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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Painting of two men sitting in a barn, one on a bench and the other on a chair, with a horse and pumpkins in the background.

essay

History of ideas

Philosophy of the people

How two amateur schools pulled a generation of thinkers from the workers and teachers of the 19th-century American Midwest

Joseph M Keegin

Children climbing on monkey bars, photographed from below, against a clear blue sky.

video

Education

Scenes from a school year paint a refreshingly nuanced portrait of rural America

25 minutes

Black and white photo of people sitting at a café, taken through a window with reflections. A sign saying ‘BUFFET FROID’ is visible.

essay

Meaning and the good life

Philosophy was once alive

I was searching for meaning and purpose so I became an academic philosopher. Reader, you might guess what happened next

Pranay Sanklecha

Shopfront of NY 99 Cent Fresh Pizza restaurant with an open sign, vaccine notice, and menu visible through the window.

essay

Economic history

Economics 101

Why introductory economics courses continued to teach zombie ideas from before economics became an empirical discipline

Walter Frick

Two men sit talking on a wooden beam by a dock. One is in jeans, the other wears a coat and holds a small item. A cargo ship, a bridge and a warehouse are in the background.

essay

Stories and literature

Do liberal arts liberate?

In Jack London’s novel, Martin Eden personifies debates still raging over the role and purpose of education in American life

Nick Romeo

Many figures in traditional dress are gathered beneath a structure from which hang paper lists. In the foreground are horses. The colours are muted with age

essay

Education

The exam that broke society

Keju, China’s incredibly difficult civil service test, strengthened the state at the cost of freedom and creativity

Yasheng Huang

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

essay

Thinkers 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

A group of boys stands in front of a white picket fence with trees and a house in the background. The boys are dressed in dark jackets.

essay

Human rights and justice

Do not forget them

Thousands of Indigenous children suffered and died in residential ‘schools’ around the world. Their stories must be heard

Steve Minton

Two girls sitting at a wooden table, studying with notebooks and stationery, with a large world map on the wall behind them.

essay

Education

Unschooling

It takes nerve to go against the grain and take your child out of school. But, for some, that’s when learning really starts

Naomi Fisher & Heidi Steel

A group of uniformed school students, with a boy holding a yellow flag, gathered outside a traditional-looking building.

essay

Education

Hitozukuri

Japan’s Cold War education policy used religion to ‘make’ the ideal humans needed by its nascent economy. Did it work?

Jolyon Baraka Thomas

A group of young children and a teacher play with colourful building blocks in a classroom, with shelves and other students in the background.

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Teaching and learning

Learning styles don’t exist

A teaching approach that is based on students’ preferences sounds laudable. But this misunderstands how learning happens

Carl Hendrick

Children in uniforms sitting and listening attentively, with some wearing yellow and green while others are in blue blazers and ties.

essay

Philosophy of mind

Philosophy’s blindspot

Education has long been ignored by contemporary philosophers. That is a myopic view that must change

David Bakhurst

People in traditional and casual clothing conversing outside a historic building with ornate windows. A woman in green takes photos.

essay

Self-improvement

Many wisdoms

There are no transcendent insights that rise above human difference. Yet wisdom exists if we look in the right places

Avram Alpert

Broken marble sculpture of a head with the upper portion missing, displayed on a pedestal against a plain backdrop.

essay

History of ideas

Views from everywhere

Academic philosophy can indeed make sense of our interdependent world. But only if it transforms by becoming truly diverse

Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach & Leah Kalmanson

Young people lying on grass, reading books and studying, with backpacks and notes around them, on a sunny day.

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Stories and literature

Great books are still great

Read with love, rather than critical distance, the classics can provide tools to subvert oppressive hierarchies

Roosevelt Montás

Group of children dressed in winter clothing, including hats and scarves, standing outside and looking forward with solemn expressions.

video

Animals and humans

An unflinching look at a provocative public dissection of a ‘surplus’ zoo lion

13 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a teacher pointing to a diagram of the female reproductive system, students watching attentively.

essay

Education

Sex on the curriculum

Sex education is a battlefield over morals and young bodies, and has exposed fractures in American life for over a century

Kristy Slominski

A historic illustration of a large domed building complex in a valley with mountains and a town in the background.

essay

Education

Jefferson’s university

Thomas Jefferson founded a university believing it would safeguard republican freedom. Slavery was another matter altogether

Alan Taylor

Two men and two women in beachwear sit in an open-top car on a palm-lined beach road. Two of them drink from bottles.

essay

Childhood and adolescence

We’re all teenagers now

Adolescence isn’t a time of life so much as a frame of mind. Liberating yet damaging, it’s transformed the US and the world

Paul Howe

A woman inside a car is talking to a man in a uniform leaning into the vehicle through the window, vintage image.

video

Film and visual culture

Shoddy filmmaking meets the miracle of life in a police training film turned cult classic

11 minutes

A man reading on a park bench with a silver blimp floating in the background among trees.

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Thinkers and theories

Pause. Reflect. Think

Susan Stebbing’s little Pelican book on philosophy had a big aim: giving everybody tools to think clearly for themselves

Peter West

Painting of a queen in elaborate clothing with a lace collar, pearl jewellery and a crown, with ships and a seascape in the background.

essay

Cognition and intelligence

How to be a genius

I travelled the world and trawled the archive to unearth the hidden lessons from history’s most brilliant people

Craig Wright

A horseback statue with a person in an urban park, US flag, trees and buildings in the background on a clear day.

video

Global history

The American Museum of Natural History grapples with its most controversial piece

16 minutes

Two women laughing, one wearing a patchwork jumper and hat, the other melting materials in a bowl over a flame in a workshop.

essay

Education

Education, unchained

Rousseau’s child-centred ideals are now commonplace but his truly radical vision of educational freedom still eludes us

James Brooke-Smith