Biography of Macbeth

Macbeth was king of Scotland from 1040 to 1057. Although he is best known through the Shakespearean drama bearing his name, his historical importance lies in the fact that he was the last Celtic king of Scotland. [Read Indonesian]

The career of Macbeth is hidden in obscurity, but certain facts make it clear that Shakespeare's portrayal of the character of the man is at marked variance with reality. Macbeth was a person of great importance before he became king. As holder of the office of mormaer of Moray by virtue of inheritance from his father, he was a district chieftain and one of a handful of the most important men of the realm. His own ancestry could be traced back to royalty, and he was cousin to Duncan I (reigned 1034 1040), whom he served as commander of the royal army.

His wife, Gruoch, was also descended from royalty. Macbeth came to represent opposition to the king at several points: in him northern and Celtic sentiments found a defender against southern and Saxon influences supported by Duncan; and Macbeth had personal claims to kingship in his own name and in that of his stepson, Lulach.

There was some questions about the rights of Duncan to be king since, as grandson of Malcolm II, he represented the first instance of the rule of primogeniture in the history of the Scottish crown. The usual principle of succession required that the crown pass to a collateral of the king, not to heirs of the direct line. As Macbeth pressed his claim, he had tradition on his side; he won the crown by slaying Duncan at Bothgowanan in 1040.

During Macbeth's reign there was only one native uprising, that led by Abbot Crinan, Duncan's father. The realm was peaceful enough for Macbeth to make a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050. An invasion from Northumberland in the name of Duncan's son, Malcolm (later, Malcolm III), was repulsed in 1054. A second invasion, in 1057, led by Malcolm was successful, and Macbeth fell in battle; but rather than accept the "Saxon" Malcolm, Macbeth's supporters took Lulach for their king. Within a few months Lulach was defeated, and Malcolm was able to inaugurate the Canmore dynasty.

This dynastic revolution seems to be the basis for the identification of Macbeth as a monster and usurper. When later Canmore kings fought Celtic forces of decentralization, they exalted their ancestor Duncan and developed a hostile vision of Macbeth, the last Celtic king, so as to discredit the Celtic cause. The first written picture of Macbeth in this new light came in the Scotichronicon of John of Fordun (ca. 1380). From this base the legend grew until it reached its fullest statement in the writing of Raphael Holinshed, the immediate source for Shakespeare.
Source : http://biographyinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/06/macbeth.html

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Biography of Arthur O. Lovejoy

Arthur Oncken Lovejoy (11873 1962), American philosopher, helped establish the history of ideas as a separate scholarly field.

Born in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 10 1873, Arthur Lovejoy emigrated to the United States. He received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California in 1895. In 1897 Harvard awarded him a master of arts degree. After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, he organized a department of philosophy at Stanford University in California. However, he resigned to protest what lie felt was an unfair dismissal of a colleague. From 1901 to 1908 Lovejoy taught at Washington University in St. Louis. After 2 years at the University of Missouri, lie moved to Johns Hopkins University, where he spent the rest of his teaching career, with occasional trips to Harvard as visiting lecturer.

For many years Lovejoy's primary influence came through his teaching and short articles, as well as through the History of Ideas Club he helped organize at Johns Hopkins. Not until relatively late in life did he publish book length expositions. The Revolt against Dualisms (1930) reflected his desire to establish a philosophical position somewhere between the popular extremes of "idealism" (which made the universe dependent upon consciousness) and "realism" (which argued for an objective existence independent of consciousness). His philosophical focus on the transitional dimension of being and knowledge coincided with his interest in intellectual history.

In numerous essays and two books, Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiquity (1935) and The Great Chain of Being (1930), his most important work, Lovejoy elaborated a scholarly discipline best described as the study of the history of ideas. Whereas most intellectual historians had emphasized the external relationship of thought to environment, Lovejoy stressed internal analysis to demonstrate how the meaning of ideas changes through the ages and how “unit-ideas” manifest themselves in the thought of men outside the philosophical profession.

Essentially, his was a philosopher's method, which may explain why historians and literary experts in the field did not often attempt to duplicate his approach. The Great Chain of Being evoked much admiration but lilttle imitation; the Journal of the History of Ideas, which Lovejoy helped found and edit, maintained his high standards of philosophical analysis. He died on Oct. 30, 1962.

Name	:	Arthur Oncken Lovejoy
Born	:	10-Oct-1873
Birthplace	:	Berlin, Germany
Died	:	30-Dec-1962
Religion	:	Unitarian
Occupation	:	Historian
Nationality	:	United States
Education	:	University : BA, University of California at Berkeley (1895) University : MA, Harvard University (1897) University : Sorbonne Professor : Stanford University (1899-1901) Professor : Washington University in St. Louis (1901-07) Professor : University of Missouri (1908-10) Professor : Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University (1910-38)

Journal of the History of Ideas Founder (1940-)
American Civil Liberties Union

Author of books:
The Revolt Against Dualism (1930)
Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiquity (1935, with George Boas)
The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea (1936)
Essays in the History of Ideas (1948)
Reflections on Human Nature (1961)
The Reason, the Understanding, and Time (1961)

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Biography of Maimonides

Maimonides (1135-1204), or Moses ben Maimon, was the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages. His commentaries on, and codification of, the rabbinic tradition established him as a major religious authority in Judaism.

Maimonides was born at Cordova, Spain, on March 30, 1135. From his father, Rabbi Maimon ben Joseph, he received his early education in Mathematics, and astronomy as well as in rabbinic literature, which interpreted the jewish scriptures and defined the Iaws and ritual of the Jewish community. Living in southern Spain, Maimonides also came into contact with Greek, and Arabian philosophy, especially the thought of Avicenna.

In 1148, when Maimonides was 13, the Almohads conquered Cordova, then his family moved abroad. After 12 years of wandering from town to town in southern Spain, the family finally settled at Fez in Morocco. During this period of wandering, Maimonides wrote a treatise on the Jewish calendar and began his commentary on the Mishnah, a codification of the Jewish Oral Law arranged according to subjects.

Jewish faith is different to Christian faith, and would never be the same, especially with their theology. Rarely jews willing to convert to Christianity, that's why many of them tend to die in the Crusade I era, rather than abandon the Jewish faith or undergo martyrdom, Maimonides and his family sailed to Palestine on April 18, 1165, arriving at Acre a month later. The next year the family settled at al Fustat (Old Cairo) in Egypt, where Maimonides was to remain for the rest of his life. After the death of the father in 1166, the family was supported for a time by Maimonides's younger brother, David, who engaged in the jewel trade. David died by drowning while on a voyage to the Indonesia, and the accompanying loss of the family's resources as well as those of other investors forced Maimonides into a career in medicine. Maimonides soon became the personal physician of al Qadi al Fadil, the vizier of Saladin. Shortly thereafter, Maimonides was made the head of all the Jewish communities in Egypt, a nonsalaried position which he held until his death.

Settling at al Fustat allowed Mainionides to complete his commentary on the Mishnah, which appeared in 1168 and soon became popular among the Jewish communities of the Mediterranean worId. About 1180 Maimonides completed his code of the Jewish law, which had a similarly favorable reception.

The major work of Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, was completed in 1190 and published in Arabic. In this work Maimonides tried to reconcile faith and reason. It was written for those who possessed a firm knowledge of the Jewish faith, mathematics, and logic but Who, having little or no knowledge of physics and metaphysics, believed that religion and philosophy contradicted each other. Maimonides believed that philosophy, properly understood and used, supported rather than destroyed the faith. In order to demonstrate this, he adopted many of the arguments for the existence of God and the nature of the human soul found in such Arabian philosophers as al Farabi and Avicenna. Where philosophical demonstration is inconclusive, as in establishing the eternity of the world or the doctrine of creation.

Maimonides died at al Fustat on Dec, 13, 1204, and, after a period of mourning in the Jewish community in Egypt, his body was transported to Palestine and buried at Tiberias in Galilee. His Guide became the fundamental text for medieval Jewish philosophy.
Source : http://biographyinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/07/maimonides.html

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Biography of Aristotle

The Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384-322 BC) organized all knowlwdge of his time into a coherent whole which served as the basis for much of the science and philosophy of Hellenistic and Roman times and even affected medieval science and philosophy.

Aristotle was born in the small Greek town of Stagiros (later Stagira) in the northern Greek district of Chalcidice. His father, Nicomachus, was a physician who had important social connections, and Aristotle’s interest in science was surely spurred by his father’s works, although Aristotle does not display a particular keen interest in medicine as such. The events of his early life are not clear, but it is possible that his father served at the Macedonian court as physician to Amyntas II and that Aristotle spent part of his youth there.

At the age of 17 Aristotle joined Plato’s circle at the Academy in Athens. There he remained for 20 years, and although his respect and admiration for Plato was always great, differences developed which ultimately caused a breach. On Plato’s death in 348/347 BC Aristotle left for Assos in Mysia (in Asia Minor), where he and Xenocrates joined a small circle of Platonists who had already settled there under Hermias, the ruler of Atarneus. Aristotle married Pythias the niece of Hermias, and in a fine hymn expressed his shock of dismay over Hermias’s death at the hands of the Persians some time thereafter.

After 3 years in Assos with Theophrastus and Xenocrates, Aristotle went to Mytilene for 2 years. Later, Theophrastus and Aristotle made their way to the court of Philip of Macedon, where Aristotle became tutor to Alexander, who later gained immortality by becoming master of the whole Persian Empire. Scant information remain regarding the specific contents of Alexander’s education at the hands of Aristotle, but it would be interesting to know what political advice Aristotle imparted to the young Alexander. The only indication of such advice is found in the fragment of a letter in which the philosopher tells Alexander that he ought to be the leader of the Greeks but the master of the barbarians (foreigners).

Aristotle returned to Athens in 335/334. Under the protection of Antipater, Aristotle’s representative in Athens, he established a philosophical school of his own in the gymnasium Lyceum, located near a shrine of Apollo Lyceus. The school derived its name, Peripatetic, from the colonnaded walk (paripatos). Members took meals in common, and certain formailities were established which members had to observe.

The lectures were divided into morning and afternoon sessions, the more difficult ones given in the morning and the easier and more popular ones in the afternoon. Aristotle himself led the school until the death of Alexander in 323, at which time he felt it expedient to leave Athens, fearing for his safety because of his close association with the Macedonians. He went to Chalcis, where he died the following year of a gastric ailment. His will, preserved in the writings of Diogenes Laertius, provided for his daughter, Pythias, and his son, Nichomacus, as well as for his slaves.

Aristotle produced a large number of writings, but relatively few have survived. Because of the great weight of his authority it was inevitable that several spurious treatises should find their way into the corpus of his work. His earliest writings, consisting for the most part of dialogues, were produced under the influence of Plato and the Academy. Most of these are lost, although the title are known from the writings of Diogenes Laertius and from one of several Lives to come down from antiquity.

They include his Rhetoric, Eudemus (On the Soul), Protrepticus, On Philosophy, Alexander, On Monarchy, Politicus, Sophistes, Menexenus, Symposium, On Justice, On the Poets, Nerinthus, Eroticus, On Wealth, On Prayer, On Good Birth, On Pleasure, and On Education. These were exoteric works written for the public, and they deal with popular philosophical themes. The Dialogues of Plato were undoubtedly the inspiration for some of them, although the divergence in thought between Plato and his pupil—which was to become apparent later—reveals itself to a certain extent in these works too.
Source : http://www.biographyinstitute.com/biography/aristotle/

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Biography of Abraham Lincoln

"I have done nothing to make any human being remember that I have lived Yet what I wish to live for is to connect my name with the events of my day and generation, to link my name with something which will be of interest to my fellow men."

These were the words of Abraham Lincoln at the age of thirty two. A series of disappointments brought him to the point of wanting to end his life. Lincoln wrote the above words when he determined to make a fresh start in life. Later, he became one of the best known and best loved presidents of the United States of America. His name is famous throughout the world as the person who ended slavery in America.

Lincoln was born in Kentucky, USA, where his father worked as a carpenter. He lost his mother at an early age, but later his father married again. Lincoln and his sister became very fond of their stepmother.

Young Lincoln grew up to be a tall man with very large feet. His clothes did not fit him properly. The sleeves of his coat were too short and his trousers also did not fully cover his legs. At first sight, he did not look at all like the great leader that he was to become.

Lincoln first saw what slavery was really like when he was hired to take a boat load of produce to the city of New Orleans in 1828. Later, on a second visit to this city, he promised himself that he would abolish this practice completely.

Lincoln had not been to school on a regular basis, but he had learned to read and write and later became a lawyer. Although he was considered to be 'a queer fellow' by the people of his area because of the way he looked and dressed, he was well liked by them. This was because he had a good sense of humour and was able to make people laugh. His first and greatest love was said to be a woman named Anne Rutledge, whose father owned the tavern in the neighbourhood where Lincoln lived. It was Anne's father who suggested that Lincoln should enter politics.

Lincoln was first elected to the legislature of Illinois in 1834. In 1838 and in 1840, he was reelected to this office. During this time, he met Stephen Douglas, the man who was to be his rival in love for a short time and in politics for a much longer time. Mary Todd, the woman with whom both these men were in love, was from Kentucky. She chose Lincoln as her husband, but their marriage was not a happy one. In 1842, a year,after his marriage, Lincoln set up practice in law with a man named William H. Herndon. A close friendship grew between these two men, which lasted until Lincoln's death. Later, Herndon wrote Lincoln's biography.

In 1846, Lincoln was elected a member of the Congress. But his membership was not renewed because he introduced a bill for ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Disappointed, he went back to practising law. He lost interest in politics for some time and became well known for his honesty as a lawyer.

However, Lincoln did not stay away from politics for long. In 1854, the issue of slavery made him join politics again. He had to compete with Stephen Douglas, who tried to appease those states in the South, which supported slavery as well as those in the North that opposed slavery. Lincoln did not believe that half of the nation could go on with the practice of slavery while the other half was against it. He felt that the nation could not exist half slave and half free. However, Lincoln was defeated in this first fight against Douglas, for a seat in the United States Senate.

Despite this defeat, in May 1860, Lincoln was named the candidate of the Republican party for the Presidential election. During this time, the Democratic party attacked him fiercely. He was called 'a third rate country lawyer', 'a person who could not speak English properly' and many such names. However, he was elected the President of the United States at the end of it all. Four days after Lincoln was elected President, the Southern states began to pull out of the Union which formed the USA. These states in the South formed a union of their own which they called a Confederacy. Lincoln, who was saddened by this, fought to stop the other states from pulling out as well. Finally, the conflict between the North and the South became so bad that it led to a civil war. Lincoln tried to avoid this war but was unsuccessful in his attempt to do so.

To understand the political background of the American Civil War, it is necessary to describe how the USA came to be formed. In the 17th century, settlers from countries like England, France, Spain, Holland and Germany came to North America, which was then a newly discovered country. Some came to find wealth, others to find religious freedom, and yet others to extend the power of their home country by building an empire. The British King ruled this new land, part of which was also called New England. After the American War of Independence was won, the independent states formed themselves into a federation called the United States of America. Each state of this new federation kept a great deal of its independence in every area of government, although these states also had a common purpose. Thus, certain matters such as defence were given to a common government which acted for all the states.

The southern part of USA, which had also joined the federation, developed its agriculture on a plantation basis with the use of slave labour. The northern part was more involved with trade and industry, although agriculture remained important. There were no slaves in the North. In time, the question of slavery became a hot issue in the new states that joined the Union, since people in those states had not as yet made up their minds on the subject. The United States' constitution stated the right of all human beings to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', but it also upheld the right to private property. Slaves were private property. The idea that slaves were private property conflicted with the other idea that slaves were human beings with the right to liberty. This was the basic point which was argued about throughout the land.

There were many sides to this issue. Firstly, was human slavery right? By this time, slavery had been made unlawful in most countries of the world. Many people believed that it was grossly unjust to withhold the freedom of any human being. But the South had spent a lot.of money in buying slaves. Their social, economic and political life was organized around the ownership of slaves. Thus, it was not hard to see how important the practice of slavery had become to them.

There was also a political side to the problem of slave ownership by the Southern states. How practical was it to have a 'Union of states' in which some states were 'free' while others were 'slave'? Yet, this is what Lincoln's rival Douglas wanted. But the Southern states worried that with a larger number of the states in the Union being 'free', slavery would be completely abolished. They felt if this happened, they would be ruined financially, socially and politically. The only answer seemed to be to form two separate unions. But this did not work either.

Shortly after Lincoln was elected the President, the Southern states pulled out of the Union. On 12 April 1861, the South opened fire on the North at a place called Fort Sunter. The Civil War or the 'War Between the States' had begun.

There were great differences between the North and the South. The North had a much bigger white population. They were better at producing industrial goods while the South was better at agriculture. In many ways, the North had a great advantage over the South, but the army of the South was well trained and the greater part of the war took place in the South. Thus they were able to fight better. The war was not won very easily. But as we know, after some defeats, the North finally won the war. While the war was on, Lincoln, who had insisted on having an election at the end of his term of office as President, was re elected to serve another term.

In November 1863, on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Lincoln gave a speech, which became famous for all time. He spoke of “…a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” These words from Lincoln's Gettysburg address speak of the two ideals liberty and equality on which America was built.

Lincoln met with a sudden death. While watching a play with his wife, Lincoln was shot by a man named John Wilkes Booth. His death came at a time when peace had at last been brought to the USA. Perhaps this was the final blow that was needed for the complete ending of slavery in the USA. After his death, Lincoln was recognized as a great man, and the ideals he stood for were upheld by the citizens of the country.

Source : http://biographyinstitute.blogspot.com/2008/05/abraham-lincoln.html

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