Rationalists[edit] René Descartes Baruch Spinoza Gottfried Leibniz Empiricism[edit] Main article: Empiricism Empiricism is a theory of knowledge which opposes other theories of knowledge, such as rationalism, idealism and historicism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes (only or primarily) via sensory experience as opposed to rationalism, which asserts that knowledge comes (also) from pure thinking. Both empiricism and rationalism are individualist theories of knowledge, whereas historicism is a social epistemology. While historicism also acknowledges the role of experience, it differs from empiricism by assuming that sensory data cannot be understood without considering the historical and cultural circumstances in which observations are made. Empiricism should not be mixed up with empirical research because different epistemologies should be considered competing views on how best to do studies, and there is near consensus among researchers that studies should be empirical. Today empiricism should therefore be understood as one among competing ideals of getting knowledge or how to do studies. As such empiricism is first and foremost characterized by the ideal to let observational data "speak for themselves", while the competing views are opposed to this ideal. The term empiricism should thus not just be understood in relation to how this term has been used in the history of philosophy. It should also be constructed in a way which makes it possible to distinguish empiricism among other epistemological positions in contemporary science and scholarship. In other words: Empiricism as a concept has to be constructed along with other concepts, which together make it possible to make important discriminations between different ideals underlying contemporary science. Empiricism is one of several competing views that predominate in the study of human knowledge, known as epistemology. Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or tradition[2] in contrast to, for example, rationalism which relies upon reason and can incorporate innate knowledge. Empiricists[edit] George Berkeley David Hume John Locke Political philosophy[edit] Main article: Political philosophy Political philosophy is the study of such topics as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown—if ever. In a vernacular sense, the term "political philosophy" often refers to a general view, or specific ethic, political belief or attitude, about politics that does not necessarily belong to the technical discipline of philosophy.[3] Political Philosophers[edit] Thomas Hobbes John Locke Jean-Jacques Rousseau Karl Marx Friedrich Engels John Stuart Mill Jeremy Bentham James Mill Idealism[edit] Main article: Idealism Idealism refers to the group of philosophies which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally a construct of the mind or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing. In a sociological sense, idealism emphasizes how human ideas—especially beliefs and values—shape society. [4] As an ontological doctrine, idealism goes further, asserting that all entities are composed of mind or spirit.[5] Idealism thus rejects physicalist and dualist theories that fail to ascribe priority to the mind. An extreme version of this idealism can exist in the philosophical notion of solipsism. Idealist Philosophers[edit] Immanuel Kant Johann Gottlieb Fichte Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Arthur Schopenhauer Francis Herbert Bradley Existentialism[edit] Main article: Existentialism Existentialism is generally considered to be the philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the individual and the experiences of the individual. Building on that, existentialist hold that moral thinking and scientific thinking together do not suffice to understand human existence, and, therefore, a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to understand human existence.[6][7][8] Existential Philosophers[edit] Søren Kierkegaard Friedrich Nietzsche Jean-Paul Sartre Karl Jaspers Gabriel Marcel Martin Heidegger Phenomenology[edit] Main articles: Phenomenology (philosophy) and Existential phenomenology Phenomenology is the study of the structure of experience. It is a broad philosophical movement founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl, expanded upon by a circle of his followers at the universities of Göttingen and Munich in Germany. The philosophy then spread to France, the United States, and elsewhere, often in contexts far removed from Husserl's early work.[9] Phenomenological Philosophers[edit] Edmund Husserl Martin Heidegger Maurice Merleau-Ponty Pragmatism[edit] Main article: Pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice.[citation needed] Important positions characteristic of pragmatism include instrumentalism, radical empiricism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, and fallibilism.[citation needed] There is general consensus among pragmatists that philosophy should take the methods and insights of modern science into account. [10] Charles Sanders Peirce (and his pragmatic maxim) deserves most of the credit for pragmatism,[11] along with later twentieth century contributors William James and John Dewey.[10] Pragmatic Philosophers[edit] Charles Sanders Peirce William James John Dewey Richard Rorty Analytic philosophy[edit] Main article: Analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century. In the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand, the overwhelming majority of university philosophy departments identify themselves as "analytic" departments.[12] The term generally refers to a broad philosophical tradition[13][14] characterized by an emphasis on clarity and argument (often achieved via modern formal logic and analysis of language) and a respect for the natural sciences.[15][16][17] Analytic Philosophers[edit] Rudolf Carnap Gottlob Frege George Edward Moore Bertrand Russell Moritz Schlick Ludwig Wittgenstein |
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