All Essays

Essay Categories

• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• African Philosophy
• Buddhist Philosophy
• Chinese Philosophy
  
• Ethics
  
• Epistemology
  
• Historical Philosophy
• Islamic Philosophy
• Logic and Reasoning
• Metaphilosophy
• Metaphysics
• Phenomenology and Existentialism
• Philosophy of Education
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Mind and Language
• Philosophy of Race
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Sex and Gender
• Social and Political Philosophy

* New categories are added as the project expands. 

** Some essays below are in multiple categories.

Many of our essays have been translated into Turkish. 

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art

• Aesthetics vs. Art by Brock Rough
• Definitions of Art by Brock Rough
• Videogames and Philosophy by Alex Fisher

African Philosophy

• The African Ethic of Ubuntu by Thaddeus Metz

Buddhist Philosophy

• Dharma in Abhidharma Buddhism by Nicholaos Jones

Chinese Philosophy

• Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 1: The Four Moral Sprouts by John Ramsey
• Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 2: The Cultivation Analogy by John Ramsey
• How to Establish Social Order? Three Early Chinese Answers by Henrique Schneider
• Wu-Wei: Acting without Desire by Henrique Schneider

Ethics

Practical Ethics / Applied Ethics / Moral Principles

• • Applied Ethics by Chelsea Haramia
  • Business Ethics by Thomas Metcalf
  • Theories of Moral Considerability: Who and What Matters Morally? by Jonathan Spelman
  • Happiness by Kiki Berk
  • The Badness of Death by Duncan Purves
  • Is Death Bad? Epicurus and Lucretius on the Fear of Death by Frederik Kaufman
  • The Ethics of Abortion by Nathan Nobis
  • Ethics and Absolute Poverty: Peter Singer and Effective Altruism by Brandon Boesch
  • Longtermism: How Much Should We Care About the Far Future? by Dylan Balfour
  • Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing by Nathan Nobis
  • Principlism in Biomedical Ethics: Respect for Autonomy, Non-Maleficence, Beneficence, and Justice by G. M. Trujillo, Jr.
  • The Non-Identity Problem by Duncan Purves
  • Reparations for Historic Injustice by Joseph Frigault
  • Ethics and the Expected Consequences of Voting by Thomas Metcalf
  • Removing Confederate Monuments by Travis Timmerman
  • Videogames and Philosophy by Alex Fisher
  • The Moral Status of Animals by Jason Wyckoff
  • Speciesism by Dan Lowe
  • The Ethics of Drone Strikes by Ryan Jenkins
  • Free Speech by Mark Satta
  • Licensing Parents by Ryan Jenkins
  • Theories of Punishment by Travis Joseph Rodgers
  • The Death Penalty by Benjamin S. Yost
  • Moral Luck by Jonathan Spelman
  • Existentialism by Addison Ellis
  • African American Existentialism: DuBois, Locke, Thurman, and King by Anthony Sean Neal
  • Camus on the Absurd: The Myth of Sisyphus by Erik Van Aken
  • Marx’s Conception of Alienation by Dan Lowe
  • Hope by Michael Milona & Katie Stockdale  
  • Feminism Part 1: The Sameness Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
  • Feminism Part 2: The Difference Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
  • Feminism Part 3: The Dominance Approach by Chelsea Haramia
  • What Is It To Love Someone? by Felipe Pereira 
  • Mary Astell’s “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1694) by Simone Webb
  • Ethics and “Extra Credit” by Nathan Nobis
  • The Ontology of Race by Abiral Chitrakar Phnuyal
  • Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery by Dan Lowe
  • Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers and Philosophies by Victor Fabian Abundez-Guerra and Nathan Nobis
  • How to Establish Social Order? Three Early Chinese Answers by Henrique Schneider
  • George Orwell’s Philosophical Views by Mark Satta

Normative Ethics / Ethical Theories / Moral Principles 

• • Cultural Relativism: Do Cultural Norms Make Actions Right and Wrong? by Nathan Nobis
  • Deontology: Kantian Ethics by Andrew Chapman
  • Consequentialism by Shane Gronholz
  • Mill’s Proof of the Principle of Utility by Dale E. Miller
  • John Stuart Mill on The Good Life: Higher-Quality Pleasures by Dale E. Miller
  • Virtue Ethics by David Merry
  • G. E. M. Anscombe’s “Modern Moral Philosophy” by Daniel Weltman
  • Because God Says So: On Divine Command Theory by Spencer Case
  • John Rawls’ ‘A Theory of Justice’ by Ben Davies
  • Social Contract Theory by David Antonini
  • “Nasty, Brutish, and Short”: Thomas Hobbes on Life in the State of Nature by Daniel Weltman
  • Ethical Egoism by Nathan Nobis
  • Why be Moral? Plato’s ‘Ring of Gyges’ Thought Experiment by Spencer Case
  • The African Ethic of Ubuntu by Thaddeus Metz
  • Situationism and Virtue Ethics by Ian Tully
  • Principlism in Biomedical Ethics: Respect for Autonomy, Non-Maleficence, Beneficence, and Justice by G. M. Trujillo, Jr.
  • Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas”: Would You Walk Away? by Spencer Case
  • Epistemic Injustice by Huzeyfe Demirtas
  • Ignorance and Blame by Daniel Miller
  • Praise and Blame by Daniel Miller
  • Evolution and Ethics by Michael Klenk
  • Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 1: The Four Moral Sprouts by John Ramsey
  • Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 2: The Cultivation Analogy by John Ramsey
  • Nietzsche and the Death of God by Justin Remhof
  • Plato’s Form of the Good by Ryan Jenkins
  • The Repugnant Conclusion by Jonathan Spelman
  • (Im)partiality by Shane Gronholz
  • Practical Reasons by Shane Gronholz
  • Reason is the Slave to the Passions: Hume on Reason vs. Desire by Daniel Weltman
  • Moral Testimony by Annaleigh Curtis
  • Free Will and Moral Responsibility by Chelsea Haramia
  • Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility by Rachel Bourbaki
  • Manipulation and Moral Responsibility by Taylor W. Cyr
  • Expertise by Jamie Carlin Watson
  • Hell and Universalism by A.G. Holdier

Meta-Ethics / The Philosophy of Ethics 

• • Ethical Realism by Thomas Metcalf
  • Moral Error Theory by Ian Tully
  • Because God Says So: On Divine Command Theory by Spencer Case
  • Evolution and Ethics by Michael Klenk

Epistemology

• Epistemology, or Theory of Knowledge by Thomas Metcalf
• External World Skepticism by Andrew Chapman
• Moore’s Proof of an External World: Responding to External World Skepticism by Chris Ranalli
• The Gettier Problem & the Definition of Knowledge by Andrew Chapman
• The Problem of Induction by Kenneth Blake Vernon
• Indoctrination: What is it to Indoctrinate Someone? by Chris Ranalli
• Modal Epistemology: Knowledge of Possibility and Necessity by Bob Fischer
• Bayesianism by Thomas Metcalf
• Take My Word for It: On Testimony by Spencer Case
• Moral Testimony by Annaleigh Curtis
• Critical Thinking: What is it to be a Critical Thinker? by Carolina Flores
• Epistemic Injustice by Huzeyfe Demirtas
• The Epistemology of Disagreement by Jonathan Matheson
• Epistemic Injustice by Huzeyfe Demirtas
• Interpretations of Probability by Thomas Metcalf
• Hope by Michael Milona & Katie Stockdale  
• Expertise by Jamie Carlin Watson
• Descartes’ Meditations 1-3 and Descartes’ Meditations 4-6 by Marc Bobro
• Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” by Charles Miceli
• Dutch Book Arguments by Daniel Peterson
• George Orwell’s Philosophical Views by Mark Satta

Historical Philosophy

• Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery by Dan Lowe
• Plato’s Form of the Good by Ryan Jenkins
• Why be Moral? Plato’s ‘Ring of Gyges’ Thought Experiment by Spencer Case
• Plato’s Crito: When should we break the law? by Spencer Case
• Is Death Bad? Epicurus and Lucretius on the Fear of Death by Frederik Kaufman
• “Nasty, Brutish, and Short”: Thomas Hobbes on Life in the State of Nature by Daniel Weltman
• Rousseau on Human Nature: “Amour de soi” and “Amour propre” by Corey McCabe
• Reason is the Slave to the Passions: Hume on Reason vs. Desire by Daniel Weltman
• Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason by Marc Bobro
• Descartes’ Meditations 1-3 and Descartes’ Meditations 4-6 by Marc Bobro
• Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” by Charles Miceli
• Mary Astell’s “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1694) by Simone Webb
• Idealism Pt. 1: Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism by Addison Ellis
• Idealism Pt. 2: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism by Addison Ellis
• John Stuart Mill on The Good Life: Higher-Quality Pleasures by Dale E. Miller
• Nietzsche and the Death of God by Justin Remhof
• Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 1: The Four Moral Sprouts by John Ramsey
• Mengzi’s Moral Psychology, Part 2: The Cultivation Analogy by John Ramsey

Islamic Philosophy

• al-Ghazālī’s Dream Argument by John Ramsey

Logic and Reasoning

• Critical Thinking: What is it to be a Critical Thinker? by Carolina Flores
• Indoctrination: What is it to Indoctrinate Someone? by Chris Ranalli
• The Problem of Induction by Kenneth Blake Vernon
• Formal Logic: Symbolizing Arguments in Sentential Logic by Thomas Metcalf
• Interpretations of Probability by Thomas Metcalf
• Bayesianism by Thomas Metcalf
• The Probability Calculus by Thomas Metcalf
• Expertise by Jamie Carlin Watson
• Dutch Book Arguments by Daniel Peterson

Metaphilosophy, or Philosophy of Philosophy

• What is Philosophy? by Thomas Metcalf
• Philosophy and Its Contrast with Science by Thomas Metcalf
• Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers and Philosophies by Victor Fabian Abundez-Guerra and Nathan Nobis

Metaphysics

• Personal Identity by Chad Vance
  • Psychological Approaches to Personal Identity: Do Memories and Consciousness Make Us Who We Are? by Kristin Seemuth Whaley
  • Are We Animals? Animalism and Personal Identity by Kristin Seemuth Whaley
  • Origin Essentialism: What Could Have Been Different About you? by Chad Vance
• Free Will and Free Choice by Jonah Nagashima
  • Free Will and Moral Responsibility by Chelsea Haramia
  • Praise and Blame by Daniel Miller
  • Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility by Rachel Bourbaki
  • Manipulation and Moral Responsibility by Taylor W. Cyr
• Time Travel by Taylor W. Cyr
• Vagueness by Darren Hibbs
• Attributes of God by Bailie Peterson
• Hell and Universalism by A.G. Holdier
• Modal Epistemology: Knowledge of Possibility & Necessity by Bob Fischer
• Possibility and Necessity: An Introduction to Modality by Andre Leo Rusavuk
• Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason by Marc Bobro
• Idealism Pt. 1: Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism by Addison Ellis
• Idealism Pt. 2: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism by Addison Ellis

Phenomenology and Existentialism

• Existentialism by Addison Ellis
• African American Existentialism: DuBois, Locke, Thurman, and King by Anthony Sean Neal
• Is Immortality Desirable? by Felipe Pereira
• Camus on the Absurd: The Myth of Sisyphus by Erik Van Aken
• “Hell Is Other People”: Sartre on Personal Relationships by Kiki Berk
• The Badness of Death by Duncan Purves
• Is Death Bad? Epicurus and Lucretius on the Fear of Death by Frederik Kaufman
• Nietzsche and the Death of God by Justin Remhof
• Hannah Arendt’s Political Thought by David Antonini

Philosophy of Education

• Philosophical Inquiry in Childhood by Jana Mohr Lone
• Ethics and “Extra Credit” by Nathan Nobis
• Mary Astell’s “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1694) by Simone Webb
• Critical Thinking: What is it to be a Critical Thinker? by Carolina Flores
• Indoctrination: What is it to Indoctrinate Someone? by Chris Ranalli
• John Stuart Mill on The Good Life: Higher-Quality Pleasures by Dale E. Miller

Philosophy of Law

• Philosophy of Law: An Overview by Mark Satta
• Plato’s Crito: When should we break the law? by Spencer Case
• Free Speech by Mark Satta
• Social Contract Theory by David Antonini
• John Rawls’ ‘A Theory of Justice’ by Ben Davies
• Theories of Punishment by Travis Joseph Rodgers
• The Death Penalty by Benjamin S. Yost
• Just War Theory by Ryan Jenkins
• The Prisoner’s Dilemma by Jason Wyckoff
• Hannah Arendt’s Political Thought by David Antonini

Philosophy of Mind and Language

• The Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism by Tufan Kıymaz
• Frege’s Puzzle and the Meaning of Words by Graham Seth Moore
• Vagueness by Darren Hibbs
• Intentionality by Addison Ellis
• Semantic Externalism by Rachel Bourbaki 
• The Extended Mind by Rachel Bourbaki
• Wittgenstein’s Private Language Argument by Ian Tully
• George Orwell’s Philosophical Views by Mark Satta

Philosophy of Race

• The Ontology of Race by Abiral Chitrakar Phnuyal
• Reparations for Historic Injustice by Joseph Frigault
• Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers and Philosophies by Victor Fabian Abundez-Guerra and Nathan Nobis
• Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery by Dan Lowe
• Epistemic Injustice by Huzeyfe Demirtas

Philosophy of Religion

• Attributes of God by Bailie Peterson
• Agnosticism about God’s Existence by Sylwia Wilczewska
• Cosmological Arguments for the Existence of God by Thomas Metcalf
• Design Arguments for the Existence of God by Thomas Metcalf
• The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God by Andrew Chapman
• Modal Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God by Thomas Metcalf
• Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason by Marc Bobro
• Because God Says So: On Divine Command Theory by Spencer Case
• The Problem of Evil by Thomas Metcalf
• Divine Hiddenness by David Bayless
• The Problem of No Best World by Kirk Lougheed
• Can We Believe in Miracles? by Tomas Bogardus
• Hell and Universalism by A.G. Holdier
• Pascal’s Wager: A Pragmatic Argument for Belief in God by Liz Jackson
• Is Immortality Desirable? by Felipe Pereira
• Nietzsche and the Death of God by Justin Remhof
• Hope by Michael Milona & Katie Stockdale
• Expertise by Jamie Carlin Watson

Philosophy of Science

• Laws of Nature by Michael Zerella
• Thomas Kuhn, Paradigm Shifts, and Academic Rifts by Michael Zerella
• Karl Popper and Falsificationism by Michael Zerella
• Bayesianism by Thomas Metcalf
• The Problem of Induction by Kenneth Blake Vernon
• Evolution and Ethics by Michael Klenk
• Quantum Mechanics and Philosophy I: The Superposition of Paths by Thomas Metcalf
• Quantum Mechanics and Philosophy II: Measurement and Interpretations by Thomas Metcalf
• Quantum Mechanics and Philosophy III: Implications by Thomas Metcalf
• The Sleeping Beauty Problem by Daniel Peterson
• Dutch Book Arguments by Daniel Peterson

Philosophy of Sex and Gender

• What Is It To Love Someone? by Felipe Pereira
• Sexual Orientation, Sex, and Gender by Raja Halwani
• Feminism Part 1: The Sameness Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
• Feminism Part 2: The Difference Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
• Feminism Part 3: The Dominance Approach by Chelsea Haramia
• Mary Astell’s “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1694) by Simone Webb
• Epistemic Injustice by Huzeyfe Demirtas

Social and Political Philosophy

• John Rawls’ ‘A Theory of Justice’ by Ben Davies
• Social Contract Theory by David Antonini
• “Nasty, Brutish, and Short”: Thomas Hobbes on Life in the State of Nature by Daniel Weltman
• Distributive Justice: How Should Resources be Allocated? By Dick Timmer and Tim Meijers
• Philosophy of Law: An Overview by Mark Satta
• Free Speech by Mark Satta
• The Death Penalty by Benjamin S. Yost
• Hannah Arendt’s Political Thought by David Antonini
• Ethics and the Expected Consequences of Voting by Thomas Metcalf
• Removing Confederate Monuments by Travis Timmerman
• Defining Capitalism and Socialism and Arguments for Capitalism and Socialism by Thomas Metcalf
• Reparations for Historic Injustice by Joseph Frigault
• Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery by Dan Lowe
• The African Ethic of Ubuntu by Thaddeus Metz
• George Orwell’s Philosophical Views by Mark Satta
• Feminism Part 1: The Sameness Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
• Feminism Part 2: The Difference Approach by Annaleigh Curtis
• Feminism Part 3: The Dominance Approach by Chelsea Haramia
• Plato’s Crito: When should we break the law? by Spencer Case
• Mary Astell’s “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (1694) by Simone Webb
• Just War Theory by Ryan Jenkins
• Licensing Parents by Ryan Jenkins
• The Prisoner’s Dilemma by Jason Wyckoff
• The Repugnant Conclusion by Jonathan Spelman
• Marx’s Conception of Alienation by Dan Lowe

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