Paul W. Taylor (born November 19, 1923, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died October 14, 2015, Hamilton, New Jersey) was an American philosopher best known for his book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics (1986), which promulgated the biocentric viewpoint in environmental ethics and was a foundational work of environmental philosophy. (Read Peter Singer’s Britannica entry […]
George Tyrrell (born February 6, 1861, Dublin, Ireland—died July 15, 1909, Storrington, Sussex, England) was an Irish-born British Jesuit priest and philosopher. He was a prominent member of the Modernist movement, which sought to reinterpret traditional Roman Catholic teaching in the light of contemporary knowledge. Tyrrell was raised in the Anglican church but converted to
Hans Vaihinger (born Sept. 25, 1852, Nehren, Württemberg [Germany]—died Dec. 18, 1933, Halle, Ger.) was a German philosopher who, influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and F.A. Lange, developed Kantianism in the direction of pragmatism by espousing a theory of “fictions” as the basis of what he called his “as if” philosophy. (See as if, philosophy of.)
Alan Watts (born January 6, 1915, Chislehurst, Kent [now in southeast London], England—died November 16, 1973, Marin county, California, U.S.) was a British-born American writer, philosopher, and lecturer who is credited with introducing and popularizing Eastern philosophy and religion among Western audiences in the mid-20th century. Watts was widely recognized for his ability to convey
Joseph Hall (born July 1, 1574, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, Eng.—died Sept. 8, 1656, Higham, Norfolk) was an English bishop, moral philosopher, and satirist, remarkable for his literary versatility and innovations. Hall’s Virgidemiarum: Six Books (1597–1602; “A Harvest of Blows”) was the first English satire successfully modeled on Latin satire, and its couplets anticipated the satiric heroic
Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an American theoretical linguist whose work from the 1950s revolutionized the field of linguistics by treating language as a uniquely human, biologically based cognitive capacity. Through his contributions to linguistics and related fields, including cognitive psychology and the philosophies of mind and language, Chomsky helped
John Locke (born August 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England—died October 28, 1704, High Laver, Essex) was an English philosopher whose works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism,classical liberalism in particular. He was an inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States. His philosophical thinking was
Adam Smith (baptized June 5, 1723, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland—died July 17, 1790, Edinburgh) was a Scottish social philosopher and political economist, instrumental in the rise of classical liberalism. Adam Smith is a towering figure in the history of economic thought. Known primarily for a single work—An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth
Benedict de Spinoza (born November 24, 1632, Amsterdam—died February 21, 1677, The Hague) was a Dutch Jewish philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of 17th-century Rationalism and one of the early and seminal figures of the Enlightenment. His masterwork is the treatise Ethics (1677). Early life and careerSpinoza’s Portuguese parents were among many Jews who
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Thomas Hobbes (born April 5, 1588, Westport, Wiltshire, England—died December 4, 1679, Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire) was an English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). Hobbes viewed government primarily as a device for ensuring collective security. Political authority is justified by a hypothetical social