a fortiori argument an argument that moves from the premises that everything which...

African philosophy the philosophy produced by the preliterate cultures of Africa, distinctive...

agama (Sanskrit, 'what has come down'), an authoritative religious text of...

agape unselfish love for all persons. An ethical theory according to...

agathon Greek word meaning 'a good' or 'the good'. From Socrates...

agent-based ethics See VIRTUE ETHICS.

agent causation the idea that the primary cause of an event is...

agent-neutral See UTILITARIANISM.

agent-relative See UTILITARIANISM.

agnoiology (from Greek agnoia, 'ignorance'), the study of ignorance, its quality,...

agnosticism (from Greek a-, 'not', and gnastos, 'known'), term invented by...

agreement, method of See MILL's METHODS.

Agriculture School See HSü HSING.

ahamkara (Sanskrit, 'I-maker', 'I-crier'), in Hindu thought, the ego or faculty...

ahanta Sanskrit word meaning 'indestructible', 'unchangeable', 'eternal'. In traditional Hindu philosophical...

ahimsa (Sanskrit), traditionally and literally, nonviolence to living creatures; for modern...

Ahura Mazda See ZOROASTRIANISM.

Ailly, Pierre d’ See D'AILLY.

aisthesis See ARISTOTLE.

aitia (Greek), cause. Originally referring to responsibility for a crime, this...

akasa Sanskrit word translated as 'ether' or 'space'. Indian philosophical systems...

akrasia also spelled acrasia, Greek term for weakness of will. Akrasia...

alaya-vijñana Sanskrit term meaning literally 'storehouse consciousness', a category developed by...

Albert of Saxony (1316–90), terminist logician from lower Saxony who taught in the...

Albert the Great See ALBERTUS MAGNUS.

Albertus Magnus also called Albert the Great (c.1200–80), German Dominican philosophertheologian. As...

Albinus See COMMENTARIES ON PLATO, MIDDLE. PLATONIS. alchemy, a quasi-scientific practice...

Alcinous See MIDDLE PLATONISM.

Alcmaeon of Croton See PRE-SOCRATICS.

Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’ See D'ALEMBERT.