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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
What other topics would you like to see addressed on 1000-Word Philosophy? Please add them as comments below or email the editors with your suggestions.
Is there a scientific method or methods? Evolutionary Biology uses different methods than Astronomy, different also are the methods of Quantum Mechanics or Climate Science; is there a meaningful way to include all these under the title ‘science’.
Thanks