Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία (''philosophia''), which literally means "love of wisdom".

Branches of philosophy

The following branches are the main areas of study:

Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and body, substance and accident, events and causation. Traditional branches are cosmology and ontology.

Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible. Among its central concerns has been the challenge posed by skepticism and the relationships between truth, belief, and justification.

Ethics, or "moral philosophy", is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the question of whether this question can be answered. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical thought, such as the origins of the words good and bad, and origins of other comparative words of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such truths could be known. Normative ethics are more concerned with the questions of how one ought to act, and what the right course of action is. This is where most ethical theories are generated. Lastly, applied ethics go beyond theory and step into real world ethical practice, such as questions of whether or not abortion is correct. Ethics is also associated with the idea of morality, and the two are often interchangeable.

Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals (or families and clans) to communities including the state. It includes questions about justice, law, property, and the rights and obligations of the citizen. Politics and ethics are traditionally inter-linked subjects, as both discuss the question of what is good and how people should live.

Aesthetics deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory-emotional values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment.

Logic is the study of valid argument forms. Beginning in the late 19th century, mathematicians such as Gottlob Frege focused on a mathematical treatment of logic, and today the subject of logic has two broad divisions: mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and what is now called philosophical logic.

Philosophy has expanded to include specialized branches of thought:

Philosophy of language explores the nature, the origins, and the use of language.

Philosophy of law (more commonly called Jurisprudence) explores the varying theories explaining the nature and the interpretations of the law in society.

Philosophy of mind explores the nature of the mind, and its relationship to the body, and is typified by disputes between dualism and materialism. In recent years there has been increasing similarity between this branch of philosophy and cognitive science.

Philosophy of religion

Philosophy of science

Many academic disciplines also have philosophical foundations. These include history, logic, law, and mathematics. In addition, a range of disciplines have emerged to address areas that historically were the subjects of philosophy. These include anthropology,psychology, and physics.

History

Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each other's works.

Eastern philosophy is organized by the chronological periods of each region. Historians of western philosophy usually divide the subject into three or more periods, the most important being ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy.

Ancient philosophy

Babylonian

The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs. The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation. The Babylonian text ''Dialog of Pessimism'' contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogues of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato. The Milesian philosopher Thales is also traditionally said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia.

Ancient Chinese

Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on Chinese civilization, and East Asia as a whole. Many of the great philosophical schools were formulated during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and came to be known as the Hundred Schools of Thought, which consisted of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, Agrarianism, School of Naturalists, and the Logicians. Similarly to Western philosophy, Chinese philosophy also covers a broad and complex range of thought, possessing a multitude of schools that address every branch and subject area of philosophy.

Ancient Graeco-Roman

Ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy is a period of Western philosophy, starting in the 6th century [c. 585] BC to the 6th century AD. It is usually divided into three periods: the pre-Socratic period, the period of Plato and Aristotle, and the post-Aristotelian (or Hellenistic) period. A fourth period that is sometimes added includes the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity. The most important of the ancient philosophers (in terms of subsequent influence) are Plato and Aristotle.

The main subjects of ancient philosophy are: understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the universe; explaining it in an economical way; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it; questions about things that cannot be perceived by the senses, such as numbers, elements, universals, and gods. Socrates is said to have been the initiator of more focused study upon the human things including the analysis of patterns of reasoning and argument and the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justice, and its relation to various political systems.

In this period the crucial features of the philosophical method were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation.

Ancient Indian

The term Indian philosophy (Sanskrit: ''Darshanas''), may refer to any of several traditions of philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent, including Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, and Jain philosophy. Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying theme of Dharma, and similarly attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation. They have been formalized and promulgated chiefly between 1000 BC to a few centuries AD, with residual commentaries and reformations continuing up to as late as the 20th century by Aurobindo and ISKCON among others, who provided stylized interpretations.

In the history of the Indian subcontinent, following the establishment of a Vedic culture, the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of ''astika'', or orthodox, Indian or Hindu philosophy. These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of Hinduism, which was a development of the early Vedic religion.

Hindu philosophy constitutes an integral part of the culture of South Asia, and is the first of the Dharmic philosophies that were influential throughout the Far East. The great diversity in thought and practice of Hinduism is nurtured by its liberal universalism

Ancient Persian

Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts, with their ancient Indo-Iranian roots. These were considerably influenced by Zarathustra's teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the Macedonian, the Arab, and the Mongol invasions of Persia, a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose. These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions, extending from Old Iranian and mainly Zoroastrianism-influenced traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, such as Manicheism and Mazdakism, as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the Old Iranian philosophy, the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy. The Illumination school and the Transcendent theosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia. Zoroastrianism has been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy.

5th - 16th centuries

Europe

Medieval

Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages, roughly extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of Abrahamic religion (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) with secular learning.

The history of western European medieval philosophy is traditionally divided into two main periods: the period in the Latin West following the Early Middle Ages until the 12th century, when the works of Aristotle and Plato were preserved and cultivated; and the "golden age" of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy, and significant developments in the field of philosophy of religion, logic and metaphysics.

The medieval era was disparagingly treated by the Renaissance humanists, who saw it as a barbaric "middle" period between the classical age of Greek and Roman culture, and the "rebirth" or ''renaissance'' of classical culture. Yet this period of nearly a thousand years was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe, and possibly the richest. Jorge Gracia has argued that "in intensity, sophistication, and achievement, the philosophical flowering in the thirteenth century could be rightly said to rival the golden age of Greek philosophy in the fourth century B.C."

Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence and unity of God, the object of theology and metaphysics, the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation.

Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer and Averroes. The medieval tradition of Scholasticism continued to flourish as late as the 17th century, in figures such as Francisco Suarez and John of St. Thomas.

Aquinas, father of Thomism, was immensely influential in Catholic Europe, placed a great emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotle's metaphysical and epistemological writing. His work was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism.

Renaissance

The Renaissance ("rebirth") was a period of transition between the Middle Ages and modern thought, in which the recovery of classical texts helped shift philosophical interests away from technical studies in logic, metaphysics, and theology towards eclectic inquiries into morality, philology, and mysticism. The study of the classics and the humane arts generally, such as history and literature, enjoyed a scholarly interest hitherto unknown in Christendom, a tendency referred to as humanism. Displacing the medieval interest in metaphysics and logic, the humanists followed Petrarch in making man and his virtues the focus of philosophy.

The study of classical philosophy also developed in two new ways. On the one hand, the study of Aristotle was changed through the influence of Averroism. The disagreements between these Averroist Aristotelians, and more orthodox catholic Aristotelians such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas eventually contributed to the development of a "humanist Aristotelianism" developed in the Renaissance, as exemplified in the thought of Pietro Pomponazzi and Giacomo Zabarella. Secondly, as an alternative to Aristotle, the study of Plato and the Neoplatonists became common. This was assisted by the rediscovery of works which had not been well known previously in Western Europe. Notable Renaissance Platonists include Nicholas of Cusa, and later Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

The Renaissance also renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories of nature considered as an organic, living whole comprehensible independently of theology, as in the work of Nicholas of Cusa, Nicholas Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Telesius, and Tommaso Campanella. Such movements in natural philosophy dovetailed with a revival of interest in occultism, magic, hermeticism, and astrology, which were thought to yield hidden ways of knowing and mastering nature (e.g., in Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola).

These new movements in philosophy developed contemporaneously with larger religious and political transformations in Europe: the Reformation and the decline of feudalism. Though the theologians of the Protestant Reformation showed little direct interest in philosophy, their destruction of the traditional foundations of theological and intellectual authority harmonized with a revival of fideism and skepticism in thinkers such as Erasmus, Montaigne, and Francisco Sanches. Meanwhile, the gradual centralization of political power in nation-states was echoed by the emergence of secular political philosophies, as in the works of Niccolò Machiavelli (often described as the first modern political thinker, or a key turning point towards modern political thinking), Thomas More, Erasmus, Justus Lipsius, Jean Bodin, and Hugo Grotius.

East Asia

Mid-Imperial China

Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is primarily defined by the development of Neo-confucianism. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism from Nepal also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline. (It should be noted that philosophy and religion were clearly distinguished in the West, whilst these concepts were more continuous in the East due to, for example, the philosophical concepts of Buddhism.)

Japanese

Korean

Middle East

Islamic

17th-21st centuries

Europe

Early modern philosophy

Chronologically, the early modern era of western philosophy is usually identified with the 17th and 18th centuries, with the 18th century often being referred to as the Enlightenment. Modern philosophy is distinguished from its predecessors by its increasing independence from traditional authorities such as the Church, academia, and Aristotelianism; a new focus on the foundations of knowledge and metaphysical system-building; and the emergence of modern physics out of natural philosophy. Other central topics of philosophy in this period include the nature of the mind and its relation to the body, the implications of the new natural sciences for traditional theological topics such as free will and God, and the emergence of a secular basis for moral and political philosophy. These trends first distinctively coalesce in Francis Bacon's call for a new, empirical program for expanding knowledge, and soon found massively influential form in the mechanical physics and rationalist metaphysics of Rene Descartes. Thomas Hobbes was the first to apply this methodology systematically to political philosophy and is the originator of modern political philosophy, including the modern theory of a "social contract". The academic canon of early modern philosophy generally includes Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant, though influential contributions to philosophy were made by many thinkers in this period, such as Galileo Galilei, Pierre Gassendi, Blaise Pascal, Nicolas Malebranche, Isaac Newton, Christian Wolff, Montesquieu, Pierre Bayle, Thomas Reid, Jean d'Alembert, and Adam Smith. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a seminal figure in initiating reaction against the Enlightenment. The approximate end of the early modern period is most often identified with Immanuel Kant's systematic attempt to limit metaphysics, justify scientific knowledge, and reconcile both of these with morality and freedom.

19th-century philosophy

Later modern philosophy is usually considered to begin after the philosophy of Immanuel Kant at the beginning of the 19th century. German philosophy exercised broad influence in this century, owing in part to the dominance of the German university system. German idealists, such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, transformed the work of Kant by maintaining that the world is constituted by a rational or mind-like process, and as such is entirely knowable. Arthur Schopenhauer's identification of this world-constituting process as an irrational will to live influenced later 19th- and early 20th-century thinking, such as the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud.

After Hegel's death in 1831, 19th-century philosophy largely turned against idealism in favor of varieties of philosophical naturalism, such as the positivism of Auguste Comte, the empiricism of John Stuart Mill, and the materialism of Karl Marx. Logic began a period of its most significant advances since the inception of the discipline, as increasing mathematical precision opened entire fields of inference to formalization in the work of George Boole and Gottlob Frege. Other philosophers who initiated lines of thought that would continue to shape philosophy into the 20th century include

Gottlob Frege and Henry Sidgwick, whose work in logic and ethics, respectively, provided the tools for early analytic philosophy.

Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, who founded pragmatism.

Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, who laid the groundwork for existentialism and post-structuralism.

20th-century philosophy

Within the last century, philosophy has increasingly become a professional discipline practiced within universities, like other academic disciplines. Accordingly, it has become less general and more specialized. In the view of one prominent recent historian: "Philosophy has become a highly organized discipline, done by specialists primarily for other specialists. The number of philosophers has exploded, the volume of publication has swelled, and the subfields of serious philosophical investigation have multiplied. Not only is the broad field of philosophy today far too vast to be embraced by one mind, something similar is true even of many highly specialized subfields."

In the English-speaking world, analytic philosophy became the dominant school for much of the 20th century. In the first half of the century, it was a cohesive school, shaped strongly by logical positivism, united by the notion that philosophical problems could and should be solved by attention to logic and language. The pioneering work of Bertrand Russell was a model for the early development of analytic philosophy, moving from a rejection of the idealism dominant in late 19th century British philosophy to an neo-Humean empiricism, strengthened by the conceptual resources of modern mathematical logic. In the latter half of the 20th century, analytic philosophy diffused into a wide variety of disparate philosophical views, only loosely united by historical lines of influence and a self-identified commitment to clarity and rigor. The post-war transformation of the analytic program led in two broad directions: on one hand, an interest in ordinary language as a way of avoiding or redescribing traditional philosophical problems, and on the other, a more thoroughgoing naturalism that sought to dissolve the puzzles of modern philosophy via the results of the natural sciences (such as cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology). The shift in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, from a view congruent with logical positivism to a therapeutic dissolution of traditional philosophy as a linguistic misunderstanding of normal forms of life, was the most influential version of the first direction in analytic philosophy. The later work of Russell and the philosophy of W.V.O. Quine are influential exemplars of the naturalist approach dominant in the second half of the 20th century. But the diversity of analytic philosophy from the 1970s onward defies easy generalization: the naturalism of Quine and his epigoni was in some precincts superseded by a "new metaphysics" of possible worlds, as in the influential work of David Lewis. Recently, the experimental philosophy movement has sought to reappraise philosophical problems through social science research techniques.

On continental Europe, no single school or temperament enjoyed dominance. The flight of the logical positivists from central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, however, diminished philosophical interest in natural science, and an emphasis on the humanities, broadly construed, figures prominently in what is usually called "continental philosophy". 20th century movements such as phenomenology, existentialism, modern hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism, and poststructuralism are included within this loose category. The founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, sought to study consciousness as experienced from a first-person perspective, while Martin Heidegger drew on the ideas of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Husserl to propose an unconventional existential approach to ontology.

Etymology

The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. The ascription is said to be based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of Aristotle. It is considered to be part of the widespread body of legends of Pythagoras of this time. "Philosopher" was understood as a word which contrasted with "sophist" (from ''sophoi''). Traveling sophists or "wise men" were important in Classical Greece, often earning money as teachers, whereas philosophers are "lovers of wisdom" and not professionals.

Main theories

Realism and nominalism

''Realism'' sometimes means the position opposed to the 18th-century idealism, namely that some things have real existence outside the mind. Its standard meaning is the doctrine that abstract entities corresponding to universal terms like "man" or "table" or "red" actually exist (e.g. for Plato in a separate realm of ideas). It is opposed to nominalism, the view that abstract or universal terms are words only, or denote mental states such as ideas, beliefs, or intentions. The latter position, developed by Peter Abelard and famously held by William of Ockham, is called conceptualism.

Rationalism and empiricism

''Rationalism'' is any view emphasizing the role or importance of human reason. Extreme rationalism tries to base all knowledge on reason alone. Rationalism typically starts from premises that cannot coherently be denied, then attempts by logical steps to deduce every possible object of knowledge.

The first rationalist, in this broad sense, is often held to be Parmenides (fl. 500 BC), who argued that it is impossible to doubt that thinking actually occurs. But thinking must have an object, therefore something ''beyond'' thinking really exists. Parmenides deduced that what really exists must have certain properties—for example, that it cannot come into existence or cease to exist, that it is a coherent whole, that it remains the same eternally (in fact, exists altogether outside time). This is known as the third man argument. Zeno of Elea (born c. 495 BC) was a disciple of Parmenides, and argued that motion is impossible, since the assertion that it exists implies a contradiction (see Zeno's arrow).

Plato (427–347 BC) was also influenced by Parmenides, but combined rationalism with a form of realism. The philosopher's work is to consider being, and the essence (ousia) of things. But the characteristic of essences is that they are universal. The nature of a man, a triangle, a tree, applies to all men, all triangles, all trees. Plato argued that these essences are mind-independent "forms", that humans (but particularly philosophers) can come to know by reason, and by ignoring the distractions of sense-perception.

Modern rationalism begins with Descartes. Reflection on the nature of perceptual experience, as well as scientific discoveries in physiology and optics, led Descartes (and also Locke) to the view that we are directly aware of ideas, rather than objects. This view gave rise to three questions:

# Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents? Sensation is not a direct interaction between bodily objects and our sense, but is a physiological process involving representation (for example, an image on the retina). Locke thought that a "secondary quality" such as a sensation of green could in no way resemble the arrangement of particles in matter that go to produce this sensation, although he thought that "primary qualities" such as shape, size, number, were really in objects. # How can physical objects such as chairs and tables, or even physiological processes in the brain, give rise to mental items such as ideas? This is part of what became known as the mind-body problem. # If all the contents of awareness are ideas, how can we know that anything exists apart from ideas?

Descartes tried to address the last problem by reason. He began, echoing Parmenides, with a principle that he thought could not coherently be denied: I ''think'', therefore I ''am'' (often given in his original Latin: ''Cogito ergo sum''). From this principle, Descartes went on to construct a complete system of knowledge (which involves proving the existence of God, using, among other means, a version of the ontological argument). His view that reason alone could yield substantial truths about reality strongly influenced those philosophers usually considered modern rationalists (such as Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Christian Wolff), while provoking criticism from other philosophers who have retrospectively come to be grouped together as empiricists.

Empiricism, in contrast to rationalism, downplays or dismisses the ability of reason alone to yield knowledge of the world, preferring to base any knowledge we have on our senses. This dates back to the concept of ''tabula rasa'' (unscribed tablet) implicit in Aristotle's ''On the Soul'', described more explicitly in Avicenna's ''The Book of Healing'', and demonstrated in Ibn Tufail's ''Hayy ibn Yaqdhan'' as a thought experiment. Modern empiricism was notably expounded by Francis Bacon, John Locke in ''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'' in 1689, and David Hume.

During this era, religious ideas played a mixed role in the struggles that preoccupied secular philosophy. Bishop Berkeley's famous idealist refutation of key tenets of Isaac Newton is a case of an Enlightenment philosopher who drew substantially from religious ideas. Other influential religious thinkers of the time include Blaise Pascal, Joseph Butler, Thomas Reid, and Jonathan Edwards. Other major writers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Edmund Burke, took a rather different path.

Skepticism

''Skepticism'' is a philosophical attitude that, in its most extreme form, questions the possibility of obtaining ''any'' sort of knowledge. It was first articulated by Pyrrho, who believed that everything could be doubted except ''appearances''. Sextus Empiricus (2nd century AD), skepticism's most prominent advocate, describes it as an

"ability to place in antithesis, in any manner whatever, appearances and judgments, and thus ... to come first of all to a suspension of judgment and then to mental tranquility."

Skepticism so conceived is not merely the use of doubt, but is the use of doubt for a particular end: a calmness of the soul, or ''ataraxia''. Skepticism poses itself as a challenge to dogmatism, whose adherents think they have found the truth.

Sextus noted that the reliability of perception may always be questioned, because it is idiosyncratic to the perceiver. The appearance of individual things changes depending on whether they are in a group: for example, the shavings of a goat's horn are white when taken alone, yet the intact horn is black. A pencil, when viewed lengthwise, looks like a stick; but when examined at the tip, it looks merely like a circle.

Skepticism was revived in the early modern period by Michel de Montaigne and Blaise Pascal. Its most extreme exponent, however, was David Hume. Hume argued that there are only two kinds of reasoning: what he called ''probable'' and ''demonstrative'' (cf. Hume's fork). Neither of these two forms of reasoning can lead us to a reasonable belief in the continued existence of an external world. Demonstrative reasoning cannot do this, because demonstration (that is, deductive reasoning from well-founded premises) alone cannot establish the uniformity of nature (as captured by scientific laws and principles, for example). Such reason alone cannot establish that the future will resemble the past. We have certain beliefs about the world (that the sun will rise tomorrow, for example), but these beliefs are the product of habit and custom, and do not depend on any sort of logical inferences from what is already given ''certain''. But ''probable'' reasoning (inductive reasoning), which aims to take us from the observed to the unobserved, cannot do this either: it ''also'' depends on the uniformity of nature, and this supposed uniformity cannot be proved, without circularity, by any appeal to uniformity. The best that either sort of reasoning can accomplish is conditional truth: ''if'' certain assumptions are true, ''then'' certain conclusions follow. So nothing about the world can be established with certainty. Hume concludes that there is no solution to the skeptical argument—except, in effect, to ignore it.

Even if these matters were resolved in every case, we would have in turn to justify our standard of justification, leading to an infinite regress (hence the term ''regress skepticism'').

Many philosophers have questioned the value of such skeptical arguments. The question of whether we can achieve knowledge of the external world is based on how high a standard we set for the justification of such knowledge. If our standard is absolute certainty, then we cannot progress beyond the existence of mental sensations. We cannot even deduce the existence of a coherent or continuing "I" that experiences these sensations, much less the existence of an external world. On the other hand, if our standard is too low, then we admit follies and illusions into our body of knowledge. This argument against absolute skepticism asserts that the practical philosopher must move beyond solipsism, and accept a standard for knowledge that is high but not absolute.

Idealism

Idealism is the epistemological doctrine that nothing can be directly known outside of the minds of thinking beings. Or in an alternative stronger form, it is the metaphysical doctrine that nothing exists apart from minds and the "contents" of minds. In modern Western philosophy, the epistemological doctrine begins as a core tenet of Descartes—that what is in the mind is known more reliably than what is known through the senses. The first prominent modern Western idealist in the metaphysical sense was George Berkeley. Berkeley argued that there is no deep distinction between mental states, such as feeling pain, and the ideas about so-called "external" things, that appear to us through the senses. There is no real distinction, in this view, between certain sensations of heat and light that we experience, which lead us to believe in the external existence of a fire, and the fire itself. Those sensations are all there is to fire. Berkeley expressed this with the Latin formula ''esse est percipi'': "to be is to be perceived". In this view the opinion, "strangely prevailing upon men", that houses, mountains, and rivers have an existence independent of their perception by a thinking being is false.

Forms of idealism were prevalent in philosophy from the 18th century to the early 20th century. Transcendental idealism, advocated by Immanuel Kant, is the view that there are limits on what can be understood, since there is much that cannot be brought under the conditions of objective judgment. Kant wrote his ''Critique of Pure Reason'' (1781–1787) in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting approaches of rationalism and empiricism, and to establish a new groundwork for studying metaphysics. Kant's intention with this work was to look at what we know and then consider what must be true about it, as a logical consequence of the ''way'' we know it. One major theme was that there are fundamental features of reality that escape our direct knowledge because of the natural limits of the human faculties. Although Kant held that objective knowledge of the world required the mind to impose a conceptual or categorical framework on the stream of pure sensory data—a framework including space and time themselves—he maintained that ''things-in-themselves'' existed independently of our perceptions and judgments; he was therefore not an idealist in any simple sense. Indeed, Kant's account of ''things-in-themselves'' is both controversial and highly complex. Continuing his work, Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling dispensed with belief in the independent existence of the world, and created a thoroughgoing idealist philosophy.

The most notable work of this German idealism was G. W. F. Hegel's ''Phenomenology of Spirit'', of 1807. Hegel admitted his ideas were not new, but that all the previous philosophies had been incomplete. His goal was to correctly finish their job. Hegel asserts that the twin aims of philosophy are to account for the contradictions apparent in human experience (which arise, for instance, out of the supposed contradictions between "being" and "not being"), and also simultaneously to resolve and preserve these contradictions by showing their compatibility at a higher level of examination ("being" and "not being" are resolved with "becoming"). This program of acceptance and reconciliation of contradictions is known as the "Hegelian dialectic". Philosophers in the Hegelian tradition include Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach, who coined the term projection as pertaining to our inability to recognize anything in the external world without projecting qualities of ourselves upon those things; Karl Marx; Friedrich Engels; and the British idealists, notably T. H. Green, J. M. E. McTaggart and F. H. Bradley.

Few 20th century philosophers have embraced idealism. However, quite a few have embraced Hegelian dialectic. Immanuel Kant's "Copernican Turn" also remains an important philosophical concept today.

Pragmatism

Pragmatism was founded in the spirit of finding a scientific concept of truth that does not depend on personal insight (revelation) or reference to some metaphysical realm. The truth of a statement should be judged by the effect it has on our actions, and truth should be seen as what the whole of scientific enquiry ultimately agrees on. This should probably be seen as a guiding principle more than a definition of what it means for something to be true, though the details of how this principle should be interpreted have been subject to discussion since Charles S. Peirce first conceived it. Peirce's maxim of pragmatism is as follows: "Consider what effects, which might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conceptions of the object." Like postmodern neo-pragmatist Richard Rorty, many are convinced that pragmatism asserts that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality, but in their usefulness and efficacy.

The late 19th-century American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce and William James were its co-founders, and it was later developed by John Dewey as instrumentalism. Since the usefulness of any belief at any time might be contingent on circumstance, Peirce and James conceptualised final truth as something only established by the future, final settlement of all opinion. Critics have accused pragmatism of falling victim to a simple fallacy: because something that is true proves useful, that usefulness is the basis for its truth. Thinkers in the pragmatist tradition have included John Dewey, George Santayana, W. V. O. Quine and C. I. Lewis. Pragmatism has more recently been taken in new directions by Richard Rorty, John Lachs, Donald Davidson, Susan Haack, and Hilary Putnam.

Phenomenology

Edmund Husserl's phenomenology was an ambitious attempt to lay the foundations for an account of the structure of conscious experience in general. An important part of Husserl's phenomenological project was to show that all conscious acts are directed at or about objective content, a feature that Husserl called ''intentionality''.

In the first part of his two-volume work, the ''Logical Investigations'' (1901), he launched an extended attack on psychologism. In the second part, he began to develop the technique of ''descriptive phenomenology'', with the aim of showing how objective judgments are indeed grounded in conscious experience—not, however, in the first-person experience of particular individuals, but in the properties essential to any experiences of the kind in question.

He also attempted to identify the essential properties of any act of meaning. He developed the method further in ''Ideas'' (1913) as ''transcendental phenomenology'', proposing to ground actual experience, and thus all fields of human knowledge, in the structure of consciousness of an ideal, or transcendental, ego. Later, he attempted to reconcile his transcendental standpoint with an acknowledgement of the intersubjective life-world in which real individual subjects interact. Husserl published only a few works in his lifetime, which treat phenomenology mainly in abstract methodological terms; but he left an enormous quantity of unpublished concrete analyses.

Husserl's work was immediately influential in Germany, with the foundation of phenomenological schools in Munich and Göttingen. Phenomenology later achieved international fame through the work of such philosophers as Martin Heidegger (formerly Husserl's research assistant), Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Indeed, through the work of Heidegger and Sartre, Husserl's focus on subjective experience influenced aspects of existentialism.

Existentialism

Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophy, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.

Although they did not use the term, the 19th-century philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are widely regarded as the fathers of existentialism. Their influence, however, has extended beyond existentialist thought.

The main target of Kierkegaard's writings was the idealist philosophical system of Hegel which, he thought, ignored or excluded the inner subjective life of living human beings. Kierkegaard, conversely, held that "truth is subjectivity", arguing that what is most important to an actual human being are questions dealing with an individual's inner relationship to existence. In particular, Kierkegaard, a Christian, believed that the truth of religious faith was a subjective question, and one to be wrestled with passionately.

Although Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were among his influences, the extent to which the German philosopher Martin Heidegger should be considered an existentialist is debatable. In ''Being and Time'' he presented a method of rooting philosophical explanations in human existence (''Dasein'') to be analysed in terms of existential categories (''existentiale''); and this has led many commentators to treat him as an important figure in the existentialist movement. However, in ''The Letter on Humanism'', Heidegger explicitly rejected the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre.

Sartre became the best-known proponent of existentialism, exploring it not only in theoretical works such as ''Being and Nothingness'', but also in plays and novels. Sartre, along with Simone de Beauvoir, represented an avowedly atheistic branch of existentialism, which is now more closely associated with their ideas of nausea, contingency, bad faith, and the absurd than with Kierkegaard's spiritual angst. Nevertheless, the focus on the individual human being, responsible before the universe for the authenticity of his or her existence, is common to all these thinkers.

Structuralism and post-structuralism

Inaugurated by the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, structuralism sought to clarify systems of signs through analyzing the discourses they both limit and make possible. Saussure conceived of the sign as being delimited by all the other signs in the system, and ideas as being incapable of existence prior to linguistic structure, which articulates thought. This led continental thought away from humanism, and toward what was termed the decentering of man: language is no longer spoken by man to express a true inner self, but language speaks man.

Structuralism sought the province of a hard science, but its positivism soon came under fire by poststructuralism, a wide field of thinkers, some of whom were once themselves structuralists, but later came to criticize it. Structuralists believed they could analyze systems from an external, objective standing, for example, but the poststructuralists argued that this is incorrect, that one cannot transcend structures and thus analysis is itself determined by what it examines, while the distinction between the signifier and signified was treated as crystalline by structuralists, poststructuralists asserted that every attempt to grasp the signified results in more signifiers, so meaning is always in a state of being deferred, making an ultimate interpretation impossible.

Structuralism came to dominate continental philosophy throughout the 1960s and early '70s, encompassing thinkers as diverse as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes and Jacques Lacan. Post-structuralism came to predominate over the 1970s onwards, including thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and even Roland Barthes; it incorporated a critique of structuralism's limitations.

The analytic tradition

The term ''analytic philosophy'' roughly designates a group of philosophical methods that stress detailed argumentation, attention to semantics, use of classical logic and non-classical logics and clarity of meaning above all other criteria. Some have held that philosophical problems arise through misuse of language or because of misunderstandings of the logic of our language, while some maintain that there are genuine philosophical problems and that philosophy is continuous with science. Michael Dummett in his ''Origins of Analytical Philosophy'' makes the case for counting Gottlob Frege's ''The Foundations of Arithmetic'' as the first analytic work, on the grounds that in that book Frege took the linguistic turn, analyzing philosophical problems through language. Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore are also often counted as founders of analytic philosophy, beginning with their rejection of British idealism, their defense of realism and the emphasis they laid on the legitimacy of analysis. Russell's classic works ''The Principles of Mathematics'', ''On Denoting'' and ''Principia Mathematica'' with Alfred North Whitehead, aside from greatly promoting the use of mathematical logic in philosophy, set the ground for much of the research program in the early stages of the analytic tradition, emphasizing such problems as: the reference of proper names, whether 'existence' is a property, the nature of propositions, the analysis of definite descriptions, the discussions on the foundations of mathematics; as well as exploring issues of ontological commitment and even metaphysical problems regarding time, the nature of matter, mind, persistence and change, which Russell tackled often with the aid of mathematical logic. Russell and Moore's philosophy, in the beginning of the 20th century, developed as a critique of Hegel and his British followers in particular, and of grand systems of speculative philosophy in general, though by no means all analytic philosophers reject the philosophy of Hegel (see Charles Taylor) nor speculative philosophy. Some schools in the group include logical positivism, and ordinary language both markedly influenced by Russell and Wittgenstein's development of Logical Atomism the former positively and the latter negatively.

In 1921, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who studied under Russell at Cambridge, published his ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'', which gave a rigidly "logical" account of linguistic and philosophical issues. At the time, he understood most of the problems of philosophy as mere puzzles of language, which could be solved by investigating and then minding the logical structure of language. Years later, he reversed a number of the positions he set out in the ''Tractatus'', in for example his second major work, ''Philosophical Investigations'' (1953). ''Investigations'' was influential in the development of "ordinary language philosophy," which was promoted by Gilbert Ryle, J.L. Austin, and a few others. In the United States, meanwhile, the philosophy of W.V.O. Quine was having a major influence, with such classics as Two Dogmas of Empiricism. In that paper Quine criticizes the distinction between analytic and synthetic statements, arguing that a clear conception of analyticity is unattainable. He argued for holism, the thesis that language, including scientific language, is a set of interconnected sentences, none of which can be verified on its own, rather, the sentences in the language depend on each other for their meaning and truth conditions. A consequence of Quine's approach is that language as a whole has only a thin relation to experience. Some sentences that refer directly to experience might be modified by sense impressions, but as the whole of language is theory-laden, for the whole language to be modified, more than this is required. However, most of the linguistic structure can in principle be revised, even logic, in order to better model the world. Notable students of Quine include Donald Davidson and Daniel Dennett. The former devised a program for giving a semantics to natural language and thereby answer the philosophical conundrum "what is meaning?". A crucial part of the program was the use of Alfred Tarski's semantic theory of truth. Dummett, among others, argued that truth conditions should be dispensed within the theory of meaning, and replaced by assertibility conditions. Some propositions, on this view, are neither true nor false, and thus such a theory of meaning entails a rejection of the law of the excluded middle. This, for Dummett, entails antirealism, as Russell himself pointed out in his ''An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth''.

By the 1970s there was a renewed interest in many traditional philosophical problems by the younger generations of analytic philosophers. David Lewis, Saul Kripke, Derek Parfit and others took an interest in traditional metaphysical problems, which they began exploring by the use of logic and philosophy of language. Among those problems some distinguished ones were: free will, essentialism, the nature of personal identity, identity over time, the nature of the mind, the nature of causal laws, space-time, the properties of material beings, modality, etc. In those universities where analytic philosophy has spread, these problems are still being discussed passionately. Analytic philosophers are also interested in the methodology of analytic philosophy itself, with Timothy Williamson, Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford, publishing recently a book entitled ''The Philosophy of Philosophy''. Some influential figures in contemporary analytic philosophy are: Timothy Williamson, David Lewis, John Searle, Thomas Nagel, Hilary Putnam, Michael Dummett, Peter van Inwagen and Saul Kripke. Analytic philosophy has sometimes been accused of not contributing to the political debate or to traditional questions in aesthetics. However, with the appearance of ''A Theory of Justice'' by John Rawls and ''Anarchy, State and Utopia'' by Robert Nozick, analytic political philosophy acquired respectability. Analytic philosophers have also shown depth in their investigations of aesthetics, with Roger Scruton, Nelson Goodman, Arthur Danto and others developing the subject to its current shape.

Moral and political philosophy

Human nature and political legitimacy

From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In ''The Republic'', Plato presented the argument that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since those best at philosophy are best able to realize the good. Even Plato, however, required philosophers to make their way in the world for many years before beginning their rule at the age of fifty. For Aristotle, humans are political animals (i.e. social animals), and governments are set up to pursue good for the community. Aristotle reasoned that, since the state (''polis'') was the highest form of community, it has the purpose of pursuing the highest good. Aristotle viewed political power as the result of natural inequalities in skill and virtue. Because of these differences, he favored an aristocracy of the able and virtuous. For Aristotle, the person cannot be complete unless he or she lives in a community. His ''The Nicomachean Ethics'' and ''The Politics'' are meant to be read in that order. The first book addresses virtues (or "excellences") in the person as a citizen; the second addresses the proper form of government to ensure that citizens will be virtuous, and therefore complete. Both books deal with the essential role of justice in civic life.

Nicolas of Cusa rekindled Platonic thought in the early 15th century. He promoted democracy in Medieval Europe, both in his writings and in his organization of the Council of Florence. Unlike Aristotle and the Hobbesian tradition to follow, Cusa saw human beings as equal and divine (that is, made in God's image), so democracy would be the only just form of government. Cusa's views are credited by some as sparking the Italian Renaissance, which gave rise to the notion of "Nation-States".

Later, Niccolò Machiavelli rejected the views of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as unrealistic. The ideal sovereign is not the embodiment of the moral virtues; rather the sovereign does whatever is successful and necessary, rather than what is morally praiseworthy. Thomas Hobbes also contested many elements of Aristotle's views. For Hobbes, human nature is essentially anti-social: people are essentially egoistic, and this egoism makes life difficult in the natural state of things. Moreover, Hobbes argued, though people may have natural inequalities, these are trivial, since no particular talents or virtues that people may have will make them safe from harm inflicted by others. For these reasons, Hobbes concluded that the state arises from a common agreement to raise the community out of the state of nature. This can only be done by the establishment of a sovereign, in which (or whom) is vested complete control over the community, and is able to inspire awe and terror in its subjects.

Many in the Enlightenment were unsatisfied with existing doctrines in political philosophy, which seemed to marginalize or neglect the possibility of a democratic state. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was among those who attempted to overturn these doctrines: he responded to Hobbes by claiming that a human is by nature a kind of "noble savage", and that society and social contracts corrupt this nature. Another critic was John Locke. In ''Second Treatise on Government'' he agreed with Hobbes that the nation-state was an efficient tool for raising humanity out of a deplorable state, but he argued that the sovereign might become an abominable institution compared to the relatively benign unmodulated state of nature.

Following the doctrine of the fact-value distinction, due in part to the influence of David Hume and his student Adam Smith, appeals to human nature for political justification were weakened. Nevertheless, many political philosophers, especially moral realists, still make use of some essential human nature as a basis for their arguments.

Marxism is derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Their idea that capitalism is based on exploitation of workers and causes alienation of people from their human nature, the historical materialism, their view of social classes, etc., have influenced many fields of study, such as sociology, economics, and politics. Marxism inspired the Marxist school of communism, which brought a huge impact on the history of the 20th century.

Consequentialism, deontology, and the aretaic turn

One debate that has commanded the attention of ethicists in the modern era has been between consequentialism (actions are to be morally evaluated solely by their ''consequences'') and deontology (actions are to be morally evaluated solely by consideration of agents' ''duties'', the ''rights'' of those whom the action concerns, or both).

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are famous for propagating utilitarianism, which is the idea that the fundamental moral rule is to strive toward the "greatest happiness for the greatest number". However, in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader doctrine of consequentialism.

Adopting a position opposed to consequentialism, Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason. Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake, since it denies the necessity of practical maxims in governing the working of the will. According to Kant, reason requires that we conform our actions to the categorical imperative, which is an absolute duty. An important 20th-century deontologist, W.D. Ross, argued for weaker forms of duties called ''prima facie'' duties.

More recent works have emphasized the role of character in ethics, a movement known as the ''aretaic turn'' (that is, the ''turn towards virtues''). One strain of this movement followed the work of Bernard Williams. Williams noted that rigid forms of consequentialism and deontology demanded that people behave impartially. This, Williams argued, requires that people abandon their personal projects, and hence their personal integrity, in order to be considered moral.

G.E.M. Anscombe, in an influential paper, "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), revived virtue ethics as an alternative to what was seen as the entrenched positions of Kantianism and consequentialism. Aretaic perspectives have been inspired in part by research of ancient conceptions of virtue. For example, Aristotle's ethics demands that people follow the ''Aristotelian mean'', or balance between two vices; and Confucian ethics argues that virtue consists largely in striving for harmony with other people. Virtue ethics in general has since gained many adherents, and has been defended by such philosophers as Philippa Foot, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Rosalind Hursthouse.

Applied philosophy

The ideas conceived by a society have profound repercussions on what actions the society performs. The applied study of philosophy yields applications such as those in ethics—applied ethics in particular—and political philosophy. The political and economic philosophies of Confucius, Sun Zi, Chanakya, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Taimiyyah, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gottfried Leibniz, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and others—all of these have been used to shape and justify governments and their actions.

In the field of philosophy of education, progressive education as championed by John Dewey has had a profound impact on educational practices in the United States in the 20th century. Descendants of this movement include the current efforts in philosophy for children, which are part of philosophy education. Carl von Clausewitz's political philosophy of war has had a profound effect on statecraft, international politics, and military strategy in the 20th century, especially in the years around World War II. Logic has become crucially important in mathematics, linguistics, psychology, computer science, and computer engineering.

Other important applications can be found in epistemology, which aid in understanding the requisites for knowledge, sound evidence, and justified belief (important in law, economics, decision theory, and a number of other disciplines). The philosophy of science discusses the underpinnings of the scientific method and has affected the nature of scientific investigation and argumentation. As such, philosophy has fundamental implications for science as a whole. For example, the strictly empirical approach of Skinner's behaviorism affected for decades the approach of the American psychological establishment. Deep ecology and animal rights examine the moral situation of humans as occupants of a world that has non-human occupants to consider also. Aesthetics can help to interpret discussions of music, literature, the plastic arts, and the whole artistic dimension of life. In general, the various philosophies strive to provide practical activities with a deeper understanding of the theoretical or conceptual underpinnings of their fields.

Often philosophy is seen as an investigation into an area not sufficiently well understood to be its own branch of knowledge. What were once philosophical pursuits have evolved into the modern day fields such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics, for example.

''The New York Times'' reported an increase in philosophy majors at United States universities in 2008.

See also

Lists of philosophers

List of philosophy journals

Philosophy and economics

Social theory

Unsolved problems in philosophy

References

Further reading

Introductions

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. ''Thinking it Through  – An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy'', 2003, ISBN 0-19-513458-3

Blumenau, Ralph. ''Philosophy and Living''. ISBN 0-907845-33-9

Craig, Edward. ''Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction''. ISBN 0-19-285421-6

Curley, Edwin, ''A Spinoza Reader'', Princeton, 1994, ISBN 0-691-00067-0

Durant, Will, ''Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers'', Pocket, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73916-6, ISBN 978-0-671-73916-4

Harrison-Barbet, Anthony, ''Mastering Philosophy''. ISBN 0-333-69343-4

Higgins, Kathleen M. and Solomon, Robert C. ''A Short History of Philosophy''. ISBN 0-19-510196-0

Philosophy Now magazine

Russell, Bertrand. ''The Problems of Philosophy''. ISBN 0-19-511552-X

Sinclair, Alistair J. ''What is Philosophy? An Introduction'', 2008, ISBN 978-1-903765-94-4

Sober, E. (2001). ''Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings''. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-189869-8

Solomon, Robert C. ''Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy''. ISBN 0-534-16708-X

Warburton, Nigel. ''Philosophy: The Basics''. ISBN 0-415-14694-1

Think: philosophy for everyone Lively and accessible articles written by philosophers pre-eminent in their fields, for a broad audience. Free articles are available online.

Topical introductions

Copleston, Frederick. ''Philosophy in Russia: From Herzen to Lenin and Berdyaev''. ISBN 0-268-01569-4

Critchley, Simon. ''Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction''. ISBN 0-19-285359-7

Hamilton, Sue. ''Indian Philosophy: a Very Short Introduction''. ISBN 0-19-285374-0

Harwood, Sterling, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000); www.sterlingharwood.com

Imbo, Samuel Oluoch. '3'An Introduction to African Philosophy''. ISBN 0-8476-8841-0

Knight, Kelvin. ''Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre''. ISBN 0-7456-1977-0

Kupperman, Joel J. ''Classic Asian Philosophy: A Guide to the Essential Texts''. ISBN 0-19-513335-8

Leaman, Oliver. ''A Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy''. ISBN 0-7456-1960-6

Lee, Joe and Powell, Jim. ''Eastern Philosophy For Beginners''. ISBN 0-86316-282-7

Nagel, Thomas. ''What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy''. ISBN 0-19-505292-7

Scruton, Roger. ''A Short History of Modern Philosophy''. ISBN 0-415-26763-3

Smart, Ninian. ''World Philosophies''. ISBN 0-415-22852-2

Tarnas, Richard. ''The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View''. ISBN 0-345-36809-6

Anthologies

''Classics of Philosophy (Vols. 1 & 2, 2nd edition)'' by Louis P. Pojman

''Classics of Philosophy: The 20th Century (Vol. 3)'' by Louis P. Pojman

''The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill'' by Edwin Arthur

''European Philosophers from Descartes to Nietzsche'' by Monroe Beardsley

''Contemporary Analytic Philosophy: Core Readings'' by James Baillie

''Existentialism: Basic Writings (Second Edition)'' by Charles Guignon, Derk Pereboom

''The Phenomenology Reader'' by Dermot Moran, Timothy Mooney

''Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings'' edited by Muhammad Ali Khalidi

''A Source Book in Indian Philosophy'' by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles A. Moore

''A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy'' by Wing-tsit Chan

Kim, J. and Ernest Sosa, Ed. (1999). ''Metaphysics: An Anthology''. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

''The Oxford Handbook of Free Will'' (2004) edited by Robert Kane

Husserl, Edmund and Donn Welton (1999). ''The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology'', Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21273-1

Cottingham, John. Western Philosophy: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. Print. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies.

Reference works

''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'' edited by Ted Honderich

''The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy'' by Robert Audi

''The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (10 vols.) edited by Edward Craig, Luciano Floridi (available online by subscription); or

''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' edited by Edward Craig (an abridgement)

''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (8 vols.) edited by Paul Edwards; in 1996, a ninth supplemental volume appeared that updated the classic 1967 encyclopedia.

''International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers''. Charlottesville, Philosophy Documentation Center.

''Directory of American Philosophers''. Charlottesville, Philosophy Documentation Center.

''Routledge History of Philosophy'' (10 vols.) edited by John Marenbon

''History of Philosophy'' (9 vols.) by Frederick Copleston

''A History of Western Philosophy'' (5 vols.) by W. T. Jones

''History of Italian Philosophy'' (2 vols.) by Eugenio Garin. Translated from Italian and Edited by Giorgio Pinton. Introduction by Leon Pompa.

''Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies'' (8 vols.), edited by Karl H. Potter et al. (first 6 volumes out of print)

''Indian Philosophy'' (2 vols.) by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

''A History of Indian Philosophy'' (5 vols.) by Surendranath Dasgupta

''History of Chinese Philosophy'' (2 vols.) by Fung Yu-lan, Derk Bodde

''Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy'' edited by Antonio S. Cua

''Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion'' by Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Kurt Friedrichs

''Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy'' by Brian Carr, Indira Mahalingam

''A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English'' by John A. Grimes

''History of Islamic Philosophy'' edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman

''History of Jewish Philosophy'' edited by Daniel H. Frank, Oliver Leaman

''A History of Russian Philosophy: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Centuries'' by Valerii Aleksandrovich Kuvakin

Ayer, A.J. et al., Ed. (1994) ''A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations''. Blackwell Reference Oxford. Oxford, Basil Blackwell Ltd.

Blackburn, S., Ed. (1996)''The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy''. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Mauter, T., Ed. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy''. London, Penguin Books.

Runes, D., Ed. (1942). ''The Dictionary of Philosophy''. New York, The Philosophical Library, Inc.

Angeles, P.A., Ed. (1992). ''The Harper Collins Dictionary of Philosophy''. New York, Harper Perennial.

Bunnin, N. et al., Ed. (1996) ''The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy''. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Hoffman, Eric, Ed. (1997) ''Guidebook for Publishing Philosophy''. Charlottesville, Philosophy Documentation Center.

Popkin, R.H. (1999). ''The Columbia History of Western Philosophy''. New York, Columbia University Press.

External links

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Philosophy Timeline

Map of Western Philosophers

Philosophy Forums

Philosophy Magazines and Journals

Philosophy (review)

Philosophy OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame

Philosophy Library

Philosophy Discussion Group

Philosophy Documentation Center

Popular Philosophy

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Name	Kyle D. Johnson
Currentteam	Free Agent
Currentpositionplain	Fullback
Birth date	December 15, 1978
Birth place	Wheaton, Illinois
Heightft	6
Heightin	0
Weight	242
Debutyear	2004
Debutteam	Denver Broncos
Highlights	3x Academic All-Big East (1999-2001)
College	Syracuse
Draftyear	2002
Draftround	5
Draftpick	10
Pastteams	Carolina Panthers (2002)* New York Giants (2002)* Detroit Lions (2002)* Denver Broncos (2002-2007) :*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Nfl	JOH039696 }}

:''For others of the same name, see Kyle Johnson (disambiguation).'' Albert Kyle Johnson (born December 15, 1978 in Wheaton, Illinois) is an American football fullback who is currently a free agent. He was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Syracuse.

High school career

As a senior at Woodbridge High School in Woodbridge NJ, Johnson won second team All-State recognition, All-County honors, and All-Area honors.

College career

Johnson played collegiately for Syracuse. However, an ankle injury ended his season in the opener but still had 20 touchdowns; he was subsequently granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Kyle was drafted by the Carolina Panthers as the 10th pick in the 5th round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He was cut by the team after training camp and spent time on the New York Giants and Detroit Lions' practice squads.

He was signed by Denver to their active roster in late 2002, but was inactive for the remainder of the season and spent the next year being shuffled between the active roster and the practice squad. He began 2004 with the Broncos as a backup and special teams player; however, injuries led to starting fullback Reuben Droughns being moved to tailback, leaving the fullback spot to Johnson. However, after three starts, he suffered a season-ending injury to his right ankle.

On September 1, 2007, Johnson was cut from the Denver Broncos. He resigned with the Broncos on November 22, 2007 when guard Isaac Snell was cut to make room for Johnson due to the injuries of Travis Henry, Selvin Young and Paul Smith. He was cut again on November 27, 2007.

External links

Denver Broncos bio

References

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Middlesex County, New Jersey Category:American football fullbacks Category:Syracuse Orange football players Category:Carolina Panthers players Category:New York Giants players Category:Detroit Lions players Category:Denver Broncos players

name	Ernest R. Emerson
birth date	March 07, 1955
birth place	Northern Wisconsin, U.S.
alma mater	University of Wisconsin-Madison
occupation	Knifemaker, Martial artist, CEO
spouse	Mary Emerson }}

Ernest R. Emerson (born March 7, 1955) is an American custom knifemaker, martial artist, and edged-weapons expert. Originally an engineer and machinist in the aerospace industry, Emerson became a knifemaker known for making decorative knives but later became better known for his combat knives, eventually founding a production company to mass-produce his designs, and popularizing a style of knife known as the Tactical-folder. Emerson's knives have been displayed as museum pieces, designed for use by Navy SEALs, and used by NASA in outer space. Emerson's knives have been featured in films and novels, furthering their popularity with collectors.

Emerson is an accomplished martial artist who has developed a combatives system, Emerson Combat Systems, which has been taught to police officers, elite military units, and civilians.

Background

Ernest Emerson was born on March 7, 1955 in a log cabin built by his grandfather in northern Wisconsin, and was raised in a family of farmers, craftsmen, and teachers. While attending high school he displayed great ability as an athlete, specifically as a wrestler and baseball player, being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals to play professional baseball at the age of 17 in the Midwest League.

Emerson began his training in martial arts at the age of 16 with the Korean version of Judo known as Yudo, traveling from Wisconsin to Minnesota twice a week to attend school. He continued his study of the martial arts while attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he earned a brown belt in Kyokushinkai Karate and a black belt in Shotokan Karate while competing on the university's karate team. After graduating with degrees in physical education and world history, Emerson moved to Southern California for the sole purpose of continuing his martial arts training at the Filipino Kali Academy.^a There he studied Jun Fan Gung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, and Eskrima under the tutelage of Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo (both protégés of the late Bruce Lee).^a According to Emerson, he could barely afford the US$12.50 monthly dues, and performed maintenance and janitorial duties in exchange for instruction.^b Emerson subsequently trained in Gracie Jiu Jitsu for three years at the original Gracie Academy in Torrance, California, under the founders of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu system, Rorion and Royce Gracie. Eventually, Emerson became an instructor in his own right and combined the principles of all these systems. It was also in Southern California where he met his wife, Mary, who at the time was one of the world's top female practitioners of Jujutsu. During this time, Emerson worked as a technician, a machine operator, and eventually a design engineer for Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo.

Early knifemaking

Although Emerson credits his grandfather's gift of a Barlow knife to him at the age of eight years with starting his interest in knives, it was not until later in life that he turned to making them. The summer of 1978 found Emerson in need of a balisong knife for his study of a Filipino martial art and, unable to afford one on his salary, Emerson decided he would attempt to make his own instead. He milled and drilled the handles from aluminum stock; the knife's blade was a simple steel blank that he hand cut with a hacksaw, shaped with files, and heat treated at his dining room table with a butane torch.

When he started classes with this "homemade" knife, his instructors and fellow students were impressed with his handiwork and asked him to make knives for them.^c Emerson did so and sold these early butterfly knives for just the cost of materials, but he soon raised the price to $50 each, as demand for his knives increased. Emerson went on to make fixed-blade knives on a part-time basis, but upon seeing a Michael Walker handmade folding knife at a gun show, he was so impressed by the quality and design that he decided he was going to make folding pocketknives from that point on.^d Emerson contacted Walker and obtained his permission to use the Walker Linerlock mechanism on his own knives.

Pre-tactical models

Emerson's early folding knives were of the linerlock variety, ground by the stock removal method, and utilized rare materials from the aerospace industry, including titanium, carbon fiber, micarta, and meteorite.^e He also incorporated exotic materials common to knifemakers of the time, including mother-of-pearl, abalone shell, paua shell, staghorn, and rare hardwoods. Writer Paul Basch reported in 1990 that Emerson refused to use the parts of any animal or plant which was an endangered species, noting Emerson as being an environmentally conscious knifemaker. The steel used in these blades was typically graded ATS-34, AEB-L, or 440C, and the blades were either highly polished or hand-rubbed. Emerson also made knives with Damascus steel blades. Among custom knife collectors and purveyors today, these knives are known as the "Pre-Tac" (Pre-Tactical) models. They can be identified by their bright anodized titanium bolsters and liners and the predominant use of clip point blades. The knives were also noted for their close tolerances and precise locking mechanisms. Emerson credits the following knifemakers for helping him along during his early years as a knifemaker: Michael Walker, Clint Breshears, Bob Engnath, and Jim Ferguson.

Emerson's first logo or stamp on these knives was "Emerson Knives" surrounding the outline of a Bowie knife; accordingly this is referred to as the rare "Bowie Logo", appearing on only a very small number of knives. When a knife collector asked Emerson if he made Bowie knives, Emerson informed him that he did not. The collector then advised him to change his logo or he might confuse the knife-buying public, as they would ask for Bowie knives instead of linerlock folders. Emerson agreed with this assessment, dropping the knife outline and the word "knives" from his stamp, using just his name in a half-circle on the blade as a logo. This marking is known among collectors as the "Half-Moon Logo" and would appear again as a transitional mark between the Viper and Specwar lines of knives.

These early knives sold for between $800 and $2,000 each; that, combined with his appearances at knife shows and write-ups in knife magazines, helped Emerson gain status and credibility as a custom knifemaker. Once established as a serious and reputable maker, Emerson was soon able to concentrate on making the knives he wanted to make—knives designed for use as opposed to show, specifically folding-knives designed for combat.

Viper Knives

As a direct result of watching his fellow martial artists train with a fixed-blade fighting knife in class, yet carry some type of a folding knife when they left the training area, Emerson decided there was a need for a sturdy folding knife designed primarily for combat. Although Emerson had always maintained that the knives he made were built as fighting knives first and foremost, in October 1988 he stripped down five of these designs to simpler materials. He continued his use of linen or canvas micarta because of its high tensile strength and superior gripping surface when wet; he decided on black or dark grey for the color instead of the brighter colors used previously. He retained the titanium for the liners and bolsters but chose to bead-blast them a flat grey matte color as opposed to the colorful anodizing which used to appear on his knives. The reasons for using titanium were its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance.

Emerson ground the blades of these knives from ATS-34 steel with a Rockwell hardness of 57–59 and made them thicker toward the tip, creating a stronger-tipped blade than he had made previously. He bead-blasted the blades as he did the liners and bolsters instead of rubbing or polishing them, giving them a matte finish as opposed to the mirror-polished finish common on his earlier knives. Emerson designed each one of these knives for a specific purpose. The slender Viper 1 and smaller Viper 2 were designed for use as a police officer's backup weapon. The Viper 5 was designed to be used by naval boat crews, as the handle was contoured with a rear brake so as to not slip from the user's hand when wet.

Emerson's goal for this Viper line was to produce a working knife which would be more resistant to the elements and more durable than the "art knives" for which he had become known. These knives were created to satisfy the demand for a practical field-grade combat knife which could be carried discreetly and accessed quickly. He sold these five models under the name "Viper Knives" and changed the logo on the blades to read the same.^f Emerson makes these models to this day on a custom basis under the names MV1–5, "MV" standing for "Model Viper".

Specwar Knives

In the mid-1980s individual Navy SEALs from a West Coast team had been using personally purchased custom fixed-blade knives made by Southern California knifemaker Phill Hartsfield. Hartsfield's knives are hard ground from differentially heat-treated A2 tool steel and are known for their distinctive chisel-ground blades. More accurately, they are also zero ground; that is, the edge has no secondary bevel, minimizing drag when used for cutting purposes. Emerson had long been impressed by the cutting ability of the chisel-ground edge and had asked Hartsfield's permission to incorporate it into his own folding knives, which Hartsfield granted. When the SEALs asked Hartsfield to make them a folding knife, he informed them that he did not make folding knives and referred them to Emerson.

According to the SEALs' requirements, the knife had to be corrosion resistant, designed for easy cleaning in the field, durable enough to be used on a daily basis as a tool, and capable as a weapon should the need arise. Emerson's folding chisel-ground "tantō" became the sixth model in his Viper series and, while a handful of prototypes were referred to as "Viper 6", the model was soon named the "CQC-6" (CQC refers to close-quarters combat) and was chosen by the SEALs for use.^g Ownership of a CQC6 soon became something of a status symbol among members of various elite military units, including Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, German GSG 9, and British SAS.^hij Because of this connection to the Special Warfare community, Emerson changed the name of his custom knife line to "Specwar Knives", and in 1996 this new designation began appearing in the logo on his blades. Other models followed in the Specwar line bearing the CQC Series moniker, including the CQC7 which is another chisel-ground tantō-bladed folder similar to the CQC6 but with a saber-type handle shape. The CQC8 ("Banana Knife") was a folder inspired by Bob Taylor's Warrior Knife and William F. Moran's ST-9 is used by British SAS troops. The knife has the distinction of being the first folding knife that was designed to be ergonomically correct in both forward and reverse grip. Its users refer to it as "the finest fighting knife ever developed". The CQC9 ("Eagle Knife") is a reverse-curved hawkbill blade developed as a backup weapon for an American law enforcement agency; it also has an opening hole in the blade licensed from knife manufacturer Spyderco. Although Emerson has standard models for these custom knives which progress in order to CQC16, each one is made individually by hand.

Popularizing the tactical knife

While not the first knifemaker to build what is known as a tactical folding knife, Emerson was one of several makers who popularized the concept of the handmade tactical folder in the 1990s. Emerson's knives also began appearing in the ''Rogue Warrior'' series of novels written by the founder of the US Navy's SEAL Team Six, Richard Marcinko, which helped fuel interest among collectors.

This surge in interest for Emerson's knives soon became overwhelming. Although he had been making knives full time since 1994, Emerson was still manufacturing these knives in his home garage workshop three years later. As Emerson watched his customers' wait time expand from two years to seven, he realized that the demand for his handmade blades was far outpacing his ability to produce them. The first method to bridge this gap between supply and demand would be through factory collaborations with established cutlery companies.

Emerson's first collaboration with a knife manufacturer was with Timberline Knives in 1993 for his SPECWAR model.^k This model featured a one-side chisel-ground tantō blade almost 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) thick. Its handle was made from fiberglass-reinforced nylon molded around a near-full tang. Vaughn Neeley of Timberline designed the sheath. The knife was originally a custom piece designed for Naval Special Warfare Group One, and this factory version was soon entered in the trials for the Navy SEALs knife in 1995.^l Although it was not chosen by the Navy, the Emerson-Neeley SPECWAR knife won ''Blade Magazine'''s 1995 American Made Knife of the Year Award at the magazine's Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia, that same year and was displayed as an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City from May 24 to August 15, 1995. In 1994 the president of Benchmade Knives, Les DeAsis, approached Emerson to manufacture the CQC6 on a larger scale as a factory production model. Preferring to keep the CQC6 as a custom-only knife, Emerson instead licensed a similar design of his, the CQC-7.

The Benchmade factory version was sold under the model name BM970 or BM975 depending on blade length. Other designations followed which denoted blade finish, manual or automatic opening, or partially serrated blade. The knife retained the profile of Emerson's custom piece in addition to the ATS-34 steel and the titanium liners. However, on Benchmade's offering the titanium bolsters and micarta scales were replaced with G10 fiberglass scales, the slotted screws were replaced by Torx head screws, and the pocket clip was repositioned so that the knife could be carried in the pocket in a tip-down position.

Despite these changes the knife was true to Emerson's original design, and even though it did not have the craftsmanship of a handmade piece of cutlery it satisfied customers with their own version of Emerson's work at a lower price point and without the five-year wait.

Emerson Knives, Inc.

In February 1996, Emerson and his wife, Mary, founded Emerson Knives, Inc. (also referred to as EKI) in Torrance, California to manufacture knives on a larger scale than he was then capable of. This new company would be a distinct entity from his Specwar lineup of custom knives, although several custom designs would make their way into production from time to time. Four years after starting this venture, Emerson sold an entire year's worth of production in four hours at the SHOT (Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade) Show in January 2000.

Emerson continued to collaborate with other companies on knife-related projects as his own company grew. In some cases these collaborators had become his competition, such as Gerber Knives. In 2002 Emerson collaborated with Gerber Knives to create both companies' first automatic opening knife, the Gerber-Emerson Alliance.^m In that same year, Emerson collaborated with SureFire Flashlights by making an exclusive CQC8 (Banana Knife) numbered and marked with the SureFire logo and sold with an identically numbered Emerson-marked Centurion C2 CombatLight. In 2005 Emerson collaborated with Andy Prisco, the CEO of the American Tomahawk Company, to produce the CQC-T Tomahawk. This tomahawk features a curved head machined from 4140 steel with a rear spike and a lightweight fiberglass handle. Although not made by Emerson, the tomahawk was designed by him. In 2007, Emerson announced a collaboration with custom knifemaker and knife thrower Bobby Branton. The collaboration piece is a fixed-blade knife designed primarily for knife throwing dubbed the BETT: Branton-Emerson Tactical Thrower.

One of Emerson's earliest production models, the Commander (winner of ''Blade Magazine'''s Overall Knife of the Year Award for 1999), is a large recurve folding knife based on a special custom design, the ES1-M, that he had made for a West Coast Navy SEAL Team. The Commander has a hook on the spine of the blade (originally designed as a blade catcher) which, when snagged on the edge of the pocket or sheath causes the knife blade to open as it is drawn. Emerson called this innovation the Wave and secured a patent for it in March 1999. Emerson's Wave made its way onto most of his knives both in the production and custom lines, with the exception of the Viper models. It is a required feature on all knives that Emerson supplies to military units, search and rescue units, and law enforcement agencies.

After a disastrous helicopter crash in 1999 resulting in the deaths of six Marines and one sailor, the US Navy performed an assessment of their equipment and decided among other things that they needed a new search and rescue knife. The Ka-bar knives issued to the SBUs (Special Boat Units) had catastrophically failed to cut the Marines free from their webbing.

The Navy went to Emerson, who designed and fabricated a working prototype within 24 hours. They found that it met their needs, and the model was dubbed the "SARK" (Search and Rescue Knife). The SARK is a folding knife with a wharncliffe-style blade and a blunt tip designed so a rescuer could cut trapped victims free without stabbing them. The knife features Emerson's Wave.ⁿ Seeing another need in the police community, Emerson replaced the blunt end of the SARK with a pointed end and named it the "P-SARK", or Police Search And Rescue Knife. The Ontario, California Police Department consulted Emerson to produce written policy for the carry and deployment of the P-SARK knives in their department. In 2005, the Navy changed the requirements on the SARK to incorporate a guthook on the back of the blade for use as a line-cutter. Emerson made the change on this model which is only available to the US Navy and the model designation is the NSAR (Navy Search And Rescue) Knife.

In 1999, NASA contracted Emerson to build a knife for use on Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station. Rather than design a new model from scratch, NASA chose an existing model which already met their specifications, with one additional design requirement. The model is a folding version of the Specwar knife that Emerson had designed for Timberline with the addition of a guthook cut into the tantō point of the blade with which astronauts could open their freeze dried food packages. The knife is not available for purchase outside of NASA.

On July 1, 2000, Emerson announced his semi-retirement from custom knifemaking in order to concentrate on this new production company and to fill the thousands of outstanding orders for his custom work. He still makes custom knives available for sale at knife shows, but takes no orders for new custom work. Since 1995 the only way to get a new custom knife from Emerson himself is through a lottery held at knife shows where he is present. Depending on the size of the show, as many as several hundred potential buyers write their names on individual pieces of paper at his booth, and at a predetermined time a name is drawn. The winner gets a chance to buy one of the custom knives brought to the show.^o

In 2007, Emerson branched out in a new direction, announcing he would manufacture twelve custom electric guitars per year. His first guitar debuted at ''Blade Magazine'''s Blade Show in Atlanta in June 2007. In 2008, Emerson opened a clothing company called "Emerson Brand Apparel" specializing in MMA and casual clothing. In 2009 at the annual NRA Convention, Emerson announced a collaboration with custom pistol manufacturer Les Baer to produce a custom M1911 pistol built to Emerson's specifications. In late 2009, Emerson announced a collaboration with Spike's Tactical to produce an M-4 Carbine based upon his specifications for training, chambered in .22 long rifle and in 5.56 NATO.

In September 2010, Emerson announced a collaboration with Pro-Tech Knives to produce an automatic opening version of the CQC-7. In November 2010, Emerson's Roadhouse Knife won ''Knives Illustrated's'' American Made Knife of 2010-2011 Award at the Spirit of Steel Show in Knoxville, TN. According to Emerson, the knife will be used as a prop on the ''Sons of Anarchy'' Television Show.

In January 2011, at the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show in Las Vegas, NV, Emerson debuted a new knife model designed in collaboration with Kelly McCann known as the ''Canis''.

Emerson's knives in the media

Emerson's knives have appeared onscreen in films and television shows. In ''Night of the Running Man'', Scott Glenn's character carried a mother-of-pearl handled, one-of-a-kind Emerson CQC6. Emerson Ravens, neck knives, and the Commander knife were also used as props in the short-lived UPN television series ''Soldier of Fortune, Inc.'' A Commander knife was used by the character of Zak in the 1998 movie ''The Placebo Effect''; Emerson Knives is thanked in the film credits for the knife.

Ridley Scott's 2001 film ''Black Hawk Down'' portrayed soldiers carrying Emerson folding knives in the hangar scene, and in ''Tears of the Sun'' the Kandahar model appeared on Bruce Willis' character's web gear, and other actors were seen with Emerson Police Utility Knives. An Emerson Karambit is often used as a weapon on the television show ''Burn Notice''. Frank Castle used an Emerson Karambit to kill an opponent in one of the final scenes in ''The Punisher''. ''Transporter 2'' briefly showed an Emerson fixed-blade Kandahar knife in the trunk of Jason Statham's car along with other weapons as props. An Emerson La Griffe was featured in the 2007 film: Doomsday.

In the Russian movie ''12 (film)'' a remake of the classic Twelve Angry Men, an "Emerson CQC7" is revealed as the potential weapon used by a Chechen teen in the murder of his Russian foster-parents. However, the knife shown in the movie is not a CQC-7 or even an Emerson made knife.

Emerson's knives are mentioned in mystery, spy, military, action, and adventure novels. At least seven of Richard Marcinko's ''Rogue Warrior'' novels (''Red Cell'', ''Green Team'', ''Task Force Blue'', ''Detachment Bravo'', ''SEAL Force Alpha'', ''Violence of Action'' and ''Holy Terror'') prominently make mention of Emerson's knives (CQC6 or CQC7) as a regularly carried piece of equipment.^p The protagonist, Marcinko, uses an Emerson CQC6 or CQC7 on various occasions. On page 175 of ''Task Force Blue'', Marcinko remarks that his CQC6 was a "personal gift from Ernie Emerson, himself".^q

''New York Times'' bestselling author David Morrell's novel ''The Protector'' not only has the main character, a former Delta Force operator named Cavanaugh, using an Emerson CQC7 knife, but the cover art itself is a photographic illustration of a blood-stained Emerson CQC7. Cavanaugh uses the knife in combat as well as in many rigorous cutting chores. The author claims Emerson is "the best manufacturer of tactical knives" as well as a "top level blade instructor for elite military and law-enforcement units".^r In an interview with British E-Zine ''Shots : The Crime and Mystery Ezine'', Morrell indicated that he injured his collarbone during an Emerson knife-fighting course while performing research for the novel.^s Morrell went on to include Emerson's knives in his books ''Creepers'' and ''The Spy Who Came for Christmas''.

Three of Marcus Wynne's novels (''Warrior in the Shadows'', ''No Other Option,'' ''Brothers in Arms'') also feature use of Emerson's knives by the main characters. The CQC7, Commander, and La Griffe are favored by the main characters and are used as defensive weapons throughout the books. Barry Eisler's fictional hired killer John Rain uses an Emerson Comrade CQC-12, a folding knife based on the AK-47 bayonet, in ''The Last Assassin''. The characters of S.M. Gunn's novels based on Naval Special Warfare, Navy SEALs, and submarines routinely carry Emerson's knives. One of the main characters carries an Emerson custom MV-1 Viper knife in the book ''SEALs SubStrike''.

Retired Navy SEAL and SEAL Team 6 Plankholder Dennis Chalker routinely puts Emerson's knives (CQC-7s and Commanders) into the hands of the heroes of his ''Home Team'' novels based on the exploits of former Naval Special Warfare Operators. Emerson's CQC7 has also made its way into the Clive Cussler novel, ''Plague Ship''.

Emerson Combat Systems

Emerson's study and instruction of martial arts is ongoing. He has accumulated 35 years of experience in a variety of styles and philosophies of combat. Drawing upon this base of knowledge and experience he has developed a combatives system known as Emerson Combat Systems, which has been taught to hundreds of law enforcement agencies, members of the U.S. military, and civilians.

The system is based upon the recognition of two factors: the human body's physiological response to stress and its reduction to the use of gross motor skills. According to Emerson, the techniques are based upon the physical and instinctual laws that govern the survival instincts and physical function of a human being.

This system is characterized by training as realistically as possible (not training in workout gear for example) and using flowing, dynamic concepts (for example, integrated fighting^t and weapon transition^u) with a strong emphasis placed on overall physical fitness. Emerson maintains he does not teach a "martial art" encumbered by ritual or sporting aspects but a combatives system where the goal is more than simple self defense.^v

Emerson has been consulted as a technical advisor to television and movie productions including ''National Geographic'', specifically the program ''Fight Science'', due in part to his position as the Hand To Hand Combat Instructor for Harry Humphries' Global Studies Group Incorporated, a company that teaches police and military tactics to law enforcement agencies and film production crews.^w

Emerson has written over 30 articles on hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting, history, and knifemaking for publications including ''Human Events'', ''Blade Magazine'', ''American Cop Magazine'', ''Martial Arts Experts'', ''Journal of Modern Combatives'', ''Inside Kung-Fu'', ''Black Belt Magazine'', ''Police Magazine'', and ''American Handgunner Magazine''.

References

Hopkins, Cameron (1998). "Blade U", ''American Handgunner Magazine'', Volume 23, Issue 133. page 72,90–91

Footnotes

External links

Emerson Knives Official Site

Patent for the WAVE

Emerson Custom Guitars Official Site

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Weapon designers Category:Knife makers Category:National Rifle Association members Category:Knife manufacturing companies Category:American businesspeople Category:American inventors Category:American martial artists Category:People from Wisconsin

fr:Ernest R. Emerson

region	Western Philosophy
era	17th-century philosophy
color	#B0C4DE
name	René Descartes
birth date	March 31, 1596
birth place	La Haye en Touraine, Touraine (present-day Descartes, Indre-et-Loire), France
death date	February 11, 1650
death place	Stockholm, Sweden
school tradition	Cartesianism, Rationalism, Foundationalism
religion	Roman Catholic
main interests	Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mathematics
influences	Plato, Aristotle, Alhazen, Ghazali, Averroes, Avicenna, Anselm, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Suarez, Mersenne, Sextus Empiricus, Michel de Montaigne, Duns Scotus
influenced	Most philosophers after him including: Spinoza, Hobbes, Arnauld, Malebranche, Pascal, Locke, Leibniz, More, Kant, Husserl, Brunschvicg, Žižek, Chomsky, Stanley, Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop, Durkheim
notable ideas	Cogito ergo sum, method of doubt, Cartesian coordinate system, Cartesian dualism, ontological argument for the existence of Christian God; Folium of Descartes
signature	Firma Descartes.svg }}

René Descartes ; (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) (Latinized form: ''Renatus Cartesius''; adjectival form: "Cartesian") was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. In particular, his ''Meditations on First Philosophy'' continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system—allowing algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes (2D coordinate system)—was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. In the opening section of the ''Passions of the Soul'', a treatise on the Early Modern version of what are now commonly called emotions, Descartes goes so far as to assert that he will write on this topic "as if no one had written on these matters before". Many elements of his philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in earlier philosophers like St. Augustine. In his natural philosophy, he differs from the schools on two major points: First, he rejects the analysis of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he rejects any appeal to ends—divine or natural—in explaining natural phenomena. In his theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God’s act of creation.

Descartes was a major figure in 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Hume. Leibniz, Spinoza and Descartes were all well versed in mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well.

He is perhaps best known for the philosophical statement "''Cogito ergo sum''" (; ), found in part IV of ''Discourse on the Method'' (1637 – written in French but with inclusion of "Cogito ergo sum") and §7 of part I of ''Principles of Philosophy'' (1644 – written in Latin).

Biography

Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes), Indre-et-Loire, France. When he was one year old, his mother Jeanne Brochard died. His father Joachim was a member in the provincial parliament. At the age of eight, he entered the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche. After graduation, he studied at the University of Poitiers, earning a ''Baccalauréat'' and ''Licence'' in law in 1616, in accordance with his father's wishes that he should become a lawyer.

"I entirely abandoned the study of letters. Resolving to seek no knowledge other than that of which could be found in myself or else in the great book of the world, I spent the rest of my youth traveling, visiting courts and armies, mixing with people of diverse temperaments and ranks, gathering various experiences, testing myself in the situations which fortune offered me, and at all times reflecting upon whatever came my way so as to derive some profit from it." (Descartes, ''Discourse on the Method'').

In 1618, Descartes joined the International College of War of Maurice of Nassau in the Dutch Republic. On 10 November 1618, while walking through Breda, Descartes met Isaac Beeckman, who sparked his interest in mathematics and the new physics, particularly the problem of the fall of heavy bodies. While in the service of the Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, Descartes was present at the Battle of the White Mountain outside Prague, in November 1620.

On the night of 10–11 November 1619, while stationed in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany, Descartes experienced a series of three powerful dreams or visions that he later claimed profoundly influenced his life. In the first of these dreams, Descartes found himself buffeted and thrown down by a powerful whirlwind while walking near a college. In the second, he was awoken by an inexplicable thunder or explosion-like sound in his head to see sparks coming from the stove in his room. In the third dream, he finds a great dictionary and an anthology of ancient Latin poets on his bedside table. In the latter book, he reads a verse that begins, "What path shall I follow in life?" Descartes concluded from these visions that the pursuit of science would prove to be, for him, the pursuit of true wisdom and a central part of his life's work.

In 1622 he returned to France, and during the next few years spent time in Paris and other parts of Europe. He arrived in La Haye in 1623, selling all of his property to invest in bonds, which provided a comfortable income for the rest of his life. Descartes was present at the siege of La Rochelle by Cardinal Richelieu in 1627.

He returned to the Dutch Republic in 1628, where he lived until September 1649. In April 1629 he joined the University of Franeker, living at the Sjaerdemaslot, and the next year, under the name "Poitevin", he enrolled at the Leiden University to study mathematics with Jacob Golius and astronomy with Martin Hortensius. In October 1630 he had a falling out with Beeckman, who he accused of plagiarizing some of his ideas. In Amsterdam, he had a relationship with a servant girl, Helena Jans van der Strom, with whom he had a daughter, Francine, who was born in 1635 in Deventer, at which time Descartes taught at the Utrecht University. Francine Descartes died in 1640 in Amersfoort, from Scarlet Fever.

While in the Netherlands he changed his address frequently, living among other places in Dordrecht (1628), Franeker (1629), Amsterdam (1629–30), Leiden (1630), Amsterdam (1630–32), Deventer (1632–34), Amsterdam (1634–35), Utrecht (1635–36), Leiden (1636), Egmond (1636–38), Santpoort (1638–1640), Leiden (1640–41), Endegeest (a castle near Oegstgeest) (1641–43), and finally for an extended time in Egmond-Binnen (1643–49).

Despite these frequent moves he wrote all his major work during his 20 plus years in the Netherlands, where he managed to revolutionize mathematics and philosophy. In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, and Descartes abandoned plans to publish ''Treatise on the World'', his work of the previous four years. "Discourse on the Method" was published in 1637. In it Descartes lays out four rules of thought, meant to ensure that our knowledge rests upon a firm foundation.

Descartes continued to publish works concerning both mathematics and philosophy for the rest of his life. In 1643, Cartesian philosophy was condemned at the University of Utrecht, and Descartes began his long correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia. In 1647, he was awarded a pension by the King of France. Descartes was interviewed by Frans Burman at Egmond-Binnen in 1648.

René Descartes died on 11 February 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he had been invited as a tutor for Queen Christina of Sweden. The cause of death was said to be pneumonia—accustomed to working in bed until noon, he may have suffered a detrimental effect on his health due to Christina's demands for early morning study (the lack of sleep could have severely compromised his immune system). Others believe that Descartes may have contracted pneumonia as a result of nursing a French ambassador, Dejion A. Nopeleen, ill with the aforementioned disease, back to health. In his recent book, ''Der rätselhafte Tod des René Descartes'' (The Mysterious Death of René Descartes), the German philosopher Theodor Ebert asserts that Descartes died not through natural causes, but from an arsenic-laced communion wafer given to him by a Catholic priest. He believes that Jacques Viogué, a missionary working in Stockholm, administered the poison because he feared Descartes's radical theological ideas would derail an expected conversion to Roman Catholicism by the monarch of Protestant Lutheran Sweden.

In 1663, the Pope placed his works on the Index of Prohibited Books.

As a Roman Catholic in a Protestant nation, he was interred in a graveyard mainly used for unbaptized infants in Adolf Fredriks kyrkan in Stockholm. Later, his remains were taken to France and buried in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. Although the National Convention in 1792 had planned to transfer his remains to the Panthéon, they are, two centuries later, still resting between two other graves—those of the scholarly monks Jean Mabillon and Bernard de Montfaucon—in a chapel of the abbey. His memorial, erected in the 18th century, remains in the Swedish church.

Philosophical work

Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to provide a philosophical framework for the natural sciences as these began to develop.

In his ''Discourse on the Method'', he attempts to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one can know as true without any doubt. To achieve this, he employs a method called hyperbolical/metaphysical doubt, also sometimes referred to as methodological skepticism: he rejects any ideas that can be doubted, and then reestablishes them in order to acquire a firm foundation for genuine knowledge.

Initially, Descartes arrives at only a single principle: thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore, I exist (''Discourse on the Method'' and ''Principles of Philosophy''). Most famously, this is known as ''cogito ergo sum'' (English: "I think, therefore I am"). Therefore, Descartes concluded, if he doubted, then something or someone must be doing the doubting, therefore the very fact that he doubted proved his existence. "The simple meaning of the phrase is that if one is skeptical of existence, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist."

Descartes concludes that he can be certain that he exists because he thinks. But in what form? He perceives his body through the use of the senses; however, these have previously been unreliable. So Descartes determines that the only indubitable knowledge is that he is a ''thinking thing''. Thinking is what he does, and his power must come from his essence. Descartes defines "thought" (''cogitatio'') as "what happens in me such that I am immediately conscious of it, insofar as I am conscious of it". Thinking is thus every activity of a person of which he is immediately conscious.

To further demonstrate the limitations of the senses, Descartes proceeds with what is known as the ''Wax Argument''. He considers a piece of wax; his senses inform him that it has certain characteristics, such as shape, texture, size, color, smell, and so forth. When he brings the wax towards a flame, these characteristics change completely. However, it seems that it is still the same thing: it is still the same piece of wax, even though the data of the senses inform him that all of its characteristics are different. Therefore, in order to properly grasp the nature of the wax, he should put aside the senses. He must use his mind. Descartes concludes:

In this manner, Descartes proceeds to construct a system of knowledge, discarding perception as unreliable and instead admitting only deduction as a method. In the third and fifth ''Meditation'', he offers an ontological proof of a benevolent God (through both the ontological argument and trademark argument). Because God is benevolent, he can have some faith in the account of reality his senses provide him, for God has provided him with a working mind and sensory system and does not desire to deceive him. From this supposition, however, he finally establishes the possibility of acquiring knowledge about the world based on deduction ''and'' perception. In terms of epistemology therefore, he can be said to have contributed such ideas as a rigorous conception of foundationalism and the possibility that reason is the only reliable method of attaining knowledge.

In Descartes's system, knowledge takes the form of ideas, and philosophical investigation is the contemplation of these ideas. This concept would influence subsequent internalist movements as Descartes's epistemology requires that a connection made by conscious awareness will distinguish knowledge from falsity. As a result of his Cartesian doubt, he viewed rational knowledge as being "incapable of being destroyed" and sought to construct an unshakable ground upon which all other knowledge can be based. The first item of unshakable knowledge that Descartes argues for is the aforementioned ''cogito'', or thinking thing.

Descartes also wrote a response to skepticism about the existence of the external world. He argues that sensory perceptions come to him involuntarily, and are not willed by him. They are external to his senses, and according to Descartes, this is evidence of the existence of something outside of his mind, and thus, an external world. Descartes goes on to show that the things in the external world are material by arguing that God would not deceive him as to the ideas that are being transmitted, and that God has given him the "propensity" to believe that such ideas are caused by material things.

Descartes was also known for his work in producing the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies. This can be most easily explored using the statement: "This statement is a lie." While it is most commonly referred to as a paradox, the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies states that at any given time a statement can be both true and false simultaneously because of its contradictory nature. The statement is true in its fallacy. Thus, Descartes developed the Cartesian Theory of Fallacies, which greatly influenced the thinking of the time. Many would-be philosophers were trying to develop inexplicable statements of seeming fact, however, this laid rumors of such a proposition impossible. Many philosophers believe that when Descartes formulated his Theory of Fallacies, he intended to be lying, which in and of itself embodies the theory.

Dualism

Descartes in his Passions of the Soul and The Description of the Human Body suggested that the body works like a machine, that it has the material properties of extension and motion, and that it follows the laws of nature. The mind (or soul), on the other hand, was described as a nonmaterial entity that lacks extension and motion, and does not follow the laws of nature. Descartes argued that only humans have minds, and that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. This form of dualism or duality proposes that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. Most of the previous accounts of the relationship between mind and body had been uni-directional.

Descartes suggested that the pineal gland is "the seat of the soul" for several reasons. First, the soul is unitary, and unlike many areas of the brain the pineal gland appeared to be unitary (though subsequent microscopic inspection has revealed it is formed of two hemispheres). Second, Descartes observed that the pineal gland was located near the ventricles. He believed the cerebrospinal fluid of the ventricles acted through the nerves to control the body, and that the pineal gland influenced this process. Finally, although Descartes realized that both humans and animals have pineal glands (see ''Passions of the Soul'' Part One, Section 50, AT 369), he believed that only humans have minds. This led him to the belief that animals cannot feel pain, and Descartes's practice of vivisection (the dissection of live animals) became widely used throughout Europe until the Enlightenment. Cartesian dualism set the agenda for philosophical discussion of the mind–body problem for many years after Descartes's death.

Mathematical legacy

Descartes's theory provided the basis for the calculus of Newton and Leibniz, by applying infinitesimal calculus to the tangent line problem, thus permitting the evolution of that branch of modern mathematics. This appears even more astounding considering that the work was just intended as an ''example'' to his ''Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la verité dans les sciences'' (''Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Searching for Truth in the Sciences'', better known under the shortened title ''Discours de la méthode''; English, ''Discourse on the Method'').

Descartes' rule of signs is also a commonly used method to determine the number of positive and negative roots of a polynomial.

Descartes created analytic geometry, and discovered an early form of the law of conservation of momentum (the term momentum refers to the momentum of a force). He outlined his views on the universe in his Principles of Philosophy.

Descartes also made contributions to the field of optics. He showed by using geometric construction and the law of refraction (also known as Descartes's law or more commonly Snell's law, who discovered it 16 years earlier) that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42 degrees (i.e., the angle subtended at the eye by the edge of the rainbow and the ray passing from the sun through the rainbow's centre is 42°). He also independently discovered the law of reflection, and his essay on optics was the first published mention of this law.

One of Descartes most enduring legacies was his development of Cartesian geometry, which uses algebra to describe geometry. He "invented the convention of representing unknowns in equations by ''x'', ''y'', and ''z'', and knowns by ''a'', ''b'', and ''c''". He also "pioneered the standard notation" that uses superscripts to show the powers or exponents, for example the 4 used in x⁴ to indicate squaring of squaring.

Contemporary reception

Although Descartes was well known in academic circles towards the end of his life, the teaching of his works in schools was controversial. Henri de Roy (Henricus Regius, 1598–1679), Professor of Medicine at the University of Utrecht, was condemned by the Rector of the University, Gijsbert Voet (Voetius), for teaching Descartes's physics.

Religious beliefs

The religious beliefs of René Descartes have been rigorously debated within scholarly circles. He claimed to be a devout Roman Catholic, claiming that one of the purposes of the ''Meditations'' was to defend the Christian faith. However, in his own era, Descartes was accused of harboring secret deist or atheist beliefs. Contemporary Blaise Pascal said that "I cannot forgive Descartes; in all his philosophy, Descartes did his best to dispense with God. But Descartes could not avoid prodding God to set the world in motion with a snap of his lordly fingers; after that, he had no more use for God."

Stephen Gaukroger's biography of Descartes reports that "he had a deep religious faith as a Catholic, which he retained to his dying day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth." After Descartes died in Sweden, Queen Christina abdicated her throne to convert to Roman Catholicism (Swedish law required a Protestant ruler). The only Roman Catholic with whom she had prolonged contact was Descartes, who was her personal tutor.

Writings

1618. ''Compendium Musicae''. A treatise on music theory and the aesthetics of music written for Descartes's early collaborator Isaac Beeckman.

1626–1628. ''Regulae ad directionem ingenii'' (''Rules for the Direction of the Mind''). Incomplete. First published posthumously in 1684. The best critical edition, which includes an early Dutch translation, is edited by Giovanni Crapulli (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1966).

1630–1633. ''Le Monde'' (''The World'') and ''L'Homme'' (''Man''). Descartes's first systematic presentation of his natural philosophy. ''Man'' was published posthumously in Latin translation in 1662; and ''The World'' posthumously in 1664.

1637. ''Discours de la méthode'' (''Discourse on the Method''). An introduction to the ''Essais'', which include the ''Dioptrique'', the ''Météores'' and the ''Géométrie''.

1637. ''La Géométrie'' (''Geometry''). Descartes's major work in mathematics. There is an English translation by Michael Mahoney (New York: Dover, 1979).

1641. ''Meditationes de prima philosophia'' (''Meditations on First Philosophy''), also known as ''Metaphysical Meditations''. In Latin; a French translation, probably done without Descartes's supervision, was published in 1647. Includes six Objections and Replies. A second edition, published the following year, included an additional objection and reply, and a ''Letter to Dinet''.

1644. ''Principia philosophiae'' (''Principles of Philosophy''), a Latin textbook at first intended by Descartes to replace the Aristotelian textbooks then used in universities. A French translation, ''Principes de philosophie'' by Claude Picot, under the supervision of Descartes, appeared in 1647 with a letter-preface to Queen Christina of Sweden.

1647. ''Notae in programma'' (''Comments on a Certain Broadsheet''). A reply to Descartes's one-time disciple Henricus Regius.

1647. ''The Description of the Human Body''. Published posthumously.

1648. ''Responsiones Renati Des Cartes...'' (''Conversation with Burman''). Notes on a Q&A; session between Descartes and Frans Burman on 16 April 1648. Rediscovered in 1895 and published for the first time in 1896. An annotated bilingual edition (Latin with French translation), edited by Jean-Marie Beyssade, was published in 1981 (Paris: PUF).

1649. ''Les passions de l'âme'' (''Passions of the Soul''). Dedicated to Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

1656. ''Musicae Compendium'' (''Instruction in Music''). Posth. Publ.: Johannes Janssonius jun., Amsterdam

1657. ''Correspondence''. Published by Descartes's literary executor Claude Clerselier. The third edition, in 1667, was the most complete; Clerselier omitted, however, much of the material pertaining to mathematics.

In January 2010, a previously unknown letter from Descartes, dated 27 May 1641, was found by the Dutch philosopher Erik-Jan Bos when browsing through Google. Bos found the letter mentioned in a summary of autographs kept by Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The College was unaware that the letter had never been published. This was the third letter by Descartes found in the last 25 years.

See also

3587 Descartes, asteroid

Analytic geometry

Balloonist theory

Baruch Spinoza

Philosophy of Spinoza

Cartesian circle

Cartesian coordinate system

Cartesian diagram

Cartesian diver

Cartesian morphism

Cartesian product

Cartesian product of graphs

Cartesian tree

Defect (geometry)

Descartes' rule of signs

Descartes' theorem

Dualistic interactionism

Folium of Descartes

Self-organization

Scientific Revolution

Solipsism

Notes

References

Collected works

1983. ''Oeuvres de Descartes'' in 11 vols. Adam, Charles, and Tannery, Paul, eds. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin.

Collected English translations

1988. ''The Philosophical Writings Of Descartes'' in 3 vols. Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R., Kenny, A., and Murdoch, D., trans. Cambridge University Press.

Single works

1618. ''Compendium Musicae''.

1628. ''Rules for the Direction of the Mind''.

1637. ''Discourse on the Method'' ("Discours de la Methode"). An introduction to ''Dioptrique'', ''Des Météores'' and ''La Géométrie''. Original in French, because intended for a wider public.

1637. ''La Géométrie''. Smith, David E., and Lantham, M. L., trans., 1954. ''The Geometry of René Descartes''. Dover.

1641. ''Meditations on First Philosophy''. Cottingham, J., trans., 1996. Cambridge University Press. Latin original. Alternative English title: ''Metaphysical Meditations''. Includes six ''Objections and Replies''. A second edition published the following year, includes an additional ‘’Objection and Reply’’ and a ''Letter to Dinet''. HTML Online Latin-French-English Edition

1644. ''Les Principes de la philosophie''. Miller, V. R. and R. P., trans., 1983. ''Principles of Philosophy''. Reidel.

1647. ''Comments on a Certain Broadsheet''.

1647. ''The Description of the Human Body''.

1648. ''Conversation with Burman''.

1649. ''Passions of the Soul''. Voss, S. H., trans., 1989. Indianapolis: Hackett. Dedicated to Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

Secondary literature

Farrell, John. “Demons of Descartes and Hobbes.” ''Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau'' (Cornell UP, 2006), chapter 7.

Giuseppe Leone, [Il quarto centenario dalla nascita di Cartesio (1596)], Una "ragione" per l'Europa Unita, in "Ricorditi di me...", su Lecco 2000, Aprile 1996.

Gillespie, A. (2006). Descartes’ demon: A dialogical analysis of ‘Meditations on First Philosophy.’ Theory & Psychology, 16, 761–781.

Moreno Romo, Juan Carlos (Coord.), ''Descartes vivo. Ejercicios de hermenéutica cartesiana'', Anthropos, Barcelona, 2007''''

Moreno Romo, Juan Carlos, ''Vindicación del cartesianismo radical'', Anthropos, Barcelona, 2010.

Serfati, M., 2005, "Geometria" in Ivor Grattan-Guinness, ed., ''Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics''. Elsevier: 1–22.

External links

Video

''Bernard Williams interviewed about Descartes on "Men of ideas"''

General

Detailed biography of Descartes

Descartes featured on the 100 French Franc banknote from 1942.

More easily readable versions of ''Meditations'', ''Objections and Replies'', ''Principles of Philosophy'', ''Discourse on the Method'', Correspondence with Princess Elisabeth, and ''Passions of the Soul''.

1984 John Cottingham translation of ''Meditations'' and ''Objections and Replies''.

René Descartes (1596–1650) Published in ''Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition'' (1996)

Original texts of René Descartes in French at La Philosophie

Descartes Philosophical Writings tr. by Norman Kemp Smith at archive.org

Studies in the Cartesian philosophy (1902) by Norman Kemp Smith at archive.org

The Philosophical Works Of Descartes Volume II (1934) at archive.org

René Descartes (1596—1650): Overview(IEP)

René Descartes:The Mind-Body Distinction(IEP)

Cartesian skepticism(DEP)

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

René Descartes

Descartes' Epistemology

Descartes' Ethics

Descartes' Life and Works

Descartes' Modal Metaphysics

Descartes' Ontological Argument

Descartes and the Pineal Gland

Descartes' Physics

Descartes' Theory of Ideas

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playername	Joey Barton
fullname	Joseph Anthony Barton
dateofbirth	September 02, 1982
cityofbirth	Huyton, Merseyside
countryofbirth	England
height
position	Midfielder
currentclub	Queens Park Rangers
clubnumber	17
youthyears2	1997–2002
youthclubs1	Everton
youthclubs2	Manchester City
years1	2002–2007
clubs1	Manchester City
caps1	130
goals1	15
years2	2007–2011
clubs2	Newcastle United
caps2	81
goals2	7
years3	2011–
clubs3	Queens Park Rangers
caps3	0
goals3	0
nationalyears1	2003
nationalteam1	England U21
nationalcaps1	2
nationalgoals1	1
nationalyears2	2007
nationalteam2	England
nationalcaps2	1
nationalgoals2	0
pcupdate	20 August 2011
ntupdate	31 August 2008 }}

Joseph Anthony "Joey" Barton (born 2 September 1982) () is an English footballer who plays for Premier League side Queens Park Rangers as either a central midfielder or a winger.

Barton was born in Huyton, Merseyside and raised in a working-class area. He began his football career with Manchester City in 2002 after working his way through their youth system. His appearances in the senior side gradually increased over the following five years and he made more than 150 for the club. He earned his first cap for the England national team in February 2007, despite his criticism of some of the team's players. He then joined Newcastle United for a fee of £5.8 million in July 2007. After 4 years with the Magpies, he joined his current club Queens Park Rangers in August 2011.

His career and life have been marked by numerous controversial incidents and disciplinary problems, and he has been convicted twice on charges of violence. On 20 May 2008 he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for common assault and affray during an incident outside a McDonald's restaurant in Liverpool City Centre. Barton served 77 days of this prison term, being released on 28 July 2008. On 1 July 2008 he was also given a four months suspended sentence after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm on former teammate Ousmane Dabo during a training ground dispute, on 1 May 2007. This incident effectively ended his Manchester City career. Three days after his release, he was charged with violent conduct by The FA for the assault on Dabo.

Early life

Born in Liverpool, Barton is the oldest of four brothers. His parents separated when he was 14 years old and consequently he lived with his father at his grandmother's house on a different estate. He has said that his grandmother's influence helped him to avoid getting caught up in a recreational drug culture and attributes his work ethic to his father. and played football semi-professionally for Northwich Victoria. Barton enjoyed physical education at his school St Thomas Beckets, which he represented in various sports and was a talented Rugby League prospect. He left school with ten GCSEs. Barton said his rejection by clubs only made him more determined to succeed as a footballer and prove his detractors wrong. He made his first appearance for the club's under-17s team in 1999 and played regularly at Academy level for three years. His first reserve team appearance came at the end of the 2000–01 season, in his final year as a trainee. Uncertain about Barton's future prospects, the club planned to release him, but reconsidered and gave him his first professional contract in the close season. Over the next two years, he successfully made the transition from the under-19s to regular reserve football. He was promoted to the first-team squad in the 2002–03 season.

Manchester City

Barton would have made his debut for the City first-team in November 2002 against Middlesbrough, had he not lost his shirt after leaving it on the substitutes bench at half-time. He eventually made his first-team debut for the club against Bolton Wanderers on 5 April 2003. His first senior goal came two weeks later in a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Good Friday. He ended the 2002–03 season with a run of seven consecutive starts.

After impressing in his first season at City, Barton was offered a new one-year contract at the club by manager Kevin Keegan, which he signed in April 2003. He featured in the first-team more regularly during the 2003–04 season and, following a second Premiership goal, was rewarded with a call-up to the England U21 squad for their 2004 European Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal.

An FA Cup match against Tottenham saw Barton receive the first red card of his career in unusual circumstances: at half-time, with his club 3–0 down, he argued with the referee and was sent off although the match was not in progress. In the second half, despite playing with 10 men, Barton's team-mates achieved an unlikely 4–3 victory. Barton left the City of Manchester Stadium in anger on 17 April, after not being named in the team to play Southampton. However he featured regularly in the 2003–04 season, which he completed with 39 appearances and one goal. His displays impressed City's supporters, and at the end of the 2003–04 season he was awarded with the club's Young Player of the Year award.

Barton sparked a ten-man brawl in a friendly match against Doncaster Rovers on 25 July 2004 after "hacking" at an opposition player. Although he signed a new contract on 22 September 2004, which would keep him at City until 2007, the club considered sacking Barton in December 2004 after an incident at their Christmas party. He stubbed out a lit cigar in youth player Jamie Tandy's eye, after he had caught Tandy attempting to set fire to his shirt. Barton subsequently apologised for his actions and was fined six weeks' wages (£60,000).

In the summer of 2005, Barton was sent home from a pre-season tournament in Thailand after assaulting a 15-year-old Everton supporter who had provoked Barton by verbally abusing him and kicking his shin. Barton had to be restrained from attacking the boy further by teammate Richard Dunne. Barton underwent anger management therapy at the order of City manager Stuart Pearce and paid £120,000 in club fines. In the autumn of 2005, Barton began a seven-day programme of behavioural management at the Sporting Chance clinic, a charity set up to help troubled sportsmen and women.

Barton handed in a written transfer request in January 2006, which the club rejected. The following day, they also rejected a verbal offer for Barton from Middlesbrough, with Stuart Pearce asserting that a deal could still be made to keep him at the club. During the following week, Barton admitted that he was "a little bit impetuous" in making such a request and agreed to begin negotiations on a new contract at City. He was rewarded with a new four-year deal, which he signed on 25 July, ending speculation about his future.

His behaviour appeared to improve after his participation at the Sporting Chance clinic. However, on 30 September 2006, television cameras captured Barton exposing his backside to Everton fans, following City's injury-time equaliser in a game at Goodison Park. Barton had received abuse from Everton supporters throughout the match and the gesture has since been described as "light-hearted" and "inoffensive" by people involved in football. Merseyside Police looked into the incident, but announced in October that no further action would be taken, although Barton was fined £2,000 for bringing the game into disrepute and warned about his future conduct by The Football Association.

In December 2006, Barton received the second red card of his career, for a late two-footed tackle on Bolton Wanderers player Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye.

Barton's agent Willie McKay revealed in January 2007 that if any team offered at least £5.5 million for Barton, it would trigger a release clause in his contract that would mean City would have to allow Barton to talk to the interested club. This reportedly prompted Everton manager David Moyes to make an inquiry to City about Barton's availability. However, the next day Barton said "People are trying to unsettle me but I'm happy to stay here".

Following impressive form at club level, Barton received his first call-up to the full England squad on 2 February 2007 for a friendly match against Spain, despite his recent criticism of certain members of the England squad for releasing autobiographies after an unimpressive 2006 World Cup. He had suggested such players had "cashed in" on the national team's lack of success.

Barton later received support over his comments and Steven Gerrard, one of the players whom Barton had criticised, praised him for his honesty. However, Frank Lampard, who had also released an autobiography following the tournament, publicly stated his disapproval. Barton made his international debut on 7 February 2007, replacing Lampard in the 78th minute of the 0–1 defeat to Spain at Old Trafford.

He was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage after an alleged argument with a taxi driver in Liverpool while going to his hotel after a match on 13 March 2007. He was cleared of this charge in May 2008.

Barton displayed his outspokenness once again on 22 April 2007 when he publicly criticised City's performances during the 2006–07 season, and described some of the players the club had signed as "substandard". Following his comments, City's manager Stuart Pearce banned him from speaking to the media.

Barton was fined £100,000 and suspended by City until the end of the 2006–07 season on 1 May 2007, following an incident during training when he assaulted his team mate Ousmane Dabo. Dabo said that he had been hit several times, and had to go to hospital after suffering injuries to his head, including a suspected detached retina. Dabo requested that the police press charges against Barton, and as a result, Barton was arrested and questioned by Greater Manchester Police. This altercation effectively ended Barton's time at City, although he later cited a "relationship breakdown" with Stuart Pearce as the main reason he left the club. Barton was bailed until August and was later charged with assault, to which he initially pleaded not guilty. He later changed this to a guilty plea and on 1 July 2008 was sentenced to a four month suspended prison sentence plus 200 hours community service and ordered to pay £3,000 compensation. Barton was also charged with violent conduct by the FA. Barton pleaded guilty and on 1 September 2008 was banned for six games with a further six game ban suspended for two years and fined £25,000.

Newcastle United

Following offers from Newcastle United and West Ham United, Barton joined Newcastle on 14 June 2007 for a fee of £5.8 million. The contract negotiations had become protracted after Manchester City refused to pay Barton a fee of £300,000 to which he was reported to be entitled if he left the club without submitting a request for transfer. Newcastle United consequently raised their initial offer of £5.5 million to £5.8, in effect compensating Manchester City for the £300,000 discrepancy. He said that his desire to win trophies helped him to make the decision, along with his admiration for manager Sam Allardyce. Barton made his Newcastle debut in a friendly against Hartlepool United on 17 July 2007. Four days later, he was ruled out for six to seven weeks after fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot during a friendly match with Carlisle United. He was ruled out for a further month in October 2007. He eventually made his Premier League debut for Newcastle on 22 October 2007, coming on as a second half substitute in a 3–1 win over Tottenham. During his first Tyne-Wear derby for Newcastle against Sunderland, Barton appeared to raise his foot dangerously in a challenge with Sunderland's Dickson Etuhu, leading to the News of the World running with the headline "Ban Him". However the FA were unable to charge Barton for the incident because match official Martin Atkinson had seen the act take place in the match, and had taken no action. FIFA regulations dictate that a retrospective charge for violent conduct can be made only if the match official did not notice the incident. Barton later apologised for the tackle. Early in December, he called for Newcastle fans to give the team more time after their abuse of manager Sam Allardyce, calling them "vicious". He later played this down, saying his comments had been misrepresented.

On 27 December 2007, Barton was arrested on suspicion of assault in the Church Street area of Liverpool city centre following an incident which took place at 5:30 am. He was remanded in custody on 28 December since the offence was committed whilst he was on bail for two prior offences; the presiding magistrate noted "I also have to consider the safety of the public – you lashed out indiscriminately". CCTV showed Barton punching a man twenty times, causing him to lose consciousness, and attacking a teenager, breaking some of his teeth. On 20 May 2008, he was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty for his part in the December 2007 assault. Barton's cousin, Nadine Wilson and his brother Andrew Barton also pleaded guilty to their part in the assaults and received suspended sentences. Barton admitted to being an alcoholic and claimed he wanted to achieve "total abstinence" in order to improve his behaviour. He served 77 days of his prison term, being released on 28 July 2008.

Barton's subsequent conviction for the earlier assault on Ousmane Dabo at Manchester City was handed out while serving this sentence. He returned to playing action on 30 August 2008, six days before his FA hearing, as a second half substitute during Newcastle's 3–0 defeat to Arsenal. He came on to a chorus of boos from the Arsenal supporters. Shortly into this return game, Barton was involved in an incident with Samir Nasri, putting in a strong tackle, for which the referee did not give a foul. The tackle, though hard, was legal. Minutes later, Nasri deliberately clipped Barton while tracking back, for which he was booked. At the end of the game, then-Newcastle manager, Kevin Keegan, was involved in an altercation with Nasri and Arsenal captain William Gallas, in regards to the incident.

It was a brief stint back in the playing squad, with Barton banned for six games, with a further suspended six-game ban, for his assault on Dabo. After serving his ban, he played 75 minutes in a reserve game and said he wanted to transform his image to become a role model, before he returned to action in the Tyne-Wear derby on 25 October. He was booed by Sunderland fans and had missiles thrown at him as he warmed up, as Newcastle lost 2–1. Without him, Newcastle had not recorded a league victory since the second game of the season, but Barton scored a penalty in his second game back to lift the club out of the relegation zone. The suspended six-game ban was nearly brought into action when Barton appeared to flick Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in the club's next game, but the FA decided not to punish Barton. However, further allegations that Barton had made a racist remark to Agbonlahor were cause enough for the FA to reconsider this decision. The remarks remain unfounded and 'professional lip-readers' claimed he said nothing racist. In Newcastle's 2–2 draw with Wigan on 15 November 2008, Barton was injured after a tackle from Lee Cattermole. It was later confirmed that Barton would be out for two months with a medial ligament injury. Returning to the first team at the end of January, he played only twice before again breaking his metatarsal, during a 2–1 defeat to his old club Manchester City.

In his first appearance in over three months on 3 May 2009, Barton was sent off late in a 3–0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield for a sliding challenge on Xabi Alonso. The red card ruled Barton out of Newcastle's remaining three games of the season, with the club in danger of relegation from the Premier League. Newcastle manager Alan Shearer raised doubts about Barton's future at the club, saying "I think it would be wrong to discuss his future now, but I'm not very happy." On 5 May, Newcastle United announced the suspension of Barton indefinitely, and Barton was told to stay away from the club. As a result, Barton's future at Newcastle United was put in doubt. The club suspension was widely reportedly to have resulted not directly from the red card, but from a dressing room confrontation with Shearer and assistant manager Iain Dowie following the game. Shearer said he made a mistake putting Barton back into the team, and that his tackle was "a coward's tackle", to which Barton replied that he was "the best player at the club", and Shearer had to play him. Shearer said that Barton wasn't, that he was "shit". Barton replied that Shearer was "a shit manager with shit tactics". When Dowie intervened, Barton called him "a prick". Barton was reportedly transfer listed, with former manager Sam Allardyce reported to have been interested in taking Barton to Blackburn Rovers. Barton's counsellor has said that Barton "would love to work with Alan Shearer again" and "feels very much that he owes the club and the fans."

Barton stayed on with Newcastle United after they were relegated to the Championship, playing six out of Newcastle's opening eight league games, but suffered an injury to his foot in a 3–1 win against Plymouth Argyle on 19 September. He returned in April for Newcastle, playing all nine of Newcastle's remaining league fixtures and scoring his only goal of the campaign from a free kick in a win over Peterborough. Due to the form of Danny Guthrie and Kevin Nolan, Barton had to play left wing when he returned.

He started his new club season 2010–2011 as a first team regular, playing against Manchester United on the opening day. On Barton's and Newcastle's second game, he scored against Aston Villa in a 6–0 victory for Newcastle. Immediately, after the game Barton removed a moustache which he had pledged to not shave until Newcastle United had won a game in the new season. On 10 November, in a 2–1 defeat to Blackburn, Barton again acted violently, punching Morten Gamst Pedersen in the chest. He was not punished during the game as the officials did not see the incident, but after reviewing the evidence, the FA again charged Barton with violent conduct. Barton apologised, accepted the charge, and was banned for three matches. Barton courted controversy once again during Newcastle's 3–1 win over Liverpool on 11 December 2010, when he appeared to direct homophobic remarks and a lewd gesture at Fernando Torres. Barton scored two penalties against Arsenal on 5 February 2011 as Newcastle came from a 4–0 deficit to draw 4–4. He was involved in an altercation with Abou Diaby which led to a straight red card for Diaby. Diaby took offence to Barton's strong challenge and retaliated by grabbing Barton by the neck and shoving him to the ground.

On 25 May 2011, Barton's agent Willie McKay confirmed that his client would not be signing a new contract at St James' Park after contract talks broke down between the club and player. Barton was officially transfer listed by Newcastle on 1 August 2011, and it was also stated that he could leave for free with his current contract yet to expire.

With the club continuing to decline to offer him a contract, after he refused an earlier offer, on 24 August 2011, Barton was given permission to talk to QPR. Thanking the Newcastle fans, he left on 26 August 2011.

Queens Park Rangers

On 26 August 2011, Barton moved to Queens Park Rangers signing a four-year deal on a free transfer.

International career

Barton represented the England U21 and was part of the squad for their 2004 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and Portugal, scoring once against Portugal. with a game based on tackling and tracking back to shield the defence. As his career has progressed, he has begun to incorporate a more attacking approach to his play, which has resulted in a greater number of goals and assists, and he was Manchester City's leading scorer in 2006–07, despite not playing as a striker.

Barton has been described as having a good work ethic and the ability to carry the ball and retain possession for the team. He has been praised for having a good passing range. This aspect of his game has shown improvement since the 2005–06 season, when he began to favour simpler passes over more ambitious ones, and his relatively high pass completion rate can be attributed to this change. Barton's passes have often proved to be crucial; in the past he has led the way in his team's assists.

Barton has been described as the dirtiest player in the premiership, a style reflected in the high number of fouls he has committed during his career. He received 39 bookings and three red cards during his time at Manchester City. This physical approach was occasionally criticised by Kevin Keegan as excessive. Opta statistics rated Barton as the tenth best tackler in the Premier League for the 2004–05 season.

Career statistics

Club

''Correct as of 20 August 2011.'' ! colspan=2 0 4 !39 ! 1 !33 ! 5 !36 ! 4 !38 ! 0 !23 ! 0 0 !15 ! 1 !35 ! 0 !2 ! 0

rowspan=2	Season !! rowspan=2|Club !! rowspan=2|League	! colspan=2	League Cup !! colspan=2|Europe !! colspan=2|Total
! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals !! Apps !! Goals
2002–03 FA Premier League	2002–03	rowspan=5		7	1	|	0	0	0	0	0	7 !! 1
2003–04 FA Premier League	2003–04	28	1	|	0	2	0	5	0	1
2004–05 FA Premier League	2004–05	31	1	|	0	1	1	0	0	2
2005–06 FA Premier League	2005–06	31	6	|	0	0	0	0	0	6
2006–07 FA Premier League	2006–07	33	6	|	1	1	0	0	0	7
Club Total			!130 !! 15 !! 14 !! 1 !! 4 !! 1 !! 5 !! 0 !! 153 !! 17
2007–08 Premier League	2007–08	rowspan=5		23	1	|	0	0	0	0	0	1
2008–09 Premier League	2008–09	9	1	|	0	0	0	0	0	9 !! 1
2009–10 Football League Championship	2009–10		15	1	|	0	0	0	0	0	1
2010–11 Premier League	2010–11		32	4	|	1	2	0	0	0	5
2011–12 Premier League	2011–12	2	0	|	0	0	0	0	0	0
Club Total			!81 !! 7 !! 1 !! 1 !! 2 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 84 !! 8
2011–12 Premier League	2011–12	rowspan=1		0	0	|	0	0	0	0	0	!0 !! 0
Club Total			!0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0
Career Total			!211 !! 22 !! 15 !! 2 !! 6 !! 1 !! 5 !! 0 !! 237 !! 25

International

''Correct as of 10 February 2011.'' |- | 2003 || 2 || 1 |- ! Total || 2 || 1 |- |}

|- | 2007 || 1 || 0 |- ! Total || 1 || 0 |- |}

International goal

:''Scores and results list England U21's goal tally first. Goodison Park, Liverpool

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1	9 September 2003	|		1–1	1–2	2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Personal life

Barton's half brother, Michael Barton, was sentenced to life imprisonment (with a tariff of 17 years) for his involvement in the racially motivated murder of Anthony Walker in 2005. Joey made a public appeal to his brother to come forward and help with the police investigation following the attack, and also made a series of calls to Michael, enquiring about his involvement in the incident.

In May 2005 he broke a 35-year-old pedestrian's leg while driving his car through Liverpool city centre at 2 am. He was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage after an alleged argument with a taxi driver in Liverpool while going to his hotel after a match on 13 March 2007. He was cleared of this charge in May 2008.

Barton, himself is a patron of the Tamsin Gulvin Fund, a charity set up to support people who have addiction problems and no financial support. Tony Adams, who had been impressed with Barton's attitude during his involvement in the Sporting Chance clinic, appointed him to this role. He is a part of the 'Get Hooked on Fishing' campaign, designed to keep children out of trouble by encouraging them to take up fishing. He has also taken part in a celebrity cricket match for charity to help fund a new children's rehabilitation unit at a hospital in Manchester.

He is a good friend of the boxer Ricky Hatton and has supported him in some of his fights, and has trained with him. He is also a friend of former Oasis band member Noel Gallagher. Barton co-owns a race horse called 'Crying Lightning' with fellow football player Claudio Pizarro. In January 2011 the horse competed at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai.

Barton is a prominent user of Twitter, boasting 450,000 followers as of August 2011. Commenting on figures from Friedrich Nietzsche and George Orwell to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Morrissey; his eclectic tweets have resulted in him being described by the BBC as "as a philosophical sportsman to rival Eric Cantona in his heyday".

Honours

;Newcastle United

Football League Championship (1): 2009–10

Teresa Herrera Trophy: Winner: 2010

References

External links

Profile at nufc.co.uk

National team profile at FA homepage

Premier League profile

Category:1982 births Category:People from Huyton Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Liverpool Category:Association football midfielders Category:English footballers Category:England under-21 international footballers Category:England international footballers Category:Manchester City F.C. players Category:Newcastle United F.C. players Category:Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Category:Premier League players Category:The Football League players Category:English criminals Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:English people convicted of assault Category:Queens Park Rangers F.C. players

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