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History Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

THE PRE-SOCRATICS

The origins of Western philosophy are usually attributed to Thales of Miletus (fl. sixth century BC), who taught that “everything was made of water” and thus that the universe, all…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

SCHOLASTICISM

A general term for those philosophers influenced by the medieval rediscovery of classic texts, Scholasticism is broadly characterized by an interest in logic and disputation and is motivated to resolve…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGWriting Philosophy
November 19, 2023

THE EXPOSITORY PAPER

We have already touched on the expository paper, but let’s discuss it briefly here. Look at the adjective expository. It is derived from the noun exposition, which is the noun…
Writing Philosophy
November 24, 2023

GRADING CRITERIA FOR PHILOSOPHY ESSAYS

The eight skills just listed are so central to philosophical writing that we may count them among the criteria most instructors use in grading essay assignments. Keep these eight skills…
THE EARLY MODERN PERIODHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

Philosophical thought during the Enlightenment was characterized by a rejection of existing sources of authority. The broadly Aristotelean scientific worldview was undermined by a period of scientific revolution—conventionally beginning with…
History Of PhilosophyANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
November 15, 2023

ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY

Between the 1940s and the 1960s, analytic philosophy shifted away from investigating the (supposed) underlying logical structure of language. While it was still primarily concerned with conceptual analysis, this was…
Writing Philosophy
November 24, 2023

HOW DO YOU DO PHILOSOPHY?

How do you do philosophy? Unlike many of the questions asked in the name of philosophy, this one has a straightforward answer. You do philosophy primarily through writing. Now, if…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
November 20, 2023

THE ESSAY OF ASSERTION

The essay of assertion takes the position I believe. It is an argumentative essay in which you convey to the reader some belief or beliefs that you hold. If you…
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

PHENOMENOLOGY

As originally developed by Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), phenomenology seeks to provide a detailed description of the way in which things are presented to us—that is to say, phenomena —in an…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

MIDDLE EASTERN TRADITIONS

As the Middle East is often called the cradle of civilization, it is also the source of some of the earliest philosophical literature. Much of it is devoted to what…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
November 20, 2023

THE PERSONAL ESSAY

The personal essay is a self-reflective search for meaning. Unlike most philosophical writing, it is not argumentative. Instead, it is exploratory and speculative, often even somewhat confessional. It is typically…
Philosophy Branches
December 12, 2023

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy embraces the most ambitious field of inquiry—the universe, including the self and everything both physical and metaphysical. It is impossible to list all the branches of philosophy, which are…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXT
November 27, 2023

GUIDES TO PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING

As with developing any skill, learning to write philosophically takes practice. Here are some links to academic sites, along with several style guides, to aid you.
THE EARLY MODERN PERIODHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM

The philosophical system developed by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), Transcendental Idealism sought to overcome the epistemological problems of Empiricism while providing a rational justification for Liberalism.
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

SAINT AUGUSTINE

Like his contemporaries, Saint Augustine (354–430) was primarily influenced by Neoplatonism, and, indeed, credited Plotinus with helping him to understand Christian theology.

Books

  • Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, Revised and Expanded Edition, Book Cover May Vary

    $20.00
  • Caliphate and Imamate (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

    $34.99
  • I Am a Strange Loop

    $12.99
  • On the Infinite, the Universe and the Worlds: Five Cosmological Dialogues (Collected Works of Giordano Bruno Book 2)

    $7.50
  • Manifesto for Philosophy: Followed by Two Essays: “the (Re)Turn of Philosophy Itself” and “Definition of Philosophy” (Suny Series, Intersections, Philosophy and Critical Theory)

    $31.95
  • What Does Europe Want?: The Union and Its Discontents (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture)

    $15.60
  • The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life

    $10.40
  • Many Mansions

    $4.95
  • Three Waves of Volunteers and the New Earth

    $13.59
  • Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

    $18.41
  • Al-Ghazālī and the Idea of Moral Beauty (Islam in the World)

    $24.95
  • Why Is There Suffering?: Pick Your Own Theological Expedition

    $9.99
  • Fedón: Diálogos de Platón, Textos Clásicos filosóficos Griegos (Spanish Edition)

    $9.45
  • Living Buddha, Living Christ

    $15.43
  • Socialism

    $9.99
  • Utilitarianism

    $12.99

Terms & Concepts

S

Strawman

(or Straw Man; gender neutral alternatives: straw person or straw person)An informal fallacy constituted by distorting someone’s position in such a way as to render it unrecognizable and easy to…
F

False dilemma

The informal fallacy in which two choices, one of which is more unpalatable than the other,are presented as the only options when, in fact, other options exist. https://youtube.com/shorts/wSGgm6fTYdw?feature=share
G

General conditional proof

In symbolic logic, a valid inference in a system of quantifier rules. From the assumption that an individually named thing has a specific property, an inference is drawn that that…
P
Proof by contradiction
A
Agnosticism
P
Paradox
C
Categorical proposition
P
Private language argument
P
Principle of induction
I
Intention/intentionality
N
Nominalism
O
Obversion
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