Imagine throwing a party with delicious food where you and your friends debate what love is. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–348 BCE) tells a similar story in his Symposium. This essay introduces Plato’s Symposium by summarizing the core philosophical views in its speeches.
Category: Ethics
Equality: What Is It and How Is It Different from Equity?
Many say that we should make society more equal. But what should we equalize? This essay explains two of the most important ones: equality of outcome and equality of opportunity.
Ethics and God: the Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro Dilemma
This essay introduces the Divine Command Theory of ethics, that wrong actions are wrong because God forbids them and right actions are right because God commands them, and the most important responses to it, which date back to Socrates’ discussion in ancient Greece with a man named Euthyphro.
Ecstatic Experiences: The Philosophy of ‘Losing Yourself’
"Ecstatic experiences” are when we seem to joyfully “lose” or transcend or go beyond ourselves. This essay introduces some philosophical issues about ecstatic experiences.
Atheism: Believing God Does Not Exist
This essay introduces some of the core philosophical issues about atheism: what it is, how and why people accept atheism, and the relationships between atheism and meaning in life and ethics.
Philosophical Counseling: Using Philosophy to Address Life’s Challenges
This essay describes a leading approach to philosophical counseling, known as Logic-Based Therapy, that has been developed and used since the 1980s.
Dehumanization: What is it to Dehumanize People?
Dehumanization involves wrongly treating or viewing some person or group as less than human. But what exactly is it to treat or view some person or group as less than human? And how might these actions and beliefs be related? This essay introduces influential answers to these questions so we might better understand dehumanization.
“That’s Subjective”: Subjectivism about Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
People sometimes say that judgments about what’s true, what’s ethical, what others find beautiful or aesthetically pleasing, and more are "subjective." What does “subjective” really mean? Are judgments like these truly “subjective”? This essay introduces different answers to these questions.
Transformative Experiences: Can Life-Changing Choices Be Both Rational and Authentic?
Transformative experiences are radically new experiences that significantly change who you are. Can we rationally choose to have transformative experiences in a way that’s authentic to our own values? This essay explores this question.
Martin Heidegger on Technology
Philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) argues that the main problem with technology’s dominance is how it limits our thinking and what we experience as human beings. Heidegger presents this view in a philosophy of technology that seeks to identify the defining characteristic or essence of modern technology. This essay summarizes Heidegger’s theory.