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A Must Have Book For Every Philosophy Student
History Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

ATOMISM

Atomism was founded by Leucippus (who flourished around 440 BC) but was primarily elaborated by Democritus (c. 460-370 BC) as a way of reconciling the Eleatic doctrine of the impossibility…
Logic
November 15, 2023

RELEVANCE LOGICS

A relevance logic is motivated by the idea that the premises of a valid argument must be somehow “relevant” to its conclusion. The idea is motivated by the fact that…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of Philosophy
December 12, 2023

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Political philosophy is at least as old as Plato (428/227 or 424/423-348/347 BC) and is concerned with the nature of the state and, more broadly, with coercive institutions, and their…
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…
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…
Writing Philosophy
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…
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…
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

PROPOSITIONAL CALCULUS (PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC)

The simplest formal (logical) language is the propositional calculus. This considers the logical relationships that hold between complete propositions.
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…
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

While the focus of western philosophy has primarily been on the analysis and understanding of our most basic concepts, another important theme has been the preparation and education of man…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of Philosophy
November 15, 2023

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…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of Philosophy
December 12, 2023

AESTHETICS

Aesthetics is concerned with the nature of art (whether visual, literary, dramatic, or in some other medium) and the way in which art is experienced. Two principal related issues, therefore,…
Writing Philosophy
November 23, 2023

GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING

BASICS OF GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING: A DEEPER DIVE Having surveyed the elements of good writing from 30,000 feet, let’s swoop in on some of the most important specifics. This means…
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…

Books

  • Life Death (The Seminars of Jacques Derrida)

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  • No Exit and Three Other Plays

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  • Medieval Philosophy (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy)

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  • Notes from the End of Everything

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  • The Birth of Tragedy

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  • Miracle Minded Medium: The Purpose and Power of Talking to Dead People

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  • The Art Of Living

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  • Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (Shambhala Library)

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  • The P.R.I.M.E.R. Goal Setting Method: The Only Goal Achievement Guide You’ll Ever Need! (Self-Help Books for Busy People)

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  • Ashtavakra Gita: Word-for-Word Translation from Sanskrit by

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  • Antigone’s Claim

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  • Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness

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  • Mad Mothers, Bad Mothers, and What a “Good” Mother Would Do: The Ethics of Ambivalence

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  • Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: Expanded Edition

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Terms & Concepts

M

Major premise

In a standard-form categorical syllogism, the premise that contains the major term. It is the premise that appears first. (See also Categorical syllogism and Standard form.) https://youtube.com/shorts/NungjsSU_sI?feature=share
P

Possible world

A semantic device for evaluating modal discourse, whereby claims of possibility are made true by what happens at other (accessible) possible worlds. The utility of the semantics leads some philosophers…
E

Existential import

The assumption that at least one member of the subject class of a universal proposition exists.Aristotelian, or traditional, logic assumes existential import. The modern interpretation doesnot. (See also Categorical proposition.)…
P
Propositional knowledge
S
Skepticism
C
Causal interactionism
P
Prime Mover
P
Private language argument
F
False cause
D
Dukkha
H
Hermeneutics
D
Dialetheism
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