Philosophy Science Psychology Society Culture

DonateNewsletter

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

Cartoon of three surgeons wearing scrubs and masks performing surgery on a patient, with surgical lights overhead.

video

Bioethics

What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’

6 minutes

Illustration of a child holding a shell to their ear with a bird singing on a branch amidst abstract greenery and flowers.

essay

Bioethics

The cochlear question

As the hearing parent of a deaf baby, I’m confronted with an agonising decision: should I give her an implant to help her hear?

Abi Stephenson

Two children hugging on the floor, one in a white shirt smiling with eyes closed while the other wears a red jacket.

video

Bioethics

Is it ethical to have a second child so that your first might live?

10 minutes

Two embryos, colourised in shades of pink, orange, and purple, against a black background. The embryos have distinguishable head, body, and tail regions.

essay

Biology

Building embryos

For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway

John Wallingford

A team of surgeons in blue scrubs and surgical caps operate under bright surgical lights in an operating theatre. Medical instruments and equipment are arranged on tables around them, while one team member adjusts another’s mask. Shelves in the background hold medical supplies.

essay

Medicine

Last hours of an organ donor

In the liminal time when the brain is dead but organs are kept alive, there is an urgent tenderness to medical care

Ronald W Dworkin

Pig walking down a narrow aisle between rows of stalls in a farming facility, with dim lighting and metal structures.

essay

Bioethics

The dangers of AI farming

AI could lead to new ways for people to abuse animals for financial gain. That’s why we need strong ethical guidelines

Virginie Simoneau-Gilbert & Jonathan Birch

Portrait of a man in a red coat, seated, with his chin resting on his hand, an open book, and anatomical specimens in jars and bones in the background.

essay

History of science

The rights of the dead

From the Irish Giant to the Ancient One, is it ever ethical for scientists and museums to study bodies without permission?

Anita Guerrini

A yellow orchid flower in a vase is lit by sunlight from a side window in a living room. The background is out of focus

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

A black and white photo of a man in doctor’s clothing posed next to a lab bench with a microscope looking directly at the camera

essay

Medicine

Physician, invade thyself

Eager for medical breakthroughs, some doctors take enormous risks experimenting on themselves. Should we celebrate them?

Tom Doyle

In the foreground a European mother cradles a newborn baby as an Indian woman looks on from the right

essay

Bioethics

Reproductive technologies

Infertility treatments aim to improve women’s lives. But they risk tying womanhood to the toxic expectation of motherhood

Gulzaar Barn

Illustration of a foetus inside a red orb, floating in space with a small satellite nearby against a starry galaxy background.

video

Space exploration

Would children born beyond Earth ever be able to return to humanity’s home planet?

5 minutes

A dog sleeping on a street near a vegetable market stall, with people and bicycles in the background.

essay

Animals and humans

The free dogs of India

These canines have independent, peaceful, happy lives without a pet’s constraints. Why are they being persecuted and culled?

Krithika Srinivasan & Chris Pearson

Abstract artwork with geometric shapes, organic forms and pastel colours intersecting in a mandala-like pattern, with gold and blue swirls on a dark background.

essay

Consciousness and altered states

Animal, vegetable, mineral

Cruel and unscientific, the ‘vegetative state’ diagnosis stems from a hierarchical and bigoted view of all living things

Ben Platts-Mills

Close-up of a pug with expressive brown eyes and wrinkled features against a dark background.

essay

Animals and humans

Where went the wolf?

The very attributes that make small dogs cute and popular are slowly strangling their ability to function as real animals

Jessica Pierce

A close-up image of a human embryo at the eight-cell stage, viewed under a microscope with a red and dark background.

essay

Bioethics

Selected before birth

Embryo risk screening could lower the odds of illnesses ranging from depression to diabetes. Can it be ethically done?

Todd Lencz & Shai Carmi

Illustration of various animals surrounding a human figure wearing a crown, including a whale, dolphin, fox, owl, and more.

video

Ethics

How many monkeys is it worth sacrificing to save a human life?

6 minutes

An elephant standing near trees, with its trunk extended towards the ground in a grassy, fenced enclosure.

essay

Animals and humans

Happy the person

She has deep emotions, complex social needs and a large, elephant brain. Her legal personhood should be recognised too

Lori Marino

A woman in a hat sitting on a bench with a small dog in a wicker basket on her lap. People and benches are in the blurred background.

essay

Animals and humans

Semiotics of dogs

In all its baroque and sometimes cruelly overbred forms, the dog is a paramount symbol of both human hopes and foibles

Katrina Gulliver

A gloved hand holding a small white mouse lying on its back, against a blurred background.

essay

Animals and humans

Freefall into darkness

Scientists study animals to illuminate human psychology. So why are we blind to the mental lives of our caged subjects?

Garet Lahvis

A person stands on a Land Rover, looking through binoculars, with a sign reading “ELEPHANTS HAVE RIGHT OF WAY” in the background.

essay

Animals and humans

Against human exceptionalism

In a tight spot, you’d probably intuit that a human life outweighs an animal’s. There are good arguments why that’s wrong

Jeff Sebo

Two felted figures in a room, one small and standing, the other huge and seated, with a window and fan in the background.

video

Family life

A son of China’s former one-child policy remembers the sibling he never had

8 minutes

People of various ages relaxing and swimming in a curved, clear pool with a view of the sea in the background.

essay

Bioethics

We are all frail

We should be able to acknowledge that disabilities can cause pain and suffering without disabled people feeling dehumanised

Tom Shakespeare

A dog lies on an ash-covered road in front of wooden houses with thatched and tin roofs, surrounded by plants and bushes.

essay

Animals and humans

The posthuman dog

If humans were to disappear from the face of the Earth, what might dogs become? And would they be better off without us?

Jessica Pierce

A fisherman’s catch of various fish, shells, and sea creatures on a boat’s deck, with someone in yellow trousers standing nearby.

essay

Oceans and water

Defend the deep

Instead of letting waves of exploitation sweep through the deep ocean, we could choose to protect this vast living realm

Helen Scales