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109-444: Recovering from a failed love affair, Shiyori Mizuno and her best friend Aiko Hiuke decide to travel to the country on vacation. Arriving at a village, the two friends soon discover the villagers are all a part of a brutal cult . The film's ending theme song is " Potential Breakup Song " ( こわれそうな愛の歌 , Kowaresōna Ai no Uta ) by Aly & AJ . Ami Suzuki covered the song under the pseudonym "Ami Suzuki Joins Aly & AJ" to promote

218-425: A linguistic therapy. According to Ludwig Wittgenstein , for instance, philosophy aims at dispelling misunderstandings to which humans are susceptible due to the confusing structure of ordinary language . Phenomenologists , such as Edmund Husserl , characterize philosophy as a "rigorous science" investigating essences . They practice a radical suspension of theoretical assumptions about reality to get back to

327-484: A rational choice . The application of the labels cult or sect to religious movements in government documents signifies the popular and negative use of the term cult in English and a functionally similar use of words translated as 'sect' in several European languages. Sociologists critical to this negative politicized use of the word cult argue that it may adversely impact the religious freedoms of group members. At

436-511: A "cult movement" is an actual complete organization, differing from a "sect" in that it is not a splinter of a bigger religion, while "audience cults" are loosely organized, and propagated through media, and "client cults" offer services (i.e. psychic readings or meditation sessions). One type can turn into another, for example the Church of Scientology changing from audience to client cult. Sociologists who follow their definition tend to continue using

545-404: A continuity with traditional beliefs and practices, whereas cults arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Scholars William Sims Bainbridge and Rodney Stark have argued for a further distinction between three kinds of cults: cult movements, client cults, and audience cults, all of which share a "compensator" or rewards for the things invested into the group. In their typology,

654-438: A cult as a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices, although this is often unclear. Other researchers present a less-organized picture of cults, saying that they arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Cults have been compared to miniature totalitarian political systems. Such groups are typically perceived as being led by a charismatic leader who tightly controls its members. It

763-428: A cult by the media, government and former members is a significant factor as to what lead to the deaths. The term was noted to carry "considerable cultural legitimacy". In the 1970s, with the rise of secular anti-cult movements , scholars (though not the general public) began to abandon the use of the term cult , regarding it as pejorative. By the end of the 1970s, the term cult was largely replaced in academia with

872-507: A cult may be a common occurrence, but it is not scholarship". However, it has also been viewed as empowering for ex-members of groups that have experienced trauma. Religious scholar Catherine Wessinger argued the term was dehumanizing of the people within the group, as well as their children; following the Waco siege , it was argued by some scholars that the defining of the Branch Davidians as

981-671: A destructive cult by "anticult crusaders." In 2002, the German government was held by the Federal Constitutional Court to have defamed the Osho movement by referring to it, among other things, as a "destructive cult" with no factual basis. Some researchers have criticized the term destructive cult , writing that it is used to describe groups which are not necessarily harmful in nature to themselves or others. In his book Understanding New Religious Movements , John A. Saliba writes that

1090-545: A doctor diagnoses a disease based on the observed symptoms. Logic also investigates incorrect forms of reasoning. They are called fallacies and are divided into formal and informal fallacies based on whether the source of the error lies only in the form of the argument or also in its content and context. Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality , such as existence, objects and their properties , wholes and their parts , space and time , events , and causation . There are disagreements about

1199-444: A great variety of methods to arrive at philosophical knowledge. They include conceptual analysis , reliance on common sense and intuitions , use of thought experiments , analysis of ordinary language , description of experience , and critical questioning . Philosophy is related to many other fields, including the sciences, mathematics , business , law , and journalism . It provides an interdisciplinary perspective and studies

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1308-697: A metaphysical foundation of ethics. The modern period in Chinese philosophy began in the early 20th century and was shaped by the influence of and reactions to Western philosophy. The emergence of Chinese Marxism —which focused on class struggle , socialism , and communism —resulted in a significant transformation of the political landscape. Another development was the emergence of New Confucianism , which aims to modernize and rethink Confucian teachings to explore their compatibility with democratic ideals and modern science. Traditional Japanese philosophy assimilated and synthesized ideas from different traditions, including

1417-463: A noticeable growth in the number of female philosophers , but they still remained underrepresented. Arabic–Persian philosophy arose in the early 9th century CE as a response to discussions in the Islamic theological tradition . Its classical period lasted until the 12th century CE and was strongly influenced by ancient Greek philosophers. It employed their ideas to elaborate and interpret the teachings of

1526-460: A part of intellectual history , but it also investigates questions not covered by intellectual history such as whether the theories of past philosophers are true and have remained philosophically relevant. The history of philosophy is primarily concerned with theories based on rational inquiry and argumentation; some historians understand it in a looser sense that includes myths , religious teachings , and proverbial lore. Influential traditions in

1635-410: A particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term has different, and sometimes divergent or pejorative , definitions both in popular culture and academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. Beginning in the 1930s, new religious movements became an object of sociological study within the context of

1744-787: A result, they have responded more neutrally with regard to new religions. Scholars have suggested that the outrage which followed the mass murder/suicides perpetuated by the Solar Temple , have significantly contributed to European anti-cult positions. In the 1980s, clergymen and officials of the French government expressed concern that some orders and other groups within the Roman Catholic Church would be adversely affected by anti-cult laws which were then being considered. Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek )

1853-612: A variety of arguments. Deductive arguments are mainly studied by formal logic. An argument is deductively valid if the truth of its premises ensures the truth of its conclusion. Deductively valid arguments follow a rule of inference , like modus ponens , which has the following logical form : " p ; if p then q ; therefore q ". An example is the argument "today is Sunday; if today is Sunday then I don't have to go to work today; therefore I don't have to go to work today". The premises of non-deductive arguments also support their conclusion, although this support does not guarantee that

1962-489: Is a combination of different parts and attempts to identify what those parts are. An influential theory in this area claims that knowledge has three components: it is a belief that is justified and true . This theory is controversial and the difficulties associated with it are known as the Gettier problem . Alternative views state that knowledge requires additional components, like the absence of luck; different components, like

2071-510: Is a common issue in relation to the sources of knowledge and the justification they offer. It is based on the idea that beliefs require some kind of reason or evidence to be justified. The problem is that the source of justification may itself be in need of another source of justification. This leads to an infinite regress or circular reasoning . Foundationalists avoid this conclusion by arguing that some sources can provide justification without requiring justification themselves. Another solution

2180-581: Is a cult with a primary interest in political action and ideology . Groups that some have described as "political cults", mostly advocating far-left or far-right agendas, have received some attention from journalists and scholars. In their 2000 book On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left , Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth discuss about a dozen organizations in the United States and Great Britain that they characterize as cults. In

2289-561: Is a set of essential features shared by all parts of philosophy. Others see only weaker family resemblances or contend that it is merely an empty blanket term. Precise definitions are often only accepted by theorists belonging to a certain philosophical movement and are revisionistic according to Søren Overgaard et al. in that many presumed parts of philosophy would not deserve the title "philosophy" if they were true. Some definitions characterize philosophy in relation to its method, like pure reasoning. Others focus on its topic, for example, as

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2398-509: Is a shapeshifter, semantically morphing with the intentions of whoever uses it. As an analytical term, it resists rigorous definition." She argued that the least subjective definition of cult referred to a religion or religion-like group "self-consciously building a new form of society", but that the rest of society rejected as unacceptable. The term cult has been criticized as lacking "scholarly rigour"; Benjamin E. Zeller stated "[l]abelling any group with which one disagrees and considers deviant as

2507-414: Is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence , reason , knowledge , value , mind , and language . It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its own methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences , such as physics and psychology , formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in

2616-467: Is also concerned with the moral evaluation of character traits and institutions. It explores what the standards of morality are and how to live a good life. Philosophical ethics addresses such basic questions as "Are moral obligations relative?"; "Which has priority: well-being or obligation?"; and "What gives life meaning?" The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics , normative ethics , and applied ethics . Meta-ethics asks abstract questions about

2725-479: Is an expression of the philosopher's love of wisdom and has the aim of improving one's well-being by leading a reflective life. For example, the Stoics saw philosophy as an exercise to train the mind and thereby achieve eudaimonia and flourish in life. As a discipline, the history of philosophy aims to provide a systematic and chronological exposition of philosophical concepts and doctrines. Some theorists see it as

2834-451: Is closely related to the disciplines of logic and linguistics. The philosophy of language rose to particular prominence in the early 20th century in analytic philosophy due to the works of Frege and Russell. One of its central topics is to understand how sentences get their meaning. There are two broad theoretical camps: those emphasizing the formal truth conditions of sentences and those investigating circumstances that determine when it

2943-408: Is concerned with meaning , understanding , or the clarification of language. According to one view, philosophy is conceptual analysis , which involves finding the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of concepts. Another definition characterizes philosophy as thinking about thinking to emphasize its self-critical, reflective nature. A further approach presents philosophy as

3052-437: Is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process of religious conversion. J. Gordon Melton stated that, in 1970, "one could count the number of active researchers on new religions on one's hands." However, James R. Lewis writes that the "meteoric growth" in this field of study can be attributed to the cult controversy of the early 1970s. Because of "a wave of nontraditional religiosity" in

3161-577: Is in some contexts a pejorative term, also used for new religious movements and other social groups which are defined by their unusual religious , spiritual , or philosophical beliefs and rituals , or their common interest in a particular person, object, or goal . This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. According to Susannah Crockford, "[t]he word ‘cult’

3270-456: Is itself a borrowing from the Latin philosophia . The term philosophy acquired the meanings of "advanced study of the speculative subjects ( logic , ethics , physics , and metaphysics )", "deep wisdom consisting of love of truth and virtuous living", "profound learning as transmitted by the ancient writers", and "the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge , reality , and existence , and

3379-428: Is mostly evangelical protestants. The Christian countercult movement asserts that Christian groups whose teachings deviate from the belief that the bible is inerrant, but also focuses on non-Christian religions like Hinduism. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults. Starting in the late 1960s, a different strand of anti-cult groups arose, with

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3488-475: Is presented by coherentists , who state that a belief is justified if it coheres with other beliefs of the person. Many discussions in epistemology touch on the topic of philosophical skepticism , which raises doubts about some or all claims to knowledge. These doubts are often based on the idea that knowledge requires absolute certainty and that humans are unable to acquire it. Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, studies what constitutes right conduct . It

3597-435: Is sometimes presented in contrast to a "benign cult", which implies that not all "cults" would be harmful, though others apply it to all cults. Psychologist Michael Langone , executive director of the anti-cult group International Cultic Studies Association , defines a destructive cult as "a highly manipulative group which exploits and sometimes physically and/or psychologically damages members and recruits." In Cults and

3706-418: Is sometimes understood as a proper science in its own right. According to some naturalistic philosophers , such as W. V. O. Quine , philosophy is an empirical yet abstract science that is concerned with wide-ranging empirical patterns instead of particular observations. Science-based definitions usually face the problem of explaining why philosophy in its long history has not progressed to the same extent or in

3815-439: Is that actions are in tune with those duties and not what consequences they have. Virtue theorists judge actions based on how the moral character of the agent is expressed. According to this view, actions should conform to what an ideally virtuous agent would do by manifesting virtues like generosity and honesty . Logic is the study of correct reasoning . It aims to understand how to distinguish good from bad arguments . It

3924-468: Is the 1687 book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton . This book referred to natural philosophy in its title, but it is today considered a book of physics. The meaning of philosophy changed toward the end of the modern period when it acquired the more narrow meaning common today. In this new sense, the term is mainly associated with philosophical disciplines like metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Among other topics, it covers

4033-561: Is the study of correct reasoning and explores how good arguments can be distinguished from bad ones. Metaphysics examines the most general features of reality , existence, objects , and properties . Other subfields are aesthetics , philosophy of language , philosophy of mind , philosophy of religion , philosophy of science , philosophy of mathematics , philosophy of history , and political philosophy . Within each branch, there are competing schools of philosophy that promote different principles, theories, or methods. Philosophers use

4142-462: Is truth established?"; and "Can we prove causal relations?" Epistemology is primarily interested in declarative knowledge or knowledge of facts, like knowing that Princess Diana died in 1997. But it also investigates practical knowledge , such as knowing how to ride a bicycle, and knowledge by acquaintance , for example, knowing a celebrity personally. One area in epistemology is the analysis of knowledge . It assumes that declarative knowledge

4251-456: Is usually divided into formal and informal logic . Formal logic uses artificial languages with a precise symbolic representation to investigate arguments. In its search for exact criteria, it examines the structure of arguments to determine whether they are correct or incorrect. Informal logic uses non-formal criteria and standards to assess the correctness of arguments. It relies on additional factors such as content and context. Logic examines

4360-556: Is whether beauty is an objective feature of entities or a subjective aspect of experience. Aesthetic philosophers also investigate the nature of aesthetic experiences and judgments . Further topics include the essence of works of art and the processes involved in creating them. The philosophy of language studies the nature and function of language . It examines the concepts of meaning , reference , and truth. It aims to answer questions such as how words are related to things and how language affects human thought and understanding. It

4469-548: The APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control , literature from previous court cases in which brainwashing theories were used, and expert testimonies which were delivered by scholars such as Dick Anthony . The governments of France and Belgium have taken policy positions which accept "brainwashing" theories uncritically, while the governments of other European nations, such as those of Sweden and Italy, are cautious with regard to brainwashing and as

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4578-479: The Jehovah's Witnesses , and other sects which were loosely referred to as " neo-Pentecostals ". In the 1970s, the scientific status of the " brainwashing theory " became a central topic in U.S. court cases where the theory was used to try to justify the use of the forceful deprogramming of cult members Meanwhile, sociologists who were critical of these theories assisted advocates of religious freedom in defending

4687-523: The Quran . Al-Kindi (801–873 CE) is usually regarded as the first philosopher of this tradition. He translated and interpreted many works of Aristotle and Neoplatonists in his attempt to show that there is a harmony between reason and faith . Avicenna (980–1037 CE) also followed this goal and developed a comprehensive philosophical system to provide a rational understanding of reality encompassing science, religion, and mysticism. Al-Ghazali (1058–1111 CE)

4796-817: The Russian Interior Ministry prepared a list of "extremist groups". At the top of the list were Islamic groups outside of "traditional Islam", which is supervised by the Russian government. Next listed were " Pagan cults ". In 2009 the Russian Ministry of Justice created a council which it named the "Council of Experts Conducting State Religious Studies Expert Analysis." The new council listed 80 large sects which it considered potentially dangerous to Russian society, and it also mentioned that there were thousands of smaller ones. The large sects which were listed included: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ,

4905-526: The court case of United States v. Fishman (1990) ended the usage of brainwashing theories by expert witnesses such as Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe . In the case's ruling, the court cited the Frye standard , which states that the scientific theory which is utilized by expert witnesses must be generally accepted in their respective fields. The court deemed brainwashing to be inadmissible in expert testimonies, using supporting documents which were published by

5014-568: The study of religious behavior . Since the 1940s, the Christian countercult movement has opposed some sects and new religious movements, labeling them cults because of their unorthodox beliefs . Since the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement has opposed certain groups, which they call cults, accusing them of practicing brainwashing . Groups labelled cults are found around the world and range in size from small localized groups to some international organizations with up to millions of members. In

5123-420: The "things themselves", that is, as originally given in experience. They contend that this base-level of experience provides the foundation for higher-order theoretical knowledge, and that one needs to understand the former to understand the latter. An early approach found in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy is that philosophy is the spiritual practice of developing one's rational capacities. This practice

5232-463: The 1930s, new religious movements perceived as cults became an object of sociological study within the context of the study of religious behavior . The term saw its origins in the work of sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). Weber is an important theorist in the academic study of cults, which often draws on his theorizations of charismatic authority , and of the distinction he drew between churches and sects . This concept of church-sect division

5341-433: The 1940s, the long-held opposition by some established Christian denominations to non-Christian religions and supposedly heretical or counterfeit Christian sects crystallized into a more organized Christian countercult movement in the United States. For those belonging to the movement, all religious groups claiming to be Christian, but deemed outside of Christian orthodoxy , were considered cults. The countercult movement

5450-450: The 1950s, American social psychologist Leon Festinger and his colleagues observed members of a small UFO religion called the Seekers for several months, and recorded their conversations both prior to and after a failed prophecy from their charismatic leader. Their work was later published in the book When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted

5559-412: The 5th century CE. Its focus was on religious topics and many thinkers used ancient philosophy to explain and further elaborate Christian doctrines . The Renaissance period started in the 14th century and saw a renewed interest in schools of ancient philosophy, in particular Platonism . Humanism also emerged in this period. The modern period started in the 17th century. One of its central concerns

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5668-503: The Destruction of the World . In the late 1980s, doomsday cults were a major topic of news reports, with some reporters and commentators considering them a serious threat to society. A 1997 psychological study by Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter found that people turned to a cataclysmic world view after they had repeatedly failed to find meaning in mainstream movements. A political cult

5777-479: The English-speaking world, the term cult often carries derogatory connotations. The word "cult" is derived from the Latin term cultus , which means worship. An older sense of the word cult, which is not pejorative, indicates a set of religious devotional practices that is conventional within its culture, is related to a particular figure, and is frequently associated with a particular place, or generally

5886-450: The Family , the authors cite Shapiro, who defines a destructive cultism as a sociopathic syndrome , whose distinctive qualities include: "behavioral and personality changes , loss of personal identity , cessation of scholastic activities, estrangement from family, disinterest in society and pronounced mental control and enslavement by cult leaders." Writing about Bruderhof communities in

5995-599: The activities of Unification Church members in California in trying to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships. Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form by as Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization and Maintenance of Faith . It

6104-671: The activities of a very small minority of new religious groups, mass culture often extends them to any religious group viewed as culturally deviant , however peaceful or law abiding it may be. While some psychologists were receptive to these theories, sociologists were for the most part sceptical of their ability to explain conversion to NRMs . In the late 1980s, psychologists and sociologists started to abandon theories like brainwashing and mind control. While scholars may believe that various less dramatic coercive psychological mechanisms could influence group members, they came to see conversion to new religious movements principally as an act of

6213-442: The basic limits of human understanding". Before the modern age, the term philosophy was used in a wide sense. It included most forms of rational inquiry, such as the individual sciences , as its subdisciplines. For instance, natural philosophy was a major branch of philosophy. This branch of philosophy encompassed a wide range of fields, including disciplines like physics, chemistry , and biology . An example of this usage

6322-436: The beginning of the 20th century. It discusses topics such as ethnophilosophy , négritude , pan-Africanism , Marxism, postcolonialism , the role of cultural identity, relativism , African epistemology , and the critique of Eurocentrism . Philosophical questions can be grouped into several branches. These groupings allow philosophers to focus on a set of similar topics and interact with other thinkers who are interested in

6431-598: The book Misunderstanding Cults , Julius H. Rubin said that American religious innovation created an unending diversity of sects. These "new religious movements…gathered new converts and issued challenges to the wider society. Not infrequently, public controversy, contested narratives and litigation result." In his work Cults in Context author Lorne L. Dawson writes that although the Unification Church "has not been shown to be violent or volatile," it has been described as

6540-423: The classification of a religion as xiejiao did not necessarily mean that a religion's teachings were believed to be false or inauthentic; rather, the label was applied to religious groups that were not authorized by the state, or it was applied to religious groups that were believed to challenge the legitimacy of the state. Groups branded xiejiao face suppression and punishment by authorities. In 2008

6649-470: The collective participation in rites of religion. References to the imperial cult of ancient Rome , for example, use the word in this sense. A derived sense of "excessive devotion" arose in the 19th century, and usage is not always strictly religious. The term is variously applied to abusive or coercive groups of many categories, including gangs, organized crime, and terrorist organizations. Sociological classifications of religious movements may identify

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6758-560: The color red, can exist at different locations at the same time. This is not the case for particulars including individual persons or specific objects. Other metaphysical questions are whether the past fully determines the present and what implications this would have for the existence of free will . There are many other subfields of philosophy besides its core branches. Some of the most prominent are aesthetics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, and political philosophy. Aesthetics in

6867-461: The conclusion is true. One form is inductive reasoning . It starts from a set of individual cases and uses generalization to arrive at a universal law governing all cases. An example is the inference that "all ravens are black" based on observations of many individual black ravens. Another form is abductive reasoning . It starts from an observation and concludes that the best explanation of this observation must be true. This happens, for example, when

6976-614: The consequences of the general theories developed by normative ethics in specific situations, for example, in the workplace or for medical treatments. Within contemporary normative ethics, consequentialism, deontology , and virtue ethics are influential schools of thought. Consequentialists judge actions based on their consequences. One such view is utilitarianism , which argues that actions should increase overall happiness while minimizing suffering. Deontologists judge actions based on whether they follow moral duties, such as abstaining from lying or killing. According to them, what matters

7085-400: The emergence and application of formal logic , the focus on the role of language as well as pragmatism , and movements in continental philosophy like phenomenology, existentialism , and post-structuralism . The 20th century saw a rapid expansion of academic philosophy in terms of the number of philosophical publications and philosophers working at academic institutions . There was also

7194-478: The emergence of non-Vedic teachings, like Buddhism and Jainism . Buddhism was founded by Gautama Siddhartha (563–483 BCE), who challenged the Vedic idea of a permanent self and proposed a path to liberate oneself from suffering . Jainism was founded by Mahavira (599–527 BCE), who emphasized non-violence as well as respect toward all forms of life. The subsequent classical period started roughly 200 BCE and

7303-441: The exploration of the nature of reality and the ways of arriving at knowledge. Chinese philosophy focuses principally on practical issues in relation to right social conduct, government, and self-cultivation . Major branches of philosophy are epistemology , ethics , logic , and metaphysics . Epistemology studies what knowledge is and how to acquire it. Ethics investigates moral principles and what constitutes right conduct. Logic

7412-407: The features that all entities have in common. Specific metaphysics is interested in different kinds of being, the features they have, and how they differ from one another. An important area in metaphysics is ontology . Some theorists identify it with general metaphysics. Ontology investigates concepts like being , becoming , and reality. It studies the categories of being and asks what exists on

7521-548: The film. X-Cross was released in the U.S. on Blu-ray by Media Blasters on September 28, 2021. This article related to a Japanese film of the 2000s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a 2000s horror film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cult Cult is a term often applied to new religious movements and other social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious , spiritual , or philosophical beliefs and rituals . Extreme devotion to

7630-567: The formation of the secular anti-cult movement (ACM). This was in response to the rise of new religions in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the events at Jonestown and the deaths of nearly 1000 people. The organizations that formed the secular anti-cult movement (ACM) often acted on behalf of relatives of "cult" converts who did not believe their loved ones could have altered their lives so drastically by their own free will . A few psychologists and sociologists working in this field suggested that brainwashing techniques were used to maintain

7739-618: The groups. Since the 2000s, some governments have again distanced themselves from such classifications of religious movements. While the official response to new religious groups has been mixed across the globe, some governments aligned more with the critics of these groups to the extent of distinguishing between "legitimate" religion and "dangerous", "unwanted" cults in public policy . For centuries, governments in China have categorized certain religions as xiéjiào ( 邪教 ), translated as "evil cults" or " heterodox teachings ". In imperial China ,

7848-555: The height of the counter-cult movement and ritual abuse scare of the 1990s, some governments published lists of cults. Groups labelled "cults" are found around the world and range in size from local groups with a few members to international organizations with millions. While these documents utilize similar terminology, they do not necessarily include the same groups nor is their assessment of these groups based on agreed criteria. Other governments and world bodies also report on new religious movements but do not use these terms to describe

7957-527: The history of philosophy include Western , Arabic–Persian , Indian , and Chinese philosophy . Other philosophical traditions are Japanese philosophy , Latin American philosophy , and African philosophy . Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece in the 6th century BCE with the pre-Socratics . They attempted to provide rational explanations of the cosmos as a whole. The philosophy following them

8066-420: The importance of a strong state and strict laws. Buddhism was introduced to China in the 1st century CE and diversified into new forms of Buddhism . Starting in the 3rd century CE, the school of Xuanxue emerged. It interpreted earlier Daoist works with a specific emphasis on metaphysical explanations. Neo-Confucianism developed in the 11th century CE. It systematized previous Confucian teachings and sought

8175-419: The indigenous Shinto religion and Chinese and Indian thought in the forms of Confucianism and Buddhism, both of which entered Japan in the 6th and 7th centuries. Its practice is characterized by active interaction with reality rather than disengaged examination. Neo-Confucianism became an influential school of thought in the 16th century and the following Edo period and prompted a greater focus on language and

8284-483: The interconnectedness of all things. Latin American philosophy during the colonial period , starting around 1550, was dominated by religious philosophy in the form of scholasticism . Influential topics in the post-colonial period were positivism , the philosophy of liberation , and the exploration of identity and culture. Early African philosophy, like Ubuntu philosophy , was focused on community, morality, and ancestral ideas. Systematic African philosophy emerged at

8393-435: The late 1960s and early 1970s, academics perceived new religious movements as different phenomena from previous religious innovations. Destructive cult is a term frequently used by the anti-cult movement . Members of the anti-cult movement typically define a destructive cult as a group that is unethical, deceptive, and one that uses "strong influence" or mind control techniques to affect critical thinking skills. This term

8502-601: The legitimacy of new religious movements in court. In the United States the religious activities of cults are protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution , which prohibits governmental establishment of religion and protects freedom of religion , freedom of speech , freedom of the press , and freedom of assembly ; however, no members of religious groups or cults are granted any special immunity from criminal prosecution . In 1990,

8611-609: The loyalty of cult members. The belief that cults brainwashed their members became a unifying theme among cult critics and in the more extreme corners of the anti-cult movement techniques like the sometimes forceful " deprogramming " of cult members was practised. In the mass media , and among average citizens, "cult" gained an increasingly negative connotation, becoming associated with things like kidnapping , brainwashing, psychological abuse , sexual abuse , and other criminal activity , and mass suicide . While most of these negative qualities usually have real documented precedents in

8720-551: The manifestation of cognitive virtues instead of justification; or they deny that knowledge can be analyzed in terms of other phenomena. Another area in epistemology asks how people acquire knowledge. Often-discussed sources of knowledge are perception , introspection , memory , inference , and testimony . According to empiricists , all knowledge is based on some form of experience. Rationalists reject this view and hold that some forms of knowledge, like innate knowledge , are not acquired through experience. The regress problem

8829-496: The modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western , Arabic–Persian , Indian , and Chinese philosophy . Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation . Indian philosophy combines the spiritual problem of how to reach enlightenment with

8938-596: The most fundamental level. Another subfield of metaphysics is philosophical cosmology . It is interested in the essence of the world as a whole. It asks questions including whether the universe has a beginning and an end and whether it was created by something else. A key topic in metaphysics concerns the question of whether reality only consists of physical things like matter and energy. Alternative suggestions are that mental entities (such as souls and experiences ) and abstract entities (such as numbers) exist apart from physical things. Another topic in metaphysics concerns

9047-404: The most influential philosophers of the subsequent period. The increasing influence of Western thought and institutions in the 19th and 20th centuries gave rise to the intellectual movement of Islamic modernism , which aims to understand the relation between traditional Islamic beliefs and modernity. One of the distinguishing features of Indian philosophy is that it integrates the exploration of

9156-472: The natural and social sciences, religion, and mathematics. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge. It is also known as theory of knowledge and aims to understand what knowledge is, how it arises, what its limits are, and what value it has. It further examines the nature of truth , belief , justification , and rationality . Some of the questions addressed by epistemologists include "By what method(s) can one acquire knowledge?"; "How

9265-504: The natural world. The Kyoto School emerged in the 20th century and integrated Eastern spirituality with Western philosophy in its exploration of concepts like absolute nothingness ( zettai-mu ), place ( basho ), and the self . Latin American philosophy in the pre-colonial period was practiced by indigenous civilizations and explored questions concerning the nature of reality and the role of humans. It has similarities to indigenous North American philosophy , which covered themes such as

9374-455: The nature and sources of morality. It analyzes the meaning of ethical concepts, like right action and obligation . It also investigates whether ethical theories can be true in an absolute sense and how to acquire knowledge of them. Normative ethics encompasses general theories of how to distinguish between right and wrong conduct. It helps guide moral decisions by examining what moral obligations and rights people have. Applied ethics studies

9483-467: The nature of reality, the ways of arriving at knowledge, and the spiritual question of how to reach enlightenment . It started around 900 BCE when the Vedas were written. They are the foundational scriptures of Hinduism and contemplate issues concerning the relation between the self and ultimate reality as well as the question of how souls are reborn based on their past actions . This period also saw

9592-436: The philosophical sense is the field that studies the nature and appreciation of beauty and other aesthetic properties, like the sublime . Although it is often treated together with the philosophy of art , aesthetics is a broader category that encompasses other aspects of experience, such as natural beauty. In a more general sense, aesthetics is "critical reflection on art, culture, and nature ". A key question in aesthetics

9701-417: The precise definition of the term and its meaning has changed throughout the ages. Metaphysicians attempt to answer basic questions including " Why is there something rather than nothing? "; "Of what does reality ultimately consist?"; and "Are humans free?" Metaphysics is sometimes divided into general metaphysics and specific or special metaphysics. General metaphysics investigates being as such. It examines

9810-537: The private nature of personal beliefs. Later sociological formulations built on such characteristics, placing an additional emphasis on cults as deviant religious groups, "deriving their inspiration from outside of the predominant religious culture." This is often thought to lead to a high degree of tension between the group and the more mainstream culture surrounding it, a characteristic shared with religious sects. According to this sociological terminology, sects are products of religious schism and therefore maintain

9919-400: The problem of identity . One question is how much an entity can change while still remaining the same entity. According to one view, entities have essential and accidental features . They can change their accidental features but they cease to be the same entity if they lose an essential feature. A central distinction in metaphysics is between particulars and universals . Universals, like

10028-428: The provocative, vexing, and enduring problems central to the human condition. The philosophical pursuit of wisdom involves asking general and fundamental questions. It often does not result in straightforward answers but may help a person to better understand the topic, examine their life, dispel confusion, and overcome prejudices and self-deceptive ideas associated with common sense. For example, Socrates stated that "

10137-436: The rational study of reality, knowledge, and values. It is distinguished from other disciplines of rational inquiry such as the empirical sciences and mathematics . The practice of philosophy is characterized by several general features: it is a form of rational inquiry, it aims to be systematic, and it tends to critically reflect on its own methods and presuppositions. It requires attentively thinking long and carefully about

10246-488: The same questions. Epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics are sometimes listed as the main branches. There are many other subfields besides them and the different divisions are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. For example, political philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics are sometimes linked under the general heading of value theory as they investigate normative or evaluative aspects. Furthermore, philosophical inquiry sometimes overlaps with other disciplines in

10355-410: The same way as the sciences. This problem is avoided by seeing philosophy as an immature or provisional science whose subdisciplines cease to be philosophy once they have fully developed. In this sense, philosophy is sometimes described as "the midwife of the sciences". Other definitions focus on the contrast between science and philosophy. A common theme among many such conceptions is that philosophy

10464-508: The scope and fundamental concepts of these fields. It also investigates their methods and ethical implications. The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek words φίλος ( philos ) ' love ' and σοφία ( sophia ) ' wisdom ' . Some sources say that the term was coined by the pre-Socratic philosopher Pythagoras , but this is not certain. The word entered the English language primarily from Old French and Anglo-Norman starting around 1175 CE. The French philosophie

10573-598: The study of the biggest patterns of the world as a whole or as the attempt to answer the big questions. Such an approach is pursued by Immanuel Kant , who holds that the task of philosophy is united by four questions: "What can I know?"; "What should I do?"; "What may I hope?"; and "What is the human being?" Both approaches have the problem that they are usually either too wide, by including non-philosophical disciplines, or too narrow, by excluding some philosophical sub-disciplines. Many definitions of philosophy emphasize its intimate relation to science. In this sense, philosophy

10682-469: The teachings of Advaita Vedanta to argue that all the different religions are valid paths toward the one divine. Chinese philosophy is particularly interested in practical questions associated with right social conduct, government, and self-cultivation . Many schools of thought emerged in the 6th century BCE in competing attempts to resolve the political turbulence of that period. The most prominent among them were Confucianism and Daoism . Confucianism

10791-405: The term "new religion" or " new religious movement ". Other proposed alternative terms that have seen use were "emergent religion", "alternative religious movement", or "marginal religious movement", though new religious movement is the most popular term. The anti-cult movement mostly regards the term "new religious movement" as a euphemism for cult that hides their harmful nature. Beginning in

10900-497: The term is overgeneralized. Saliba sees the Peoples Temple as the "paradigm of a destructive cult", where those that use the term are implying that other groups will also commit mass suicide . Doomsday cult is an expression which is used to describe groups that believe in apocalypticism and millenarianism , and it can also be used to refer both to groups that predict disaster , and groups that attempt to bring it about. In

11009-601: The unexamined life is not worth living " to highlight the role of philosophical inquiry in understanding one's own existence. And according to Bertrand Russell , "the man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the cooperation or consent of his deliberate reason." Attempts to provide more precise definitions of philosophy are controversial and are studied in metaphilosophy . Some approaches argue that there

11118-399: The word "cult", unlike most other academics; however Bainbridge later stated he regretted having used the word at all. Stark and Bainbridge, in discussing the process by which individuals join new religious groups, have even questioned the utility of the concept of conversion , suggesting that affiliation is a more useful concept. In the early 1960s, sociologist John Lofland studied

11227-468: Was a strong critic of the idea that reason can arrive at a true understanding of reality and God. He formulated a detailed critique of philosophy and tried to assign philosophy a more limited place besides the teachings of the Quran and mystical insight. Following Al-Ghazali and the end of the classical period, the influence of philosophical inquiry waned. Mulla Sadra (1571–1636 CE) is often regarded as one of

11336-437: Was characterized by the emergence of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism : Nyāyá , Vaiśeṣika , Sāṃkhya , Yoga , Mīmāṃsā , and Vedanta . The school of Advaita Vedanta developed later in this period. It was systematized by Adi Shankara ( c.  700 –750 CE), who held that everything is one and that the impression of a universe consisting of many distinct entities is an illusion . A slightly different perspective

11445-656: Was defended by Ramanuja (1017–1137 CE), who founded the school of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and argued that individual entities are real as aspects or parts of the underlying unity. He also helped to popularize the Bhakti movement , which taught devotion toward the divine as a spiritual path and lasted until the 17th to 18th centuries CE. The modern period began roughly 1800 CE and was shaped by encounters with Western thought. Philosophers tried to formulate comprehensive systems to harmonize diverse philosophical and religious teachings. For example, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902 CE) used

11554-508: Was founded by Confucius (551–479 BCE). It focused on different forms of moral virtues and explored how they lead to harmony in society. Daoism was founded by Laozi (6th century BCE) and examined how humans can live in harmony with nature by following the Dao or the natural order of the universe. Other influential early schools of thought were Mohism , which developed an early form of altruistic consequentialism , and Legalism , which emphasized

11663-469: Was further elaborated upon by German theologian Ernst Troeltsch , who added a "mystical" categorization to define more personal religious experiences. American sociologist Howard P. Becker further bisected Troeltsch's first two categories: church was split into ecclesia and denomination ; and sect into sect and cult . Like Troeltsch's "mystical religion", Becker's cult refers to small religious groups that lack in organization and emphasize

11772-505: Was how philosophical and scientific knowledge are created. Specific importance was given to the role of reason and sensory experience . Many of these innovations were used in the Enlightenment movement to challenge traditional authorities. Several attempts to develop comprehensive systems of philosophy were made in the 19th century, for instance, by German idealism and Marxism . Influential developments in 20th-century philosophy were

11881-449: Was shaped by Socrates (469–399 BCE), Plato (427–347 BCE), and Aristotle (384–322 BCE). They expanded the range of topics to questions like how people should act , how to arrive at knowledge , and what the nature of reality and mind is. The later part of the ancient period was marked by the emergence of philosophical movements, for example, Epicureanism , Stoicism , Skepticism , and Neoplatonism . The medieval period started in

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