Podcast Night Vision June 08, 2023 Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. Read More
Essay The therapist and the gadfly May 24, 2023 If you want to improve yourself鈥攂e happier, for example鈥攜ou shouldn鈥檛 consult society鈥檚 ideas of a good life, as portrayed in magazines, pillows, and posters. Instead, you should find the equivalent of a horse trainer. Read More
Podcast Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality May 09, 2023 Derek Parfit (1942鈥�2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Read More
Essay David Edmonds on Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality April 14, 2023 Derek Parfit was an obsessive. For much of his adult life he had two obsessions. Philosophy was one, photography another. Every year, for many years, he would travel to Venice and St. Petersburg and photograph the same buildings, trying to take the perfect shot. Read More
Essay The origins and importance of talk March 29, 2023 I come from a family of talkers. The household in which I grew up was always noisy. My parents were loud and opinionated, and interrupted and quarreled boisterously with each other. Read More
Essay Yes, the Chinese care about the Western classics January 24, 2023 Much as in Europe and the US, the ancient Greeks live on in China through their works鈥攁t least, recently so. Over the past century, the philosophical and political texts of western antiquity, especially those of classical Athens, have sparked the interest of Chinese intellectuals, journalists, reformers, and nationalists. Read More
Essay Flipping failure January 09, 2023 鈥淔ailing big鈥� has been much in the news鈥攊t鈥檚 part of an exciting strategy that also includes 鈥渕ove fast and break things鈥� and 鈥渘o risk, no reward!鈥� But what about failing small? Read More
Podcast Listen in: What Do You Want Out of Life? January 06, 2023 What do you want out of life? To make a lot of money鈥攐r work for justice? To run marathons鈥攐r sing in a choir? To have children鈥攐r travel the world? The things we care about in life鈥攆amily, friendship, leisure activities, work, our moral ideals鈥攐ften conflict, preventing us from doing what matters most to us. Read More
Essay Live longer by living better, says Seneca December 05, 2022 Because we can't truly conceive of an endpoint to life, we give to our time far less value than we should, squandering it on useless pursuits or frivolities. Read More
Interview Democracy鈥檚 dilemmas: Ewa Atanassow in conversation with Schuyler Curriden November 15, 2022 How can today鈥檚 liberal democracies withstand the illiberal wave sweeping the globe? What can revive our waning faith in constitutional democracy? Read More
Essay Gurus of degrowth: Say hello to the ancient Cynics November 03, 2022 Mark Twain once quipped 鈥淗eaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.鈥� Read More
Podcast How to Say No November 01, 2022 The Cynics were ancient Greek philosophers who stood athwart the flood of society鈥檚 material excess, unexamined conventions, and even norms of politeness and thundered 鈥淣o!鈥� Diogenes, the most famous Cynic, wasn鈥檛 shy about literally extending his middle finger to the world, expressing mock surprise that 鈥渕ost people go crazy over a finger.鈥� Read More
Essay On consolation, grief, and coping, and heaven October 24, 2022 Psychotherapy is not a recent invention. Thousands of years before Freud, Greek thinkers had discovered the seemingly magical effects that words can have to soothe the mind. Read More
Reading List A student鈥檚 guide to a good-enough year August 18, 2022 As schools begin to stabilize from COVID-19 disruptions, the pressures that have long been accumulating on students show no signs of slowing. Employment uncertainties, rising financial burdens, and unrelenting competition have layered on top of decades of cultural messaging to persevere doggedly and push oneself beyond the limits to achieve excellence. Read More
Essay A new way of life July 06, 2022 Every day billions of people devote a significant amount of time to worshiping an imaginary being. More precisely, they praise, exalt, and pray to the God of the major Abrahamic religions. They put their hopes in鈥攁nd they fear鈥攁 transcendent, supernatural deity that, they believe, created the world and now exercises providence over it. Read More
