Philosophy has always struggled with itself over what, exactly, it’s purpose is. Plato investigated  the fundamental nature of justice and knowledge whereas Wittgenstein thought that the purpose of philosophy was "to show the fly the way out of the fly bottle." Where are we now?

During this course Amie Thomasson traces historical views of the history of philosophy before presenting her radical new suggestion, that philosophy is all about meta-linguistic negotiation. This approach – the idea that our discussions about justice are about how we should use the word ‘justice’ – manages to unite the advantages of previous models whilst avoiding the problems. Philosophy has purpose once more, helping us in our everyday life as well as with the biggest issues.

By the end of this course, you will have learnt:

• How philosophy developed alongside other disciplines like the natural sciences.
• Two models of philosophy – of discovering and of conceptual order.
• How to argue for and against the existence of entities with ease.
• A new model of philosophy which breathes new life into the oldest subject.
  
  

Through video lectures, questions and suggested reading discover why atheism is perhaps the most important moral issue of our time. Share your ideas and support your learning through our discussion boards and test your knowledge through an end of course assessment.

Amie Thomasson

Amie Thomasson is the Daniel P. Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Dartmouth College, working on a range of topics from metaphysics to philosophy of art and social ontology. She is the author of over 90 articles, and her books include Ordinary Objects (2007); Ontology Made Easy (2015), which won the Sanders Book Prize; and most recently Rethinking Metaphysics (2025).

• Tim Button. (2016) Deflationary Metaphysics and Ordinary Language, Synthese, 1-25.
• Eli Hirsch. (2002) 'Against Revisionary Ontology', Philosophical Topics, (30), 103-27.
• Eli Hirsch. (2009) ‘Ontology and Alternative Languages’ In Chalmers, D. Manley, D. & Wasserman, R. (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. (Oxford: OUP), p. 231--58.
• Huw Price. (2009) 'Metaphysics after Carnap: the Ghost who Walks?' in Chalmers, D. Manley, D. & Wasserman, R. (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. (Oxford: OUP).
• Theodore Sider. (2011). Writing the Book of the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.    
• Amie L. Thomasson. (2015) Ontology Made Easy (New York: Oxford University Press).