Philosophy & Psychology

Big data: Unlocking insights into psychology

People aren’t like rocks, and that has long been a problem for psychological scientists. If you are experimenting on a ...
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Why conspiracy theories are exciting – and dangerous

Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, from witch trials and antisemitic campaigns to beliefs that Freemasons were trying to ...
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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 ...
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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”. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Bertrand Russell’s universe

One hundred and fifty years ago on 18 May 1872 the philosopher Bertrand Russell was born. Of everything he said ...
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Je Suis Mill

This is an edited extract from a dinner speech to the Liberal Club of the University of Melbourne, delivered on ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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