February 23

Richard Price (1723–1791) was a Welsh moral philosopher, preacher, and mathematician. As a dissenting minister in Newington Green, he championed civil liberties and political reform, supporting the American and French revolutions. His writings on probability and finance contributed to the development of actuarial science and demographic study. Price engaged in intellectual debates with Benjamin Franklin and Edmund Burke, shaping Enlightenment thought on ethics and government. He emphasized the importance of reason and virtue in both personal conduct and public policy. Price's legacy includes his influence on modern philosophy and his role as an early advocate for human rights.

Eduard von Hartmann (1842–1906) was a German philosopher best known for his work 'Philosophy of the Unconscious,' which combines elements of German Idealism and Schopenhauerian pessimism. He argued that the unconscious drives all mental activity and that human history progresses toward eventual self-negation. Von Hartmann's theories influenced psychology and existentialist thought, sparking debates with contemporaries like Nietzsche and William James. He authored numerous books on aesthetics, ethics, and social philosophy, promoting cultural advancement through collective reasoning. His writings enjoyed widespread popularity in late 19th-century Europe, contributing to intellectual discourse on consciousness. Despite later criticisms, his integration of metaphysics and psychology left a lasting mark on philosophical scholarship.

Liang Qichao was born in 1873 in Guangdong province, China. He studied overseas and became a key advocate for constitutional monarchy and later republicanism. As a journalist, he founded influential newspapers that spread reformist ideas. Liang's philosophical writings blended Western political thought with Chinese tradition. He mentored future leaders and contributed to the intellectual foundation of modern China. During exile, he continued writing and lecturing across Asia and North America. Liang's work influenced the 1911 Revolution and subsequent political movements. He died in 1929, remembered as a pivotal figure in China's transformation.

Karl Jaspers was born in 1883 in Oldenburg, Germany. He trained as a psychiatrist and contributed to psychopathology with his writings. Jaspers' philosophical works explored themes of freedom, existence, and transcendence. His major book 'Philosophy of Existence' established him as a leader in existential thought. Jaspers emphasized communication and the 'Axial Age' as pivotal in human history. He fled Nazi Germany in 1937 and later taught at Swiss and American universities. Jaspers helped shape post-war philosophy with his ideas on responsibility and universality. He died in 1969, remembered for bridging psychiatry and philosophy.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an acclaimed American philosopher and author whose work bridges science, philosophy, and literature. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and has taught at leading institutions such as MIT and NYU. Goldstein's novels, including 'The Mind-Body Problem' and '36 Arguments for the Existence of God', explore complex intellectual themes through compelling narratives. Her nonfiction work 'Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel' won the National Book Critics Circle Award. A MacArthur Fellow and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is recognized for advocating reason, secularism, and the public understanding of science.