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Benedict XVI

(Encyclopedia)Benedict XVI, 1927–2022, pope (2005–13) and Roman Catholic theologian, a German (b. Marktl am Inn, Bavaria) named Josef (or Joseph) Alois Ratzinger;...

Utopia

(Encyclopedia)Utopia yo͞otōˈpēə [key] [Gr.,=no place], title of a book by Sir Thomas More, published in Latin in 1516. The work pictures an ideal state where all is ordered for the best for humanity as a whole...

Wise, Isaac Mayer

(Encyclopedia)Wise, Isaac Mayer, 1819–1900, American rabbi, founder of organized Reform Judaism in the United States, b. Bohemia, studied at the Univ. of Vienna. He settled in the United States in 1846. Wise was ...

cruelty, prevention of

(Encyclopedia)cruelty, prevention of. In the 19th cent. many laws were passed in Great Britain and the United States to protect the helpless, especially children, lunatics, and domestic animals, from willful and ma...

Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner

(Encyclopedia)Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner, 1822–88, English jurist and historian, educated at Cambridge. A pioneer in the historical and comparative study of institutions, he viewed the history of laws as the m...

Sisley, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Sisley, Alfred älfrĕdˈ sĭsˈlē, sēslāˈ [key], 1839–99, French impressionist landscape painter, b. Paris, of English parents. He studied under Corot, Charles Gleyre, and Courbet and was (1873...

social contract

(Encyclopedia)social contract, agreement or covenant by which men are said to have abandoned the “state of nature” to form the society in which they now live. The theory of such a contract, first formulated by ...

Lowell, Josephine Shaw

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 1843–1905, American political reformer, b. Roxbury, Mass. Lowell, brother of Robert Gould Shaw and widow of Colonel Charle...

Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich əlyĭksänˈdər ēväˈnəvĭch hârˈtsĭn [key], 1812–70, Russian revolutionary leader and writer. A member of the aristocracy, he was appalled at the brutality of hi...

smoking

(Encyclopedia)smoking, inhalation and exhalation of the fumes of burning tobacco in cigars and cigarettes and pipes; in the 21st cent., vaping, the similar use of e-cigarettes, also has become common. Some persons ...
 

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