The philosopher understood that learning – of a concept, of ourselves, of each other – is the undertaking of a whole life - by Calum Jacobs Read at Aeon | Continue reading
From a crescent to a W to a heart, pupil shape indicates what animals eat, what eats them, and how they see the world - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Group therapy promised to be both democratic and radical, but it failed to take hold. Has its time finally come? - by Jess Cotton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Behind the hype of the Google engineer who claimed an AI was ‘sentient’ is a history nearly as old as computers themselves - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Amid the chaos of the First World War, a new pan-Arab empire was proclaimed. It faltered, but its historical lessons remain - by Adam Mestyan Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Passersby could wander at will into grand public libraries in imperial Rome. Could they trust what they found inside? - by Fabio Fernandes Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How economic, political and religious upheavals in the 16th century left their marks on the canvases of European painters - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
His name is now the byword for a fool, yet his proof for the existence of God was the most rigorous of the medieval period - by Thomas M Ward Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Weaving aurora-like animations with historic footage, the artist Asinnajaq envisions a hopeful future for Inuit people - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Twin forces marginalised the women of early analytic philosophy. Correct those mistakes, and the next generation benefits - by Jeanne Peijnenburg & Sander Verhaegh Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What the sleeping minds of nonhuman animals, from cetaceans to primates, might tell us about their possible dreamworlds - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Anne Frank’s diary is one of thousands of desperate, secret and vivid journals each bearing witness to the reality of war - by Nina Siegal Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Enheduana is the first known named author. Her poems of strife and upheaval resonate in our own unstable times - by Sophus Helle Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A pensive reflection on childhood homes – from a bedroom above a pub to a castle estate – shaped by the contours of Ireland - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Ambedkar was not only a politician, but a profound thinker whose philosophy of democracy challenged the caste system - by Scott R Stroud Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A Dutch filmmaker’s quest to document and explain the fleeting ‘green flashes’ known to illuminate his native horizons - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
When it comes to our complicated, undecipherable feelings, art prompts a self-understanding far beyond the wellness industry - by Aparna Chivukula Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A rare portrait of tree-sitters reveals the survival skills and quiet determination it takes to protect redwoods from loggers - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Thousands of Indigenous children suffered and died in residential ‘schools’ around the world. Their stories must be heard - by Steve Minton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Can an argument for democracy be based on a mathematical theorem? From Plato’s tyrants to Condorcet’s ‘jury theorem’ - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
It took a tremendous effort to distinguish early Christianity from the finely tuned world of pagan beliefs and rituals - by Martha Rampton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The teenage busboy who comforted a potential US president – how Juan Romero’s life changed the day Robert F Kennedy was killed - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Noticing first one then many parrots, peacocks, owls and more birds in Old Master paintings taught me to truly see the world - by Leanne Ogasawara Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A ‘realistic utopia’ is within reach – look to the philosophy of John Rawls to help build a more equal and just society - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
In the face of an inscrutable, indifferent universe, Pessoa suggests we cultivate a certain longing for the elusive horizon - by Jonardon Ganeri & Sarah Seymour Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How the trees of China – fir, camphor, ironwood and nanmu – were used to build an empire that lasted for centuries - by Ian M Miller Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What questions does the wild horse that came back from extinction raise about the role of captive breeding in conservation? - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
A good conversation bridges the distances between people and imbues life with pleasure and a sense of discovery - by Paula Marantz Cohen Read at Aeon | Continue reading
On a whirlwind ride through New York City, the philosopher Cornel West navigates our search for meaning - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Coming of age without his late mother, a young autistic man writes her a heartfelt letter, full of poignance and persistence - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Our childhood is preposterously long compared to other animals. Is it the secret to our evolutionary success? - by Brenna Hassett Read at Aeon | Continue reading
How French cuisine became beloved among status-hungry diners in the United States, from Thomas Jefferson to Kanye West - by Kelly Alexander & Claire Bunschoten Read at Aeon | Continue reading
An ode to the timeless beauty of Istanbul, pulsing with 2,900 images of Islamic, Ottoman, Greek and Byzantine designs - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Despite advances in molecular genetics, too many biologists think that natural selection is driven by random mutations - by James A Shapiro Read at Aeon | Continue reading
A discovery with potentially mind-boggling implications about the behaviour of matter at the quantum and astronomical scales - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
The name ‘Eutychis’ was etched into a wall 2,000 years ago. Finding out who she was illuminates the dark side of Rome - by Guy D Middleton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The daughter of a Black freedom fighter and Holocaust survivor shares her father’s deeply poignant, improbable life story - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Demonised by the political establishment for his radical, dissenting views, this 18th-century Welsh polymath deserves better - by Huw Williams Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The French idea of the good life doesn’t always make rational economic sense. So much the worse for traditional economics - by Charly Coleman Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Enter MIT’s Voxel Lab where students build strange instruments, make novel sounds – maybe even find music’s next big thing - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
Why does the quantum world behave in that strange, spooky way? Here’s our simple, four-step explanation (no magic needed) - by Huw Price & Ken Wharton Read at Aeon | Continue reading
What being a body means in the world: a philosophical stroll through San Francisco with Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
What do the lives of twins tell us about heritability, selfhood and the age-old debate between nature and nurture? - by Gavin Evans Read at Aeon | Continue reading
Meet the forest that a community brought back to life on the slopes of a volcano in a hopeful story of ecological restoration - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
In the face of global challenges, Augustine offers a way between the despair of pessimism and the presumption of optimism - by Michael Lamb Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The daggers that knights carried to the crusades help us understand why they thought of holy war as an act of love - by William Chester Jordan Read at Aeon | Continue reading
The perilous journey of one ‘freedom swimmer’ – along a route traversed by 2 million others – from China to Hong Kong - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading
A master sculptor ‘nibbles away’ at a block of marble to recreate dazzling scenes of light and shadow from a Donatello relief - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon | Continue reading