OPEN PHILOSOPHY LIBRARY

Philosophical Debates

Original comparative studies examining major disagreements between philosophers: their premises, arguments, objections, replies and unresolved questions.

Editorial approach: These debates are comparative studies, not historical transcripts. They reconstruct positions from the relevant philosophical works and do not fabricate quotations or personal exchanges.

Mencius vs Thomas Hobbes

Mencius vs Hobbes: Human Nature, Moral Cultivation and Political Order

Introduction Two Accounts of Human Possibility Mencius and Thomas Hobbes approach political life through sharply different pictures of human motivation. Mencius argues that every person possesses incipient moral responses: compassion, shame, deference and a sense of right and wrong. These beginnings are neither complete virtues nor guarantees of good conduct. They are vulnerable capacities that […]

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The Buddha vs Epictetus

Buddha vs Epictetus: Desire, Suffering and Inner Freedom

Introduction Two Therapies of Freedom Early Buddhism and the Stoicism of Epictetus begin from a shared practical concern: ordinary human life is repeatedly disturbed by loss, fear, frustrated desire and dependence upon unstable conditions. Neither tradition treats philosophy as the collection of opinions. Each offers a discipline intended to transform perception, desire and conduct. Both […]

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