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Carmelites

(Encyclopedia)Carmelites kärˈməlīts [key], Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars. Originally a group of hermits, apparently European, living on Mt. Carmel in Palestine, their supervision was undertaken (c.11...

liability

(Encyclopedia)liability, in law, an obligation of one party to another, usually to compensate financially. It is a fundamental aspect of tort law, although liability may also arise from duties entered into by speci...

fuel cell

(Encyclopedia)fuel cell, electric cell in which the chemical energy from the oxidation of a gas fuel is converted directly to electrical energy in a continuous process (see oxidation and reduction). The efficiency ...

intuition

(Encyclopedia)intuition, in philosophy, way of knowing directly; immediate apprehension. The Greeks understood intuition to be the grasp of universal principles by the intelligence (nous), as distinguished from the...

commercial revolution

(Encyclopedia)commercial revolution, in European history, a fundamental change in the quantity and scope of commerce. In the later Middle Ages steady economic expansion had seen the rise of towns and the advent of ...

social contract

(Encyclopedia)social contract, agreement or covenant by which men are said to have abandoned the “state of nature” to form the society in which they now live. The theory of such a contract, first formulated by ...

Plekhanov, Georgi Valentinovich

(Encyclopedia)Plekhanov, Georgi Valentinovich gāôrˈgē vəlyĭntyēˈnəvĭch plyĭkhäˈnəf [key], 1857–1918, Russian revolutionary and social philosopher. He was a leader in introducing Marxist theory to Ru...

Proudhon, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Proudhon, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ pro͞odhôNˈ [key], 1809–65, French social theorist. Of a poor family, Proudhon won an education through scholarships. Much of his later life was spent in p...

number theory

(Encyclopedia)number theory, branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of the integers (the numbers 0, 1, −1, 2, −2, 3, −3, …). An important area in number theory is the analysis of prime number...

value, in economics

(Encyclopedia)value, in economics, worth of a commodity in terms of other commodities, or in terms of money (see price). Value depends on both desirability and scarcity. The marginal theory of value, pioneered in t...