Author: Matthew Pianalto Categories: Ethics, Phenomenology and Existentialism, Philosophy of Religion Word Count: 1000 Editors’ note: This essay and its companion essay, Meaning in Life: What Makes Our Lives Meaningful? both explore the concept of meaning in relation to human life. This essay focuses on the meaning of life as a whole, whereas the other … Continue reading The Meaning of Life: What’s the Point?
This essay is an introduction to what arguments are and how they can be good or bad.
What makes something funny? This essay reviews some theories of what it is for something to
Author: Angus Taylor Categories: Social and Political Philosophy, Historical Philosophy Word Count: 998 Karl Marx (1818–1883) is one of history’s most influential and controversial figures. He devoted most of his time to trying to understand the inner workings of capitalist economies.[1] He was also a philosopher concerned with the alienation under capitalism of individuals from … Continue reading Karl Marx’s Theory of History
What is a meaningful life? This essay reviews some influential answers to this question.
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Logic and Reasoning, Metaphysics Word count: 992 Philosophical arguments are usually about what’s actually the case: whether it’s actually true that God exists or whether it’s actually true that we have free will. But commonly, we also want to talk about whether something is possible or impossible, or whether it might … Continue reading Modal Logic: Axioms and Systems for Alethic Modal Logic
Contemporary syllogisms are part of modern day quantificational logic, which is widely regarded as an improvement upon the approach originally described by Aristotle about 2,400 years ago. This essay discusses the contemporary approach to syllogisms.
Many claim that, when those you can help are innocent strangers with similar interests at stake, you’re required to save the greater number. Is this claim justified? This essay reviews some doubts.
Author: Timothy Eshing Category: Logic and Reasoning, Historical Philosophy Word Count: 999 Consider this argument: All humans are mammals. All mammals are animals. Therefore, all humans are animals. It’s an example of a classical syllogism. The logic of syllogisms, which are special kinds of deductive arguments, was famously discussed by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle … Continue reading Classical Syllogisms
Categories: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Historical Philosophy Author: Dan Peterson Word Count: 999 Imagine that every object in the universe – you, your chair, Earth, everything else – moved one meter to your left. Would you notice a difference? Facts about relative distances, like how far my chair is from me, would remain the same … Continue reading Philosophy of Space and Time: What is Space?
1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology 