SØREN KIERKEGAARD The aesthetic versus the ethical Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher who is regarded as one of the two “fathers” of existentialism (the other one bei...
GIACOMO LEOPARDI Music is not about beauty Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) was a major Italian thinker and poet who died at the age of 39. The following is from his book THOUGHTS (Pensieri, 18...
THE MEANING OF LIFE Does your life have meaning? Schopenhauer James Tolstoy Schlick An issue for reflectionWHAT IS THE MEANING OF MY LIFE? - Does your life have meaning?- - Are you aski...
ON BEING AUTHENTIC What does it mean to be true to myself? July's issue for reflectionWHAT DOES IT MEANTO BE TRUE TO MYSELF? “This man is so authentic!” “That girl is fake, a phony!” &nbs...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. FIDELITY TO MYSELF 2. GENEROSITY AS LIGHT 3. PHILOSOPHICAL EXPERIENCE 4. BEING TOGETHER 5. ATTITUDE TO LIFE 6. DEEP IDEAS Gabriel Marcel (1...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. ALIENATION AT WORK2. ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS3. HUMAN NATURE Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German philosopher and social revolutionary whose writings had a tremendous influence on...
JOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873) Higher and lower kinds of happiness John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a British philosopher who was very influential in the fields of Ethics, Political Philosophy, an...
EDMUND BURKE The Terror of the Sublime Edmund Burke (1729–1797) was a British philosopher and politician. He grew up in Dublin, Ireland, which was then part of Britain, and after college education mov...
Gottfried Leibniz – The philosophical insight of a teenager Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was an important German philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. In mathematics, he discovered diffe...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. CLEARINGS IN THE FOREST 2. WHY DO WRITERS WRITE? 3. EXPERIENCE OF LIFE 4. PHILOSOPHY STEEPS OUT OF LIFE Maria Zambrano (1904-1991) was a Spanish philosopher whose philosophy wa...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. EMPATHIC UNDERSTANDING 2. SHAPING MY BELIEF 3. 4. Edith Stein was a German philosopher, a student of Edmund Husserl, the father of Phenomenology. She wrote her PhD disser...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. SELF-CREATION2. THE DEATH OF GOD3. THE VIRTUE OF GIFT-GIVING Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher and one of the most influential thinkers of modern times. ...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. SEXTUS EMPIRICUS 2. . PYRRHO 3. CARNEADES SKEPTICS PHILOSOPHERS The Skeptic school of philosophy was founded by the Greek philosopher Pyrrho in the 4th-3rd century BC...
MARCUS AURELIUS (121-180) THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. HARMONY WITH NATURE2. INNER PEACE3. SELF-REFLECTION4. TIME AND CHANGE5. THE REAL SELF Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was a Philosopher and a Roman emper...
Bertrand Russell – From mathematical thinking to Hegelianism and back Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was an important British philosopher, considered one of the founders of modern analytic philos...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. HERACLITUS 2. PARMENIDES 3. DEMOCRITUS PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS Western philosophy was born in the 6th century in ancient Greece. For the first time in Western civilizat...
RENÉ DESCARTES I am a thing which thinks René Descartes (1596-1650), an important French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, is considered the father of modern philosophy. Under his influence, ...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. THE FALL OF THE SOUL 2. PEAK EXPERIENCE 3. CONTEMPLATION 4. BEAUTY Plotinus (204-270 AD) was a major Neo-Platonist philosopher who lived in late antiquity,...
THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. HUMAN NATURE2. ON BEING AND THE ONE3. PHILOSOPHY FOR ITS OWN SAKE GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) was an Italian philosopher of the Renaissance a...
MARSILIO FICINO Beauty is the harmony which love desires Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) was a major Italian Neo-Platonist philosopher of the Renaissance. He was born near Florence, spent most of his care...