Philosophy

Nathan Abrams examines an impressively close scrutiny of the 1950s film

Academic disputes can be acrimonious and unedifying, but victory is always sweet, says Shahidha Bari

Witty asides permeate a study contemplating money, love, hope and rappers, says Emma Rees

Modern universities do not always allow the necessary time for scholars’ intellectual pursuits, but slow philosophy can help address this unhappy situation, says Michelle Bolous Walker

Book of the week: No longer young, not yet old, the middle-aged academic sees the world askew, says Joe Moran

Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture recognises lifetime achievement in philosophy and public service

This study of how ordinary people view human rights is depressingly honest, says Jane O’Grady

Are humans just a ‘pack of neurons’? Steven Rose is frustrated by a poorly argued challenge to the materialist consensus in neuroscience

Book of the week: How far did two thinkers sway each other during a 26-year fellowship? Biancamaria Fontana writes

Peking University joins the top 20 of the Times Higher Education subject table for the first time

Language is key to making sense of people, finds Martin Cohen, but beware words’ flexible meanings

Lincoln Allison confronts the objectives of an anecdotal and argumentative narrative

When considering what exactly makes one creature equal to another, John Shand finds that an animal’s potential holds the key

Stephen Mumford tells Matthew Reisz about his desire to bring his discipline to a wider audience, why Norway was the perfect place to write his Cartesian debut novel and why insights into causation have more practical relevance than might first appear

Hotly anticipated figures on salaries show that for subjects such as economics and law, the university attended has stronger link to high earnings

Editors of The Journal of Political Philosophy apologise for 'oversight' in commissioning of 60-page symposium

Long-serving Berkeley philosopher and critic of artificial intelligence remembered

While not all student-supervisor relationships end in disaster, permitting them infringes women’s right to education, participation and a safe work environment, say five female academics 

Shane O’Mara on a profound and humorous exploration of human consciousness

William Kolbrener on an extraordinary collection that explores literature’s role in shaping ethical thought and helping to ‘transform the psyche’

John Shand appreciates a study of how humans cope when life throws them a curve ball

First female Regius professor of divinity at the University of Oxford remembered

Constantine Sandis on a fitting swansong from one of its greatest moral philosophers

The eminent philosopher talks of academics’ vanity, the place of philosophy in a ‘post-truth’ world and her reservations about the TEF

The suicide of a student on campus made Steven A. Miller realise that his students didn’t need a philosophy class to remind them of their impending deaths 

Steven Rose enjoys a philosopher’s deep dive with some uniquely intelligent company

Book of the week: Danny Dorling lauds an exposition of the benefits of obligation-free income and how to attain them

Canadian scholar urges universities to back off from policing what people do in private

Cambridge professor has helped policymakers wrestle with complex ethical challenges

When the US primary season threw up numerous examples of weak and fallacious argument, Michael Ventimiglia thought his time had come. But subsequent events left him grappling with his discipline’s apparent impotence

Constantine Sandis considers a cool look at how our biases may render altruistic acts less effective

Traditional defences of the discipline are based on unsound reasoning, writes James Nikopoulos

Polyamory could shed light on whether love is mainly biological or social, says Jane O’Grady

Book of the week: The scrutiny to which two intellectuals submit their relationship fascinates Shahidha Bari

Martin Cohen on a study that strives to position a much-quoted thinker as a social geographer

Martin Cohen on the philosophical implications of living the simple life – and owning a homemade toilet-brush holder

Book of the week: A memoir wrestles with moral questions about using animals in research. Kristin Andrews writes

A clear-eyed study of shiny and new inventions calls for better oversight, says Richard Joyner

Battle of Ideas event asks whether ‘core academic values’ are still safe in the academy

A controversial philosopher turns his mind to subjects ranging from happiness and euthanasia to vegetarianism, incest and doping, says Jane O’Grady

Claire Grant on her tried and tested lecturing technique

Is enough being done early on to prevent under-represented groups from leaving philosophy, asks Briana Toole

Carla Hesse on a lively study examining the French thinker’s first intellectual passion

Explaining how skilled individuals deliver a peak performance is a thorny task, Jane O’Grady says

Martin Cohen on a philosophical study that eschews the root for the rhizome

Surviving a traumatic event isn’t a prerequisite for making great artworks, says K. E. Gover

However, dean at Asian University for Women in Bangladesh says the number of female leaders on the continent is rising

A study probing the state of a discipline raises the alarm on scholars selling out, says Martin Cohen

Eight years ago, Carol Hay and John Kaag took the same position at the same university, and their lives since then offer fascinating insight into academic career progression 

Robin Feuer Miller on a 19th-century Russian who was part of a line of thinkers from Francis Bacon to Charles Darwin

A neuroscientist and philosopher who offered many sharp insights into how our brains generate perceptions of the world has died

Rachel Dickinson on a study that asks if 19^th-century lifestyle choices can help us solve 21^st-century problems

Jane O’Grady on the development of empirical investigation in attempts to understand human behaviour

Jane O’Grady on a reminder that the development of communication was a collaboration

Getting a permanent job is only the beginning, not a fairy-tale ending, says Helen De Cruz

An account of the vanquishing of superstition and magic makes some imprudent leaps, says Biancamaria Fontana

Richard Joyner on who is ahead in the race for dominance between science and religion

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam explores the migrant crisis, and universities’ role in it

Scholarship, not ideology, drives this welcome effort to determine what is historical and what is not in the depiction of God, says Robert A. Segal

We talk to the Princeton research scholar about being a fighter pilot, mindfulness and the existence of little green men