Theories of racism try to answer these questions by trying to identify the essence of racism, the unifying and fundamental feature(s) of all racist things that explains why they are racist. This essay surveys some influential theories of racism.
Category: Ethics
Ethical Non-Cognitivism: Are Ethical Judgments More Like Desires Than Beliefs?
Ethical non-cognitivists argue that ethical judgments are, strictly speaking, not beliefs: they are expressions of emotions, or commands, or expressions of approval or some other non-cognitive mental state. This essay introduces this view in metaethics.
Immigration Ethics: An Overview
This essay explores some key competing philosophical arguments about whether it should be easier for people to immigrate to whatever country they would like.
Plato’s Symposium: Philosophizing About Love
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.
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.
Theism and Atheism: Reasons for Belief and Disbelief
This essay provides an overview of these various types of reasons for affirming theism or atheism.
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.