Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cassirer, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Cassirer, Ernst ĕrnst käsērˈər [key], 1874–1945, German philosopher. He was a professor at the Univ. of Hamburg from 1919 until 1933, when he went to Oxford; he later taught at Yale and Columbi...

Thwing, Charles Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Thwing, Charles Franklin twĭng [key], 1853–1937, American educator and Congregational clergyman, b. New Sharon, Maine, grad. Harvard, 1876, and Andover Theological Seminary, 1879. Until 1890 he ser...

Thomson, Sir John Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Sir John Arthur, 1861–1933, Scottish naturalist and writer. From 1899 to 1930 he was Regius professor of natural history at the Univ. of Aberdeen. In 1924 he lectured at Union Theological S...

Baha'i

(Encyclopedia)Baha'i bähäˈē, –hīˈ, bə– [key], religion founded by Baha Ullah (born Mirza Huseyn Ali Nuri) and promulgated by his eldest son, Abdul Baha (1844–1921). It is a doctrinal outgrowth of Babis...

Dühring, Eugen Karl

(Encyclopedia)Dühring, Eugen Karl oigānˈ kärl düˈrĭng [key], 1833–1921, German philosopher and economist. He practiced law in Berlin until blindness threatened him and then became (1864) docent at the Univ...

Porphyry, Greek scholar

(Encyclopedia)Porphyry pôrˈfĭrē [key], c.232–c.304, Greek scholar and Neoplatonic philosopher. He studied rhetoric under Cassius Longinus and philosophy under Plotinus. He later lectured in Rome on the philos...

Mead, George Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Mead, George Herbert mēd [key], 1863–1931, American philosopher and psychologist, b. South Hadley, Mass., grad. Oberlin, 1883, and Harvard, 1888, and studied in Leipzig and Berlin. He taught at the...

Williams, Sir Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Sir Bernard (Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams), 1929–2003, English philosopher, grad. Oxford (1951). One of the most important philosophers of his era, he is credited with reviving the fie...

Cabiri

(Encyclopedia)Cabiri kəbīˈrī [key], in ancient religion of the Middle East, nature deities of obscure origin, possibly Phoenician. They were connected with several fertility cults, particularly at Lemnos and at...

deconstruction

(Encyclopedia)deconstruction, in linguistics, philosophy, and literary theory, the exposure and undermining of the metaphysical assumptions involved in systematic attempts to ground knowledge, especially in academi...