The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek for "love of wisdom," and that's appropriate — it's largely a calling one pursues for love, not for fame and certainly not for money. And while the most well-read philosophy junkies might know the names and works of well-known contemporary thinkers like Saul Kripke, Daniel Dennett and John Searle, it's doubtful that many people know much at all about their personal lives. Read more…

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Tell us what you think of our caricature of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. We'd love to get your feedback.

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Professor Philippa Foot, who died on October 3, her 90th birthday, was one of the most distinctive and influential thinkers in moral philosophy; she was an early exponent of what is known as "moral realism" or "cognitivism", the view that there can be true moral propositions and that values cannot be wholly separated from facts. Read more…

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Plato: ancient Greek philosopher's 'secret music code' cracked by British scientists

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Philosopher whose distinctive voice stood above the fray

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It may seem surprising that so many books continue to be written debating Martin Heidegger’s Nazi affiliations, since the fact that Heidegger was a Nazi has never been in dispute. How could it be, when the great philosopher took office as rector of Freiburg University in April 1933 specifically in order to carry out the Gleichschaltung, or “bringing into line,” of the school with Hitler’s new party-state? Didn’t he tell the student body, in a speech that November, that “the Führer and he alone is the present and future German reality and its law”? After the war, didn’t he go out of his way to minimize Nazi crimes, even describing the Holocaust, in one notorious essay, as just another manifestation of modern technology, like mechanized agriculture? Read more…

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One of the pitfalls of writing a biography of a great philosopher is the temptation to reduce important ideas to mere psychology, an outgrowth of some fluke in the philosopher’s personal development. Julian Young, a professor at the University of Auckland and Wake Forest University, has for the most part avoided this trap by writing a “philosophical” biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) in which the life story provides context but ultimately not explanation for the ideas. In so doing he has provided a serious and readable, if not exactly ground-breaking, introduction to Nietzsche’s “philosophy with a hammer.” Read more…

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