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hedonism

(Encyclopedia)hedonism hēˈdənĭzˌəm [key] [Gr.,=pleasure], the doctrine that holds that pleasure is the highest good. Ancient hedonism expressed itself in two ways: the cruder form was that proposed by Aristip...

Mill, James

(Encyclopedia)Mill, James, 1773–1836, British philosopher, economist, and historian, b. Scotland; father of John Stuart Mill. Educated as a clergyman at Edinburgh through the patronage of Sir John Stuart, Mill ga...

Rawls, John Bordley

(Encyclopedia)Rawls, John Bordley, 1921–2002, American philosopher and political theorist, b. Baltimore, grad. Princeton (A.B., 1943; Ph.D., 1950). He taught at Princeton (1950–52), Cornell (1953–59), and the...

Smith, Adam

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Adam, 1723–90, Scottish economist, educated at Glasgow and Oxford. He became professor of moral philosophy at the Univ. of Glasgow in 1752, and while teaching there wrote his Theory of Moral ...

ethics

(Encyclopedia)ethics, in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed fo...

Swedish literature

(Encyclopedia)Swedish literature, literary works in the Swedish language. In the early 20th cent. the fiction of Hjalmar Söderberg presaged a renewed emphasis on restraint and realism. Ludvig Nordström, Gust...

Enlightenment

(Encyclopedia)Enlightenment, term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America. Centered in Paris, the movement gained international character at cosmopolitan salons. Masonic lodges pla...

George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George III, 1738–1820, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760–1820); son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, and grandson of George II, whom he succeeded. He was also elector (and later king) of...

philosophy

(Encyclopedia)philosophy [Gr.,=love of wisdom], study of the ultimate reality, causes, and principles underlying being and thinking. It has many aspects and different manifestations according to the problems involv...

Great Britain

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE5 CE5 Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 65,397,000), ...

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