Giorgio Agamben (1942– ) Giorgio Agamben is one of the leading figures in Italian philosophy and radical political theory, and in recent years, his work has had a deep impact on contemporary scholarship in a number of disciplines in the Anglo-American intellectual world. Born in Rome in 1942, Agamben completed studies in Law and Philosophy with a doctoral thesis on the political thought of Simone

Karl Popper: Political Philosophy Among philosophers, Karl Popper (1902-1994) is best known for his contributions to the philosophy of science and epistemology. Most of his published work addressed philosophical problems in the natural sciences, vor allem Physik; and Popper himself acknowledged that his primary interest was nature and not politics. Aber, his political thought has arguably had as great an impact as has his philosophy of

Totalitarismus Unter Totalitarismus versteht man am besten jedes System politischer Ideen, das sowohl durch und durch diktatorisch als auch utopisch ist. Es handelt sich um eine ideale Art von Regierungsvorstellung, und als solches, es kann nicht perfekt realisiert werden. Angesichts der brutalen Realität paradigmatischer Fälle wie Stalins UdSSR und Nazi-Deutschland, Philosophen, Politische Theoretiker und Sozialwissenschaftler fühlten sich nicht nur intellektuell motiviert, sondern auch moralisch verpflichtet, Erklärungen abzugeben

La Sablière, Marguerite Hessein de (1640—1693) Madame de la Sablière made distinctive contributions to moral and religious philosophy in 17th century France. Her ethical theory implies that the natural moral virtues are disguised vices and that only the theological virtues can sustain an authentic moral life. Her moral rigorism appears in the severity with which she treats questions of moral agency and responsibility. In her

Identity Theory Identity theory is a family of views on the relationship between mind and body. Type Identity theories hold that at least some types (or kinds, or classes) of mental states are, as a matter of contingent fact, literally identical with some types (or kinds, or classes) of brain states. The earliest advocates of Type Identity—U.T. Place, Herbert Feigl, and J.J.C. Smart, respectively—each proposed

Scotus: Knowledge of God Any discussion of John Duns Scotus (1266—1308) on our knowledge of God has to be a discussion of Scotus’s thesis that we have concepts univocal to God and creatures. By this, Scotus means that some one idea can equally represent both God and other types of things. This is striking even to modern ears and was perhaps more so for Scotus’s