Introduction: Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, known merely as Simone de Beauvoir, was a French novelist, existentialist philosopher, social theorist, and feminist. De Beauvoir was born on January 9th, 1908. At the age of 15, she had already decided she would be a writer. After passing her bachelorette exams in mathematics and philosophy,
Introduction: Few individuals have influenced the world and history's greatest thinkers like Plato. One of the twentieth centuries' most prominent philosophers, A.N Whitehead, even went so far as to say that western philosophy as we know it is pretty much nothing more than "a series of footnotes to Plato." Plato was born in 427 BCE
Who Is Friedrich Nietzsche? “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher born in 1844 in Röcken, in what was then Prussia. His father, a
Who Is Epicurus? "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Epicurus (341-270 BCE) was born in Samos a year after Plato’s death, but moved to Athens when he was eighteen (one year before
Who Is Lao Tzu? “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” Lao Tzu Lao Tzu or Laozi (“Old Master”) was either a person, or a collective of people, in the 4th or 6th century BC who is (are) thought to have written the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing, “The
Who Is Aristotle? Aristotle was so influential that Thomas Aquinas called him simply “The Philosopher.” The third in a trilogy of great Greek philosophers (after Socrates and Plato), Aristotle branched out into fields neglected by his predecessors. He is considered the father of modern logic, and his work lays the foundation for the modern scientific
Who Is Immanuel Kant? “All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions: 1. What can I know? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I hope?” – Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German, Enlightenment philosopher most famous for his theories of morality
What Is Nihilism? While you may have heard the word nihilism before, there are common misconceptions as to what it means. It’s popularly described as the belief that “nothing matters,” but it is more accurately described as the denial or lack of belief in the meaning of life. More specifically, nihilism encourage skepticism and argues
What Is Hedonism? Most modern people, when they hear the words “hedonism,” or “hedonist,” conjure images of self-indulgence, opulent wealth, booze, drugs, sex, the stuff of soap operas or frothy cable dramas. But the philosophical definition of Hedonism refers to a way of practicing life that isn’t necessarily ostentatious, but instead follows the simple credence:
What Is Taoism? Taosim (Daoism), is a Chinese philosophy dating back to the 4th or 6th century BCE. The central idea of Taoism is that the Tao (or “the way”) is an organizing force that guides nature and the universe, and humans can achieve transcendence from suffering by aligning themselves with it. The way to