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.
William James on Mystical Experience
William James is considered the first philosopher of mysticism. This essay introduces James’ views on mystical experience.
Robert Nozick’s “Wilt Chamberlain” Argument for Libertarianism
Nozick thinks that a story about the basketball superstar Wilt Chamberlain shows why the government should not take from the rich to help everyone else. This article explains Nozick’s argument which he uses to support “libertarianism,” his view that the government’s role is not to redistribute wealth but to promote liberty.
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Society, and the Environment
This essay introduces some of the most urgent moral and societal issues related to Artificial Intelligence.
Pyrrhonian Skepticism: Suspending Judgment
Pyrrhonian skepticism is named after an ancient school of thought based on the teachings of Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360–270 BCE). This essay explains Pyrrhonian skepticism, what motivates it, and some responses to it.
Moral Education: Teaching Students to Become Better People
What are the proper moral education, and how should those goals be pursued? Theories of moral education try to answer that question: they provide ideas about how we can, and should, try to teach morality and shape students into morally better people. This essay introduces some of the most influential theories.
Kurt Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems
Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems—discovered by Austrian logician, mathematician, and philosopher Kurt Gödel (1906-1978)—are central to many philosophical debates about the limits of logical and mathematical reasoning. This essay introduces the Theorems and explains their importance.
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?”
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.