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Judith N. Shklar
Judith Nisse Shklar (September 24, 1928 – September 17, 1992) was a philosopher and political theorist who studied the history of political thought, notably that of the Enlightenment period. She was appointed the John Cowles Professor of Government at Harvard University in 1980. Biography Judith Shklar was born as Judita Nisse () in Riga, Latvia, to Jewish Latvian parents. Because of persecution during World War II, her family fled Europe via Japan to the US and finally to Canada in 1941, when she was thirteen. She began her studies at McGill University at the age of 16, receiving bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in 1949 and 1950, respectively. She later recalled that the entrance rules to McGill at the time required 750 points for Jews and 600 for everyone else.Judith N. Shklar, "A Life of Learning," ACLS Occasional Paper, no. 9, 1989, at https://publications.acls.org/OP/Haskins_1989_JudithNShklar.pdf . She took her PhD degree from Harvard University in 1955. Her me ...
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Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planning Region, Riga metropolitan area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 847,162 (as of 2025). The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava (river), Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers and lies above sea level on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201, and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 Riga summit, 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship, and the 2006 IIHF Wo ...
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Amy Gutmann
Amy Gutmann (; born November 19, 1949) is an American academic and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2022 to 2024. She was previously the 8th president of the University of Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2022, the longest-serving president in the history of the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, School of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, '' Fortune'' magazine named Gutmann one of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders". She previously worked at Princeton as provost and Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics. She also founded Princeton's ethics center, the University Center for Human Values. Her published works are in the fields of politics, ethics, education, and philosophy. Early life and education Amy Gutmann was born on November 19, 1949, in Brook ...
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Virtue
A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is said to be right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour, even when doing so may be unnecessary from a utilitarianism, utilitarian perspective. When someone takes pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, they can establish virtue as a habit. Such a person is said to be virtuous through having cultivated such a disposition. The opposite of virtue is vice. Other examples of this notion include the concept of Merit (Buddhism), merit in Asian traditions as well as (Chinese language, Chinese ). Etymology The ...
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Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit. Vices are usually associated with a fault in a person's character or temperament rather than their morality. Synonyms for vice include fault, sin, depravity, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption. The antonym of vice is virtue. Etymology The modern English term that best captures its original meaning is the word ''vicious'', which means "full of vice". In this sense, the word ''vice'' comes from the Latin word ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#vitium, vitium'', meaning "failing or defect". Law enforcement Depending on the country or jurisdiction, vice crimes may or may not be treated as a separate category in the Criminal code, criminal codes. Even in jurisdictions where vice is not explicitly delineated in the legal co ...
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Justice
In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Institutes'' of Justinian I, Justinian, a 6th-century codification of Roman law, where justice is defined as "the constant and perpetual will to render to each his due". A society where justice has been achieved would be one in which individuals receive what they "deserve". The interpretation of what "deserve" means draws on a variety of fields and philosophical branches including ethics, rationality, law, religion, and fairness. The state may pursue justice by operating courts and enforcing their rulings. History Early Western theories of justice were developed in part by Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato in his work ''Republic (Plato), The Republic'', and Aristotle, in his ''Nicomachean Ethics'' and ''Politics (Aristotle), Politics'' ...
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Injustice
Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but not always—defined as either the absence or the opposite of justice. The sense of injustice is a universal human feature, though the exact circumstances considered unjust can vary from culture to culture. While even acts of nature can sometimes arouse the sense of injustice, the sense is usually felt in relation to human action such as misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system or fellow human beings. The sense of injustice can be a powerful motivational condition, causing people to take action not just to defend themselves but also others who they perceive to be unfairly treated. Injustice within legal or societal standards are sometimes referred to as a two-tiered system. Relation ...
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Liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various and often mutually conflicting views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, Economic freedom, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion.Generally support: * * * * * * *constitutional government and privacy rights * Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.Wolfe, p. 23. Liberalism became a distinct Political movement, movement in the Age of Enlightenment, gaining popularity among Western world, Western philosophers and economists. L ...
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Constitutional Democracy
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of Legal entity, entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a ''written constitution''; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a ''codified constitution''. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an ''uncodified constitution''; it is instead written in numerous fundamental acts of a legislature, court cases, and treaties. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from Sovereign state, sovereign countries to Company, companies and unincorporated Club (organization), associations. A treaty that establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organ ...
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Evil
Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal. While some religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing people. Evil can denote profound immorality, but typically not without some basis in the understanding of the human condition, where strife and suffering ( cf. Hinduism) are the ...
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Cruelty
Cruelty is the intentional infliction of suffering or the inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve violence, but affirmative violence is not necessary for an act to be cruel. Etymology The term comes from Middle English, via the Old French term "crualte", which is based on Latin "crudelitas", from "crudelis". The word has metaphorical uses, for example, " The cliffs remained cruel." (i.e., unclimbable when they desperately needed to be climbed) in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Usage in law The term ''cruelty'' is often used in law and criminology with regard to the treatment of animals, children, spouses, and prisoners. When cruelty to animals is discussed, it often refers to ''unnecessary suffering.'' In criminal law, it refers to punishment, torture, victimization, draconian measures, and cruel and unusual punishment. In divorce ...
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Tracy Strong
Tracy Burr Strong (6 October 194311 May 2022) was a philosopher and political theorist. His first book, ''Friedrich Nietzsche and the Politics of Transfiguration'' (1974) was recognised as a valuable contribution to scholarship on the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It repositioned Nietzsche's project as political against the assumption that Nietzsche's philosophy was apolitical. Life and career Strong was born in Weixian, China, while his parents were being held within a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. A Swedish vessel, the Gripsholm, took Strong as a baby to New York for repatriation, arriving on 18 December 1943. He was educated at Collège de Genève and at Oberlin College (where he played soccer, was on the fencing team, and majored in government), earning a BA in 1963. He received a PhD from Harvard University in 1968. He was Henry Kissinger's teaching assistant, and was president of the Harvard chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. As an instructor at Ha ...
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Melissa Williams (political Scientist)
Melissa S. Williams (born 1960) is an American academic who specialises in democratic theory and comparative political theory. She was the founding director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics. As of 2018, she is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She gained an MESc from Bryn Mawr College and AM and PhD degrees from Harvard University. Her doctoral advisers were Judith Shklar and Dennis F. Thompson. Her PhD thesis won the American Political Science Association's Leo Strauss Award. A major work is the book ''Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation'', published by Princeton University Press (1998), which won a First Book Award in political theory or political philosophy from the American Political Science Association in 1999. She has been editor of the journal ''NOMOS'' of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. Selected publications ;Books *Melissa S. Willia ...
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