Diogenes and the Honest Life
January 25, 2026
Diogenes of Sinope was a famous—or infamous—4th-century BCE Greek philosopher. Reportedly, he lived in a…
Hildegard von Bingen
September 20, 2026
Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work spanned visionary theology, philosophy, cosmology, medicine, botany, and music. Her extraordinary intellectual accomplishments belie her humble claim to be “just a woman”. Was her humility justified in the face of the divine,…
Civil Disobedience
January 18, 2026
Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King all engaged in civil disobedience, and are widely admired…
William James
January 11, 2026
William James is one of the great American philosophers, historically important as a philosopher (pragmatism…
Why Is the World So Weird?
January 4, 2026
Quantum mechanics, mathematics, human consciousness…. whichever way you slice it, the universe is weird. How…
The Examined Year: 2025
December 28, 2025
What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think about…
Mind Sharing
December 21, 2025
Mind reading might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But in philosophy and psychology,…
Shakespeare’s Outsiders
December 14, 2025
Over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is still widely regarded as the greatest dramatist…
Im Yunjidang
December 7, 2025
18th-century Korean philosopher Im Yunjidang was the first Confucian to argue for women’s equality in…
Gilbert Ryle and the Map of the Mind
November 30, 2025
Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher of mind and language best known for his…
Can A.I. Help Us Understand Babies?
November 23, 2025
Artificial intelligence is everywhere in our day-to-day lives and our interactions with the world. And…
Margaret Cavendish
November 16, 2025
Margaret Cavendish was a writer of poetry, philosophy, polemics, histories, plays, and utopian fiction. She…
Narrative and the Meaning of Life
November 9, 2025
Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of their own lives. Some…
Impossible Worlds
November 2, 2025
Philosophers often speculate about possible worlds: ways that things could be. Some of them also…
Mary Astell
October 26, 2025
Mary Astell (1666–1731) was an English philosopher and writer who advocated for equal rights for…
In Awe of Wonder
October 19, 2025
Descartes said that the purpose of wonderment is “to enable us to learn and retain…
Making and Breaking Habits
October 12, 2025
We often hear that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” The idea seems…
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