An introduction to the philosophical views of Animal Farm and 1984 author George Orwell.
George Orwell’s Philosophical Views
Category: Mind & Language
Frege’s Puzzle and the Meaning of Words
Author: Graham Seth Moore Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language Word Count: 996 We sometimes use multiple names for the same person or thing without realizing it. Imagine an ancient astronomer sees a heavenly body in the evening and names it ‘Hesperus.’ They also see a heavenly body in the morning and name it ‘Phosphorus.’ … Continue reading Frege’s Puzzle and the Meaning of Words
What is Philosophy?
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Metaphilosophy Word count: 1000 Listen here If you’ve ever wondered whether God exists, whether life has purpose, whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what makes actions right or wrong, or whether a law is fair or just, then you’ve thought about philosophy. And these are just a few … Continue reading What is Philosophy?
The Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism
Author: Tufan Kıymaz Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language, Metaphysics Word Count: 1000 In philosophy of mind, physicalism is the view that mental states, like beliefs, feelings and desires, are nothing over and above the physical states of the brain: we don’t have souls or any non-physical features, and so all facts about our minds … Continue reading The Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism
Vagueness
Author: Darren Hibbs Categories: Philosophy of Language, Metaphysics Word Count: 1000 How tall do you have to be to be tall? How much hair do you have to lose to be bald? How old do you have to be to be old? It is an unremarkable feature of language that words such as ‘tall’, ‘bald’, and … Continue reading Vagueness
Wittgenstein’s Private Language Argument
Author: Ian Tully Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language Word Count: 1000 From roughly §243 to §315 in his Philosophical Investigations, the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein lays out what later commentators have dubbed ‘the private language argument.’1 Wittgenstein imagines a case roughly like the following. Suppose a person is stranded on a deserted island and … Continue reading Wittgenstein’s Private Language Argument
The Extended Mind
Author: Rachel Bourbaki Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language Word Count: 1000 Can your mind be outside of your body? Typically we think that the mind—including our thoughts, beliefs, memories, experiences, attitudes, etc.—is internal to our bodies. A number of philosophers challenge this commonsense view. The view of the mind that these philosophers propose is knows as an extended view, … Continue reading The Extended Mind
Intentionality
Author: Addison Ellis Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language Word Count: 1000 Imagine: You direct your web browser to Google Translate. You select English as the input language and Chinese as the output language. You type 'Horses are really cool!' into the input field. In the blink of an eye, the output field reads '马是真的很酷!' We know … Continue reading Intentionality
Semantic Externalism
Author: Rachel Bourbaki Category: Philosophy of Mind and Language Word Count: 1000 1. Internalism and Externalism Examples of mental phenomena are things like pain, joy, and perceptual states. Internalism about mental phenomena is the view that all mental phenomena are spatially located inside the brain or skin of the creature that possesses them. Externalism about mental phenomena … Continue reading Semantic Externalism
1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology 