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…
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOKS AND TEXTGUIDES TO PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING
November 27, 2023

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.
Philosophy BranchesTraditional Branches of PhilosophyETHICS
December 12, 2023

ETHICS

Ethics is the study of morality and can be divided into three main areas of inquiry. Descriptive ethics concerns the actual moral beliefs held by specific individuals or societies and…
History Of PhilosophyCLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYPLATO
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…
Writing PhilosophyWRITING IS CENTRAL TO PHILOSOPHY
November 24, 2023

WRITING IS CENTRAL TO PHILOSOPHY

For the great majority of us, writing is instrumental to thinking. Since it is reasonable to describe philosophy as the application of disciplined thought to a variety of topics, issues,…
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…
Writing PhilosophyTHE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING PROCESS
November 22, 2023

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…
History Of PhilosophyTHE ELEATIC SCHOOL
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…
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophyANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
November 15, 2023

ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The analytic tradition arose partly as a rejection of Hegelian idealism in favor of what George Edward Moore (1873–1958) called a “common sense” view of the world, alongside developments in…
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…
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
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…
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…
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…
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHYHistory Of PhilosophySTOICISM
November 15, 2023

STOICISM

Founded by Zeno of Citium (334–262 BC), early Stoicism shared many similarities with Epicureanism, including the belief that the world was largely deterministic and that the overall goal of the…

Books

  • Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)

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  • Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

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  • The Middle Way: The Emergence of Modern-Religious Trends in Nineteenth-Century Judaism Responses to Modernity in the Philosophy of Z. H. Chajes, S. R. … Vol. 2 (Studies in Orthodox Judaism)

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  • GREYISM: Black People In a White Society

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  • Tao Te Ching

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  • On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism

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  • Accomplishments of Joe Biden: Funny Gag Gift

    $5.00
  • The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Penguin Classics)

    $15.79
  • Schopenhauer Collection: World as Will and Idea Volumes 1-3, Wisdom of Life, Counsels and Maxims, and The Art of Being Right

    $24.99
  • In the Dust of This Planet: Horror of Philosophy (Volume 1) (Horror of Philosophy, 1)

    $19.95
  • Humanly Possible

    $56.59
  • Meditations – The Classical Translation by George Long (Reader’s Library Classics)

    $5.66
  • Dokkodo: The path I walk is mine alone

    $14.99
  • How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (Random House Large Print)

    $32.00
  • Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’s Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Essays)

    $5.00

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Aesthetics: An IntroductionAESTHETICSAtomos

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Ethics: An IntroductionAtomosETHICS

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Logic: An IntroductionAtomosLOGIC

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Terms & Concepts

A

Ad hominem argument

Literally, “to the man,” an ad hominem is an attack on the person, rather than a critical engagement with their position. Versions of the ad hominem are 1) ad hominem…
A

Attribute

A property, either essential or inessential. https://youtube.com/shorts/PfF0tXTyOmE?feature=share
T

Tarski’s T-Schema

An adequacy condition for any definition of truth is that it implies conditionals of the form“‘p’ is true if and only if p” for every sentence of the language; some…
S
Social contract
J
Justice
U
Uncogent argument
D
Distributive justice
I
Incommensurability
W
Weak argument
C
Communism
I
Indeterminacy of translation
A
Applied ethics
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