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Alain de Lille

(Encyclopedia)Alain de Lille älăNˈ də lēl [key], c.1128–c.1202, French scholastic philosopher, a Cistercian, honored by his contemporaries as the Universal Doctor. He was born in Lille; he taught at Paris an...

Chuang-tzu

(Encyclopedia)Chuang-tzu or Chuang-tze both: jwäng-dzŭ [key], c.369–c.286 b.c., Chinese Taoist writer. Little is known about his life. He was a native of the state of Meng, on the border of present-day Shandong...

prairie schooner

(Encyclopedia)prairie schooner, wagon covered with white canvas, made famous by its almost universal use in the migration across the Western prairies and plains, and so called in allusion to the white-topped schoon...

Proverbs

(Encyclopedia)Proverbs, book of the Bible. It is a collection of sayings, many of them moral maxims, in no special order. The teaching is of a practical nature; it does not dwell on the salvation-historical traditi...

pyrimidine

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pyrimidines found in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) pyrimidine pīrĭmˈĭdēnˌ [key], type of organic base found in certain coenzymes and in the nucleic acids of plant and animal tissue. The th...

Wang Yang-ming

(Encyclopedia)Wang Yang-ming wäng yäng-mĭng [key], 1472–1529, Chinese philosopher. He developed an idealist interpretation of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox philosophy of Chu ...

Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne

(Encyclopedia)Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne zhäk bānēˈnyə bôsüāˈ [key], 1627–1704, French prelate, one of the greatest orators in French history. At an early age he was made a canon at Metz; he became bishop...

universals

(Encyclopedia)universals, in philosophy, term applied to general or abstract objects such as concepts, qualities, relations, and numbers, as opposed to particular objects. The exact nature of a universal deeply con...

human rights

(Encyclopedia)human rights, universal rights held to belong to individuals by virtue of their being human, encompassing civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms, and based on the notion ...

Ibn Khaldun

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Khaldun ĭˈbən khäldo͞onˈ [key], 1332–1406, Arab historian, b. Tunis. He held various offices under the rulers of Tunis and Morocco and served (1363) as ambassador of the Moorish king of Gr...