Being Human
A doctrine of better-ism
“Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether…
Articles
Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
More articles
Being Human
New Philosopher #44: Flourishing
“There is only one inborn erroneous notion… that we exist in order to be happy.” - Arthur Schopenhauer It’s not uncommon for people…
Being Human
Cautionary tales
Interview with: Christopher Spencer Artwork: Cold War Steve Interviewer: Zan Boag Zan Boag: It has been said that you draw inspiration from the…
Opinion
13+ questions: Justin Weinberg
What is your demon? I don’t know, but perhaps it’s related to the fact that I’d never answer this question sincerely in public. …
Social health is wealth
What does it take to live a flourishing life? If social media is any indicator, flourishing equates to happiness, and our happiness depends on…
Wealth of philosophers
Philosophers are more likely to be poor than rich. Some have made a virtue out of that. Diogenes of Sinope, the original Cynic, watched…
Philosophy and you
Wealth divides
“Welcome to Harrodsburg, home of the one per cent and the super-rich,” says London street photographer Dougie Wallace in the BBC series, What Artists…
Being Human
The asymmetry of loss
While on holiday in Vienna in 1833, the English poet Arthur Henry Hallam died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage, aged just twenty-two. Over the…
Being Human
Remember the dead
In the late 19th century, Boston photographer William H. Mumler posed his subjects by a window in his studio – grieving fathers, distraught lovers,…
Death
Transformative grief
Michael Cholbi is Professor and Personal Chair in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely in ethical theory, practical ethics, and…
Being Human
Outsourced memories
There is a tradition in philosophy that makes our memories the core of our personal being, essential to what we are, and the basis…
Life
The game of life
When I was growing up in the 1980s, my family and I sometimes played a board game called ‘The Game of Life’. Rather than…