Philosophy

Ideas, ethics, metaphysics, mind

The last ice age

Retracing his grandparents’ journey to Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier, a writer draws on storytelling to grasp climate change- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoAug 5, 2026

Aeon

Towards an AI for Africa

Western-developed AI rides roughshod over Ubuntu values of connection and community that animate African ethical life- by Fainos MangenaRead on Aeon

Fainos MangenaAug 4, 2026

The Conversation

You can love an AI but can it love you back? Philosophy has the answer

If you’re looking to be loved, Simone de Beauvoir would warn you to look away from AI.

Lucy Osler, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of ExeterAug 3, 2026

Aeon

Thucydides the perspicacious

Far from thinking that ‘might makes right’, the great historian’s analysis of war identifies a vice common to all states- by David Polansky & Daniel SchillingerRead on Aeon

David Polansky & Daniel SchillingerAug 3, 2026

Aeon

Ani Liu: eye heart womb

A scientist, artist and mother, Ani Liu contemplates how power and control shape the body in her taboo-breaking artworks- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoAug 3, 2026

Aeon

Resist the technocrats

Through international organisations, they wield power under the pretence of simply following the experts. Don’t believe them- by Jan EijkingRead on Aeon

Jan EijkingJul 31, 2026

Literary Hub

How Christian Europe Learned to Fear the Forest—and the Beasts Within

Europe is not a continent of deserts, but in the early Middle Ages, Europeans began to assimilate biblical notions of the wilderness by applying the same philosophy to a regionally appropriate context: the forest. In the absence of the arid,

Cal FlynJul 30, 2026

Aeon

How art invented humanity

When early humans first painted cave walls, they began to find out who they really were: our minds emerged from our images- by J F MartelRead on Aeon

J F MartelJul 30, 2026

Aeon

Mud below, sun above

Meet Bể, part of Vietnam’s vital but overlooked network of recyclers – a workforce predominantly made up of elderly women- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 30, 2026

Aeon

How to spot pseudoscience

We are living in a golden age of pseudoscience. Here are three helpful tools for separating science from its imitator- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 29, 2026

Hyperallergic

Walter Benjamin Warned Us About AI

The philosopher believed that good photography provokes cognition while dangerous photography soothes, as seen in a jewel box show at the Jewish Museum.

Julia CurlJul 28, 2026

Aeon

The light narrows

My father’s death sent me to the jiu-jitsu mat. Then came defeat, low testosterone and the lure of a chemical cheat code- by Wes BrownRead on Aeon

Wes BrownJul 28, 2026

Aeon

The taming of Black thought

Black philosophers now feature on Western curricula, but the European tradition diminishes their radicalism into reassurance- by Takeshi MorisatoRead on Aeon

Takeshi MorisatoJul 27, 2026

Aeon

In search of the northern cassowary

Join the search for the elusive cassowary, a big bird that plays an outsized role in maintaining its rainforest home- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 27, 2026

Aeon

Signal then storm

Allan Basbaum has spent 50 years searching the nervous system for the places where pain begins – and where it can be stopped- by Stephani SutherlandRead on Aeon

Stephani SutherlandJul 24, 2026

Africa Is a Country

Africa’s last philosopher king

Although Nelson Mandela lacked the oratory of Nkrumah and the theory of Senghor, his contribution to the world of ideas was something rarer: pragmatism.

Sarah SetlaeloJul 24, 2026

Aeon

The savage bites back

Rooted in Brazilian modernism, anthropophagy devours and transforms culture, subverting colonial fears of cannibalism- by Sofia CándanoRead on Aeon

Sofia CándanoJul 23, 2026

Aeon

All the Queens houses

To the trained eye, the personalised homes of Queens, NYC, evoke everything from a Venetian streetscape to a Chinese temple- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 23, 2026

Aeon

Can cells think?

Inside the lab of a biologist who is seeking to understand intelligence by focusing on problem-solving, not neurons- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 22, 2026

Literary Hub

How Jean-Paul Sartre Attempted to Marry Marxism and Existentialism

It’s hard to overstate the enthusiasm of French intellectuals for Marxist theory in the 1950s and ’60s. If Sartre was the most important living philosopher, Marx was the most important dead one. And the École Normale, an institution filled with

Emily EakinJul 21, 2026

Aeon

The people’s atheist

Jean Meslier, a rural French priest, argued that religion is designed to produce subjects who will automatically obey- by Nidal TaibiRead on Aeon

Nidal TaibiJul 21, 2026

Aeon

The Skinner revolution

A 1979 doc examining the life and ideas of B F Skinner, with a focus on his radical, controversial behaviour experiments- by Aeon VideoWatch on Aeon

Aeon VideoJul 20, 2026

Aeon

Transit of wonder

Every 122 years, Venus crosses the Sun as a black and fleeting teardrop, kindling the awe of all those who dare to know- by Ananya PalivelaRead on Aeon

Ananya PalivelaJul 17, 2026

The Conversation

Manchester – the city powering Andy Burnham, the UK’s incoming prime minister

Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast to hear Philip Brown and Kirsty Fairclough discuss Manchesterism, the political philosophy of Andy Burnham.

Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationJul 16, 2026