Cicerone (106—43 B.C.E.) Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 B.C.E. and was murdered on December 7, 43 B.C.E. His life coincided with the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, and he was an important actor in many of the significant political events of his time, and his writings are now a valuable source of information to us about those events. Lui

Epistemic Circularity An epistemically circular argument defends the reliability of a source of belief by relying on premises that are themselves based on the source. It is a widely shared intuition that there is something wrong with epistemically circular arguments. William Alston, who first used the term in this sense, argues plausibly that there is no way to know or to be justified in believing

Liezi (Lieh-tzu, cn. 4th cn. a.E.V.) The Liezi (Lieh-tzu), or Master Lie may be considered to be the third of the Chinese philosophical texts in the line of thought represented by the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, subsequently classified as Daojia (“the School of the Way”) or Daoist philosophy. Whether Master Lie existed as an actual person or not, the text bears his name in order

Moral Development This entry analyzes moral development as a perennial philosophical view complemented by modern empirical research programs. The two initial sections summarize what moral development is and why it is important for ethics and human nature theory. The “Roots” section notes historical versions of natural development in morality, touching on Confucius, Aristotele, Rousseau and Rawls. The next four sections assess current empirical research in

Lucretius (c. 99—c. 55 B.C.E.) Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus) was a Roman poet and the author of the philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), a comprehensive exposition of the Epicurean world-view. Very little is known of the poet’s life, though a sense of his character and personality emerges vividly from his poem. The stress and tumult of his times stands

Benedetto di Spinoza: Metafisica Baruch (o, in latino, Benedetto) di Spinoza (1632-1677) fu uno dei filosofi razionalisti più importanti della prima età moderna, insieme a Cartesio, Leibniz, e Malebranche. Spinoza è anche l’“ateo” più influente in Europa in questo periodo. “Ateo” all’epoca significava qualcuno che rifiutava le tradizionali visioni bibliche riguardo a Dio e al suo rapporto con la natura. Nel suo massimo