philosophy

In logic, ‘reductio ad absurdum’ shows how flawed arguments fall apart. Our absurd Universe, however, often defies our intuitive reasoning.

Or are cults the religions we find distasteful?

How would you feel about working like a Lutheran or a Cistercian?

Happiness is not a five-star holiday. It’s often the result of struggle — and asking for help, as author Stephanie Harrison recently told Big Think.

Neuroscientist Tali Sharot recently spoke with Big Think about a two-step method for escaping the dark sides of habits.

Here’s the case for why science can’t keep ignoring human experience.

At work we’re often asked to be decisive — but how can we make an informed choice without complete information?

Big Think spoke with historian Marc-William Palen about the egalitarian aims of the free-trade movement in past centuries.

Bertrand Russell shows us how to recognize emotional arguments smuggled into presumed statements of fact.

To hallucinate means you must first perceive.

It’s time for an honest conversation.

In revolutionary Russia, a group of forward-thinking philosophers offered an alternative to both futurism and communism.

We were not born to stagnate — the point of life (and work) is to go somewhere.

If the daily grind feels like Sartre’s phony act of “bad faith,” Heidegger’s sense of “being” can help redefine your role.

Cognitive psychologist and poet Keith Holyoak explores whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity.

Big Think recently spoke with sleep psychologist Dr. Jade Wu about the surprising consequences of forgoing sleep.

Ways to move forward when you’re wrong and I’m right.

Millennia ago, philosophers like Anaximander grasped that nature is the ultimate recycler.

The most celebrated genius in human history didn’t just revolutionize physics, but taught many valuable lessons about living a better life.

Like many of us, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius hated waking up early, but his stoic philosophy always helped him get out of bed.

The “End of Days” defines how we see time.

Millions of people have had a near-death experience, and it often leads them to believe in an afterlife. Does this count as good proof?

A volley of new insights reignites the debate over whether our choices are ever truly our own.

In pre-War Cambridge, students had to ace an interview with Ludwig Wittgenstein to attend his lectures — Alan Turing passed that test, and went on to create one of his own.

A controversial new philosophy paper tries to bring our moral prejudices to heel. Should it?

While Taoism can be paradoxical and abstract, it also offers daily life lessons.

Acting “little and often” has huge consequences and they’re not always good — but awareness yields solutions.

Narnia and early Middle-earth were pancake-esque — but their creators took differing views on de-globalization.

The essential element needed for innovation is creative dissonance — and the keys to unlocking it were forged by bankers in Italy.