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Philosophy
Examine life’s biggest questions, from ethics to existence, with curiosity and critical thinking.
5mins
“When you think about this interconnection of all these tiny causes and effects which add up to the way the world unfolds, it becomes impossible to imagine that we have complete control.”
The child has no control at all and the adult tries to control too much. But there is a third way.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will image the southern sky using the largest digital camera ever built.
"The stars made our minds, and now our minds look back."
The outrageously accomplished magician-inventor-author chats to Big Think about fear, multitasking, and successful work-life reinvention.
6mins
Aristotle thought that a friend you love is considered your ‘second-self’, someone whose pain feels like your own. Philosopher Meghan Sullivan asks, what happens when you extend that kind of love to strangers?
As US science faces record cuts to funding, jobs, and facilities, these 10 quotes help remind us how science brings value to us all.
From bondage to freedom: Baruch Spinoza’s guide to the rational life.
1hr 11mins
“It's a remarkable series of events that were required for us to be here, and that so many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, both individually, and as a species.”
An atheist's case for why American democracy needs a more Christlike Christianity.
Rutger Bregman's "Moral Ambition" wants us to aim our careers not at money but solving the world's biggest problems.
What made Leonardo da Vinci last wasn’t magic — it was process — and his study of fluids can help us win the long game.
The Gospels aren’t historical biographies but genre-defining works that blend myth, theology, and a promise of hope.
Creative thinkers are unafraid of the ambiguous spaces where innovation often resides — and this trait is vital when navigating change.
20mins
“Even if there are beliefs that we hold that are true, if we prevent people
challenging those beliefs, we will lose our understanding of why they're true.”
What's the point in fighting a made up monster?
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.
The strange, undulating sound of mathematics.
Experts and Big Think writers recommend their favorite reads for diving deeper into the history and perspectives found in the Book of Books.
18mins
“We are beginning to take our first steps out into the cosmic ocean… and the water seems inviting.”