Philosophy & Psychology
How cults corrupt our desire for love and connection
Project Mayhem is an all-male cult – but unlike the real cults that Sarah Steel writes about in Do As …
Karl Marx’s philosophy explained
In 1845, Karl Marx declared: “philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it”. …
Blaming ‘evil’: Unpacking the paradox of using the word
The word ‘evil’ circulates widely in the wake of terrible public violence. The May 24, 2022, massacre at an elementary …
Why are we so vulnerable to bad information?
There are two fundamental reasons why misinformation is a bigger problem than ever before. The first is tied to the …
Bertrand Russell’s universe
One hundred and fifty years ago on 18 May 1872 the philosopher Bertrand Russell was born. Of everything he said …
Je Suis Mill
This is an edited extract from a dinner speech to the Liberal Club of the University of Melbourne, delivered on …
Why we trust experts – even when they admit they don’t know the answer
We constantly make decisions about who to trust. Much of the time we’re bombarded with massive amounts of information on …
Are we a failed species?
A very old friend and longtime mentor of mine, now 85 years of age, recently expressed the gloomy opinion that …
A review of Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’
The philosophical/spiritual writer Eckhart Tolle has had success beyond most writers’ wildest dreams. His first book, The Power of Now, …
When faith and reality collide in pandemics
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia from 1346-53. It is …
Four reasons why you should never say ‘do your research’ to win the argument
It’s fairly common to see many claims or arguments end with a curt “do your research”. In some ways, it’s …
Suicide as catastrophe and as calculation
The August 2021 issue of Harper’s magazine has a cover story headed ‘What are the odds? The Troubled Quest to …