What is Philosophy?
Philosophy is the systematic inquiry into existence, knowledge, value, reason, mind, and language. It doesn’t hand you answers — it sharpens your questions. And better questions shape all thinking, all culture, all civilization.Are you aware that every decision you make rests on philosophical assumptions? Philosophy makes those assumptions visible — so you can examine them.This category covers 45 core philosophical concepts, organized into six groups:
- Existence & Meaning: why we live and how to face life
- Ethics: what is right and how we should act
- Epistemology: how we know and where knowledge comes from
- Metaphysics: the fundamental nature of reality
- Modern Philosophy: major intellectual currents since the 20th century
- Eastern Philosophy: foundational wisdom from East Asian traditions
Existence & Meaning
Existentialism
Existence precedes essence — humans define their own meaning
Nihilism
Life has no inherent meaning — understand it to move beyond it
Absurdism
The human craving for meaning vs. the universe’s silence
Stoicism
Focus on what is within your control; accept what is not
Epicureanism
The highest good is tranquil pleasure and freedom from fear
Eudaimonia
Aristotle’s conception of human flourishing — the highest good
Amor Fati
Love your fate — embrace everything that happens as necessary and good
Memento Mori
Remember you will die — use it to cultivate urgency and gratitude
Eternal Recurrence
If you had to live this life infinitely, would you choose it?
Will to Power
Nietzsche: the fundamental human drive is expansion and self-overcoming
Übermensch
The individual who transcends conventional morality and creates their own values
Ethics
Utilitarianism
Maximize aggregate well-being — outcomes determine the morality of actions
Deontological Ethics
Act according to universal moral rules, regardless of consequences
Virtue Ethics
Character and virtue — not rules or outcomes — are the foundation of morality
Categorical Imperative
Act only according to principles you could will to be universal laws
Social Contract
Individuals surrender some freedoms in exchange for social order and protection
Veil of Ignorance
Design just institutions without knowing your own position in them
Trolley Problem
Would you divert a trolley to kill one person instead of five?
Pascal's Wager
Believing in God is the rational bet, given the potential infinite upside
Problem of Evil
If God is omnipotent and good, why does evil exist?
The Golden Mean
Virtue lies in the mean between excess and deficiency
Epistemology
Empiricism
All knowledge derives from sensory experience
Rationalism
Reason, not experience, is the primary source of knowledge
Pragmatism
The truth of an idea is measured by its practical consequences
Cogito Ergo Sum
Descartes: the only certainty is the fact that I am thinking
Tabula Rasa
The mind begins as a blank slate, entirely shaped by experience
Allegory of the Cave
Most people see only shadows of reality; truth requires leaving the cave
Phenomenology
Study the structure of consciousness from the first-person perspective
Solipsism
Only one’s own mind is certain to exist
Metaphysics
Determinism
Every event is determined by prior causes and natural laws
Free Will
Can humans make choices uncaused by prior events?
Compatibilism
Free will and determinism can coexist
Dualism
Mind and body are fundamentally different kinds of substance
Monism
All of reality is ultimately one kind of thing
Dialectical Materialism
Material conditions and contradictions drive historical and social change
Hegelian Dialectic
Thesis → Antithesis → Synthesis: progress through contradiction
Modern Philosophy
Postmodernism
Distrust grand narratives; reality is socially constructed
Relativism
Truth and morality are not absolute — they vary by culture and individual
Objectivism
Reality is independent of consciousness; rational self-interest is the highest moral aim
Simulacra and Simulation
Signs have replaced reality; the map has replaced the territory (Baudrillard)
Panopticon
How pervasive surveillance shapes behavior even without active watching (Foucault/Bentham)
Eastern Philosophy
Tao
The fundamental, unnameable force that pervades and underlies all things
Wu Wei
Non-action — effortless action aligned with the natural flow of things
Yin and Yang
Opposites are complementary and interdependent, forming dynamic wholeness
Occam's Razor (Philosophical)
Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity