Plato's writings (most of them dialogues) have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts. Plato - By tetralogy. One tradition regarding the arrangement of Plato's texts is according to tetralogies. This scheme is ascribed by Diogenes Laertius to an ancient scholar and court astrologer to Tiberius named Thrasyllus. In the list below, works by Plato are marked (1) if there is no consensus among scholars as to whether P ...

See also:

Plato, Plato - Biography, Plato - Work, Plato - Themes, Plato - Form and basis, Plato - Metaphysics, Plato - Epistemology, Plato - The state, Plato - Platonic scholarship, Plato - Bibliography, Plato - By tetralogy, Plato - Stephanus pagination, Plato - Chronology, Plato - Middle Dialogues, Plato - Loeb Classical Library

Read more here: » Plato: Encyclopedia II - Plato - Bibliography

See also:

Plato, Plato - Biography, Plato - Work, Plato - Themes, Plato - Form and basis, Plato - Metaphysics, Plato - Epistemology, Plato - The state, Plato - Platonic scholarship, Plato - Bibliography, Plato - By tetralogy, Plato - Stephanus pagination, Plato - Chronology, Plato - Middle Dialogues, Plato - Loeb Classical Library

Read more here: » Plato: Encyclopedia II - Plato - Platonic scholarship

Plato - Themes. Unlike Socrates, Plato wrote down his philosophical views, leaving behind a considerable number of manuscripts. In Plato's writings are debates concerning the best possible form of government, featuring adherents of aristocracy, democracy, monarchy as well as other issues. A central theme is the conflict between nature and convention, concerning the role of heredity and the environment on human intelligence and personality long before the modern "nature versus nurture" debate began in the t ...

See also:

Plato, Plato - Biography, Plato - Work, Plato - Themes, Plato - Form and basis, Plato - Metaphysics, Plato - Epistemology, Plato - The state, Plato - Platonic scholarship, Plato - Bibliography, Plato - By tetralogy, Plato - Stephanus pagination, Plato - Chronology, Plato - Middle Dialogues, Plato - Loeb Classical Library

Read more here: » Plato: Encyclopedia II - Plato - Work

Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (ca. May 21? 427 BC – ca. 347 BC) was an immensely influential classical Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens. Plato lectured extensively at the Academy, and wrote on many philosophical issues. The most important writings of Plato are his dialogues, although a handful of epigrams also survive, and some letters have come down to us under his name. It is believed that all of Plato's authen ...

Including:

• Plato - Biography
• Plato - Work
• Plato - Themes
• Plato - Form and basis
• Plato - Metaphysics
• Plato - Epistemology
• Plato - The state
• Plato - Platonic scholarship
• Plato - Bibliography
• Plato - By tetralogy
• Plato - Stephanus pagination
• Plato - Loeb Classical Library

Read more here: » Plato: Encyclopedia - Plato

Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs 384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote many books about physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, government, and biology. Aristotle, along with Plato and Socrates, is generally considered one of the most influential ancient Greek philosophers in Western thought. They transformed Presocratic Greek philosophy into the foundations of Western philosophy as we know it. The writings of Plato an ...

Including:

• Aristotle - Biography
• Aristotle - Early life and studies at the Academy
• Aristotle - Aristotle as philosopher and tutor
• Aristotle - Founder and master of the Lyceum
• Aristotle - Methodology
• Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology
• Aristotle - Logic
• Aristotle - Science
• Aristotle - Aristotle's metaphysics
• Aristotle - Aristotle's four causes
• Aristotle - The difference between natural objects and artifacts
• Aristotle - Modes of causation
• Aristotle - Chance
• Aristotle - The Five Elements
• Aristotle - Aristotle's ethics
• Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics
• Aristotle - Aristotle's critics
• Aristotle - Aristotle's mistake
• Aristotle - Bibliography
• Aristotle - Major works
• Aristotle - Specific editions
• Aristotle - Named after Aristotle

Read more here: » Aristotle: Encyclopedia - Aristotle

Idealism is an approach to philosophical enquiry. The ideal, in these systems, relates to direct knowledge of subjective mental ideas, or images. It is usually juxtaposed with realism in which the real is said to have absolute existence prior to and independent of our knowledge. Epistemological idealists might insist that the only things which can be directly known for certain are ideas. Idealism - History. Idealism names a number of philosophical positions with quite different t ...

Including:

• Idealism - History
• Idealism - Plato
• Idealism - Plotinus
• Idealism - Malebranche
• Idealism - George Berkeley
• Idealism - Arthur Collier
• Idealism - Jonathan Edwards
• Idealism - Immanuel Kant
• Idealism - Fichte
• Idealism - Hegel
• Idealism - Schopenhauer
• Idealism - British idealism
• Idealism - Karl Pearson
• Idealism - Critique of Idealism
• Idealism - G. E. Moore
• Idealism - David Stove
• Idealism - John Searle
• Idealism - Idealism in religious thought
• Idealism - Other uses

Read more here: » Idealism: Encyclopedia - Idealism

Virtue epistemology refers to any number of modern epistemological approaches which approach contemporary problems by means of the intellectual virtues, either conceived of as faculties or exemplary traits. For example, commonly accepted epistemic virtues include creativity, intellectual humility, and objectivity. Intellectual virtue has been a subject of philosophy since the works of Plato and Aristotle, but lately philosophers in the analytic tradition have sought to solve problems of especial concern to modern epistemology, such as justification and reliabilism, by throwing attention on ...

Including:

• Virtue epistemology - Partial Bibliogaphy for Virtue Epistemology
• Virtue epistemology - Notable proponents of Virtue Epistemology

Read more here: » Virtue epistemology: Encyclopedia - Virtue epistemology

Anamnesis (Greek:αναμνησις; “recollection”, “reminiscence”) is a term used in philosophy and religion. Anamnesis - Philosophy. Plato uses "anamnesis" in the epistemological theory that he develops in his dialogues Meno and Phaedo. In Meno, Plato's character (and old teacher) Socrates is challenged by Meno with what has become known as the sophistic paradox, or the paradox of knowledge: Meno: And how are you going to search for [the nature of virtue] when y ...

Including:

• Anamnesis - Philosophy
• Anamnesis - Phaedo
• Anamnesis - Religious use
• Anamnesis - Sources and references

Read more here: » Anamnesis: Encyclopedia - Anamnesis

Continental rationalism is an approach to philosophy based on the thesis that human reason can in principle be the source of all knowledge. It originated with René Descartes and spread during the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily in continental Europe. In contrast, the approach known as British Empiricism held that all ideas come to us through experience, either through the five external senses or through such inner sensations as pain and pleasure, and thus that knowledge (with the possible exception of mathematics) is essentially e ...

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Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. Historically, it has been one of the most investigated and most debated of all philosophical subjects. Much of this debate has focused on analysing the nature and variety of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth and belief. Much of this discuss ...

Including:

• Epistemology - Definition of knowledge
• Epistemology - Justified true belief
• Epistemology - The problem of defining knowledge
• Epistemology - A priori versus a posteriori knowledge
• Epistemology - Knowledge and belief
• Epistemology - Distinguishing knowing that from knowing how
• Epistemology - Justification
• Epistemology - Irrationalism
• Epistemology - Rationality
• Epistemology - Synthetic and analytic statements
• Epistemology - Epistemological theories
• Epistemology - Empiricism
• Epistemology - Idealism
• Epistemology - Phenomenalism
• Epistemology - Pragmatism
• Epistemology - Rationalism
• Epistemology - Representationalism
• Epistemology - Relativism
• Epistemology - Skepticism
• Epistemology - Contemporary approaches
• Epistemology - Gettier

Read more here: » Epistemology: Encyclopedia - Epistemology

Alvin Cornelius Plantinga (born 15 November 1932 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of Frisian ancestry) is a contemporary American philosopher known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. Like Richard Swinburne, he is a contemporary philosophical apologist for Christianity. He gave the Gifford Lectures in 2004. Alvin Plantinga - Education. Plantinga won a scholarship to Harvard University, but left in 1951 to study at Calvin College (Grand Rapids), where William Harry Jellema was t ...

Including:

• Alvin Plantinga - Education
• Alvin Plantinga - Philosophical Views
• Alvin Plantinga - Bibliography
• Alvin Plantinga - Works by Plantinga
• Alvin Plantinga - Representative Assessment

Read more here: » Alvin Plantinga: Encyclopedia - Alvin Plantinga

Xenophanes of Colophon (Greek: Ξενοφάνης, 570 BC-480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. Our knowledge of his views comes from his surviving poetry, all of which are fragments passed down as quotations by later Greek writers. His poetry criticized and satirized a wide range of ideas, including the belief in the pantheon of anthropomorphic gods and the Greeks' veneration of athleticism. Xenophanes rejected the then-standard belief in many gods, as well as the idea that the gods resembled ...

Including:

• Xenophanes - Bibliography
• Xenophanes - Editions
• Xenophanes - Secondary Literature

Read more here: » Xenophanes: Encyclopedia - Xenophanes

Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not certain knowledge (like metaphysics and epistemology) but is general knowledge. Also, as it is not a theoretical discipline, he thought a person had to study in order to become "good." Thus, if a person was to become virtuous, they could not simply study what virtue is, they had to actually do virtuous activity. We are not studying in order to know what virtue is, but to become good, for otherwise there would be no profit in it. (NE 2.2) Including:

• Aristotelian ethics - Three Ethical Treatises
• Aristotelian ethics - Nicomachean ethics
• Aristotelian ethics - Influences of earlier Greek ethical systems
• Aristotelian ethics - Influence on later thinkers
• Aristotelian ethics - Criticisms

Read more here: » Aristotelian ethics: Encyclopedia - Aristotelian ethics

Plato, in The Republic Book VI (509d-513e), uses the literary device of a divided line to teach his basic views about four levels of existence (especially "the intelligible" world of the forms, universals, and "the visible" world we see around us) and the corresponding ways we come to know what exists. The divided line has two parts that represent the intelligible world and the smaller visible world. Each of those two parts is divided, the segments within the intelligible world represent higher and lower forms and the segments within ...

See also:

Platonic epistemology, Platonic epistemology - Metaphor of the sun, Platonic epistemology - The divided line, Platonic epistemology - Allegory of the cave, Platonic epistemology - An example: love and wisdom

Read more here: » Platonic epistemology: Encyclopedia II - Platonic epistemology - The divided line

A good example of how Plato viewed the acquiring of knowledge is contained in his teachings of the Ladder of Love. In Symposium (210a-211b) a "lover" is defined as someone who loves and to love is defined as a desire for something that one does not have. According to this ladder model of love, a lover progresses from rung to rung from the basest love to the pure form of love as follows: A beautiful body - The lover begins here at the most obvious form of love. All beautiful bodies - If the lo ...

See also:

Platonic epistemology, Platonic epistemology - Metaphor of the sun, Platonic epistemology - The divided line, Platonic epistemology - Allegory of the cave, Platonic epistemology - An example: love and wisdom

Read more here: » Platonic epistemology: Encyclopedia II - Platonic epistemology - An example: love and wisdom

In general parlance, "idealism" or "idealist" is also used to describe a person having high ideals, sometimes with the connotation that those ideals are unrealisable or at odds with "practical" life. The word "ideal" is commonly used as an adjective to designate qualities of perfection, desirability, and excellence. This is foreign to the epistemological use of the word "idealism" which pertains to internal mental representations. These internal ideas represent objects that ar ...

See also:

Idealism, Idealism - History, Idealism - Plato, Idealism - Plotinus, Idealism - Malebranche, Idealism - George Berkeley, Idealism - Arthur Collier, Idealism - Jonathan Edwards, Idealism - Immanuel Kant, Idealism - Fichte, Idealism - Hegel, Idealism - Schopenhauer, Idealism - British idealism, Idealism - Karl Pearson, Idealism - Critique of Idealism, Idealism - G. E. Moore, Idealism - David Stove, Idealism - John Searle, Idealism - Idealism in religious thought, Idealism - Other uses

Read more here: » Idealism: Encyclopedia II - Idealism - Other uses

Aristotle defines philosophy in terms of essence, saying that philosophy is "the science of the universal essence of that which is actual". Plato had defined it as the "science of the idea", meaning by idea what we should call the unconditional basis of phenomena. Both pupil and master regard philosophy as concerned with the universal; Aristotle, however, finds the universal in particular things, and called it the essence of things, while Plato finds that the universal exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as their prot ...

See also:

Aristotle, Aristotle - Biography, Aristotle - Early life and studies at the Academy, Aristotle - Aristotle as philosopher and tutor, Aristotle - Founder and master of the Lyceum, Aristotle - Methodology, Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology, Aristotle - Logic, Aristotle - Science, Aristotle - Aristotle's metaphysics, Aristotle - Aristotle's four causes, Aristotle - The difference between natural objects and artifacts, Aristotle - Modes of causation, Aristotle - Chance, Aristotle - The Five Elements, Aristotle - Aristotle's ethics, Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle - Aristotle's critics, Aristotle - Aristotle's mistake, Aristotle - Bibliography, Aristotle - Major works, Aristotle - Specific editions, Aristotle - Named after Aristotle

Read more here: » Aristotle: Encyclopedia II - Aristotle - Methodology

Aristotle defines philosophy in terms of essence, saying that philosophy is "the science of the universal essence of that which is actual". Plato had defined it as the "science of the idea", meaning by idea what we should call the unconditional basis of phenomena. Both pupil and master regard philosophy as concerned with the universal; Aristotle, however, finds the universal in particular things, and called it the essence of things, while Plato finds that the universal exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as their prot ...

See also:

Aristotle, Aristotle - Biography, Aristotle - Early life and studies at the Academy, Aristotle - Aristotle as philosopher and tutor, Aristotle - Founder and master of the Lyceum, Aristotle - Methodology, Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology, Aristotle - Logic, Aristotle - Science, Aristotle - Aristotle's metaphysics, Aristotle - Aristotle's four causes, Aristotle - The difference between natural objects and artifacts, Aristotle - Modes of causation, Aristotle - Chance, Aristotle - The Five Elements, Aristotle - Aristotle's ethics, Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle - Aristotle's critics, Aristotle - The Loss of his works, Aristotle - Bibliography, Aristotle - Major works, Aristotle - Specific editions, Aristotle - Named for Aristotle

Read more here: » Aristotle: Encyclopedia II - Aristotle - Methodology

Aristotle defines philosophy in terms of essence, saying that philosophy is "the science of the universal essence of that which is actual". Plato had defined it as the "science of the idea", meaning by idea what we should call the unconditional basis of phenomena. Both pupil and master regard philosophy as concerned with the universal; Aristotle, however, finds the universal in particular things, and called it the essence of things, while Plato finds that the universal exists apart from particular things, and is related to them as their prot ...

See also:

Aristotle, Aristotle - Biography, Aristotle - Early life and studies at the Academy, Aristotle - Aristotle as philosopher and tutor, Aristotle - Founder and master of the Lyceum, Aristotle - Methodology, Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology, Aristotle - Logic, Aristotle - Science, Aristotle - Aristotle's metaphysics, Aristotle - Aristotle's four causes, Aristotle - The difference between natural objects and artifacts, Aristotle - Modes of causation, Aristotle - Chance, Aristotle - The Five Elements, Aristotle - Aristotle's ethics, Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle - Aristotle's critics, Aristotle - The Loss of his works, Aristotle - Aristotle's mistake, Aristotle - Bibliography, Aristotle - Major works, Aristotle - Specific editions, Aristotle - Named for Aristotle

Read more here: » Aristotle: Encyclopedia II - Aristotle - Methodology

Aristotle - Logic. Main article: Aristotelian logic For more details on this topic, see Non-Aristotelian logic. Aristotle "says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had nothing else on an earlier date to speak about'" (Bocheński, 1951). However, Plato reports that syntax was thought of before him, by Prodikos of Keos, who was concerned by the right use of words. Logic seems to have emerged from dialectics, the earlier philosophers used concepts like ...

See also:

Aristotle, Aristotle - Biography, Aristotle - Early life and studies at the Academy, Aristotle - Aristotle as philosopher and tutor, Aristotle - Founder and master of the Lyceum, Aristotle - Methodology, Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology, Aristotle - Logic, Aristotle - Science, Aristotle - Aristotle's metaphysics, Aristotle - Aristotle's four causes, Aristotle - The difference between natural objects and artifacts, Aristotle - Modes of causation, Aristotle - Chance, Aristotle - The Five Elements, Aristotle - Aristotle's ethics, Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle - Aristotle's critics, Aristotle - Aristotle's mistake, Aristotle - Bibliography, Aristotle - Major works, Aristotle - Specific editions, Aristotle - Named after Aristotle

Read more here: » Aristotle: Encyclopedia II - Aristotle - Aristotle's epistemology