Thinking Like a Philosopher
Learn to question default assumptions, untangle complex moral decisions, and test what you actually know. This course gives you the core tools of philosophy to sharpen how you reason about everyday life.
Like Duolingo, but for Thinking Like a Philosopher. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through How to Reason and Decide and How to Interrogate Reality. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Thinking Like a Philosopher
- Philosophical disputes often stall because debaters trade competing conclusions rather than examining the underlying beliefs supporting them
- An unstated premise is a hidden assumption that must be accepted for the surface conclusion to make sense
- Revealing the underlying premise shifts an argument from trading assertions to examining why each person believes what they believe
- A philosophical thought experiment deliberately creates an artificial, simplified scenario
- Removing messy real-world clutter isolates the exact principle or intuition being tested
- Adding realistic practical excuses obscures whether someone actually endorses the core principle
- Philosophical arguments frequently derail when speakers use one word to mean two entirely different things
- Defining key terms at the start reveals whether people actually disagree about reality or are just using conflicting vocabulary
- Disentangling definitions prevents empty verbal disputes
- The principle of charity requires interpreting an opposing argument in its strongest, most plausible form rather than its weakest phrasing
- Attacking a sloppy or extreme phrasing avoids engaging the real philosophical challenge
- Reframing an opponent's point charitably exposes the true core disagreement worth examining
- Asking what must be true for a claim to hold invites the speaker to inspect their own foundation rather than defend their ego
- Hostile questions attack the speaker's motives, which makes them entrench their conclusion
- Investigating necessary conditions treats an argument as an open puzzle about shared principles
- Utilitarianism measures whether an action is morally right solely by its consequences or net outcomes
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Thinking Like a Philosopher the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Imagine someone says, 'We must ban cars downtown to save lives!' What is an unstated premise in an argument?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Thinking Like a Philosopher takes you
- 1
How to Reason and Decide
- Dissecting Everyday Arguments
- Deciding What Makes an Action Right
- 2
How to Interrogate Reality
- Testing What You Claim to Know
- Questioning Identity and Agency
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Thinking Like a Philosopher is taught in the Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Thinking Like a Philosopher today.
Download Tomo, search Thinking Like a Philosopher, and play your first lesson in under a minute.