Welcome to 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology, an ever-growing set of original 1000-word essays on philosophical questions, figures, and arguments. We have 150 essays and publish new ones frequently, so please check back for updates, follow on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe here to receive email notifications of new essays.

Some of our most popular essays are in the categories of Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Epistemology or Theory of Knowledge, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Race and Philosophy of Sex and Gender and we have many other essay categories listed below. Many of our most popular essays are available as audio recordings.

New to philosophy? See our essays What is Philosophy?, Critical Thinking: What is it to be a Critical Thinker? and Is it Wrong to Believe Without Sufficient Evidence? W.K. Clifford’s “The Ethics of Belief.” 

A teaching units page has links to sets of essays to help instructors create course modules.

Select Recent Essays

Gricean Conversational Implicature: What We Say and What We Mean by Thomas Hodgson

Formal Logic: Symbolizing Arguments in Quantificational or Predicate Logic by Timothy Eshing

Philosophy of Space and Time: Are the Past and Future Real? by Dan Peterson

Philosophy and Race: An Introduction to Philosophy of Race by Thomas Metcalf

Bayesianism by Thomas Metcalf

Praise and Blame by Daniel Miller

Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas”: Would You Walk Away? by Spencer Case

Philosophy of Law: An Overview by Mark Satta

Why be Moral? Plato’s ‘Ring of Gyges’ Thought Experiment by Spencer Case

“Can They Suffer?”: Bentham on our Obligations to Animals by Daniel Weltman

Psychological Approaches to Personal Identity: Do Memories and Consciousness Make Us Who We Are? by Kristin Seemuth Whaley

Indoctrination: What is it to Indoctrinate Someone? by Chris Ranalli

Agnosticism about God’s Existence by Sylwia Wilczewska

Theories of Moral Considerability: Who and What Matters Morally? by Jonathan Spelman

Cultural Relativism: Do Cultural Norms Make Actions Right and Wrong? by Nathan Nobis

George Orwell’s Philosophical Views by Mark Satta

Videogames and Philosophy by Alex Fisher

Happiness: What is it to be Happy? by Kiki Berk

African American Existentialism: DuBois, Locke, Thurman, and King by Anthony Sean Neal

Conspiracy Theories by Jared Millson

What Is It To Love Someone? by Felipe Pereira

Defining Capitalism and Socialism and Arguments for Capitalism and Socialism by Thomas Metcalf

The African Ethic of Ubuntu by Thaddeus Metz

Reparations for Historic Injustice by Joseph Frigault

Philosophical Inquiry in Childhood by Jana Mohr Lone

Essay Categories

* New categories are added as the project expands. 

All Essays

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