Thinkers and theories

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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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videoThinkers and theories

Henri Bergson on why our world is built of objects and space

4 minutes

Sepia-toned photo of silhouetted figures dancing with sticks in a smoky environment, creating a dramatic atmosphere.

essayAnthropology

Does culture make emotion?

Franz Boas helps us solve the puzzle of where our emotional lives originate: in our selves or in the cultures around us

Noga Arikha

A person in a red jacket walking by a seated woman in traditional attire on a stone path with mountains in the background.

essayNations and empires

Who is Walter Mignolo?

A prominent architect of decolonial theory, his diagnosis of European colonial ills is both penetrating and flawed

Federico Perelmuter

Painting of a historical figure in a red and gold outfit with a patterned hat set against a muted background.

essayPolitics and government

The presence of power

The Indian thinker Rammohun Roy believed that good governance must be close: distance made the British Empire cruel

Shomik Dasgupta

A person in white carrying a load on their head, walking past a dark tent with dramatic light and shadows.

essayComparative philosophy

Mexistentialism

The Mexican embrace of uncertainty, forged in the crucible of history, captures the true vulnerability of our existence

Carlos Alberto Sánchez

A person in a garden facing a traditional Japanese building with a curved roof across a pond, surrounded by trees and bushes.

essayComparative philosophy

Between being and emptiness

In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature

Takeshi Morisato

Illustration of a person in an armchair looking out at a full moon through a window with bookshelves in the background.

videoMeaning and the good life

Would immortality offer a curse of boredom or endless novelty?

6 minutes

A vibrant street scene with decorated vehicles, colourful flags and banners in front of a large urban building.

essayThinkers and theories

The tragedy of Trần Đức Thảo

How the persecuted Vietnamese philosopher became one of the first theorists of the divide between colonised and coloniser

Rory O’Sullivan

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videoHistory of ideas

I am, therefore I think – how Heidegger radically reframed being

13 minutes

A cat sitting on ancient ruins with tall columns under a clear blue sky.

essayThinkers and theories

Nothing alive is alien to me

Who belongs to our moral community? The Greek philosopher Empedocles had an answer: all life, from humans to the laurel bush

Tristan Moyle

Illustration of a blue baby with symbols of heart, ear, bone, eye, tooth, brain, and lips around it on a white background.

videoBioethics

When, if ever, is selecting a ‘designer baby’ ethical?

5 minutes

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essayNeuroscience

Brain man

How can you have a picture of the world when your brain is locked up in your skull? Neuroscientist Dale Purves has clues

Asif Ghazanfar

Abstract painting with two large, nearly identical white panels divided by a thin vertical line.

essayMetaphysics

From nothing, everything

The idea of nothing pushes at the limits of thought, spawning paradoxes that have long nourished art, philosophy, and science

Victoria Wohl

Illustration of two figures holding hands with colourful reflections on a blue surface.

videoEthics

A deathbed scenario raises the question: how much power should a promise hold?

5 minutes

Ancient Chinese painting of a scholar in robes resting on a mat outdoors by cliffs and sparse vegetation on brown silk canvas.

essayMetaphysics

Essence is fluttering

As Zhuangzi saw, there is no immutably true self. Instead our identity is as dynamic and alive as a butterfly in flight

Alexander Douglas

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

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videoThinkers and theories

The prison abolitionist who dares to envision a world without ‘unfreedoms’

16 minutes

A crocodile underwater with mouth open wide showing teeth in a cloudy green environment.

essayThe environment

Beyond food and people

Nietzsche shows us how to embrace our connection with nature – without denying its essential conflict, strife and suffering

Nicholas E Low

Painting of blind men with sticks leading one another, one has fallen, landscape and church in the background.

essayThinkers and theories

The French liar

René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy, was furiously condemned by his contemporaries. Why did they fear him?

Sandrine Parageau

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essayHistory of ideas

From scattered traces

How the ideas circulating among one noblewoman’s coterie in 16th-century Dubrovnik anticipated modern feminist thought

Luka Boršić

Black and white photo of a woman and man sitting at a kitchen table appearing deep in thought or conversation.

essayVirtues and vices

Awkward silences

What is it about lulls in conversation that make them so very uncomfortable? It has to do with how we connect with each other

Rebecca Roache

Photo of an older man with white hair and beard in a cityscape with tall modern buildings in the background.

videoEconomics

A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey

13 minutes

A dimly lit bar with red decor, a man sitting at the counter, a bartender, and a woman entering through a door.

essayComparative philosophy

What is Ethiopian philosophy?

Riven by two competing schools of thought, the future of philosophical enquiry in Ethiopia stands at a crossroads

Fasil Merawi

essayHistory of science

A nasogenital tale

A bizarre theory (and a gory surgery) in fin-de-siècle Vienna help us get a grip on how science and medicine actually work

Urte Laukaityte