Being Human
Lessons from stupidity
It is unclear just how the “Man from Song” (Songren) acquired his reputation, but classical literature is replete with stories of his stupidity. These…
Articles
Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
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Ideas to change your life
Fixing the living to make a killing
Do you trust your doctor? Should you trust your doctor? A recent op-ed in The New York Times suggests that doctor-patient trust is wavering.…
Death
Being mortal
Editor of New Philosopher Zan Boag interviews Hilde Lindemann, Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University and the former editor of Hypatia. Zan Boag:…
Death
Learning not to die
It probably says something telling about human beings that the oldest surviving piece of literature is about our longing to overcome death. The Sumerian…
Ideas to change your life
Word to the wise
The 21st century has created a whole range of new types of professional that we have never had before – or if not quite…
Ideas to change your life
A clear look
“What we can know, and what we can understand, is so influenced by our location in time that it is impossible for us to…
Health
Showing off that shiny red rump
I despise gyms. I honestly couldn’t tell you if it is the nauseating funk emanating from dozens of perspiring bodies therein or the mind-numbing…
Philosophy and you
Seen and unseen
There’s something deflating about the first time you spot a nebula through a telescope. You’re standing outside in the dark and the cold, squinting…
Being Human
Invisible experience
In our current cultural moment, when the boundaries between public and private have been largely erased, Calle’s investigations are prescient. In…
News
NFN: To see or not to see
“So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection…
News
NFN: The bystander effect
“If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” –Anonymous …
Being Human
NFN: Seeing
“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” – Marilyn vos Savant A botanist and a…