Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

183 results found

Khalkís

(Encyclopedia)Khalkís kălˈsĭs [key], city (1991 pop. 51,646), capital of Évvoia (Euboea) prefecture, E Greece, on the island of Évvoia. Connected to the mainland by a bridge, the city is a trade center for lo...

Zeno of Elea

(Encyclopedia)Zeno of Elea ēˈlēə [key], c.490–c.430 b.c., Greek philosopher of the Eleatic school. He undertook to support in his only known work, fragments of which are extant, the doctrine of Parmenides by ...

Maimonides

(Encyclopedia)Maimonides mīˈmən [key], 1135–1204, Jewish scholar, physician, and philosopher, the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, b. Córdoba, Spain, d. Cairo. He is sometimes called Rambam...

dualism

(Encyclopedia)dualism, any philosophical system that seeks to explain all phenomena in terms of two distinct and irreducible principles. It is opposed to monism and pluralism. In Plato's philosophy there is an ulti...

will, in philosophy and psychology

(Encyclopedia)will, in philosophy and psychology, term used to describe that which is alleged to stimulate the motivation of purposeful activity. It is characteristic of the will that it can be observed only in one...

Bonaventure, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Bonaventure or Bonaventura, Saint bŏnˌəvĕnˈchər, bōˌnävānto͞oˈrä [key], 1221–74, Italian scholastic theologian, cardinal, Doctor of the Church, called the Seraphic Doctor, b. near Viter...

Aldus Manutius

(Encyclopedia)Aldus Manutius älˈdō mäno͞oˈtsyō [key], 1450–1515, Venetian printer. He was educated as a humanistic scholar and became tutor to several of the great ducal families. One of them, the Pio fami...

sea urchin

(Encyclopedia)sea urchin, spherical-shaped echinoderm with movable spines covering the body. The body wall is a firm, globose shell, or test, made of fused skeletal plates and marked by regularly arranged tubercles...

revolution

(Encyclopedia)revolution, in a political sense, fundamental and violent change in the values, political institutions, social structure, leadership, and policies of a society. The totality of change implicit in this...

Sophists

(Encyclopedia)Sophists sŏfˈĭsts [key], originally, itinerant teachers in Greece (5th cent. b.c.) who provided education through lectures and in return received fees from their audiences. The term was given as a ...