I have to say that some philosophers such as the late Bernard Williams, and I would include myself in this group, would say that tranquillity is over….

We are now returning to the 18th century empirical approach with the new interest in the evolutionary basis of ethics, with 'experimental' moral phil….

The moves to contractualism and utilitarianism required some extra ingredients besides mortalism, the denial that God is in charge of the world, and ….

Epicureanism did inspire libertine culture in isolated sects, but Epicurus himself rejected an ethics of sensory indulgence, and he would have disown….

Epicurus was not at all interested in what we would call the problems of mass society, and he thought civic politics was just trouble and to be avoid….

The higher the coefficient of inequality (Gini coefficient) in a society, the worse things tend to be for those at the bottom..

Epicurus recommends bread and cheese as the staple, and his emphasis is more on avoiding pain than on seeking pleasure, insofar as pleasure-seeking t….

Highly unequal societies are morally defective because they get to be that way through the exploitation by the clever and well-positioned ones of the….

Even if you just want to make a simple clothing item for yourself or go for a long hike in the forest - something we imagine requires absolutely no r….

Leibniz accepted the argument that there must be indestructible simple entities if there is to be a complex world, but Epicurean morals and politics ….

Oddly, since by now I've written quite a lot on early modern philosophers, I didn't care for the history of philosophy, which I thought dull and obsc….

In the academic setting, you take (typically) lonely, interesting middle-aged men and beautiful, intelligent young women, and everybody's motivations….

Gentlemanly, principled, helpful behaviour by older men vis-a-vis young women goes unnoticed, but it deserves real moral credit, and we could use mor….

If you live in an acquisitive society you are likely to be acquisitive, but it isn't deeply rooted in human nature, except in the sense that it's dee….