Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism was the system of esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans, who were considerably influenced by mathematics, music and astronomy. Pythagoreanism originated in the 5th century BC and greatly influenced Platonism. Later revivals of Pythagorean doctrines led to what is now called Neopythagoreanism. Two schools[edit] According to tradition, Pythagoreanism developed at some point into two separate schools of thought: the mathēmatikoi (μαθηματικοί, Greek for "learners") andthe akousmatikoi (ἀκουσματικοί, Greek for "listeners"). The mathēmatikoi[edit] The mathēmatikoi were supposed to have extended and developed the more mathematical and scientific work begun by Pythagoras. The akousmatikoi[edit] The akousmatikoi focused on the more religious and ritualistic aspects of his teachings: they claimed that the mathēmatikoi were not genuinely Pythagorean, but followers of the "renegade" Pythagorean Hippasus. Natural philosophy[edit]
Jean-François Lyotard Biography[edit] Early life, educational background, and family[edit] Jean François Lyotard was born on August 10, 1924 in Versailles, France to Jean-Pierre Lyotard, a sales representative, and Madeleine Cavalli. Political life[edit] In 1954, Lyotard became a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie, a French political organisation formed in 1948 around the inadequacy of the Trotskyist analysis to explain the new forms of domination in the Soviet Union. Academic career[edit] Lyotard taught in Lycée de Constantine in Algeria from 1950 to 1952. Theory[edit] Lyotard's work is characterised by a persistent opposition to universals, meta-narratives, and generality. In his writings of the early 1970s, he rejects what he regards as theological underpinnings of both Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud: "In Freud, it is judaical, critical sombre (forgetful of the political); in Marx it is catholic. The Postmodern Condition[edit] Lyotard is a skeptic for modern cultural thought. The Differend[edit] The sublime[edit]
Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (/pɑrˈmɛnɨdiːz əv ˈɛliə/; Ancient Greek: Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; fl. 5th century BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Magna Graecia. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. Life[edit] On Nature[edit] Parmenides is one of the most significant of the pre-Socratic philosophers.[12] His only known work, conventionally titled On Nature, is a poem which has only survived in fragmentary form. A proem (Greek: προοίμιον), which introduced the entire work,A section known as "The Way of Truth" (aletheia, ἀλήθεια), andA section known as "The Way of Appearance/Opinion" (doxa, δόξα). Proem[edit] The Way of Truth[edit] The section known as "the way of truth" discusses that which is real and contrasts with the argument in the section called "the way of opinion," which discusses that which is illusory. Perception vs.
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (German: [ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈhaɪdɛɡɐ]; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher, widely seen as a seminal thinker in the Continental tradition, particularly within the fields of existential phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics. From his beginnings as a Catholic academic, he developed a groundbreaking and widely influential philosophy. His relationship with Nazism has been a controversial and widely debated subject. For Heidegger, the things in lived experience always have more to them than what we can see; accordingly, the true nature of being is “withdrawal”. It has been suggested[by whom?] Biography[edit] Early years[edit] The Mesnerhaus in Meßkirch, where Heidegger grew up Studying theology at the University of Freiburg while supported by the church on the understanding that he would defend their doctrine, Heidegger broke with Catholicism, and switched to philosophy. Marburg[edit] Freiburg[edit] According to historian Richard J. Post-war[edit]
Sophism The term originated from Greek σόφισμα, sophisma, from σοφίζω, sophizo "I am wise"; confer σοφιστής, sophistēs, meaning "wise-ist, one who does wisdom," and σοφός, sophós means "wise man". Etymology[edit] The Greek word sophist (sophistēs) derives from the words sophia, and sophos, meaning "wisdom" or “wise” since the time of Homer and was originally used to describe expertise in a particular knowledge or craft.[1] Gradually, however, the word also came to denote general wisdom and especially wisdom about human affairs (for example, in politics, ethics, or household management). Sophists of ancient Greece[edit] Sophists were philosopher-teachers who traveled about in Greece teaching their students everything that was necessary to be successful in life including rhetoric and public speaking. Early Sophists were well respected but they soon became unpopular and were subject to much opposition and controversy due to their high fees and their radical challenges to convention. See also[edit]
Baruch Spinoza Biography[edit] Family and community origins[edit] Spinoza's ancestors were of Sephardic Jewish descent, and were a part of the community of Portuguese Jews that had settled in the city of Amsterdam in the wake of the Alhambra Decree in Spain (1492) and the Portuguese Inquisition (1536), which had resulted in forced conversions and expulsions from the Iberian peninsula.[11] Attracted by the Decree of Toleration issued in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht, Portuguese "conversos" first sailed to Amsterdam in 1593 and promptly reconverted to Judaism.[12] In 1598 permission was granted to build a synagogue, and in 1615 an ordinance for the admission and government of the Jews was passed.[13] As a community of exiles, the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam were highly proud of their identity.[13] Spinoza's father, Miguel (Michael), and his uncle, Manuel, then moved to Amsterdam where they resumed the practice of Judaism. 17th-century Holland[edit] Early life[edit] Expulsion from the Jewish community[edit]
Zeno Zeno is the common anglicised form of the Greek name Zenon (Ζήνων), derived from the theonym Zeus. It may refer to: Historical people[edit] Philosophers[edit] Zeno of Elea (c. 490 – c. 430 BC), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, famed for his paradoxesZeno of Citium (333 BC – 264 BC), founder of the Stoic school of philosophyZeno of Tarsus (200s BC), Stoic philosopherZeno of Sidon (1st century BC), Epicurean philosopher Other persons of antiquity[edit] As a surname[edit] Modern given name[edit] Zeno Roth (born 1956), German musicianZenon Grocholewski (born 1939), Polish cardinalZenon Jaskuła (born 1962), Polish cyclistZenon Konopka (born 1981), Canadian/Polish hockey playerZenon Mikhailidis, Greek shooterZenon Panoussis, Greek Scientology opponent in Sweden and the NetherlandsZenon Pylyshyn (born 1937), Canadian cognitive scientistZenon de Souza Farias (born 1954), Brazilian footballer Fictional characters[edit] Other[edit] See also[edit]
Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (/ˌboʊdriːˈɑr/;[1] French: [ʒɑ̃ bodʁijaʁ]; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and specifically post-structuralism. Life[edit] Baudrillard was born in Reims, northeastern France, on 27 July 1929. His grandparents were peasants and his parents were civil servants. While teaching German, Baudrillard began to transfer to sociology, eventually completing his doctoral thesis Le Système des objets (The System of Objects) under the dissertation committee of Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes, and Pierre Bourdieu. In 1970, Baudrillard made the first of his many trips to the United States (Aspen, Colorado), and in 1973, the first of several trips to Kyoto, Japan. In 1986 he moved to IRIS (Institut de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Économique) at the Université de Paris-IX Dauphine, where he spent the latter part of his teaching career.
Herodotus Place in history[edit] Herodotus announced the size and scope of his work at the beginning of his Researches or Histories: Ἡροδότου Ἁλικαρνησσέος ἱστορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε, ὡς μήτε τὰ γενόμενα ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τῷ χρόνῳ ἐξίτηλα γένηται, μήτε ἔργα μεγάλα τε καὶ θωμαστά, τὰ μὲν Ἕλλησι, τὰ δὲ βαρβάροισι ἀποδεχθέντα, ἀκλεᾶ γένηται, τὰ τε ἄλλα καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίην ἐπολέμησαν ἀλλήλοισι.[2] Herodotus of Halicarnassus, his Researches are here set down to preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements of both the Greeks and the Barbarians; and more particularly, to show how they came into conflict.[3] His record of the achievements of others was an achievement in itself, though the extent of it has been debated. Hecataeus the Milesian speaks thus: I write these things as they seem true to me; for the stories told by the Greeks are various and in my opinion absurd.[6] Homer was another inspirational source.[16] Life[edit] The statue of Herodotus in Bodrum Reliability[edit]
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.[4] From 1939–1947, Wittgenstein taught at the University of Cambridge.[5] During his lifetime he published just one slim book, the 75-page Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921), one article, one book review and a children's dictionary.[6] His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously. Philosophical Investigations appeared as a book in 1953 and by the end of the century it was considered an important modern classic.[7] Philosopher Bertrand Russell described Wittgenstein as "the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived; passionate, profound, intense, and dominating".[8] Born in Vienna into one of Europe's richest families, he inherited a large fortune from his father in 1913. Background[edit] The Wittgensteins[edit]
Thucydides Thucydides (/θjuːˈsɪdɨdiːz/; Greek: Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídēs; c. 460 – c. 395 BC) was an Athenian historian, political philosopher and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work.[1] He has also been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the relations between nations as based on might rather than right.[2] His text is still studied at advanced military colleges worldwide, and the Melian dialogue remains a seminal work of international relations theory. Life[edit] In spite of his stature as a historian, modern historians know relatively little about Thucydides' life. Evidence from the Classical Period[edit] Later sources[edit] Pericles
Aristotle Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended into the Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. The sum of his work's influence often ranks him among the world's top personalities of all time with the greatest influence, along with his teacher Plato, and his pupil Alexander the Great.[9][10] Life Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. Thought
Gorgias Gorgias (/ˈɡɔrdʒiəs/; Greek: Γοργίας, Ancient Greek: [ɡorɡías]; c. 485 – c. 380 BC),[1] called "the Nihilist," was a Greek sophist, Italiote, pre-Socratic philosopher and rhetorician who was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger. "Like other Sophists he was an itinerant, practicing in various cities and giving public exhibitions of his skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi, and charged fees for his instruction and performances. A special feature of his displays was to invite miscellaneous questions from the audience and give impromptu replies His chief claim to recognition resides in the fact that he transplanted rhetoric from his native Sicily to Attica, and contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose. Life[edit] Gorgias: the Nihilist[edit]