Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
We tend to assume that wisdom accumulates naturally with experience. Time passes, mistakes are made, lessons are learned, and judgment improves. This belief is deeply reassuring. It suggests that simply living long enough will refine our understanding of…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” – Marilyn vos Savant A botanist and a…
Nicholas Humphrey is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at London School of Economics and Bye Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. Humphrey has been studying…
It seems that Erving Goffman was not a nice man. He liked to ruffle feathers and watch the fallout. One time he invited a…
