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Knowledge

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

Explore more Philosophy

Painting of a black bird with a red tail on a white tree branch set against a blue sky and yellow landscape.

videoNature and landscape

Scenes from Aboriginal Australian pottery chart the turn of the seasons

7 minutes

A lively classroom with smiling people, one person standing while holding a paper, posters in the background.

essayKnowledge

Socrates would be pleased

With a class of college students and inmates, teaching philosophy in prison is a rowdy, honest and hopeful provocation

Jay Miller

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

Photo of a man with glasses and grey hair in a suit speaking animatedly against a dark background.

videoKnowledge

Why David Deutsch believes good explanations are the antidote to bad philosophy

10 minutes

Black and white photo of two girls in dresses touching foreheads while sitting on a rock in a field of daisies.

videoChildhood and adolescence

‘Do worms cry?’ – and other questions collected from the mind of a curious child

4 minutes

Black-and-white photo of two women preening a toddler who is sitting on a wall and sucking dummy, with a brick house and a washing line in the background.

essayThinkers and theories

So many unmarried men

For Mary Midgley, the Western philosophical tradition is shaped by the fact that its greatest practitioners were bachelors

Ellie Robson

Photograph of two silhouetted figures on a sunlit path surrounded by dark geometric shadows and structures.

essayKnowledge

The penumbral plunge

Diving into the ring of darkness beyond things easily answerable, asking ‘Why?’ questions is what make humans awesome

Eric Schwitzgebel

Photo of three vertical beams of red laser light in a dark room creating a glowing effect on the floor.

essayPhilosophy of science

Aha = wow

We surveyed thousands of scientists in four countries and learned just how important beauty is to them

Bridget Ritz & Brandon Vaidyanathan

A wooden cabin on a grassy hill with a mountainous backdrop and cloudy sky in the distance.

videoKnowledge

Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow

11 minutes

A black-and-white photo of a person riding a horse in, with a close-up of another horse in the foreground under bright sunlight.

essayAnthropology

Your body is an archive

If human knowledge can disappear so easily, why have so many cultural practices survived without written records?

Helena Miton

A painting of the back of a framed artwork with an attached small paper labelled ‘36’. The wood shows some nails and slight wear.

essayKnowledge

Frameworks

Knowledge is often a matter of discovery. But when the nature of an enquiry itself is at question, it is an act of creation

Céline Henne

Black and white snowy mountain scene with vehicles, overlaid by a large smear of vivid blue paint in the upper right area.

videoKnowledge

An Indigenous myth and a geological survey elicit two ways of knowing one place

4 minutes

A group of people, some on horseback, gather in a desert area under a motorway bridge. Some have flags and banners. Police cars can be seen in the background.

essayKnowledge

What is ‘lived experience’?

The term is ubiquitous and double-edged. It is both a key source of authentic knowledge and a danger to true solidarity

Patrick J Casey

Medieval illustration of two figures walking with staffs, dressed in blue and red robes, standing within a circle, with decorative blue and red corners.

essayHistory of science

The missing conversation

To the detriment of the public, scientists and historians don’t engage with one another. They must begin a new dialogue

Lorraine Daston & Peter Harrison

Artwork depicting a silhouette of a person wearing a floral headband, with a natural background of plants and blurred scenery.

videoEcology and environmental sciences

The ancient Hawaiian myth that sparked a modern ecological breakthrough

10 minutes

A sunlit old stone corridor with Gothic arches and shadows cast on the walls, featuring arched windows and a lantern.

essayKnowledge

The ends of knowledge

Academics need to think harder about the purpose of their disciplines and whether some of those should come to an end

Rachael Scarborough King & Seth Rudy

Children stand in a line facing a teacher in a classroom, with “Transcription” written on the blackboard behind her.

essayThinkers and theories

Wittgenstein in the classroom

The philosopher understood that learning – of a concept, of ourselves, of each other – is the undertaking of a whole life

Calum Jacobs

Ancient ruins with arches and columns, tourists exploring, and palm trees in the background, in a bright, sunny setting.

essayThe ancient world

The great libraries of Rome

Passersby could wander at will into grand public libraries in imperial Rome. Could they trust what they found inside?

Fabio Fernandes

Scientists in cleanroom suits conversing in a brightly lit laboratory with a yellow hue, featuring reflective surfaces and specialised equipment.

essayPhilosophy of science

Why not scientism?

Science is not the only form of knowledge but it is the best, being the most successful epistemic enterprise in history

Moti Mizrahi

A serene woodland pond with lily pads and yellow flowers, surrounded by lush greenery and tall trees with sunlight filtering through.

essayKnowledge

Meaning beyond definition

In science our concepts have neat, hard edges. In poetry our concepts stretch and expand. Both are necessary for knowledge

James Camien McGuiggan

Curved ceramic sculpture with flowing, organic lines, featuring a mix of light and dark grain patterns, displayed against a grey gradient background.

essayKnowledge

Known unknowables

The ancient Sceptics used doubt as a way of investigating the world. Later thinkers undermined even that possibility

Mahdi Ranaee

A man sits alone while a long queue of people waits near the Louvre’s glass pyramid entrance in Paris. The photo is black and white.

essayHistory of ideas

The herd in the head

It is enormously empowering – even intoxicating – to lose yourself to a crowd. That is why we need contrarians

Costica Bradatan

A blank billboard illuminated at night in a dimly lit open field, surrounded by dark trees and a clear sky.

essayMetaphysics

This essay isn’t true

Alethic nihilism is the theory that nothing is true. There is much to gain by taking this radical idea seriously

David Liggins