subject
Philosophy
Arguments about identity, mind, knowledge, and value, treated with the same care a careful philosopher would extend to a colleague's strongest objection.
7 lessons in philosophy
Consequentialism and Deontology: Two Theories of Right Action
A runaway trolley is hurtling toward five workers on the track.
4 min · comparison
Free Will, Determinism, and the Compatibilist Move
Imagine a chess engine running on a deterministic processor. Given the same board state and the same code, it will always make the same move. Now imagine a human grandmaster facing the same position. …
4 min · synthesis
Hume's Problem of Induction
Every morning you expect the sun to rise. You expect bread to nourish you rather than poison you, and a dropped cup to fall rather than hover. These expectations feel so secure that calling them into …
4 min · deepening
Plato's Cave and the Question of Appearance
Imagine prisoners chained since childhood inside a cave, facing a wall they cannot turn from.
4 min · foundation
The Trolley Problem and Why It Won't Go Away
A runaway trolley is hurtling down a track toward five workers who cannot get out of the way.
4 min · foundation
What 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Actually Establishes
Imagine you wake up unsure whether the room around you is real.
4 min · foundation
Wittgenstein's Beetle in a Box: The Private Language Argument
Imagine that everyone carries a small box, and inside each box is something the owner calls a "beetle." No one can ever look into anyone else's box.
4 min · deepening