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THE EARLY MODERN PERIODWHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
November 15, 2023

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…
History Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

THE ELEATIC SCHOOL

Based in the Ionian colony of Elea (modern-day Velia) in southern Italy, and primarily associated with Parmenides (early fifth century BC) and Melissus of Samos (mid fifth century BC), the…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

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…
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…
Logic
November 15, 2023

NON-CLASSICAL LOGIC

While both the predicate calculus and the modal propositional calculus may be seen as extensions of the basic propositional calculus, there are also a variety of formal languages intended as…
Traditional Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy Branches
December 12, 2023

EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology is the study of knowledge, including its nature and its extent, and of justification (that is, whether a belief is formed in a valid way to justify its being…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
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.
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXT
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…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of 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.
Logic
November 15, 2023

PROPOSITIONAL CALCULUS (PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC)

The simplest formal (logical) language is the propositional calculus. This considers the logical relationships that hold between complete propositions.
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of 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 Philosophy
November 22, 2023

THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING PROCESS

Writing is work, and for many of us, writing is hard work. Writing philosophy adds to this labor an element of intimidation. Whether you are writing an expository—explanatory and descriptive—essay…
History Of PhilosophyANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
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…
POST-KANTIAN PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

HEGELIANISM

One common theme in post-Kantian philosophy was an attempt to overcome the remaining divisions between noumena and phenomena, and to reconcile the distinct faculties of sensibility and understanding in to…
Modern Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy Branches
November 14, 2023

PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

The study of natural languages is conventionally divided among questions of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, all of which raise significant issues for the philosophy of language. In terms of syntax…

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  • Beyond Good and Evil

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  • The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein, Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy

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  • Stoic Classics Collection: Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, Epictetus’s Enchiridion, Seneca’s On a Happy Life, On the Shortness of Life & On Providence

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  • The Imaginary: A Phenomenological Psychology of the Imagination (Routledge Classics)

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Terms & Concepts

L

Law of contradiction

The formal logic principle that a statement and its negation cannot be simultaneously true. https://youtube.com/shorts/AZOsGLxDrKs?feature=share
P

Parallelism

In the philosophy of mind, the view that mental events and bodily events occur in parallel but do not interact. https://youtube.com/shorts/DXsYr-aPBls?feature=share
P

Principle of sufficient reason

The principle that every event has an explanation. https://youtube.com/shorts/5ElqBnnwa_Y?feature=share
F
Fascism
C
Compatibilism
D
Divine preordination
N
Normative ethics
Q
Quantity
M
Major term
P
Polytheism
E
Existential elimination
PHIOLOSOPHICAL TERMS AND CONCEPTS
PHIOLOSOPHICAL TERMS AND CONCEPTS
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