Thomas Reid: Theory of Action Thomas Reid (1710-1796) made important contributions to the fields of epistemology and philosophy of mind, and is often regarded as the founder of the common sense school of philosophy. Toutefois, he also offered key arguments and observations concerning human agency and morality. Reid carefully criticized the views of his contemporaries, and defended an account of human freedom in which he argues that

Toleration The heart of tolerance is self-control. When we tolerate an activity, we resist our urge to forcefully prohibit the expression of activities that we find unpleasant. More abstractly, toleration can be understood as a political practice aiming at neutrality, objectivity, or fairness on the part of political agents. These ideas are related in that the goal of political neutrality is deliberate restraint of the power

Lao Sze-kwang (Lao Siguang) (1927—2012) photo courtesy of The Chinese University of Hong Kong The works of Lao Sze-kwang (Lao Siguang) cover a wide range of philosophies, including Confucianism, bouddhisme, taoïsme, Kantianism, Hegelianism, et, most importantly, the philosophy of culture. Like many other Chinese philosophers of the 20th century, Lao was personally affected by the Chinese Revolution of 1949 and made his career outside of

Religious Disagreement The domain of religious inquiry is characterized by pervasive and seemingly intractable disagreement. Whatever stance one takes on central religious questions—for example, whether God exists, what the nature of God might be, whether the world has a purpose, whether there is life beyond death—one will stand opposed to a large contingent of highly informed and intelligent thinkers. The fact of extensive religious disagreement

Parmenides of Elea (Late 6th cn.—Mid 5th cn. avant notre ère) Parmenides of Elea was a Presocratic Greek philosopher. As the first philosopher to inquire into the nature of existence itself, he is incontrovertibly credited as the “Father of Metaphysics.” As the first to employ deductive, a priori arguments to justify his claims, he competes with Aristotle for the title “Father of Logic.” He is also commonly