Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

materialism

(Encyclopedia)materialism, in philosophy, a widely held system of thought that explains the nature of the world as entirely dependent on matter, the fundamental and final reality beyond which nothing need be sought...

Thucydides

(Encyclopedia)Thucydides tho͞osĭdˈĭdēz [key], c.460–c.400 b.c., Greek historian of Athens, one of the greatest of ancient historians. His family was partly Thracian. As a general in the Peloponnesian War he ...

ethics

(Encyclopedia)ethics, in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed fo...

substance

(Encyclopedia)substance, in philosophy, term used to denote the changeless substratum presumed in some philosophies to be present in all being. Aristotle defined substance as that which possesses attributes but is ...

Locke, John

(Encyclopedia)Locke, John lŏk [key], 1632–1704, English philosopher, founder of British empiricism. Locke summed up the Enlightenment in his belief in the middle class and its right to freedom of conscience and ...

Darcy, Thomas Darcy, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Darcy, Thomas Darcy, Baron därˈsē [key], 1467–1537, English nobleman. He served in a number of military expeditions for Henry VII and for the young Henry VIII. He disapproved of Henry VIII's divo...

Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes

(Encyclopedia)Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes, 1823–62, American lawyer, b. Jefferson co., Ga.; brother of Howell Cobb. Admitted to the bar in 1842, he edited 20 volumes of the Georgia supreme court reports (1849–57)...

Hoving, Thomas Pearsall Field

(Encyclopedia)Hoving, Thomas Pearsall Field, 1931–2009, American art historian, museum director, and public official, b. New York City, grad. Princeton (B.A. 1953, M.A., Ph.D. 1959). He joined (1959) the Metropol...

Hastings, Thomas, American composer

(Encyclopedia)Hastings, Thomas, 1784–1872, American composer, b. Washington, Conn. Of his hymns, Rock of Ages is most famous. He compiled several books of hymns, including Musica Sacra (1815) and Spiritual Songs ...

Hastings, Thomas, American architect

(Encyclopedia)Hastings, Thomas, 1860–1929, American architect, b. New York City, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He worked in the office of McKim, Mead, and White, New York City, and in 1886 commenced practic...

Browse by Subject