We often associate the beauty of nature with a majestic sunset, or an awe-inspiring mountain. However, by focusing on the more dramatic aspects of nature, we are only scratching the surface on the sheer extent of beauty which lies within the natural world. …
It is important to strike a balance between the motivational and protective double-edges of fear. Individuals must not push themselves or be pushed to do the thing they fear prematurely. However, more than anything, moral courage requires the ability and …
We are increasingly becoming aware of the dangers that digital technologies pose to us. Yet, the usual focus of legislators on the potential harms that online communications can cause is misguiding. What we should be focussing on is the wrongness of …
Comedians Jimmy Carr and Dave Chappelle have been getting into trouble lately over their Netflix shows. Critics say their incendiary jokes don’t even count as comedy, or that only racists, misogynists and homophobes would laugh at them. But neither of …
We tend to think of anxiety as a phenomenon that makes us fearful or stressed, or worried about something. But Heidegger and Kierkegaard understood the phenomenon of anxiety very differently. For them, anxiety isn’t about any one thing in particular, but a …
We all feel pressure for our bodies to look a certain way: 70% of women say they feel pressure to have a perfect body, and two thirds of men feel ashamed of how they look. However, those pressures don’t affect everyone equally. The standards by which our …
The opioid crisis is rampant and deaths from drug overdoses are higher than they have ever been in the U.S. For decades, addiction has been viewed as either a personal failing or a purely physical illness. Both approaches, argue Nina Christie, are not only …
Part philosophical, part scientific, Leibniz believed that our world - "the best of all possible worlds" - must be governed by what is known as the Principle of Optimality. This seemingly outlandish idea proved surprisingly powerful and led to …
Prices are now rising faster than they have in over 40 years in the US, the UK and the rest of Europe. Yet central banks failed to see this coming and are still underestimating the real causes of inflation and how long it’s likely to last. The mainstream …
The glitches we often see in conversational interfaces like Alexa and Siri reveal to us the unique human ability we have to deploy empathy in conversations and social life. But in order for artificially intelligent machines to learn, more and more we must …
Meaning in the 20th century went missing. With the decline of religion, and the rise of science, for many in the modern world nihilism has taken hold. But this is a mistake. We must usher in the return of meaning, for the existential health of our selves …
When the world doesn’t seem to make sense, many of us turn to music. Some philosophers see it as a contentless abstraction that simply elicits an emotional response in us. But music isn’t just beautiful noise. It carries with it meaning and significance …
It’s Groundhog Day, again! The popular film explored an idea that religion and philosophy had previously grappled with: What if time isn’t linear, but cyclical? What if we are condemned to relive our lives again and again, to eternity? Groundhog Day …
On February 1st a national vaccine mandate took effect in Austria. Those over the age of 18 who have not been vaccinated could face fines up to €3,600. Several other countries have introduced similar mandates for the elderly, medical staff and care home …
We are used to the idea that beauty and elegance are valued in scientific theories. But what about beautiful experimental set-ups and results? We should not overlook the significance of the aesthetics of experiments, writes Milena Ivanova. While …
How we understand the past goes on to shape our future. Both modernist and postmodernist accounts of history are inadequate and reductive accounts of how the world arrived at its present state. Modernism defends a naïve account of progress as driven by …
Calls for assisted dying, euthanasia, to be legalised are on the rise. While many do not think it is morally wrong for a dying person to voluntarily end their life, concerns about the knock-on consequences of legalisation often stand in the way of changing …
The extreme polarization of European and American politics is now widely seen as a threat to democracy. But polarization is often misunderstood as simply political divisiveness that can be resolved if only the two sides came together to find common ground. …
The James Webb space telescope has reached its final destination in space. The successor to the Hubble space telescope, it will peer through space to a past era of the universe that we have yet to observe. The light reaching the Webb will have travelled …
What is it like to be a bat? And is there a difference between the consciousness of male and female bats? Thomas Nagel didn’t ask that second question. All of us only have our own experience of the world. So, comparing consciousness across any lines is …
