Philosophy
essay
Virtues and vices
Awkward silences
What is it about lulls in conversation that make them so very uncomfortable? It has to do with how we connect with each other
Rebecca Roache
video
Knowledge
Why David Deutsch believes good explanations are the antidote to bad philosophy
10 minutes
video
Architecture
A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture
14 minutes
essay
Political philosophy
The allure of autarky
Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t
Ben Chu
video
Economics
A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey
13 minutes
essay
History of science
Incredible testimonies
In the 1980s, thousands of Americans began to suspect they may have been abducted by aliens. What happened?
Greg Eghigian
essay
Comparative philosophy
What is Ethiopian philosophy?
Riven by two competing schools of thought, the future of philosophical enquiry in Ethiopia stands at a crossroads
Fasil Merawi
essay
Philosophy of science
Why philosophy of physics?
Some physicists reject philosophy as a distraction from ‘real’ science but it is in fact both useful and beautiful
James Read
essay
History of science
A nasogenital tale
A bizarre theory (and a gory surgery) in fin-de-siècle Vienna help us get a grip on how science and medicine actually work
Urte Laukaityte
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Archaeology
Deep time and the revenant
In enigmatic burials, crafted to bind the bodies within, we can see how truly ancient our fears of the undead must be
Rebecca Batley
video
Childhood and adolescence
‘Do worms cry?’ – and other questions collected from the mind of a curious child
4 minutes
essay
Oceans and water
An oceanic tempo
An appreciation of the immensity embedded in the ocean’s cycles offers a way to reimagine our relationship with time
James Bradley
video
Philosophy of mind
‘Am I not at least something?’ A surreal dive into Descartes’s Meditations
3 minutes
essay
Comparative philosophy
A cure for individualism
It runs deeply through the Western outlook, hailed and condemned in equal measures. For a corrective, look to Confucius
Tim Connolly
video
History of science
Meet the Quaker pacifist who shattered British science’s highest glass ceilings
14 minutes
essay
Human rights and justice
Levelling the world
Gerrard Winstanley led a small band of radicals whose vision of justice encompassed the globe and continues to inspire
Rowan Wilson
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Art
Out of the fog
It’s a ‘failed painting’ that obscures the profound power of German Romanticism. Why do we love the ‘Wanderer’ so much?
Gianluca Didino
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Ethics
Moral refuge
You can believe in border control yet protect those fleeing to safety. So what is our ethical obligation to refugees?
Bradley Hillier-Smith
video
Personality
A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law
5 minutes
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Illness and disease
Permission to be ill
It took months for my functional neurological disorder to finally be diagnosed. It’s a condition that must be recognised
Kevin Aho
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Stories and literature
Our narrative prison
The three-act ‘hero’s journey’ has long been the most prominent kind of story. What other tales are there to tell?
Eliane Glaser
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Religion
Demonology
By turns benign and malign, powerful and vulnerable, earthbound and aerial, daimons across the world resemble one another
David Gordon White
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Philosophy of language
Extraterrestrial tongues
Imagining how aliens might communicate prepares us for first contact and illuminates the nature of our own languages
Nikhil Mahant
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Art
The ecstatic swoon
As Stendhal knew, the reason for art is to make you feel. Do not try to grasp the artwork: allow it to grasp you instead
Robert D Zaretsky