philopeople

Alexius Meinong (born July 17, 1853, Lemberg, Galicia, Austrian Empire [now Lviv, Ukraine]—died Nov. 27, 1920, Graz, Austria) was an Austrian philosopher and psychologist remembered for his contributions to axiology, or theory of values, and for his Gegenstandstheorie, or theory of objects. After studying under the philosophical psychologist Franz Brentano from 1875 to 1878 in […]

Moses Mendelssohn (born September 26, 1729, Dessau, Anhalt [Germany]—died January 4, 1786, Berlin, Prussia) was a German Jewish philosopher, critic, and Bible translator and commentator who greatly contributed to the efforts of Jews to assimilate to the German bourgeoisie. The son of an impoverished scribe called Menachem Mendel Dessau, he was known in Jewry as

Mencius (born c. 371, ancient state of Zou, China—died c. 289 bce, China) was an early Chinese philosopher whose development of orthodox Confucianism earned him the title “second sage.” Chief among his basic tenets was an emphasis on the obligation of rulers to provide for the common people. The book Mencius records his doings and

Melissus Of Samos (flourished 5th century bc) was a Greek philosopher who was the last significant member of the Eleatic school of philosophy, which adhered to Parmenides’ doctrine of reality as a single, unchanging whole. Although Melissus defended Parmenides, he differed from him in that he held reality to be boundless and of infinite duration

John Neville Keynes (born Aug. 31, 1852, Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.—died Nov. 15, 1949, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) was a British philosopher and economist who synthesized two poles of economic thought by incorporating inductive and deductive reasoning into his methodology. Keynes was educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. After graduating from Cambridge (1875), he was a

Kapila (flourished 550 bce?) was a Vedic sage who is often identified as one of the founders of the system of Samkhya, one of six darshans (systems) of Indian philosophy. He is not, however, the author of the text primarily responsible for giving the school its philosophical definition, Ishvarakrishna’s Samkhya-karika (c. 4th century ce), nor

Wassily Kandinsky (born December 4 [December 16, New Style], 1866, Moscow, Russia—died December 13, 1944, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) was a Russian-born artist, one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. After successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”; 1911–14) and began completely abstract painting. His

Henry Home, Lord Kames (born 1696, Kames, Berwickshire, Scot.—died Dec. 27, 1782, Edinburgh) was a lawyer, agriculturalist, and philosopher. Kames was called to the bar in 1724 and was appointed a judge in the Court of Session in 1752. He became a lord of justiciary in 1763. He is best known for his Elements of

Kabir (born 1440, Varanasi, Jaunpur, India—died 1518, Maghar) was an iconoclastic Indian poet-saint revered by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. The birth of Kabir remains shrouded in mystery and legend. One tradition holds that he was born in 1398, which would have made him 120 years old at his death. It is also uncertain who his

St. Justin Martyr (born c. 100, Flavia Neapolis, Palestine [now Nāblus]—died c. 165, Rome [Italy]; feast day June 1) was one of the most important of the Greek philosopher-Apologists in the early Christian church. His writings represent one of the first positive encounters of Christian revelation with Greek philosophy and laid the basis for a