Philosophy Archives

How to Cope with Life Changes and Transitions

Who Moved My Cheese, a bestseller by Spencer Johnson published in 1998, is a parable about the inevitability of change, the ways in which we typically deal with it, and how revising our attitude toward change can reduce stress and increase success. Like all parables, it’s told as a story that you can relate clearly to your life, and it can help you learn strategies for coping with life changes and transitions. We’ll cover the basic premise of the Who Moved My Cheese parable and discuss how its lessons might apply to your life. Learn the secrets to coping with

How You Define “Successful” Matters: Here’s Why

What is the meaning of success? Does your definition of success in life matter? How do you define “successful”? We’ll cover why how you define “successful” actually influences how successful you are in life. Learn how the world’s best athletes and CEOs define success, and why it makes them more successful than the rest of us.

Criticism of the Welfare State: It Enables “Hillbillies”

What is the criticism of the welfare state? Do people take advantage of the welfare state? Hillbilly Elegy‘s JD Vance has strong criticisms of the welfare state. Learn why he thinks it brings out the worst of the Appalachian hillbilly community in particular.

Postmodernism on Culture: Is Your Culture Destroying You?

What is postmodernism’s view on culture? How does postmodernism on culture affect the way we view history? Postmodernism on culture says that humans exist to serve culture, and not the other way around. In a sense, according to the postmodernist view, cultures are plagues of society, not entities that serve us. We’ll cover postmodernism on culture and look at other ways scholars view our relationship with culture.

Does Everything Happen for a Reason? Not According to Experts

Does everything happen for a reason? Looking back at the past, can we tell why certain things happened and not others? Is history progressing to create a world that’s better for us? According to many scholars, history doesn’t benefit humans and things don’t necessarily happen for a reason. We’ll cover theories from historians and scholars in the humanities and social sciences to answer the question, “Does everything happen for a reason?”

Naive Empiricism: When Ignorance Makes You Smarter

What is naive empiricism? How does it work to counter confirmation bias? Naive empiricism is the scientific practice of approaching a problem without any assumptions or expectations, relying solely on empirical evidence. This term is occasionally used differently in other fields. We’ll cover how naive empiricism combats confirmation bias and other cognitive errors.

Unknown Unknowns: Things You Don’t Know You Don’t Know

What are “unknown unknowns.” Why do we have the tendency to avoid them? We’ll cover why unknown unknowns are so hard to see (we don’t know that we do don’t know them!) and how our tendency to “tunnel” gives us an inaccurate picture of the world.

What Is a Dynamic System? Why Reality is Unpredictable

What is a dynamic system? What is dynamical systems theory? Why do dynamic systems make it so hard to make accurate predictions? A dynamical system (dynamic system) is one in which an array of inputs affect each other. Whereas prediction in a system that contains, say, two inputs, is a simple affair—one need only account for the qualities and behavior of those two inputs—prediction in a system that contains, say, five hundred billion inputs is effectively impossible. We’ll cover the most famous dynamic system examples and explore why dynamical systems make it so hard to make accurate predictions.

Empirical Skepticism: 5 Ways to Fight Bad Logic

What is empirical skepticism philosophy? In what ways does it resist faulty reasoning and cognitive bias? Empirical skepticism philosophy is a skeptical approach steeped in fact and observation. It was practiced by philosophers such as Sextus Empiricus and David Hume. We’ll cover the history of empirical skepticism philosophy and how it resists five common cognitive errors.

Falsification: Why You Should Try to Disprove Your Beliefs

What is falsification? Why is looking for ways to disprove our own theories productive? Falsification is the act of looking for evidence that disproves a scientific theory. The idea was introduced by philosopher of science Karl Popper. We’ll cover why falsification is necessary for unbiased science.