Traditional Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy BranchesLOGIC
December 12, 2023

LOGIC

Logic is concerned with studying the inferences we make, and the formal languages developed to systematize those inferences. This includes both the proof-theories and semantics for these languages, as well…
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySTRUCTURALISM
November 15, 2023

STRUCTURALISM

Structuralism refers to research undertaken in the social sciences, predominantly in France, between the 1950s and 1970s, which sought to understand various social phenomena as a “closed system” of elements.
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGTHE PERSONAL ESSAY
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…
Writing PhilosophyWRITING IS CENTRAL TO PHILOSOPHY
November 24, 2023

WRITING IS CENTRAL TO PHILOSOPHY

For the great majority of us, writing is instrumental to thinking. Since it is reasonable to describe philosophy as the application of disciplined thought to a variety of topics, issues,…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of PhilosophyMIDDLE EASTERN TRADITIONS
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 WRITINGWriting PhilosophyFORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
November 20, 2023

FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING

The word essay comes from the French infinitive verb essayer, meaning “to try” or “to attempt.” In fact, when the word was first borrowed into the English language, as essay,…
Writing PhilosophyESSENTIAL WRITING SKILLS
November 21, 2023

ESSENTIAL WRITING SKILLS

Having just walked through the basic process of writing a philosophy paper, we turn now to the essential skillset you should develop and apply not only to the writing of…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of PhilosophyINDIAN PHILOSOPHY
November 15, 2023

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy on the Indian subcontinent between 1000 BC and the early centuries of the first millennium was comprised of six major schools of Hindu philosophy (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa,…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySCHOLASTICISM
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…
THE EARLY MODERN PERIODHistory Of PhilosophyLIBERALISM
November 15, 2023

LIBERALISM

A political philosophy whose central claim is that a government’s authority is justified only insofar as it secures the liberty of its subjects, Liberalism is generally traced to John Locke…
History Of PhilosophyTHE SOPHISTS
November 15, 2023

THE SOPHISTS

The Sophists were not a single school but a professional grouping of largely itinerant teachers of rhetoric, philosophy, and legal argumentation. Their importance lies not in any specific doctrines but…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of PhilosophyNATURAL PHILOSOPHY
December 12, 2023

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

An important historical branch designation rather than a current one, natural philosophy was the study of nature and the physical universe by philosophical (that is, largely empirical reason-based) methods.
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGTHE ESSAY OF AFFIRMATION
November 20, 2023

THE ESSAY OF AFFIRMATION

The essay of affirmation takes the position I agree. If you want to write an essay agreeing with—affirming—the ideas of another, such as a philosopher, a simple statement of agreement…
Modern Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy BranchesHERMENEUTICS
November 14, 2023

HERMENEUTICS

Originally applied to scriptural exegesis (interpretation), hermeneutics is more generally the theory and method of all “textual” interpretation. In the modern context, this refers to both verbal and non-verbal “texts”…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXTINTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY TEXTS
November 27, 2023

INTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY TEXTS

There is no substitute for grappling primary sources. Nevertheless, secondary sources—including scholarly research, literary reviews, historical summaries—are valuable tools. They not only show you how you can begin thinking about…

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  • ESSENTIALISM: Free Yourself From Clutter, Debt, Stress – Rediscover The Power Of Less With a Stoic Mind: The art of flying away from superfluous

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    $7.69
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

    $22.79
  • Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition

    $12.24
  • Chosen by God

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  • True Facts That Sound Like Bull$#*t: 500 Insane-But-True Facts That Will Shock and Impress Your Friends (1) (Mind-Blowing True Facts)

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  • Montaigne: A Very Short Introduction

    $11.83
  • How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

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  • Existential Dialogues

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  • A Thousand Brains

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  • The Physics of Consciousness: In the Quantum Field, Minerals, Plants, Animals and Human Souls (Existence – Consciousness – Bliss)

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Terms & Concepts

I

Inclusive disjunction

In formal logic, a disjunction is inclusive, so the expression, “One or the other” includes“…or both.” Exclusivity must be explicitly noted, as in, “One or the other, but not both.”…
E

Existentialism

The twentieth-century philosophical movement popularized by atheistic existentialist Jean Paul Sartre; but some core elements were developed by nineteenth-century Christian thinker Søren Kierkegaard. https://youtube.com/shorts/5AgvPwc5Rh0?feature=share
G

Grue Paradox

Nelson Goodman’s (1906-1998) argument that every inductive basis supports an infinite number of incompatible predictions: for instance, “all emeralds are green” versus “allemeralds are grue,” where grue means green now,…
E
Efficient cause
C
Consequentialism
B
Bayes’s Theorem
I
Impression
S
Sophists
P
Prime Mover
K
Karma
F
Functionalism
H
Hypothetical imperative
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