essay
Philosophy of mind
Suffused with causality
Humans have a superpower that makes us uniquely capable of controlling the world: our ability to understand cause and effect
Mariel Goddu
essay
Food and drink
Adjust your disgust
The future of food is nutritious and sustainable – if we can overcome our instinctual revulsion to insects and lab-grown meat
Alexandra Plakias
essay
History of science
Legacy of the angels
When medieval scholars sought to understand the nature of angels, they unwittingly laid the foundations of modern physics
Rebekah Wallace
essay
Addiction
The kratom question
Millions are turning to an unregulated herbal extract to curb their opioid addiction. But do the risks outweigh the benefits?
Xi Chen
essay
History of ideas
Ghosts among the philosophers
Cambridge, home of analytic philosophy, was also a hotbed of psychical research. How did this spooky subject take root?
Matyáš Moravec
essay
War and peace
Could conquest return?
It’s only a century since US diplomats first persuaded the world that it’s wrong for countries to annex their neighbours
Kerry Goettlich
essay
Neuroscience
Why nothing matters
It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences
Benjy Barnett
essay
Thinkers and theories
The necessity of Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum’s philosophy is dynamic and challenging, but also elegant and lucidly written: she is the thinker of our time
Brandon Robshaw
essay
Personality
The highly sensitive person
Those with this little-known trait think more deeply and feel more empathy. But they also deal with significant challenges
Elaine Aron
essay
Medicine
When I lost my intuition
For years, I practised medicine with cool certainty, comfortable with life-and-death decisions. Then, one day, I couldn’t
Ronald W Dworkin
essay
Thinkers and theories
The winter of civilisation
Byung-Chul Han’s relentless critiques of digital capitalism reveal how this suffocating system creates hollowed-out lives
Josh Cohen
essay
Childhood and adolescence
Hegemony and childcare
Early childhood development interventions in the Global South is a huge industry built on highly questionable assumptions
Francesca Mezzenzana & Gabriel Scheidecker