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April 25, 1953: Publication of the structure of DNA. The moment of the publication of the DNA double helix structure was, at the same time, the end of a long — and sometimes tragic — race, and the beginning of the age of DNA sequencing and genetic engineering; together with AI, one of the most promising and most dangerous technologies of our age. [More...]

April 26, 0121: Birthday of Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. Today we celebrate the birthday of Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), a man who always had wanted to be a scholar, but who was made emperor against his own wishes. He became one of the best emperors of Rome, and a widely-respected philosopher who still inspires us today with his sense of humility and duty. [More...]

Lloyd Strickland

A Philosophy Written in the Mountains

Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics

A miscellany from Rokos to Plato to Keynes

The Illusion of Experience

Would Socrates Have Valued AI?

February 10, 2026

Contemporary Metaphysics

Featured

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...)

Aldous Huxley’s “Island”

An even braver new world?

The last book of visionary writer Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Island, is a bold …

I’m depressed and it’s all your fault!

Catherine Greene

Are we driving ourselves insane? And have we been doing so for over a hundred years? …

The Ethics of Letting Die

Saving someone from attempting suicide is glorified and is considered a heroic act. …

Videos

Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (1)

Hermann Hesse and Romanticism

Let's Read Together

Guides and Introductions

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...)

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...)

Epicurus: A Guide to the Principal Doctrines

Text, commentary and study guide

The Principal Doctrines is the main work of Epicurus on happiness. This article presents the original text with explanations and discussion questions. It also includes tips for organising an Epicurus reading group or book club. (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

Luis de Miranda on Philosophical Health

Philosopher interviews

Luis de Miranda lives in Sweden and is a philosophical practitioner, founder of the Philosophical Health movement. (more...)

Paul Lodge on Philosophy and Music

Philosopher interviews

Paul Lodge, Professor of Philosophy and songwriter, sets philosophical poems to …

Dan Demetriou on the Ethics of Colonial Monuments

Andreas Matthias

Robert Rodriguez on Hermits

Philosopher interviews

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

Book reviews

Robert Zaborowski

The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness

Review of Uriah Kriegel (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020, by Prof. Robert Zaborowski. (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...)

Just Fodder Book Review

A reply to Andreas Matthias

Author’s reply to a review in Daily Philosophy of: Josh Milburn, “Just Fodder. The Ethics of Feeding Animals.” (more...)

Modern life

The Case for Feeding the Surfers

Philippe Van Parijs’s Argument for Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, or UBI, implies the regular, universal, unconditional transfer of an equal sum of money to all eligible citizens. (more...)

Ezechiel Thibaud

Nudges

The hidden influencers

In a book published in 2008, R. H. Thaler and C. R. Sunstein define nudges as “any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way.” (more...)

Roman V. Yampolskiy

The Uncontrollability of AI

The creation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great promise, but with it also comes existential risk. (more...)

Hermits

Going Slow

A rhetoric of slowness and speed has been used by philosophers since the ancient periods to characterise and assess different ways of life. (more...)

David E. Cooper

The Rhetoric of Refuge

On the wish to retreat from the world

The rhetoric or metaphor of refuge from the world has largely disappeared from religious, social and ethical debate. The contrast with the past is striking. (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

Plato and Christianity

Perfection, theosophy and organic hand-creams

Plato’s ideas about the eternal world of perfect Forms provided a template upon which …

Should Buddhists Be Social Activists? (Part 3)

I focus in this final piece on a neglected aspect of Buddha’s teachings: the …

Machiavelli on Cruelty and Compassion

Inspiration

Freeing Yourself from Self-Consciousness

Brentyn J. Ramm

We can change the way we perceive ourselves by a simple switch in our first-person …

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 …

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 …

Ethics

October 5, 2025

The Ethics of Letting Die

Saving someone from attempting suicide is glorified and is considered a heroic act. In this paper, I will argue that it is not always the right course of action. (more...)

Kant’s Praiseworthy Motivation

Ethical behaviour can be demanding

A core feature of Kant’s ethics is his insistence on the value of one’s motivation for the morality of an action. As opposed to utilitarianism, Kant does not look at the consequences when judging actions, but only at what he calls the “good will.” (more...)

Assisted Voluntary Euthanasia

The main arguments

This a systematic survey of the arguments and counterarguments that are most commonly in play when considering the ethical rights and wrong of euthanasia and whether it should be legally permitted. (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...)

August 24, 2025

The Secret Gospel of Frankenstein

What If the Creature Had Remained Uncorrupted?

There is a possible archetype here of the silent, rejected saint, the unthanked helper, the monk in exile. (more...)

Petrică Nițoaia

Can We Save Morality's Reputation?

Reclaiming morals in the post-truth world

Why is there such a difference between the picture of morality one gets from books and the one so many people encounter in real life? (more...)

Biographies

August 19: Happy Birthday, Gene Roddenberry!

Creator of Star Trek and dreamer for a better world

Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek (August 19, 1921 - October 24, 1991). (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

February 3, 2026

Meaning Without Experience

The Limits of Artificial Intelligence

Ethical AI is less about building machines with moral status and more about building institutions with moral stamina. (more...)

January 25, 2026

Are Hippopotamus Ethics Enough?

Feeling pain for pain may be the ethical superpower nature and evolution gave us, but is it useful enough? (more...)

January 18, 2026

2+2=4

Why does 2+2=4…? The answer may not be as simple as one thinks. (more...)

January 6, 2026

Darwin’s Four Postulates in Light of “Don’t Die”

This raises a question: does Darwin’s argument no longer hold up in a Kurzweilian world where we might not die of old age at all? (more...)

December 20, 2025

Machiavelli on Cruelty and Compassion

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was interested in self-reliance, self-preservation and self-promotion. These things motivated his writing of The Prince and these were its themes. (more...)

November 25, 2025

Interview with Paul B. Preciado

Philosopher interviews

Leonardo Caffo interviews Paul B. Preciado (more...)