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Sponde, Jean de

(Encyclopedia)Sponde, Jean de zhäN də spôNd [key], 1557–95, French poet and humanist. He held various posts in the court of Henry IV but died destitute because of his reckless nature. His Sonnets of Love and D...

scholasticism

(Encyclopedia)scholasticism skōlăsˈtĭsĭzəm [key], philosophy and theology of Western Christendom in the Middle Ages. Virtually all medieval philosophers of any significance were theologians, and their philoso...

Diogenes of Apollonia

(Encyclopedia)Diogenes of Apollonia ăpəlōˈnēə [key], 5th cent. b.c., Greek philosopher. An eclectic, he reverted to the Milesian tradition of a century earlier in seeking to explain the constitution of all ma...

essence

(Encyclopedia)essence, in philosophy, the nature of a thing. Aristotle maintained that there is a distinction between the form of a thing—its intelligible, verbally formulable character—and the essence of a thi...

Amalric of Bena

(Encyclopedia)Amalric of Bena bēˈnə [key], d. 1207?, French professor of philosophy. He taught heretical precepts concerning God, a pantheistic universe, and a progressive Trinity. Before he died, he publicly re...

Notker Labeo

(Encyclopedia)Notker Labeo läˈbēō [key], c.950–1022, German monk, also known as Teŭtonĭcus. He was a teacher at St. Gall. Notker translated into Old High German Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy, Capella...

Albertus Magnus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Albertus Magnus, Saint ălbûrˈtəs măgˈnəs [key], or Saint Albert the Great, b. 1193 or 1206, d. 1280, scholastic philosopher, Doctor of the Church, called the Universal Doctor. A nobleman of Bol...

Linacre, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Linacre or Lynaker, Thomas both: lĭˈnəkər [key], 1460?–1524, English humanist and physician. He took the degree of doctor of medicine at the Univ. of Padua, returned to England c.1492, and becam...

Gilbert de la Porrée

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert de la Porrée zhēlbĕrˈ də lä pôrāˈ [key], 1076–1154, French scholastic philosopher, b. Poitiers. He taught for 20 years at Chartres, where he was for some time chancellor. He later l...

Pomponazzi, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Pomponazzi, Pietro pyĕˈtrō pōmpōnätˈtsē [key], 1462–1525, Italian philosopher, b. Mantua. He was a professor at Padua, Ferrara, and Bologna. Pomponazzi aroused great interest in intellectual...