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The philosophy of action shares with its topic a certain uncertainty of location. Is action located inside the mind or outside the mind—or does it in some way belong to both domains...

This chapter begins with some remarks about what it would mean for the criminal law to contain an act requirement, and then moves on to how this question, suitably clarified, might be approached....

This chapter examines alternatives to punishment itself, not other forms of punishment. Those who say that people should end state punishment and replace it with something else are penal...

Aesthetics is broadly that branch of philosophy concerned with fundamental questions about the nature of beauty, the nature of art, and the principles of art criticism. Some of these...

Analytic philosophy, with its emphasis on clear, topic-based argument, is usually dated to the early 20th century and is contrasted with Continental philosophy, which is more often...

“The analytic/synthetic distinction” refers to a distinction between two kinds of truth. Synthetic truths are true both because of what they mean and because of the way the world is,...

The expression “animal rights” is employed in two different ways: one broad, the other narrow. When employed in the broad sense—animal rights with a small “r”—the claim that animals...

The enduringly controversial “anthropic principle” was baptized by Brandon Carter in 1974. Seeking a balance between excessive anthropocentrism and excessive insistence on human...

Applied ethics is a branch of ethics devoted to the treatment of moral problems, practices, and policies in personal life, professions, technology, and government. In contrast to...

Philosophical discussion of arguments for the existence of God appeared to have become extinct during the heyday of logical positivism and ordinary language philosophy. However, since...