Browse Items (202 total)

Here we have the frontispiece, or illustration facing the title page, of Thomas Hobbes’s De Cive, commonly translated as “On the citizen.” I have chosen this work as illustrative of the general trends in philosophical writings of the time that…

In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Social Contract,” he draws influence from conservative theorists, such as Hobbes, and liberal theorists, such as Locke, alike when mapping out how what a well-functioning socio-political state would look like in the…

“The male is male only at certain moments; the female is female her whole life… everything constantly recalls her sex to her, and to fulfill its functions, an appropriate physical constitution is necessary to her… she needs a soft sedentary life to…

The drawing is a visual representation of the Leiden Anatomical Theater in Leiden, Netherlands. In 1597, Dutch professor Petrus put the anatomical theater into permanent use.

Anatomical theaters of universities are regarded as one of the symbols…

The image selected is an engraving of two scenes from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. The book was originally printed via woodcut, a method of printmaking in which blocks of wood were engraved to depict a certain scene, covered with ink, and then…

John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government reflect the anti-absolutist sentiments woven throughout England’s political fabric. He outlined the Law of Nature and how it granted each person the right to life, liberty, health, and property, maintaining…

In Chapter 6 of Locke’s Two Treatises of Government about paternal power, he mentioned that the phrase “paternal power” seems to “place the power of parents over their children wholly in the father, as though the mother had no share in it; whereas…

In John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government,” he breaks-down and refutes the argument of rival political philosopher Robert Filmer and establishes the framework for contract theory in civil society and the government. Specifically, in his second…

A court physician, ethical thinker, and political player, John Locke’s ideas figured prominently in the mainstream Enlightenment. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding put forth his thoughts on the origin of human knowledge. He wrote that everyone…

One of the key parts of the Spanish economy in the New World following its conquest was the use of indigenous labor. This system was termed the encomienda system. One of the loudest voices against this system was Bartolomé de las Casas, a former…

Throughout human history, great discoveries have commonly been made by accident. Despite popular mythology, this principle applies to Christopher Columbus’ initial voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Although the notion that the Earth was round was not…

This is a print from the original painting by Joseph Wright depicting a philosopher lecturing on the orrery, or mechanical model of the solar system, and intellectuals used them “as pedagogical devices used exclusively for demonstration” (Barker 31).…