EMPIRICISM
Empiricism covers a range of views prioritizing experience as the primary source of knowledge. During the Early Modern Period, this view was expounded by the so-called British Empiricists—Locke, Berkeley, and…
THE ELEATIC SCHOOL
Based in the Ionian colony of Elea (modern-day Velia) in southern Italy, and primarily associated with Parmenides (early fifth century…
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THE PRE-SOCRATICS
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…
EPICUREANISM
EPICUREANISM
Founded by Epicurus (341–271 BC), this eponymous philosophy is best known through the Roman poet Lucretius (mid first century BC). Like the Atomists, the Epicureans maintained that everything is made…
LOGIC
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…
GUIDES TO PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
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 EXPOSITORY PAPER
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…
BIOETHICS
BIOETHICS
A branch of ethics concerned with the moral and political issues raised by medical science, and with advances in medical technology, bioethics has now become a largely autonomous area of…
WRITING IS CENTRAL TO PHILOSOPHY
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,…
EXISTENTIALISM
EXISTENTIALISM
A broad philosophical and literary movement that flourished during the first half of the twentieth century, Existentialism emphasized the uniqueness of human experience over the generalizations of traditional scientific or…
PROPOSITIONAL CALCULUS (PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC)
PROPOSITIONAL CALCULUS (PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC)
The simplest formal (logical) language is the propositional calculus. This considers the logical relationships that hold between complete propositions.
PLATO
PLATO
Plato (427–347 BC) was born into a powerful family in Athens but abandoned politics after the execution of his teacher, Socrates; he subsequently traveled, became influenced by the Pythagoreans, and…
BASIC LOGICAL SYMBOLS
BASIC LOGICAL SYMBOLS
¬ one-place logical connective read as “not” or as “is not the case” ~ alternative notation for “not” & two-place logical connective read as “and” ˄ and
INTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY TEXTS
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…
OTHER CATEGORIZATIONS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
OTHER CATEGORIZATIONS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
There are other ways of classifying the forms of philosophic writing you may be asked to produce. The most prominent of these are: The Expository Paper The Argumentative Paper The…
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The analytic tradition arose partly as a rejection of Hegelian idealism in favor of what George Edward Moore (1873–1958) called a “common sense” view of the world, alongside developments in…
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Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)
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Stillness Is the Key
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Right Thing, Right Now: Justice in an Unjust World (The Stoic Virtues Series)
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How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
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Letters from a Stoic: Penguin Classics
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Books
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Mulla Sadra and Eschatology: Evolution of Being (Routledge Sufi Series)
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The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen
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Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life As Play and Possibility
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People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil
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Spinoza: Complete Works
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Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics)
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What We Owe the Future
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A Year of Zen: A 52-Week Guided Journal (A Year of Reflections Journal)
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The Marxification of Education: Paulo Freire’s Critical Marxism and the Theft of Education
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Beauty: What It Is and Why It Matters
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Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
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Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
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Tao Te Ching
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The Aristotle Collection: Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, Poetics, Rhetoric, On Sense and the Sensible, On Memory and Reminiscence, On Sleep and Sleeplessness, On Dreams, On Prophesying by Dreams, On Longevity and Shortness of Life, On Youth and Old Age, & On Life and Death
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Filosofía ante el desánimo: Pensamiento crítico para construir una personalidad sólida (Imago Mundi)
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Stoicism and the Art of Happiness: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life (Teach Yourself)
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The Atomos Blog
How do you get from a singularity to infinity?
How do you get from a singularity to infinity?
How do you get from a singularity to infinity?
How do you get from a singularity to infinity?
When the Light of a Dead Star Touches Your Eye
When the Light of a Dead Star Touches Your Eye
The Threshold
The Threshold
Can Math Prove Its Own Sanity? — A Deep Dive into Artemov’s Landmark Paper
Can Math Prove Its Own Sanity? — A Deep Dive into Artemov’s Landmark Paper
What Does the Mind Really Mean?
What Does the Mind Really Mean?
The Symphony of Existence: Strings, Dimensions, and the Persistence of Identity
The Symphony of Existence: Strings, Dimensions, and the Persistence of Identity
Does It Feel Like Anything To Be Claude?
Does It Feel Like Anything To Be Claude?
Natural Function and Perceptual Content
Natural Function and Perceptual Content
Philosophy of Law: An Introduction
Philosophy of Law: An Introduction
Philosophy of Science: An Introduction
Philosophy of Science: An Introduction
Aesthetics: An Introduction
Aesthetics: An Introduction
Epistemology: An Introduction
Epistemology: An Introduction
Ethics: An Introduction
Ethics: An Introduction
Logic: An Introduction
Logic: An Introduction
Metaphysics: An Introduction
Metaphysics: An Introduction
Philosophy of Science: An Introduction
Philosophy of Science: An Introduction
Terms & Concepts
Epistemic closure
Knowledge is closed (under entailment) if we know every proposition entailed by a known proposition. Epistemic closure is central to skepticism, since the truth of everyday facts entail that skepticism…
Historicism
Originally the view that all human knowledge is irreducibly historical, and thus to some extent relativistic, historicism increasingly came to mean the (largely unfalsifiable) view that historical development is subject…
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