Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Websites

Gerald F. Gaus outlines the general philosophical theory of liberalism.

Theories about intentional action and agency; by George Wilson.

The thesis that there are no merely possible entities; by Christopher Menzel.

Historical survey from Babbage onward; by B. Jack Copeland.

Article on Turing Machines from the Stanford Encyclopedia.

Proposal due to Alan Turing for a criterion of the presence of mind or consciousness; by Graham Oppy and David Dowe.

Life and work of 13th century Italian poet and philosopher; by Winthrop Wetherbee.

Life and work of 18th century American philosophical theologian; by William Wainwright.

The life and work of the Chinese philosopher and educator; by Jeffrey Riegel.

By Lawrence Sklar.

Study of the details and some of the implications of the measurement problem. By Henry Krips of the University of Pittsburgh.

By Carsten Held.

First interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Nields Bohr; by Jan Faye.

Interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Hugh Everett according to which many universes exist in parallel at the same space and time; by Lev Vaidman.

An interpretation of quantum theory which discards the notions of absolute state of a system, absolute value of its physical quantities, or absolute event; by Federico Laudisa and Carlo Rovelli.

Survey of the dynamical reduction program; by Giancarlo Ghirardi.

Survey by Jenann Ismael.

Discusses philosophical views about cosmology in the 1930s and 1940s; by George Gale.

Survey of social and political equality; by Stefan Gosepath.

Philosophical survey of the idea that government should be limited in its powers by law; by Wil Waluchow.

Modern notion of political authority of supreme authority within a territory; by Dan Philpott.

Life and work of 19th century mathematician and philosopher of mathematics; by Ivor Grattan-Guinness and Alison Walsh.

Jean-Pierre Marquis of the University of Montreal introduces the general mathematical theory of structures and systems of structures.

Edward N. Zalta of the Metaphysics Research Lab.

Jack Copeland of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand outlines this frequently misunderstood thesis.

Life and work of philosopher and mathematician Alan Mathison Turing; by Andrew Hodges.

Life and work of 19th century American logician and philosopher; by Robert Burch.

By E. Jennifer Ashworth of the University of Waterloo.

By Simo Knuuttila of the University of Helsinki.

By Terence Parsons.

Life and work of 13th century logician and author of the Tractatus; by Joke Spruyt.

Survey of game-theoretical approaches to logic; by Wilfrid Hodges.

Survey article on multiple-valued logics, by Siegfried Gottwaldof of Leipzig University.

By Greg Restall of Macquarie University.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on the subject, with a detailed description, application areas and a bibliography.

Infinitary Logic is a branch of formal logic where finitary formulae are replaced by potentially infinitary mathematical entities. By John L. Bell.

The principles L. E. J. Brouwer used in developing his intuitionistic mathematics. By Joan R. Moschovakis, UCLA.

Survey of logical systems with a continuum of truth values; by Petr Hajek.

Survey of the mathematical theory of the infinite; by Thomas Jech.

Introduction to classical logic, including completeness and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems; by Stewart Shapiro.

Survey of automated deduction and theorem proving; by Frederic Portoraro.

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Survey of the algebra of two-valued logic; by J. Donald Monk.

Online philosophy reference work, articles are authored and updated by experts in the field. Edited by Edward Zalta.

Survey of theories on the conditions of legal validity including natural law theories and legal positivism; by Andrei Marmor.

Assesses the metaphysical implications of quantum theory by considering the impact of the theory on our understanding of objects as individuals with well defined identity conditions. By Steven French of Leeds University.

Social theory and philosophy issues in globalization; by William Scheuerman.

Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that God exists, from premisses which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the world. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Graham Oppy.

Survey of divine command theory; by Mark Murphy.

The doctrine that God cannot undergo real change; by Brian Leftow.

The theistic thesis that God has maximal power; by Joshua Hoffman and Gary Rosenkrantz.

Discussion of philosophical implications of Christian theological views; by Michael Murray.

Survey of feminist writing on the philosophical canon; by Charlotte Witt.

The view that epistemology is of one piece with natural science; by Richard Feldman.

Metaphysical and epistemological accounts of color. By Barry Maund of the University of Western Australia.

Survey of analyses of the concept of knowledge, including justified true belief and the Gettier problem; by Matthias Steup.

Two movements in ancient philosophy, Pyrrhonism, and Academic Skepticism. By Leo Groarke.

Epistemological movement based on Bayesian confirmation and decision theory; by William Talbott.

Survey of naturalistic epistemology which emphasizes importance of natural selection; by Michael Bradie and William Harms

Discusses mathematical approaches to normative epistemology; by Oliver Schulte.

Survey of theories according to which knowledge and justified belief rest ultimately on a foundation of noninferential knowledge or justified belief. By Richard Fumerton of the University of Iowa.

Qualia are introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of our mental lives. By Michael Tye.

By John Greco of Fordham.

Survey of views on the social dimension of knowledge; by Alvin Goldman.

By Elizabeth Anderson.

By Colin Allen of Texas A&M.

Philosophical theories on what makes a species; by Marc Ereshefsky.

History and discussion of the notion of the immune self; by Alfred Tauber.

Discussion of how altruistic behavior by organisms fits with the theory of evolution; by Samir Okasha.

Discussion of philosophical issues related to biological diversity; by Daniel P. Faith.

By Mark Colyvan, University of Tasmania.

By Douglas Bridges from Waikato University.

By Chris Mortensen, University of Adelaide.

By Roberto Torretti, Universidad de Chile.

Comprehensive article by Richard Healey of the University of Arizona.

Discusses implications of general relativity for the philosophy of time; by Steven Savitt.

By Allan Franklin, University of Colorado.

Frames of reference relative to which motion and rest are measured; by Robert DiSalle.

The thesis that science discovers truths about a theory-independent reality; by Richard Boyd.

Discusses the impact of social relations and values on scientific research; by Helen Longino.

Discussion of theory reduction in science; by Robert Batterman.

Philosophical theories about the nature of explanation in science; by James Woodward.

Philosophical theories about what it is to be a law; by John W. Carroll.

Branch of ethics dealing with the moral relationship of humans to the environment; by Andrew Brennan and Yeuk-Sze Lo.

By Rosemarie Tong, Davidson College.

The view that normative properties depend only on consequences; by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.

Philosophical justifications of punishment; by Hugo Adam Bedau.

Philosophical issues related to collective action; by Russell Hardin.

Article on the ethics of war and peace, the Just War theory, and pacifism. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Brian D. Orend.

By Dominic Hyde.

Dialeth(e)ism is the view that there are true contradictions. By Graham Priest of the University of Queensland.

By Graham Priest and Koji Tanaka.

Peter Forrest introduces the principle of analytic ontology formulated by Leibniz, stating that no two distinct substances exactly resemble each other.

The view that there are objects which are the same F yet not the same G; by Harry Deutsch.

By Leo Groarke, Wilfrid Laurier University.

By Edwin D. Mares, Victoria University of Wellington.

By Roy Sorensen.

Entry in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy by Chris Swoyer. Principally concerned with existence and identity conditions.

The truth of any (true) proposition consists in its coherence with some specified set of propositions. By James O. Young.

According to the deflationary theory of truth, to assert that a statement is true is just to assert the statement itself. By Daniel Stoljar.

When a truth-bearer is true, there is a truth-maker with which it is identical and the truth of the former consists in its identity with the latter. By Stewart Candlish.

Theory developed to analyze paradoxes that appear to show that common-sense beliefs about truth are inconsistent. By Eric M. Hammer.

The thesis that propositions are made true in virtue of corresponding to facts; by Marian David.

Discussion of notion of verisimilitude, closeness to truth; by Graham Oddie.

Bernard Linsky, University of Alberta.

Introduction to logical form, surface and deep meaning. By Paul M. Pietroski, University of Maryland.

To say that propositions are structured is to say that they are complex entities, entities having parts or constituents. By Jeffrey C. King.

The historical development and conceptual structure of philosophical analysis; by Michael Beaney.

Propositions about a particular object or individual in virtue of having the object or individual as a constituent of the proposition. By G. W. Fitch.

Realism and the representation problem; by Drew Khlentzos.

The study of mind and intelligence. By Paul Thagard of the University of Waterloo.

Movement in cognitive science which hopes to explain human intellectual abilities using artificial neural networks. By James W. Garson of the University of Houston.

According to the Representational Theory of Mind, psychological states are to be understood as relations between agents and mental representations. By David Pitt, CUNY.

Evaluates the theory that holds that states and processes of the mind are identical to states and processes of the brain. By J. J. C. Smart of Monash.

Discusses the view that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but have no effects upon any physical events. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by William S. Robinson.

John Bickle discusses the contention that a given mental kind (property, state, event) is realized by distinct physical kinds.

History and philosophical accounts of unity of consciousness; by Andrew Brook.

Theories which explain conscious states by their relations to higher-order representations of them; by Peter Carruthers.

Discussion of the connection between phenomenal consciousness and intentionality; by Charles Siewert.

The doctrine that mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe; by William Seager.

The philosophical theopry that the mind is, or functions like, a computer; by Steven Horst.

The view that some or all of the mental states posited by common-sense do not actually exist; by William Ramsey.

By Murat Aydede, surveying the arguments for and against the proposition that thoughts are expressed in a mental language.

By Stewart Candlish from the University of Western Australia.

Discusses introduction of philosophy into the school curriculum; by Michael Pritchard.

The hole argument is an attempt to illustrate how spacetime substantivalism causes errors in a large class of spacetime theories. By John D. Norton of the University of Pittsburgh.

Survey of philosophical woories about inconsistencies inherent in the idea of time travel in the context of modern physics. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Tim Maudlin.

Survey of the view that claims of necessity and possibility are to be construed as fictional claims; by Daniel Nolan.

The theory of parthood relations: of the relations of part to whole and the relations of part to part within a whole; by Achille Varzi.

By Randolph Clarke.

Bertrand Russell, Wesley Salmon, and conserved quantities. By Phil Dowe of the University of Tasmania.

Discussion of analysis of causal statements in terms of counterfactual conditionals; by Peter Menzies.

An article describing tropes by John Bacon.

Short article by Roberto Casati of the École Polytechnique and Achille C. Varzi of Columbia.

Survey of philosophical views on the character and status of events; by Roberto Casati and Achille Varzi.

Discussion of the thesis that everything is physical; by Daniel Stoljar.

Survey of attempts to draw the distinction between concrete and abstract objects; by Gideon Rosen.

Aims to establish that conscious experience involves non-physical properties. It is one of the most discussed arguments against physicalism; by Martine Nida-Rümelin.

By Barry Miller.

Biographical and expository essay by John Preston of Reading University.

Robert Wicks, University of Auckland.

Article on the life and work of the founder of philosophical anarchism. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Mark Philp.

Life and work of this German Enlightenment philosopher; by Gwen Griffith-Dickson.

Life and Work of Robert Holcot, 14th Century English philosopher and theologian; by Hester Gelber.

Paul Redding of the University of Sydney.

Life and work of 18th century Scottish philosopher; by William Edward Morris.

Life and work of 19th century British legal philosopher and founder of legal positivism; by Brian Bix.

Life and work of 14th century German logician and philosopher; by Joël Biard.

Life and work of early Greek medical writer and philosopher-scientist; by Carl Huffman.

Life and work of 20th century German philosopher and critical theorist; by Lambert Zuidervaart.

Life and work of fourth century BC Greek mathematician, political leader and philosopher; by Carl Huffman.

Timon (c. 320-230 BC) was the younger contemporary and leading disciple of Pyrrho; by Richard Bett.

By A. D. Irvine.

Occam (1287-1347) was one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages. By Paul Vincent Spade.

Life and work of 19th century British philosopher; by Laura J. Snyder.

Life and work of one of the most original and interesting philosophers of the later Middle Ages. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Robert Pasnau.

By William Sweet of St. Francis Xavier University.

Life and work of contemporary and critic of Kant; by Peter Thielke and Yitzhak Melamed.

Life and work of French Cartesian philosopher; by Tad Schmaltz.

Life and work of 18th century Italian philosopher; by Timothy Costelloe.

Life and work of 18th century Scottish philosopher; by Gideon Yaffe.

By A. D. Irvine.

Life and work of 20th century American philosopher; by Bjørn Ramberg.

Life and work of 19th century Austrian philosopher; by Dan Breazeale.

Life and work of late Medieval philosopher; by Jack Zupko.

William Sweet of St. Francis Xavier University introduces the absolute idealist.

By Stewart Candlish of the University of Western Australia.

Life and work of 17th century Irish philosopher and physicist; by J. J. McIntosh, University of Calgary.

Life and work of 19th century German philosopher; by Douglas Moggach.

Life and work of Polish phenomenologist, ontologist and aesthetician; by Amie Thomasson.

Life and work of 19th century American philosopher; by Russell Goodman.

Life and work of 17th century Dutch Rationalist philosopher; by Steven Nadler.

Life and work of 18th century English philosopher; by Michael Gill.

Life and work of early 20th century Spanish-born American philosopher; by Herman Saatkamp.

Life and work of 19th century German philosopher; by Robert Wicks.

By Jay F. Rosenberg.

Life and work of German philosopher of egoism; by David Leopold.

By Michael J. Murray, Franklin and Marshall College.

Influential 17th century British political philosopher.

Life and work of 17th century Cartesian philosopher; by Patricia Easton.

Jeff Malpas of the University of Tasmania.

Detailed biographical article by B. Jack Copeland of the University of Canterbury.

The life and work of the founder of Pyrrhonism; by Richard Bett.

Life and work of this founder of Neoplatonism; by Lloyd Gerson.

By Stephen Thornton from the University of Limerick.

Von Neumann and Morgensterns mathematical theory of bargaining, introduced by Don Ross University of Cape Town.

By Nigel Thomas of Leeds University.

Stoicism was one of the new philosophical movements of the Hellenistic period. By Dirk Baltzly.

By James Robert Brown, University of Toronto.

Biographical and expository essay, by Ralph McInerny.

By Risto Hilpinen of the University of Miami.

The ability to act on the determinations of conscience is tied to the development of the moral virtues, which in turn refines the functions of conscience. By Doug Langston of the University of South Florida.

"Probabilistic Causation" designates a group of philosophical theories that aim to characterize the relationship between cause and effect using the tools of probability theory. A primary motivation for the development of such theories is the desire for a theory of causation that does not presuppose physical determinism.

By Colin Allen of Texas A&M, addressing the qualitative or phenomenological nature of experience.

By Michael Mendelson of Lehigh University.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Anthony Celano.

Richardus Sophista was an English philosopher/logician who studied at Oxford most likely sometime during the second quarter of the thirteenth century. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Paul Streveler.

Life and work of this 13th-century philosopher, theologian, and lyric poet. From the Stanford Encyclopedia, by Colleen McCluskey.

By Thomas Williams, University of Iowa.

By George Graham of University of Alabama at Birmingham.

By Ann E. Cudd, University of Kansas.

By William Lycan, University of North Carolina.

By Robert Young, La Trobe University.

By Diana Meyers of the University of Connecticut.

By Robert M. Gordon, University of Missouri.

By Ian Ravenscroft, the Flinders University of South Australia.

By Julian Lamont, University of Queensland.

By John Bickle and Peter Mandik.

By Robert M. Martin, Dalhousie University.

By Carl Matheson of the University of Manitoba.

By Peter Forrest.

By Allen I. Janis, University of Pittsburgh.

Introduced by Jon Pérez Laraudogoitia from the University of the Basque Country.

How does a person stay the same person over time? By Eric T. Olson.

The view that people should get the same or be treated the same; by Richard Arneson.

Philosophical issues in homosexuality and queer theory; by Brent Pickett.

History of the political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups; by Cressida Heyes.

Discusses naturalistic theses in the philosophy of law; by Brian Leiter.

Survey of realism and anti-realism in various forms; by Alexander Miller.

Survey of forms of scepticism about moral knowledge; Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.

Survey of philosophical theories about what it is to govern oneself; by Sarah Buss.

Discussion of philosophical issues about death; by Steven Luper.

Views on the moral difference between doing harm and allowing harm; by Frances Howard-Snyder.

Moral issues of desert (punishment, success) and justice; by Owen McLeod.

Survey of philosophical views about privacy; by Judith DeCew.

Life and work of medieval philosopher and member of the Modists; by Jack Zupko.

A distinction introduced by W. E. Johnson to apply, e.g., to red and colored; by David H. Sanford.

Discussion of various descriptive and normative definitions of the term; Bernard Gert.

Life and work of the 18th century German philosopher; by Michael Forster.

Discusses cases of conflicting moral requirements; by Terrance McConnell.

Approaches to geometry that do not presuppose an infinity of points; by Jean-Paul van Bendegem.

View that puts processes at the center of metaphysics; by Nicholas Rescher.

Survey of views on moral impartiality; by Troy Jollimore.

Survey of work of, among others, Christian Thomasius and Christian Wolff; by Brigitte Sassen.

Survey of justice as a virtue from Plato to Rawls; by Michael Slote.

The view that all human beings belong to a single community; by Pauline Kleingeld and Eric Brown.

The theories of proprietates terminorum was the basis of medieval semantic theory; by Stephen Read.

How quantum mechanics can be regarded as a non-classical probabilistic calculus; by Alexander Wilce.

Survey of the work of William Hamilton, James Frederick Ferrier, and Alexander Bain; by Gordon Graham.

By Robin Le Poidevin.

By Gyula Klima.

Justifications of legal punishment; by Antony Duff.

Historical survey of the concept of moral responsibility; by Andrew Eshleman.

Life and work of 14th century French theologian; by Christopher Schabel.

Discussion of integrity as a virtue term; by Damian Cox, Marguerite La Caze, and Michael Levine.

Survey of theories on legal reasoning; by Julie Dickson.

Survey of medieval views concerning the nature and ontological status of relations; by Jeffrey Brower.

In-depth article on the life, work, and thought of John Duns Scotus. By Thomas Williams.

The claim that there are no defensible moral principles; by Jonathan Dancy.

Survey of Scottish Enlightenment philosophers, including Francis Hutcheson, Henry Home (Lord Kames), and George Campbell; by lexander Broadie.

Discussion of how sense experience justifies or warrants beliefs about the physical world; by Lawrence BonJour.

Life and work of 20th Century metaphysician and philosopher of religion; by Dan Dombrowski.

Life and work of 14th Century British philosopher, follower of Wyclif and Burley; by Alessandro Conti.

Life and work of 15th Century Oxford Realist philosopher; by Alessandro Conti.

Does the world contain undesirable states of affairs that provide the basis for an argument that makes it unreasonable for anyone to believe in the existence of God?; by Michael Tooley.

The philosophy of childhood takes up philosophically interesting questions about childhood, about conceptions people have of childhood and attitudes they have toward children; by Gareth Matthews.

Theory about the permissibility of non-consensual force violating property rights in external things and oneself; by Peter Vallentyne.

Philosophical theories about the difference between animals and humans responsible for the moral status of humans. By Lori Gruen.

Philosophical theories about judgments of taste; by Nick Zangwill.

Discussion of the distinction between knowledge and craft, or art in ancient philosophy; by Richard Parry.