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Philosophy

Essays and videos on philosophy, the history of ideas, ethics and life’s big questions

Beauty and aesthetics Bioethics Comparative philosophy Cosmopolitanism Death Ethics History of ideas Knowledge Logic and probability Meaning and the good life Metaphysics Philosophy of language Philosophy of mind Philosophy of religion Philosophy of science Political philosophy Thinkers and theories Values and beliefs Virtues and vices

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Philosophy of mind

‘Am I not at least something?’ A surreal dive into Descartes’s Meditations

3 minutes

Street food vendor cooking skewers on a grill as people gather to eat and buy in a bustling outdoor setting.

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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

Black and white photo of a woman cycling down a street with a wicker basket on the bike. She wears a checked coat.

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History of science

Meet the Quaker pacifist who shattered British science’s highest glass ceilings

14 minutes

Mosaic of a man in a red coat and wide brimmed hat holding a scythe with three workers in the background on a patterned brick wall.

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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

Painting of a man on a rocky cliff overlooking a foggy mountainous landscape, with a walking stick in hand.

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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

People collecting water from a makeshift station in a camp, surrounded by orange netting and tents in the background.

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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

Clay animation of a person pondering at a table with a drink can, against a dark background.

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Personality

A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law

5 minutes

A silhouetted figure sitting on a chair behind frosted glass partitions in a waiting room with overhead lights.

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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

Abstract digital collage with classical statue overlayed by red lines, geometric shapes and layered images on a textured background.

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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

Ancient Chinese painting of a man under a tree with a trail of smoke coming from his mouth containing scenes of various figures, surrounded by miniature figures.

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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

A man looking up from the driver’s seat of a yellow vehicle with an open window and side mirror visible.

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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

Painting of a girl with a pearl earring in an ornate frame, viewed by three people in a gallery setting.

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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

Photo of a woman in a white dress and purple headscarf leaning against a wall, covering her face near green foliage.

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Human rights and justice

Struggling to wake

After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?

Ayisha Osori

Photo of a framed picture with colourful string art overlays, featuring plants in the foreground and other photos around.

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Values and beliefs

Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi

7 minutes

Photo of deep space with a pale blue dot in the distance against a dark background, featuring faint light streaks.

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Cosmology

Just a pale blue dot

When we see the Earth as ‘a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’ what do we learn about human significance?

Tim Bayne

A dark building at night, the black building structure contrasting with a deep blue night sky, with many vertical rectangular windows, three windows are brightly lit.

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Philosophy of science

More-than-human science

When AI takes over the practice of science we will likely find the results strange and incomprehensible. Should we worry?

Brandon Boesch

Photo of dandelion seeds in flight against a blurred green forest background.

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Meaning and the good life

Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned

11 minutes

Ancient stone sculpture of a reclining female figure on a smooth surface against a grey background.

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Thinkers and theories

The truth about love

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?

Armand D’Angour

Black and white photo of a firing squad in a wooded area with snow on the ground, soldiers aiming rifles at standing figures.

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Death

The last letter

Condemned to death by firing squad, French resistance fighters put pen to paper. Their dying words can teach us how to live

Daniel R Brunstetter

Photo of people walking outdoors carrying trays of plants, surrounded by bushes and greenery.

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Meaning and the good life

Welcome to the Chaoscene

The climate crisis is here. In order to thrive in these dangerous and precarious times, we must build resilient communities

Rupert Read

Painting of two armoured warriors confronting three hooded witches under a turbulent sky, with one warrior holding a spear.

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History

Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches

13 minutes

Black and white photo of people wrapped in shawls sitting with light and smoke creating dramatic shadows and highlights.

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Philosophy of mind

By the light of brahman

Ideas from classical Indian philosophy help illuminate the enigmas of selfhood, consciousness and the nature of reality

Anand Vaidya & Manjula Menon

Black and white photo of a man in a suit sitting indoors with a vase and branches.

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Meaning and the good life

Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times

29 minutes

Photo of the Phaistos Disc, an ancient clay tablet with spiral symbols, on a black background.

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Language and linguistics

The lonely life of a glyph-breaker

The heroic days of deciphering hieroglyphics and cuneiform make for great stories, but will we ever see that happen again?

Francesco Perono Cacciafoco