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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.
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…
Writing Philosophy
November 24, 2023

WHAT IS GOOD WRITING?

What is good music? What is good art? What is good writing? Such questions unleash many opinions. The branch of traditional philosophy called Aesthetics is devoted to answering such questions…
History Of PhilosophyNON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL 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…
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…
Modern Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy Branches
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”…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

SKEPTICISM (PYRRHONISM)

Pyrrhonian Skepticism was founded by Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360–275 BC), who argued that knowledge is impossible. The Skeptics proposed various arguments for their conclusions, including Platonic doubts about the…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of Philosophy
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…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGWriting Philosophy
November 19, 2023

THE POSITION PAPER

A position paper may be viewed as a type of argumentative paper in that it states a claim—your position—concerning a topic, issue, or question and presents a justification for that…
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…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of Philosophy
December 12, 2023

ETHICS

Ethics is the study of morality and can be divided into three main areas of inquiry. Descriptive ethics concerns the actual moral beliefs held by specific individuals or societies and…
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…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGWriting Philosophy
November 19, 2023

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…
History Of PhilosophyTHE EARLY MODERN PERIOD
November 15, 2023

RATIONALISM

Rationalism designates a variety of philosophical schools maintaining that reason, as opposed to empirical investigation, is the most important method of acquiring knowledge.
History Of PhilosophyPOST-KANTIAN 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…

Books

  • Philosophy Simplified: Discover The 10 Most Iconic Thinkers, From Plato & Kant To Ethics & Metaphysics, Their Key concepts, Theories & Ideas Simplified – Daily Philosophical Quotes Included

    $13.99
  • Metaphysics: An Introduction

    $34.95
  • Stillness is the Key: An Ancient Strategy for Modern Life

    $20.95
  • The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge

    $14.34
  • As a Man Thinketh (Deluxe Hardcover Book)

    $9.99
  • The Art of Thinking Critically: Ask Great Questions, Spot Illogical Reasoning, and Make Sharp Arguments (The critical thinker)

    $14.99
  • The Prophet (Reader’s Library Classics) (Illustrated)

    $3.26
  • Power (The Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Vol. 3)

    $14.41
  • Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation

    $12.39
  • 365 Days of Journaling for Deep Shadow Work: A Beginner’s Workbook With Questions & Prompts for Inner Child Healing

    $19.99
  • On Dialogue (Routledge Classics)

    $23.16
  • How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins

    $28.99
  • Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

    $17.60
  • How We Live Is How We Die

    $16.99
  • Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny

    $15.99
  • The Prince (A Penguin Classics Hardcover)

    $16.49

Terms & Concepts

P

Picture theory of meaning

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1889-1951) early theory of meaning, in which the logical structures of language mirror the structures of the world. https://youtube.com/shorts/CiBI5z_Hso0?feature=share
P

Pluralism

The position that there is a plurality (multiplicity) of (legitimate) views on an issue. https://youtube.com/shorts/BJ8jKiinOuw?feature=share
E

Emotivism

The theory that moral judgments are nothing other than expressions of positive or negative feelings. https://youtube.com/shorts/nOQAXyhF_jY?feature=share
P
Polytheism
A
Analects
O
Ordinary language
L
Logical equivalence (logically equivalent statements)
B
Begging the question
M
Moral evil
E
Epistemology
P
Positive right
E
Essence (or an essential property)
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