Hume’s Fork Explained
“Hume’s fork” describes how we refer to Kant’s critique of Hume, who separated knowledge into two types: facts based on ideas and facts based on experience.
Philosophy and Thinking
Thinking is a mental process which allows humans to model the world, philosophy is the attempt to understand the world using logic and reason. The world being both the external and the internal, and both the knowable and unknowable.
For an overview of philosophy see our branches of philosophy page, for an introduction to philosophy check out Reason at Work (Amazon). Philosophy includes everything from economic and political philosophies, to the philosophies of emotions and mind, to cosmological and other other metaphysical questions, to the nature of god and religion, to the very nature of what we can know. Given that every subject has a science and philosophy (with the two often merging, such is the case in theoretical physics or mathematics) we have to be careful not to undervalue the practical aspects of this non-science.
Understanding Liberalism and Conservatism
We explain liberalism and conservatism, including the different social and classical types of liberalism and conservatism.
Game Theory is the Study of Games Myth
Game theory involves games, but it isn’t the study of games. It is the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation regarding decision making.
Political Realism Vs. Political Idealism
Political realism is dealing with politics as they are in reality, political idealism is dealing with politics as an ideal.
Machiavelli’s the Prince Can be Read as Satire Fact
Many (including Rousseau) consider Machiavelli’s The Prince to be satire, expressing a preference for a free republic over a hereditary principality.
The Issue is Always the Government or the Market Fact
For a given market, the choice always boils down to state intervention vs. the free-market, there is no third option (unless you count mixed-markets).
Niccolò Machiavelli is the Father of Modern Political Science Fact
Niccolò Machiavelli can be considered the father of modern political science, and his book The Prince one of the first works of modern political philosophy (if not just modern philosophy).
The Nature of Truth and the Different Types of Truth
We explore the nature of truth, the different types of truth, and the different types of entities who report truth to better understand the nature of information.
Understanding Collectivism and Individualism
Collectivism describes ideology (political or otherwise) that favors the collective, like-wise Individualism describes ideology that favors the individual.
Machines Can Think Fact
Whether or not machines can think, depends on our definition of “think.” Generally we can say, machines can think, but they think differently than humans.