Philosophy & Thinking
Big ideas from the thinkers who shaped them.
The Hedgehog and the Fox: Isaiah Berlin on Two Ways of Knowing
Isaiah Berlin's The Hedgehog and the Fox: one big idea versus many, why Tolstoy was a fox who longed to be a hedgehog and which type you are.
The Aura and the Angel of History: Walter Benjamin's "Illuminations"
Walter Benjamin's Illuminations: the aura of art lost to mechanical reproduction, the Angel of History and his critique of progress.
Manufacturing Consent: Chomsky on the Machinery of Opinion
Manufacturing Consent, by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, is one of the most influential and most challenging analyses of the mass media ever written.
Education as the Practice of Freedom: Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"
Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed is one of the most influential books on education ever written, and it is really a book about freedom.
The Comfortable Unfreedom: Marcuse's "One-Dimensional Man"
Marcuse's One-Dimensional Man: false needs, how affluence pacifies dissent and why comfortable unfreedom can feel like freedom.
When Reason Turns Against Itself: "Dialectic of Enlightenment"
Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment: instrumental reason, from dominating nature to dominating people and the culture industry.
History From Below: Howard Zinn's "A People's History"
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States: American history told by workers, slaves, women and Native Americans, read critically.
The Prison of Modern Life: Foucault's "Discipline and Punish"
Foucault's Discipline and Punish explained: from torture to discipline, the panopticon, docile bodies and modern society as a disciplinary system.
The Colonized Mind: Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"
Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth: colonialism's psychological damage, the contested question of violence and the pitfalls of liberation.
Inventing the East: Edward Said's "Orientalism"
Edward Said's Orientalism explained: how the West invented the East, the link between knowledge and power, and why who represents whom matters.
The Secret of the Commodity: A Reading of Marx's "Capital"
A critical reading of Marx's Capital: the commodity, commodity fetishism, surplus value and exploitation, and how to read Marx today.
Unraveling America's Intellectual Tapestry: Insights from "The Metaphysical Club" by Louis Menand
Picture this: a bustling intellectual crossroads where minds collide and ideas intertwine.
The Greatest Happiness Principle: Mill's "Utilitarianism"
John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism is the classic defence of one of the most influential, and most intuitive, moral theories ever devised.
The Minimal State: Robert Nozick's Libertarian Challenge
Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia: rights as side constraints, the entitlement theory of justice, the Wilt Chamberlain argument and the minimal state.
Paradigm Shifts: How Science Really Changes, According to Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: paradigms, normal science, crisis, revolution and incommensurability, explained simply.
The Road to Serfdom: Hayek's Warning Against Central Planning
Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom is one of the most influential and most controversial works of political economy of the twentieth century.
Justice as Fairness: John Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance
John Rawls' A Theory of Justice: the veil of ignorance, the two principles of justice and the difference principle, explained simply.
Beyond Good and Evil: Unpacking Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra unpacked: the Übermensch, the death of God and eternal recurrence, and the lessons this philosophical novel leaves.
The Enemies of the Open Society: Karl Popper's Defense of Freedom
Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies: open vs closed societies, the danger of utopian planning and piecemeal social engineering.
Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey: Reflections on "The Varieties of Religious Experience" by William James
Hey there, fellow seekers of enlightenment! Today, I'm thrilled to invite you on a transformative journey through the realms of human spirituality.
The Tyranny of the Majority: John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty"
John Stuart Mill's On Liberty is the great classic statement of individual freedom, and it has shaped liberal thought ever since.
The Apollonian and the Dionysian: Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy"
Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy explained: the Apollonian and the Dionysian, how Greek tragedy was born and how art lets us affirm life.
The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem"
Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: the banality of evil, thoughtlessness as the root of atrocity and why her idea was so fiercely debated.
One Is Not Born a Woman: Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex"
Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex: woman as the Other, "one is not born a woman" and the foundation it laid for modern feminism.