Philosophy

Philosophy

Examine life’s biggest questions, from ethics to existence, with curiosity and critical thinking.

A bust of Marcus Aurelius placed next to a clock.
Like many of us, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius hated waking up early, but his stoic philosophy always helped him get out of bed.
A diagram of a circle and a linear arrow.
The "End of Days" defines how we see time.
A silhouette of a person experiencing a near-death encounter in front of a fire.
Millions of people have had a near-death experience, and it often leads them to believe in an afterlife. Does this count as good proof?
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin in his study.
We each have the same 24 hours in the day. How will you spend yours?
A man with long hair and a beard, embodying the concept of free will.
A volley of new insights reignites the debate over whether our choices are ever truly our own.
A map showing the location of Israel and Egypt, with a focus on its significance in biblical history.
When battles raged in ancient cities, their rocks blazed so brightly that they could be reoriented according to Earth's magnetic field.
A collection of books about war and peace that you haven't read.
How to say, "In many ways, Proust is similar to Joyce" and get away with it.
A somber painting of a man standing alone in a tranquil field.
Omer Bartov, who spent decades studying the unspeakable horrors of genocide, shares how his studies have impacted his own mental health.
Four different images of supernova remnants from NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory
The first stars took tens or even hundreds of millions of years to form, and then died in the cosmic blink of an eye. Here's how.
A collection of hard-to-finish books on a pink background.
These hard-to-finish books are still worth the effort.
An image of a star in space.
From how life emerged on Earth to why we dream, these unanswered questions continue to perplex scientists.
The word success is written on a blueprint, symbolizing career ownership.
When you own your career, work becomes more than a means to an end — it becomes a vehicle for growth and happiness. 
An image of a spiral galaxy in the night sky.
Physicists have yet to pinpoint the hypothetical matter that keeps galaxies from flying apart. Now they have a new focus.
A painting presents a group of people at a table, leaving room for interpretation and inviting viewers to formulate hypotheses about their interactions and relationships.
A sober look at a wild conspiracy theory that argues the Middle Ages never happened.
A headshot of Ludwig Wittgenstein on a bright orange background paired with a headshot of Alan Turing on a tan background.
In pre-War Cambridge, students had to ace an interview with Ludwig Wittgenstein to attend his lectures — Alan Turing passed that test, and went on to create one of his own.
A woman and an octopus gracefully intertwined in a mesmerizing scene.
A controversial new philosophy paper tries to bring our moral prejudices to heel. Should it?
Thanks to observations of gravitational waves, scientists were able to settle a longstanding debate over the speed of gravity.
This description features an image of a black hole and an image of a spiral galaxy, breaking the barriers of 10 biggest physics astronomy lies.
Misinformation was extremely popular in 2023, as bad science often made global headlines. Learn the truth behind these 10 dubious stories.
An image of a robot with a thumb up on a green background.
The problem with today’s AI isn’t it thinking for itself; it’s the tech telling humans whatever we want to hear.