NFN: A blink of an eye
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that…
Being Human
Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
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NFN: A form of power
“No phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon.” — Niels Bohr In quantum physics, the ‘observer effect’ refers…
The fourth wall
It seems that Erving Goffman was not a nice man. He liked to ruffle feathers and watch the fallout. One time he invited a…
Impossible choices
There is a famous paradox, the paradox of Buridan’s Ass, named after the 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan. Imagine an ass which is…
Nothing but change
“If you can in one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day. Yea, let there be daily renovation.” These words were reportedly…
The Novelty edition
“Novelty has a tendency to make us philosophers.” – Virginia Woolf Constantly looking outwards, humans have crossed continents and oceans, invented technological wizardry, created…
Animal spirits
“It is rare to see a professional economist, in interpreting the past or forecasting the future, quoting what a businessperson or newspaper writer thinks…
Becoming a superhero
Imagine you were given the chance to become a superhero. Let’s say a genie pops out of an old urn you purchased at a…
The self that is not a self
From the Flourishing edition, available from our online store Existence is suffering. We don’t have to look far to see the…
13 questions: Christian Miller
From the Flourishing edition, available from our online store What is your demon? My doubts that my work hasn’t made any…
Optimising mutualism
“All Nature is linked together by invisible bonds and every organic creature, however low, however feeble, however dependent, is necessary to the well-being of…
Flourishing enough
I recently visited Japan for the first time. When I got back, and people asked me what I had found most interesting or surprising,…
