Philosophy

Philosophy

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

An individual in a suit and orange tie gestures toward a firefighter in full uniform and helmet labeled "BUFFALO" with the number "27", as if acknowledging everyday miracles.
Is it ever possible for God to violate the laws of nature?
cosmic inflation
Many contrarians dispute that cosmic inflation occurred. The evidence says otherwise.
pulse light quantum tunnel barrier
In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it?
A white ladder leans against a white wall, leading up to a circular opening revealing a blue sky with scattered clouds.
A simple semantic device — invented by a forgotten senator — can help us break “the curse of knowledge.”
A painting of a group of people standing in front of a church.
The original principle of relativity, proposed by Galileo way back in the early 1600s, remains true in its unchanged form even today.
A tablet displaying the cover of the book "Nothing to Fear" by Julie McFadden, RN, lies on top of stacked books next to a pen and a cup of coffee on a white surface.
Hospice nurse Julie McFadden shares three examples where people hold off death, just for a bit.
A black background with the text "ARC PRIZE" in pixelated white and grey font. Two colored squares, one pink and one yellow, are placed above the letters "I" and "Z" in the word "PRIZE.
His $1 million ARC Prize competition is designed to put us on the right path.
A photograph of a Albert Camus on the left and an illustration of a volleyball with arrows indicating its dimensions on the right, set against a dual-colored red and gray background, evokes a sense of alienation.
How do you cope when joining a team shatters your confidence? Albert Camus and Harry Stack Sullivan can help.
A green die showing two and a gray die showing five are placed on a gray surface, perhaps hinting at a stroke of luck.
Unraveling the subtle mechanics of luck can help us better steer the wheel of fortune.
Cover of "The Nightcrawler" featuring a chart showing China's economic growth surpassing the rest of the world, with a pixelated face overlaid. Emphasizing second-level thinking, the "Et . business" logo is in the bottom right corner.
Welcome to the Big Think debut of The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Illustration depicting "Humanity vs. Nature" with diagrams of evolution, ecocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism, featuring images of a tree, human evolution, and a whale.
Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.
two particles different wavelength speed of light
The Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887, despite expectations, revealed a null result: no effect. The implications were revolutionary.
A glowing light bulb is in the center of the image, surrounded by various mathematical formulas and equations on a blue background.
Why dispelling the notion that it's all about getting the correct answer is so powerful.
For centuries, Newton's inverse square law of gravity worked beautifully, but no one knew why. Here's how Einstein finally explained it.
A close-up digital rendering shows a glowing blue orb with intricate internal patterns, resembling a microscopic or sci-fi object, set against a dark background with scattered lights.
Quarks and leptons are the smallest known subatomic particles. Does the Standard Model allow for an even smaller layer of matter to exist?
A person in a suit stands on stage, gesturing with both hands while speaking into a headset microphone, passionately discussing direct giving in their presentation.
Big Think guest writer Rory Stewart — former UK Secretary of State for International Development and co-host of The Rest Is Politics podcast — made a profound discovery about leadership while working with GiveDirectly.
A computer-generated visualization shows particle collision data with yellow lines and red dots against a black background. The simulated particles appear to interact within a transparent geometric shape.
Today, the Large Hadron Collider is the most powerful particle physics experiment in history. What would a new, successor collider teach us?
Two ancient statues, framed by red lines, appear to be conversing through modern emoji speech bubbles. One statue displays several emojis, while the other shows a typing indicator.
"I know what you're thinking" can sound kind or creepy — depending on who's saying it.
A digital rendering of a black hole with a glowing, distorted light accretion disk around its event horizon in space, set against a pitch-black background.
A recent paper in the journal Physical Review Letters claims to prove that a "kugelblitz" is not possible.
Close-up of a tree trunk with natural holes resembling a face, set against a green leafy background. This curious formation invites contemplation on the legal personhood of nature itself.
The idea of awarding legal personhood to nature has received renewed attention in the contemporary environmental justice movement, but much contention remains.