Curated category
Concepts in epistemology
- Problem of other mindsThe problem of other minds asks a single question that has haunted philosophers for centuries. Given that I can only observe the behavior of others, how can…
- Frame problemIn 1969, John McCarthy and Patrick J. Hayes posed a question that would haunt artificial intelligence for decades: how does a logical system know what stays…
- ReasonReason is the capacity to consciously apply logic, drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information with the aim of seeking truth.
- KnowledgeKnowledge has a definition philosophers have been arguing about for centuries, and the argument is not close to settled.
- ThoughtThought, in its most ordinary meaning, is the cognitive activity that runs without any direct input from the senses. You can weigh an idea, judge whether a…
- ConsciousnessConsciousness is the fact of being aware of something inside yourself, or of states and objects in the world around you.
- TruthTruth is conformity to reality or fact. A sentence like "the carrot is orange" seems to demand nothing more than a glance at the carrot.
- TimeTime is what a clock reads. Physicists settled on that blunt, almost evasive definition to escape a trap, because defining time any other way tends to fold…
- BeliefBelief begins with snow. To believe that snow is white is to accept the truth of the proposition "snow is white." Yet few people ever pause to examine such a…
- Cultural appropriationCultural appropriation sits at the intersection of art, politics, identity, and power. When model Karlie Kloss walked the Victoria's Secret runway in 2012…
- CausalityCausality is the invisible thread that binds every event to what came before it. Strike a match, and a flame appears. Drop a glass, and it shatters.
- UncertaintyUncertainty touches every domain of human thought, from quantum physics to the price of insurance, from the indecision of Shakespeare's Hamlet to the fine…
- PramanaThe Sanskrit word pramāna literally means proof. It derives from the root pramā, which combines a preposition meaning outward or forth with a term for…