Philosophy is, in a nutshell, the study of the human experience – how we understand and react to the world. There have been a number of important thinkers who developed the discipline, but these five philosophers are the ones that you need to know.

Plato
The founder of the first school of higher education in the Western world, Plato’s teachings inspired virtually every future thinker in Western philosophy. His theories of forms, immaterial abstractions that possess the true nature of their material counterparts, is vital for study of philosophy.

Aristotle
Without Aristotle’s development of written systems to analyze and criticize, the development of philosophy would have been very different. His teachings covered an incredibly broad spectrum of subjects.

Rene Descartes
Widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy, Descartes was not only a great thinker who advanced the concept of dualism, he also developed Cartesian geometry, one of the most important mathematical breakthroughs of the 17th century.

Confucius
The central thinker of Eastern philosophy, Master Kong Qiu, who we know as Confucius, was born in 551 BC and helped make the empires of China some of the most robust on Earth. His systems of morals and ethics paralleled and even surpassed the ones being developed in Greece at the same time.

John Locke
Regarded as the “Father of Liberalism,” philosopher John Locke brought concepts of humanism and universal freedom into the arena of thought. He was a huge influence on the framers of the Constitution and the first Presidents of the United States.

Now that March has begun and spring is just around the corner everyone knows what that means: SPRING CLEANING! We want to help you get motivated by holding a patio contest.

All you need to do is clean up your patio and decorate it with patio furniture, plants, or whatever inspires you. Once you have your perfect patio simply take a picture and send it to us along with your name and apartment number. We will then upload it to our Facebook page; this is where it gets exciting. Judging will be done by you. The top 3 patio pictures with the most likes/shares will be our winners. First place prize will be $75 off of one month’s rent, second place will receive $50 off one month’s rent, and $25 off one month’s rent for third.
Recruit your friends to like and share your picture so that you can win the $75 and be crowned best patio on the property! We look forward to seeing your pictures flow in.

The deadline for pictures to be sent to us is March 20th and the winners will be determined on April 1st!!!

Please send your pictures to mqcanyonridge@cwsapartments.com then like and share them on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TheMarquisAtCanyonRidge.

Austin is a culturally rich city, boasting a fair number of highbrow performance groups. One of the most long-lived and praised is Ballet Austin, which has been putting on impressive performances for over 50 years. Under the direction of Stephen Mills, the company encompasses 20 professional dancers recruited from a nationwide talent search, staging five productions yearly, including an extremely popular presentation of The Nutcracker. The productions are uniformly elegant and sensual, with talented dancers and engrossing choreography. Regulars rave about the avant-garde spin that Mills and company put on staid classics. In addition to their professional performances, Ballet Austin hosts a number of educational programs which draw locals in droves. The classes are held on a drop-in basis at The Butler Center, ranging from traditional ballet and tap to more unique offerings like hip-hop, Pilates and “Broadway Fit.” Prices are reasonable and the instructors are top notch. It’s a great resource for anybody interested in dance.

Ballet Austin
501 W. 3rd Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 476-9151
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ballet-austin-austin