What is a cause? What is it for something to cause something else? This essay presents three of the most important philosophical theories of causation.
Category: Metaphysics
Avicenna’s ‘Proof’ for the Existence of God
This essay presents and explains what’s called Avicenna’s ‘proof’ for the existence of God. It is likely the most influential argument in the history of philosophy in the Islamic world.
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.
Philosophy of Pain
An introduction to the philosophy of pain: is pain physical or mental? What is the role of the pain system? And, is pain always unpleasant? These questions are the focus of this essay.
Martin Heidegger on Being: Why is There Something Rather than Nothing?
An introduction to Martin Heidegger's notion of Being.
Objects and their Parts: The Problem of Material Composition
An introduction to the problem of material composition, which is the attempt to answer the following question: under what circumstances do some smaller objects make up or compose some further object?”
The Mind-Body Problem: What Are Minds?
What are minds? And what (if anything) is the relationship of the mind to the body/brain—or to anything in nature? These questions constitute the so-called “mind-body problem.” This essay introduces some of the most influential answers to these questions.
Form and Matter: Hylomorphism
This essay provides an overview of the main claims and basic motivations for hylomorphism, the view that all material objects consist of both matter and form.
Philosophy of Color
What is color? Where, if anywhere, is it? Why do we see it? When do we see it correctly? And how should we go about answering these surprisingly difficult questions? This essay surveys philosophical work on color and color perception.
The Buddhist Theory of No-Self (Anātman/Anattā)
The Buddhist denial of the existence of the self is known as anātman (or anattā). This essay explores some of the basics of anātman/anattā.