Arts & Letters Daily
Arts & Letters Daily is brought to you by The Chronicle of Higher Education. New material is added to Arts & Letters Daily six days a week. Our motto, “Veritas odit moras,” is found at line 850 of Seneca’s version of Oedipus. It means “Truth hates delay.”
- The most interesting way to look at Edward Said is to see the political and the literary as having always been conjoined
- “What does it feel like to commune with AI spirits? It is a shot of caffeine. It is a dizzy spell. It is a download from the universe.”
- What happened to Scientific American? The political pendulum has swung back and forth, leaving a once hallowed magazine in shambles
- What made Cormac McCarthy a great writer? The sound of his prose, in its full excess and strangeness
- Historians have often created heroes, but few have themselves become one. Marc Bloch is the rare exception
History of Philosophy without any Gaps
Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King’s College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, “without any gaps.” The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.
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502. United States: the Dutch Republic
502. United States: the Dutch Republic 502. Dutch Republic 502. Dutch Republic Peter Adamson 25 October 2026 Further Reading • J. Huizinga, Dutch Civilization in the Seventeenth Century (London: 1968). • H.J. Helmers and G.H. Janssen (eds), The Cambridge Companion to the Dutch Golden Age (Cambridge: 2018). • J.I. Israel,…
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62. Just Going Through a Phase: Han Metaphysics
62. Just Going Through a Phase: Han Metaphysics 62. Han Metaphysics 62. Han Metaphysics Peter Adamson 18 October 2026 Further Reading • P. Goldin and E. Sabattini (trans.) Lu Jia’s New Discourses: A Political Manifesto from the Early Han Dynasty (Leiden: 2020). • C. Li and F. Perkins (eds), Chinese…
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501. Mara van der Lugt on Bayle and Pessimism
501. Mara van der Lugt on Bayle and Pessimism 501. van der Lugt on Bayle 501. van der Lugt on Bayle Peter Adamson 11 October 2026 Further Reading • M. van der Lugt, Bayle, Jurieu, and the Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (Oxford: 2016). • M. van der Lugt, “ The…
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500e. Daniel Watson on Medieval Irish Philosophy
500e. Daniel Watson on Medieval Irish Philosophy 500e. Watson on Irish Philosophy 500e. Watson on Ireland Peter Adamson 9 October 2026 Further Reading • D. Watson, "A Law Beyond Grace in The Prologue to Senchas Már ," Dionysius 36 (2018). • D. Watson, "The Mortal and Divine Histories of Mongán…
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500d. Ted Good on Zoroastrianism
500d. Ted Good on Zoroastrianism 500d. Good on Zoroastrianism 500d. Good on Zoroastrianism Peter Adamson 6 October 2026 Further Reading • T. Good, "Consubstantial dualism: a Zoroastrian Perspective on the Soul," Religious Studies (2023).
Aeon Magazine
Since 2012, Aeon has established itself as a unique digital magazine, publishing some of the most profound and provocative thinking on the web. We ask the big questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on science, philosophy, society and the arts.
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Great art explained: Tamara in the green Bugatti
A very modern conception of womanhood: in the Jazz Age paintings of Tamara de Lempicka, women were bold, free and stylish - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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How to build real peace
From Colombia to Syria, I’ve seen that capitalist logic can’t help to rebuild postwar countries but cooperatives can - by Azize Aslan Read on Aeon
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Traction!
Tribologists study friction: what happens when things rub together. It’s indispensable, from the wheel to the paths of stars - by Jennifer R Vail Read on Aeon
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Bhutan: the last place
What happened when people in Bhutan, the last country on Earth without television, were allowed to watch it in 1999? - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
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Other people
Disconnection is at the heart of today’s crises. So my husband and I chose a radical and revealing remedy: living communally - by Elizabeth Oldfield Read on Aeon
1,000-Word Philosophy
1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology is a constantly-growing collection of original essays on important philosophical topics. These essays are introductions rather than argumentative articles. Each essay is as close to 1000 words (while never going over!) as the author can get it. A 1000-word essay takes between five and ten minutes to read. That’s about the length of a short bus ride or a waiting room stay, or the lead-up to a class meeting.
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The Ship of Theseus: What Makes an Object the Same Object Over Time?
Author: Chad Vance Category: Metaphysics, Historical Philosophy Word Count: 998 That table you’re sitting at; or that coffee mug in front of you; or that phone: have you seen these objects before? Presumably you have. But, consider some of the assumptions behind this: first, that there are such things as…
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Philosophy of Science: What is Science and How Does It Work?
But what is science, and how does it work? Is it unique in its approach to making sense of the world? Does it progress in a straightforward way? Does it aim to give us a truthful description of reality in its theories? These are some core questions in the philosophy…
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Vegetarianism and Veganism: The Ethics of Eating Animals
Many philosophers have argued that it’s usually morally wrong to raise and kill animals for food, and buy and consume animal-based food products. This essay introduces some of the most influential arguments about ethical vegetarianism and veganism. The post Vegetarianism and Veganism: The Ethics of Eating Animals first appeared on…
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The Ethics of Homosexuality: Is It Morally Wrong?
If homosexuality is wrong, there should be a good reason to believe that. Likewise, if homosexuality is not wrong, there should be a good reason to believe that. This essay reviews some of the most influential arguments on the ethics of homosexuality. The post The Ethics of Homosexuality: Is It…
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Racism: What Makes Something Racist?
Theories of racism try to answer these questions by trying to identify the essence of racism, the unifying and fundamental feature(s) of all racist things that explains why they are racist. This essay surveys some influential theories of racism. The post Racism: What Makes Something Racist? first appeared on 1000-Word…
New Books Network – Philosophy
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Silence in Mood Disorders: A Philosophical Investigation with Dan Degerman (Routledge, 2026)
Silence is frequently considered negative or harmful in both everyday life – for example, when we are silenced – as well as in psychiatry, where poverty of speech is a symptom of depression and pressure of speech is a symptom of mania. In Silence in Mood Disorders: A Philosophical Investigation…
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Robert A. Wilson, "Kin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences" (Oxford UP, 2026)
What is kinship? This central question in cultural anthropology is standardly answered in terms of culturally constructed relationships that are unconstrained by biological relationships. In Kin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences (Oxford UP, 2026), Robert Wilson proposes an alternative view that does not separate kin relations from biological…
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Jonathan Quong, "Political Philosophy: The Puzzle of Legitimate Injustice" (Princeton UP, 2026)
Can laws be unjust and yet remain, in some sense, morally legitimate? In Political Philosophy: The Puzzle of Legitimate Injustice (Princeton UP, 2026), Jonathan Quong considers central issues in political philosophy through the lens of this single question. He explores and evaluates recent influential work on this topic and then…
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Daniel Cohnitz and Jussi Haukioja, "Foundations for Metasemantics" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Metasemantics studies the foundations of meaning, asking what makes it the case that certain words have the meanings that they do. But what makes metasemantic theories true? This question has been all but ignored in philosophy of language. In this book, Cohnitz and Haukioja address this issue and argue that…
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Philippe Huneman, "When Metaphysics Meets Biology: Kantian Approaches to the Concept of An Organism" (Routledge, 2026)
Central to modern biology and the study of life is the concept of the organism—roughly, a body with interconnected parts that make specific contributions to the development and functioning of the whole. There are competing organism concepts even today, but the 18th century was a critical period in which thinkers…
The Marginalian (Formerly Brain Pickings)
Oh hello. My name is Maria Popova. I am a reader and writer, and I write about what I read here on Brain Pickings — my one-woman labor of love. Drawn from my extended marginalia on the search for meaning across literature, science, art, philosophy, and the various other tentacles of human thought is a record of my own becoming as a person — intellectually, creatively, spiritually — and an inquiry into what it means to live a good life.
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Walt Whitman’s Advice on Living a Vibrant and Rewarding Life
“Love the earth and sun and the animals… re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul…”
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Bob Dylan on the Unconscious Mind and the Ideal Conditions for Creative Work
"People have a hard time accepting anything that overwhelms them."
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20 Favorite Children’s Books from 20 Years of The Marginalian
“Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time,” E.B. White insisted. “You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.” Both as a reader of them and as a writer…
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The Dark Wood of the Golden Birds: Margaret Wise Brown’s Lost Masterpiece about Mortality and the Meaning of Life, Newly Illustrated
In early September 1948, a year after she rewilded the landscape of literature with Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown watched the love of her life fade to black. Michael Strange, born Blanche Oelrichs, had cast an instant spell on Margaret — outspoken, sophisticated, and self-possessed, so tall Margaret had to…
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20 Favorite Books from 20 Years of The Marginalian
It is a beautiful dream, that there is something out there to instruct you how to live — a secret handed down by your parents or your teachers, a system like liberal arts education or cognitive behavioral therapy, a slogan held up by your heroes declaring the answer to the…
Existential Comics
A philosophy comic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also jokes.
Daily Nous
Daily Nous provides information and news for and about the philosophy profession. The site is maintained Justin Weinberg, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina.
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Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
We have discussed in many posts here how artificial intelligence (AI) is affecting—and could affect—different aspects of academic philosophy’s research ecosystem. We have seen AI-written […] The post Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research appeared first on Daily Nous .
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Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI
“Driven by the de facto dominance of English, AI multilingual alignment shows a form of cross-linguistic deference, a systematic tendency to resolve cross-linguistic disagreement by […] The post Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI appeared first on Daily Nous .
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Reminder: World Philosophy Day Coming Up Next Month
World Philosophy Day this year is Thursday, November 19th, 2026. World Philosophy Day, created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), celebrates […] The post Reminder: World Philosophy Day Coming Up Next Month appeared first on Daily Nous .
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Timothy Smiley (1930-2026)
Timothy John Smiley, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, has died. Professor Smiley was known for his work in logic. He is […] The post Timothy Smiley (1930-2026) appeared first on Daily Nous .
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Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
New and revised entries at online philosophy resources, new reviews of philosophy books, new podcast episodes, recently published open access philosophy books, and more… . […] The post Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update appeared first on Daily Nous .
Philosophy Now
Welcome to Philosophy Now, the bi-monthly magazine for everyone interested in ideas. Published since 1991, it is the winner of the 2016 Bertrand Russell Society Award. Please look around!
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Let’s Get Metaphysical
by Rick Lewis
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News: October/November 2026
Nussbaum wins Kluge Prize • Edgar Morin dead at 104 • Dundee Philosophy fights back • AI’s plan to enslave humanity continues — News reports by Anja Steinbauer
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Philosophers on AI
by Matt Qvortrup
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Causation: A History
Peter Keeble causes us to think about causation.
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‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’
Andrew Brenner tries to make sense of the question.
Blog of the American Philosophical Association
The American Philosophical Association promotes the discipline and profession of philosophy, both within the academy and in the public arena. The APA supports the professional development of philosophers at all levels and works to foster greater understanding and appreciation of the value of philosophical inquiry.
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Recently Published Book Spotlight: Philosophy of the Short Term
Jay Lampert is Professor of Philosophy at Duquesne University. His research spans Continental philosophy, particularly Hegel, Husserl, and Deleuze. He has written three books on the philosophy of time, most recently Philosophy of the Short Term (Bloomsbury, 2024). In this Recently Published Book Spotlight, Lampert discusses how short-term experiences and…
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APA Member Interview: Steven Zani
Steven J. Zani is an interdisciplinary scholar with an MA in Philosophy and a PhD in Comparative Literature. He has worked at 2-yr and 4-yr institutions, state and private schools, faith-based and tribal schools, and overseas, with expertise in a wide range of topics, including publications and presentations in Literature,…
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Town Bloody Hall
Town Bloody Hall (1979) documents a singular historical moment, a “dialogue on women’s liberation” that took place on April 30, 1971, in New York’s Town Hall. The event was staged by the Theater for Ideas as an opportunity to keep the organization financially afloat. Although it was a comparably early…
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Indigenous Critical Theory
When I teach Indigenous social and political theory, I draw on a perspective which emphasizes that the states of the so-called First, Second, and Third World, as originally distinguished by Mao Zedong, are built on the backs of the global indigenous nations of the “Fourth World,” which long predates them,…
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The Moral Life, Yvonne Tam
“The Moral Life” is a course in a series of seminars in Northwestern University’s Brady Scholars Program in Ethics and Civic Life. A cohort of about fifteen students are admitted their sophomore year to study ethics together for a year before a junior semester abroad, and they return to collaborate…
Philosophy News
The website philosophynews.com was launched in 1997 by a blogger named Richard Jones under the name Philosophy News Service and started mainly as a service-oriented website to help inform the philosophical community about events like conferences and publications, philosophy-related news, and information about philosophers.
Today, Philosophy News has broadened its vision in an attempt to reach a wider readership and bring philosophy to both professionals and non-professionals alike. While the site still counts professional philosophers as a core part of its readership, reaching intelligent readers in other disciplines and laypersons interested in philosophical topics is an important secondary focus.
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“It is sometimes said that the sword wears out the scabbard. That is my history. My…
philosophybits: “It is sometimes said that the sword wears out the scabbard. That is my history. My passions have made me live, and my passions have killed me.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions The post “It is sometimes said that the sword wears out the scabbard. That is my history. My……
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Assistant Professor of Political Science, Economics, or Philosophy
Job List: Americas Name of institution: Northwestern State University Town: Natchitoches, LA Country: USA Job Description: The Louisiana Scholars’ College, the state’s selective-admission honors college of the liberal arts and sciences, located at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, seeks applications to fill two tenure-track positions as an Assistant Professor of…
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Infinite Regress Arguments
[Revised entry by Ross Cameron on October 26, 2026. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html] An infinite regress is a series of appropriately related elements with a first member but no last member, where each element leads to or generates the next in some sense.[1] An infinite regress argument is…
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Ibn Bâjja [Avempace]
[Revised entry by Josep Puig Montada on October 26, 2026. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html] Philosophy in Al-Andalus developed later than in the East; it grew among Muslims and Jews, since both communities were nurtured by a common Arabic. The Muslim community was much larger and it defined the…
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“A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail…
philosophybits: “A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.” — Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience The post “A wise man will not…
Quartz
Quartz was founded in 2012 to serve a new kind of business leader with bracingly creative and intelligent journalism that’s built for users first. We help our audience see around corners, navigate disruption in their industries, build fulfilling careers, broaden their views of the world, and enjoy lives rich with culture.
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7 dog breeds that love cold weather, according to the AKC
The AKC names 7 cold-loving dog breeds, from the Alaskan Malamute to the Saint Bernard, and warns they can still get frostbite.
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8 mudslide warning signs to watch for, and how to get out safely
Learn mudslide warning signs such as cracking ground, tilting trees and rumbling sounds, plus guidance on what to do before, during and after a debris flow hits
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Flood insurance before El Niño: 10 points on timing, zones and limits
Flood insurance before El Niño takes planning, from the 30-day NFIP waiting period to flood zones, coverage limits and mudflow rules homeowners and renters should know
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Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees in its latest cost-cutting push
Microsoft has poured more money into data centers as customers call for more AI computing power
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Anthropic's Claude accessed Georgia voter data by bypassing a paywall on its own
Anthropic said Claude stayed out of Georgia's voter registration system and changed or pulled no voting records
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the successor of the League of Nations’ International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
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/r/askphilosophy
Reddit is an American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called “subreddits”, which cover a variety of topics including news, science, movies, video games, music, books, fitness, food, and image-sharing. Submissions with more up-votes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough votes, ultimately on the site’s front page.
- Welcome to /r/askphilosophy! Check out our rules and guidelines here. [July 1 2023 Update]
- /r/askphilosophy Open Discussion Thread | October 26, 2026
- What normative criteria can justify the choice between different logics in concrete philosophical argumentation, and are those criteria sufficient to ensure that the choice is not arbitrary?
- behind in grad school
- What are the best arguments against privation theory of evil?
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