FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGTHE PERSONAL ESSAY
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…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXTINTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY TEXTS
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…
History Of PhilosophyTHE PRE-SOCRATICS
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…
STRATEGIC WRITING CHOICESWriting PhilosophySTRATEGIC WRITING CHOICES FOR PHILOSOPHY CLASS
November 18, 2023

STRATEGIC WRITING CHOICES FOR PHILOSOPHY CLASS

Writing philosophy should not be easy, but you cannot allow it to become impossible. Here are five strategic rules of thumb for embarking on a successful writing project for philosophy…
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of PhilosophyPHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
December 12, 2023

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

Many religions distinguish between truths accessible through reason (natural theology), and truths accessible through faith (revealed theology). Both natural and revealed theology raise interesting philosophical questions about these two sources…
Philosophy BranchesBRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
December 12, 2023

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy embraces the most ambitious field of inquiry—the universe, including the self and everything both physical and metaphysical. It is impossible to list all the branches of philosophy, which are…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyEPICUREANISM
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…
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?PHILOSOPHY AS METHOD
November 12, 2023

PHILOSOPHY AS METHOD

Our digital age suggests a useful analogy to further explain the role of philosophy in intellectual life. Philosophy is analogous to an operating system (OS), a software platform that enables…
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…
Writing PhilosophyWHAT PHILOSOPHY PROFESSORS WANT FROM STUDENT WRITERS
November 24, 2023

WHAT PHILOSOPHY PROFESSORS WANT FROM STUDENT WRITERS

Some 2,300 years ago, Aristotle introduced the syllogism into the intellectual world. A threeelement formula, it is the elementary building block of syllogistic logic and deductive reasoning. The syllogism combines…
Traditional Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy BranchesLOGIC
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 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…
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?PHILOSOPHICAL FILMS AND TV SHOWS
November 24, 2023

PHILOSOPHICAL FILMS AND TV SHOWS

Note: Some of these titles may be difficult to find, either in DVD format or streaming. Film Animation Animal Farm (1954)Based on George Orwell’s novel of the same name, farm…
Writing PhilosophyWRITING PHILOSOPHY
November 24, 2023

WRITING PHILOSOPHY

How Do You Do Philosophy? Writing Is Central To Philosophy What Philosophy Professors Want From Student Writers What Is Good Writing? What Is Good Philosophical Writing? Grading Criteria for Philosophy…
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyCONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
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…

Books

  • Integralism: A Manual of Political Philosophy

    $30.00
  • The Lessons of History

    $9.79
  • Bad Infinity: Selected Writings

    $23.00
  • On the Infinite, the Universe and the Worlds: Five Cosmological Dialogues (Collected Works of Giordano Bruno Book 2)

    $7.50
  • The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind (Oxford Handbooks)

    $65.00
  • You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment

    $10.39
  • There’s MAGIC in this MANIFESTING JOURNAL: It’s Your Imagination: 100 Days of Make-Believe to Attract Your Wishes & Dreams (Wish*More Wellness for Your Spirit)

    $11.11
  • The Communist Manifesto (A Penguin Classics Hardcover)

    $22.00
  • Forget Foucault, new edition (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents)

    $14.95
  • Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life

    $13.41
  • Thomas Aquinas in 50 Pages: A Layman’s Quick Guide to Thomism

    $19.00
  • Metaphors We Live By

    $13.37
  • Transcendentalism and the Cultivation of the Soul

    $104.00
  • Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

    $13.47
  • Descartes: The Essential Collection

    $19.99
  • A New History of Western Philosophy

    $36.90

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Ethics: An IntroductionAtomosETHICS

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Logic: An IntroductionAtomosLOGIC

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Philosophy of Language: An IntroductionAtomosPHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

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Environmental Philosophy: An IntroductionAtomosENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY

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Terms & Concepts

I

Invalid

An evaluation term for a formally fallacious argument. An argument is invalid when the premises are true, but the conclusion is false. https://youtube.com/shorts/6qoicR_XaGI?feature=share
T

Tabula Rasa

The epistemological claim that prior to experience, the mind is a “blank slate,” with no innate ideas or pre-existing concepts. The concept is at least as old as Avicenna (eleventh…
C

Cogito, ergo sum

Literally, “I think, therefore I am.” This is the certainty René Descartes establishes as the foundation of his system of philosophy and as the certain foundation for knowledge even in…
C
Cogent argument
C
Claim
C
Coherence
T
Tarski’s T-Schema
P
Propensity
A
Atomic sentence
C
Coherence theory of truth
S
Subjectivism
N
Naturalistic fallacy
View All