Philosophy

Ethics, power and a life in motion.

Is drunkenness the enemy of philosophical sobriety? Or are there circumstances where drunkenness can make our philosophical insight more acute?

Lucretius, the Roman poet and philosopher, on free will, creativity and the mysterious swerve of an atom.

Is philosophy a kind of play? Is it a kind of combat? Or is it a kind of aesthetic experience? Thoughts on Sarah Mattice and Michel Serres.

The Huainanzi, a fascinating Han dynasty guidebook for rulers, on resonance, non-action, charioteering, and how not to fall off a bicycle.

For the philosophers of the Nyāya school, the role of knowledge was to make effective action possible.

What are the fundamental questions in human life? And how can reading across different traditions enrich our sense of what questions might be fruitful to ask?

Dong Zhongshu was a thinker fascinated by the role of chance events in human history.

When the going gets tough, it can be good to read philosophy out loud.

Ptolemaïs of Cyrene, the ancient philosopher, and what she can teach us about the art of music.

For the philosopher Han Fei, the ultimate form of charisma was to have no charisma. His ideas were instrumental in cementing the power of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor.

Two philosophers from the ancient world who changed their minds: Timocrates the (former) Epicurean, and Dionysius the (former) Stoic.