(Abs.) A rule of inference of the form: p ⊃ q ______________ p ⊃ ( p • q ) Example: "If Mary comes to the party, then so will George. Therefore, if Mary comes to the party, then both Mary and [..]

Contrary to reason or beyond the limits of rational thought; paradoxical, nonsensical, or meaningless. According to Camus, Sartre, and other existentialists, absurdity is an inescapable consequence of [..]

(1929- ) German philosopher. As a prominent member of the Frankfurt school, Habermas engages in critical study of the historical origins of human knowledge in many disciplines. His Theorie und Praxis: [..]

(1788-1856) Scottish philosopher; author of Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1860). Hamilton followed Reid in defending common sense against the skepticism of empiricists like Hume Hamilton's t [..]

(1914- ) English philosopher whose careful study of the philosophy of Spinoza in Spinoza (1951) prompted the development of a detailed description of the presuppositions necessary for human behavior i [..]

{Gk. ευδαιμονια [eudaimonia]; Ger. Glück} General well-being in human life, an important goal for many people and a significant issue for theories in normative ethics. Aristotle disagreed with the ide [..]

(1944- ) American feminist philosopher of science who proposes a fundamental re-examination of the concepts of human nature and political identity in light of postmodern rejection of stark dualisms. H [..]

(1935- ) American philosopher of science. In Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Methodology and Philosophy of Science (with Merrill Hintikka) (1983), The Science Question in F [..]

In the traditional notation for categorical logic, a proposition that is both particular and affirmative. Example: "Some birds are Canada geese." Such a proposition affirms that there is at [..]

Belief that only mental entities are real, so that physical things exist only in the sense that they are perceived. Berkeley defended his "immaterialism" on purely empiricist grounds, while [..]