Terms of Use

Effective date: October 7, 2026

1. These terms

Philosophy Ranked (philosophyranked.com) is owned and operated by Vively LLC, 1948 West Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622 ("we", "us" or "our"). These Terms of Use apply to your use of the site. By using it, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information.

2. Using the site

The site is free to read and is meant for a general adult audience. It isn't directed at children under 13. When you use it, please don't:

• break any law, or use the site to infringe anyone's rights
• try to hack, overload, disrupt or get around the security of the site or its hosting
• scrape or crawl the site in a way that puts a heavy load on it or ignores our robots.txt file
• republish our articles in full, or present our work as your own
• suggest that we endorse you, your products or your views when we don't
• frame the site or copy its design in a way that could confuse people

We may block access from anyone who misuses the site.

3. Our content and what you can do with it

The articles, rankings, design and other original material on Philosophy Ranked belong to Vively LLC or its licensors and are protected by copyright and other laws. You may read them, share links to them and print or save copies for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may quote short passages if you credit Philosophy Ranked and link to the original page. Anything beyond that, such as republishing whole articles, translating them or using them in a commercial product, needs our written permission.

Book titles, cover designs, author names, publication names and trademarks (including Amazon and Substack) belong to their owners. We use them only to identify and discuss the works and services they refer to, and that use doesn't imply any endorsement by their owners.

4. Quotations and other people's work

Our articles discuss books, essays and newsletters, and sometimes quote them. We quote only short passages, always with the author's name and, where possible, a link to the source, and only for criticism, commentary, review or teaching. We rely on fair use in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 107), fair dealing for criticism, review and quotation in the United Kingdom, and the quotation exceptions in other countries. We don't reproduce book covers, long excerpts or paywalled newsletter content. If you hold the rights to something we've quoted and object, see section 8.

5. Opinions, not professional advice

Our rankings and reviews are opinions, argued in good faith. Reasonable readers will disagree with them. Everything on the site is for general information and interest only. It isn't academic, legal, financial, medical, psychological or other professional advice. We work hard to check our facts, quotations and dates, but we can make mistakes and things change. If you spot an error, please tell us and we'll correct it.

6. Links to other websites

We link to other websites, mainly Amazon and newsletter platforms such as Substack. We don't control those sites and aren't responsible for their content, products, availability or privacy practices. If you buy a book on Amazon, Amazon's terms apply to your purchase, and questions about an order should go to Amazon customer service. If you subscribe to a newsletter, the terms of that platform and writer apply. Prices and availability are set by those sites and can change at any time.

7. Affiliate links and material connections

Philosophy Ranked earns money from some links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn referral fees when readers subscribe to writers through our links. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra. Our Disclosures page explains these relationships in full.

8. Copyright complaints (DMCA and takedown)

We respect other people's intellectual property. If you believe material on Philosophy Ranked infringes your copyright, please send a notice to:

Copyright Agent, Vively LLC
1948 West Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
Email: websites@polit3.com (subject line: "Copyright notice")

To be effective under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)), your notice must include:

1. your physical or electronic signature, or that of someone authorized to act for the copyright owner;
2. a description of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed;
3. the address (URL) of the page and a description of the material you want removed, precise enough for us to find it;
4. your name, postal address, telephone number and email address;
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
6. a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Please be aware that knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing can make you liable for damages (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)). If you're outside the United States, you can use the same address, and we'll review your request promptly under the law that applies. Other complaints about our content, such as a claim that something is inaccurate or defamatory, can also go to websites@polit3.com.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

To the fullest extent the law allows, the site and its content are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or uninterrupted availability. Nothing in these terms limits any rights you have as a consumer that can't be waived under the law where you live.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Vively LLC and its owners, staff and contractors won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data or goodwill, arising from your use of the site, from content on it, or from websites, products or services we link to. Our total liability to you for any claim related to the site is limited to US$100. The site is free, and this limit reflects that.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that can't be excluded or limited by law, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or under mandatory consumer protection laws. If you're a consumer in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you keep all of your statutory rights.

11. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and disputes will be handled by the state and federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois. If you're a consumer, you also keep the protection of any mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you may be able to bring a claim in your local courts. Before going to court, please contact us. Most problems can be sorted out with an email.

12. Changes

We may change the site, or stop offering any part of it, at any time. We may also update these terms. The effective date at the top shows when they last changed. If you keep using the site after a change, the updated terms apply from then on.

13. General

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a term right away, we haven't given up our right to enforce it later. These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Disclosures, are the entire agreement between you and us about the site.

14. Contact

Vively LLC
1948 West Huron St, Chicago, IL 60622
Email: websites@polit3.com