Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
Wisdom is a word that features in book titles in the ‘Self-help’ section of bookshops, but not so much in the ‘Philosophy’ section (where that still exists). Wisdom is different from evidence-based knowledge, because it comes from lived…
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Ellen J. Langer is a social psychologist, writer, and Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, widely regarded as the founder of the psychology of…
To celebrate the publication of our 50th edition, we're giving away 50 prizes to subscribers, with first prize a 50-edition subscription (up to our…
It is unclear just how the “Man from Song” (Songren) acquired his reputation, but classical literature is replete with stories of his stupidity. These…
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.…
Editor of New Philosopher Zan Boag interviews Hilde Lindemann, Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University and the former editor of Hypatia. Zan Boag:…
It probably says something telling about human beings that the oldest surviving piece of literature is about our longing to overcome death. The Sumerian…
The 21st century has created a whole range of new types of professional that we have never had before – or if not quite…
“What we can know, and what we can understand, is so influenced by our location in time that it is impossible for us to…
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…
Nicholas Humphrey is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at London School of Economics and Bye Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. Humphrey has been studying…
“No phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon.” — Niels Bohr In quantum physics, the ‘observer effect’ refers…
The breakup of a high-profile Hollywood couple in 2004 was an underappreciated moment. When asked about it in an interview, one of the pair…
