Knowledge and reason

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Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid

Struggling to understand is perfectly honourable. Being wilfully stupid is something else and we should strive to fix it

by Sacha Golob

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LOVE

Love shouldn’t be blind or mad. Instead, fall rationally in love

Blind, all-consuming love goes against your interests and impedes your flourishing. Submit your love to rational scrutiny

by Berit Brogaard

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How to think clearly

By learning to question and clarify your thoughts, you’ll improve your self-knowledge and become a better communicator

by Tom Chatfield

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Why good teachers allow a child’s mind to wander and wonder

The experience of wonder is essential to the task of education – it opens up the world. That’s why teachers should foster it

by Anders Schinkel

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Anxiety isn’t a pathology. It drives us to push back the unknown

‘I’m anxious, therefore I enquire.’ Anxiety isn’t a problem to be solved; it drives philosophical enquiry and makes us human

by Samir Chopra

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Pseudophilosophy encourages confused, self-indulgent thinking

Pseudophilosophy can result from simple misunderstanding or wilful obscurity. The cure is basic critical thinking skills

by Victor Moberger

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How to revive your sense of wonder

That childhood urge to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ usually fades. But we can all learn to rediscover the joys of wide-eyed discovery

by Frank Keil

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How to think like a phenomenologist

Doing Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological reduction will transform your view of the world and your own consciousness

by D J Hobbs

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How to think for yourself

Schopenhauer and Proust can help you find inspiration from your favourite writers while also retaining an independent mind

by David Bather Woods

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How to know who’s trustworthy

Knotty problems call for sound advice. Use philosophy to find the intellectually dependable amid the frauds and egotists

by T Ryan Byerly

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How to think like a Bayesian

In a world of few absolutes, it pays to be able to think clearly about probabilities. These five ideas will get you started

by Michael G Titelbaum

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Adam Smith warned us about sympathising with the elites

Sympathy is both key to human psychology and source of much of our misery. For Adam Smith, the philosophical life is the cure

by Blake Smith

Protesters holding signs against cashless society, media and climate emergency. Signs include “ONLY BY STANDING TOGETHER WILL WE BE FREE” and “TIME TO WAKE UP”.

Our big problem is not misinformation; it’s knowingness

Everybody knows we live in an age of misinformation. But everybody’s wrong, and here’s why it’s our age’s biggest problem

by Jonathan Malesic

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Time doesn’t flow like a river. So why do we feel swept along?

Physics tells us that time doesn’t flow like a river, as Heraclitus claimed. Why then do we feel like we’re swept along?

by Nick Young

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AUTISM

Autistic people challenge preconceived ideas about rationality

While cognitive biases commonly sway decision-making, Autistic people might be less susceptible to such biases

by Liron Rozenkrantz & Anila D’Mello

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The antidote to fake news is to nourish our epistemic wellbeing

There’s more to wellbeing than physical and mental health: we also need epistemic wellbeing, or good access to knowledge

by Kenneth Boyd