This article introduces three princesses: Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680); her sister, Princess Sophie who became the Electress of Hanover (1630-1714); and Sophie's daughter, Sophie Charlotte, who became the first Queen of Prussia (1668-1705). After summarizing their common family background, the article presents, for each in turn, her biography and a discussion of her relation to philosophy. In each case their philosophical involvement stems from their friendships with the leading philosophers of their day; Princess Elizabeth was a friend of Descartes (...) while the Electress Sophie and Sophie Charlotte were friends of Leibniz. The article concludes that anyone who has made the acquaintance of the three princesses and has studied their interaction with their philosopher-friends will always see them as part of the history of modern philosophy. (shrink)

The philosopher Averroes, known to the West as the Commentator on Aristotle, was also a physician. This suggests the question: Were medicine and philosophy two different and parallel interests in Averroes' intellectual life or were they in some way related within a single context of wisdom? By investigating Averroes' main, but often-neglected medical work, the Colliget, together with other relevant texts, this article showsthat Averroes sees medicine as based on principles of natural philosophy and parallel to moral philosophy. In both (...) medical and philosophical contexts the principle of equilibrium is stressed. (shrink)