Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Sphera volgare, featuring the Sun, the Moon, the winds and the stars as living. Woodcut illustration from an edition of De sphaera mundi, Venice, 1537.. Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine according to which all matter is alive or animated, [clarification needed] [1] either in itself or as participating in the action of a superior principle, usually the world-soul (anima mundi). [2]
In psychology, grandiosity is a sense of superiority, uniqueness, or invulnerability that is unrealistic and not based on personal capability.It may be expressed by exaggerated beliefs regarding one's abilities, the belief that few other people have anything in common with oneself, and that one can only be understood by a few, very special people. [1]
The word pessimism comes from Latin pessimus, meaning "the worst".The term "optimism" was first used to name Leibniz's thesis that we live in "the best of all possible worlds"; and "pessimism" was coined to name the opposing view.
Aequanimitas was an essay by Sir William Osler, delivered to new doctors on 1 May 1889 as his farewell address at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine. [2] [4] It was published in the same year. [1] Aequanimitas refers to staying calm and composed.
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. [1] The term arose in the early 16th century during Europe 's Age of Discovery , after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin -language pamphlet Mundus Novus , presenting his conclusion that these lands (soon ...
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from matter that does not. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction.
Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that life has no objective meaning or purpose. [1] The inherent meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism, where one can potentially create their own subjective "meaning" or "purpose".
It is difficult to define the genre into which essays fall. Aldous Huxley, a leading essayist, gives guidance on the subject. [4] He notes that "the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything", and adds that "by tradition, almost by definition, the essay is a short piece".