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Nigel Warburton

Consultant Editor and Interviewer, Aeon+Psyche

Nigel is a writer, philosopher and podcaster. He is interviewer for the popular Philosophy Bites podcast. His books include A Little History of Philosophy, The Art Question and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. Nigel is on Twitter @philosophybites.

Written by Nigel Warburton

Edited by Nigel Warburton

A child in a pink raincoat jumping in a puddle on a city street on a rainy day with terraced houses in the background.

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Philosophy of mind

Suffused with causality

Humans have a superpower that makes us uniquely capable of controlling the world: our ability to understand cause and effect

Mariel Goddu

A cupcake with pink icing topped with mealworms, surrounded by other cupcakes.

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Food and drink

Adjust your disgust

The future of food is nutritious and sustainable – if we can overcome our instinctual revulsion to insects and lab-grown meat

Alexandra Plakias

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

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Thinkers 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

Photo of fishermen in a circle on a lake using large nets at sunrise with a distant island and hills in the background.

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Human evolution

The commitment to collaborate

Though natural selection favours self-interest, humans are extraordinarily good at cooperating with one another. Why?

Saira Khan

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.

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Thinkers 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.

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Knowledge

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 Daniel Dennett looking to the side with a white beard and glasses wearing a suit against a black background.

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Philosophy of mind

The stories of Daniel Dennett

Often metaphorical and allusive, the philosopher’s work will long be remembered for how it grappled with everyday thought

Tim Bayne

Black and white photo of a large group of boys and a few adults standing on bare ground, all dressed in 1960s attire.

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Education

A valiant experiment

The progressive and remarkably innovative Woodmead School briefly flourished amid the viciousness of apartheid South Africa

David Dyzenhaus

Black and white photo of three people seated at an outdoor café table.

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Political philosophy

The underground university

During the Cold War, Oxford philosophers worked together to aid dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. I was one of them

Cheryl Misak

Historic photo of a large crowd gathered outside a gated building surrounded by trees, while two women in long dresses approach them from the building.

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Thinkers and theories

Who can claim Aristotle?

The endless battle over his legacy testifies to his great authority – and the power of his thought to make the world better

Edith Hall

A small animal curled up asleep on brown moss against a black background illuminated by a spotlight.

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Biology

Could humans hibernate?

Hibernation allows many animals to time-travel from difficult times to plenty. Could humans learn how to do it too?

Vladyslav Vyazovskiy

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

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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