The three parts of every mind — According to the father of psychology Sigmund Freud, there are three parts of the human psyche: the ego, the id and the superego. These are originally Latin terms meaning ‘I’, ‘it’ and ‘upper-I’. The iceberg is a common illustration of this triple structure of the mind. The part of the…

sub specie aeternitatis /sʌb ˈspiːʃiː ɪˌtəːnɪˈtɑːtɪs/ adverb 1. viewed in relation to the eternal; in a universal perspective. Imagine setting out from your home one day, leaving everything you know behind and heading off into the world. And imagine that on this journey, you become fantastically successful and wealthy and…

From Freud and Jung to the New Age Icarus — Ego is a bad word in our society. Unmoored from its clinical origins in the work of Sigmund Freud, the term has taken on a life of its own as Western culture’s part-time boogeyman and full-time pinata. In the past century the ego has transformed from an obscure Latin word…

How Nietzschean spirituality offers a third way between enlightenment and selling out — This week’s instalment was prompted by a question from one of The Living Philosophy’s supporters on Patreon Kevin Sherman who wrote:

Why I find Nietzsche so compelling (and you should too) — Why it Matters is a type of content that I experimented with on The Living Philosophy YouTube channel last year. It’s essentially my personal take on why a topic matters. In putting together the major pieces of canonical content, I try to keep myself out of the affair as much…

A compass for navigating Nietzsche Creating an overview of Friedrich Nietzsche presents unique challenges. There are many great articles and videos that are organised chronologically around his life or his works and others that focus on his big ideas. But in this instalment we’re going to try something a little…

An Introduction to the Father of Existentialism/Psychoanalysis/Postmodernism — This is a brief taster of Nietzsche. If you’re only vaguely aware of a thinker then reading a long-form article can be a bit of a leap of faith. These brief tasters then are a way of making that leap a little less daunting. By boiling down a thinker to…

A deep dive into the philosophy of the Christian father of Existentialism — Kierkegaard was by far the most profound thinker of the last century. Kierkegaard was a saint. — Ludwig Wittgenstein For all its critical analysis philosophy has not yet managed to root out its psychopaths. What do we have psychiatric diagnosis for? That grizzler Kierkegaard also belongs in this galere. …