Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics Word count: 994 Many people define God as a perfect being.[1] Some philosophers argue that it follows from this definition that God, if he (or she or it) exists at all, exists necessarily: he must exist. It might intuitively seem great or impressive if a being cannot possibly … Continue reading Modal Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God
Author: Thomas Metcalf Categories: Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics, Historical Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy Word count: 1000 Why is there something rather than nothing? Intuitively, it could have been that nothing existed at all. Yet you and I are here, plus a whole universe of other stuff. We had parents, and our parents had parents, who had … Continue reading Cosmological Arguments for the Existence of God
Author: Thomas MetcalfCategory: Logic and ReasoningWord count: 1000 An argument is a set of statements (the premises) intended to provide evidence for, or prove, some conclusion.[1] Formal logic is a tool we can use to present and evaluate arguments. Some arguments are better than others and formal logic can help us see exactly how some … Continue reading Formal Logic: Symbolizing Arguments in Sentential Logic
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?
Thomas Metcalf Category: Epistemology Word count: 999 Many people think that they have a lot of knowledge. They also believe that other people sometimes know what they claim to know. But what is knowledge anyway? And how do we come to have it? Is it important that we have knowledge? If so, why? The branch … Continue reading Epistemology, or Theory of Knowledge
Author: Thomas Metcalf Categories: Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy Word count: 995 Your vote normally only has a very small chance of changing the outcome of any election for a public office.[1] For your vote to make that difference, thousands or millions of other votes would need to end up in a tie, which is … Continue reading Ethics and the Expected Consequences of Voting
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Social and Political Philosophy Wordcount: 993 Editor’s Note: This essay is the second in a two-part series authored by Tom on the topic of capitalism and socialism. The first essay, on defining capitalism and socialism, can be viewed here. Suppose I had a magic wand that allowed one to produce 500 … Continue reading Arguments for Capitalism and Socialism
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Social and Political Philosophy Wordcount: 999 Editor’s Note: This essay is the first in a two-part series authored by Tom on the topic of capitalism and socialism. The second essay, on evaluating capitalism and socialism, can be viewed here. Should our society be capitalist, socialist, or something in between? To adjudicate … Continue reading Defining Capitalism and Socialism
Author: Thomas Metcalf Categories: Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Logic and Reasoning Word Count: 1000 Suppose that Lemmy is playing poker, and the only card he needs in order to win is the Ace of Spades. If he’s drawing randomly from a standard deck, it’s easy to figure out how likely he is to draw the … Continue reading The Probability Calculus
Author: Thomas Metcalf Category: Philosophy of Religion Word count: 987 Here’s a simple experiment to help test whether God exists: Hold a refrigerator magnet about one inch above a paperclip. If the magnet picks up the paperclip, then that tiny magnet was able to overcome the gravity of an entire planet.[1] How might this provide … Continue reading The Fine-Tuning Argument for the Existence of God
1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology 