The Best Articles in Philosophy
The most useful articles and videos in Philosophy from around the web, curated by thought leaders and our community.
Refind focuses on timeless pieces and updates the list whenever new, must-read articles or videos are discovered.
Top 5 Philosophy Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved in Philosophy by Refind users in 2024 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
The problem with "positive thinking". #shorts
Illusionist Derren Brown believes that the centuries old philosophy of Stoicism may hold the key to a kind of happiness that is more grounded in reality.
What is life? | Nobel Prize-winner Paul Nurse
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Nurse defines the 5 core principles of life.Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukT...
16 Life-Changing Ideas You’ve Never Heard Of
George Mack is a writer, marketer and entrepreneur.If our mind is an operating system, ideas are the apps we install to give us a greater understanding of th...
RESONANCE AND ALIENATION. TWO MODES OF EXPERIENCING TIME?
By Hartmut Rosa for TimeWorld 2019, the International congress on Time.https://timeworldevent.com/1/accueil/Hartmut Rosa is Professor of Sociology and Social...
A few short lessons from Stoicism for dealing with life
✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, m...
What is ...?
New to Philosophy? These articles make an excellent introduction.
Our innate ideas prevent us seeing what is innate in human nature
We have a great deal of trouble telling what is innate and what is learned in human nature, whether ideas or emotions
15 of the Best Philosophy Books for Beginners
From classic texts to modern philosophy books for beginners, these are the best philosophy books to fill your shelves with.
The hardest question ever asked: What is truth?
Scientists believe they have the answer, but philosophers prove them wrong.
«An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), David Hume argues that inductive logic is unjustified. Inductive logic is the process of making observations and then drawing larger conclusions from limited data»
What is philosophy?
Professor Jonardon Ganeri FBA explains the meanings and uses of philosophy, from the ancient world to the present day.
«To do philosophy nowadays is to attend to the ways things are by attending to the concepts according to which we understand them.»
Philosophy of Happiness
INTRO Here’s a short introduction to some of the most fascinating philosophical issues about happiness. We are going to look at three...
How to ...?
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day: Arnold Bennett on Living a Meaningful Life
Arnold Bennett’s How to Live on 24 Hours a Day explores a meaningful life by addressing the age-old question: how can we make the best use of our time?
«What you learn today becomes the scaffolding to solving tomorrow’s problem.»
How to Change a World: The Radical Russian Prince Turned Anarchist and Pioneering Scientist Peter Kropotkin’s Advice…
“Courage, devotion, the spirit of sacrifice, are as contagious as cowardice, submission, and panic.”
How to Beat Procrastination Like a Stoic Philosopher
Seven tactics from the ancient world that have stood the test of time
How to fulfil the need for transcendence after the death of God
The modern world is disenchanted. God remains dead. But our need for transcendence lives on. How should we fulfil it?
How to create space for ethics in AI
We can't wait for tech regulation and competition reform to ensure ethical AI. We need to move forward now.
Trending
These links are currently making the rounds in Philosophy on Refind.
Why We Need “Degrowth” ❧ Current Affairs
Leading philosopher Kohei Saito defends the controversial idea of “degrowth communism.”
Black Nazis? A woman pope? That’s just the start of Google’s AI problem.
The Gemini image generator isn’t just suffering from a technical problem, but from a philosophical one.
Nozick’s Experience Machine: Does it Refute Hedonism?
Robert Nozick’s experience machine is commonly invoked to argue that there’s more to life than pleasure. This article outlines the thought experiment, and discusses why hedonists think it’s deeply…
Aristotle — How to live a good life
2400 years ago Aristotle found out how to be happy. His Nicomachean Ethics is an operating manual for a good life.
Can philosophy help us get a grip on the consequences of AI?
Generative agents will change our society in weird, wonderful and worrying ways. Can philosophy help us get a grip on them?
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles in Philosophy—all under 10 minutes.
11 Philosophical Razors to Simplify Your Life
A collection of eleven philosophical razors; principles that can simplify your life by getting rid of useless or unlikely explanations.
«Wittgenstein’s Ruler, the idea that judgements made by an unreliable source tell you more about the source than about the claim itself.»
4 practical life lessons from Taoism
Taoism (also written Daoism) is a religion, philosophy, and set of practices that arose in ancient China. Established by the semi-legendary Lao Tzu, and the slightly better accounted for Zhuangzi, its…
«Zhuangzi is making the important point that breaking out of your limited perspective can provide new insights and a better understanding of the world around you.»
Five Timeless Life Lessons from Seneca
Seneca was a Stoic philosopher in Ancient Rome. While his life lessons are 2000 years old, they are now more relevant than ever.
«To build wealth like a Stoic, spend less than you earn, and prioritize saving and investing. This doesn’t mean you should lead a life of severe frugality; simply find a balance.»
Actually, neuroscience suggests "the self" is real
There is a deep debate that has been going on for centuries in the world of science and philosophy, a debate that some might call a war. It revolves around the nature of consciousness and the self,…
«This deterministic worldview raises the question: If every action, emotion, or thought we experience is predetermined by a set sequence of causes and effects, where is the room for an independent entity called the “self” to truly exist»
These 14 Small Mindset Shifts Will Change Your Life
For the most part, we can’t change the world. We can’t change the fundamental facts of existence–like the fact that we’re going to die. We can’t change other people. Does that mean that everything is…
«one way to think about Stoicism itself then is as a collection of mindset shifts for the many situations that life seems to thrust us in.»
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles in Philosophy.
Since when is philosophy a branch of the self-help industry?
The discipline today finds itself precariously balanced between incomprehensible specialisation and cheap self-help
«Many people buy books that supply the illusion of thinking»
Is it possible to hold truly contradictory beliefs together?
We can all be inconsistent. Philosophy illuminates a bigger puzzle: how do we hold contradictory beliefs at the same time?
A Single Small Map Is Enough For A Lifetime
What if this bog-standard corner of England is actually full of adventure, nature, wildness, surprises, silence, perspective — if only I bothered to go out and look?
How Alan Watts re-imagined religion, desire and life itself
Alan Watts, for all his faults, was a wildly imaginative and provocative thinker who reimagined religion in a secular age
Is there life after death?
Is there an afterlife or is this the only life we get? Most think science says there is no afterlife. But this view, while common, is wrong.
«Most believe science says there is no afterlife. But this view, while common, is wrong.»
Thought Leaders
We monitor hundreds of thought leaders, influencers, and newsletters in Philosophy, including:
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The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
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We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
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