Action
in Philosophy
Published online May 2011.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 6260 words.
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...
Analytic Approaches to Aesthetics
in Philosophy
Published online May 2010.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 6313 words.
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 of Music
in Philosophy
Published online June 2012.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 8438 words.
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...
Analytic/Synthetic Distinction
in Philosophy
Published online November 2012.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 7506 words.
“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,...
Animal Rights
in Philosophy
Published online December 2012.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 7938 words.
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 Anthropic Principle
in Philosophy
Published online August 2011.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 7205 words.
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
in Philosophy
Published online May 2010.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 7482 words.
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...
Arguments for the Existence of God
in Philosophy
Published online May 2012.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 10782 words.
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...
Assertion
in Philosophy
Published online June 2011.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 4631 words.
Assertion is one of the central kinds of speech act, typically carried out by the utterance of a declarative sentence, such as the very sentences you are reading now. It might be defined...
Atheism
in Philosophy
Published online May 2010.
Article. Subjects: philosophy; aesthetics and philosophy of art; epistemology; feminist philosophy; history of Western philosophy; metaphysics; moral philosophy; non-Western philosophy; philosophy of language; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics and logic; philosophy of mind; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; social and political philosophy. 7301 words.
The term “atheist” describes a person who does not believe that God or a divine being exists. The sort of divine being that has received the most attention in atheological arguments has...