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Ethics

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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A woman and four children inside a car, under an orange sky. A boy is in the driver’s seat, the woman in the passenger seat.

essayMetaphysics

Reality is evil

Everything eats and is eaten. Everything destroys and is destroyed. It is our moral duty to strike back at the Universe

Drew M Dalton

Black and white photo of a thoughtful woman and two children, one holding a crying baby, indoors near wooden doors.

essayEthics

Why love matters most

For Iris Murdoch, morality is not about duties and rules but stopping our ego fantasies and attending to others with love

Cathy Mason

Abstract digital art with geometric shapes in various colours, forming the shape of a person’s head and shoulders, featuring black glasses in the centre.

essayEthics

The incompleteness of ethics

Many hope that AI will discover ethical truths. But as Gödel shows, deciding what is right will always be our burden

Elad Uzan

Illustration of a brain with a tap attached, with yellow liquid flowing out against a grey background.

videoEthics

What’s an idea worth? How prominent thinkers have understood intellectual property

6 minutes

A person in a hospital gown sitting on a bed in a bright patient room, large window and privacy curtain visible.

essayHuman rights and justice

Knowledge and justice

Any legal system that fails to compensate people for epistemic harm is unjust. Their damage must be named and remedied

Mitch Woolery

An elderly person lying in a hospital bed in a bright room with a walker and a window nearby.

essayDeath

Freedom over death

Death is a certainty. But choosing how and when we depart is a modest opportunity for freedom – and dignity

Michael Cholbi

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

videoHistory of science

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

14 minutes

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

essayEthics

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

Black and white photo of people gathered by the Berlin Wall, a couple embracing in the foreground.

essayThinkers 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

Illustration of a purple star with an eye and shield with padlock on blue background encircled by laurel and gold rings.

videoEthics

Plato saw little value in privacy. How do his ideas hold up in the information age?

5 minutes

Photo of a giraffe seen through an arched doorway with brick and blue tiled walls in a zoo environment.

videoAnimals and humans

Are zoos and natural history museums born of a desire to understand, or to control?

57 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a man speaking into microphones held by the press outside a building, with a woman smiling at him in the background.

videoPolitical philosophy

The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom

21 minutes

Photo of a desert scene with tall cacti and a person standing, set against a sunlit rocky hill.

videoHuman rights and justice

Can providing humanitarian aid be illegal? A troubling case from the US-Mexico border

17 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a woman in a lab coat examining maize at a table, baskets of maize to the side, in a laboratory.

essayVirtues and vices

Against humility

Intellectual humility has recently been hailed as the key to thinking well. The story of Barbara McClintock proves otherwise

Rachel Fraser

Photo of a person wearing large sunglasses with outdoor scenery reflected, resting their fingers on their chin in a thoughtful pose.

essayEthics

Main character syndrome

Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love

Anna Gotlib

A person at night placing an object in a large bin labelled ‘TRASH ONLY’ on an empty street lit by streetlights.

videoPersonality

A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded

14 minutes

Photo of an ancient male statue with a cloth draped over his shoulder and arm, three people are sitting on a bench to the side of the statue

essayThinkers and theories

The value of our values

When Nietzsche used the tools of philology to explore the nature of morality, he became a ‘philosopher of the future’

Alexander Prescott-Couch

A busy beach scene with children on donkeys, people in the sea, a man reading on a sun lounger, and a dog urinating on a sun shade.

essayVirtues and vices

Make it awkward!

Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a chance to rewrite the social script

Alexandra Plakias

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

videoBioethics

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

10 minutes

Elderly couple holding hands while standing in the street. The woman holds a colourful fan partially covering her face. A man in casual attire walks by on the right. Two trees and a white building with large windows are in the background, with three people looking out of one of the windows.

essayEthics

Moral progress is annoying

You might feel you can trust your gut to tell right from wrong, but the friction of social change shows that you can’t

Daniel Kelly & Evan Westra

Cyclists in a professional race riding in rainy conditions. The leading cyclist in a blue jersey raises his arms in victory, with other cyclists closely following behind on the wet road. Everyone is wearing helmets and sunglasses for protection.

essaySports and games

Performance-enhancing vices

Selfishness channels ambition, envy drives competition, pride aids the win. Does it take a bad person to be a good athlete?

Sabrina Little

A man and a woman in formal evening dress but with giant fish heads covering their faces are pictured beneath a bridge on the foreshore of a river

essayThe environment

Emergency action

Could civil disobedience be morally obligatory in a society on a collision course with climate catastrophe?

Rupert Read

Four smiling flight attendants in bright-blue uniforms and matching hats, wearing identification badges, stand in a row saluting. They are indoors against a neutral background.

essayEthics

The scourge of lookism

It is time to take seriously the painful consequences of appearance discrimination in the workplace

Andrew Mason

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

essayBioethics

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