Philosophy
Taoism: The Natural Life
Jun 12th
Taoism (actually pronounced Dow-ism) is a philosophical religion (and I use religion here loosely) that began to develop in China around 500 BC. This time marked a period in China’s history known as The Hundred Schools of Thought. Tao literally means “way,” and Taoism is just that: a way or path. But, as we will find out, defining the Tao at all is to miss the target completely. Bruce Lee followed in the footsteps of Tao. He didn’t just model his life after it; he created an entire new form of martial arts based upon it. In light of this, More >
Post-Modernism: An Introduction and Focus on Critical Theory
Jun 7th
Post-modern philosophy encompasses a period of time that began in the middle of the 20th century and many say is still progressing. Post-modernism itself is hard to define and was influenced by a variety of different schools of thought such as Existentialism, Freudian and Lucanian psychology, and Marxist Theory. Today we will be examining the “Critical Theory” side of things – a branch of post-modernism that deals mostly with post-Marxist ideals and critiques of capitalism, industrialism, and politics. Philosophers of the Post-Modern age aren’t your typical prim-and-proper academic philosophers: like the average American or European, they watch TV, see movies, More >
Continental vs. Analytic
Jun 6th
In the 20th century, the field of philosophy was under going some big changes. Science was playing a big role in the world and caused a big change here in America and in England. Other countries were rejecting this scientific view dividing the field of philosophy down the middle. This division amongst philosophers lead to a stylistic change in the way each sect decided to go about philosophy. Emerging from the 20th century were two terms, Analytic and Continental philosophy, the subject of our topic today.
So let’s get right down to it!
Analytic Philosophy
Analytic philosophy refers to a method of philosophy relying heavily on the virtues of More >
MMORPGs and Existentialism: What online gaming can teach you about Philosophy
Jan 10th
Whether your game is Final Fantasy XI (or XIV), World of Warcraft, Eve Online, or any one of a number of growing massive-multiplayer-online-role-playing-games, then you know how enjoyable these games can be. For those who don’t play these games, the idea of spending hours, upon days, upon months in front of a computer monitor or laptop screen presents itself as murky at best. Like it or not though, these games have made bank on their aptitude of capturing the human condition in their own respective worlds. Tapping into the core of the human condition, they provide the user with all More >
Wittgenstein
Oct 29th
Wittgenstein is by far one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. He is strongly associated with the birth of analytic philosophy, along with such notable figures as Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege (both of whom were close acquaintances of Wittgenstein). He was born to an enormously wealthy Jewish family in Vienna in 1889. His name survives in infamy for many and maybe even most philosophers, for it was his self-appointed task to end philosophy as we know it. He saw philosophy as an affliction of the mind, to which he himself was particularly susceptible, and sought to More >
Arthur Schopenhauer
Oct 19th
Arthur Schopenhauer is a German philosopher who lived at the height of a philosophical period in Germany, known as “German Idealism.” German Idealism all started with Kant, whose way of thinking and conceiving reality also helped spark the sector of philosophy known today as Continental Philosophy. Schopenhauer’s conception of reality is one of the most interesting concepts ever devised. It resonates with Eastern philosophical traditions and calls for a form of ethics centered around pessimism. Not only that, but on a personal note, Schopenhauer is hands down one of my favorite philosophers. His life is filled with a bouquet of More >
Existentialism and Phenomenology: an incredibly brief introduction
Sep 7th
If one wants a thorough explanation of existentialism one must have some background in the less popularized field, phenomenology. For the most part, existentialism is a movement that developed out of phenomenology, but what is it? Developed in the early 20th century, phenomenology is (brace yourselves) the study of the structures of human consciousness from an individuals point of view. Sounds wild, doesn’t it? I can’t even begin to ease into this one so let’s just dive into the field right now with a little history. Oh, don’t worry, we’ll get to existentialism in a bit!
History of Phenomenology
While the word More >
Berkeley’s Idealism: God has it covered
Jun 4th
The Bishop George Berkeley is known as one of the three great British empiricists and for first proposing one of the most interesting and unique ideas in philosophy. What if everything wasn’t really what it seemed? What if the so called matter you were walking on was nothing more than an idea? Sounds like an idea that evolves out of a long night of passing the bong, but it’s not! This concept is actually the central belief behind Berkley’s idealism.
The Framework
Idealism is the belief that reality is solely a collection of ides or minds — as opposed to materialism (belief More >
Aristotelian Ethics: Doing Good, and Feeling Good doing it
May 31st
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived from 384 to 322 BCE. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest figures in the history of philosophy, with treatises spanning all the way from aesthetics to metaphysics. However, he is perhaps best known for his ethical system, which he expounds in the Nicomachean Ethics. This system of virtue ethics focuses on the character of the moral agent, rather than the types of acts said agent ought to perform. This is because Aristotle believed it impossible to establish a completely objective and universal set of ethical rules. Accordingly, most More >
The JTB Account and The Gettier Problem
Apr 21st
Knowledge is traditionally defined in philosophy as Justified True Belief. The truth condition is necessary because it seems impossible to know something false; for instance, I may believe that I am an extraterrestrial, but philosophers don’t want to say that I know it. The belief condition is, of course, necessary because philosophers want to avoid situations where you know something that you’ve never even considered. In fact, the belief condition can be viewed as the means of attaching knowledge to the knower. The justification condition is, probably, the less obvious of the three conditions. However, it is necessary in order to rule More >
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