Thomas Hobbes (5 Apr 1588 - 4 Dec 1679) was an English political philosopher, most famous for his book Leviathan (1651) and his view of a “State of Nature” to avoid as a life which would be “brutish, nasty and short”. His view of the necessity of a powerful central Government, where some may be stronger or more intelligent than others, but none are beyond fear...

The Creative Commons (CC, at CreativeCommons.org) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and share. The organization has released a number of easy to understand Creative Commons Licenses using simple graphics and labels defining or...

Metaphysics is a difficult branch of Philosophy, but it is rather easy to define: It is the study of the most fundamental concepts and beliefs about those beliefs. “Metaphysical” concepts include Being, Existence, Purpose, Universals, Property, Relation, Causality, Space, Time, Event, and many others. These concepts are fundamental,...

Baruch Benedict de Spinoza (24 Nov 1632 - 21 Feb 1677) was a Dutch philosopher from a Portuguese Jewish family, whose controversial metaphysical ideas led to cherem (or removal) against him from Jewish Society, and his works were banned by the Vatican. Despite his considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work...

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a major Greek thinker in Ancient Philosophy, a student of Plato (who was student of Socrates) and a teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle was the first to treat many of the subjects we know separately, from Metaphysics, Logic and Physics to Ethics, Poetics, Politics and more. Alongside Plato and...

Friedrich Nietzsche (15 October 1844 - 25 August 1900, and pronounced: “NeeShuh”) was a Prussian (German) philosopher whose work encompassed Poetry, cultural criticism, philosophical essays, and aphorisms. Including strong elements of Philology, irony and insult, pointed criticisms of Truth and religious pseudo-morality, and...

American Indian Philosophy is based on the tribal histories, cultures, Languages, and traditions of the early peoples of “The Americas” originating before colonization, histories which are still active today. Many key philosophical traditions developed across the very broad geographical area of the Americas, from Alaska to Patagonia,...

African Philosophy is the study of the Human Experience, Reality, and Knowledge from the traditional cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa. Modern Northern Africa by contrast is too strongly influenced by the overlapping Middle-Eastern Religions to be included here as Philosophy. In traditional African Philosophy,...

Immanuel Kant (22 Apr 1724 - 12 Feb 1804, and pronounced: “Kaunt”) was a Prussian (German) philosopher, generally regarded as the most major figure in Modern Philosophy, put alongside Plato and Aristotle from Ancient Philosophy. This makes Kant one of history's most influential thinkers. Known for his highly articulated...

Charles Sanders Peirce (10 Sep 1839 - 19 Apr 1914, and pronounced: “Purce”) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and developer of Semiotics, for which he is largely appreciated today. Peirce considered himself a logician first and foremost, and made major contributions to the development of Formal Logic, while he is still read in...

Eastern Philosophy is a diverse body of approaches to life and philosophizing, particularly centered on understanding the process of the Universe and its endless becoming. In Western Culture, the term “Eastern Philosophy” refers very broadly to the various philosophies of “the East”, namely Asia, including China, India, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and other nations. ...

Teleology (from the Greek, telos, or end, purpose) is an ancient branch of Metaphysics, which is a branch of Philosophy. The study of Design and Purpose in everything, Teleology is about “Why?”, the directive principles and finality of any Substance, Organism, or Event. This much is inherent in Science today as a basic explanation...

The Philosophy of Mind, which includes the Philosophy of Perception, is a branch of Epistemology (or “Theory of Knowledge”), which in turn is a major branch of Philosophy. The specialization of the Philosophy of Mind is the focus on the nature of Mind, Mental Events and Functions, Perception, Memory, and Consciousness,...

PseudoPhilosophy is any idea or system that masquerades itself as Philosophy while significantly failing to meet even basic intellectual standards. The term is frequently pejorative, and most applications of it are quite contentious. The term bears the same relationship to Philosophy that PseudoScience bears to Science, or Anti-Matter to Matter. PseudoPhilosophy is simply “Bullshit”, in the common vernacular. The...

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 - 14 November 1831, and pronounced: “Heygl”) was a German philosopher perhaps most remembered today for the “Master-Slave Dialectic”, though Hegel sought to undo Dualism common in Modern Philosophy. Like Immanuel Kant, Hegel developed a vast and comprehensive philosophical system, an “Absolute Idealism”, and...

Science (or “Universal Science”) is a traditional branch of Metaphysics, which is a major branch of Philosophy. This fact and truth may seem controversial, it may be anathema to some, but there it is. The entire project and purpose of Science is the forever more fundamental and rigorous pursuit of Theory, Observation, Measurement, and Tabulation of, well, everything...

GetWiki (GetWiki.net) is an interactive PHP/MariaDB collaboration software application, and the concept of “getting wiki” with interactive websites, originated by M.R.M. Parrott in 2003-2004. As the overview explains, GetWiki introduces indexing with Facets and Categories, content-driven Atom/XML Syndication, and XML import of...

The Philosophy of Science is the branch of Philosophy which deals with the study of Science (in the sense of “Natural Science”). The Philosophy of Science is closely related to many areas in Metaphysics such as Teleology, as well as Epistemology, Logic, and even Ethics. Philosophers of Science seek to explain the very nature of...

Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century is reacting to two major forces affecting its way of life. The first, a dismantling or destructive force, comes primarily from Academia, while the second, a rebuilding or constructive force, comes mainly from the diversity of voices and media through which philosophers or thinkers can now...

Modern Philosophy is Philosophy done of course during the “Modern” era of Europe, Britain, and North America. It is not a specific doctrine or school, and while it should not be confused with Modernism in Art or Modernity in History in a literal way, they are all clearly facets of the same era. Although there are certain...

Logic (λόγος in Greek, logos, “thought”) is the most fundamental of all the Sciences and a major branch of Philosophy. Logic is the primary proof and method of what supports Physics, Mathematics, and Language, leading to Arithmetic, Geometry, Set Theory, and Computation, as well as Grammar, Philology, Linguistics, and Philosophy...

What is Philosophy? This question is as “philosophical” and profound as any of the big questions philosophers ask. The diverse, cultural activity of Philosophy is the historical study of the meaning and justification of beliefs about the most general and universal aspects of all things. It is a study carried out, not only by...

Ontology is the most fundamental branch of Metaphysics, which is the most fundamental branch of Philosophy. The study of Being and Existence, as well as the basic Categories of Things in general, Ontology is really the study of Reality, and supports all of Science today. A Being...

Ethics (from the Ancient Greek ethikos, ἠθικός, or “Theory of Living”, ethos, ἦθος, or “Habit”, as well as arete, ἀρετή, “Excellence” and “Virtue”) is a major branch of Philosophy as well as Culture, and is the study of the value of Good and Morality in ourselves and society. The very concept of Ethics, sometimes specialized academically as...

There are key elements of Philosophy, Theology, Teleology and Ontology present throughout The Matrix Series. The overall story involves a critique of a society much like our own which has allowed technological controls to run amok, impinging on freedoms, but...