American Enlightenment Thought Although there is no consensus about the exact span of time that corresponds to the American Enlightenment, it is safe to say that it occurred during the eighteenth century among thinkers in British North America and the early United States and was inspired by the ideas of the British and French Enlightenments. Based on the metaphor of bringing light to the Dark

Religion and Politics The relation between religion and politics continues to be an important theme in political philosophy, despite the emergent consensus (both among political theorists and in practical political contexts, such as the United Nations) on the right to freedom of conscience and on the need for some sort of separation between church and state. One reason for the importance of this topic is

Functionalism Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalism, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. This can be understood by thinking about artifacts like mousetraps and keys. Besonders, the original motivation for functionalism comes from the helpful comparison of minds with computers. But that is only an analogy. Der

Concepts Concepts are of central importance to an overall theory of cognition and the mind. Our thoughts, especially those that express or involve propositions, are analyzed and distinguished from one another by appeal to various facts involving concepts and our grasp of them. Ähnlich, our linguistic utterances that express propositions also express concepts, since concepts are normally thought to be closely related to, or even

René Descartes: Wissenschaftliche Methode René Descartes‘ Hauptwerk über wissenschaftliche Methoden war der Diskurs, der 1637 veröffentlicht wurde (vollständiger: Diskurs über die Methode, die eigene Vernunft richtig zu lenken und in den Wissenschaften nach Wahrheit zu suchen). Er veröffentlichte weitere Werke, die sich mit Methodenproblemen befassen, Dies bleibt jedoch für jedes Verständnis der kartesischen Wissenschaftsmethode von zentraler Bedeutung. Das gemeinsame Bild von Descartes ist eins

Plato: The Academy Plato’s enormous impact on later philosophy, Ausbildung, and culture can be traced to three interrelated aspects of his philosophical life: his written philosophical dialogues, the teaching and writings of his student Aristotle, and the educational organization he began, “the Academy.” Plato’s Academy took its name from the place where its members congregated, the Akadēmeia, an area outside of the Athens city walls