Philosophy

Dancing and time

For Rachel Bespaloff, philosophy was a sensual activity shaped by the rhythm of history, embodied in an instant of freedom

Isabel Jacobs

Henri Bergson on why the existence of things precedes their possibility

3 minutes

The patterns of reality

Some have thought that logic will one day be completed and all its problems solved. Now we know it is an endless task

Timothy Williamson

Whither philosophy?

The discipline today finds itself precariously balanced between incomprehensible specialisation and cheap self-help

Siobhan Lyons

Wrestling with relativism

Bernard Williams argued that one’s ethics is shaped by culture and history. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is right

Daniel Callcut

The great, forgotten Wolff

Written for laymen, read by women and kings, Christian Wolff’s mathematical method made him a key Enlightenment philosopher

Michael Walschots

The ends of knowledge

Academics need to think harder about the purpose of their disciplines and whether some of those should come to an end

Rachael Scarborough King & Seth Rudy

Equality without compromise

Liberal philosophy has clipped the wings of the egalitarian ideal. We should return to the bolder ideals of Iris Murdoch

Christine Sypnowich

Liberalism against capitalism

The work of John Rawls shows that liberal values of equality and freedom are fundamentally incompatible with capitalism

Colin Bradley

Who was Duns Scotus?

His name is now the byword for a fool, yet his proof for the existence of God was the most rigorous of the medieval period

Thomas M Ward

Analytic women

Twin forces marginalised the women of early analytic philosophy. Correct those mistakes, and the next generation benefits

Jeanne Peijnenburg & Sander Verhaegh

Remember Richard Price!

Demonised by the political establishment for his radical, dissenting views, this 18th-century Welsh polymath deserves better

Huw Williams

The post-linguistic turn

Analytic and continental philosophers were once united in their obsession with language. But now new questions have arisen

Crispin Sartwell

Self-satisfaction

The ancient Cynics taught that masturbation is about more than pleasure: it suggests how to live simply and autonomously

M D Usher

Disorient yourself

Now associated with childhood fun, the swing has a near-universal history of ritual transgression and transformation

Javier Moscoso

The virtue of discretion

When the rules break down, you must judge what to do on your own. Discretion is necessary for navigating the muddle of life

Lorraine Daston

Aristotle on making babies

He was the first great observer of nature. But his theory of human reproduction was deeply sexist – and enduring

Emily Thomas

The sage and his foibles

Scholars cannot agree whether the letters of Plato are fake or genuine. Is this just a symptom of misplaced reverence?

James Romm

The scar of identity

Alexandre Kojève was an immense influence on many French thinkers. What was so compelling about his lectures on Hegel?

Samantha Rose Hill

Jeremy Bentham was consumed by creating a perfect prison. Here’s the result

4 minutes