What's the definition of comedy? Banana. - Addison Anderson
AdultsCreativityHumorPsychology...What makes us giggle and guffaw? The inability to define comedy is its very appeal; it is defined by its defiance of definition. Addison Anderson riffs on the philosophy of Henri Bergson and Aristotle to elucidate how a definition draws borders while comedy breaks them down.
Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? - Maryam Alimardani
AdultsPsychologySciencePhilosophy...Our bodies - the physical, biological parts of us - and our minds - the thinking, conscious aspects - have a complicated, tangled relationship. Which one primarily defines you or your self? Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? Maryam Alimardani investigates.
Is Reality Real? The Simulation Argument
AdultsHumanSciencePhilosophy...What if we are not creators, but creations?
How To Be A Genius
AdultsCultureHumanSociety..."We hear a lot about genius. We are taught to admire the minds of those infinite, baffling but astonishing geniuses like Einstein, Tolstoy or Picasso. Quite what genius might actually be is left a little vague. It's a codeword for 'brilliant but perhaps too other-worldly ever really to fathom.' We are invited to stand in awe at the achievements of geniuses but also to feel that their thought processes might be quasi-magical and that it is ultimately simply mysterious how they were ever able to come up with the ideas they have had..."
Why Socrates Hated Democracy
AdultsHistoryPoliticsPhilosophyWe're used to thinking hugely well of democracy. But interestingly, one of the wisest people who ever lived, Socrates, had deep suspicions of it.
How to use rhetoric to get what you want - Camille A. Langston
AdultsHistoryPhilosophyLanguageHow do you get what you want, using just your words? Aristotle set out to answer exactly that question over two thousand years ago with a treatise on rhetoric. Camille A. Langston describes the fundamentals of deliberative rhetoric and shares some tips for appealing to an audience's ethos, logos, and pathos in your next speech.
LITERATURE - Voltaire
AdultsCreativityHistoryPhilosophy...Voltaire was one of the wisest, funniest and cleverest people of the 18th century. He continues to have lots to teach us about toleration, modesty and kindness.
Who am I? A philosophical inquiry - Amy Adkins
AdultsPhilosophyPsychologySelfThroughout the history of mankind, the subject of identity has sent poets to the blank page, philosophers to the agora and seekers to the oracles. These murky waters of abstract thinking are tricky to navigate, so it's probably fitting that to demonstrate the complexity, the Greek historian Plutarch used the story of a ship. Amy Adkins illuminates Plutarch's Ship of Theseus.
The philosophy of Stoicism - Massimo Pigliucci
AdultsHistoryPhilosophySelfWhat is the best life we can live? How can we cope with whatever the universe throws at us and keep thriving nonetheless? The ancient Greco-Roman philosophy of Stoicism explains that while we may not always have control over the events affecting us, we can have control over how we approach things. Massimo Pigliucci describes the philosophy of Stoicism.
PHILOSOPHY - Nietzsche
AdultsPhilosophySelfHistoryNietzsche believed that the central task of philosophy was to teach us to 'become who we are'. Find out more by reading our book 'Life Lessons from Nietzsche '
Are You Alone? (In The Universe)
AdultsLifeSpacePhilosophy...Are you alone? To answer this question we have to take a look what "you" are first. What are you made of and where you stand in this universe. Are you your body? Your atoms? And how are your parts connected to the big picture?
The economics of beard popularity in the US
AdultsEconomyPhilosophySociety...We may have reached "peak beard."
This Giant Neuron Could Explain Where Consciousness Comes From
AdultsBiologyNeuroscienceSelf...After uncovering three giant neurons, scientists could be one step closer to pinpointing where consciousness lives in the brain.
Would you sacrifice one person to save five?
AdultsLifePhilosophySocietyImagine you're watching a runaway trolley barreling down the tracks, straight towards five workers. You happen to be standing next to a switch that will divert the trolley onto a second track.
Post-Truth: Why Facts Don't Matter Anymore
AdultsPhilosophySocietyPolitics...Why we can't seem to agree on what's true when it's easier than ever to check.
Plato's best (and worst) ideas
AdultsHistoryPhilosophyFew individuals have influenced the world and many of today's thinkers like Plato. He created the first Western university and was teacher to Ancient Greece's greatest minds, including Aristotle.