Aeon Magazine

Nothing we can do will make the world more free, fair and prosperous than giving women control over their own bodies

On Nias island, the heart can be ‘squeezed’, ‘hot’, even ‘hairy’. What can anthropology say about unfamiliar emotional zones?

Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre defied the gloomy existentialist stereotype. They enjoyed having a good time.

We’re opportunistic, inventive and flexible animals, and there is no ‘natural’ or ‘right’ way to bring up our children

The backlash against antidepressants results from a suspicion of medicine, and misunderstands the very nature of depression

Across time and place, royal women wielded power in remarkably similar ways, building political agency on a par with kings

Mother Nature might be lovely, but moral she is not. She doesn’t love us or want what’s best for us.

A cat is alive, a sofa is not: that much we know. But a sofa is also part of life. Information theory tells us why.

If psychedelic substances are a portal to ultimate reality, why have they been the preserve of white, college-educated men?

The Nazis have occupied France. It’s easy to condemn the collaborators. But be honest: What would you really do?

People in the Middle Ages took great care over cleanliness — except the clergy, who accepted filth as a sign of devotion

American country music is not just hillbilly music: From Blind Alfred Reed to Garth Brooks, it has been progressive at heart

In a strangely unremarked-upon twist, Disney films have taken to subverting romance and rethinking the happy-ever-afters