The following answers to this artful question each win a random book. Art is something we do, a verb. Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more ...

Brian King says that to understand the herd, you need a Herder. One question about human nature is whether it is the same for all people at all times, or whether it is fundamentally different in ...

Barbara Hands considers whether it is ever right for the law to limit your freedom of choice and action, for your own good. Fred and Bob are a gay couple who have been together for 15 years. Fred is ...

In his Introduction to Lectures on the Philosophy of World History (1837), Hegel argues that there are three ways of doing history. The first of these is original history. Original history refers to ...

The following answers to this crucial question each win a signed copy of Mark Vernon’s new book, The Meaning of Friendship. Love is a long-term state of Being involving the emotions and the intellect ...

Emrys Westacott asks a probing question. Imagine that right after briefing Adam about which fruit was allowed and which forbidden, God had installed a closed-circuit television camera in the garden of ...

Matt Qvortrup argues that Aristotle’s political philosophy is surprisingly modern. The son of a doctor, Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Macedonia in the year 384 BC, and was educated at ...

Peter Rickman tells us why it isn’t. I was slightly taken aback when I heard a speaker at a psychology lecture meeting claiming confidently that psychology was a science. Of course, if we define ...

‘More songs about Buildings and Food’ was the title of a 1978 album by the rock band Talking Heads. It was about all the things rock stars normally don’t sing about. Pop songs are usually about ...

Massimo Pigliucci hears from Plutarch. A good case can be made that we talk (or write) too much, and listen (or read) too little. It comes naturally, these days, to blame social media, mainstream ...

Yahia Lababidi meditates on the aesthetics and ethics of two great contrarians. The externals of their lives could not be more different. One was a celebrated wit and dramatist, the other a reclusive ...

Daneyal Afaqui critiques modern work culture, with input from Theodor Adorno. Modern capitalism often phrases the concept of freedom in terms of productivity, entrepreneurship, and self-optimization.