Early modern philosophy

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Early modern philosophy (also classical modern philosophy) [1] [2] The early modern era of philosophy was a progressive movement of Western thought, exploring through theories and discourse such topics as mind and matter, is a period in the history of philosophy that overlaps with the beginning of the period known as modern philosophy. It succeeded in the medieval era of philosophy. Early modern philosophy is usually thought to have occurred between the 16th and 18th centuries, though some philosophers and historians may put this period slightly earlier. During this time, influential philosophers included Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant, all of whom contributed to the current understanding of philosophy.

Contents

Overview

The early modern period in history is around c. 1500–1789, but the label "early modern philosophy" is typically used to refer to a narrower period of time. [3]

In the narrowest sense, the term is used to refer principally to the philosophy of the 17th century and 18th century, typically beginning with René Descartes. 17th-century philosophers typically included in such analyses are Thomas Hobbes, Blaise Pascal, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Isaac Newton. The 18th century, often known as the Age of Enlightenment, included such early modern figures as John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. [2]

The term is sometimes used more broadly, including earlier thinkers from the 16th century such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Michel de Montaigne, and Francis Bacon. [4] Some definitions also broaden the range of thinkers included under the "early modern" moniker, such as Voltaire, Giambattista Vico, Thomas Paine. By the broadest definition, the early modern period is said to have ended in 1804 with the death of Immanuel Kant. Considered in this way, the period extends from the last Renaissance philosophers to the final days of the Age of Enlightenment. Most scholars consider the period to begin with René Descartes’ Meditationes de Prima Philosophiae (Meditations on First Philosophy) in Paris in 1641 and conclude with the work of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant ( Critique of Pure Reason ) in the 1780s. [5]

Dispute between Queen Christina and Rene Descartes Dispute-of-queen-cristina-vasa-and-rene-descartes.png
Dispute between Queen Christina and René Descartes

At the time, various thinkers faced difficult philosophical challenges: reconciling the tenets of classical Aristotelian thought and Christian theology with the new technological advances that followed in the wake of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. [6] A modern mechanical image of the cosmos in which mathematically definable universal laws directed the motion of lifeless objects without the interference of something non-physical, specifically challenged established ways of thought about the mind, body and God. In response, philosophers, many of whom were involved in experimental advances, invented and perfected various perspectives on humans’ relationship to the cosmos. [7]

Three critical historical events that shaped Western thought profoundly were the Age of Discovery, the progress of modern science, and the Protestant reformation and its resulting civil wars. [8] The relationship between philosophy and scientific research was complicated, as many early modern scientists considered themselves philosophers, conflating the two disciplines. [9] These two fields would eventually separate. Contemporary philosophy's epistemological and methodological concerns about scientific certainty remained regardless of such a separation. [10]

The early modern intellectual era also contributed to the development of Western philosophy. New philosophical theories, such as the metaphysical, civic existence, epistemology, and rationalist thinking, were established. [11] There was a strong emphasis on the advancement and expansion of rationalism, which placed a premium on rationality, reasoning, and discovery to pursue reality. [12]

Enlightenment Period

The Enlightenment, also referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, was a philosophical movement that dominated the realm of ideas in 18th-century Europe. It was founded on the principle that reason is the fundamental source of power and legitimacy, and it promoted principles such as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional governance, and church-state separation. The Enlightenment was defined by a focus on science and reductionism, as well as a growing suspicion of religious rigidity. The Enlightenment's ideals challenged the monarchy and the church, laying the groundwork for the political upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries. According to French historians, the Age of Enlightenment began in 1715, the year Louis XIV died, and ended in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. According to some contemporary historians, the era begins in the 1620s, with the birth of the Scientific Revolution. However, during the first decades of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century, several national variations of the movement developed.

Enlightenment discussions between various thinkers Enlightenment .png
Enlightenment discussions between various thinkers

The Englishmen Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, the Frenchman René Descartes, and the prominent natural philosophers of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, were significant 17th-century antecedents of the Enlightenment. Its origins are often ascribed to 1680s England, when Isaac Newton published his "Principia Mathematica" (1686) and John Locke wrote his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1689)—two works that laid the groundwork for the Enlightenment's great advancements in science, mathematics, and philosophy. [13]

The Age Of Enlightenment was swiftly sweeping across Europe. In the late seventeenth century, scientists such as Isaac Newton and authors such as John Locke challenged the established order. Newton's principles of gravity and motion defined the universe in terms of natural principles that were independent of any spiritual source. Locke advocated the freedom of a people to replace a government that did not defend inherent rights to life, liberty, and property in the aftermath of England's political instability. People began to mistrust the possibility of a God capable of predestining human beings to everlasting damnation and empowering a despotic ruler to rule. These ideals would permanently alter Europe.

Major Enlightenment concepts

Europe had a burst of philosophical and scientific activity in the mid-18th century, challenging established theories and dogmas. [14] Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau headed the philosophic movement, arguing for a society founded on reason rather than religion and Catholic theology, for a new civic order based on natural law, and for science founded on experimentation and observation. [15] Montesquieu, a political philosopher, proposed the notion of a government's division of powers, which was enthusiastically accepted by the framers of the United States Constitution. [16]

Two separate schools of Enlightenment philosophy existed. Inspired by Spinoza's theory, the radical enlightenment argued for democracy, individual liberty, freedom of speech, and the abolition of religious authority. [17] A second, more moderate kind, championed by René Descartes, John Locke, Christian Wolff, and Isaac Newton, aimed to strike a balance between reform and old power and religious institutions. [18]

Science eventually began to dominate Enlightenment speech and thinking. [19] Numerous Enlightenment authors and intellectuals came from scientific backgrounds and equated scientific progress with the downfall of religion and conventional authority in favour of the growth of free speech and ideas. [20] In general, Enlightenment science placed a high premium on empiricism and logical reasoning, and was inextricably linked to the Enlightenment ideal of progression and development. [21] However, as was the case with the majority of Enlightenment ideals, the advantages of science were not widely recognized. [22]

The Enlightenment has traditionally been credited with laying the groundwork for current Western political and intellectual culture. [23] It ushered in a period of political modernization in the West, focused on democratic principles and institutions and resulting in the establishment of modern, liberal democracies. The fundamentals of European liberal thought include the individual right, natural equality of all men, separation of powers, the artificial nature of political order (which resulted in the later distinction between civil society and the state), the view that all legitimate political power must be "representative" and based on popular consent, and liberal interpretationism. [24]

Enlightenment-era criticism on religion was a reaction to Europe's previous century of religious turmoil. [25] Enlightenment intellectuals intended to limit organized religion's political dominance, so averting another period of intolerable religious violence. [26] Numerous unique concepts emerged, including deism (belief in God the Creator without reference to the Bible or other authoritative source) and atheism. [27] The latter was hotly debated but garnered few supporters. Many, like Voltaire, believed that without believing in a God who punishes wrong, society's moral order would be jeopardised. [28]

Characteristics

The early modern period arose from dramatic shifts in many fields of human endeavour. Among the most significant characteristics are the formalisation of science, the acceleration of scientific advancement, and the creation of secularised civic politics, law courts, and the nation-state. [29] There was some skepticism against traditional interpretive concepts associated with the modern era, such as the distinction between empiricists and rationalists, which represented a philosophical and historical shift away from ethics, political philosophy, and metaphysical epistemology. [30]

Individualism also emerged as a reaction to belief and authority, challenging the element of Christianity and Christianised philosophy united with whoever the desired political leader happened to be at the time. [31] The steady rise of the bourgeoisie would challenge the power of the Church and begin the journey towards the eventual separation of church and state. The political and economic situation of Modern Europe would have an influence on philosophical thought, mainly on ethics and political philosophy. [32]

The Scientific Revolution also gained legitimacy during this period. Early modern attempts to grapple with the philosophy of infinity focused on and discussed three fundamental disagreements about the infinite—differences that had their origins in the academic philosophical tradition. [33] Philosophers such as Leibniz and Spinoza used this distinction to distinguish God's qualitative infinity from the mathematically abstract concept of infinity. [34] Early modern thinkers differentiated between actual and potential infinity. Academic tradition has traditionally rejected the existence of actual infinities in the created world but has acknowledged potential infinities, following Aristotle's approach to Zeno's paradoxes. [35] Additionally, the advent of early modern thought was linked to changes in the period's intellectual and cultural context, such as the advancement of natural science, theological contradictions within and between the Catholic and Protestant churches, and the growth of the modern nation-state. [36]

Significant thinkers

Rene Descartes amid philosophical discussion with several philosophers during the early modern philosophical period Dispute-of-queen-cristina-vasa-and-rene-descartes.png
Reńe Descartes amid philosophical discussion with several philosophers during the early modern philosophical period

Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Hobbes, and Kant, as well as philosophers such as Hugo Grotius, Pierre Gassendi, Antoine Arnauld, Nicolas Malebranche, Pierre Bayle, Samuel von Pufendorf, and Francis Hutcheson are all recognised as significant figures in early modern philosophy, for their discourses and theories developed throughout the various philosophical periods.

The political philosophy of natural law, developed by John Locke, was a common and significant concept in early modern thought. Natural law evolved into individual rights and subjective claims. Adding to Aristotle's already known philosophy, Locke suggested that the government give its citizens what they believe are fundamental and natural rights. [37] Thomas Hobbes, alternatively, asserted that natural law has a finite scope. Unchecked liberty led to a state of war where everybody struggled for life. [38] Hobbes encapsulated this state of violence in one of philosophy's most famous passages: "And the life of man, solitary, bad, nasty, brutish, and brief". [39] Thomas Hobbes' worldview concentrated on social and political order and how humans could coexist without danger or risk of civil war. [40]

Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes' moral and political theory includes a consideration of natural rights. Hobbes' natural rights notion also included man in a "state of nature". As he saw it, the basic natural (human) right was to use his power, as he will, to preserve his nature, which is to protect his life. [41]

Natural liberty is distinct from universal laws, which Hobbes referred to as precepts, or rules discovered by reason, which ban a man from doing something that will destroy his life or deprives him of the means to retain it. [42]

In Hobbes' view, life comprised just of freedoms and nothing else "Because of that, everyone has the right to anything, even to one another's body. Because of this, though, as long as inherent human rights to every commodity remain in place, there can be no long-term security for anybody." [43]

This would result in the condition called the "war of all against all," in which humans murder, steal, and enslave each other to remain alive. Hobbes theorised that human existence would be lonely, poor, ugly, brutish, and short in a state of chaos generated by unrestricted rights. As such, people would agree to give up many of their basic rights to build a political and civil society. Social contract theory was first articulated using this early argumentation. [44]

Natural or institutional laws are useless without first being established by a sovereign authority. Before you can talk about right and unjust, some coercive authority must compel folks to keep their promises. There is no such coercive force before the establishment of the state. [45] This coercive State would, in Hobbes' view, have the right to confiscate property in return for a guarantee of citizens' safety from one another and from foreign intervention.

According to social contract theory, "inalienable rights" are those rights that can't be relinquished by people to the sovereign. [46] These inherent rights were believed to be law-independent. Only the strongest could use their privileges in the state of nature. [47] Thereby, individuals give up their natural rights to get protection, and thus have the legal rights conferred by the power to do so. [48]

Many historical justifications for slavery and illiberal governance include consensual arrangements to relinquish inherent rights to freedom and self-determination. De facto inalienability arguments supplied the foundation for the anti-slavery movement to argue against all involuntary enslavement, not only slavery explicitly defined as such. An agreement to unlawfully divide a right would be void of law. Similarly, the argument was used by the democratic movement to reject explicit or implicit social covenants of subjection (e.g., pactum subjectionis) that subjugate a people, for example, in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. According to Ernst Cassirer:

There is, at least, one right that cannot be ceded or abandoned: the right to personality...They charged the great logician [Hobbes] with a contradiction in terms. If a man could give up his personality he would cease being a moral being. … There is no pactum subjectionis, no act of submission by which man can give up the state of free agent and enslave himself. For by such an act of renunciation he would give up that very character which constitutes his nature and essence: he would lose his humanity. [49]

Influence

Until the twenty-first century, standard accounts of early modern philosophy and traditional survey courses in Anglo-Saxon universities—presented histories dominated by Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. [50]

Early modern theory has significantly impacted many modern developments, one of which is political philosophy. American political philosopher A. John Simmons examined two interrelated transitions in the early modern period. The first is a metaphysical contrast between political naturalism, which holds that human beings are political by birth, and political anti-naturalism, which holds that humankind's natural state is apolitical. [51] The second is the historical shift from "complex, bureaucratic systems with intertwined religious and contractual relationships" to political cultures that "take the form of independent, territorial states". [52] Observing how these transformations occur is important as the ideas advanced by early modern political theorists played an important role in the creation of political institutions that exist today. [53]

The evolution of early modern philosophy has been recognized as inextricably linked to developments in the period's intellectual and cultural environment through important developments in science, the Catholic and Protestant churches, and the rise of the new modern nation state. [54]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ Jeffrey Tlumak, Classical Modern Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, 2006, p. xi: "[Classical Modern Philosophy] is a guide through the systems of the seven brilliant seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European philosophers most regularly taught in college Modern Philosophy courses".
  2. 1 2 Richard Schacht, Classical Modern Philosophers: Descartes to Kant, Routledge, 2013, p. 1: "Seven men have come to stand out from all of their counterparts in what has come to be known as the 'modern' period in the history of philosophy (i.e., the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries): Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant".
  3. ↑ Marshall Berman. 1982. All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN   0-671-24602-X. London: Verso. pp. 16–17. ISBN   0-86091-785-1. Paperback reprint New York: Viking Penguin, 1988. ISBN   0-14-010962-5.
  4. ↑ Brian Leiter (ed.), The Future for Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 44 n. 2.
  5. ↑ Smith, Kurt (2018). "Descartes' Life and Works". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  6. ↑ Levers, Merry-Jo D. (2013-01-01). "Philosophical Paradigms, Grounded Theory, and Perspectives on Emergence". SAGE Open. 3 (4): 2158244013517243. doi: 10.1177/2158244013517243 . ISSN   2158-2440.
  7. ↑ Bica, Daian (2020-12-25). "Thinking with Mechanisms: Mechanical Philosophy and Early Modern Science". Journal of Early Modern Studies. 9: 133–141. doi:10.5840/jems2020916. S2CID   235002069 . Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  8. ↑ Garber, Daniel; Rutherford, Donald, eds. (2018). Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, Volume VIII. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198829294.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-186788-0.
  9. ↑ Wu, Kun (December 2016). "The Interaction and Convergence of the Philosophy and Science of Information". Philosophies. 1 (3): 228–244. doi: 10.3390/philosophies1030228 .
  10. ↑ Garber, Daniel; Rutherford, Donald, eds. (2012). Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy Volume VI. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199659593.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-174521-8.
  11. ↑ Beatty, Joy E.; Leigh, Jennifer S. A.; Dean, Kathy Lund (2009-02-01). "Philosophy Rediscovered: Exploring the Connections Between Teaching Philosophies, Educational Philosophies, and Philosophy". Journal of Management Education. 33 (1): 99–114. doi:10.1177/1052562907310557. ISSN   1052-5629. S2CID   146478936.
  12. ↑ Berchielli, Laura (2020). "Introduction: Ideas of Space and Their Relation to Experience in Early Modern Philosophy". In Berchielli, Laura (ed.). Empiricist Theories of Space. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Vol. 54. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–48. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-57620-2_1. ISBN   978-3-030-57619-6. S2CID   229272121 . Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  13. ↑ Schmidt, James (January 2006). "What Enlightenment Was, What It Still Might Be, and Why Kant May Have Been Right After All". American Behavioral Scientist. 49 (5): 647–663. doi:10.1177/0002764205282215. hdl: 2144/3877 . ISSN   0002-7642. S2CID   144140862.
  14. ↑ Nickles, Thomas (2017). "Scientific Revolutions". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  15. ↑ "Enlightenment". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  16. ↑ Douglass, Robin (2012-10-01). "Montesquieu and Modern Republicanism". Political Studies. 60 (3): 703–719. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00932.x. ISSN   0032-3217. S2CID   142651026.
  17. ↑ Colilli, Julian (2016). "Jonathan Israel's Enlightenment: The Case of Giambattista Vico". Italica. 93 (3): 469–493. ISSN   0021-3020. JSTOR   44504589.
  18. ↑ Nicolaidis, Efthymios; Delli, Eudoxie; Livanos, Nikolaos; Tampakis, Kostas; Vlahakis, George (2016-09-20). "Science and Orthodox Christianity: An Overview". Isis. 107 (3): 542–566. doi:10.1086/688704. ISSN   0021-1753. PMID   28707856. S2CID   34598125.
  19. ↑ Domínguez, Juan Pablo (2017-05-19). "Introduction: Religious toleration in the Age of Enlightenment". History of European Ideas. 43 (4): 273–287. doi: 10.1080/01916599.2016.1203590 . ISSN   0191-6599.
  20. ↑ De Cruz, Helen (2019). "Religion and Science". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  21. ↑ Desai, Vandana; Potter, Rob (2014-03-21). The Companion to Development Studies. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-134-05159-5.
  22. ↑ Reiss, Julian; Sprenger, Jan (2020). "Scientific Objectivity". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  23. ↑ Zafirovski, Milan (2011). The Enlightenment and Its Effects on Modern Society. New York, NY: Springer New York. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-7387-0. ISBN   978-1-4419-7386-3.
  24. ↑ Müßig, Ulrike (2018). "A New Order of the Ages. Normativity and Precedence". In Müßig, Ulrike (ed.). Reconsidering Constitutional Formation II Decisive Constitutional Normativity: From Old Liberties to New Precedence. Studies in the History of Law and Justice. Vol. 12. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–97. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-73037-0_1 . ISBN   978-3-319-73037-0.
  25. ↑ sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com https://sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_jstor_primary_43572323&context=PC&vid=61USYD_INST:sydney&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,religious%20turmoil%20in%20europe%20during%20the%20early%20modern%20period&offset=0 . Retrieved 2021-05-27.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ↑ Collins, Jeffrey R. (2009). "Redeeming the Enlightenment: New Histories of Religious Toleration". The Journal of Modern History. 81 (3): 607–636. doi:10.1086/599275. ISSN   0022-2801. JSTOR   10.1086/599275. S2CID   143375411.
  27. ↑ Draper, Paul (2017). "Atheism and Agnosticism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  28. ↑ "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word-Gaudium et Spes". vatican.va. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  29. ↑ "D. Rutherford (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy". Theoria. 73 (4): 334–339. 2007. doi:10.1111/j.1755-2567.2007.tb01212.x. ISSN   1755-2567.
  30. ↑ Sellars, John (2020). "Renaissance Humanism and Philosophy as a Way of Life". Metaphilosophy. 51 (2–3): 226–243. doi: 10.1111/meta.12409 . ISSN   1467-9973.
  31. ↑ Ash, Eric H. (2010). "Introduction: Expertise and the Early Modern State". Osiris. 25 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1086/657254. ISSN   0369-7827. JSTOR   10.1086/657254. S2CID   144330049.
  32. ↑ "Hobbes, Thomas: Moral and Political Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy" . Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  33. ↑ Schmitt, C. B.; Skinner, Quentin; Kessler, Eckhard; Kraye, Jill, eds. (1988). The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521251044. ISBN   978-0-521-25104-4. S2CID   170086821.
  34. ↑ Schechtman, Anat (2019-10-01). "Three Infinities in Early Modern Philosophy". Mind. 128 (512): 1117–1147. doi:10.1093/mind/fzy034. ISSN   0026-4423.
  35. ↑ Huggett, Nick (2002-04-30). "Zeno's Paradoxes". Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  36. ↑ Spruyt, Hendrik (2002-06-01). "The origins, development, and possible decline of the modern state". Annual Review of Political Science. 5 (1): 127–149. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.5.101501.145837 . ISSN   1094-2939.
  37. ↑ Uzgalis, William (2001-09-02). "John Locke". Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  38. ↑ Schmaltz, Tad M. (2002). Radical Cartesianism: The French Reception of Descartes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-139-43425-6.
  39. ↑ Lloyd, Sharon A.; Sreedhar, Susanne (2002-02-12). "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  40. ↑ Hampton, Jean (1988). Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-316-58325-8.
  41. ↑ Carmichael, D. J. C. (March 1990). "Hobbes on Natural Right in Society: The Leviathan Account*". Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue Canadienne de Science Politique. 23 (1): 3–21. doi:10.1017/S0008423900011598. ISSN   1744-9324. S2CID   154964034.
  42. ↑ Estrada, Fernando (2012). "El Leviathan de Thomas Hobbes (The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes)". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2127939. ISSN   1556-5068.
  43. ↑ McCrudden, Christopher (2008-09-01). "Human Dignity and Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights". European Journal of International Law. 19 (4): 655–724. doi: 10.1093/ejil/chn043 . ISSN   0938-5428.
  44. ↑ Minogue, K. R. (October 1970). "The Logic of Leviathan". Philosophical Books. 11 (3): 10–12. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0149.1970.tb00060.x.
  45. ↑ Skinner, Quentin (1966). "The Ideological Context of Hobbes's Political Thought". The Historical Journal. 9 (3): 286–317. doi:10.1017/S0018246X66000014. ISSN   0018-246X. JSTOR   2637983. S2CID   248825400.
  46. ↑ Scott, John T. (September 2000). "The Sovereignless State and Locke's Language of Obligation". American Political Science Review. 94 (3): 547–561. doi:10.2307/2585830. ISSN   0003-0554. JSTOR   2585830. S2CID   144108638.
  47. ↑ Bruner, Justin P. (2020-03-01). "Locke, Nozick and the state of nature". Philosophical Studies. 177 (3): 705–726. doi: 10.1007/s11098-018-1201-9 . ISSN   1573-0883. S2CID   171478513.
  48. ↑ Tuckness, Alex (2020). "Locke's Political Philosophy". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  49. ↑ Ellerman, David (September 2010). "Inalienable Rights: A Litmus Test for Liberal Theories of Justice". Law and philosophy. 29 (5): 571–599. doi: 10.1007/s10982-010-9076-8 . ISSN   0167-5249. S2CID   52028430.
  50. ↑ Broad, Jacqueline (2020-10-21). "Early Modern Philosophy: A Perverse Thought Experiment". Blog of the APA. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  51. ↑ Caro, Mario, 20 /21 Jh [Hrsg ] De; Caro, Mario De; Macarthur, David; Macarthur, Professor David; MacArthur, Douglas (2004). Naturalism in Question. Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-01295-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  52. ↑ "The Making of the Modern World". E-International Relations. 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  53. ↑ Brooks, Thom (2013-05-01). "In Defence of Political Theory: Impact and Opportunities". Political Studies Review. 11 (2): 209–215. doi: 10.1111/1478-9302.12007 . ISSN   1478-9299.
  54. ↑ Loewenstein, David; Shell, Alison (2019-07-03). "Early Modern Literature and England's Long Reformation". Reformation. 24 (2): 53–58. doi: 10.1080/13574175.2019.1665264 . ISSN   1357-4175.

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In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it is a core concept of constitutionalism, while not necessarily convened and written down in a constituent assembly and constitution.

Reason is the capacity of applying logic consciously by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. Reason is sometimes referred to as rationality.

In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification", often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as faith, tradition, or sensory experience. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive".

Will, within philosophy, is a faculty of the mind. Will is important as one of the parts of the mind, along with reason and understanding. It is considered central to the field of ethics because of its role in enabling deliberate action.

Philosophical skepticism is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even rejects very plausible knowledge claims that belong to basic common sense. Philosophical skeptics are often classified into two general categories: Those who deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the suspension of judgment due to the inadequacy of evidence. This distinction is modeled after the differences between the Academic skeptics and the Pyrrhonian skeptics in ancient Greek philosophy. In the latter sense, skepticism is understood as a way of life that helps the practitioner achieve inner peace. Some types of philosophical skepticism reject all forms of knowledge while others limit this rejection to certain fields, for example, knowledge about moral doctrines or about the external world. Some theorists criticize philosophical skepticism based on the claim that it is a self-refuting idea since its proponents seem to claim to know that there is no knowledge. Other objections focus on its implausibility and distance from regular life.

Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. The opposing belief, that the thesis of determinism is logically incompatible with the classical thesis of free will, is known as "incompatibilism".

Modern philosophy is philosophy developed in the modern era and associated with modernity. It is not a specific doctrine or school, although there are certain assumptions common to much of it, which helps to distinguish it from earlier philosophy.

Philosophical realism – usually not treated as a position of its own but as a stance towards other subject matters – is the view that a certain kind of thing has mind-independent existence, i.e. that it exists even in the absence of any mind perceiving it or that its existence is not just a mere appearance in the eye of the beholder. This includes a number of positions within epistemology and metaphysics which express that a given thing instead exists independently of knowledge, thought, or understanding. This can apply to items such as the physical world, the past and future, other minds, and the self, though may also apply less directly to things such as universals, mathematical truths, moral truths, and thought itself. However, realism may also include various positions which instead reject metaphysical treatments of reality entirely.

Corpuscularianism, also known as corpuscularism, is a set of theories that explain natural transformations as a result of the interaction of particles. It differs from atomism in that corpuscles are usually endowed with a property of their own and are further divisible, while atoms are neither. Although often associated with the emergence of early modern mechanical philosophy, and especially with the names of Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, and John Locke, corpuscularian theories can be found throughout the history of Western philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conatus</span> Innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself

In the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, conatus is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This thing may be mind, matter, or a combination of both, and is often associated with God's will in a pantheist view of nature. The conatus may refer to the instinctive will to live of living organisms or to various metaphysical theories of motion and inertia. Today, conatus is rarely used in the technical sense, since classical mechanics uses concepts such as inertia and conservation of momentum that have superseded it. It has, however, been a notable influence on later thinkers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche.

A priori and a posteriori are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on experience. A priori knowledge is independent from any experience. Examples include mathematics, tautologies and deduction from pure reason. A posteriori knowledge depends on empirical evidence. Examples include most fields of science and aspects of personal knowledge.

Western philosophy refers to the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. The word philosophy itself originated from the Ancient Greek philosophía (φιλοσοφία), literally, "the love of wisdom" Ancient Greek: φιλεῖν phileîn, "to love" and σοφία sophía, "wisdom").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British philosophy</span> Philosophical tradition of the British people

British philosophy refers to the philosophical tradition of the British people. "The native characteristics of British philosophy are these: common sense, dislike of complication, a strong preference for the concrete over the abstract and a certain awkward honesty of method in which an occasional pearl of poetry is embedded".

Christian psychology is a merger of theology and psychology. It is an aspect of psychology adhering to the religion of Christianity and its teachings of Jesus Christ to explain the human mind and behavior. Christian psychology is a term typically used in reference to Protestant Christian psychotherapists who strive to fully embrace both their religious beliefs and their psychological training in their professional practice. However, a practitioner in Christian psychology would not accept all psychological ideas, especially those that contradicted or defied the existence of God and the scriptures of the Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish philosophy</span> History of philosophy in Scotland

Scottish philosophy is a philosophical tradition created by philosophers belonging to Scottish universities. Although many philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, Thomas Reid, and Adam Smith are familiar to almost all philosophers it was not until the 19th century that the notion of 'Scottish philosophy' became recognized and highly regarded internationally. In the 20th century, however, this tradition declined as Scottish-educated philosophers left for England.

Dutch philosophy is a broad branch of philosophy that discusses the contributions of Dutch philosophers to the discourse of Western philosophy and Renaissance philosophy. The philosophy, as its own entity, arose in the 16th and 17th centuries through the philosophical studies of Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch Spinoza. The adoption of the humanistic perspective by Erasmus, despite his Christian background, and rational but theocentric perspective expounded by Spinoza, supported each of these philosopher's works. In general, the philosophy revolved around acknowledging the reality of human self-determination and rational thought rather than focusing on traditional ideals of fatalism and virtue raised in Christianity. The roots of philosophical frameworks like the mind-body dualism and monism debate can also be traced to Dutch philosophy, which is attributed to 17th century philosopher René Descartes. Descartes was both a mathematician and philosopher during the Dutch Golden Age, despite being from the Kingdom of France. Modern Dutch philosophers like D.H. Th. Vollenhoven provided critical analyses on the dichotomy between dualism and monism.

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