FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGTHE ESSAY OF ASSERTION
November 20, 2023

THE ESSAY OF ASSERTION

The essay of assertion takes the position I believe. It is an argumentative essay in which you convey to the reader some belief or beliefs that you hold. If you…
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…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSHistory Of PhilosophyMIDDLE EASTERN 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…
FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGWriting PhilosophyFORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
November 20, 2023

FORMS OF PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING

The word essay comes from the French infinitive verb essayer, meaning “to try” or “to attempt.” In fact, when the word was first borrowed into the English language, as essay,…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXTBOOKS TO GUIDE NOVICE PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS
November 27, 2023

BOOKS TO GUIDE NOVICE PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS

This list is aimed at curating those texts that will both challenge a novice researcher, and continually reward repeated encounters as you develop your philosophical interests.
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of PhilosophyPOLITICAL 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…
LogicMODAL LOGIC
November 15, 2023

MODAL LOGIC

A common extension to the standard formal languages outlined above is to introduce the technical machinery required to evaluate natural language arguments containing modal terminology (that is, talk of possibility…
LogicQUANTUM LOGIC
November 15, 2023

QUANTUM LOGIC

Most non-classical logics are motivated by either philosophical considerations, such as the metaphysical status of the future, or technical concerns about the neutrality of the logical connectives or the notion…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONSNON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS
November 15, 2023

NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS

As explained at the beginning of this chapter, this book is intended primarily for philosophy students, especially new philosophy students, whose focus is mainly or even exclusively on Western philosophical…
History Of PhilosophyANALYTIC PHILOSOPHYLOGICAL POSITIVISM
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…
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySTRUCTURALISM
November 15, 2023

STRUCTURALISM

Structuralism refers to research undertaken in the social sciences, predominantly in France, between the 1950s and 1970s, which sought to understand various social phenomena as a “closed system” of elements.
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…
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…
Writing PhilosophyWHAT IS GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING?
November 24, 2023

WHAT IS GOOD PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING?

Writing effectively for a philosophy course does not merely start with the general principles of good writing just outlined, it sets out to show mastery of these principles. It embodies…
Modern Branches of PhilosophyPhilosophy BranchesPHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
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…

Books

  • The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics)

    $11.39
  • How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins

    $28.99
  • Self-Reliance and Other Essays

    $3.95
  • The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality

    $28.80
  • Letters on Natural Philosophy: The Scientific Correspondence of a Sixteenth-Century Pharmacist, with Related Texts (Volume 77) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series)

    $41.95
  • When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

    $13.99
  • The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Consciousness and Phantasy (Routledge Research in Aesthetics)

    $166.00
  • I’ve Been Thinking

    $28.01
  • Build Emotional Resilience: Learn to Detach, Stop Over-Thinking, Master Your Emotions, and Bounce Back Effortlessly to Thrive in a Chaotic Environment (Fearless Empathy)

    $18.99
  • Why Grow Up?: Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age

    $14.92
  • Understand Existentialism (Teach Yourself)

    $16.99
  • Meditations

    $15.99
  • Philosophy For Dummies

    $20.49
  • The Varieties of Religious Experience

    $9.89
  • The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation and Study Guide (The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Mandala Publishing Series)

    $24.99
  • Fifty Eastern Thinkers (Routledge Key Guides)

    $32.95

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Terms & Concepts

N

Necessary and sufficient condition

That which both guarantees and is required. It is typically expressed by the phrase, “if, and only if.” https://youtube.com/shorts/9RMnH2o2Zp4?feature=share
M

Monad

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s (1646-1726) term for the simplest immaterial substances that ultimately constitute reality. https://youtube.com/shorts/lNsw4qOdNbs?feature=share
D

Deductive argument

An argument that attempts to show the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. (See also Indictive argument.) https://youtube.com/shorts/PnM5BeMHZQA?feature=share
A
Absolute time
A
Ancient atomism
P
Pluralism
R
Rationalist
F
Final cause
L
Liberty
P
Principle of charity
T
Thin concept
G
General conditional proof
View All