Philosophy Basics
The core schools of thought behind how we reason about ethics and existence.
Ancient Greek Philosophy
Socrates shaped Western thought without writing a word. Much of what we know about him comes secondhand, from his student Plato.
Nihilism
Nihilism is the idea that nothing matters, and most philosophers who study it spend their careers trying to work out what follows.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism boils right and wrong down to one question: does this action create the greatest good for the greatest number?
Existentialism
Existentialism starts from an unsettling premise: the universe comes with no instruction manual for what your life should mean.
Epistemology
How do you know that you know anything? Philosophers have been arguing about it for about 2,500 years.
Kantian Ethics
An ethical framework that judges an action right or wrong based on a single test: could you honestly want everyone on Earth to follow that exact same rule?
Stoicism
Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, still widely read, began as a Roman emperor's private reflections, never meant for publication.