Menu
Psyche
DonateNewsletter
SIGN IN

Popular

Psyche’s most popular Ideas, Guides and Films

Sticky reminder notes are seen on a mirror and on various other items on top of a chest of drawers

The self

idea

What my mother’s sticky notes show about the nature of the self

Dementia accelerates a process we all experience, as our memories become increasingly externalised into the world around us

by Crispin Sartwell

The African American singer and pianist Nina Simone is pictured alone, singing against a spotlight that resembles a moon in the darkness. She has her eyes closed.

Emerging therapies

idea

Could that tingle down the spine be a way to rediscover joy?

In new research, scientists have looked into the potential benefits of giving people with depression the aesthetic chills

by Shayla Love

A young girl, seen from the back, in a museum in China stands before a huge, oval multicoloured image of ‘fossil’ microwave radiation

Virtues and vices

idea

The medieval notion that shows why even experts should be humble

Nicholas of Cusa and others saw the importance of ‘learned ignorance’ or recognising there is always something more to learn

by Christopher M Bellitto

Thinkers and theories

idea

How the feminist philosopher Helene Stöcker canonised Nietzsche

Despite Nietzsche’s reputation for misogyny, his work inspired a leading women’s rights activist of the early 20th century

by Lydia Moland

Spirituality and religion

idea

UFO belief is a modern outlet for ancient spiritual yearnings

Even when it’s not explicitly religious, belief in alien visitors resembles our oldest ways of making sense of the world

by Francesco Dimitri

A close up of a vibrant yellow-gold tulip flower

History of ideas

idea

I smell, therefore I am. On the philosophy of the olfactory

To truly grip us, philosophy must engage with the practical and animalistic. It’s time to stop turning its nose up at smell

by Simon Hajdini

Transcendent experience

idea

Our days are both rough and slippery. Hope brings traction

I want to defend and buoy hope – it’s a fragile, quirky thing, but it has the power to help us act in the face of finitude

by John Lysaker

Many commuters walk towards the camera with varying degrees of blurred faces

Mind and brain

idea

What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen?

They’ve been studied by researchers and recruited by police forces, but what’s it actually like to be a super-recogniser?

by Shayla Love