A Philosophical Summer Reading List
May 16, 2006
Are there some philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues you want to bone up on over…
The Scandalous Truth about Memoir
May 24, 2026
A memoir is a personal narrative written about a pivotal time in the author’s life. While the story is told from a particular perspective, the events recounted are supposed to be fact, not fiction. But what exactly counts as truth in memoir? Is the distinction…
Justice Across Boundaries
May 9, 2006
Philosophical conceptions of justice have most often been directed at the nature of a just…
Neurocosmetology
May 2, 2006
Progress in neuroscience may soon make possible an age of neurocosmetology: the use of drugs…
Aristotle
April 4, 2006
Aristotle’s philosophical doctrines have permeated and helped shape Western Culture in spheres as disparate as cosmology,…
Religion and the Secular State
April 4, 2006
Can committed believers and committed non-believers share a common political life in the context of…
The Value of Truth
April 4, 2006
The pursuit of truth is often thought to be “intrinsically” valuable. Scientists and philosophers, who…
What Are Numbers?
March 14, 2006
Plato claimed that numbers exist in some mind-independent abstract heaven. Nominalists claim that there is…
Nature vs. Nurture
February 21, 2006
The philosopher John Locke thought we had no innate ideas; our minds are blank slates,…
The Mystery of Mind
January 10, 2006
Modern science tells us that the mind is just the brain working. But science cannot yet…
Progress and the Environment
January 3, 2006
Does the value of preserving our environment conflict with the development of a world community…
What is Beauty?
December 27, 2005
Are there objective standards of beauty? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder?…
The Erotic vs. The Pornographic
December 20, 2005
Erotic experience is a human good. Mature, consenting adults should be able to explore the…
The Existence of God
December 20, 2005
The question of whether or not God exists is profoundly fascinating and important. What are…
Gender
November 15, 2005
Are gender roles and differences fixed, once and for, all by biology? Or is gender…
Is This Any Way to Run a Democracy?
November 8, 2005
America prides itself on being the oldest continuous democracy in the world. But criticisms of…
Love
October 25, 2005
Is love just a (second-hand) emotion? Is it a feeling? A disparate group of feelings, glandular responses,…
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