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In Their WordsPhilosophy Basics
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Plain-English guides to the philosophers, ideas and movements that shaped how we think.
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Ideas from philosophy at work in real lives, studies and decisions.
The Good Life →
In 1845 Henry David Thoreau built a cabin at Walden Pond for $28.12 and said he went to the woods to “live deliberately” — to face only the essential facts of life and see what they had to teach
Research suggests a meaningful life and a happy one are not the same thing: the people who rate their lives most meaningful often report more stress and worry, because meaning grows out of the very commitments that make an ordinary day harder
Human Nature →
Parents usually feel closer to their grown children than their children feel to them, and it isn't a sign something went wrong but proof something went right, because a child who needs you a little less is exactly what you spent 20 years raising
In a 2010 study of 2,250 adults, minds were wandering in nearly half the moments people were asked about, and what they were thinking about explained more of their happiness than what they were doing
Lives & Ideas →
Carl Jung suggested life splits into two halves, and the surprise is what the second is for — not more career or identity, but an inward turn he called individuation, reclaiming the parts of yourself the first half left behind
Descartes said animals were machines. Scientists now say the question isn't whether they feel.
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A short, guided way into the big questions and the people who asked them.