Daily Philosophy Making sense of the world.

June 28, 1712: Birthday of political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau (1712-1778) was a political philosopher and writer, best known for his contributions to social contract theory. Rousseau considered the natural state of humans to be good and advocated a radically democratic state.

A Supportive Partner Is Not What You Need

Brandon Robshaw

Sex Metamorphosis

Petrică Nițoaia

The stories that keep you up at night are all made up

Exploring the mythology of a mythless world

Treena Balds and Timothy Morton

Deliver Us from Evil – Part 2

Digesting the Lord’s Prayer

Quote of the day: “The fruits of the Earth belong to us all and the Earth itself to nobody.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Featured

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...)

50 Answers

An insightful new book sheds light on how a rich tapestry of religions answer life’s …

Transfer of Matter

Stuart Bush-Harris

My eyes widen as I stare at the board, the possibilities beginning to fill my mind.

Happy Endings

Dan Weijers, Nick Munn, Lorenzo Buscicchi

We’ve heard it all our lives — size matters and bigger is better. But David …

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...)

What is a Fallacy?

How to Spot and Avoid Logical Pitfalls

A fallacy in Critical Thinking is an error in argumentation that makes an argument invalid. (more...)

Andreas Matthias

Western Ethics Theories

The Shortest Possible Overview

We examine the basic ideas behind the four main Western ethics theories: utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, social contract ethics and virtue ethics. (more...)

Philosophy in Quotes

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...)

Immanuel Kant on Means and Ends

Philosophy in Quotes

Explore philosophy through its most famous quotes! Today: Immanuel Kant on how to treat human beings. (more...)

Interviews

Paul Lodge on Philosophy and Music

Philosopher interviews

Paul Lodge, Professor of Philosophy and songwriter, sets philosophical poems to music. In this interview, we discuss his background and whether philosophy makes for good songs. (more...)

Robert Rodriguez on Hermits

Philosopher interviews

Robert Rodriguez is the author of The Book of Hermits and founder and editor of the …

Andreas Matthias on Writing About Philosophy

Miguel Angel, editor and owner of Filosofia En La Red, interviews Andreas Matthias, …

Dan Demetriou on the Ethics of Colonial Monuments

Andreas Matthias

Book reviews

Five Most Inspiring Philosophy Books

Life-changing wisdom for your summer reading list

Looking for a life-changing summer read? Here are Daily Philosophy’s recommendations for five of the most inspiring books that everyone should know. (more...)

Steven Cassedy: What Do We Mean When We Talk About Meaning

Altogether this is the most comprehensive account of how the phrase ‘the meaning of life’ came to attain its current ubiquity that has yet been written. (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...)

Catherine Greene

Am I irrational?

And how would I know?

People as well as large-scale events, for example, the Durch Tulip Mania or the technology crash in the early 2000s, are sometimes said to be irrational. But what exactly do we mean by that? (more...)

What is Luddism?

The challenges of modern technology

Luddism is the thesis that technology must serve human life and that often the use of technologies does not make for better or happier societies. (more...)

Hermits

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...)

The Hermit of Suwarrow

The adventures of Tom Neale (1902-1977)

Tom Neale spent a total of fourteen years alone on a little island in the Suwarrow Atoll in the South Pacific, where he found peace and happiness in solitude. We have a look at this extraordinary life. (more...)

Three Modern Hermits

Following one’s own way

We visit three very different hermits: Agafia Lykova in remote Siberia, Mauro Morandi on a Mediterranean island paradise, and Lincolnshire nun Rachel Denton. What unites them and gives their lives meaning? (more...)

Classics

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 …

Should Buddhists Be Social Activists?

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

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 …

Inspiration

St Augustine on the Function and Pleasure of Sex

The real cost of pure pleasure

For St Augustine, the pleasure inherent in any activity is good as long as the …

Human Dignity and Freedom

Why restaurant menus may be destroying humanity

Erich Fromm and Richard Taylor on the perils of capitalism.

How to Recognise Pure Awareness

Brentyn J. Ramm

What is pure awareness? Douglas Harding (1909-2007) proposed a series of simple but …

Ethics

Martha Nussbaum and the Capabilities Approach

What makes a human life worth living?

In the capabilities approach, philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that a human life, in order to reach its highest potential, must include a number of “capabilities” – that is, of actual possibilities that one can realise in one’s life. (more...)

Peter Singer's Drowning Child

Are we required to save lives if we can?

Peter Singer’s Drowning Child thought experiment: If, on the way to the office, we saw a child drowning in a pond, would we think that we have to save it? (more...)

Dan Weijers, Nick Munn, Lorenzo Buscicchi

Is Pleasure Good?

Don’t forget your safe word

Hedonists believe that pleasure is the only thing that ultimately makes our lives go well for us and that pain is the only thing that ultimately makes our lives go badly for us. If that’s true, why are so many hedonists into BDSM? (more...)

Aristotle on moral development

The three types of human beings

For Aristotle, the moral development of a person progresses in three stages: from akrates, to enkrates, to sophron or wise person. (more...)

Can You Steal a Culture?

Making sense of cultural appropriation

For a long time, we have been watching the public discussion on cultural appropriation. Many writers and philosophers, even guests we have interviewed here on Daily Philosophy, have been reluctant to discuss the topic in public. (more...)

What is ethics?

Of means and ends

Ethics is the study of how we ought to behave, and why. There are many different theories of ethics, which we briefly discuss in this article. (more...)

Biographies

April 26, 121 AD: Marcus Aurelius is born

Reluctant emperor of Rome, fighter and Stoic philosopher

April 26, 121 AD marks the birthday of Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, who still inspires us today with his sense of humility and duty. (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...)

Thales of Miletus

A stroll through the history of philosophy

Thales of Miletus is generally cited as one of the first philosophers, although his contributions extended to many sciences and even to business endeavors. (more...)

Recent

Treena Balds and Timothy Morton

Deliver Us from Evil

Digesting the Lord’s Prayer

It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures. (Simone Weil) (more...)

Bridging Kant and Hijab

From modesty to moral autonomy

From a Kantian lens, reducing a person to their appearance or sexuality treats them as a means to visual pleasure, not as a rational being. (more...)

The Billiard Match

The Creature, who appeared dimly fainter than his surroundings, threw back his head & laughed with a gayety incongruent with my own dread. (more...)

Classical Liberalism

Liberalism is a political philosophy that centers on the idea of people being afforded fundamental freedoms or rights. (more...)

David E. Cooper

Nature, Beauty and Meaning

The beauty of a painting of a flower, mountain or sunset normally owes to how it depicts its object, to its rendering of nature. (more...)

The need to disconnect

Disconnecting from machines to better connect with oneself

Technology conditions us to spend less of our time experiencing life and more of our time recording it. (more...)