What If Only Your Mind Exists?
Solipsism: the philosophical position that only your own mind can be known to exist — all external reality, including other people, may be a construct of your consciousness.
Category
Philosophy & Ethics
What Would You Choose If You Didn't Know Who You'd Be?
John Rawls's veil of ignorance: a thought experiment for designing fair societies — choose principles without knowing your place in society.
When Everything Has Changed, Is It Still the Same Thing?
The ship of Theseus: a thought experiment about identity and continuity — if you replace every part of something, is it still the original?
We Can Only Observe a Universe That Allows Us to Exist
The anthropic principle: the fact that we exist to observe the universe places constraints on what we can observe about it.
Act Only by Rules You'd Accept as Universal Law
Kant's categorical imperative: the supreme principle of morality — act only according to rules you could will to be universal laws, and always treat persons as ends in themselves.
The Burden of Proof Belongs to the Claimant
Hitchens's razor: what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.