Writing PhilosophyGRADING CRITERIA FOR PHILOSOPHY ESSAYS
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…
LogicRELEVANCE LOGICS
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 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…
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…
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…
LogicBASIC LOGICAL SYMBOLS
November 15, 2023

BASIC LOGICAL SYMBOLS

¬ one-place logical connective read as “not” or as “is not the case” ~ alternative notation for “not” & two-place logical connective read as “and” ˄ and
History Of PhilosophyATOMISM
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…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySCHOLASTICISM
November 15, 2023

SCHOLASTICISM

A general term for those philosophers influenced by the medieval rediscovery of classic texts, Scholasticism is broadly characterized by an interest in logic and disputation and is motivated to resolve…
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyMEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
November 15, 2023

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

The Medieval Period is usually dated between the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476)and the beginning of the Renaissance (c. 1300). In terms of philosophy, the period begins inthe…
POST-KANTIAN PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyPRAGMATISM
November 15, 2023

PRAGMATISM

Pragmatism was a philosophical movement in the United States concerned with the relationship between abstract theory and practical activity, and with the value of philosophical reflection.
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…
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…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGTHE ESSAY OF AFFIRMATION
November 20, 2023

THE ESSAY OF AFFIRMATION

The essay of affirmation takes the position I agree. If you want to write an essay agreeing with—affirming—the ideas of another, such as a philosopher, a simple statement of agreement…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySKEPTICISM (PYRRHONISM)
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 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…

Books

  • Unidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the World

    $21.99
  • Works of Love (Harper Perennial Modern Thought)

    $8.24
  • A Short History of Philosophy: From Ancient Greece to the Post-Modernist Era

    $9.56
  • The Symposium and Other Dialogues

    $12.00
  • Course in General Linguistics (Open Court Classics)

    $16.49
  • How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

    $13.59
  • A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

    $28.00
  • Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit: Translated with introduction and commentary

    $35.00
  • The Expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication Today

    $14.95
  • Power (The Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Vol. 3)

    $14.41
  • Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

    $34.10
  • Pensées (Penguin Classics)

    $13.00
  • Illuminations: Essays and Reflections

    $11.99
  • Between Past and Future (Penguin Classics)

    $13.79
  • I And Thou

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  • Why Information Grows

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Feminist Philosophy: An IntroductionAtomosFEMINIST PHILOSOPHY

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Terms & Concepts

R

Reason

1) Justification for a claim. 2) The capacity, faculty, or ability to think abstractly, such as drawing an inference or contemplating general concepts. https://youtube.com/shorts/2Qw_Q4hSuyg?feature=share
A

Assumptive proof

A nested proof—that is, a proof that occurs within a larger proof sequence. (See also Subproof.) https://youtube.com/shorts/1a3bbVukq6U?feature=share
F

False dilemma

The informal fallacy in which two choices, one of which is more unpalatable than the other,are presented as the only options when, in fact, other options exist. https://youtube.com/shorts/wSGgm6fTYdw?feature=share
E
Epicureanism
S
Sense data
Q
Qualia
M
Material conditional
E
Empirical
C
Complement
A
Absolute space
P
Pre-Socratics
S
State of nature
View All