Showing 604 articles
A Stoic guide to our Emotions – Pt. 1: Can we trust our feelings?
Author: Gilad SommerDecember 16, 2017
Human beings are often said to be rational creatures, but in reality we are very much emotional creatures as well. More often than not, history is a showcase of tragic actions taken by human beings overcome by their passions. And apart from these grand-scale dramas, our everyday life is full of instances where the right [...]
Income for all
Author: Istvan OrbanNovember 15, 2017
In Finland the government recently introduced a scheme whereby 2000 unemployed people would receive an unconditional income of £478 a month. Initially, it sounds like a utopia, but the experiment is real and the selected families will receive the guaranteed sum for 2 years. The results so far are incredible: the scheme is not only [...]
The Dawn and Decline of Technological Man
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaNovember 1, 2017
How important has technology been to the development of Humanity? By definition, technology relates to the means by which man attempts to rule over matter. However, technical elements alone are not enough to measure progress. Today we find ourselves engaged in a cult to technology, such that we judge the quality and excellence of civilizations [...]
God, Consciousness, Science: Conversations
Author: Sukesh MotwaniOctober 19, 2017
As philosophers born in an age where Science is leading the pursuit of answering questions to do with life, creation and the nature of reality, it becomes incumbent upon us to keep alive the sense of wonder at the underlying order and harmony in the workings of the universe. The search for ‘truth’ and ‘meaning’ [...]
A Moment to Stop and Reflect
Author: Ilanit AdarOctober 19, 2017
This article is a compilation of excerpts from the book A Moment to Stop and Reflect by Ilanit Adar Matoki to be published in Korean. In times when knowledge is very accessible and there exists a flood of information, it is a challenge to acknowledge words of wisdom. The eyes quickly pass over unimportant words [...]
The Ideal Activist: Inner Work for Outer Change
Author: Harianto H MehtaOctober 19, 2017
With a burning aspiration and courageous determination, many a youth dares to dream of a better world, driven by the need to take responsibility and participate in bringing about the clearly evident need for change, whether in the realm of ecology, literacy, socio-economic disparity, or the myriad other causes that demand attention in our times. [...]
Reflections on the Metaphysics of Music with Shubha Mudgal
Author: Manjula NanavatiOctober 19, 2017
“When the soul hears music, it drops its best guard.” – Socrates Music is perhaps the most philosophically puzzling of all the arts. Unlike painting or sculpture it does not culminate in a physical object. Unlike literature and drama, instrumental music has no semantic value. Yet every tune, melody, theme, raga or symphony is steeped [...]
Are We Human Beings or Human Doings?
Author: Archana SamarthOctober 19, 2017
This question is relevant to the times we live in. The pace of life accelerated by the need for constantly moving, rushing, or accomplishing emphasises the importance we associate with doing. Just being when the whole world seems to be caught up in a whirlwind of action, seems so passive! By doing, we feel we [...]
Raphael: The Drawings
Author: Siobhan FarrarOctober 19, 2017
Raphael was born in 1483 and by the age of 17 he had been given the title of ‘Magister’, meaning independent master. This exhibition of his drawings and studies at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford takes a look at the essence of the artist. The opening lines of the exhibition’s guide read as follows: ’Drawing [...]
The importance of knowing what is good
Author: Sabine LeitnerOctober 19, 2017
If morality is the discernment of what is good and consequently the ability to choose between what is good and what is bad, then we have clearly lost our moral compass some time ago. It seems that we don’t really know anymore what is good for us. And this starts at the most basic level [...]
Yunus Emre, a Sufi Poet from Anatolia
Author: Pinar AkhanOctober 19, 2017
It is said that anyone in Turkey – even the illiterate – will have heard of Yunus Emre. Although he is not as popular here as he is in Turkey, the new TV series “Yunus Emre” is one of the attempts to make him known in the English-speaking world. What made him famous was not [...]
Philosophy as a Way of Life
Author: Julian ScottOctober 19, 2017
The other day I heard a memorable phrase from the mouth of a Yorkshire farmer: “Farming is a way of life.” And it occurred to me that anything which is done properly must be a way of life. The same is true of philosophy. “Generally speaking, university philosophy is mere fencing in front of a [...]