PHENOMENOLOGY
As originally developed by Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), phenomenology seeks to provide a detailed description of the way in which things are presented to us—that is to say, phenomena —in an…
THE ESSAY OF REFUTATION
The essay of refutation takes the position “I disagree.” Its objective is to persuade the reader that the argument of…
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ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY
ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY
Between the 1940s and the 1960s, analytic philosophy shifted away from investigating the (supposed) underlying logical structure of language. While it was still primarily concerned with conceptual analysis, this was…
GUIDES TO PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
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.
LIBERALISM
LIBERALISM
A political philosophy whose central claim is that a government’s authority is justified only insofar as it secures the liberty of its subjects, Liberalism is generally traced to John Locke…
GRADING CRITERIA FOR PHILOSOPHY ESSAYS
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…
NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS
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…
THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL
THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL
A group of philosophers, cultural critics, and social scientists based around the Frankfurt (Germany) Institute for Social Research were primarily concerned with integrating philosophical analysis with then-recent results in the…
THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING PROCESS
THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING PROCESS
Writing is work, and for many of us, writing is hard work. Writing philosophy adds to this labor an element of intimidation. Whether you are writing an expository—explanatory and descriptive—essay…
HERMENEUTICS
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”…
CRITICAL THINKING AND LOGIC TEXTBOOKS
CRITICAL THINKING AND LOGIC TEXTBOOKS
Textbooks on critical thinking and logic.
MANY-VALUE LOGICS
MANY-VALUE LOGICS
In the classical logics already discussed, the logical connectives are taken to be bivalent—that is, they allow of only two different truth values: true and false. One natural extension to…
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
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…
HOW DO YOU DO PHILOSOPHY?
HOW DO YOU DO PHILOSOPHY?
How do you do philosophy? Unlike many of the questions asked in the name of philosophy, this one has a straightforward answer. You do philosophy primarily through writing. Now, if…
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
An important historical branch designation rather than a current one, natural philosophy was the study of nature and the physical universe by philosophical (that is, largely empirical reason-based) methods.
SKEPTICISM (PYRRHONISM)
Pyrrhonian Skepticism was founded by Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360–275 BC), who argued that knowledge is impossible. The Skeptics proposed…
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Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control (The Stoic Virtues Series)
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Stillness Is the Key
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Right Thing, Right Now: Justice in an Unjust World (The Stoic Virtues Series)
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How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius
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Letters from a Stoic: Penguin Classics
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A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe
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Hospitality, Volume I (The Seminars of Jacques Derrida)
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The Impertinent Self: A Heroic History of Modernity (Cultural Memory in the Present)
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The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
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The Amazing Dr. Ransom’s Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies
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Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death
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Infinite Potential: The Greatest Works of Neville Goddard
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Technological Slavery: Enhanced Edition (1)
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The Gateway Experience: Brain Hemisphere Synchronization in Perspective, with Introduction by the Editor: The Complete Analysis and Assessment of the Gateway Process
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Meditations – The Classical Translation by George Long (Reader’s Library Classics)
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The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 2
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New Iranian Plays (World Drama)
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Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: Duplicate
Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: Duplicate
Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: Duplicate
Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: Duplicate
Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: A Critique of Modal Arbitrariness and Determinism in Teitel’s Framework
Reexamining Spacetime Substantivalism: A Critique of Modal Arbitrariness and Determinism in Teitel’s Framework
Rule-Following and Artificial Intelligence: A Kripkean Perspective
Rule-Following and Artificial Intelligence: A Kripkean Perspective
The Eternal Coexistence of Consciousness and Spacetime: A Philosophical Inquiry
The Eternal Coexistence of Consciousness and Spacetime: A Philosophical Inquiry
Embracing Contradiction: An In-Depth Analysis of Dialetheism
Embracing Contradiction: An In-Depth Analysis of Dialetheism
Analysis of, and Responses to Edmund Gettier’s “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”
Analysis of, and Responses to Edmund Gettier’s “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”
The Unstable Foundation: A Critique of the Ontological Proof of God’s Existence
The Unstable Foundation: A Critique of the Ontological Proof of God’s Existence
Meta-Modal Actuality: A Dynamic Framework for Possibility, Actualization, and Causality
Meta-Modal Actuality: A Dynamic Framework for Possibility, Actualization, and Causality
Killing, Morality, and the Human Condition: A Philosophical Investigation
Killing, Morality, and the Human Condition: A Philosophical Investigation
The Intricacy of Existence: A Philosophical Exploration of Complexity, Contingency, and Divine Agency
The Intricacy of Existence: A Philosophical Exploration of Complexity, Contingency, and Divine Agency
The Ethics of Procreation and the Rational Acceptance of Life: A Critical Engagement with Weinberg’s Argument
The Ethics of Procreation and the Rational Acceptance of Life: A Critical Engagement with Weinberg’s Argument
Imagination, Consciousness, and the Nature of the Soul: A Philosophical Inquiry
Imagination, Consciousness, and the Nature of the Soul: A Philosophical Inquiry
The Interplay of Karma, Rebirth, and Non-Self in Buddhist Philosophy: A Metaphysical Inquiry
The Interplay of Karma, Rebirth, and Non-Self in Buddhist Philosophy: A Metaphysical Inquiry
Metaphysical Perspectives: A Comparative Analysis of Theism and Atheism
Metaphysical Perspectives: A Comparative Analysis of Theism and Atheism
The Infinite Universe, Death, and the Search for Meaning: A Philosophical Exploration of Existence, the Divine, and Human Mortality
The Infinite Universe, Death, and the Search for Meaning: A Philosophical Exploration of Existence, the Divine, and Human Mortality
The Intricacy of Existence: A Philosophical Exploration of Complexity, Contingency, and Divine Agency
The Intricacy of Existence: A Philosophical Exploration of Complexity, Contingency, and Divine Agency
Terms & Concepts
Prisoner’s Dilemma
A co-ordination problem in game theory, where each player is individually motivated to cheat the others, but suffers if every other player reasons the same way; it provides a formal…
Conjunction introduction
In symbolic logic, a valid inference in a system of truth-functional rules. In a derivation, two statements can be inferred using the conjunction symbol, since a statement governed by the…
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