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: Philosophy of Science
Teleological Explanations: Purposes, Functions, and Goals in Biology
When we talk about living things, we often describe their parts as if they have purposes or goals or functions. Explanations like these are called teleological: they explain biological features in terms of what they are for. Most sciences explain the world without appealing to purposes or goals. So why is biology different?
Ethics and Animal Research
While many medical advances such as vaccines, analgesics, and dialysis have involved animal research, the practice is controversial for a simple reason: we experiment on animals because they are like us, yet this likeness may imply that we’re wrong to use them. This essay discusses the ethics of animal research, by considering three common defenses of it and some responses.
Animal Minds
It’s natural to believe that many nonhuman animals think and feel—and therefore have minds—but it’s important to consider whether these beliefs are justified. This essay explores animal minds, the challenges involved in studying them, and why such study matters.
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.
Artificial Intelligence: The Possibility of Artificial Minds
An artificial intelligence or “AI” would be an entity that thinks or acts like an average human being—or even surpasses the average human being in cognitive abilities—yet is a machine or computer program. The idea of artificial intelligence is closely connected to several important philosophical discussions about the nature of minds. This essay is an introduction to philosophical thinking about artificial minds and AIs.
Philosophy of Space and Time: What is Space?
An introduction to the philosophy of space and time, focusing on the question, "What is space?"
Philosophy of Space and Time: Are the Past and Future Real?
An introduction to the Philosophy of Space and Time. Are the Past and Future Real?
Bayesianism
This essay is an introduction to Bayesianism. Bayesianism says that degrees of belief or justification can be represented by probabilities, and that we can assess the rationality of degrees of belief — of credences — by seeing whether they follow a certain set of rules.
Conspiracy Theories
What are conspiracy theories? What is a conspiracy theory? Are conspiracy theories always irrational to accept?