Who Is Hippocrates? Hippocrates of Kos (Hippokrátēs ho Kṓos; c. 460 – c. 370 BC), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is often referred to as the “Father...
Who Is Thomas Carlyle? Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, translator, historian, mathematician, and teacher. Considered one of the most important social commentators of his time, he presented many lectures during his lifetime with certain acclaim in the Victorian era. One...
Zarathushtra, Mani, And The Cathars This article covers philosophers Zarathushtra, Mani, and The Cathars. The word that wounds is this: When a man speaks a word for the sake of the killing of a man or the killing of beasts or the killing of trees and the “Cross of Light,”...
Who is Zoroaster? Zoroaster also known as Zarathustra (Zarathushtra Spitama or Ashu Zarathushtra, زرتشت) was an ancient Iranian spiritual leader who founded what is now known as Zoroastrianism. His teachings challenged the existing traditions of the Indo-Iranian religion and inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Ancient Persia. He was...
Who Is Francis Bacon? Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, PCQC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England. His works are credited with developing the scientific method and remained influential through the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. His...
Who Is Mencius? Mencius or Mengzi (372–289 BC or 385–303 or 302BC) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who has often been described as the “second Sage“, that is after only Confucius himself. Living during the Warring States period, he is said to have spent much of his life travelling around China offering...
Who Is Fakhr al-Din al-Razi? Fakhr al-Din al-Razi or Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī or Fakhruddin Razi (فخر الدين رازي) was an Iranian Sunni Muslim theologian and philosopher He was born in 1149 in Rey (in modern-day Iran), and died in 1209 in Herat (in modern-day Afghanistan). He also wrote on medicine, physics,...
Peace Plans of Rousseau, Bentham, and Kant This article covers The Peace Plans of Rousseau, Bentham, and Kant Conscience is the voice of the soul. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Firmly convinced as I am that nothing on this earth is worth purchase at the price of human blood, and that there is...
Who Is Blaise Pascal? Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal’s earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where...
What Is Pragmatism? Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that began in the United States around 1870. Its origins are often attributed to the philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Peirce later described it in his pragmatic maxim: “Consider the practical effects of the objects of your conception....
What Is Renaissance Philosophy? The designation “Renaissance philosophy” is used by scholars of intellectual history to refer to the thought of the period running in Europe roughly between 1355 and 1650 (the dates shift forward for central and northern Europe and for areas such as Spanish America, India, Japan, and China under...
Who Is Albert Camus? Albert Camus (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, the second youngest recipient in history. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel. Camus...
Who Is Omar Khayyam? Omar Khayyam (عمر خیّام, 18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran, and spent most of his life near the court of the Karakhanid and Seljuq rulers in the period which witnessed the First Crusade....
Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi “Shahāb ad-Dīn” Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardī (شهابالدین سهروردی, also known as Sohrevardi) (1154-1191) was a Persian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy that drew upon Zoroastrian and Platonic ideas. The “light” in his “Philosophy of Illumination” is a divine and metaphysical...
Who Is Ibn Arabi? Ibn ʿArabi (26 July 1165 – 16 November 1240) was an Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, whose works have grown to be very influential beyond the Muslim world. Of the over 800 works which are attributed to him, 100 survive in the original manuscript....
Pacifism of Bertrand Russell and A. J. Muste This article covers The Pacifism of Bertrand Russell and A. J. Muste Life and hope for the world are to be found only in the deeds of love. Bertrand Russell If war no longer occupied men’s thoughts and energies, we would, within...
Ancient Philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Western philosophy, the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire marked the ending of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of medieval philosophy, whereas in Eastern philosophy, the spread of Islam through the Arab Empire marked the end of Old Iranian philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of early Islamic philosophy. Overview...
Kapila’s Philosophy Kapila‘s philosophy is characterised by a deep moral sentiment. Perfection is the aim of life, and perfection is to be obtained through the knowledge of the soul as distinct from matter. Kapila (कपिल) is a given name of different individuals in ancient and medieval Indian texts, of which...
Kapila Kapila (कपिल) is a given name of different individuals in ancient and medieval Indian texts, of which the most well-known is the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. Kapila of Samkhya fame is considered a Vedic sage, estimated to have lived in the 6th-century BCE, or the 7th-century BCE. Rishi Kapila...
Muslim Philosophy Muslim philosophy or Islamic philosophy is a development in philosophy that is characterised by coming from an Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: “philosophy”), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and physics; and Kalam (literally “speech”), which refers to a rationalist form of Islamic theology. Philosophy...