LogicINTUITIONISM
November 15, 2023

INTUITIONISM

One of the most familiar non-classical logics is intuitionism, which, in simple terms, is based upon the rejection of the law of excluded middle: (P ∨ ¬P). There are both…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of PhilosophyMETAPHYSICS
December 12, 2023

METAPHYSICS

Metaphysics is the philosophical investigation of reality, including the nature of the world and the entities it contains. While such an investigation inevitably overlaps with natural philosophy—the sciences, especially physics…
History Of PhilosophyANALYTIC PHILOSOPHYLOGICAL POSITIVISM
November 15, 2023

LOGICAL POSITIVISM

Originally founded by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), Positivism was primarily a view about science. Influenced by Immanuel Kant’s (1724-1804) assertion that knowledge of things-inthemselves was impossible, Comte argued that our scientific…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyTHOMISM
November 15, 2023

THOMISM

A school of thought based on the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Thomism is, like Scholasticism, principally concerned with metaphysics and understanding the attributes of God.
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyTHE FRANKFURT SCHOOL
November 15, 2023

THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL

A group of philosophers, cultural critics, and social scientists based around the Frankfurt (Germany) Institute for Social Research were primarily concerned with integrating philosophical analysis with then-recent results in the…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of PhilosophyAFRICAN PHILOSOPHY
November 15, 2023

AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

The earliest indigenous African philosophy to produce written documents emerged during the seventeenth century, especially in Ethiopia. Zera Yacob (1599–1692), whose Hatata (1667) has been compared to René Descartes’ Discourse…
Writing PhilosophyHOW DO YOU DO 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 WRITINGWriting PhilosophyTHE ESSAY OF REFUTATION
November 20, 2023

THE ESSAY OF REFUTATION

The essay of refutation takes the position “I disagree.” Its objective is to persuade the reader that the argument of another is false, flawed, unlikely, implausible, or in some other…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySTOICISM
November 15, 2023

STOICISM

Founded by Zeno of Citium (334–262 BC), early Stoicism shared many similarities with Epicureanism, including the belief that the world was largely deterministic and that the overall goal of the…
Writing PhilosophyWHAT IS GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING?
November 24, 2023

WHAT IS GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING?

Writing effectively for a philosophy course does not merely start with the general principles of good writing just outlined, it sets out to show mastery of these principles. It embodies…
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?WHAT IS THE “SUBJECT MATTER” OF PHILOSOPHY
November 12, 2023

WHAT IS THE “SUBJECT MATTER” OF PHILOSOPHY

“There is a common misunderstanding that philosophy—like chemistry or history—has a content to offer, a content that a teacher is to teach and a student is to learn,” writes Professor…
THE EARLY MODERN PERIODHistory Of PhilosophyTHE EARLY MODERN PERIOD
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…
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyLOGICAL ATOMISM
November 15, 2023

LOGICAL ATOMISM

Although mostly associated with the logical analysis of language, analytic philosophy began in the philosophy of mathematics. Working independently, both Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell pursued programs of reducing mathematics…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXTBOOKS TO GUIDE NOVICE PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS
November 27, 2023

BOOKS TO GUIDE NOVICE PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS

This list is aimed at curating those texts that will both challenge a novice researcher, and continually reward repeated encounters as you develop your philosophical interests.
Modern Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy BranchesBIOETHICS
November 14, 2023

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…

Books

  • The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror

    $499.95
  • The Writings of Henry David Thoreau : Reform Papers

    $135.40
  • Maxims and Reflections

    $8.99
  • Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy (2 volume set)

    $495.00
  • Cartesian Poetics: The Art of Thinking (Thinking Literature)

    $27.50
  • Tao for Now: Wisdom of the Watercourse

    $18.95
  • Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life

    $13.41
  • Body Aware: Rediscover Your Mind-Body Connection, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Improve Your Mental Health with Simple Movement Practices

    $17.95
  • Leibowitz or God’s Absence

    $82.15
  • Critique of Pure Reason

    $18.00
  • The Agony of Eros (Untimely Meditations)

    $11.92
  • Limits of Knowledge, The: Generating Pragmatist Feminist Cases for Situated Knowing

    $31.95
  • Writing Philosophy: A Student’s Guide to Reading and Writing Philosophy Essays

    $39.99
  • A Word to the Broken: An encouragement to those who have endured loss, pain, and betrayal.

    $13.99
  • Scholasticism

    $28.99
  • Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

    $18.15

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Terms & Concepts

D

Disposition

A property of an object that only manifests under certain conditions—for example, fragility. Some philosophers argue that dispositional properties are ultimately reducible to non dispositional (categorical) properties such as non-dispositional…
C

Coherence

Fitting together in a logical, orderly fashion. https://youtube.com/shorts/yIxfu3wVcW4?feature=share
B

Best of all possible worlds

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s (1646-1716) view that this world is the best of the possible worlds God could have created. The claim was advanced as the argument of Leibniz’s theodicy, his…
A
Antecedent
V
Void
B
Brentano’s Thesis
D
Duhem-Quine Thesis
A
Aphorism
D
Dutch Book Theorem
E
Equivocation
I
I-proposition
K
KK Thesis
View All