Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes. Today: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations: “It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul…” (more...)

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Philosopher and Theologian Albert Schweitzer on the Reverence for Life. (more...)

A history of philosophy in its most famous quotes. Today: Jeremy Bentham on the suffering of animals: “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” (more...)

James Romm (2026). Since You’re Mortal…: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays. W.W. Norton and Company. 176 pages. Get it here: Amazon US, publisher’s website. (more...)

Josh Milburn’s “Just Fodder” is a very thoughtful and rigorous analysis of the ethical issues related to feeding animals. (more...)

Review of Uriah Kriegel (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020, by Prof. Robert Zaborowski. (more...)

How can we tell whether an AI program “thinks” or “feels”? In the recent debate of Blake Lemoine’s claims about LaMDA, a functionalist approach can help us understand machine consciousness and feelings. (more...)

On April 25, 1953, Watson and Crick published their paper on the structure of the DNA molecule in the journal Nature. This was the beginning of all modern molecular biology and genetic engineering. (more...)

Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Nemen sparked a firestorm in October 2021 when he posted on Linkedin that America hadn’t been paying enough attention to obesity’s role in aggravating Covid’s dangers. (more...)

The rhetoric or metaphor of refuge from the world has largely disappeared from religious, social and ethical debate. The contrast with the past is striking. (more...)

In her honest and entertaining book “One Hundred Days of Solitude: Losing Myself and Finding Grace on a Zen Retreat,” Zen teacher Jane Dobisz recalls the three months she spent as a young person alone in a hut in the woods, bowing, chanting and meditating. (more...)

Hermits have always lived apart from the societies of their times. But do they have the secret key to happiness? (more...)

If prison is justified because it protects society, rehabilitates offenders, deters future crime, and/or restores justice, then it must ultimately be judged by whether it accomplishes those ends. (more...)

Feeling pain for pain may be the ethical superpower nature and evolution gave us, but is it useful enough? (more...)

Aristotle’s theory of happiness rests on three concepts: (1) the virtues; (2) phronesis or practical wisdom; and (3) eudaimonia or flourishing. (more...)

Are the people who perform evil acts ordinary or extraordinary? Just like other people or exceptional people? (more...)

Stock’s latest work will annoy supporters of the UK’s attempts to legalise consensual assisted dying. (more...)

Ethics is the study of how we ought to behave, and why. There are many different theories of ethics, which we briefly discuss in this article. (more...)

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) was a celebrated Roman writer, public speaker and philosopher and is today seen (alongside Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius) as one of the three greatest ancient Stoics. (more...)

September 26: Martin Heidegger’s Birthday (1889-1976) (more...)

Philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm believes that the main source of pain and anxiety for human beings comes from the feeling of separateness from others. (more...)

A couple who chose eternal youth must decide whether to grow old again in order to have a child. A short story about love, mortality, and the price of a family. (more...)

Promoting human-made art. This week, and artwork by Rossella Vingelli. (more...)

Who was Friedrich Nietzsche, what did he write, and what did he mean by the death of God, master and slave morality, the will to power, the Übermensch and eternal recurrence? A guide to his life, works, ideas and lasting relevance. (more...)

What is bad faith (mauvaise foi) in Sartre’s philosophy? Sartre’s examples of the waiter and the woman on a date explained, and how bad faith compares to Heidegger’s authenticity, Nietzsche’s herd morality and Fromm’s escape from freedom. (more...)

A guide to Plato’s Lysis, the first philosophical work on friendship: its setting, Socrates' conversation with Lysis and Menexenus, the puzzles about like and unlike, the ‘first friend’, the famous ending, and why this short dialogue still matters. (more...)

Who was Michel Foucault, what did he write, and what did he mean by discourse, power/knowledge, discipline, biopower and the care of the self? A guide to his life, major works, key ideas and why he still matters. (more...)