SOLD
JEAN-FRANCOIS LYOTARD (1924–1998)
T
he idea that knowledge been used by various art critics
IN CONTEXT is produced to be sold since the 1870s, his book was
appears in Jean-François responsible for broadening its range
BRANCH
Lyotard’s book The Postmodern and increasing its popularity. His
Epistemology
Condition: A Report on Knowledge. use of the word in the title of this
APPROACH The book was originally written book is often said to mark the
Postmodernism for the Council of Universities in beginning of postmodern thought.
Quebec, Canada, and the use of The term “postmodernism”
BEFORE the term “postmodern” in its title has since been used in so many
1870s The term “postmodern” is significant. Although Lyotard different ways that it is now hard
is first used in the context of did not invent the term, which had to know exactly what it means,
art criticism.
1939–45 Technological
advances in World War II lay
Computer technology has
the ground for the computer
changed knowledge into
revolution of the 20th century. information that is…
1953 Ludwig Wittgenstein
writes in his Philosophical
Investigations about “language
games”—an idea that Lyotard …stored in vast …owned by large
uses to develop his idea of databases. corporations.
meta-narratives.
AFTER
1984 American literary critic This information is judged
by its commercial value,
Fredric Jameson writes
not by its truth.
Postmodernism, or the Cultural
Logic of Late Capitalism.
From 1990s The World Wide
Web offers unprecedented Knowledge is
access to information. produced to be sold.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 299
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
P
hilosopher and psychiatrist peoples have been formed by
IN CONTEXT Frantz Fanon first published the dominant colonial culture.
his psychoanalytic study of European colonial cultures tended
BRANCH
colonialism and racism, Black Skin, to equate “blackness” with
Political philosophy
White Masks, in 1952. In the book impurity, which shaped the self-
APPROACH Fanon attempts to explore the view of those who were subject
Existentialism psychological and social legacy to colonial rule, so that they came
of colonialism among non-white to see the color of their skin as
BEFORE communities around the world. a sign of inferiority.
4th century BCE Aristotle In saying that “for the black The only way out of this
argues in the Nicomachean man, there is only one destiny”, predicament seems to be an
Ethics that slavery is a and this destiny is white, Fanon is aspiration to achieve a “white
natural state. saying at least two things. First, existence”; but this will always fail,
19th century Africa is he says that “the black man wants because the fact of having dark
to be like the white man”; that is, skin will always mean that one will
partitioned and colonized
the aspirations of many colonized fail to be accepted as white. For
by European countries.
1930s The French négritude
movement calls for a unified
White colonial cultures Colonized people want
black consciousness. equate “blackness” to escape from this
AFTER with inferiority. “inferior” position.
1977 Steve Biko, an anti-
apartheid activist inspired
by Fanon, dies in police
Colonized people start
custody in South Africa. The only escape is to take on the assumed
to reject “blackness.” superiority of colonial cultures.
1978 Edward Said, influenced
by Fanon’s work, writes
Orientalism, a post-colonial
study of Western perspectives For the black man
on the Middle East in the there is only one
19th century. destiny. And it is white.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 301
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ Jean-Paul Sartre 268–71 ■ Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274–75 ■ Edward Said 321
Fanon writes that “the black man’s address these injustices. “I find
soul is a white man’s artefact.” In myself in the world and I recognize
other words, the idea of what it that I have one right alone,” Fanon
means to be black is the creation writes at the end of his book; “that
There is a fact: of patterns of fundamentally racist of demanding human behavior from
White men consider European thought. the other.” Fanon’s thought has been
themselves superior Here Fanon is, in part, responding of widespread importance in anti-
to black men. to what was known in France as colonial and anti-racist movements,
Frantz Fanon the négritude (or “blackness”) and has influenced social activists
movement. This was a movement of such as anti-apartheid campaigner
French and French-speaking black Steve Biko and scholars such as
writers from the 1930s who wanted Edward Said. ■
to reject the racism and colonialism
of mainstream French culture, and
Fanon, this aspiration to achieve argued for an independent, shared
“a white existence” not only fails black culture. But Fanon believes
to address racism and inequality, that this idea of négritude is one
but it also masks or even condones that fails to truly address the
these things by implying that there problems of racism that it seeks to
is an “unarguable superiority” to overcome, because the way that it
white existence. thinks about “blackness” simply
At the same time, Fanon is repeats the fantasies of mainstream
saying something more complex. white culture.
It might be thought that, given this
tendency to aspire to a kind of Human rights
“white existence”, the solution would In one sense, Fanon believes that
The inferiority associated with being
be to argue for an independent view the solution can only come when black led many colonized people to
of what it means to be black. Yet we move beyond racial thinking; adopt the “mother country’s cultural
this, too, is subject to all kinds of that if we remain trapped within standards”, says Fanon, and even to
problems. Elsewhere in his book, the idea of race we cannot ever aspire to a “white existence.”
Frantz Fanon entering France surprised him. It developed leukemia. During his
played a huge role in shaping his illness, he wrote his final book,
Frantz Fanon was born in 1925 philosophy, and one year after The Wretched of the Earth,
in Martinique, a Caribbean qualifying as a psychiatrist in arguing for a different world. It
island that was at that time a 1951, he published his book Black was published in the year of his
French colony. He left Martinique Skin, White Masks. death with a preface by Jean-
to fight with the Free French In 1953 Fanon moved to Paul Sartre, a friend who had
Forces in World War II, after Algeria where he worked as a first influenced Fanon, then
which he studied both medicine hospital psychiatrist. After two been influenced by him.
and psychiatry in Lyon, France. years of hearing his patients’
He also attended lectures on tales of the torture they endured Key works
literature and philosophy, during the 1954–62 Algerian War
including those given by the of Independence, he resigned his 1952 Black Skin, White Masks
philosopher Merleau-Ponty. The government-funded post, moved 1959 A Dying Colonialism
young Fanon had thought of to Tunisia, and began working 1961 The Wretched of the Earth
himself as French, and the for the Algerian independence 1969 Toward the African
racism he encountered on first movement. In the late 1950s, he Revolution (collected short works)
302
MAN IS AN
INVENTION OF
RECENT DATE
MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926–1984)
IN CONTEXT
We treat the idea
BRANCH of “man” or humankind
Epistemology as if it is a natural
and eternal idea.
APPROACH
Discursive archaeology But an archaeology of our
thinking shows that the idea
BEFORE of “man” arose as an object of
Late 18th century Immanuel study at the beginning
Kant lays the foundation for the Man is an of the 19th century.
19th-century model of “man.” invention of
1859 Charles Darwin’s On recent date.
the Origin of Species causes
a revolution in how we
understand ourselves.
T
1883 Friedrich Nietzsche, he idea that man is an we find ourselves. What we take to
in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, invention of recent date be the “common sense” background
announces that man is appears in The Order of to how we think and talk about the
something to be surpassed. Things: An Archaeology of the world is in fact shaped by these rules
Human Sciences by French and these conditions. However, the
AFTER philosopher Michel Foucault. To rules and conditions change over
1991 Daniel Dennett’s understand what Foucault means time, and consequently so do our
Consciousness Explained by this, we need to know what he discourses. For this reason, an
calls into question many of means by archaeology, and why he “archaeology” is needed to unearth
our most cherished notions thinks that we should apply it both the limits and the conditions
about consciousness. to the history of thought. of how people thought and talked
Foucault is interested in how about the world in previous ages.
1991 American philosopher
our discourse—the way in which We cannot take concepts that we
Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg we talk and think about things— use in our present context (for
Manifesto attempts to imagine is formed by a set of largely example, the concept of “human
a post-human future. unconscious rules that arise out of nature”) and assume that they are
the historical conditions in which somehow eternal, and that all we
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 303
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Friedrich Nietzsche 214–21 ■ Martin Heidegger 252–55 ■
The 19th century saw a revolution in end—one that may soon be erased
anatomy, as shown in this illustration “like a face drawn in the sand at
from a medical text book. Foucault the edge of the sea.”
believes that our modern concept of
man dates from this period.
Is Foucault right? In a time of
rapid advances in computing and
human-machine interfaces, and
by abandoning the old question when philosophers informed by
“Why is the world the way it is?” cognitive science, such as Daniel
and asking “Why do we see the Dennett and Dan Wegner, are
world the way we do?” We take our questioning the very nature of
idea of what it is to be human as subjectivity, it is hard not to feel
fundamental and unchanging, but that, even if the face in the sand is
it is in fact only a recent invention. not about to be erased, the tide is
Foucault locates the beginning of lapping alarmingly at its edges. ■
our particular idea of “man” at the
beginning of the 19th century,
around the time of the birth of the
natural sciences. This idea of “man”
need is a “history of ideas” to trace is, Foucault considers, paradoxical:
their genealogy. For Foucault, it is we see ourselves both as objects in
simply wrong to assume that our the world, and so as objects of study, Man is neither the oldest nor
current ideas can be usefully and as subjects who experience and the most constant problem
applied to any previous point in study the world—strange creatures that has been posed for
history. The ways in which we use that look in two directions at once. human knowledge.
the words “man”, “mankind”, and Michel Foucault
“human nature”, Foucault believes, The human self-image
are examples of this. Foucault suggests that not only is
The roots of this idea lie firmly this idea of “man” an invention of
in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, recent date, it is also an invention
who turned philosophy on its head that may be close to coming to its
IF WE CHOOSE, WE CAN
LIVE IN A WORLD OF
COMFORTING
NOAM CHOMSKY (1928–)
ILLUSION
A
lthough originally famous governments are not by themselves
IN CONTEXT for his work in linguistics, sufficient for us to reach the truth
Noam Chomsky is today about political power. Governments
BRANCH
best known for his analyses of may speak the language of “facts”
Ethics
political power. Since the publication as a way of justifying their actions,
APPROACH of his first political book, American but unless their claims are
Universalism Power and the New Mandarins, in supported by evidence, then they
1969, he has claimed that there is are only illusions, and the actions
BEFORE often a mismatch between the way to which they lead lack justification.
c.380 BCE In The Republic, that states exert power and the If we are to understand more clearly
Plato claims that many of rhetorical claims that they make. He how states operate, it is necessary
us live in a world of illusion. maintains that rhetorical claims by to move beyond the battle between
1739 David Hume publishes
A Treatise of Human Nature.
Though an empiricist, he
claims that there must be If we assume that
our own government is ... we are choosing
some fixed principles from to live in a world of
naturally more ethical
which morality derives. than other governments... c mforting illusion..
co
1785 Immanuel Kant, in
his Groundwork of the
Metaphysic of Morals,
argues that morality should
be based on universality. To break with this
illusion we need to…
Early 20th century John
Dewey argues that politics
is the shadow cast on society
by big business.
... apply the same ethical
1971 John Rawls revives ... look at the evidence principles that we apply
Kant’s notion of universality for what our government to other governments
actually does. to our own.
in his A Theory of Justice.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 305
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ David Hume 148–53 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■
SOCIETY IS
DEPENDENT UPON
A CRITICISM OF ITS
OWN TRADITIONS
JURGEN HABERMAS (1929– )
A
ccording to the German Reason, for him, is not about
IN CONTEXT philosopher Jürgen discovering abstract truths, but
Habermas, modern society about the need we have to justify
BRANCH
depends not only on technological ourselves to others.
Political philosophy
advances, but also upon our ability
APPROACH to criticize and reason collectively Creating a public sphere
Social theory about our own traditions. Reason, In the 1960s and 1970s, Habermas
says Habermas, lies at the heart concluded that there was a link
BEFORE of our everyday communications. between communicative reason
1789 The French Revolution Somebody says or does something, and what he calls the “public
begins, marking the end of and we say, “Why did you do that?” sphere.” Up until the 18th century,
a “representational” power or “Why did you say that?” We he states, European culture was
structure in France. continually ask for justifications, largely “representational”, meaning
1791 Jeremy Bentham which is why Habermas talks that the ruling classes sought to
about “communicative” reason. “represent” themselves to their
writes Of Publicity, an early
subjects with displays of power
exploration of the idea of
that required no justification, such
the “public.” as impressive pageants or grand
1842 Karl Marx writes his architectural projects. But in the
essay On Freedom of the Press. 18th century, a variety of public
spaces emerged that were outside
AFTER state control, including literary
1986 Edward Said criticizes salons and coffee houses. These
Habermas and the Frankfurt were places where individuals could
School for their Eurocentric gather to engage in conversation or
views and their silence on reasoned debate. This growth of
racist theory and imperialism. the public sphere led to increased
1999 Canadian author Naomi opportunities to question the
Klein’s No Logo explores the authority of representational state
culture. The public sphere became
fate of the public sphere in an Coffee houses became a focus of
social and political life in the major cities a “third space”, a buffer between
era dominated by advertising
of 18th-century Europe. Noted as places the private space of our immediate
and the mass media. friends and family, and the space
where “the dissaffected met”, attempts
were frequently made to close them. occupied by state control.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 307
See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■ Edgar Morin 338 ■
J
acques Derrida remains one
of the most controversial Aporia and différance
20th-century philosophers. Even the most straightforward
His name is associated, first and texts (and Of Grammatology is not
foremost, with “deconstruction”, one such text) are riddled with
a complex and nuanced approach what Derrida calls “aporias”. The
to how we read and understand the word “aporia” comes from the
nature of written texts. If we are to Ancient Greek, where it means
understand what Derrida means something like “contradiction”,
when he says in his famous book “puzzle”, or “impasse.” For Derrida,
Of Grammatology that there is all written texts have such gaps,
nothing outside of the text (the holes, and contradictions and his
original French is “il n’y a pas de method of deconstruction is a way
A typesetter can check plates of type
hors-texte”, also translated as of reading texts while looking out closely before they are printed, but the
“there is no outside-text”), we need for these puzzles and impasses. In ideas they express are full of “aporias”,
to take a closer look at Derrida’s exploring these contradictions as or contradictions, says Derrida, which
deconstructive approach in general. they appear in different texts, no amount of analysis can eliminate.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 311
See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Charles Sanders Peirce 205 ■ Ferdinand de Saussure 223 ■ Emmanuel Levinas 273 ■
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was born to
Jewish parents in the then
French colony of Algeria. He
was interested in philosophy
from an early age, but also
Derrida registered his opposition latter’s response to this, perhaps, nurtured dreams of becoming
to the Vietnam War in a lecture given might be to say that the idea of a professional soccer player.
in the US in 1968. His involvement in having a thesis is itself based on
numerous political issues and debates
Eventually it was philosophy
the idea of “presence” that he is that won out and, in 1951, he
informed much of his later work.
attempting to call into question. entered the École Normale
This may seem like dodging the Supérieure in Paris. There he
philosophers have suggested that issue; but if we take Derrida’s idea formed a friendship with Louis
deconstruction is essentially an seriously, then we have to admit Althusser, also of Algerian
ethical practice. In reading a text that the idea that there is nothing origin, who, like Derrida, went
deconstructively, we call into outside of the text is itself not on to become one of the most
question the claims that it is outside of the text. To take this prominent thinkers of his day.
making, and we open up difficult idea seriously, then, is to treat it The publication in 1967 of
Of Grammatology, Writing and
ethical issues that may have sceptically, to deconstruct it, and
Difference, and Speech and
remained hidden. Certainly in to explore the puzzles, impasses, Phenomena sealed Derrida’s
his later life, Derrida turned his and contradictions that—according international reputation. A
attention to some of the very real to Derrida himself—lurk within it. ■ regular visiting lecturer at a
ethical puzzles and contradictions number of European and
that are raised by ideas such as American universities, he took
“hospitality” and “forgiveness.” up the post of Professor of
Humanities at the University
Critics of Derrida of California, Irvine, in 1986.
Given that Derrida’s idea is based His later work increasingly
on the notion that meaning can I never give in focused on issues of ethics,
never be completely present in the to the temptation to partly due to the influence
text, it is perhaps not surprising be difficult just for the of Emmanuel Levinas.
that Derrida’s work can often be sake of being difficult.
Jacques Derrida Key works
difficult. Michel Foucault, one of
Derrida’s contemporaries, attacked
1967 Of Grammatology
Derrida’s thinking for being wilfully 1967 Writing and Difference
obscure; he protested that often it 1967 Speech and Phenomena
was impossible to say exactly what 1994 The Politics of Friendship
Derrida’s thesis actually was. The
THERE IS NOTHING
DEEP DOWN INSIDE US
EXCEPT
WHAT WE HAVE PUT THERE
OURSELVES
RICHARD RORTY (1931–2007)
316 RICHARD RORTY
T
he soul is a curious thing.
IN CONTEXT Even if we cannot say
much about our souls or
BRANCH
describe what a soul is like, many
Ethics
of us nonetheless hold firmly to
APPROACH the belief that, somewhere deep Philosophy makes
Pragmatism down, we each have such a thing. progress not by becoming
Not only this, we might claim that more rigorous but by
BEFORE this thing is the fundamental self becoming more imaginative.
5th century BCE Socrates (“me”) and, at the same time, is Richard Rorty
disputes the nature of justice, somehow connected directly with
goodness, and other concepts the truth or reality.
with the citizens of Athens. The tendency to picture
4th century BCE Aristotle ourselves as possessing a kind of
“double”—a soul or a deep self that
writes a treatise on the nature
“uses Reality’s own language”—is
of the soul.
explored by American philosopher pragmatists consider statements in
1878 Charles Sanders Peirce Richard Rorty in the introduction quite a different way, asking instead:
coins the term “pragmatism.” to his book, The Consequences of “what are the practical implications
Pragmatism (1982). Rorty argues of accepting this as true?”
1956 American philosopher
that, to the extent that we have Rorty’s first major book,
Wilfrid Sellars publishes
such a thing at all, a soul is a Philosophy and the Mirror of
Empiricism and the Philosophy human invention; it is something Nature, published in 1979, was an
of Mind, calling into question that we have put there ourselves. attempt to argue against the idea
the “myth of the given.” that knowledge is a matter of
AFTER Knowledge as a mirror correctly representing the world,
1994 South-African-born Rorty was a philosopher who worked like some kind of mental mirror.
philosopher John McDowell within the American tradition of Rorty argues that this view of
publishes Mind and World, a pragmatism. In considering a knowledge cannot be upheld, for
statement, most philosophical two reasons. First, we assume that
book strongly influenced by
traditions ask “is this true?” , in our experience of the world is
Rorty’s work.
the sense of: “does this correctly directly “given” to us—we assume
represent the way things are?”. But that what we experience is the raw
Key works
EVERY DESIRE
HAS A RELATION
TO MADNESS
LUCE IRIGARAY (1932– )
T
he Belgian philosopher and authentically female ways of
IN CONTEXT analyst Luce Irigaray is speaking and desiring that are
concerned above all else free from male-centeredness.
BRANCH
with the idea of sexual difference.
Political philosophy
A former student of Jacques Lacan, Wisdom and desire
APPROACH a psychoanalyst who famously To address this problem, Irigaray
Feminism explored the linguistic structure suggests that all thinking—even
of the unconscious, Irigaray claims the most apparently sober and
BEFORE that all language is essentially objective-sounding philosophy,
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft’s masculine in nature. with its talk of wisdom, certainty,
A Vindication of the Rights of In Sex and Genealogies (1993) rectitude, and moderation—is
Woman first initiates serious she writes: “Everywhere, in underpinned by desire. In failing
debate about the place of everything, men’s speech, men’s to acknowledge the desire that
women in society. values, dreams, and desires are underpins it, traditional male-
law.” Irigaray’s feminist work can centered philosophy has also failed
1890s Austrian psychologist
be seen as a struggle to find to acknowledge that beneath its
Sigmund Freud establishes
apparent rationality simmer all
his psychoanalytic method, manner of irrational impulses.
which will greatly influence Irigaray suggests that each sex
Irigaray’s work. has its own relationship to desire,
1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s and as a result each sex has a
The Second Sex explores relation to madness. This calls
the implications of sexual One must assume the into question the long tradition
difference. feminine role deliberately. of equating maleness with this
Luce Irigaray rationality, and femaleness with
AFTER irrationality. It also opens the
1993 Luce Irigaray turns to way to the possibility of new
non-Western modes of thought ways of writing and thinking
about sexual difference in about philosophy, for both men
An Ethics of Sexual Difference. and women. ■
T
he Palestinian writer civilization to the world—a view
IN CONTEXT Edward Said was one of not shared by the people they
the 20th century’s foremost claimed to be helping. Empires
BRANCH
critics of imperialism. In 1978 he plunder and control, while masking
Political philosophy
published Orientalism, which their abuses of power by talking
APPROACH explored how the depictions of about their “civilizing” missions.
Post-colonialism Islamic societies by 19th-century If this is the case, Said warns, we
European scholars were closely should be wary of present-day
BEFORE related to the imperialist ideologies claims by any state undertaking
19th century European of European states. foreign interventions. ■
scholars research the histories In his later work, Said remained
of their colonial subjects. critical of all forms of imperialism,
The British Empire was one of many
1940S In the aftermath of past and present. He points out that 19th-century empires that claimed
World War II, the European although we may be critical of to believe it was bringing the benefits
empires of the past, these empires of civilization to the countries it
colonial empires begin to
saw themselves as bringing colonized, such as India.
fragment and collapse.
1952 Frantz Fanon writes
Black Skin, White Masks, an
early study of the damage
caused by colonialism.
AFTER
1988 Indian philosopher
Gayatri Spivak publishes
Can the Subaltern Speak?
examining post-colonialism.
From 2000 Scholars such as
Noam Chomsky increasingly
interpret American global
power according to a model See also: Frantz Fanon 300–01 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03 ■ Noam Chomsky 304–05
of imperialism.
322
THOUGHT HAS
ALWAYS WORKED
BY OPPOSITION
HELENE CIXOUS (1937– )
I
n 1975, the French poet,
IN CONTEXT novelist, playwright, and
philosopher Hélène Cixous
BRANCH
wrote Sorties, her influential
Epistemology
exploration of the oppositions that
Woman must write
APPROACH often define the way we think
about the world. For Cixous, a
herself and bring woman
Feminism into literature.
thread that runs through centuries
BEFORE of thought is our tendency to group Hélène Cixous
1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s elements of our world into opposing
The Second Sex explores the pairs, such as culture/nature, day/
philosophical implications of night, and head/heart. Cixous
sexual difference. claims that these pairs of elements
1962 French anthropologist are always by implication ranked
hierarchically, underpinned by a philosophical systems, but also for
Claude Lévi-Strauss writes
tendency to see one element as our social and political institutions.
The Savage Mind, a study of
being dominant or superior and Cixous herself, however, refuses to
binary oppositions in culture. associated with maleness and play the game of setting up binary
1967 Controversial French activity, while the other element or oppositions, of victors and losers,
philosopher Jacques Derrida weaker aspect is associated with as a structural framework for our
publishes Of Grammatology, femaleness and passivity. thinking. Instead she conjures up
introducing the concept of the image of “millions of species
deconstruction, which Cixous Time for change of mole as yet not recognized”,
uses in her study of gender. Cixous believes that the authority tunnelling away under the edifices
of this hierarchical pattern of of our world view. And what will
AFTER thinking is now being called into happen when these edifices start to
1970s The French literary question by a new blossoming of crumble? Cixous does not say. It is
movement of écriture féminine feminist thought. She questions as if she is telling us that we can
(“women’s writing”) explores what the implications of this make no assumptions, that the only
appropriate use of language in change might be, not only for our thing we can do is wait and see. ■
feminist thinking, taking its
inspiration from Cixous. See also: Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■
Jacques Derrida 308–13 ■ Julia Kristeva 323 ■ Martha Nussbaum 339
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 323
B
ulgarian-born philosopher to be successful in achieving true
IN CONTEXT and psychoanalyst Julia emancipation, it must constantly
Kristeva is often regarded question its relationship to power
BRANCH
as one of the leading voices in and established social systems—
Political philosophy
French feminism. Nevertheless, and, if necessary “renounce belief
APPROACH the question of whether, or in what in its own identity.” If the feminist
Feminism way, Kristeva is a feminist thinker movement fails to take these steps,
has been subject to considerable Kristeva fears that it is in serious
BEFORE debate. Part of the reason for this danger of developing into little
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft’s is that for Kristeva herself, the very more than an additional strand
A Vindication of the Rights notion of feminism is problematic. in the ongoing game of power. ■
of Woman initiates serious Feminism has arisen out of the
debate about the nature of the conflict women have had with
roles women are conditioned the structures that are associated
to play in society. with male dominance or power.
Because of these roots, Kristeva
1807 Georg Hegel explores
warns, feminism carries with it
the dialectic between some of the same male-centered
“master” and “slave” in presuppositions that it is seeking
Phenomenology of Spirit. to question.
1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s If the feminist movement is
The Second Sex is published, to realize its goals fully, Kristeva
rapidly becoming a key text in believes that it is essential for it to
the French feminist movement. be more self-critical. She warns
that by seeking to fight what she
AFTER calls the “power principle” of a
Margaret Thatcher, like many
1999 In their book Fashionable male-dominated world, feminism women who have achieved positions
Nonsense, physics professors is at risk of adopting yet another of great power, modified her public
Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont form of this principle. Kristeva is image to incorporate classic male
criticize Kristeva’s misuse convinced that for any movement concepts of strength and authority.
of scientific language.
See also: Mary Wollstonecraft 175 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■
Simone de Beauvoir 276–77 ■ Hélène Cixous 322 ■ Martha Nussbaum 339
324
PHILOSOPHY IS NOT
ONLY A WRITTEN
ENTERPRISE
HENRY ODERA ORUKA (1944–1995)
H
enry Odera Oruka was philosophers in general tend to work
IN CONTEXT born in Kenya in 1944 with written texts. Some people
and he was interested in have claimed that philosophy is
BRANCH
metaphilosophy, or philosophizing necessarily connected with written
Metaphilosophy
about philosophy. In his book Sage recording, but Oruka disagrees.
APPROACH Philosophy (1994), he looks at why In order to explore philosophy
Ethnography philosophy in sub-Saharan Africa within the oral traditions of Africa,
has often been overlooked, and Oruka proposed an approach that
BEFORE concludes that it is because it is he called “philosophic sagacity”. He
600–400 BCE Greek thinkers primarily an oral tradition, while borrowed the ethnographic approach
such as Thales, Pythagoras, of anthropology, where people are
and Plato all study in Egypt, observed in their everyday settings,
Africa, which was a center of and their thoughts and actions
philosophical study in the recorded in context. Oruka himself
ancient world. traveled into villages and recorded
conversations with people who
AFTER were considered wise by their local
20th century After the retreat community. His aim was to find out
of European colonial power, whether they had systematic views
African philosophy begins to underpinning their perspectives.
flourish across the continent. Those sages who had critically
The growth of anthropology examined their ideas about
and ethnography also leads traditional philosophical topics,
to a deeper understanding such as God or freedom, and found
of indigenous traditions of a rational foundation for them could,
thought in Africa. Oruka believes, be considered
Oruka claims that philosophy has
decreed the thoughts of certain races philosophic sages. These systematic
Late 20th century Ghanian
to be more important than others, but it views deserve to be explored in
philosopher Kwasi Wiredu the light of wider philosophical
must encompass the sayings of African
argues that philosophic sages just as it does Greek sages. concerns and questions. ■
sagacity and folk wisdom
must be distinguished from See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ Friedrich Schlegel 177 ■ Jacques Derrida 308–13
philosophy proper.
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 325
IN SUFFERING,
THE ANIMALS
ARE OUR EQUALS
PETER SINGER (1946– )
T
he Australian philosopher cause such pain. However, like
IN CONTEXT Peter Singer became known all utilitarians, Singer applies the
as one of the most active “greatest happiness principle”,
BRANCH
advocates of animal rights following which says that we should make
Ethics
the publication of his book Animal decisions in such a way that they
APPROACH Liberation in 1975. Singer takes result in the greatest happiness
Utilitarianism a utilitarian approach to ethics, for the greatest number. Singer
following the tradition developed points out that he has never said
BEFORE by Englishman Jeremy Bentham in that no experiment on an animal
c.560 BCE Indian sage and the late 18th century. could ever be justified; rather that
Jainist leader Mahavira calls Utilitarianism asks us to judge we should judge all actions by their
for strict vegetarianism. the moral value of an act by the consequences, and “the interests
1789 Jeremy Bentham sets consequences of that act. For of animals count among those
out the theory of utilitarianism Bentham, the way to do this is by consequences”; they form part
calculating the sum of pleasure or of the equation. ■
in his book, Introduction to
pain that results from our actions,
the Principles of Morals and
like a mathematical equation.
Legislation, arguing: “each to
count for one, and none for Animals are sentient beings
more than one.” Singer’s utilitarianism is based
1863 In his book Utilitarianism, on what he refers to as an “equal
John Stuart Mill develops consideration of interests.” Pain, he The value of life is a
Bentham’s utilitarianism from says, is pain, whether it is yours or notoriously difficult
an approach that considers mine or anybody else’s. The extent ethical question.
individual acts to one that to which non-human animals can Peter Singer
feel pain is the extent to which we
considers moral rules.
should take their interests into
AFTER account when making decisions
1983 American philosopher that affect their lives, and we
Tom Regan publishes The should refrain from activities that
Case for Animal Rights.
See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ John Stuart Mill 190–93
326
T
he idea that all the best
IN CONTEXT Marxist analyses have
traditionally been analyses
BRANCH
of failure appears in an interview
Political philosophy
with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj
APPROACH Žižek given in 2008. In this
Marxism interview, Žižek was asked about
the events in Czechoslovakia in
BEFORE 1968, when a period of reform,
1807 Georg Hegel publishes aimed at decentralizing and
The Phenomenology of the democratizing the country, was
Spirit, laying the groundwork brutally brought to an end by the
for Marxist thought. Soviet Union and its allies.
Žižek’s claim is that the The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
1867 Karl Marx and Friedrich in 1968 led to the end of the short-lived
crushing of the reforms became
Engels publish their the very thing that later sustained “Prague Spring” period of liberalization.
Communist Manifesto. a myth held by the political left— All moves toward democracy were
suppressed until 1989.
1867 Marx publishes the first namely that, had the reforms gone
volume of Capital (Das Kapital), ahead, some kind of social and
a treatise on political economy. political paradise would have power, or truly tested by action.
followed. According to Žižek, those He describes this stance as the
1899 In The Interpretation on the political left are prone to “comfortable position of resistance”,
of Dreams, psychoanalyst dwelling on their failures, because which allows an avoidance of the
Sigmund Freud claims that doing so allows myths to be real issues—such as re-evaluating
much of human behavior is generated about what would have the nature of political revolution.
driven by unconscious forces. happened if they had succeeded. For Žižek, a dedicated Marxist,
Žižek says that these failures allow serious questions about the nature
1966 Psychoanalytical theorist those on the left to maintain a “safe of political power are obscured
Jacques Lacan, one of Žižek’s moralistic position”, because their by endlessly trying to justify
major influences, revisits failures mean that they are never in utopia's elusiveness. ■
Freud's ideas in Écrits.
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ Georg Hegel 178–85 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■
DIRECTORY
T
hough the ideas already presented in this book show the broad
range of philosophical thought expressed by some of history’s
best minds, there are many more people who have helped to shape
the story of philosophy. Some of these thinkers—such as Empedocles,
Plotinus, or William of Ockham—have had ideas that form the starting
point for other, more well-known theories, and their influence on later
philosophers is clear. Some, such as Friedrich Schelling or Gilles Deleuze,
have taken the works of previous philosophers and added an interesting
twist that sheds new light on the subject. Whatever their relationship is
to the history of philosophy, the people discussed below have all helped
to broaden the boundaries of philosophical thought.
the universe was made. He opted otherwise it could not have come
ANAXIMANDER for air, pointing out that just as air into being. Sentenced to death for
c.610–546 BCE gives life to the human body, so impiety after insisting that the sun
a universal kind of air gives life was a fiery rock, he fled Athens and
Born in Miletus, in what is now to the cosmos. He was the first spent his final years in exile.
southwest Turkey, Anaximander thinker on record to use observed See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23
was a pupil of Thales, the “father” evidence to support his ideas.
of Western philosophy. Like Thales, Blowing with pursed lips produced
he thought there was a single basic cold air; with relaxed lips, warm EMPEDOCLES
substance from which everything air. He argued, therefore, that c.490–430 BCE
had evolved. He decided it must be when something condenses, it
infinite and eternal and called it cools; when it expands it heats up. Empedocles was a member of a
apeiron (“indefinite”). Anaximander Likewise, when air condenses, it high-ranking political family in
also challenged Thales’ suggestion becomes visible; first as mist, then the then-Greek colony of Sicily.
that Earth was supported by a sea as rain, and ultimately, he believed, His knowledge of the natural world
of water, reasoning that this sea as rock, thus giving birth to Earth. led to him being credited with
would have to be supported by See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 miraculous powers, such as the
something else. Lacking evidence ability to cure diseases and control
for this supporting structure, he the weather. He reasserted the
declared that Earth was an object ANAXAGORAS notion of Heraclitus that we live
hanging in space. He went on to c.500–428 BCE in an ever-changing world, as
publish what is believed to be opposed to Parmenides’ theory
the first map of the world. Born in Ionia, off the southern coast that everything is ultimately one
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 of present-day Turkey, Anaxagoras fixed entity. He believed that four
played a key role in making Athens elements—fire, water, earth, and
the world center of philosophy and air—continually combine, move
ANAXIMENES OF MILETUS scientific enquiry. Central to his apart, and recombine in a finite
c.585–528 BCE thinking were his views on the number of ways. This idea remained
material world and cosmology. He part of Western thinking up until
Like other Milesian philosophers, reasoned that everything in the the Renaissance period.
Anaximenes searched for the material world was made up of a See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■
fundamental material from which small part of everything else, Heraclitus 40 Parmenides 41
■
DIRECTORY 331
PYRRHO
c.360–272 BCE
WANG BI HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA
Pyrrho was born on the Ionian 226–249 CE c.370–415 CE
island of Elis. He was exposed to
Asian culture while serving on In 220 CE, the ruling Chinese Han Hypatia taught mathematics,
Alexander the Great’s military Dynasty collapsed, heralding an astronomy, and philosophy at the
campaigns, and was also the first era of moral confusion. Philosopher Museum of Alexandria, eventually
noted philosopher to place doubt Wang Bi helped to bring order to succeeding her father as its head.
at the center of to his thinking. this chaos by reconciling two Although she was an esteemed
Pyrrho treated the suspension of dominant schools of thought. He Neo-Platonist intellectual and the
judgment about beliefs as the only argued that Daoist texts should first notable female mathematician,
reasonable reaction to the fallibility not be read literally, but more it was her martyrdom that ensured
of the senses, and to the fact that like works of poetry, thus making her fame. She was murdered by a
both sides of any argument can them compatible with the highly Christian mob, who blamed her for
seem to be equally valid. Pyrrho left practical Confucian ideals of the religious turmoil resulting from
no writings, but he did inspire the political and moral wisdom. His conflict between her friend, the
Skeptical school in ancient Greek fresh appraisals of Daoism and Roman prefect Orestos, and Cyril,
philosophy, which developed the Confucianism ensured the survival Bishop of Alexandria. No works of
idea that the suspension of belief of both, and paved the way for the hers survive, but she is credited
leads to a tranquil mind. spread of Buddhism across China. with inventing a graduated brass
See also: Socrates 46–49 ■ See also: Laozi 24–25 Siddhartha
■ hydrometer and the plane astrolabe.
Al-Ghazâlî 332 Gautama 30–33 Confucius 34–39
■ See also: Plato 50–55 Plotinus 331
■
332 DIRECTORY
490–570 CE
JOHANNES SCOTUS
Almost nothing is known about ERIUGENA AL-GHAZALI
Philoponus’s early life other than c.815–877CE c.1058–1111
he studied in Alexandria with the
Aristotelian Ammonius Hermiae. His Latin name is often translated Born what is now Iran, Al-Ghazâlî
A philosopher and natural scientist, as John the Scot, but the theologian was head of the prestigious
Philoponus’s methods of enquiry and philosopher Johannes Scotus Nizamiyyah school in Baghdad
were shaped by Christian beliefs. Eriugena was Irish—the medieval from 1092 to 1096, when he wrote
By arguing that the universe had an Latin for Ireland being “Scotia”. He The Opinions of the Philosophers,
absolute beginning, and that this argued that there was no conflict which explains the Neo-Platonist
beginning was caused by God, he between knowledge that was and Aristotelian views of Islamic
became the first serious critic of derived from reason and knowledge scholars. His lectures brought him
Aristotle, opening up paths of from divine revelation. He even set great respect and wealth, but after
enquiry which became major out to demonstrate that all Christian concluding that truth comes from
influences on future scientists, doctrine had in fact a rational basis. faith and mystical practices, and not
notably the Italian astronomer This brought him into conflict with from philosophy, he abandoned his
Galileo Galilei. Unpopular with the Church, on the grounds that his teaching post and possessions to
his colleagues, he later gave up theories made both revelation and become a wandering Sufi preacher.
philosophy and turned to theology, faith redundant. Eruigena’s defense He came to believe that all causal
again causing controversy by was that reason is the judge of all links between events were only
suggesting that the Trinity was authority, and that it is needed for made possible by the will of God.
not one but three separate Gods. us to interpret revelation. See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■
See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■ See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Avicenna 76–79 Averroes 82–83
■ ■
Thomas Aquinas 88–95 St. Augustine of Hippo 72–73 Moses Maimonides 84–85
DIRECTORY 333
are not logically compatible, so that inclusion of the merits of paganism Gottfried Leibniz 134–35
absolute truth or knowledge, and saw Mirandola briefly jailed, after
the causal links between events or which he was forced to flee France.
reactions, cannot be uncovered by See also: Plato 50–55 Aristotle
■ FRANCISCO SUAREZ
logic alone. In 1346, Pope Clement 56–63 Desiderius Erasmus 97
■
1548–1617
VI condemned his ideas as heretical.
He was ordered to recant his Born in Granada, Spain, the Jesuit
statements and his books were FRANCISCO DE VITORIA philosopher Francisco Suárez wrote
burnt in public. With the exception 1480–1546 on many topics, but is best known
of his Universal Treatise and a few for his writings on metaphysics. In
letters, little of his work survives. A Dominican friar, Francisco de the controversy over universal
See also: Pyrrho 331 Al-Ghazâlî
■ Vitoria was a follower of Thomas forms that dominated so much
332 David Hume 148–53
■ Aquinas and founder of the School philosophy of the time, he argued
DIRECTORY 335
that only particulars exist. Suárez in a thesis he published in 1745, flee. He became a passionate
also maintained that between stating that emotions are the result counter-revolutionary. Mankind
Thomas Aquinas’s two types of of physical changes in the body, was inherently weak and sinful,
divine knowledge—the knowledge caused outrage, forcing him to flee he declared, and the dual powers of
of what is actual and the knowledge from France to Holland. In 1747 he monarch and God were essential to
of what is possible—there exists published Man a Machine, in which social order. In On the Pope (1819),
“middle knowledge” of what would he expanded his materialist ideas De Maistre argues that government
have been the case had things and rejected Descartes’ theory that should be in the hands of a single
been different. He believed that the mind and body are separate. authority figure, ideally linked to
God has “middle knowledge” of all The book’s reception caused him religion, such as the pope.
our actions, without this meaning to flee again, this time to Berlin. See also: Edmund Burke 172–73
that God caused them to happen See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■
Adam Smith in the 18th century. Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176 Georg
■
theological stage, represented by key work Methods of Ethics (1874), (1879), meaning “conceptual
the medieval period in Europe, he explored the problems of free will notation”, and The Foundations
is characterized by belief in the by examining intuitive principles of of Arithmetic (1884) effected a
supernatural. This gave way to conduct. The pursuit of pleasure, he revolution in philosophical logic,
the metaphysical stage, in which claimed, does not exclude altruism, allowing the discipline to develop
speculation on the nature of reality or the providing of pleasure for rapidly. In On Sense and Reference
developed. Finally, there came the others, since providing pleasure for (1892) he showed that sentences
“positivist” age—which Comte others is itself a pleasure. A liberal are meaningful for two reasons—
saw as emerging at the time he philanthropist and a champion of for having a thing that they refer
was writing—with a genuinely women’s rights to education, to, and a unique way in which
scientific attitude, based solely on Sidgwick was instrumental in that reference is made.
observable regularities. Comte setting up Newnham, Cambridge’s See also: Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■
believed this positivism would first college for female students. Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
help to create a new social order, See also: Jeremy Bentham 174 ■ Rudolf Carnap 257
to redress the chaos generated by John Stuart Mill 190–93
the French Revolution.
See also: John Stuart Mill 190–93 ■ ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
Karl Marx 196–203 FRANZ BRENTANO 1861–1947
1838–1917
An English mathematician, Alfred
RALPH WALDO EMERSON Born in Prussia, the philosopher North Whitehead had a significant
1803–1882 Franz Brentano is best known for influence on ethics, metaphysics,
establishing psychology as a and the philosophy of science. With
Born in Boston, the American poet discipline in its own right. Initially his ex-pupil Bertrand Russell, he
Ralph Waldo Emerson was also a a priest, he was unable to reconcile wrote the landmark study on
noted philosopher. Inspired by the himself with the concept of papal mathematical logic, Principia
Romantic movement, he believed infallibility, and left the Church in Mathematica (1910–13). In 1924, at
in the unity of nature, with every 1873. Brentano believed that mental the age of 63, he accepted a chair
single particle of matter and each processes were not passive, but in philosophy at Harvard. There he
individual mind being a microcosm should be seen as intentional acts. developed what became known as
of the entire universe. Emerson His most highly regarded work is process philosophy. This was based
was famous for his public lectures, Psychology from an Empirical on his conviction that traditional
which urged the rejection of social Standpoint. Its publication in philosophical categories were
conformity and traditional authority. 1874 led to him being offered a inadequate in dealing with the
Emerson advocated personal professorship at the University interactions between matter, space,
integrity and self-reliance as the of Vienna, where he taught and and time, and that “the living organ
only moral imperatives, stressing inspired a host of illustrious or experience is the living body as
that every human being has the students, including the founder of a whole” and not just the brain.
power to shape his own destiny. psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. See also: Bertrand Russell 236–39 ■
See also: Henry David Thoreau See also: Edmund Husserl 224–25 Willard Van Orman Quine 278–79
204 William James 206–09
■ ■
at Kyoto University, where he symbolism of dreams and the Ryle stated, are the cause of much
established Western philosophy as phenomenology of imagination. He philosophical confusion, so careful
an object of serious study in Japan. contested Auguste Comte’s view attention to the underlying function
Key to his thinking is the “logic that scientific advancement was of ordinary language is the way to
of place”, designed to overcome continuous, claiming instead that overcome philosophical problems.
traditional Western oppositions science often moves through shifts See also: Thomas Hobbes 112–15 ■
between subject and object through in historical perspective allowing Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51 ■
the “pure experience” of Zen fresh interpretations of old concepts. Daniel Dennett 339
Buddhism, in which distinctions See also: Auguste Comte 335 ■
he incorporated mythical thinking asylum in West Germany. Although Georg Hegel 178–85
into a philosophical system similar he was an atheist, Bloch believed
to Immanuel Kant’s. In 1933, Cassirer that religion’s mystical vision of
fled Europe to escape the rise of heaven on earth is attainable. AYN RAND
Nazism, continuing his work in See also: Georg Hegel 178–85 ■
1905–1982
America, and later Sweden. Karl Marx 196–203
See also: Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ The writer and philosopher Ayn
Martin Heidegger 252–55 Rand was born in Russia, but
GILBERT RYLE moved to the United States in 1926.
1900–1976 She was working as a screenwriter
GASTON BACHELARD when her novel The Fountainhead
1884–1962 Born in Brighton on the south coast (1943), the story of an ideal man,
of England, Gilbert Ryle studied made her famous. She is the
The French philosopher Gaston and taught at Oxford University. He founder of Objectivism, which
Bachelard studied physics before believed that many problems in challenges the idea that man’s
switching to philosophy. He taught philosophy arise from the abuse of moral duty is to live for others.
at Dijon University, going on to language. He showed that we often Reality exists as an objective
become the first professor of history assume expressions that function absolute and man’s reasoning is
and philosophy of the sciences at in a similar way grammatically are his manner of perceiving it.
the Sorbonne in Paris. His study of members of the same logical See also: Aristotle 56–63 ■
thought processes encompasses the category. Such “category mistakes”, Adam Smith 160–63
338 DIRECTORY
DONALD DAVIDSON
1917–2003 GILLES DELEUZE
EDGAR MORIN 1925–1995
The American philosopher Donald 1921–
Davidson studied at Harvard and Gilles Deleuze was born in Paris
went on to a distinguished career The French philosopher Edgar and spent most of his life there.
teaching at various American Morin was born in Paris, the son of He saw philosophy as a creative
universities. He was involved in Jewish immigrants from Greece. process for constructing concepts,
several areas of philosophy, notably His positive view of the progress of rather than an attempt to discover
the philosophy of mind. He held a Western civilization is tempered by and reflect reality. Much of his work
materialist position, stating that what he perceives as the negative was in the history of philosophy,
each token mental event was also effects of technical and scientific yet his readings did not attempt to
a physical event, although he did advances. Progress may create disclose the “true” Nietzsche, for
not believe that the mental could be wealth but also seems to bring with example. Instead they rework the
entirely reduced to, or explained in it a breakdown of responsibility and conceptual mechanisms of a
terms of, the physical. Davidson global awareness. Morin developed philosopher’s subject to produce
also made notable contributions to what became known as “complex new ideas, opening up new avenues
the philosophy of language, arguing thought” and coined the term of thought. Deleuze is also known for
that a language must have a finite “politics of civilization.” His six- collaborations with psychoanalyst
number of elements and that its volume Method (1977–2004) is a Félix Guattari—Anti-Oedipus (1972)
meaning is a product of these compendium of his thoughts and and What is Philosophy (1991)—and
elements and rules of combination. ideas, offering a broad insight into for his commentaries on literature,
See also: Ludwig Wittgenstein the nature of human enquiry. film, and art.
246–51 Willard Van Orman
■ See also: Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■ See also: Henri Bergson 226–27 ■
GLOSSARY
the Absolute Ultimate reality A priori Something known to be Determinism The view that
conceived of as an all-embracing, valid in advance of (or without nothing can happen other than
single principle. Some thinkers need of) experience. what does happen, because every
have identified this principle with event is the necessary outcome
God; others have believed in the Argument A process of reasoning of causes preceding it—which
Absolute but not in God; others in logic that purports to show its themselves were the necessary
have not believed in either. The conclusion to be true. outcome of causes preceding them.
philosopher most closely associated The opposite is indeterminism.
with the idea is Georg Hegel. Category The broadest class or
group into which things can be Dialectic i) Skill in questioning or
Aesthetics A branch of philosophy divided. Aristotle and Immanuel argument. ii) The idea that any
concerned with the principles of art Kant both tried to provide a assertion, whether in word or deed,
and the notion of beauty. complete list of categories. evokes opposition, the two of which
are reconciled in a synthesis that
Agent The doing self, as distinct Concept A thought or idea; the includes elements of both.
from the knowing self; the self that meaning of a word or term.
decides or chooses or acts. Dualism A view of something as
Contingent May or may not be the made up of two irreducible parts,
Analysis The search for a deeper case; things could be either way. such as the idea of human beings
understanding of something by The opposite is necessary. as consisting of bodies and minds,
taking it to pieces and looking at the two being radically unlike.
each part. The opposite approach Contradictory Two statements
is synthesis. are contradictory if one must be Emotive Expressing emotion. In
true and the other false: they philosophy the term is often used
Analytic philosophy A view of cannot both be true, nor can they in a derogatory way for utterances
philosophy that sees its aim as both be false. that pretend to be objective or
clarification—the clarification of impartial while in fact expressing
concepts, statements, methods, Contrary Two statements are emotional attitudes, as for example
arguments, and theories by contrary if they cannot both be in “emotive definition.”
carefully taking them apart. true but may both be false.
Empirical knowledge Knowledge
Analytic statement A statement Corroboration Evidence that of the empirical world.
whose truth or falsehood can be lends support to a conclusion
established by analysis of the without necessarily proving it. Empirical statement A statement
statement itself. The opposite is about the empirical world; what is
a synthetic statement. Cosmology The study of the whole or could be experienced.
universe, the cosmos.
Anthropomorphism The Empirical world The world as
attribution of human characteristics Deduction Reasoning from the revealed to us by our actual or
to something that is not human; for general to the particular—for possible experience.
instance to God or to the weather. instance, “If all men are mortal then
Socrates, being a man, must be Empiricism The view that all
A posteriori Something that can mortal.” It is universally agreed that knowledge of anything that
be considered valid only by means deduction is valid. The opposite actually exists must be derived
of experience. process is called induction. from experience.
GLOSSARY 341
Epistemology The branch of Hypothesis A theory whose truth Logic The branch of philosophy
philosophy concerned with what is assumed for the time being that makes a study of rational
sort of thing, if anything, we can because it forms a useful starting argument itself—its terms,
know; how we know it; and what point for further investigation, concepts, rules, and methods.
knowledge is. In practice it is the despite limited evidence to prove
dominant branch of philosophy. its validity. Logical positivism The view that
the only empirical statements
Essence The essence of a thing is Idealism The view that reality that are meaningful are those that
that which is distinctive about it consists ultimately of something are verifiable.
and makes it what it is. For instance, nonmaterial, whether it be mind,
the essence of a unicorn is that it is the contents of mind, spirits, or Materialism The doctrine that
a horse with a single horn on its one spirit. The opposite point of all real existence is ultimately of
head. Unicorns do not exist of view is materialism. something material. The opposite
course—so essence does not imply point of view is idealism.
existence. This distinction is Indeterminism The view that not
important in philosophy. all events are necessary outcomes Metaphilosophy The branch of
of events that may have preceeded philosophy that looks at the nature
Ethics A branch of philosophy them. The opposite is point of view and methods of philosophy itself.
that is concerned with questions is determinism.
about how we should live, and Metaphysics The branch of
therefore about the nature of right Induction Reasoning from the philosophy concerned with the
and wrong, good and bad, ought particular to the general. An ultimate nature of what exists. It
and ought not, duty, and other example would be “Socrates died, questions the natural world “from
such concepts. Plato died, Aristotle died, and each outside”, and its questions cannot
other individual man who was born be answered by science.
Existentialism A philosophy more than 130 years ago has died.
that begins with the contingent Therefore all men are mortal.” Methodology The study of methods
existence of the individual human Induction does not necessarily yield of enquiry and argument.
being and regards that as the results that are true, so whether it
primary enigma. It is from this is genuinely a logical process is Monism A view of something as
starting point that philosophical disputed. The opposite process is formed by a single element; for
understanding is pursued. called deduction. example, the view that human
beings do not consist of elements
Fallacy A seriously wrong Intuition Direct knowing, whether that are ultimately separable, like
argument, or a false conclusion by sensory perception or by insight; a body and a soul, but are of one
based on such an argument. a form of knowledge that makes no single substance.
use of reasoning.
Falsifiability A statement, or set Mysticism Intuitive knowledge
of statements, is falsifiable if it Irreducible An irreducible thing that transcends the natural world.
can be proved wrong by empirical is one that cannot be brought to a
testing. According to Karl Popper, simpler or reduced form. Naturalism The view that reality
falsifiability is what distinguishes is explicable without reference to
science from nonscience. Linguistic philosophy Also anything outside the natural world.
known as linguistic analysis. The
Humanism A philosophical view that philosophical problems Necessary Must be the case. The
approach based on the assumption arise from a muddled use of opposite is contingent. Hume
that mankind is the most important language, and are to be solved, or believed that necessary connections
thing that exists, and that there can dissolved, by a careful analysis existed only in logic, not in the real
be no knowledge of a supernatural of the language in which they world, a view that has been upheld
world, if any such world exists. have been expressed. by many philosophers since.
342 GLOSSARY
Rational Based on, or according Synthetic statement A statement Universalism The belief that
to, the principles of reason or logic. that has to be set against facts we should apply to ourselves the
outside itself for its truth to be same standards and values that we
Proposition The content of a determined. The opposite is an apply to others. Not to be confused
statement that confirms or denies analytic statement. with universal, above.
whether something is the case, and
is capable of being true or false. Teleology A study of ends or Utilitarianism A theory of politics
goals. A teleological explanation and ethics that judges the morality
Rationalism The view that we is one that explains something in of actions by their consequences,
can gain knowledge of the world terms of the ends that it serves. that regards the most desirable
through the use of reason, without consequence of any action as the
relying on sense-perception, which Theology Enquiry into scholarly greatest good of the greatest
is regarded by rationalists as and intellectual questions number, and that defines “good”
unreliable. The opposite view concerning the nature of God. in terms of pleasure and the
is known as empiricism. Philosophy, by contrast, does not absence of pain.
assume the existence of God,
Scepticism The view that it is though some philosophers have Validity An argument is valid
impossible for us to know anything attempted to prove his existence. if its conclusion follows from its
for certain. premises. This does not necessarily
Thing-in-itself Another term for mean that the conclusion is true: it
Semantics The study of meanings a noumenon, from the German may be false if one of the premises
in linguistic expressions. Ding-an-sich. is false, though the argument itself
is still valid.
Semiotics The study of signs Transcendental Outside the
and symbols, in particular their world of sense experience. Verifiability A statement or set
relationships with the things they Someone who believes that ethics of statements can be verified if it
are meant to signify. are transcendental believes that can be proved to be true by looking
ethics have their source outside the at empirical evidence. Logical
Social contract An implicit empirical world. Thoroughgoing positivists believed that the only
agreement among members of a empiricists do not believe that empirical statements that were
society to cooperate in order to anything transcendental exists, meaningful were those that were
achieve goals that benefit the whole and nor did Friedrich Nietzsche verifiable. David Hume and Karl
group, sometimes at the expense or humanist existentialists. Popper pointed out that scientific
of individuals within it. laws were unverifiable.
Truth-value Either of two values,
Solipsism The view that only the namely true or false, that can be World In philosophy the word
existence of the self can be known. applied to a statement. “world” has been given a special
sense, meaning “the whole of
Sophist Someone whose aim in Universal A concept of general empirical reality”, and may
argument is not to seek the truth application, like “red” or “woman.” therefore also be equated with
but to win the argument. In ancient It has been disputed whether the totality of actual and possible
Greece, young men aspiring to universals have an existence of experience. True empiricists
public life were taught by sophists their own. Does “redness” exist, or believe that the world is all there is,
to learn the various methods of are there only individual red objects? but philosophers with different
winning arguments. In the Middle Ages, philosophers views believe that the world does
who believed that “redness” had a not account for total reality. Such
Synthesis Seeking a deeper real existence were called “realists”, philosophers believe that there is a
understanding of something by while philosophers who maintained transcendental realm as well as
putting the pieces together. The that it was no more than a word an empirical realm, and they may
opposite is analysis. were called “nominalists.” believe that both are equally real.
344
INDEX
Numbers in bold refer to main entries, those Apology, Plato 47, 48, 52 Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre 213
in italics refer to the captions to illustrations. Aquinas, Thomas 63, 71, 88–95, 91, 97 Being and Time, Martin Heidegger 213, 253,
Aristotle 79 255
Francisco de Vitoria 334 Benjamin, Walter 258
95 Theses, Martin Luther 100 John Duns Scotus 333 Bentham, Jeremy 65, 144, 174, 191, 192, 325
900 Thesis, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 334 John Locke 133 Bergson, Henri 188, 226–7
Meister Eckhart 333 Berkeley, George 60, 63, 101, 130, 134,
Arendt, Hannah 255, 272 138–41, 150, 166
Aristocles see Plato Berlin, Isaiah 203, 280–81
A
A History of Madness, Michel Foucault 303
Aristotelianism 71, 76, 82, 83, 90
Aristotle 12, 21, 55, 56–63, 59, 70, 71, 91, 94,
95, 274, 340
al-Fârâbî 332
Averroes 82, 83
Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon 288,
300, 301
Bloch, Ernst 337
body 13, 54, 77, 78, 79, 115, 122, 127, 128, 139,
275
A Lover’s Discourse, Roland Barthes 290 Avicenna 76, 77, 78, 79, 79 Boethius, Anicius 70, 74–5, 83
A Theory of Justice, John Rawls 294, 295 Benedictus Spinoza 126, 129 Bonaparte, Napoleon 145, 184, 184
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Boethius 75 Boyle, Robert 110, 133, 140
Human Knowledge, George Berkeley 101 Friedrich Schlegel 177 Brahe, Tycho 111
A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume God and the future 74 Brahmanism 30, 33
150, 153 human flourishing 235 Brentano, Franz 336
Abélard, Pierre 95, 333 Iamblichus 331 Bruno, Giordano 334
Adorno, Theodor 266–7 inductive argument 49 Buckle, H.T. 163
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic infinite universe 90–95 Buddha 20, 21, 30, 32, 233
Theory of Knowledge, Paul Feyerabend logic 14, 63, 75 Buddha Amitabha 245, 245
297 mind and body 76, 77 Buddhism 15, 20, 30, 33, 188, 245, 331
Agathon 291 observation 58, 59, 62 Burke, Edmund 172–3
al-Fârâbî 76, 332 religion and philosophy 82, 83
al-Ghazâlî 78, 332 Richard Rorty 316
al-Kindî 76, 332 Robert Grosseteste 333
Alcibiades 291
Althusser, Louis 288, 313, 338
American Power and the New Mandarins,
Noam Chomsky 304, 305
Amitabha, Buddha 245, 245
Socrates 49
Thomas Aquinas 63, 90–95
women 276
Arouet, François Marie see Voltaire
Ars Magna, Ramon Llull 333
C
Camus, Albert 213, 221, 284–5
An Essay Concerning Human arts 15, 16, 157, 157, 296 Candide, Voltaire 144
Understanding, John Locke 101 atheism 128, 189, 270 Canon of Medicine, Avicenna 77, 78
Analects, Confucius 36, 37, 38 atomism 16, 45 Carnap, Rudolf 257
analytic philosophy 212, 340 Augustine, Aurelius see St. Augustine Cassirer, Ernst 337
Bertrand Russell 236 Austin, John Langshaw 338 Chomsky, Naom 133, 304–5
Gottlob Frege 336 Averroes 62, 76, 82–3, 90, 91 Christianity 15, 70, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95
Isaiah Berlin 280–81 Avicenna 62, 71, 76–9, 90 Aristotle 21, 63, 63, 71, 90
Karl Popper 262 Avicenna 79
Mary Midgley 292 Blaise Pascal 124, 125
Paul Feyerabend 297 Francis Bacon 111
Richard Wollheim 296
Willard Van Orman Quine 278
Anaxagoras 330
Anaximander 23, 330
Anaximenes of Miletus 23, 40, 330
B
Bachelard, Gaston 337
Friedrich Nietzsche 216, 219
Niccolò Machiavelli 105, 106
Plato 72, 74, 96
Ramon Llull 333
St. Augustine of Hippo 73
Animal Liberation, Peter Singer 325 Bacon, Francis 49, 100, 101, 110–11, 113, 118 Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau 204
Anselm of Canterbury 80–81 Barthes, Roland 290–91 Cixous, Hélène 289, 322
Anti-Oedipus, René Girard & Félix Guattari Beast and Man, Mary Midgley 292 Collection of Pythagorean Doctrines,
338 Begriffsschrift, Gottlob Frege 336 Iamblichus 331
INDEX 345
Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, Proclus 332 Edmund Husserl 225 Epicureanism 21, 64, 65
Commentry on Euclid, Proclus 332 Friedrich Schlegel 177 Epicurus 64–5, 67
communism 198, 202, 203, 213, 288, 289 George Berkeley 138, 142 epistemology 13, 341, 342
Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx 15, 145, 159 Gottfried Leibniz 134 Albert Camus 284
Comte, Auguste 335 Immanuel Kant 166, 167, 171 Aristotle 58, 60
Condorcet’s Paradox 335 John Locke 130, 132 Boethius 74
Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo 70 Jose Ortega y Gasset 242 Charles Sanders Peirce 205
Confucianism 21, 36, 331 Maurice Merleau-Ponty 275 David Hume 150, 153
Confucius 20, 25, 30, 34–9 St. Anselm 80 Gottfried Leibniz 134, 137
consciousness 17 Dewey, John 209, 228–31 Hélène Cixous 322
Albert Camus 285 dialectic 46, 49, 60, 70, 180, 182, 182, 183, Henri Bergson 226–7
Daniel Dennett 339 184, 185, 200, 201, 202, 203, 340 Immanuel Kant 171
David Chalmers 114 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Jacques Derrida 310
Georg Hegel 180, 181, 182, 184, 185 David Hume 150 Jean-François Lyotard 298
Immanuel Kant 166 Diderot, Denis 16, 144, 156 Johann Gottlieb Fichte 176
Max Scheler 240 Diogenes of Sinope (the Cynic) 66, 67, 252, John Dewey 228
Miguel de Unamuno 233 253 John Locke 130
conservatism 172, 173, 173 Discourse on the Method, René Descartes 63, Karl Jaspers 245
Copernicus, Nicolaus 100, 110, 293 120, 150 Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274
Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson 227 Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Michel Foucault 302
Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant 144, Inequality Among Men, Jean-Jacques Paul Feyerabend 297
168, 171 Rousseau 157, 158 Plato 52
Cynics 21, 66, 67 Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, René Descartes 118, 121
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 157 Socrates 46
Discourses on the Ten Books of Titus Levy, Voltaire 146
Niccolò Machiavelli 106, 107 William James 206
D
d’Alembert, Jean 156
Du Bois, William 234–5
Dukkha 31
Duns Scotus, John 71, 95, 333
Erasmus, Desiderius 71, 97, 100
Eriugena, Johannes Scotus 332
Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
John Locke 131
Essays, Michel de Montaigne 108, 109
Damasio, Antonio 267 Essays on the Human Understanding,
Daode jing, Laozi 25
Daoism 15, 21, 24, 25, 331
Darwin, Charles 61, 145, 212, 229, 230
Davidson, Donald 338
de Beauvoir, Simone 213, 269, 271, 276–7,
E
Eckhart, Meister 333
Gottfried Leibniz 133
ethics (moral philosophy) 14, 15, 17, 212, 341,
343
Ahad Ha’am 222
Alfred North Whitehead 336
288, 289 Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt 272 Aristotle 61, 62
De Cive, Thomas Hobbes 113 Either/Or, Søren Kierkegaard 145 Arne Naess 282
de Condorcet, Nicolas 335 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 206, 207, 336 Bertrand Russell 236
De Corpore, Thomas Hobbes 115 Emile, or On Education, Jean-Jacques Confucius 37
De Homine Figuris, René Descartes 118, 122 Rousseau 159, 175 Diogenes of Sinope 66
De Maistre, Joseph 335 Empedocles 20, 187, 330 Emmanuel Levinas 273
de’ Medici family 104, 105, 105, 107 empiricism 60, 63, 101, 134, 135, 144, 145, Epicurus 64
de Montaigne, Michel 108–9, 124 340, 343 Friedrich Nietzsche 216–21
de Saussure, Ferdinand 223 Aristotle 58, 59 Hajime Tanabe 244
de Unamuno, Miguel 233 David Hume 150, 153 Hannah Arendt 272
de Vitoria, Francisco 334 Francis Bacon 110 Henry Sidgwick 336
Deceit, Desire and the Novel, René Girard George Berkeley 138, 139, 150 Isaiah Berlin 280–81
338 Immanuel Kant 166, 171, 171 Jean-Paul Sartre 268
deconstruction 288, 310, 311, 312 John Locke 130, 133, 150 Jeremy Bentham 174
deduction 29, 264, 265, 340, 341 John Stuart Mill 191 John Dewey 230, 231
Deleuze, Gilles 338 William of Ockham 334 Laozi 25
Democritus 45, 65 Encylopédie, Denis Diderot & Jean Ludwig Wittgenstein 250
Dennett, Daniel 303, 339 d’Alembert 144, 156 Martha Nussbaum 339
Derrida, Jacques 221, 288, 308–13 Engels, Friedrich 145, 189, 198, 203 Max Scheler 240
Descartes, René 14, 15-16, 60, 63, 78, 79, 100, enlightenment (Buddhism) 31, 32, 33, 245 Michel de Montaigne 108
101, 113, 115, 116–23, 128, 240 Enneads, Plotinus 331 Noam Chomsky 304
David Hume 150 environmental philosophy 282, 283 Peter Singer 325
346 INDEX
F
Hobbes, Thomas 100, 101, 112–15, 156, 158
How the “Real World” at Last Became a
Myth, Friedrich Nietzsche 218
How to do Things With Words, John
Langshaw Austin 338
K
Kant and the Philosophic Method, John
How to Make our Ideas Clear, Charles Dewey 230
Fanon, Frantz 288, 289, 300–301 Sanders Peirce 228 Kant, Immanuel 60, 63, 134, 144, 145,
Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard 145 humanism 71, 97, 100, 108, 341 164–71, 176, 220, 227, 248, 303, 340
feminism 175, 276, 277, 289, 320, 322, 323, 339 Hume, David 17, 33, 60, 63, 73, 130, 134, 144, Arthur Schopenhauer 186, 187, 188
Feuerbach, Ludwig 189, 201, 202 148–53 David Hume 153
Feyerabend, Paul 297 Adam Smith 160, 161 Georg Hegel 181, 182, 183
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb 145, 171, 176 Edmund Burke 173 Gottfried Leibniz 137
Foucault, Michel 288, 302–3, 313 Gottfried Leibniz 137 St. Anselm 80, 81
Frege, Gottlob 212, 336 Immanuel Kant 166 Kepler, Johannes 100
Freud, Sigmund 188, 212, 213, 221 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 159 Keynes, John Maynard 193
John Stuart Mill 190, 191 Kierkegaard, Søren 145, 194–5, 213
Karl Popper 262, 263 King, Martin Luther 204, 235, 235
Husserl, Edmund 171, 212, 213, 224–5, 243, Kong Fuzi see Confucius
G
Gadamer, Hans-Georg 255, 260–61
253, 255, 275
Hypatia of Alexandria 276, 331
Kristeva, Julia 323
Kuhn, Thomas 288, 293, 297
M
Machiavelli, Niccolò 100, 102–7, 108, 109
Midgley, Mary 292
Mill, James 191
Mill, John Stuart 65, 144, 145, 190–93
mimetic desire, theory of 338
mind 13, 77, 78, 79, 114, 115, 122, 127, 128,
O
Oakeshott, Michael 337
Magga 31 129, 139, 275 Objectivism 337
Maimonides, Moses 84–5 philosophy of 124, 338 Ockham’s Razor 334
Man a Machine, Julien Offray de la Mettrie 335 Minima Moralia, Theodor Adorno 266, 267 Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida 310, 313
Mandeville, Bernard 335 Mishneh Torah, Moses Maimonides 85, 85 Offray de la Mettrie, Julien 335
348 INDEX
PQ
Parmenides 41
312, 318
Aristotle 58, 59, 60, 62
Avicenna 77
Christian theologians 96
Diogenes of Sinope 66
Alfred North Whitehead 212, 236, 338
printing press 71
process philosophy 336
Proclus 332
Proslogion, St. Anselm 71
Pascal, Blaise 101, 124–5, 240 Iamblichus 331 Protagoras 42–3, 52, 55
Peirce, Charles Sanders 205, 206, 207, 208, John Locke 131, 132 psychology 17
209, 228, 231 Martin Heidegger 252 Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint,
Pensées, Blaise Pascal 101, 124, 125 Protagoras 43 Franz Brentano 336
perception 13, 139, 140, 141, 187, 275 Pythagoras 29 Ptolemy 21
Phaedo, Plato 47, 49, 312 rediscovered in Europe 71 Pullman, Philip 79
phenomenology 213, 342 St. Augustine of Hippo 63, 72 Pure Land Buddhism 245, 245
Edmund Husserl 224, 225, 243, 253 Socrates 46, 47 Pyrrho 331
Emmanuel Levinas 273 Sophists 43 Pythagoras 14, 20, 23, 26–9, 30, 36, 331
Gaston Bachelard 337 Platonic-Aristotelian approach 80 Quine, Willard Van Orman 278–9
Hajime Tanabe 244 Platonism 52, 70, 331 Qur’an 82, 83, 86, 87
Immanuel Kant 171 Christian 72, 74, 96
Martin Heidegger 252 Plotinus 70, 331
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 274, 275 political activism 235
Max Scheler 240
Simone de Beauvoir 277
Phenomenology of Spirit, Georg Hegel 145,
180, 184, 185
phenomenon 187, 188, 342
political oppression 281
political philosophy 15, 212
Adam Smith 160
Edmund Burke 172
Edward Said 321
R
racism 235, 300, 301
Philoponus, John 90, 91, 92, 332 Frantz Fanon 300 radical empiricism 209
philosophes 144 Henry David Thoreau 204 Rambam see Maimonides, Moses
philosophic sagacity 324 Herbert Marcuse 259 Rand, Ayn 337
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Jean-Jacques Rousseau 156 rationalism 60, 63, 101, 144, 145, 167, 343
Rorty 316, 319 John Rawls 294–5 David Hume 153
philosophy of history 232, 260–61 John Stuart Mill 190 Gottfried Leibniz 134, 135
INDEX 349
T
Tanabe, Hajime 244–5
Capitalism, Max Weber 238
The Revolt of the Masses, Jose Ortega y
Gasset 243
The Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
282
Voltaire 13, 144, 146–4, 156, 157, 159
voluntarism 124, 125
von Kues, Nikolaus 96, 334
Wang Bi 331
Warhol, Andy 296
Taylor, Harriet 191, 193 The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir 276, Watsuji, Tetsuro 256
teleology 62, 343 277, 288 Weber, Max 238
Thales of Miletus 20, 22–3, 36, 40 The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau Wegner, Dan 303
Thatcher, Margaret 323 144, 157, 158, 173 What is Philosophy, René Girard & Félix
The Book of Healing, Avicenna 77, 78 The Society of Society, Niklas Luhmann Guattari 338
The City of God, St. Augustine of Hippo 339 Whitehead, Alfred North 55, 212, 238, 336
121 The Structure of Scientific Revolution, William of Ockham 71, 95, 334
The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx 198, Thomas Kuhn 288, 293 Wittgenstein, Ludwig 209, 212, 238, 248–51,
200, 201, 202, 202, 203 The Symposium, Plato 291 296
The Concept of Anxiety, Søren Kierkegaard The Tragic Sense of Life, Miguel de Wollheim, Richard 296
195 Unamuno 233 Wollstonecraft, Mary 175
The Consequences of Pragmatism, Richard The Way and its Power, Laozi 25 women 276, 277, 277
Rorty 316 The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith 161, 162, votes for 193, 193
The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius 75, 163 women’s rights 175, 191, 335, 336
75 Theano of Crotona 27 Woolf, Virginia 209
The Disenchantment of the World: A Political Thoreau, Henry David 204, 206 Writing and Defence, Jacques Derrida 288
History of Religion, Marcel Gauchet 339 Three Baskets, Siddhartha Gautama 31
The Ego and the Id, Sigmund Freud 213 Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
The Essence of Christianity, Ludwig Andreas 216, 217, 221
Feuerbach 189
The Fable of Bees, Bernard Mandeville 335
The Foundations of Arithmetic, Gottlob
Frege 336
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand 337
time 166, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 170
Tipitaka, Siddhartha Gautama 31
Torah 84, 85, 334
Totality and Infinity, Emmanuel Levinas 273
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig
XYZ
Yeats, William Butler 221
The Fragility of Goodness, Martha Wittgenstein 212, 248–51 Zarathustra 216, 217, 217, 220
Nussbaum 339 transcendental idealism 166, 169, 170, 171 Zen Buddhism 337
The Idea of Phenomenology, Edmund Husserl Truth and Method, Hans-Georg Gadamer Zeno of Citium 21, 67
212 261 Zeno of Elea 14, 331
The Life of Reason, George Santayana 232 Twilight of the Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche 217, Žižek, Slavoj 326
The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper 219 Zoroaster 216, 217
213, 265 Two Concepts of Liberty, Isaiah Berlin 280,
The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus 284 281
351
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