The history-of-philosophy tag has no wiki summary.
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Has formalized philosophy become stagnant and obsolete? [duplicate]
The first philosophers had no sources and no vocabulary other than what their own powers of reason could muster.
But the attitude many on this site seem to take regarding "philosophy" reminds me of ...
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52 views
How should we understand Hegel's “Absolute Idea”?
I've read about Hegel's ideas on philosophical progress:
Hegel's main philosophical project was to take these contradictions and tensions and interpret them as part of a comprehensive, evolving, ...
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1answer
60 views
How many Philosophers are known of during Greek Antiquity? [closed]
Will counting the number of philosophers in Diogenes Laertius's treatise be enough to give me a rough estimate?
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1answer
46 views
Why did Islamic philosophy refer to the Stoic Philosophers as the 'pneumatics'?
In Glasners Averroes' Physics he writes:
The Arabs [Islamic Philosophers or Falsafa] were well familiar with Stoic logic, as well as with the basic ideas of Stoic philosophy. They learned about ...
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4answers
344 views
What does “You go to women? Do not forget the whip!” mean?
As an Iranian citizen I have read most Nietzsche's books which have been translated in Persian/Farsi language as my mother tongue.
There are still debates between translators,philosophers and ...
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1answer
136 views
What is Nietzsche's opinion on ethical criticism of art?
Recently, I have been quite interested in the intersection of ethics and aesthetics, or to be more specific, ethical criticism of art.
What would or did Nietzsche say about the following two ...
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2answers
109 views
Does everything which can be figured out through observation disqualify as philosophy?
Does a scientific question which we have not yet had the resources or time to answer scientifically classify as philosophically relevant? Or does everything which can be figured out through ...
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0answers
31 views
what was Plato's view on noumenon?
The relation between objects in the world is established by pure concepts existing a-priori:
1) These concepts belong to a world of absolute concepts away from the mind - Plato
2) These concepts ...
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1answer
87 views
What kind of government did Aristotle consider the best?
If Aristotle was opposed to democracy as an ideal form of government, what kind of government did he consider the best?
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45 views
What was the importance of the Liars Paradox in Stoic Logic?
Chrysippus, an influential stoic philosopher wrote 21 books (chapters) in 12 works on the Liars Paradox. This implies that this paradox was of some importance to their epistomology and logic. Why?
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1answer
63 views
Why did the Western Philosophical tradition favour the logic of the Academy than the logic of the Stoics?
The logic of the Academy was centered around Aristotle, and that of the Stoics inspired by Zeno. Given the close association of Stoicism with the elite of the Roman Empire, and the eventual adoption ...
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53 views
A Joke Made by Modernists to Postmodernists: True/False Story? [closed]
While ago I heard this story that two modernists wrote an article for a postmodernist journal. The article was completely based on nonsense! However the article has been accepted and published in ...
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1answer
68 views
Is there any schema about classification of Philosophies? [closed]
I would be very interested in a graphical schema, mapping something like this list, that would show how various philosophies relate to each other.
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1answer
27 views
Evolution of Enlightenment starting from Benedict de Spinoza
I want to learn about the evolution of enlightenment starting from Benedict de Spinoza. Can anybody name a good book with a link to the e-book?
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1answer
26 views
To what extent did the Presocratics borrow from neighbouring Babylonian & Egyptian cultures?
The IEP entry on Anaximander has:
The astronomy of neighboring peoples, such as the Babylonians and the Egyptians, consists mainly of observations...In contrast, there exists only one report of an ...
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3answers
196 views
What was the impact of the discovery of non-euclidean geometry on Kantian thought?
This is mainly a historical question. In Gary Hatfields introduction to Kants Prologomena, he says:
After the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, Kant’s claims for the synthetic a priori status ...
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1answer
51 views
Why are the hellenic philosophers before Platos time referred to as pre-socratic?
It seems plausible to me that they could equally have been called pre-Plato. Whats the significance of Socrates? Did he instill an ethical turn in Hellenic philosophy (or be seen to do so)?
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1answer
129 views
African philosophy: where to start?
I would like to learn more about non-Western philosophy. I've already explored some of the Eastern philosophies (there are many books, websites,... on this subject), but it seems harder to get started ...
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2answers
227 views
What is the modern view of the validity of Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals?
I have been rereading Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals. The prose is moving, inasmuch as one is moved by prose (I am but very little), but the content seems to my eye poorly reasoned (relying ...
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5answers
270 views
Any philosophy to the equality of zero and infinity
I know math tells a different story, but it occurred to me that if zero were equal to infinity, than nothing would be equal to everything and that would explain how the universe and everything came to ...
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2answers
157 views
Origin of the study of naming
When and how the study of naming objects began in philosophy? I mean how objects are named, how a same object can have different names refering to different aspects or features of the object.
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136 views
What triggered the philosophical movement in the ancient West?
The history of civilization in the West (i.e. Europe) goes back many thousands of years. Since well before 1000 BC there have been people living in what is now Turkey, Greece, and even Italy, in such ...
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1answer
98 views
Is there any evidence that Plato had inscribed above his academy 'Let no-one ignorant of geometry enter here'?
I've seen this in quite a few places, I'm just wondering if it's a cultural myth, or whether it actually has a basis in fact.
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1answer
59 views
Origin of link between crisis and illusion
"It may look like a crisis, but it’s only the end of an illusion." is a quote from late 20th century author Gerald Weinberg.
Do you know where the idea of linking crisis and illusion came from?
...
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156 views
Materialism and magnetism
Going by its Wikipedia page, materialism has been largely discredited due to advances in physics as it cannot explain phenomena such as gravity which apparently exist without the connivance of matter. ...
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2answers
105 views
Does the freudian subconcious have roots in Plato?
I read somewhere, I think it may even be in a dialogue of Plato, rather than a commentary, but I've forgotten altogether that Plato had a notion of the subconcious. Is there a reference for this ...
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62 views
Is there any connection between the catholic conception of confession and psychotherapy?
Confession is healing of the soul by repentence to God mediated by a priest, psychoanalysis indulges in a confession of the secrets of the soul in order to heal. Is there any connection here or am I ...
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1answer
61 views
Have social contract theories arisen in predominently mercantile communities?
The only social contract theory I know about, is the one propounded by Hobbes in The Leviathan. Can one chracterise england at that time as a primarily mercantile community. Have other social contract ...
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3answers
172 views
What is the origin of the Continental vs. Analytic divide?
There's been much ado about the divisiveness between Heidegger and Husserl fans on the one side, with Frege and Russell stalwarts on the other. I'm mostly amused by accounts of name-calling between ...
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396 views
Books to get started on philosophy
I've been searching the questions posed here, and don't seem to find one that gives the answers I am looking for. I've proposed to start a list on meta but no one proposed anything, so I feel I must ...
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1answer
194 views
Is there a philosophy which argues that nothing exists?
Is or was there a philosophy which examines a hypothesis that in fact nothing "exists" except maybe questions?
I know there are philosophies that state that reality is a simulation etc. but I mean ...
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1answer
296 views
Did Russell understand Gödel's incompleteness theorems?
Russell was active in philosophy (although no longer in math) for many years after the Gödel's 1931 publication. Gödel's paper were not obscure, and Russell would have been aware of their effect on ...
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1answer
102 views
Facts about Aristotle as seen through Deluze as read by de Landa [closed]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZjMKGTYfK4
I don't get this guy, from where does he justify his point? Can anyone give facts about this, principally I would be interested in some facts here, as they ...
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77 views
How does philosophy study the world?
From the definition from Wikipedia:
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as
those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason,
mind, and language. ...
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2answers
293 views
Why did Wittgenstein read out loud metaphysical poetry to the Vienna Circle?
In this essay by Phil Shields, Wittgenstein & Silence he relates the following story:
Wittgenstein was invited to a meeting of the Vienna circle:
“When he finally came, instead of ...
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3answers
87 views
What is the role of representation in medieval vs modern epistemologies?
What is the difference in the role and in the notion that representation had in the middle age epistemologies vs the modern ones?
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1answer
137 views
Aristotelian logic vs. propositional logic and other controversies in philosophical logic
As we all know until late XIX century, only offical logic was the Aristotelian logic. Also it's known fact that many scholars were aware of existance of propositional logic and disregarded it ex ...
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2answers
77 views
Why did it take so long for Aristotelianism to gain acceptance?
According to Wikipedia, Aristotle lived in the fourth century BC and is one of the most influential figures in Western philosophy.
The famous philosophers that deal with Aristotelianism that I am ...
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Would one thinking that they are cool imply that they are? [closed]
If "I think, therefore I am" is correct wouldn't thinking you are "cool" imply that you are because you think therefore your are? And since that is the case, you would have to be "cool", right?
For ...
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1answer
270 views
Why was Socratic epistemology diminished?
My question is a follow-up from reading this answer;
"Roughly speaking, Socrates believed truth could not be discovered with certainty, Plato believed that truth could only be known via ...
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1answer
239 views
Which texts might provide a critical introduction or review of contemporary and recent philosophical movements?
I'm intending to read Anthony's Kenny's 4 volume History of Philosopy. I notice though it stops in 1975 which is fair enough I think. You can't have the history of yesterday. However I'm curious to ...
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1answer
79 views
What is a good introduction to asian (korean) philosphy?
The title says it all. I looking into studying abroad in South Korea (I'm from Germany) in a year or so and I want to have at least a working knowledge of the philosophical workings of Asia and ...
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1answer
104 views
What was Kants accomplishment? [closed]
I have to admit, that I don't know this:
I know that before Kant there were two groups of people that saw the world differently and Kant somehow synthesized the two positions and afterwords Hegel had ...
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3answers
115 views
Has there been a philosophical tradition that has been entirely oral?
Generally philosophical traditions seem to be associated with literate cultures. But a philosopher is someone who has a philosophical problem and so not necessarily tied to literacy.
Obviously ...
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1answer
104 views
Are there philosophical antecedents to each of Newtons three Laws of Motion?
The three laws are:
First law: The velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force.
Second law: The acceleration a of a body is parallel[disambiguation needed ...
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2answers
92 views
Is it possible to deduce how much of Platos philosophy is original to himself and not due to his predecessors?
Alfred North Whitehead said 'The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato'.
I'm not interested (in this question) ...
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1answer
167 views
Why did Epicureanism become “the main opponent” of Stoicism?
I was reading about Epicureanism on Wikipedia, and there I saw that, apparently, Epicureanism was in conflict with Stoicism and Platonism. I then read up on those two philosophies, and well, they do ...
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4answers
510 views
Does philosophy have a dark side?
Can the "love of wisdom" be turned into something bad? Were there evil philosophers in the past?
I was recently reading a book about the dark side of psychology, how people use psychological tricks ...
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2answers
159 views
Should philosophers care about the existence of emotions?
Cody Gray recently asked "Why should philosophers feel any different about the existence of emotions than they do about the color of the sky?" as a rhetoric question. But both physics and psychology ...
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1answer
197 views
Individualism and action in ancient Greek philosophy
When people speak about disrupting action, an action that often goes against the commonly accepted moral laws, the pople that comes to my mind are Nietzsche, D'Annunzio, Marinetti and the Italian ...
