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Pasteur, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Pasteur, Louis păstŭrˈ, Fr. lwē pästörˈ [key], 1822–95, French chemist. He taught at Dijon, Strasbourg, and Lille, and in Paris at the École normale supérieure and the Sorbonne (1867–89)....

Aristide, Jean-Bertrand

(Encyclopedia)Aristide, Jean-Bertrand zhänˈ bĕrträndˈ äˌrēstēdˈ [key], 1953–, president of Haiti (1991, 1994–96, 2001–4). A radical Catholic priest who defended liberation theology, he worked among ...

Villepin, Dominique de

(Encyclopedia)Villepin, Dominique de (Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin) dômēnēkˈ märēˈ fräNswäˈ rənāˈ gälo͞ozōˈ də vēlpănˈ [key], 1953–, French diplomat and government of...

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...

rationalism

(Encyclopedia)rationalism [Lat.,=belonging to reason], in philosophy, a theory that holds that reason alone, unaided by experience, can arrive at basic truth regarding the world. Associated with rationalism is the ...

Saint-Just, Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Just, Louis de lwēˈ də săN-zhüstˈ [key], 1767–94, French revolutionary. A member of the Convention from 1792, he became a favorite of Maximilien Robespierre and was (1793–94) a leading...

Boulez, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Boulez, Pierre pyĕr bo͞olĕzˈ [key], 1925–2016, French conductor and composer of modernist classical music. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen (1944–45) and studied twel...

Naples, kingdom of

(Encyclopedia)Naples, kingdom of, former state, occupying the Italian peninsula south of the former Papal States. It comprised roughly the present regions of Campania, Abruzzi, Molise, Basilicata, Apulia, and Calab...

Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry

(Encyclopedia)Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry (Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing) välārēˈ zhēskärˈ dĕstăNˈ [key], 1926–2020, French political leader, president of France (1974–81); b. French-oc...

metaphysics

(Encyclopedia)metaphysics mĕtəfĭzˈĭks [key], branch of philosophy concerned with the ultimate nature of existence. It perpetuates the Metaphysics of Aristotle, a collection of treatises placed after the Physic...