74ELIADE, MIRCEA
and General Theories of Relativity: A
Popular Exposition (1917), Cosmological
Considerations of General Relativity The-
ory (1917), The Meaning of Relativity
(1921), On the Method of Theoretical
Physics (1933), Motion of Particles in Gen-
eral Relativity Theory (with Infeld, 1949).
ELIADE, MIRCEA (1907–1986). Philo-
sopher and historian of religions, Eliade
sought a unified understanding of reli-
gions. He is best known for his under-
standing of myth and for his distinction
between the sacred and the profane. He
interpreted religious experience as based
upon “hierophanies,” or manifestations of
the sacred, and he advanced a theory
of Eternal Return, wherein myths and
rituals not only commemorate but also
participate in hierophanies. His works
include Cosmos and History: The Myth of
the Eternal Return (1954), The Sacred and
the Profane (1957), Yoga, Immortality
and Freedom (1958), Rites and Symbols
of Initiation (Birth and Rebirth) (1958),
Patterns in Comparative Religion (1958),
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature
of Religion (1959), Myths, Dreams and
Mysteries: the Encounter between Contem-
porary Faiths and Archaic Realities (1960),
Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious
Symbolism (1961), Myth and Reality
(1963), Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of
Ecstasy (1964), The Two and the One
(1965), The Quest: History and Meaning
in Religion (1969), and A History of Reli-
gious Ideas, 3 vols., (1978, 1982, 1985).
He was also the editor in chief of the
17 volume Encyclopedia of Religion (1987).ELIMINATIVISM. In philosophy of
mind, the thesis that the final, true theory
of reality will eliminate any reference to
or role for some features of our mental
life. Candidates for elimination include
beliefs, desires, and consciousness itself.
Eliminativists sometime disparage talk
of beliefs and so on as folk psychology.
They have gone on to argue that tradi-
tional theism involves an illicit projection
of folk psychology. Eliminativism is
usually connected with strict forms of
naturalism and materialism.EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803–
1882). An important transcendentalist,
Emerson defended a non-theistic, imma-
nent view of the divine. Emerson was
deeply opposed to what he saw as a mecha-
nized, dehumanizing popular materialism
of his day. He championed independent,
experience-based education and reflec-
tion. Emerson offered popular lectures in
New England that attributed to all human
persons a spark of the divine. This
Neoplatonic outlook supported a philos-
ophy of education that saw great value in
leading students to awaken to the divine
(and the protean, good potential) within.
He was close friends with Henry David
Thoreau and supported Thoreau’s experi-
ment in living narrated in Walden Pond.
Emerson’s works include Nature (1836),