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mechanism

(Encyclopedia)mechanism, philosophical theory about the nature of organic systems, holding that organisms are machines in the sense that they are material systems. Mechanism seeks to explain biological processes, i...

Cudworth, Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Cudworth, Ralph, 1617–88, English theologian and philosopher. He was a noted representative of the Cambridge Platonists. Cudworth's most ambitious work, The True Intellectual System of the Universe,...

Lange, Friedrich Albert

(Encyclopedia)Lange, Friedrich Albert frēˈdrĭkh älˈbĕrt längˈə [key], 1828–75, German neo-Kantian philosopher. He accepted the materialistic method of investigating phenomena but rejected its concept of ...

Polignac, Melchior de

(Encyclopedia)Polignac, Melchior de də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1661–1742, French diplomat, churchman, and author, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As ambassador to Poland he directed (1697) the unsuccessful ...

La Mettrie, Julien Offray de

(Encyclopedia)La Mettrie, Julien Offray de zhülyăNˈ ôfrāˈ də lä mĕtrēˈ [key], 1709–51, French physician and philosopher. On the basis of personal observation he claimed that psychical activity is purel...

Ady, Endre

(Encyclopedia)Ady, Endre ĕnˈdrĕ ŏˈdē [key], 1877–1919, Hungarian poet. He abandoned his studies in law for a career in journalism and literature. His first volume of poetry, Versek, appeared in 1899. After ...

Gadamer, Hans-Georg

(Encyclopedia)Gadamer, Hans-Georg hänsˈ gāˈôrk găˈdəmər [key], 1900–2002, German philosopher, b. Marburg. He taught at Kiel (1934–37), Marburg (1937–39), Leipzig (1939–74), and Frankfurt (1947–49...

Baeck, Leo

(Encyclopedia)Baeck, Leo lāˈō bĕk [key], 1873–1956, German rabbi and scholar. He studied at the conservative Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau and then at the liberal Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des...

Diderot, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Diderot, Denis dənēˈ dēdərōˈ [key], 1713–84, French encyclopedist, philosopher of materialism, and critic of art and literature, b. Langres. He was also a novelist, satirist, and dramatist. D...

Brunner, Emil

(Encyclopedia)Brunner, Emil āˈmēl bro͝onˈər [key], 1889–1966, Swiss Protestant theologian. A clear and systematic thinker from the school of dialectical theology, he was a professor of theology at the Univ....

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