“Windows To Spirituality”
19th-century Philosophy The 19th-century philosophy is also known as late modern philosophy. In the 19th century, the philosophies of the Enlightenment began to have a dramatic effect, the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau influencing new generations of thinkers. In the late 18th century a movement known as Romanticism...
Li in Confucianism Li (礼, 禮, lǐ) is a classical Chinese word which is commonly used in Chinese philosophy, particularly within Confucianism. Li does not encompass a definitive object but rather a somewhat abstract idea and, as such, is translated in a number of different ways. Wing-tsit Chan explains that li originally meant...
Disciples Of Confucius This article covers the disciples of Confucius. According to Sima Qian, Confucius said: “The disciples who received my instructions, and could themselves comprehend them, were seventy-seven individuals. They were all scholars of extraordinary ability.” It was traditionally believed that Confucius had three thousand students, but that only 72 mastered what...
Confucius Confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. The philosophy of Confucius, also known as Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of...
Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concern matters of value, and thus comprise the branch of philosophy called axiology. Ethics seeks to resolve questions of human morality by defining concepts such as good and evil, right...
What Is Buddhist Philosophy? Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various Buddhist schools in India following the death of the Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combines both philosophical reasoning and meditation. The Buddhist traditions present a multitude of Buddhist paths to liberation, and...
What Is Jain Philosophy? Jain philosophy is the oldest Indian philosophy that separates body (matter) from the soul (consciousness) completely. Jain philosophy deals with reality, cosmology, epistemology (study of knowledge) and Vitalism. It attempts to explain the rationale of being and existence, the nature of the Universe and its constituents,...
Indian Philosophy Indian philosophy refers to ancient philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The principal schools are classified as either orthodox or heterodox – āstika or nāstika – depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Vedas as a valid source of knowledge; whether the school believes...
What Is Philosophy? Philosophy (from philosophia, literally “love of wisdom“) is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE). Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation. Classic philosophical...
Will (Philosophy) Will, generally, is that faculty of the mind which selects, at the moment of decision, the strongest desire from among the various desires present. Will does not refer to any particular desire, but rather to the mechanism for choosing from among one’s desires. Within philosophy the will is important...
What Is Self-control? Self-control, an aspect of inhibitory control, is the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. As an executive function, self-control is a cognitive process that is necessary for regulating one’s behavior in order to achieve specific goals. A related concept in psychology is emotional...
The Discipline Of Philosophy This article covers The Discipline of Philosophy. Philosophy – the love of wisdom – is an activity of attempting to understand the world, in all its aspects. There are four pillars of philosophy: theoretical philosophy (metaphysics and epistemology), practical philosophy (ethics, social and political philosophy, aesthetics),...
Naturalism Naturalism is a comprehensive worldview based on a scientific, empirical understanding of reality. It offers a positive, rational, and fulfilling alternative to faith-based religions and non-empirical worldviews. “Naturalism” is a term that is applied to many doctrines and positions in philosophy, and in fact, just how it is to...
Chinese Sages This article is about famous Chinese Sages. In ancient China during the 6th century BC the incessant wars between Jin and Chu led Heang Seu of Song to go to Jin with a proposal for a comprehensive peace. He said, “War is destructive to the people, an insect...
What Is Agnosticism? Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine, or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said “It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no...
Self-awareness Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. Self-awareness, though similar to sentience in concept, includes the experience of the self, and has been argued as implicit to the hard problem of consciousness. In philosophy of...
Individualism And Solitude Many of the fundamental doctrines and attributes of Western civilization are a mixture of Greek-Roman values and a distorted Christianity. They are ultimately derived from ancient, pagan myths, one of the best harms of which is the legend of Prometheus who ‘stole’ fire from the gods at...
Epicurus’ Principal Doctrines This article is about Epicurus’ Principal Doctrines. “No pleasure is a bad thing in itself” INTRODUCTION to Epicurus’s Sovran Maxims Epicurus was born in 341BC on the island of Samos. He studied philosophy under the successors of Democritus and Plato, and eventually founded his own school and...
What Is Jewish Philosophy? Jewish philosophy (פילוסופיה יהודית) or Jewish theology includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism, thus organizing...
Quran’s Wisdom And Modern Scientific Thought If you want to compare the fruits of the Quran’s wisdom and modern scientific thought and philosophy, and their instructions and teaching and the degrees of knowledge they provide, then heed the following: With its penetrating explanations, the Quran of Miraculous Expression removes the...
