"The unexamined life is not worth living" -Socrates
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Philosopher Profiles
Buddha Confucius Plato Aristotle St. Augustine St. Aquinas Descartes Spinoza
Berkeley Kant Bentham and Mill Schopenhauer Nietzsche James Kierkegaard Sartre
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Gautama Buddha
Born:563 B.C.
Died: 483 B.C.
Major Philosophies:The eight-fold path
The four noble truths
Buddhism
Quotes:Life is suffering.
Doubt arises because knowledge and ignorance are two different things.
Books:None
Miscellaneous:Buddha sat under a Boa tree for days to attain wisdom and understanding.
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Philosopher Profile
Name: Confucius
Born: 551 B.C.
Died: 479 B.C.
Major Philosophies: Three Doctrines of Confucius
His utopia
Confucianism
Quotes: Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.
Do unto others what you wish to do unto yourself.
Books:Analects
Book of Rites
Spring and Autumn Annals
Miscellaneous:Confucius taught a total of 3,000 students.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Plato
Born:428 B.C.
Died:347 B.C.
Major Philosophies:The nature of love
The nature of virtue
philosophy of religion
Quotes:Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and phiosophy begins in wonder.
Books:The Republic
Symposium
The Last Days of Socrates
Apology
Dialogues
Miscellaneous:Plato created the Academy.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Aristotle
Born:384 B.C.
Died:322 B.C.
Major Philosophies:Aristotle's Four Causes
Theory of syllogism
Golden Mean
Quotes:Man is a political animal.
The good is the most accurate measure of all things.
Books:Metaphysics
History of Animals
Miscellaneous:He formed the Lyceum. He was also the tutor of Alexander the Great.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:St. Augustine
Born:354 A.D.
Died:430 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Early Christianity
Quotes:What is called evil in the universe is but the absense of good.
The will of G-d, which is always good, is sometimes fulfilled through the evil will of
man.
Books:Confession
The City of G-d
Miscellaneous:Augustine devoted his life to the pursuit of truth.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:St. Thomas Aquinas
Born:1225 A.D.
Died:1274 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Synthesis between faith and reason
Natural Theological truths
Quotes:The ultimate beatitude of man
consists in the use of his highest
function, which is the operation
of his intellect...Hence...the
blessed see the essence of God.
Books:Summa Theologica
Miscellaneous:He came up with the five proofs of G-d.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Rene Descartes
Born:1596 A.D.
Died:1650 A.D.
Major Philosophies:The systematization of analytic geometry
Cartesianism
Quotes:"Cogito, ergo sum," I think, therefore I am.
Doubt arises because knowledge and ignorance are two different things.
Books:Discourse on the Method
Meditations on First Philosophy
Miscellaneous:Descartes tried to use inductive thinking for philosophy.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Baruch Spinoza
Born:1632 A.D.
Died:1677 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Dues Sive Natura
Reality through geometry
Quotes:All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare
Books:Ethics
Theological-political Treatise
Political Treatise
Miscellaneous:Spinoza was a pantheist, which means that he believed that everything is
G-d.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:George Berkeley
Born:1685 A.D.
Died:1753 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Subjective idealism
Solipsism-the world is my perception
Quotes:Esse est percipi.
To be is to be perceived.
Books:Essay towards a new vision
Tretise concerning the principles of human knowledge
Tree dialogues between Hylos and Philonous
Miscellaneous:He was born in Ireland
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Immanuel Kant
Born:1724 A.D.
Died:1804 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Categorical Imperative
Critical Philosophy
Analytic/Synthetic Judgement
Quotes:So act that you at the same time will that your act shall be raised to a level of
universal law for anyone at any time
Books:Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Judgement
Critique of Practical Reason
Miscellaneous:Immanuel Kant was a student, a teacher, and a writer.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
Born:1748 and 1806
Died:1832 and 1873
Major Philosophies:Utilitarianism
The greatest good for the greatest number of people
Quotes:Every man is the best judge of his own interest.
Books:On Liberty- Mill
A fragment on Government- Bentham
Miscellaneous:Although the two are usually considered as a group, instead of as
individuals, they was actually a fifty year difference between the two.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Arthur Schopenhauer
Born:1788 A.D.
Died:1860 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Principle of Sufficient Reason
The World as Will and Idea
Pessimism
Quotes:The life of every individual is really always a tragedy but gone through in detail,
it has the character of a comedy.
Books:On Visions and Colors
On the Will in Nature
Parerga and Paralipomena
Miscellaneous:Schopenhauer is often called the prophet of pessimism.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Friedrich Nietzsche
Born:1844 A.D.
Died:1900 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Man should become the overman
Nihilism
Quotes:G-d is dead.
Life in its simplest form is exploitation.
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Books:Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Beyond Good and Evil
The Birth of Tragedy
Miscellaneous:Nietzsche died insane in a mental institution from syphilis.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:William James
Born:1842 A.D.
Died:1910 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Pragmatism
Quotes:The whole function of philosophy ought to be to find out what definite difference
it will make to you or me, a definite difference in our lives, if this formula or that formula
be true.
Books:Principle of Psychology
Human Immortality
The Will to Believe and other Essays in Popular Philosophy
Miscellaneous:William James is considered one of the only "respectable" American
philosopher.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Soren Kierkegaard
Born:1813 A.D.
Died:1855 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Existentialism
Subjective Truth
Freedom of Choice
Quotes:I must find a truth that is true for me... the idea for which I can live or die. What
is suspended is not lost, but is preserved in the higher function that is its telos, its
purpose.
Books:Fear and Trembling
The Repetition
The Concept of Dread
Miscellaneous:Kierkegaard actually founded existentialism.
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Philosopher Profile
Name:Jean-Paul Sartre
Born:1905 A.D.
Died:1980 A.D.
Major Philosophies:Existentialism
Quotes:Existence Precedes Essence
Hell is other people.
Books:Being and Nothingness
No Exit
Nausea
Miscellaneous:Sartre is considered the founder of modern existentialism.
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Fallacies
A fallacy is a flaw in logic. There are two types of fallacies: informal and formal. An
informal fallacy has a flaw in its content, while a formal fallacy has a flaw in its structure.
The following is a list of a number of formal fallacies and their explanations:
Post Hoc Fallacy- stating that two things have a causal effect when it cannot be proven
that it is true (remember that just because one thing is always followed by another does
not mean that there is a causal connection).
False Dilemma- This fallacy is sometimes called the Black or White Fallacy. This
structural error simply means that you are saying that there are only two possibilities.
Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam- This is when you say that something is true simply
because someone cannot prove otherwise.
Argumentum Ad Hominem- Through this fallacy, you attack the person instead of the
statement that you are trying to dispel.
Begging The Question- When an argument goes in a circle, it falls under this fallacy.
Hypothesis Contrary To Fact- As the name implies, this is when you are using a
situation that does not exist to further your argument.
Straw Man- This is when you use a non-sequitur (You can't know the answer to that
math question because you have a white dog).
Reification- This is when you assign human-like characteristics to inanimate objects.