Literary Theory “Literary theory” is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to understand literature. All

Arnold Geulincx (1624–1669) Arnold (oder Arnout) Geulincx war ein frühneuzeitlicher flämischer Philosoph, der zunächst in Leuven lehrte (Löwen) Universität, floh jedoch aus den katholischen Niederlanden, als er dort 1658 entlassen wurde. Er ließ sich in Leiden nieder, im protestantischen Norden, wo er unter der Schirmherrschaft des kartesisch-kalvinistischen Theologen Abraham Heidanus arbeitete (1597-1678), und versuchte, eine Stelle an der Universität Leiden zu bekommen. Geulincx war

Plotin: Virtue Ethics This article focuses on the virtue ethics of Plotinus (204–270 n. Chr.) and its implications for later accounts of virtue ethics, particularly in Porphyry and Iamblichus. Plotinus’ ethical theory is discussed in relation to the aim of the virtuous person to become godlike, the role of disposition in the soul’s intellectualization, the four cardinal virtues, Wohlbefinden, human freedom, and self-determination. Plotinus’ virtue ethics

Richard Rorty (1931—2007) Richard Rorty was an important American philosopher of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century who blended expertise in philosophy and comparative literature into a perspective called “The New Pragmatism” or “neopragmatism.” Rejecting the Platonist tradition at an early age, Rorty was initially attracted to analytic philosophy. As his views matured he came to believe that this tradition suffered in its own

Wang Yangming (1472—1529) Wang Yangming, also known as Wang Shouren (Wang Shou-jen), is one of the most influential philosophers in the Confucian tradition. He is best known for his theory of the unity of knowledge and action. A capable and principled administrator and military official, he was exiled from 1507 to 1510 for his protest against political corruption. Although he studied the thought of Zhu

Tyler Burge (1946—) Tyler Burge is an American philosopher who has done influential work in several areas of philosophy. These include philosophy of language, Logik, Philosophie des Geistes, Erkenntnistheorie, Philosophie der Wissenschaft (primarily philosophy of psychology), and history of philosophy (focusing especially on Frege, but also on the classical rationalists—Descartes, Leibniz, und Kant). Burge has also done some work in psychology itself. Burge is best