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

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Immanuel Kant on how to treat human beings. (more...)

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Socrates on knowing that you know nothing. (more...)

Superhero Thought Experiments, by Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg, is a very enjoyable book that presents classic arguments from philosophy by discussing examples of superhero comics. (more...)

An interesting idea and a great table of contents, but the execution is unclear about who the ideal reader is — and will really satisfy nobody. (more...)

Hell is utterly impossible to put down just because of the sheer force of its language… (more...)

We think our beliefs and attitudes, and even our feelings and moods, are more determined by a reasoning process that brings us to them than they are. (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...)

There have been increasingly clamorous calls for the banning, removal, or controlling, or censoring of ‘misinformation’ as an enforced general policy. (more...)

Robert Rodriguez is the author of The Book of Hermits and founder and editor of the website Hermitary. In this interview, he talks to us about the history of eremitism and the nature of hermit life. (more...)

A rhetoric of slowness and speed has been used by philosophers since the ancient periods to characterise and assess different ways of life. (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...)

Ethics and the law are not the same and it can indeed be morally right, and even indicated, to break the law in certain situations. (more...)

Should we teach philosophy to young people when accounting would be better for them? Is driving a car morally bad? Meet the doctrine of Double Effect. (more...)

My question was – and still is – a short good life with a pain free death, or no life at all, which would you prefer? A reply to Petrică Nițoaia. (more...)

In our societies, an impressive array of vices is on display. Hypocrisy, greed, cruelty, prejudice… But what if many of these vices were necessary for human life? (more...)

This a systematic survey of the arguments and counterarguments that are most commonly in play when considering the ethical rights and wrong of euthanasia and whether it should be legally permitted. (more...)

A core feature of Kant’s ethics is his insistence on the value of one’s motivation for the morality of an action. As opposed to utilitarianism, Kant does not look at the consequences when judging actions, but only at what he calls the “good will.” (more...)

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher, primarily concerned with the nature of the mind and the role of philosophy in the world. (more...)

In 1935, a bad trip triggered Jean-Paul Sartre’s deep-rooted fear of sea creatures. Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by crabs and lobsters. (more...)

Descartes admired her intelligence and Leibniz stood at her deathbed, but during most of her life, she was a penniless refugee. Meet Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia. (more...)

The beauty of the bird and its songs is appropriated for human enjoyment, creating a power imbalance that the Capabilities Approach identifies as unjust. (more...)

After discussing God and his choice of world, Leibniz turns to a more technical question: what are the fundamental constituents of reality? (more...)

One folly is the belief that governing is a skill requiring experts. (more...)

Every so often, a student comes to tell me they’re planning to step away from studying for a while. They want to go out into the world, they say — to gain some real experience. (more...)

Plato presents Socrates' skepticism toward the written word, and the limits of what can be derived through the process of reading, in the Phaedrus. (more...)

An interesting idea and a great table of contents, but the execution is unclear about who the ideal reader is — and will really satisfy nobody. (more...)