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Platonic Forms
The theory of Forms or theory of Ideas is a philosophical theory, fuzzy concept, or world-view, attributed to Plato, that the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas. According to this theory, ideas in this sense, often capitalized and translated as "Ideas" or "Forms", are the non-physical essences of all things, of which objects and matter in the physical world are merely imitations. Plato speaks of these entities only through the characters (primarily Socrates) of his dialogues who sometimes suggests that these Forms are the only objects of study that can provide knowledge. The theory itself is contested from within Plato's dialogues, and it is a general point of controversy in philosophy. Nonetheless, the theory is considered to be a classical solution to the problem of universals. The early Greek concept of form precedes attested philosophical usage and is represented by a number of words mainly having to do with vision, sight, and app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Philosophy
German philosophy, here taken to mean either (1) philosophy in the German language or (2) philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz through Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein to contemporary philosophers. Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher, is frequently included in surveys of German (or Germanic) philosophy due to his extensive engagement with German thinkers. 17th century Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was both a philosopher and a mathematician who wrote primarily in Latin and French. Leibniz, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, was one of the three great 17th century advocates of rationalism. The work of Leibniz also anticipated modern logic and analytic philosophy, but his philosophy also looks back to the scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, and he is otherwise historically recognized as the first individual known to have entertained and engaged in scientific philosophy.Frank N. Magill''The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography'', Volume 1 Routledge, 2003 He is often referred to as the Father of Science. Thales is recognized for breaking from the use of mythology to explain the world and the universe, instead explaining natural objects and phenomena by offering naturalistic theories and hypotheses. Almost all the other pre-Socratic philosophers followed him in explaining nature as deriving from a unity of everything based on the existence of a single ultimate substance instead of using mythological explanations. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perfection
Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The terminology, term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete academic discipline, disciplines, notably mathematics, physics, chemistry, ethics, aesthetics, ontology, and theology. Term and concept The form of the word long fluctuated in various languages. The English language had the alternates, "perfection" and the Bible, Biblical "perfectness."WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw Tatarkiewicz, Tatarkiewicz, "Perfection: the Term and the Concept," ''Dialectics and Humanism'', vol. VI, no. 4 (autumn 1979), p. 5. The word "perfection" derives from the Latin "''w:la:perfectio, perfectio''", and "perfect" — from "''w:la:perfectus, perfectus''". These expressions in turn come from "''w:la:perficio, perficio''" — "to finish", "to bring to an end". "''Perfectio''(n)" thus literally means "a finishing", and "perfect''(us)''" â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
