Social philosophy

Dasein is a German noun which antedates Heidegger's use of it, though he saw more of its possibilities than previous philosophers such as Fichte had. It is derived from da sein, which literally means being there. It is synonymous with existence, as in I am pleased with my existence (ich bin mit meinem Dasein zufrieden). In the works of Heidegger, a German word for a being that is capable of recursively comprehending the primal (ontological) authentic (ontic) nature of its own Being. Heidegger ...

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This article applies to political ideologies. For information on authoritarianism in psychology see Authoritarian Personality. The term authoritarian is used to describe an organization or a state which enforces strong and sometimes oppressive measures against those in its sphere of influence, generally without attempts at gaining their consent and often not allowing feedback on its policies. In an authoritarian state, citizens are subject to state authority in many aspects of their lives, including many that othe ...

Including:

• Authoritarianism - Authoritarianism and ideology
• Authoritarianism - Actions of authoritarian governments
• Authoritarianism - Economic arguments for authoritarianism

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Broadly defined, Dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a synthesis of the opposing assertions, or at least a qualitative transformation in the direction of the dialogue. It is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are rhetoric and grammar) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, both rhetoric and dialectic were understood to aim at being persuasive (through dialogue). The ai ...

Including:

• Dialectic - In philosophy
• Dialectic - Socratic dialectic
• Dialectic - Hegelian dialectic
• Dialectic - Marxist dialectics
• Dialectic - Critiques of dialectic
• Dialectic - Dialectical biology
• Dialectic - Footnotes
• Dialectic - Sources

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Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists. Modern literary criticism is often published in essay or book form. Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals, and more popular critics publish thei ...

Including:

• Literary criticism - History of literary criticism
• Literary criticism - Classical and medieval criticism
• Literary criticism - Renaissance criticism
• Literary criticism - 19th-century criticism
• Literary criticism - The New Criticism
• Literary criticism - Theory
• Literary criticism - The current state of literary criticism
• Literary criticism - Bibliography
• Literary criticism - External link

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Accountability has several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, responsibility, blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds. As important has been its centrality to the study of ethics. Accountability implies a concern for the welfare of those with whom one works. Accountability denotes an ambition to lever ...

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Attitude is a key concept in social psychology. In academic psychology parlance, attitudes are positive or negative views of an "attitude object": a person, behaviour, or event. Research has shown that people can also be "ambivalent" towards a target, meaning that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative attitude towards it. There is also a great deal of new research emerging on "implicit" attitudes, which are essentially attitudes that people are not consciously aware of, but that can be revealed through sophisticated ex ...

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Tabula Rasa (Latin: "scraped tablet", though often translated "blank slate") is the notion that individual human beings are born "blank" (with no built-in mental content), and that their identity is defined entirely by events after birth. However, two uses of the term in modern usage are fundamentally incongruent. Thomas Aquinas was the first to assert the tabula rasa theory in the 13th century, though it was John Locke who fully expressed the idea in the 17th century. In John Locke's philosophy, tabula rasaIncluding:

• Tabula rasa - Science
• Tabula rasa - Politics

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Evil is a term describing that which is regarded as morally bad, intrinsically corrupt, wantonly destructive, inhumane, or wicked. In most cultures, the word is used to describe acts, thoughts, and ideas which are thought to (either directly or causally) bring about withering and death —the opposite of life. However, the definition of what counts as evil differs widely from culture to culture and from individual to individual. Some philosophers reject the idea of evil. Plato, for example, argued that what we call evil is merely ignorance, and th ...

Including:

• Evil - Etymology
• Evil - Evil as a religious concept
• Evil - Zoroastrianism
• Evil - Judaeo-Christian religions
• Evil - Is evil universal?
• Evil - Is evil a useful term?
• Evil - Is evil good?
• Evil - Scientific perspectives
• Evil - Sociological views on evil
• Evil - Evil in business
• Evil - Hacker jargon
• Evil - books

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Fatalism is the view that human deliberation and actions are pointless and ineffectual in determining events, because whatever will be will be. One ancient argument, called the idle argument, went like this: If it is fated for you to recover from your illness, then you will recover whether you call a doctor or not. Likewise, if you are fated not to recover, you will not do so even if you call a doctor. S ...

Including:

• Fatalism - External link

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For the Spanish indie rock band, see Avantgarde (band). Avant-garde in French means front guard, advance guard, or vanguard. People often use the term to refer to people or works that are novel or experimental, particularly with respect to art, culture and politics. Basically, Avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm within definitions of Art/Culture/ ...

Including:

• Avant-garde - Relevance
• Avant-garde - Avant-garde art movements
• Avant-garde - Other examples of avant-garde
• Avant-garde - Avant-garde artists
• Avant-garde - External link

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Antonio Negri (1933- ) is a moral and political philosopher from Italy. Negri is perhaps most well-known for his co-authorship of Empire and his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university. Negri founded Potere Operaio (Worker Power) group in 1969 and was a leading member of the Autonomia Marxist group. Accused in the early 1980s of being the mastermind behind the May 1978 assassination of Aldo Moro, leader of Christian-Democrat Party, Negri was later cleared of a ...

Including:

• Antonio Negri - Early years
• Antonio Negri - Arrest and Exile
• Antonio Negri - Political thought and writings
• Antonio Negri - Endnotes
• Antonio Negri - Books in English by Antonio Negri
• Antonio Negri - Articles by Antonio Negri
• Antonio Negri - Other Links about Antonio Negri

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Cultural studies combines sociology, social theory, literary theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in industrial societies. Cultural studies researchers often concentrate on how a particular phenomenon relates to matters of ideology, race, social class, and/or gender. Cultural studies concerns itself with the meaning and practices of everyday life. Cultural practices comprise the ways people do particular things (such as watching television, or eating out) in a given culture. Particular meanings atta ...

Including:

• Cultural studies - Overview
• Cultural studies - Approaches
• Cultural studies - Compare

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The question that has received the most substantial attention from philosophers of law is What is law? Several schools of thought have provided rivals answers to this question, the most influent of which are: Natural law theory asserts that there are laws that are immanent in nature, to which enacted laws should correspond as closely as possible. This view is frequently summarized by the maxim: an unjust law is not a true law, in which 'unjust' is defined as contrary to natural law. Legal positivism is the view t ...

See also:

Philosophy of law, Philosophy of law - What is law?, Philosophy of law - Normative Theories of Law, Philosophy of law - Philosophical Approaches to Legal Problems, Philosophy of law - General, Philosophy of law - Philosophers of Law

Read more here: » Philosophy of law: Encyclopedia II - Philosophy of law - What is law?

List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical movements of the ancient world. Platonic realism Pythagoreanism Pyrrhonian skepticism Epicureanism Stoicism Cynicism Neoplatonism List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical movements of the modern world. The Renaissance itself, which aimed to revive Classical Greek and Roman ideas Rationalism, dominant on continental Europe following Desca ...

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List of basic philosophical topics, List of basic philosophical topics - General philosophical topics, List of basic philosophical topics - Branches of philosophy, List of basic philosophical topics - Subdisciplines of philosophy, List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical movements, List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical movements of the ancient world, List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical movements of the modern world, List of basic philosophical topics - Influential philosophers, List of basic philosophical topics - Basic philosophical concepts, List of basic philosophical topics - The Isms doctrines schools and principles of philosophy, List of basic philosophical topics - Philosophical topics by region, List of basic philosophical topics - Potential emergent philosophies, List of basic philosophical topics - General philosophy lists, List of basic philosophical topics - General philosophy topics, List of basic philosophical topics - General online philosophy resources

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List of publications in philosophy - Western philosophy. Plato, Charmides Plato, Lysis Plato, Laches Plato, Protagoras Plato, Euthydemus Plato, Cratylus Plato, Phaedrus Plato, Ion Plato, Symposium Plato, Meno Plato, Euthyphro Plato, Apology Plato, Crito Plato, Phaedo Plato, Go ...

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List of publications in philosophy, List of publications in philosophy - Historical texts, List of publications in philosophy - Western philosophy, List of publications in philosophy - Eastern philosophy, List of publications in philosophy - Twentieth-century philosophy, List of publications in philosophy - Ethics value and social philosophy, List of publications in philosophy - Logic language and mathematics, List of publications in philosophy - General philosophy lists, List of publications in philosophy - General philosophy topics, List of publications in philosophy - General online philosophy resources

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Many religions have morally absolutist positions, regarding their system of morality as having been set by a deity or deities. They therefore regard such a moral system as absolute, (usually) perfect, and unchangeable. Many philosophies also take a morally absolutist stance, arguing that the laws of morality are inherent in the nature of human beings, the nature of life in general, or the universe itself. Ironically, many who make such claims often overlook evolving norms within their own communities. For example, today almost no religious g ...

See also:

Moral absolutism, Moral absolutism - Moral absolutism and religion, Moral absolutism - Graded absolutism, Moral absolutism - Moral absolutism and free will

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A norm may or may not have a rational justification or origin. Norms with common sense origins may, over time, lose their original context as society changes: an action that was once performed because it was necessary to survive may over the years become a social norm, even once the circumstances that made it necessary for survival are no longer applicable. There are at least two reasons for the stability of a norm. First, people are educated via their socialization process to follow a norm and most people will not oppose it. Second, even if a person does not feel like ...

See also:

Norm sociology, Norm sociology - Justification and origins, Norm sociology - Levels of enforcement, Norm sociology - Types of norms, Norm sociology - Mores, Norm sociology - Folkways, Norm sociology - Example gift exchange

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73% of the general public in America in 2001 knew someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is up from 24% in 1983, 43% in 1993, 55% in 1998, and 62% in 2000. The percentage of the general public who say there is more acceptance of LGB people in 2001 than before was 64%. Acceptance was measured on many different levels - 87% of the general public would shop at a store owned by someone who is gay or lesbian all the way down to 46% of the general public would attend a church or synagogu ...

See also:

Societal attitudes towards homosexuality, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Statistics, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Culture, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Law, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Religion and morality, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Repression, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Rhetoric, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - History in the West, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - McCarthyism, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - LGBT civil rights movement, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Psychology and modification of sexual orientation, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Stereotypes, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Blame for plagues and disasters, Societal attitudes towards homosexuality - Association with child abuse and pedophilia

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Gesellschaft (often translated as society or civil society), in contrast, describes associations in which, for the individual, the larger association never takes on more importance than individual self interest, and lack the same level of shared mores. Gesellschaft is maintained through individuals acting in their own self interest. A modern business is a good example of Gesellschaft, the workers, managers, and owners may have very little in terms of shared orientations or beliefs, they may not care deeply for the product they are making, but it is in all their self interest t ...

See also:

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft - Gemeinschaft, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft - Gesellschaft

Read more here: » Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft: Encyclopedia II - Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft - Gesellschaft

In computer science, tabula rasa refers to the development of autonomous agents which are provided with a mechanism to reason and plan toward their goal, but no "built-in" knowledge-base of their environment. They are thus truly a "blank slate". In reality autonomous agents are provided with an initial data-set or knowledge-base, but this should not be immutable or it will hamper autonomy and heuristic ability. Even if the data-set is empty, it can usually be argued that there is an in-built bias in the reasoning and planning mechanisms. Either intentionally or unintentionally placed there by the human designer, it thus negates ...

See also:

Tabula rasa, Tabula rasa - Science, Tabula rasa - Politics

Read more here: » Tabula rasa: Encyclopedia II - Tabula rasa - Science