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Ideas

Imagination

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Impressionist painting of a family in a garden, with a child learning to walk, assisted by an adult, as another adult crouches down with outstretched arms.

Values and beliefs

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A philosophical approach can help you identify what truly matters

We’re often taught to live according to our values, but this is easier said than done without pausing to reflect deeply

by Valerie Tiberius

Two people look at a scientifically based recreation of a Neanderthal man’s head, adorned with feathers and fur, enclosed in a glass case at a museum. The setting is under strong indoor lighting with a blue wall background.

Communication and language

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This is what a Neanderthal conversation would have sounded like

Neanderthals had language, but it differed from ours in an important way that could help explain our superior art and tech

by Steven Mithen

Side profile of a bearded person with sunlight creating multicoloured rainbow flares across the image and a blurred garden background.

Neurodiversity

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Psychedelics could give a mind’s eye to those who’ve never had one

Case reports suggest psychedelics might reverse aphantasia (a lack of mental imagery), but is that necessarily a good thing?

by Shayla Love

A grey car is parked next to a purple brick wall with some plants growing at the base. The sky is overcast and buildings are in the background.

Mind and brain

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This is how your brain distinguishes reality from imagination

In terms of brain activity, imagining something is very similar to seeing it, so why don’t you confuse the two more often?

by Shayla Love

Poster of “The Invisible Man’s Revenge” showing a woman at a piano, a man in a suit and an invisible figure with a gun.

Stories and literature

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Why the concept of invisibility so captivates the imagination

From ancient fables to the latest science theory, invisibility represents some of humankind’s deepest fears and desires

by Greg Gbur

Wall sculpture with white human face masks surrounding an oval gap revealing a brick wall behind.

Imagination

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In the architecture of the mind, where lies human imagination?

In the architecture of the mind, is imagination a built-in structural feature or a result of cognitive remodelling work?

by Michael Omoge

Painting of large trees with exposed roots in a forest, sunlight filtering through leaves, house visible in the background.

Imagination

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Aphantasia can be a gift to philosophers and critics like me

Aphantasia veils the past and the future from the mind’s eye. That can be a gift to philosophers like Derek Parfit and me

by Mette Leonard Høeg

Vintage painting of a man by a window with yellow flowers looking at a woman in a pink dress lying on a bed.

Stories and literature

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Young women were the true originators of the Grimms’ Tales

Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella – the old fairy tales are full of female lust and hope, and most were told by women

by Christine Lehnen

Photo of a person sitting on a bench reading in a birch forest, surrounded by green foliage and tall white trees.

Stories and literature

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There is an unseen smuggling operation between fiction and reality

Fiction is not quarantined from reality, as experts have long proposed. There is constant trade between the two worlds

by Daniele Molinari, Valentina Petrolini & Wolfgang Huemer

Large projection of a painting’s cracked surface with a person standing in front, focusing on a close-up of a smiling mouth.

Philosophy of art

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Engaging with an artwork leaves you and the art transformed

When you engage with an artwork, a form of cognitive coupling takes place in which your mind and the art are transformed

by Miranda Anderson

Mosaic art with colourful broken ceramic tiles featuring floral and abstract patterns.

The self

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You’re not a computer, you’re a tiny stone in a beautiful mosaic

Let’s ditch talk of computers and bank accounts. Positive mind-metaphors emphasise our embodied inter-connectedness

by Anna Katharina Schaffner

Blurry photo of a coastal scene with sandy beach rocks ocean and cloudy sky conveying a sense of motion or abstraction.

Neurodiversity

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I have no mind’s eye: let me try to describe it for you

With aphantasia, my mind’s eye sees only darkness, not images. It’s like missing a sense, and only imagination can compensate

by Neesa Sunar