Aeon Magazine
@aeon.co
Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Visit aeon.co for more.
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
Aeon is featuring an article I wrote on Margaret Macdonald’s idea that a good philosophical theory is like a good story for #worldphilosophyday
Today is #WorldPhilosophyDay, and we’re re-sharing this essay from the archive which explores how, according to philosopher Margaret Macdonald, ‘philosophical theories are much more like good stories than scientific explanations.’
Philosophical theories are like good stories: Margaret Macdonald | Aeon Essays
For Margaret Macdonald, philosophical theories are akin to stories, meant to enlarge certain aspects of human life
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November 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Aeon is featuring an article I wrote on Margaret Macdonald’s idea that a good philosophical theory is like a good story for #worldphilosophyday
From Peruvian healers battling sorcerers to Chinese executives seeking financial success, ayahuasca’s power shifts across worlds. Today’s essay follows ayahuasca’s remarkable journey across cultures and contexts, and explores the many ways of experiencing and understanding the brew
The many realities of ayahuasca, from rural Peru to urban China | Aeon Essays
From Peruvian healers battling sorcerers to Chinese executives seeking financial success, ayahuasca’s power shifts across worlds
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November 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
From Peruvian healers battling sorcerers to Chinese executives seeking financial success, ayahuasca’s power shifts across worlds. Today’s essay follows ayahuasca’s remarkable journey across cultures and contexts, and explores the many ways of experiencing and understanding the brew
It can appear absurd to speak of friendship with animals, let alone trees. But is it so strange? Empedocles argued that our circle of belonging doesn’t stop with humans. Animals, plants, even trees are our kin, and so treating them well isn’t optional, but a moral obligation
Should we act morally towards trees? Empedocles says yes | Aeon Essays
Who belongs to our moral community? The Greek philosopher Empedocles had an answer: all life, from humans to the laurel bush
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November 24, 2025 at 11:30 AM
It can appear absurd to speak of friendship with animals, let alone trees. But is it so strange? Empedocles argued that our circle of belonging doesn’t stop with humans. Animals, plants, even trees are our kin, and so treating them well isn’t optional, but a moral obligation
With more than 6,000 exoplanets discovered, confirming an exomoon would open new questions about how planetary systems form, and maybe even where life could exist. Watch this converation between physicist Brian Greene and astronomer @davidkipping.bsky.social at the World Science Festival
Why exomoons could be astronomy’s next big breakthrough | Aeon Videos
Exoplanet discoveries have reshaped astronomy. Are exomoons next? Brian Greene in conversation with David Kipping
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November 22, 2025 at 11:30 AM
With more than 6,000 exoplanets discovered, confirming an exomoon would open new questions about how planetary systems form, and maybe even where life could exist. Watch this converation between physicist Brian Greene and astronomer @davidkipping.bsky.social at the World Science Festival
What if democracies could not go to war without consulting their citizens? Modern states often wage war without giving the public any formal right to weigh in.
How democratic can a system be when citizens are excluded, and what would it mean to give the people a voice?
How democratic can a system be when citizens are excluded, and what would it mean to give the people a voice?
It is not democratic to go to war without the people’s consent | Aeon Essays
The gravest of all decisions, to go to war, happens without the consent of the people. This is a great flaw in democracy
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November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
What if democracies could not go to war without consulting their citizens? Modern states often wage war without giving the public any formal right to weigh in.
How democratic can a system be when citizens are excluded, and what would it mean to give the people a voice?
How democratic can a system be when citizens are excluded, and what would it mean to give the people a voice?
Today is #WorldPhilosophyDay, and we’re re-sharing this essay from the archive which explores how, according to philosopher Margaret Macdonald, ‘philosophical theories are much more like good stories than scientific explanations.’
Philosophical theories are like good stories: Margaret Macdonald | Aeon Essays
For Margaret Macdonald, philosophical theories are akin to stories, meant to enlarge certain aspects of human life
buff.ly
November 20, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Today is #WorldPhilosophyDay, and we’re re-sharing this essay from the archive which explores how, according to philosopher Margaret Macdonald, ‘philosophical theories are much more like good stories than scientific explanations.’
In his short film ‘Angles of Love’, the artist and demographic scientist Vincent Straub asks friends, family and strangers the question: ‘What is love to you?’ and films the hands of his respondents, capturing the interplay between verbal and physical expression
What people’s hand gestures reveal when they’re asked about love | Aeon Videos
What is love to you? An artist focuses on the hands and gestures of his subjects as they reflect on this boundless question
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November 20, 2025 at 2:45 PM
In his short film ‘Angles of Love’, the artist and demographic scientist Vincent Straub asks friends, family and strangers the question: ‘What is love to you?’ and films the hands of his respondents, capturing the interplay between verbal and physical expression
Essential to life and threaded through deep time, phosphorus has been mined and disrupted by human activity. This essay traces its journey from ancient soils and riverbeds to industrial farms, and explores how we can restore the phosphorus cycles that have sustained life for aeons
The cycling of phosphorus is the basis for all life on Earth | Aeon Essays
This life-giving element, stored in rock and organic material, moves around Earth in an ancient cycle we have just broken
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November 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Essential to life and threaded through deep time, phosphorus has been mined and disrupted by human activity. This essay traces its journey from ancient soils and riverbeds to industrial farms, and explores how we can restore the phosphorus cycles that have sustained life for aeons
This short from the Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel titled ‘Darwin’s Notebook’ envisions the encounter of Charles Darwin with three Indigenous people on the Beagle, who were travelling back to their homelands in Terra del Fuego after being kidnapped to England in 1830
The story of the captives transported on the HMS Beagle with Darwin | Aeon Videos
An animated interpretation of the story of the Indigenous people kidnapped from Tierra del Fuego and brought to England in 1830
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November 19, 2025 at 11:15 AM
This short from the Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel titled ‘Darwin’s Notebook’ envisions the encounter of Charles Darwin with three Indigenous people on the Beagle, who were travelling back to their homelands in Terra del Fuego after being kidnapped to England in 1830
Chronic inflammation isn’t visible like acute inflammation – it simmers away quietly until it flares, affecting the whole body. In today’s timely essay, a medical anthropologist explores what we know about chronic inflammation and asks if it’s time to rethink the framework behind it
Could chronic inflammation be the medical paradigm shift of our age? | Aeon Essays
Acute inflammation helps the body heal. But chronic inflammation is different and could provoke a medical paradigm shift
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November 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Chronic inflammation isn’t visible like acute inflammation – it simmers away quietly until it flares, affecting the whole body. In today’s timely essay, a medical anthropologist explores what we know about chronic inflammation and asks if it’s time to rethink the framework behind it
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
Today in @aeon.co Andreas Mogensen and I discuss animal welfare, AI welfare, and probabilistic ethics. We make the case for addressing the moral status of animals and AI systems as we address health, climate, and other big issues: with probabilistic reasoning and proportional responses.
An ant is drowning: here’s how to decide if you should save it | Aeon Essays
Should we simply assume that all animals can feel pain and are of moral concern? Or is that taking things too far?
aeon.co
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Today in @aeon.co Andreas Mogensen and I discuss animal welfare, AI welfare, and probabilistic ethics. We make the case for addressing the moral status of animals and AI systems as we address health, climate, and other big issues: with probabilistic reasoning and proportional responses.
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
Check my new essay "The deepest South: Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the United States. Why don’t we know this history?" just published in @aeon.co Many thanks to historian Sam Haselby, who beautifully edited it #slaveryarchive aeon.co/essays/way-d...
November 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Check my new essay "The deepest South: Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the United States. Why don’t we know this history?" just published in @aeon.co Many thanks to historian Sam Haselby, who beautifully edited it #slaveryarchive aeon.co/essays/way-d...
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
“it is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth”. This is an excellent piece on the problem of waste by @brettchristophers.bsky.social
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM
“it is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth”. This is an excellent piece on the problem of waste by @brettchristophers.bsky.social
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
The culture of self-quantification and productivity glorification, often seen as a modern aspect of late capitalism where efficiency is key, actually has roots predating social media and algorithms. It traces back to the daily lives and preoccupations of the Victorian middle classes.
Victorian diary-writers kicked off our age of self-optimisation | Aeon Essays
Our cursed age of self-monitoring and optimisation didn’t start with big tech: as so often, the Victorians are to blame
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November 17, 2025 at 11:15 AM
The culture of self-quantification and productivity glorification, often seen as a modern aspect of late capitalism where efficiency is key, actually has roots predating social media and algorithms. It traces back to the daily lives and preoccupations of the Victorian middle classes.
Today, the ability to choose certain genetic traits has, in many cases, become a reality through preimplantation genetic diagnosis. This TED-Ed short draws on the work of prominent philosophers to pose provocative questions about the ethical implications of such interventions
When, if ever, is selecting a ‘designer baby’ ethical? | Aeon Videos
Should deaf parents be able to select for a deaf child? On the ethics of parental choice and ‘designer babies’
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November 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Today, the ability to choose certain genetic traits has, in many cases, become a reality through preimplantation genetic diagnosis. This TED-Ed short draws on the work of prominent philosophers to pose provocative questions about the ethical implications of such interventions
There’s nothing like being transported to imaginative worlds by another person’s writing. Join us at the Sophia Club in Melbourne, with our guest Ronan McDonald, Professor of Irish Studies, as we explore whether reading in the old, immersive way still matters, and if so, why sophiaclub.co
Sophia Club | Live Philosophy
The Sophia Club is a new international program of cultural events. Live Philosophy takes the audience on an immersive journey of ideas.
sophiaclub.co
November 14, 2025 at 10:30 PM
There’s nothing like being transported to imaginative worlds by another person’s writing. Join us at the Sophia Club in Melbourne, with our guest Ronan McDonald, Professor of Irish Studies, as we explore whether reading in the old, immersive way still matters, and if so, why sophiaclub.co
People with ADHD and autism often have to mask their natural instincts to fit in. In today’s essay, the clinical psychologist Gilly Kahn reflects on the personal cost of masking, drawing on her own lived experience of ADHD buff.ly/QfpHdHT
The hidden costs of masking for women with ADHD and autism | Aeon Essays
People with ADHD and autism have to mask their instincts if they want to be included. But the strain exacts a very high price
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November 14, 2025 at 11:30 AM
People with ADHD and autism often have to mask their natural instincts to fit in. In today’s essay, the clinical psychologist Gilly Kahn reflects on the personal cost of masking, drawing on her own lived experience of ADHD buff.ly/QfpHdHT
Justine Kurland views utopia as a practice of reimagining inherited worlds. In this video by @moma.bsky.social, she explores three decades of this practice, reframing the American landscape through images of teenage girls, women and outsider communities experiencing radical freedom
Seven years on the road, finding utopia in the lives of women | Aeon Videos
How the photographer Justine Kirkland reframes utopia in the radical freedom of teenage girls, women and outsider communities
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November 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Justine Kurland views utopia as a practice of reimagining inherited worlds. In this video by @moma.bsky.social, she explores three decades of this practice, reframing the American landscape through images of teenage girls, women and outsider communities experiencing radical freedom
Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the US. In today’s essay, the historian @araujohistorian.bsky.social explores its foundational role across the Americas and the enduring importance of understanding why race is historical buff.ly/zBcptu8
Way down south: slavery far beyond the United States | Aeon Essays
Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the United States. Why don’t we know this history?
buff.ly
November 13, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Slavery in Latin America, on a huge scale, was different from that in the US. In today’s essay, the historian @araujohistorian.bsky.social explores its foundational role across the Americas and the enduring importance of understanding why race is historical buff.ly/zBcptu8
In ‘The Other Side of the Mountain’, the Chinese filmmaker Yumeng He melds personal and national history with breathtaking cinematography to capture her father navigating the streets of his youth as he returns to his childhood home in Chongqing, Southwestern China
Cheng visits his hometown, awash in the tides of history and time | Aeon Videos
In Southwestern China, a filmmaker follows her father on a search for his childhood home, reshaped by history and time
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November 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM
In ‘The Other Side of the Mountain’, the Chinese filmmaker Yumeng He melds personal and national history with breathtaking cinematography to capture her father navigating the streets of his youth as he returns to his childhood home in Chongqing, Southwestern China
Today’s climate models aren’t sufficiently realistic to predict something as complex as climate change. Some scientists argue that they might never be sufficiently accurate to make multi-decadal, local climate predictions. If so, how can we make good decisions despite the inevitable uncertainty?
Today’s complex climate models aren’t equivalent to reality | Aeon Essays
The immense complexity of the climate makes it impossible to model accurately. Instead we must use uncertainty to our advantage
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November 11, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Today’s climate models aren’t sufficiently realistic to predict something as complex as climate change. Some scientists argue that they might never be sufficiently accurate to make multi-decadal, local climate predictions. If so, how can we make good decisions despite the inevitable uncertainty?
If we’re unsure about an animal’s feelings, should we assume they don’t feel pain, or that they do? Moral concern often centres on sentient beings, but it can extend further. The challenge is to build and sustain policies that reflect both our compassion and our limitations
An ant is drowning: here’s how to decide if you should save it | Aeon Essays
Should we simply assume that all animals can feel pain and are of moral concern? Or is that taking things too far?
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 11:15 AM
If we’re unsure about an animal’s feelings, should we assume they don’t feel pain, or that they do? Moral concern often centres on sentient beings, but it can extend further. The challenge is to build and sustain policies that reflect both our compassion and our limitations
Reposted by Aeon Magazine
Can AI tell us anything meaningful about Bob Dylan’s songs? Delighted to share a new essay in @aeon.co breaking down an artists' evolution using AI extracted idea graphs.
aeon.co/essays/can-a...
aeon.co/essays/can-a...
November 8, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Can AI tell us anything meaningful about Bob Dylan’s songs? Delighted to share a new essay in @aeon.co breaking down an artists' evolution using AI extracted idea graphs.
aeon.co/essays/can-a...
aeon.co/essays/can-a...
Assistant professor of political theory Kevin D Pham argues that Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame. Read his insightful Aeon Essay to learn more buff.ly/fcz4CWV
November 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Assistant professor of political theory Kevin D Pham argues that Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame. Read his insightful Aeon Essay to learn more buff.ly/fcz4CWV
At the turn of the 20th century, two Swedish sisters dreamt of an existence free from male oppression and built an all-female co-living residence as a safe haven for single women over 35. Watch how its community endures more than 75 years later in this documentary by director Fanny Rosell
Can young and old coexist at a feminist co-living residence? | Aeon Videos
This feminist housing collective has endured for 75 years. Now, a new generation is moving in, bringing change – and men
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November 8, 2025 at 11:30 AM
At the turn of the 20th century, two Swedish sisters dreamt of an existence free from male oppression and built an all-female co-living residence as a safe haven for single women over 35. Watch how its community endures more than 75 years later in this documentary by director Fanny Rosell