Need a philosophical pick me up? Why one French philosopher suggests a walk.

Think walking is void of philosophy? Nietzsche and Gros are here to say you're wrong.

People walk beside the Han river in Seoul. While this isn't quite what Gros has in mind, it is a start. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)
  • French philosopher Frederic Gros tells us that walking is a route to entirely being ourselves and experiencing the sublime.
  • He has a bias towards the wondering hikes of Nietzsche and Kerouac but has a place for urban strollers too.
  • His book reminds us that even something as mundane as walking can be a vital part of our lives when done for itself.
Keep reading Show less
walking nietzsche kant exercise philosophy

Why Sexual Desire Is Objectifying – and Hence Morally Wrong

Once desire becomes suspect, sex is never far behind.


 

 

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise star in 'Eyes Wide Shut.' (Photo Warner Bros./Liaison)

The 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that human beings tend to be evil. He wasn’t talking about some guy rubbing his hands and crowing with glee at the prospect of torturing an enemy. He was thinking about the basic human tendency to succumb to what we want to do instead of what we ought to do, to heed the siren-song of our desires instead of the call of duty. For Kant, morality is the force that closes this gap, and holds us back from our darker, desiring selves. 

Keep reading Show less
sex sexuality philosophy eros kant objectification sexual desire morality

3 Flavors of Liberalism: Rational, Romantic, Realist

Are noble 18th-century norms fit for 21st-century life? Especially when, as Yuval Harari says, liberalism’s “factual statements just don’t stand up to rigorous scientific scrutiny.” 

Illustration by Julia Suits, The New Yorker cartoonist & author of The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions

Keep reading Show less
adam smith Anna Alexandrova Bentham Dennis Rasmussen enlightenment etymology founding fathers hume kant liberalism locke trolley problems Yuval Harari

It’s Possible to Live without Philosophy—but It Wouldn’t Be Wise

Can philosophy give you true understanding about life, the universe, and everything? Sometimes it Kant.

Philosophy provides a new way of looking at the world and exploring ideas that otherwise might be too heavy, or too big, to comprehend. It's a lot better than the alternative—which is willful ignorance and throwing your hands up in the air and saying "I guess it's all part of a masterplan!". And while this incongruity between the philosophically minded and the more deity-inclined can create some major cultural hiccups, there's at least some semblance of both sides searching for the same thing. Philosophy, Kitcher argues, may not ever give us the ultimate solutions to all the big questions in life. But it does put us in the driver's seat and give us control.

Keep reading Show less
philosophy pragmatism kant plato aristotle videos

Do We Have the Right to Visit Inhabited Planets? Carl Sagan Said, "No"

As mankind raises its eyes to Mars and asks, "How do we get there?", we might need to ask, "Should we go?". Carl Sagan said we may not be entitled to visit a potentially inhabited planet.

Touchstone Pictures'' adventure/drama, 'Mission To Mars.' Photo credit: ILM Touchstone Pictures

Keep reading Show less
Carl Sagan Life on mars mars missions space exploration ethics Cosmos Kant microbes James Griffin John Rawls John Stuart Mill Prime Directive of the Federation
Quantcast