By John Wood, Jr.

There is a philosophical self-image at the heart of the western world’s conception of itself. That image is the classically liberal vision of the self — the individual — as the essential unit of society. To the archetypal western mind, society is the mere congregation of individuals. Since the Enlightenment, in particular, the great minds of the western tradition have tended to identify the individual as the legitimate locus of rights and increasing measures of sovereignty. Indeed, the progress of western — and much of global — society since the Enlightenment, in statecraft, economics, social and…

By Lisa Marchiano

The London Times recently carried a story about an avalanche of self-harm among British school children. According to the article, “school nurses are dealing with panic attacks, self-cutting, overdoses and eating disorders rather than the nose bleeds and minor accidents of a decade ago.” The government is responding with calls for additional resources for mental health in schools, but will this address the problem? Writing in the British Medical Journal’s blog earlier this year, UK psychiatrist Derek Summerfield noted that anti-depressant prescriptions have increased from around 9 million in the 1990s to 64.7 …

By Conor Barnes

“I think everyone would agree the world would be a better place if we had less testosterone.”

My friend shared this quote with me in bemusement after he heard it at a philosophy meetup. What did the speaker mean? Owing to the links between masculine traits and testosterone, my suspicion is that he meant something like “the world needs less masculinity,” or “the world needs less impulsive men, less risk-taking men, less violent men, less competitive men, and less dominance-focused men.”

Let’s provisionally consider masculinity as a cluster of behaviors and drives based in biology and developed…

By Piers Benn

I recently asked a class of American students whether a man should be allowed to strut up and down a busy high street, dressed in a Nazi uniform. I knew I was taking a slight risk — some of them might have thought I was making light of the evils of Nazism by posing the question in a neutral tone of voice, as if it wasn’t obvious that the sight of such a thing would be repellent. But this was a not a class of “snowflakes,” eager to take offense or pounce on the supposedly sinister assumptions…

By Thomas Cortellesi

It’s a Godawful Small Affair

Human expansion into space is at the periphery of our current, scientific knowledge. There is a long and earnest history of proposals for such a project; it fills canons of science fiction, occupies reams of academic writing, and reposes smiling in the hearts of millions as a hope, and a dream. Today, major institutions, billionaires, and even the nation of Luxembourg are investing in ambitious off-Earth plans. Environmental scientists and economists are proposing ways to use space-based resources to improve life on Earth. Slowly, surely, the idea is making its way into the mainstream.

Wonder if He’ll Ever Know/ He’s in the Best Selling Show

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy…

By Helen Pluckrose and James A. Lindsay

It is commonplace to describe prevailing attitudes about social issues, including those regarding gender equality and gender roles, as being like a pendulum which swings one way and then another as a liberal society attempts to find an ideal balance. Where it comes to gender issues, those who believe that society remains patriarchal and misogynistic, as it ever has been, tend to reject the metaphor of a social pendulum. For them, the bob is stuck, fixed at a state producing injustices that negatively affect women. Those who use the pendulum metaphor do so…

By Brandon Wilson

The prevailing view that we’re safe from technological unemployment has a dubious basis. We will continue to create new jobs, but we can’t yet create new human capacities. The presumption that we are irreplaceable in the economy is reminiscent of egocentric illusions of the past.

Since the industrial revolution, people have had dystopian concerns about technology displacing workers and causing economic collapse. The first political movement to coalesce around this issue was the so-called Luddites of the early 1800s, and the fear has bubbled up again and again ever since. These eruptions are usually provoked by a…

By Ralph Leonard

In the often polarizing and intense debates on identity politics you often encounter three talking points from those who oppose those who criticise identity politics. First, that all politics is identity politics. Second, critics of so called “identity politics” ignore the specific oppression of marginalized groups and third, they perpetuate a white male chauvinist worldview.

This particular form of argumentation is flawed because it ignores the fact that there have been many different critiques of identity politics by non-whites, many of whom have been deeply involved in struggles against racism, injustice, and colonial oppression. I of course…