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nominalism

(Encyclopedia)nominalism, in philosophy, a theory of the relation between universals and particulars. Nominalism gained its name in the Middle Ages, when it was contrasted with realism. The problem arises because i...

Young, Charles Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Young, Charles Augustus, 1834–1908, American astronomer, b. Hanover, N.H., grad. Dartmouth, 1853. He discovered the reversing layer of the solar atmosphere and proved the gaseous nature of the sun's...

Bode, Boyd Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bode, Boyd Henry, 1873–1953, American educator, b. Ridott, Ill., grad. Pennsylvania College (Iowa), 1896, Univ. of Michigan, 1897, Ph.D. Cornell, 1900. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Wisconsin...

Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3d Earl

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3d Earl, 1872–1970, British philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer, b. Trelleck, Wales. As with his philosophical stance, Russell's positions on ...

Chillingworth, William

(Encyclopedia)Chillingworth, William, 1602–44, English theologian. He was converted to Roman Catholicism and in 1630 went to Douai to study. Under the influence of his godfather, William Laud, he abjured that fai...

Pew Charitable Trusts

(Encyclopedia)Pew Charitable Trusts, philanthropic foundation established (1948) by the children of Sun Oil Company founder Joseph N. Pew (1886–1963) of Philadelphia to provide funds for “general religious, cha...

Collingwood, Robin George

(Encyclopedia)Collingwood, Robin George, 1889–1943, English philosopher and historian. From 1908 he was associated with Oxford as student, fellow, lecturer in history, and professor of philosophy. Collingwood bel...

Simmel, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Simmel, Georg gāˈôrk zĭmˈəl [key], 1858–1918, German philosopher and sociologist. At the universities of Berlin and Strasbourg he was an influential lecturer. Basing his social philosophy on a...

Maritain, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Maritain, Jacques zhäk märētăNˈ [key], 1882–1973, French Neo-Thomist philosopher. He was educated at the Sorbonne and the Univ. of Heidelberg and was much influenced by the philosophy of Henri ...

Cyrenaics

(Encyclopedia)Cyrenaics sīrĭnāˈĭks, sĭ– [key], one of the minor schools of Greek philosophy, flourishing in the late 4th and early 3d cent. b.c. Cyrenaic philosophy taught that present individual pleasure i...