Philosophy
video
Art
The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world
11 minutes
essay
Ageing and death
Witness the pain
When loved ones are traumatically lost, bereaved families become accidental activists by turning grief into grievance
Chris Bobel
video
Thinkers and theories
Henri Bergson on why the existence of things precedes their possibility
3 minutes
essay
Ethics
Ethics has no foundation
Ethical values can be both objective and knowable – torture really is wrong – yet not need any foundation outside themselves
Andrew Sepielli
essay
Metaphysics
Both one and yet distinct
Being a twin (as our author knows) cracks open our ideas of the perfectly bounded self and might liberate us all
Helena de Bres
video
Metaphysics
Why mathematical truths exist with or without minds to consider them
8 minutes
essay
Philosophy of mind
What is it like to be a crab?
Consciousness science should move past a focus on complex mammalian brains to study the behaviour of ‘simpler’ animals
Kristin Andrews
essay
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Psychosis and psychedelics
In the 1960s, psychedelic research was driven underground. Now it’s re-emerging – with lessons for the study of psychosis
Phoebe Friesen
essay
Metaphysics
Purposeful universe
Neither atheism nor theism adequately explains reality. That is why we must consider the middle ground between the two
Philip Goff
essay
Logic and probability
The patterns of reality
Some have thought that logic will one day be completed and all its problems solved. Now we know it is an endless task
Timothy Williamson
essay
Values and beliefs
How traditions progress
The colourful Swiss sport of stone putting illuminates Aristotle’s insights into the shortcomings of conservative thought
Daniel Kranzelbinder
essay
Cities
The haunting of modern China
In Nanjing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, rapid urbanisation is multiplying a fear of death and belief in ghosts
Andrew Kipnis
essay
Love and friendship
Loved, yet lonely
You might have the unconditional love of family and friends and yet feel deep loneliness. Can philosophy explain why?
Kaitlyn Creasy
essay
History of ideas
Whither philosophy?
The discipline today finds itself precariously balanced between incomprehensible specialisation and cheap self-help
Siobhan Lyons
essay
Film and visual culture
The truth of photographs
It’s often said that a successful picture ‘captures the essence’ of a subject. But a great photograph does so much more
Daniel Star
essay
Work
Disengage
Modern life subjects us to all-consuming demands. That’s why we should reflect on what it means to step away from it all
David J Siegel
essay
Cognition and intelligence
Are you an artistic genius?
Maybe not, but if that’s the threshold you use for creativity in your life, you are coming at the problem all wrong
James C Kaufman
essay
Space exploration
The final ethical frontier
Earthbound exploration was plagued with colonialism, exploitation and extraction. Can we hope to make space any different?
Philip Ball
video
The ancient world
Meet the absentee gods and nefarious spirits of ancient Mesopotamia
6 minutes
essay
Ethics
Wrestling with relativism
Bernard Williams argued that one’s ethics is shaped by culture and history. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is right
Daniel Callcut
essay
Religion
Praying in shoes
The Sunni movement of Salafism was born at the beginning of the 20th century, with the goal of modelling life on the 7th
Aaron Rock-Singer
video
Religion
How Jewish leaders in the US are fighting abortion bans on religious grounds
24 minutes
essay
Thinkers and theories
The great, forgotten Wolff
Written for laymen, read by women and kings, Christian Wolff’s mathematical method made him a key Enlightenment philosopher
Michael Walschots
essay
Medicine
Physician, invade thyself
Eager for medical breakthroughs, some doctors take enormous risks experimenting on themselves. Should we celebrate them?
Tom Doyle