philosophy11.19 min read
Two-Way Growth: The Stoic Call to Learn by Teaching
19 hours ago•Source: Space Daily
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12.24 min•17 days ago
Beginner Mindset: Epictetus on Unlearning What You Think You Know
Epictetus argues that you cannot learn something you already think you know, warning that certainty can block real understanding. The piece links this to the Dunning-Kruger effect and to a Yale study showing how internet searching can inflate perceived knowledge by conflating accessible information with personal knowledge. It advocates a practical, beginner’s approach: explain the concept aloud or in writing without looking up the answer, and maintain curiosity to keep the door open to genuine learning, treating certainty as a cue to reassess rather than a badge of mastery.
28.86 min•1 month ago
Meta-Evidence Beyond AI: Why Humans Still Signal Quality in Philosophy
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Berggruen Prize 2025 crowns consciousness-themed AI essays with $50K prizes
The Berggruen Institute announced the winners of the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition: English-language winner Anil Seth for a critique of conscious AI, and Chinese-language winners Xin Huang and Xiaoben Liu for essays on language, tokens, mind uploading, and a Web4-era consciousness. Each language category receives USD 50,000, with all three winning essays published by Berggruen Press. The competition drew about 3,000 submissions from over 120 countries, selected through blind review; honorable mentions and a slate of shortlisted essays were also recognized and made available online. The essays explore deep questions about consciousness, language, computation, and the future relationship between human and artificial minds.
Rethinking Life and Play: The Impact of Scoring on Happiness
The article discusses philosopher C. Thi Nguyen's book 'The Score,' which argues that scoring systems in games are liberating and foster creativity, whereas institutional metrics like grades and rankings tend to stifle individuality and impose homogenized values, urging us to reconsider how we engage with these systems in our lives.
The Dual Nature of Honor Through History
The article explores the historical and philosophical perspectives on honor and virtue, contrasting Aristotle's emphasis on moral virtues as the path to happiness with the samurai code of bushido, which values loyalty, courage, and honorable death, ultimately suggesting that true virtue aligns with higher divine truths beyond mere honor or power.
Unveiling Pride and Shame's Influence on Human Society
Bernard Mandeville's work explores how pride and shame drive human behavior and social cohesion, revealing that virtues like politeness and chastity are artificial passions rooted in self-love and the desire for recognition, which ultimately contribute to societal welfare through private vices.
Guide to Enjoying Ethically Sourced Pleasure
The article explores the concept of pleasure from a philosophical perspective, emphasizing that pleasure is a natural, evaluative feeling that should not be moralized or seen as vulgar. It distinguishes between the source of pleasure and the experience itself, advocating for a mindful pursuit of diverse, responsible pleasures—both immediate and delayed—to lead a fulfilling and ethically sound life.
The Core Issue in Philosophy's Journal System
In the first half of 2025, a top philosophy journal, The Journal of Philosophy, accepted only one article out of 403 submissions, highlighting a notably low acceptance rate, though the reasons behind this are not definitively explained.
Embracing Boredom: A Philosophical Approach to Digital Minimalism
The article explores how digital overload diminishes our capacity for reflection and depth, drawing on Heidegger's philosophy to argue that embracing boredom and silence can foster authentic thinking and self-awareness, serving as a resistance to the constant stimulation of modern technology.
The Dancing Monk: Embracing Control and Joy in Maturity
Oliver Burkeman explores how accepting human mortality and limits can lead to a more joyful life, advocating for a balanced approach between control and passivity, exemplified by the metaphor of a dancing monk who embraces life's boundaries with joy.
Test Your True Intelligence with This Philosophy Quiz
This article is a philosophy trivia quiz covering topics like Western philosophy, famous philosophers, key philosophical concepts, and influential texts, designed to test knowledge on figures such as Socrates, Descartes, Kant, Sartre, and Rousseau.
Interpreting Nature's Laws: Recipe or News Report?
The essay explores different philosophical models explaining the laws of nature, focusing on the 'layer-cake' model, which views laws as deterministic and producing future states from present ones, and the 'newspaper' model, which sees laws as descriptive rather than prescriptive. It also introduces the 'straitjacket' model, which suggests laws constrain possibilities without a flow of time. The discussion highlights the metaphysical challenges each model faces in explaining stable regularities in the universe, such as the consistent rising of the Sun or the boiling point of water.