. As the Roman Empire was crumbling in Gaul, so too was the classical tradition of both pagan and Christian Greek and Latin learning. The age of the Latin fathers ended effectively with the death of Augustine of Hippo in North Africa in 430, and the...

The canonical texts in Western philosophy have been written by men and have inscribed male experiences and perspectives into that philosophy. Clack’s Misogyny in the Western Philosophical Tradition offers selections from the writings of major...

Philosophy of Judaism entails the systematization of beliefs into an abstract structure of thought. As an important phase in the history of Judaism, philosophical thinking about Scripture and tradition began in response to the advent of Islamic...

It dishonors a philosopher to be disheartened. (Roman) Keep quiet and people will think you a philosopher. (Roman) Many talk like philosophers and live like fools. (English) Philosophy as well as foppery often changes fashion. (Poor Richard) Philosophy...

Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of...

The new president at Ohio State University, the nation's largest, says college athletics must be fixed at the national level and he will have "zero tolerance" for player misbehavior at Ohio State.Gordon Gee disbanded the athletics department at Vanderbilt University because he felt sports had...

Nina Wang, Asia's richest woman at the time of her death, left her $4 billion fortune to a master of feng shui, the Chinese belief that fortunes can be improved by timing and the layout of objects, such as furniture, according to the man's lawyer.The...

Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, a physicist who researched atomic weapons for the Nazis and became a philosophy professor who espoused pacifism after World War II, died Saturday, his family said. He was 94.Weizsaecker had been severely ill for a long time, his daughter-in-law said by...

One summer afternoon, the Italian textile heir and occasional model Cody Franchetti spotted a trash bin on the sidewalk outside his West Fourth Street apartment overflowing with classic literature. “They were all bad editions but great books,” Mr. Franchetti said. “From Flaubert, to Goethe,...

In the following essay, Tessitore examines Book X of Ethics, arguing that in this final book of the treatise, Aristotle offers a concluding statement with regard to happiness. Tessitore notes that Aristotle's conclusion—that perfect happiness may be found in philosophic contemplation, while the practice of ethical virtue offers only a secondary degree of happiness—may seem to conflict with earlier statements Aristotle presented in Book VII. Suggesting that this teaching has been implie...

In the following essay, Irwin describes the content of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, noting that the work analyzes traditional Greek ideals regarding the good life, the virtues necessary to be deemed an "acceptable and admirable" member of Greek society, as well as social problems and conflicts. Irwin also responds to common objections readers have had to Ethics.

As an analogy, metaphysics and science are like a mind and a tool attempting to build a house. A tool cannot wield itself; it requires a mind to use it. Likewise, if there is a mind but no tool, there is no means to put the ideas of the mind into existence. When one successfully combines the two, the house may be built. This analogy may also be elaborated to show that that when the two are combined, the weaknesses of each style of interpretation can be minimized.

Philosophical questions

Provides an extremely general overview of the topic of Philosophy. Explores the teachings and works of Hegel, Marx, Nietsche and Sartre.