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March 23, 1900: Birthday of social psychologist Erich Fromm. Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a German social psychologist and philosopher who criticised modern capitalist society on the basis of Marxist and Freudian arguments. He is known for his books discussing how to create better societies and his analysis of love. [More...]

Moral Statements and Truth

Descartes’s Meditations: An Introduction

Fat Acceptance and Vaccine Rejectionism

Luka Zurkic and Andreas Matthias

The Myth of Thinking Machines

Two Opinions on the Dangers of AI

Cassandra Brandt

An Impediment to the Body... Not the Will

A Sedentary Stoic's Thoughts on Disability and Resilience

Featured

Is Abortion Ethical?

The main arguments

Is abortion morally right? We look at the main arguments for and against abortion. (more...)

Should Buddhists Be Social Activists?

Buddhism is widely admired in the West for its commitments to progressive social …

The Hermit of the Lonely Loch

Aspiring hermits have many motivations. Smith eloquently testifies to his reasons, …

The Real Happiness Machine

Michael Hauskeller

In many of Bradbury’s stories we can find an entire philosophy of life that is well …

Videos

Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (1)

Hermann Hesse and Romanticism

Let's Read Together

Guides and Introductions

Andreas Matthias

New Video Series: Western Ethics Theories

The Shortest Possible Overview

A new series of Daily Philosophy whiteboard explainer videos has just been published on YouTube. It gives a very short, and hopefully amusing, introduction to the main theories of Western ethics. (more...)

The Ultimate Guide to the Philosophy of Erich Fromm

Biography, ideas, books

A comprehensive overview of Erich Fromm’s philosophy of happiness. We discuss his life, his ideas and his main works, both in their historical context and how they are still relevant for us today. (more...)

The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus

Biography, ideas, books

A comprehensive overview of Epicurus’ philosophy of happiness. Epicurus is one of the few ancient philosophers who are more relevant today than they were in their own times. Learn all about him right here. (more...)

Philosophy in Quotes

Socrates on Knowing Nothing

Philosophy in Quotes

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Socrates on knowing that you know nothing. (more...)

David E. Cooper

Jeremy Bentham on Animal Ethics

Philosophy in Quotes

A history of philosophy in its most famous quotes. Today: Jeremy Bentham on the suffering of animals: “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” (more...)

Albert Schweitzer on the Reverence for Life

Philosophy in Quotes

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Philosopher and Theologian Albert Schweitzer on the Reverence for Life. (more...)

Interviews

Wael B. Hallaq on Islamic Law and Human Rights

Philosopher interviews

Wael B. Hallaq (وائل حلاق‎) is a leading scholar of Islamic law and Islamic intellectual history at Columbia University. In this interview, we ask his opinion on the tension between Western and Islamic conceptions of governance and human rights. (more...)

Roman Yampolskiy on the dangers of AI

Philosopher interviews

Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy, professor in the Department of Computer Science and …

Shane Epting on the Philosophy of Cities

Andreas Matthias

Shane Epting is an assistant professor of philosophy. In this interview, we discuss …

Luca Possati on Transhumanism

Philosopher interviews

Book reviews

Andreas Matthias

Just Fodder. The Ethics of Feeding Animals

Josh Milburn’s “Just Fodder” is a very thoughtful and rigorous analysis of the ethical issues related to feeding animals. (more...)

Andreas Matthias

Should a Liberal State Ban the Burqa?

Should a Liberal State Ban the Burqa? by Brandon Robshaw, is a very clear, instructive and carefully argued book that shows off philosophy at its best. (more...)

Misanthropes – Literary and Philosophical

Book review: Misanthropy in the Age of Reason

Joseph Harris (2022). Misanthropy in the Age of Reason: Hating Humanity from Shakespeare to Schiller. Oxford University Press. 304 pages. Hardcover: 73. (more...)

Modern life

Is Data Science Evil?

What does “Don’t Be Evil” really mean?

Computers have a long history of being associated with evilness. Machine minds without emotions suggest cruelty, unflinching execution of inhuman orders. (more...)

The Chatbot

A Dialogue between Socrates and ChatGPT on Intelligence

A Dialogue between Socrates and ChatGPT on Intelligence. (more...)

Who Needs Cash Anyway?

The ethics of a cashless society

A cashless society seems convenient, but it has severe drawbacks, especially for the least privileged in society. (more...)

Hermits

Gardens of Refuge

From the Garden of Eden to urban allotments, gardens have accompanied and enriched human history and culture from ancient times to now. In this article, Ian James Kidd traces the spiritual history of gardens as places of refuge from the world. (more...)

The Wisdom of the Dao

Main themes in the Dao De Jing

The Dao De Jing is often not so different from other philosophies of its time. Acting according to nature, virtue as a skill, and the Daoist praise of humility are reminiscent of similar passages in the works of Stoics, Epicureans and Aristotle. (more...)

Hermits and Happiness

The long tradition of leaving it all behind

Hermits, from the Greek “eremites,” (=men of the desert), are found in all cultures and at all times. In this article, we look at the phenomenon of hermit life as a whole, before we go into more detail in future posts in this series. (more...)

Classics

How Can We Define Love?

How is love different from liking or friendship?

Love is characterised by: 1. Exclusivity; 2. Constancy; 3. Reciprocity; 4. …

Confucius on Loyalty and Betrayal

Would you send your father to prison?

For Confucius, one’s personal loyalties to family, friends, co-workers and superiors …

The Presocratics

The most important thinkers and their ideas

The Presocratic philosophers were a group of thinkers who lived in ancient Greece …

Inspiration

Richard Taylor on the Creative Life

Real creativity is not only in art

Richard Taylor (1919–2003) thought that it’s creativity that makes us feel happy and …

Human Dignity and Freedom

Why restaurant menus may be destroying humanity

Erich Fromm and Richard Taylor on the perils of capitalism.

Aristotle's Highest Good

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that we can recognise the highest good …

Ethics

Lorenzo Buscicchi, Dan Weijers, Nick Munn

Psychological Hedonism

You Know You Want It

According to Psychological Hedonism, we are all just looking for fun. Psychological Hedonism is a theory about motivation. (more...)

Andreas Matthias

New Video Series: Western Ethics Theories

The Shortest Possible Overview

A new series of Daily Philosophy whiteboard explainer videos has just been published on YouTube. It gives a very short, and hopefully amusing, introduction to the main theories of Western ethics. (more...)

Beauty discrimination

The Accented Philosophy Podcast

Are we doing something morally bad when we watch Youtubers we find attractive? Should attractiveness have no influence on our viewing habits? Or are we free to watch whom we like? Listen to find out! (more...)

The Ukraine Conflict and the Ethics of War

Philosophy and current affairs

What are the moral rules for war, how can wars be justified and are we obliged to help a country that has been attacked? Just War Theory applied to the current conflict in the Ukraine. (more...)

Nick Munn, Lorenzo Buscicchi, Dan Weijers

Selling Happiness, One Chump at a Time

We are not water pills. We are highly scientific magic pills based on an ancient organic recipe. (more...)

Dan Weijers, Nick Munn, Lorenzo Buscicchi

Simulating Pleasure

If it feels good, does it matter whether it’s real?

Nozick asked readers to imagine a machine produced by “super-duper neuropsychologists” that could give you any experience you could think of without you realising it was all a computer simulation. He called it the Experience Machine. (more...)

Biographies

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976)

Are philosophers like map-makers?

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher, primarily concerned with the nature of the mind and the role of philosophy in the world. (more...)

September 22: John Conway (1937-2020)

The inventor of the Game of Life

John Horton Conway (1937-2020), mathematician, inventor of the “Game of Life” simulation of cellular automata. (more...)

Andreas Matthias

The Princess and the Soul

Elisabeth of Bohemia and Rene Descartes

Descartes admired her intelligence and Leibniz stood at her deathbed, but during most of her life, she was a penniless refugee. Meet Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia. (more...)

Recent

February 8, 2025

Petrică Nițoaia

How to lose friends and influence people

Logical fallacies and their use

Who does not know that feeling when a discussion becomes unfair, as if sabotaged? You make a good point, but suddenly the person you’re talking to says something odd, absurd or irrelevant. (more...)

December 7, 2024

Human Extinction

An Even More Modest Proposal

Would it matter if the entire human race became extinct? (more...)

November 23, 2024

Ensuring Humanity’s Future

Lessons from Play, Sport, and Game

I see myself and a multitude of other Grasshoppers engaged in playing the most elaborate, subtle, and challenging games. (more...)

November 18, 2024

Christopher Tricker

Can Philosophy Save Us?

EGO Hey, Philosophy. How can you help ensure the future of humanity? PHILOSOPHY (more...)

November 9, 2024

Nella Leontieva

We and They

Shortlisted entry for the Daily Philosophy Global Essay Contest 2024. (more...)

November 3, 2024

A “Philos” of We

. Shortlisted entry for the Daily Philosophy Global Essay Contest 2024. (more...)