Aristotle
Who was Aristotle, what did he write, and why does a thinker from the fourth century BCE still shape how we …
Reference Desk
Democritus
Twenty-four centuries before the periodic table, Democritus of Abdera argued that everything – rocks, …
Heraclitus
Who was Heraclitus, what did he mean by saying that everything flows, and why has this obscure aristocrat from …
Love in Buddhism
The Buddha told a grieving grandmother that those who have a hundred dear ones have a hundred sorrows. The …
Love in Hinduism
Hinduism has no single word for love – it has a dozen. This guide explains the main ones, surveys how …
Love in Islam
The Qur’an says that God loves and is loved, and Muslims have argued for fourteen centuries about what …
Love in Judaism
What does Judaism teach about love? From the Shema and Leviticus to Maimonides, Hasidism, Buber and Levinas: …
Mahatma Gandhi
Who was Mohandas K. Gandhi, what did he believe, and why do his ideas of truth, non-violence, satyagraha and …
Mind, Philosophy of
Is your mind the same thing as your brain? Something separate from it? A pattern of behaviour, a kind of …
Plato
Who was Plato, what did he write, and why does a thinker who died almost 2,400 years ago still shape how we …
Pythagoras
Who was Pythagoras, what did he actually teach, and how did a wandering religious leader from the sixth …
Socrates
Who was Socrates, why did Athens put him to death, and how did a man who claimed to know nothing become the …
Virtue
For two thousand years, ‘virtue’ was the central word in Western ethics – the name for …
Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics asks not what you should do but what kind of person you should be. This guide explains the …