Overview
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a broad area of philosophy marked out by two types of inquiry. The first aims to be the most general investigation possible into the nature of ...
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Perception
If you want to get to grips with philosophy of perception, the best place to start is M.G.F. Martin’s entry on (you guessed it) perception! ...
Thematic
Absolute, the
The expression ‘the Absolute’ stands for that (supposed) unconditioned reality which is either the spiritual ground of all being or the whole of things considered as a spiritual ...
Thematic
Abstract objects
The central philosophical question about abstract objects is: Are there any? An affirmative answer – given by Platonists or Realists – draws support from the fact that while ...
Thematic
Action at a distance
Action at a distance is typically characterized in terms of some cause producing a spatially separated effect in the absence of any medium by which the causal interaction ...
Thematic
Alterity and identity, postmodern theories of
Theories of alterity and identity can be said to be ‘postmodern’ if they challenge at least two key features of modern philosophy: (1) the Cartesian attempt to secure ...
Thematic
Archē
Archē, or ‘principle’, is an ancient Greek philosophical term. Building on earlier uses, Aristotle established it as a technical term with a number of related meanings, including ‘originating ...
Thematic
Aristotelianism, medieval
Although there are many possible definitions, ‘medieval Aristotelianism’ is here taken to mean explicit receptions of Aristotle’s texts or teachings by Latin-speaking writers from about ad 500 ...
Thematic
Aristotelianism, Renaissance
By the Renaissance here is meant the period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries during which there was a deliberate attempt, especially in Italy, to pattern cultural activities ...
Thematic
Atomism, ancient
Ancient Greek atomism, starting with Leucippus and Democritus in the fifth century bc, arose as a response to problems of the continuum raised by Eleatic philosophers. In ...
Thematic
Being
Although ‘being’ has frequently been treated as a name for a property or special sort of entity, it is generally recognized that it is neither. Therefore, questions concerning ...
Thematic
Brahman
The Sanskrit word brahman (neuter) emerged in late Vedic literature and Upaniṣads (900–300 bc) as the name (never pluralized) of the divine reality pervading the universe, ...
Thematic
Buddhist concept of emptiness
‘Emptiness’ or ‘voidness’ is an expression used in Buddhist thought primarily to mark a distinction between the way things appear to be and the way they actually are, ...
Thematic
Causality and necessity in Islamic thought
Discussions of causality and necessity in Islamic thought were the result of attempts to incorporate the wisdom of the Greeks into the legacy of the Qur‘‘an, and specifically ...
Thematic
Causation, Indian theories of
Causation was acknowledged as one of the central problems in Indian philosophy. The classical Indian philosophers’ concern with the problem basically arose from two sources: first, the cosmogonic ...
Thematic
Change
Change in general may be defined as the variation of properties (whether of things or of regions of space) over time. But this definition is incomplete in a ...
Thematic
Colour, theories of
The world as perceived by human beings is full of colour. The world as described by physical scientists is composed of colourless particles and fields. Philosophical theories of ...
Thematic
Contingency
People are often puzzled about the apparent contingency of the world. To say that something happens contingently is to say that it might not have happened, and to ...
Thematic
Continuants
There is a common-sense distinction between terms such as ‘statue’ or ‘chair’ on the one hand, and ‘concert’ or ‘war’ on the other. A long-standing tradition in metaphysics ...
Thematic
Cosmology and cosmogony, Indian theories of
Theories of the origin of the universe have been told as stories, riddles and instruction in India since early times. The three prominent religious movements, Hinduism, Buddhism and ...
Thematic
Counterpart theory
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Thematic
Dao
Dao, conventionally translated ‘the Way’, is probably the most pervasive and widely recognized idea in Chinese philosophy. The specific character of Chinese philosophy arises because a dominant cultural ...
Thematic
De
Across the corpus of pre-Qin philosophical literature, de, conventionally translated as ‘potency’ or ‘virtue’, seems to have a fundamental cosmological significance from which its other connotations are ...
Thematic
Definition, Indian concepts of
Definitions in Indian philosophy are conceived very differently from definitions in Western philosophy. In Western philosophy and logic, it is usual to define a term or a linguistic ...
Thematic
Determinism and indeterminism
Over the centuries, the doctrine of determinism has been understood, and assessed, in different ways. Since the seventeenth century, it has been commonly understood as the doctrine that ...