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Pause the busyness of life to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the Universe.
Mini Philosophy is a place to slow down and think. It creates space to reflect on ourselves, our relationships, and the Universe, away from the noise and busyness of everyday life.
Through essays, interviews, and its newsletter, Mini Philosophy makes philosophy accessible and human. Subscribers get exclusive conversations with leading philosophers and become part of a thoughtful, supportive community of curious minds.
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Jonny Thomson is a Big Think columnist and the award-winning, bestselling author of three books translated into 22 languages. A former philosophy teacher in Oxford, he is known for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and engaging.
How to find your way through 2,600 years of philosophy
All of Western philosophy, from Thales to Žižek, on a single chart.
CONVERSATIONS
Dads are spending 3x more time with their kids
USC psychologist Darby Saxbe explains what her lab found when she scanned new fathers’ brains — gray matter loss, falling testosterone, and why the men who did the most caregiving changed the most.
Stop trying to find yourself
Philosopher Joe Folley on why the self is made rather than found, how attention got thinned into productivity, and why Camus’s later work matters most.
Current AI is not conscious
NYU philosopher Ned Block explains why he thinks today’s AI isn’t conscious, what the hard problem still leaves unanswered, and why biology may matter.
The hidden mass extinction happening inside your body
Dr. Martin Blaser explains how modern life is wiping out the microbes humans evolved with, and what early antibiotics and diet may mean for our health.
EVENTS
Upcoming
How to think better to live better
Upcoming
Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy: How to get through anything
Upcoming
How to find the sublime in everyday life
Upcoming
Is the internet really ruining everything?
Upcoming
Alex’s answers to the big questions of philosophy
Upcoming
What makes a good or a bad gift?
Is it okay to laugh when so many people are suffering?
AI is challenging the idea that relationships require two conscious minds.
A cat doesn’t think; it just does. We could learn something from this.
Is religion defined more by beliefs or practices?
Everyone matters. If you believe that, it’s a good sign.
Tibetan Buddhism identifies three very different ways of wasting your life.
In technology, we make cumulative advances that withstand time. Not so in politics and ethics, argues philosopher John Gray.
When the road runs out, you've got to make your own way.
The artistic and the mathematical mind are not so far apart.
The philosopher Svetlana Boym argues that "nostos" encourages people to reject the world as it is and seek to return to a better time — real or imagined.
People are almost always different to how we imagine them
How a culture of independence gave rise to a philosophy of self-reliance, solitude, and inner authority.
Throwing away the narratives that pull us down and make us unhappy.
Don't reek of onions or take up too much space.
The family might be a terrible way to raise kids. But it's the best we have.
If you're going to relax, don't do it halfway.
A white rabbit appears up ahead. What do you do?
