Philosophy of Mysticism: Do Mystical Experiences Justify Religious Beliefs?
Mysticism refers to religious traditions devoted to cultivating altered states of consciousness called “mystical experiences.” This essay reviews philosophical attempts to define mystical experience as...
View ArticlePhilosophy as a Way of Life
This essay introduces the Philosophy as a Way of Life approach to philosophy and offers examples of what it can look like to live philosophically in the present day.
View ArticleOn Karl Marx’s Slogan “From Each According to their Ability, To Each...
The slogan “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” is one of German philosopher Karl Marx’s (1818-1883) few explicit descriptions of communism. This essay describes the...
View ArticlePhilosophy of Color
What is color? Where, if anywhere, is it? Why do we see it? When do we see it correctly? And how should we go about answering these surprisingly difficult questions? This essay surveys philosophical...
View ArticleKant’s Theory of the Sublime
Some of the most memorable experiences in life—like these—fill us with a profound sense of wonder and awe. Philosophers consider these experiences examples of the sublime. This essay summarizes Kant’s...
View ArticleForm and Matter: Hylomorphism
This essay provides an overview of the main claims and basic motivations for hylomorphism, the view that all material objects consist of both matter and form.
View ArticleSeemings: Justifying Beliefs Based on How Things Seem
We often have something like a sense or feeling that something is true. Many philosophers believe that there’s a type of mental attitude that is connected to such feelings, called a seeming. This essay...
View ArticleThe Mind-Body Problem: What Are Minds?
What are minds? And what (if anything) is the relationship of the mind to the body/brain—or to anything in nature? These questions constitute the so-called “mind-body problem.” This essay introduces...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence: The Possibility of Artificial Minds
An artificial intelligence or “AI” would be an entity that thinks or acts like an average human being—or even surpasses the average human being in cognitive abilities—yet is a machine or computer...
View ArticleObjects and their Parts: The Problem of Material Composition
An introduction to the problem of material composition, which is the attempt to answer the following question: under what circumstances do some smaller objects make up or compose some further object?”
View ArticleGödel’s Incompleteness Theorems
Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems—discovered by Austrian logician, mathematician, and philosopher Kurt Gödel (1906-1978)—are central to many philosophical debates about the limits of logical and...
View ArticleMoral Education: Teaching Students to Become Better People
What are the proper moral education, and how should those goals be pursued? Theories of moral education try to answer that question: they provide ideas about how we can, and should, try to teach...
View ArticlePyrrhonian Skepticism: Suspending Judgment
Author: Lewis Ross Category: Epistemology, Historical Philosophy Word Count: 995 Skeptics accept skepticism, the view that we lack knowledge or justified beliefs.[1] There are different types of...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence: Ethics, Society, and the Environment
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Ethics, Philosophy of Mind and Language, Social and Political Philosophy Word count: 998 Artificially intelligent entities or “AIs” are computer programs or machines...
View ArticleRobert Nozick’s “Wilt Chamberlain” Argument for Libertarianism
Author: Daniel Weltman Category: Social and Political Philosophy Word Count: 999 Some people are rich. Others are poor. Is this bad? Many argue that it’s unjust for society to be deeply unequal, and...
View ArticleWilliam James on Mystical Experience
William James is considered the first philosopher of mysticism. This essay introduces James’ views on mystical experience. The post William James on Mystical Experience first appeared on 1000-Word...
View ArticleHeidegger on Being: Why is There Something Rather than Nothing?
An introduction to Martin Heidegger's notion of Being. The post Heidegger on Being: Why is There Something Rather than Nothing? first appeared on 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology.
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