Christopher Hamilton’s “Rapture” is a very pleasant, well-written, intelligent, and inspiring essay on the many meanings of human lives. On the downside, its essayistic nature also means that it somewhat lacks focus and direction. It can be a wonderful, eye-opening book for the right reader and if approached with the right expectations. Hamilton, Christopher (2024). Rapture. Columbia University Press. 156 pages. Kindle: 9.99 USD, Paperback: 20 USD, Hardcover: 80 USD. Get your copy here: Amazon US — Amazon UK — Publisher’s website If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly ne ..read more

The advent of new technologies and artificial intelligence, with their profound philosophical, psychological, ethical, political, economic, and social implications, prompts us to reflect on human nature and technology, and to define the horizons towards which we are headed. We are honoured to print an interview with Jean Arnaud, a pioneer of the digital renaissance in the fields of art, philosophy, technology, and education. Jean Arnaud is an educator and entrepreneur at the helm of Nova, a company that develops artificial intelligence to accelerate research and combat disinformation. He is al ..read more

Kant’s ethical system is based on the value of one’s motivation rather than on the outcomes or consequences of our actions. Besides a praiseworthy motivation, a morally right action must also conform to a number of rules, which Kant calls forms of the “Categorical Imperative”: to only perform actions that can be equally performed by all and to treat all human beings as ends. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the greatest philosophers of modern times. His philosophical interests went in many dire ..read more

Ethics is the study of how we ought to behave, and why. There are many different theories of ethics, for example, utilitarianism (we ought to behave so that we maximise benefit for all), or Kantian ethics (we ought to treat all human beings as ends). Ethics only becomes relevant when our behaviour affects others and not only ourselves. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! Ethics is everywhere. We are surrounded by ethical problems and ethical dilemmas. In a hospital, you might have multiple patients but only a limited amount of resou ..read more

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. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! The video series Western Ethics Theories: The Shortest Possible Overview. Western Ethics Theories 2: Four main moral theories. Western Ethics Theories 3: Utilitarianism. Western Ethics Theories 4: Kant’s Ethics. The article Find the series as one article right here on Daily Philosophy: Andreas Matthi ..read more

Ethics is a field of philosophy that tries to sort out which actions are good or right and which are bad or wrong. In this article, we will examine the basic ideas behind the four main Western ethics theories: utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, social contract ethics and virtue ethics. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! What is Ethics? Is the Law Not Enough? Ethics is a field of philosophy that tries to sort out which actions are good or right and which are bad or wrong. We all apply ethical principles in our lives: we think that telli ..read more

In this article, we give a brief overview of women philosophers from the ancient world and from non-European traditions. In future articles, we will talk more about specific thinkers, including those of the Western or European traditions. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! Women philosophers It’s not easy to even find reliable information about women philosophers of past times. There are a handful here and there, but they are often centuries apart, while one could most likely name at least one male thinker who was alive at any rando ..read more

She was a princess without a country, a philosopher without a work. She was called “The Greek” without being one, was better at mathematics than Descartes, but never got to teach at a university, and ended her life as a nun. Descartes admired her intelligence and Leibniz stood at her deathbed, but during most of her life, she was a penniless noble refugee. Meet Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia, daughter of the Winter King. If you like reading about philosophy, here's a free, weekly newsletter just for you: Subscribe! The princess and her teacher After less than a year of his reign, Elisabeth’s ..read more

“The two main requirements for philosophising are: firstly, to have the courage not to keep any questions back; and secondly, to attain a clear consciousness of anything that goes without saying so as to comprehend it as a problem.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms, p.117. ” We are not as rational as we think we are.1 What I mean by this is that we think our beliefs and attitudes, and even our feelings and moods, are more determined by a reasoning process that brings us to them than they are. We think that we are in control of such mental states through their being the result o ..read more

This article introduces Immanuel Kant’s conception of freedom, a conception that emphasizes our duty to critically examine the sources of our wants, desires, and all types of inclinations that act on us, and to scrutinize the social and natural forces that instill these inclinations in us. “I remember wanting a family, but was that because that’s what women are supposed to want? How do you know if you want something yourself or if your upbringing programmed you to want it?” So spoke Trinity, protagonist of The Matrix movie. Trinty’s insight captures a challenge that we all face: We want things ..read more