du Vair Guillaume (1556–1621), French philosopher, bishop, and political figure. Du Vair and Justus Lipsius were the two most influential propagators of neo-Stoicism in early modern Europe. Du Vair’s Sainte Philosophie (‘Holy Philosophy,’ 1584) and his shorter Philosophie morale des Stoïques (‘Moral Philosophy of the Stoics,’ 1585), were translated and frequently reprinted. The latter presents Epictetus in a form usable by ordinary people in troubled times. We are to follow nature and live according to reason; we are not to be upset by what we cannot control; virtue is the good. Du Vair inserts, moreover, a distinctly religious note. We must be pious, accept our lot as God’s will, and consider morality obedience to his command. Du Vair thus Christianized Stoicism, making it widely acceptable. By teaching that reason alone enables us to know how we ought to live, he became a founder of modern rationalism in ethics. See also ETHICS, HUMAN NATURE , STOICIS. J.B.S. Dvaita Vedanta, a variety of Hinduism according to which Brahman is an independently existing, omnipotent, omniscient personal deity. In Dvaita Vedanta, Brahman everlastingly sustains in existence a world of minds and physical things without their being properly viewed as the body of Brahman, since this would mistakenly suggest that Brahman is limited and can be affected in ways analogous to those in which human beings are limited and can be affected by their bodies. The Upanishadic texts concerning the individual Aman’s identity to Brahman, and all things being in Brahman, are understood as asserting dependence on Brahman and resemblance to Brahman rather than numerical identity with Brahman. Each person is held to have his or her own essence (cf. the medieval Scholastic notion of a haecceity) and accordingly some are destined for enlightenment, some for endless transmigration, and some for misery. K.E.Y.