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Society & Culture

Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.

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The age of noise

“The twentieth century is, among other things, the Age of Noise. Physical noise, mental noise, and noise of desire – we hold history’s record for all of them. And no wonder; for all the resources of our almost…

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interference and noise

Interference and noise

Signals are information worth attending to. Noise is interference you ought to ignore. When I’m talking to you on the phone, the sound of…

Received wisdom

It’s difficult to say when and how my children first became aware of the concept of a prison. It was certainly very early, well…

From Society & Culture

Property’s principal corruption

In the lead-up to the general election in the UK, everyone was talking about property. In the crowded south of our archipelago, it’s an…

Travelling identities

Over the last few years Scott had vacationed to countries like Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other destinations in Asia. He hunted out new vistas…

News from nowhere: Stealing the moment

Many of the great artists were travellers. Gauguin travelled to the islands of Martinique and Tahiti for inspiration; Van Gogh hopped all over Europe;…

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…

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.…

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:…

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…

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…

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