Learn Philosophy: Free Guides to the Big Questions

To learn philosophy you need clear explanations of the big questions and people to argue them through with. These free guides give you the first and lead you to the second. Each answers a common question directly, in plain English, then shows the structure underneath: the questions, the rival answers, and who gave them across every tradition.

Who the guides are for

They are written for curious adults and for students from about sixteen who want a straight answer without being talked down to. You need no background. If you already know some philosophy, the guides work as a map, pointing to the exact questions where each debate is live.

Every guide opens with a short answer, then works through the questions people most often ask, such as how metaphysics differs from epistemology or where political philosophy fits. Real questions from the map serve as examples throughout, so you meet the arguments themselves rather than summaries of them.

How to learn philosophy with these guides

• Start broad. Read what is philosophy? and the branches of philosophy to see the whole field.
• Pick a root. The six root guides, on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, aesthetics and the philosophy of X, explain each area, its key questions and the philosophers most often cited.
• Go to the cards. Every guide links into The Coordinates, the 131 question cards drawn from The Coordinates of Thought. Each card sets the rival answers side by side and marks with △ the questions where philosophers disagree about the question itself.
• Join the conversation. The guides link to live discussions in each area. Read them, reply, or ask a question of your own.

If you are new, philosophy for beginners suggests a path through ten great questions, and philosophical questions lists all 131 with their rival answers in one place. You can also browse by tradition or look up a philosopher in Thinkers A–Z.

The guides take no side in any debate. They set out the positions fairly, so that you can work out where you stand.

All guides

• What Is Philosophy? Meaning, Questions and Why It MattersA clear answer to what philosophy is: where the word comes from, the questions it asks, where it began, and how it differs from science and religion.
• Branches of Philosophy: The Six Roots and All 131 QuestionsMost lists give five to eight branches. Here are the six roots of philosophy, their core questions, and all 131 branches and sub-branches.
• What Is Metaphysics? Questions, Theories and PhilosophersWhat exists? What is a mind? Does time pass? Could you have done otherwise? The questions of metaphysics, their rival answers, and who gave them across every tradition.
• What Is Epistemology? The Theory of Knowledge, Its Questions and ThinkersWhat is knowledge, where does it come from, and can we know anything at all? The questions of epistemology, their rival answers, and who gave them across every tradition.
• What Is Ethics? Branches, Theories and the Questions Philosophers AskWhat makes an act right or wrong, and what are we saying when we call it so? The three branches of ethics, the main ethical theories, and the philosophers who answered across every tradition.
• What Is Logic? Reasoning, Fallacies and the Types of LogicWhat makes an argument work, whatever it is about? Validity, deduction and induction, the fallacies, modal and non-classical logics, and the logicians of Greece, India, China and the Islamic world.
• What Is Aesthetics? Beauty, Art, Taste and the SublimeIs beauty in the object or in the eye, and can anything be art? Theories of beauty and art, taste, the sublime, and why a sad song can be enjoyable, from Plato and Kant to Abhinavagupta and Zeami.
• Fields of Philosophy: The Philosophy of Science, Mind, Religion, Law and ArtPhilosophy's core questions, aimed at one part of life: 32 fields from science and law to death, love and film, each with its question and rival answers.
• Philosophy for Beginners: Where to Start and How to Study ItStart with a question, not a reading list: a ten-question path, how to read philosophy and arguments, common mistakes, and a four-week plan.
• Philosophical Questions: 131 Big Questions and Their Rival Answers131 big questions in philosophy with the answers philosophers have actually defended, side by side: 15 to start with, 13 contested ones, and all 131.