Philosophy & Psychology
How counsellors help children understand their worth
Douglas Adams, of The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame, reminds us that a person’s reality is unique to ...
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What 17th-century philosophy can tell us about artificial intelligence
René Descartes’ interests extended to diverse subjects, and one of the most striking subjects he studied was machine thinking. That ...
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How classic psychology warped our view of human nature
There are a number of classic experiments and theories that every psychology student learns about, but more recent research has ...
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How analytic philosophers sought to slough off the dead weight of history
Nikhil Krishnan’s intriguing and charming history, A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900-60, is organised around anecdotes rather than arguments. ...
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Three lessons from Aristotle on friendship
While most love songs are inspired by the joys and heartaches of romantic relationships, love between friends can be just ...
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Why Earth is worth protecting – and not just for our sake
Environmentalists rightly urge us to consider the long-term effects of our actions. Plastic bags, they point out, can take hundreds of ...
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A genealogy of panic disorder in the 20th century
One of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, Michel de Montaigne, was a thinker noted for merging casual ...
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Animal consciousness: Time to rethink our human-centred approach
While we may enjoy the company of companion animals or a fleeting encounter with wildlife, many people believe humans have ...
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Gods in the machine: Artificial intelligence and new religions
We are about to witness the birth of a new kind of religion. In the next few years, or perhaps ...
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The tyranny of story
Story was once a tool for understanding the world and for improving it. The hero or heroine always defeated the ...
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Wollstonecraft: An introduction to the mother of first-wave feminism
Mary Wollstonecraft has had something of a revival in recent years. Though considered the mother of first-wave feminism, the 18th-century ...
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The antidote to arrogance: How to be wrong the right way
This article is part of our ‘From the vault’ series of summer reading. It was originally published in the June ...
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