Essay Pursuits of happiness March 05, 2026 鈥淥f course we all want to be happy,鈥� wrote the Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in 46 BCE.聽 In doing so, he was echoing not only centuries of popular sentiment but also the teaching of Greek philosophers. Read More
Essay Carrying the Olympic flame February 06, 2026 My application to carry the Olympic torch in my adopted home of Sicily had been accepted. Along with 10,000 others from every walk of life鈥攆rom famous celebrities to those who battle crippling disease鈥擨 would be part of the team that transports the flame from its origin in Ancient Olympia to the Games. I knew it would be a wonderful experience, but the strongest impression it left on me is not one that I expected. Read More
Podcast On Democracy and Bullshit January 14, 2026 We鈥檙e continuing our series on philosopher Harry Frankfurt鈥檚 seminal work, On Bullshit. Our discussion with H茅l猫ne Landemore is on democracy and bullshit, with a special focus on her book, Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century. Read More
Podcast What Do You Want Out of Life? December 17, 2025 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 Minding our minds December 08, 2025 Roughly twenty-five centuries ago in northern India, the Buddha learned to watch his feelings in order to forge new kinds of relationships with them. Read More
Essay The Aztecs鈥� grammar of gratitude November 27, 2025 Forty years ago, I was deeply involved with a manuscript housed in the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. It was written in a language variously known as Aztec, Mexicano, and Nahuatl.聽 Each of these names carries a bit of truth. Read More
Podcast Death in a Shallow Pond November 24, 2025 From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein鈥檚 Poker, Death in a Shallow Pond is a fascinating account of Peter Singer鈥檚 controversial 鈥渄rowning child鈥� thought experiment鈥攁nd how it changed the way people think about charitable giving. Read More
Twenty years of Harry Frankfurt鈥檚 On Bullshit November 12, 2025 Among all the attributes of AI, the models are prone to bullshitting. And so too are some humans, as the renowned philosopher Harry Frankfurt detected, and warned: 鈥渂ullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.鈥� Read More
Essay Why should I care? 艢antideva鈥檚 Project in How to Lead an Awakened Life October 06, 2025 Jay L. Garfield (author of How to Be Caring, How to Lose Yourself, and Losing Ourselves, all 快色直播) writes about the benefits of caring, both to society and to individuals. Read More
Essay The drowning child September 22, 2025 There are hundreds of thought experiments in philosophy, but not many have any influence beyond the discipline. Peter Singer鈥檚 drowning child thought experiment is a rare exception. Read More
Podcast On Bullshit in AI September 02, 2025 Named for the famous philosophy treatise by the late Harry Frankfurt, The Truth About Bullshit podcast聽seeks to illuminate our world and the pressing issues therein by calling out 鈥榖ullshit鈥� 鈥� a misrepresentation聽of truth 鈥� in all its forms. Today's speaker is Arvind Narayanan, co-author of AI Snake Oil. Read More
Podcast On Bullshit in Politics August 15, 2025 We鈥檙e continuing our series on philosopher Harry Frankfurt鈥檚 seminal work, On Bullshit. Our discussion with Michael Patrick Lynch is on bullshit in politics, and how we might think about ways to combat it. Read More
Podcast On Harry Frankfurt July 24, 2025 Named for the famous philosophy treatise by the late Harry Frankfurt, The Truth About Bullshit podcast聽seeks to illuminate our world and the pressing issues therein by calling out 鈥榖ullshit鈥� 鈥� a misrepresentation聽of truth 鈥� in all its forms. Read More
Essay Elephant graveyards June 25, 2025 In February 2024, a study published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa reported on an intriguing finding: five corpses of Asian elephant calves had been found buried within irrigation drains of various tea plantations in northern Bengal, India. Read More
Podcast What to Expect When You鈥檙e Dead June 19, 2025 Robert Garland explores the fascinating death-related beliefs and practices of a wide range of ancient cultures and traditions鈥擬esopotamian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, and Islamic. Read More
