Philosophy For Our Times

Are electrons real? What is the connection between physics and Buddhism? Is now the time to rehumanise science? Since the Hellenistic period, Eastern philosophies have been an integral part of scientific thought and the...

What is managerialism? Why is the meritocracy sliding into technocracy? Does suffering make us seem more pure? We tend to think that today’s progressive politics advances equality through moral awareness and identity...

Is freedom always an absolute good? For freedom to be beneficial and practical, does it need constraining? Are attacks on freedom really the first step to tyranny? From freedom from tyranny and poverty to the right to...

Who was the first person to be cool? What connects the civil rights movement and Albert Camus' 'The Rebel'? How has the coopting of black terminology impacted American society more broadly? From James Dean to Kate Moss...

Is it truly the beginning of the end of Western dominance? Where did it all go wrong? And is this more than just an upheaval of the status quo? For centuries, Western powers dominated the global order and mistook that...

Is the populist right opposed to liberalism and the free market? Does this mark a change in what it is to be right-wing, or was it a mistake to see populism as far right in the first place? Or is there an unavoidable...

What do voyeurs want? What can the Greeks teach us about love? Why do we pursue those who we now are going to hurt us? Despite our longing for lasting connection, love often falters on the rocks of misunderstanding and...

Is the future one where we accept tribalism and conflict as inherent in the human condition, where moral and scientific beliefs based on reason are badges, shaped by class, nation, ethnicity and culture? Or is reason...

For most scientists, the mind is little more than a machine. With the rise of AI, some now claim that computers may themselves become conscious. For acclaimed neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher Iain...

Is anxiety something to be embraced, rather than fixed? Why are more and more of us feeling the 'soul's itch'? How we can start living more meaningfully? Anxiety is often understood as a problem to fix. But Sarah Wilson...

Is beauty a reliable indicator of scientific truth? Or is it merely a distraction? Some of the best scientists throughout history have equated beauty with truth. But is this a mistake? Join pioneering physicist Lisa...

Is this the end of liberalism, or just another temporary crisis? If it is the end, what will follow it? And where did it all go wrong? Since the end of WWII, the Western world has been governed by liberal principles...

What does originality mean in the age of AI? Why should artists resist the temptation to fear AI? What role will human creativity play in the future we're building? Jaron Lanier, a visionary computer scientist, artist...

What makes you 'you'? If scientists made a digital replica of your mind, would this new 'you' be conscious? And what does this all mean for what it means to exist? Whole-brain emulation (often called “mind uploading” in...

Is materialism mistaken in its understanding of consciousness? How can dividing experience into the phenomenal and the transcendent provide a new angle from which to view consciousness? Have you ever wondered what...