When considering what kinds of things exist (a central question of ontology), an immediate distinction one can draw is between objects and properties. Roughly, the distinction corresponds to grammatical subjects and predicates within a sentence. For instance, the sentence “Paco is short” has grammatical subject “Paco” and predicate “is short”, and is about the object Paco and the property of being short. The sentence states that the object Paco possesses the property of being short.
Some Philosophical Terminology: Part 3
Two distinctions will be explored today: the a priori/a posteriori distinction, and the analytic/synthetic distinction.
Some Philosophical Terminology: Part 2
You are at your yearly family dinner, and suddenly your Uncle JimBob remarks, “The economy is going into recession, and it’s all the Democrats’ fault! Their hatred of the free market makes it impossible for the economy to thrive!”
Some Philosophical Terminology: Part 1
Prior to accompanying me on this intellectual journey, providing some definitions of philosophical concepts and terms is crucial. While I will be defining various concepts in detail in future posts, this post will serve as a foundation for a common understanding in rational discourse. Read more “Some Philosophical Terminology: Part 1”
The Value of Philosophy
It is generally agreed that there are two types of value: instrumental value and intrinsic value.
What is Philosophy?
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
—Socrates
While the above quote is perfect in conveying the essence of philosophy, it does not do the entire field justice. Philosophy can be defined in a variety of ways, but I want to focus on three primary definitions which I believe to be crucial to the understanding of what philosophy truly is.