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Logically Faithful
Philosophy
Clear thinking about the questions that matter most: knowledge, mind, ethics, God, meaning, beauty, and culture. Essays, interviews, and lectures for anyone who wants to think more carefully about how to live.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”Socrates
How do we know what we know?
Epistemology
The study of knowledge, truth, evidence, and belief. What counts as a good reason, and when is it rational to be certain?
- Truth: What You Thought You Knew About It Is Wrong
- The Shadow of Doubt: Why Absolute Certainty Is Absurd
- Do You Have Blind Faith? Blind Faith vs. Reasonable Faith
- Truth Does Not Care About Our Feelings (with Paul Copan)
- 3 Reasons Why Science Is Not What You Think
- The Stupidity Paradox: Why More Information Makes Us DumberOn Substack
- You’ve Been Lied To: Why You Can’t Define YourselfOn Substack
- The Tyranny of FeelingsOn Substack
Essential classic readings
- Plato Republic, Book VII (the Cave)Free text
- René Descartes Meditations on First PhilosophyFree text
- John Locke An Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingFree text
- David Hume An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingFree text
- W. K. Clifford “The Ethics of Belief”Free PDF
- William James “The Will to Believe”Free text
- Bertrand Russell “The Value of Philosophy” (Problems of Philosophy, ch. 15)Free text
- Friedrich Nietzsche “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”Free text
- G. E. Moore “A Defence of Common Sense”Free PDF
- Edmund Gettier “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”Free PDF
- Edmund Husserl The Idea of PhenomenologyOverview
- Thomas Nagel The View from NowherePublisher
What is a mind, and could a machine have one?
Philosophy of Mind
Consciousness, the soul, personhood, and the questions artificial intelligence now forces on all of us.
- What Am I? What Does It Mean to Be Human?
- Can a Machine Have a Soul?
- The Algorithm Doesn't Bear God's Image
- Nobody's Home Behind That 'I Love You'
- Forget the Turing Test: Here's the Question That Matters
- Hell, the Soul, and Evil with Richard Swinburne
- Can an AI Become Self-Conscious, or Even Have a Conscience?On Substack
- What They Don’t Want You to Know about AIOn Substack
- The Real Danger A.I. Poses to Your MindOn Substack
- Naturalism and What Science Can’t ExplainOn Substack
- Noah Harari’s Paradox and Major ErrorOn Substack
Essential classic readings
What makes something right or wrong?
Philosophy of Ethics
Moral realism, the foundations of goodness, freedom, and how to live and lead with integrity.
- Can We Be Good Without Believing in God?
- Good God: The Moral Argument with David Baggett
- Are You Really Free? 8 Ways to Address the Lack of Free Speech
- Seven Things Evil Is Not
- You Are Not as Free as You ThinkOn Substack
- Beware of Becoming the Monster You’re FightingOn Substack
Essential classic readings
- Plato EuthyphroFree text
- Aristotle Nicomachean EthicsFree text
- Immanuel Kant Groundwork of the Metaphysics of MoralsFree text
- John Stuart Mill UtilitarianismFree text
- Friedrich Nietzsche On the Genealogy of MoralityFree text
- William James “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life”Free text
- Peter Singer “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”Free text
- Judith Jarvis Thomson “A Defense of Abortion”Free text
How to think well, not just what to think.
Critical Thinking
Logic, bias, argument, and the habits of mind that lead to better judgment and better decisions.
- Confirmation Bias: Why a Closed Mind Is Dangerous
- The Unexamined Life Is Boring!
- Three Worldview Questions We Cannot Ignore
- What Even God Cannot Do: Logic and Omnipotence
- 3 Ways to Think Much ClearerOn Substack
- Unfit for SlaveryOn Substack
Essential classic readings
Is belief in God rational?
Philosophy of Religion
Arguments for and against God's existence, the divine attributes, the problem of evil, and the relationship between faith, science, and the world's religions.
- 3 Logical Reasons Why God May Just Exist
- A Universe from Nothing?
- The Fine-Tuned Universe (with Robin Collins)
- What Is God? The Attributes of God
- Is It Logical to Worship God?
- Science vs. God: Are We All Here by Chance?
- Science, Religion, and Evolution with Hugh Ross
- Unity of Truth and the Plurality of Faiths
- My Son Died in My Arms. Here Is Why I Still Believe God Is Good.On Substack
- Suffering Is Not Always Evidence Against GodOn Substack
- The Longing You Cannot ExplainOn Substack
- The Question That Has Haunted Theologians for 2,400 YearsOn Substack
- Why the Bible’s Errors Don’t Threaten MeOn Substack
Essential classic readings
- Anselm ProslogionFree text
- Thomas Aquinas The Five Ways (Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 3)Free text
- Blaise Pascal The Wager (Pensées, §233)Free text
- David Hume “Of Miracles” (Enquiry, sec. X)Free text
- Søren Kierkegaard Fear and Trembling (in Selections)Free text
- Friedrich Nietzsche “The Madman” (The Gay Science, §125)Free text
- Bertrand Russell “Why I Am Not a Christian”Free text
What is a life well lived?
Meaning & Existentialism
Kierkegaard, Kant, Socrates, and the search for purpose that outlasts success.
- Kierkegaard's Three Stages of Life
- Reason, God, and the Meaning of Life
- Finding the True Purpose of Life: Stop Seeking Happiness
- Maybe Life Isn’t Supposed to Go Your WayOn Substack
- Why Loneliness Feels Like HellOn Substack
Essential classic readings
Is beauty real?
Aesthetics
The philosophy of beauty, taste, and why excellence is more than personal preference.
- Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?
- Frankenstein (2025): Why del Toro’s Film Is a MasterpieceOn Substack
- 12 Movies & Series You Must Watch Before You DieOn Substack
Essential classic readings
Philosophy applied to the world we live in.
Cultural Commentary
Technology, media, manhood, marriage, and the ideas quietly shaping modern culture.
- Amusing Ourselves to Death: A Cultural Commentary
- We Killed the Provider Role. Now We Wonder Why Men Are Lost
- Why “Toxic Masculinity” Is Keeping Your Sons Weak
- Fatherless Boys Don't Become Men
- Marriage Isn't Supposed to Make You Happy
Essential classic readings
- John Locke Second Treatise of GovernmentFree text
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau The Social ContractFree text
- Immanuel Kant “What Is Enlightenment?”Free text
- Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of WomanFree text
- Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels The Communist ManifestoFree text
- Henry David Thoreau “Civil Disobedience”Free text
- John Stuart Mill On LibertyFree text
- W. E. B. Du Bois The Souls of Black FolkFree text
- John Rawls “Justice as Fairness”Overview
- Garrett Hardin “The Tragedy of the Commons”Free text
- Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”Free text
Know what you believe, and why
Worldviews Compared
A well-rounded mind understands the great worldviews from the inside, in their own best words, before judging them. Start with these primary sources.
The Christian Worldview
A personal, triune God; humans made in God’s image; redemption through Christ.
The Islamic Worldview
Tawhid (the absolute oneness of God), revelation through the Qur’an, and a rich tradition of reason and faith.
- The Qur’an Arabic text with English translationsFree text
- Al-Ghazali Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of Al Ghazzali)Free text
- Ibn Tufayl Hayy ibn Yaqzan (The Improvement of Human Reason)Free text
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Philosophy, God, and the “Floating Man”Overview
- Ibn Rushd (Averroes) Reason and revelationOverview
The Hindu Worldview
Brahman as ultimate reality, the self (atman), karma, dharma, and liberation (moksha).
The Secular Worldview
Meaning, morality, and knowledge without appeal to God or the supernatural.
What does it mean to be “me”?
Personal Identity
Are you your body, your memories, your relationships, or something more? One of philosophy’s oldest puzzles has become one of our culture’s most urgent questions.
By Dr. Khaldoun Sweis
The Crisis of Personal Identity
Chapter 1: Confessions of a Failed Philosopher — A Journey from Reason to Hope. A 22-page chapter (about 11,500 words) that walks through the Mars “replica” thought experiment, the four rooms of the self from public persona to shadow, the modern creed of self-definition, and why “just be yourself” is not enough.
$4.99 · PDF delivered to your inbox
Coming soon: get notified →Classic readings on the self
Go deeper
Scholarly Papers, Essays & Video
More philosophy beyond this site: peer-reviewed work, weekly essays, and short videos.
Academic Papers
Published work on consciousness, naturalism, love, and philosophy of religion, including Existing Without My Body (Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies) and Consciousness or Qualia (Think, Cambridge).
- The Paradoxes of NaturalismAcademia.edu
- The Bewilderment and Misconstruction of Love: A Response to Nygren’s Agape and ErosAcademia.edu
- Truth, Tolerance and RomanceAcademia.edu
- The Question of Icons in Eastern OrthodoxyAcademia.edu
- Divine Right or Divine Wrong in the Israeli/Palestinian ConflictAcademia.edu
- Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources (ed., Zondervan)Academia.edu
Essays on Substack
New essays on truth, mind, meaning, God, and culture, written for thoughtful readers rather than specialists. The Substack pieces are also listed under each topic above.
Read the Substack →Video: How to Break Out of the Matrix
What The Matrix gets right about truth, illusion, and the courage to see clearly.
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Chicago Philosophy Association
Tired of superficial conversation? The Philosophy Association of Chicago is a forum for people who want to discuss the big questions, from inner space to outer space, with round-table discussions, films, and guest speakers.
Visit the Chicago Philosophy Association →Want to talk through one of these questions for yourself or your team? Dr. Sweis offers private conversations and talks on these themes.
Artwork: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.
