Philosophy

Philosophy

Examine life’s biggest questions, from ethics to existence, with curiosity and critical thinking.

A man in glasses and a suit jacket, resembling John Green, stands in front of a light background with a purple rectangle and abstract black lines.
John Green opens up about his struggle to remain hopeful while writing about suffering and injustice.
Collage with clocks, footprints in sand, a hand drawing a world map, binary code, and the text "The Nightcrawler" at the top—an evocative piece rethinking civilization and our journey through time.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Blurred image of people in white robes spinning in a circular motion on a wooden floor, creating a sense of movement and flow.
The child has no control at all and the adult tries to control too much. But there is a third way.
Interior view of a large observatory telescope in operation at night, with orange light trails and a starry sky visible through the open roof.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will image the southern sky using the largest digital camera ever built.
Black-and-white portrait of Andrew Mayne centered on a collage background featuring sharks on the left and a hand holding a magician’s hat and wand on the right.
The outrageously accomplished magician-inventor-author chats to Big Think about fear, multitasking, and successful work-life reinvention.
launch James Webb
As US science faces record cuts to funding, jobs, and facilities, these 10 quotes help remind us how science brings value to us all.
A man in seventeenth-century attire walks away as a group of people gesture behind him; a book title page, possibly referencing Spinoza, is visible on the right side.
From bondage to freedom: Baruch Spinoza’s guide to the rational life.
Silhouette of a person carrying a cross in front of the United States Capitol building, symbolizing cross purposes between faith and politics.
An atheist's case for why American democracy needs a more Christlike Christianity.
A person lifts a barbell next to a box labeled "DONATE," filled with folded clothes and shoes, highlighting fitness and charity against a light green background.
Rutger Bregman's "Moral Ambition" wants us to aim our careers not at money but solving the world's biggest problems.
A split image features a sketched portrait of a bearded man above, with rippling water merging into Leonardo Da Vinci-style sketches below.
What made Leonardo da Vinci last wasn’t magic — it was process — and his study of fluids can help us win the long game.
A classical painting of the historical Jesus carrying a cross, with his face obscured by white scribble marks.
The Gospels aren’t historical biographies but genre-defining works that blend myth, theology, and a promise of hope.
The word "change" appears three times; the top two are crossed out in purple, while the bottom one—creativity highlighted—is circled in purple, all on a black background.
Creative thinkers are unafraid of the ambiguous spaces where innovation often resides — and this trait is vital when navigating change.
A man and a woman in ancient attire sit at a table indoors, engaged in conversation; beside the jug, roses, and scroll lies a small straw man figure.
What's the point in fighting a made up monster?
black hole baby universe
Here in our Universe, time passes at a fixed rate for all observers: one second-per-second. Before the Big Bang, things were very different.
A photograph of an ancient manuscript with Greek text, displayed on a plain background with abstract purple lines drawn around the edges.
Experts and Big Think writers recommend their favorite reads for diving deeper into the history and perspectives found in the Book of Books.
A frayed rope descends from above and is attached to the top of a blue Earth, symbolizing fragility or tension.
A paradigm should be elastic enough to accommodate new data and broad enough to explain the world. For Rupert Sheldrake, ours does neither.
Large crowd of well-dressed people socializing at an indoor event; "Substack" is projected on a wall above.
The platform is a digital Royal Society for today's greatest minds — and it could play an essential role in shaping the next civilization.
Image split in half: left side shows a woolly mammoth in a natural landscape; right side shows an illustrated mammoth skeleton on a yellow background.
Dreams of resurrecting lost species didn’t start in Hollywood or Silicon Valley.