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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...

soul

(Encyclopedia)soul, the vital, immaterial, life principle, generally conceived as existing within humans and sometimes within all living things, inanimate objects, and the universe as a whole. Religion and philosop...

Hopkins, Mark, American educator

(Encyclopedia)Hopkins, Mark, 1802–87, American educator, b. Stockbridge, Mass., grad. Williams, 1824, and Berkshire Medical School, 1829. After a few months of medical practice he returned (1830) to Williams as p...

phenomenon

(Encyclopedia)phenomenon, an observable fact or event; in philosophy the definitions and uses of the term have varied. In the philosophy of Aristotle phenomena were the objects of the senses (e.g., sights and sound...

Royer-Collard, Pierre Paul

(Encyclopedia)Royer-Collard, Pierre Paul pyĕr pōl rwäyāˈ-kô-lärˈ [key], 1763–1845, French statesman and philosopher. After entering the law, he took part in the French Revolution and became a constitution...

Austin, John Langshaw

(Encyclopedia)Austin, John Langshaw, 1911–60, British philosopher. A graduate of Oxford, he was a fellow of All Souls (1933–35) and Magdalen (1935–52) colleges before he became White's professor of moral phil...

Vaihinger, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Vaihinger, Hans häns fīˈhĭng-ər [key], 1852–1933, German philosopher. Educated at Tübingen, Leipzig, and Berlin, he served at Strasbourg first as tutor and then as professor of philosophy. One...

Zeno of Citium

(Encyclopedia)Zeno of Citium zēˈnō, sĭshˈēəm [key], c.334–c.262 b.c., Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism. He left Cyprus and went to Athens, where he studied under the Cynics, whose teachings left an i...

deists

(Encyclopedia)deists dēˈĭsts [key], term commonly applied to those thinkers in the 17th and 18th cent. who held that the course of nature sufficiently demonstrates the existence of God. For them formal religion ...

Schopenhauer, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Schopenhauer, Arthur ärˈto͝or shōˈpənhouˌər [key], 1788–1860, German philosopher, b. Danzig (now Gdansk). The bias of his own temperament and experience was germinal to the development of hi...