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the bi-monthly magazine for everyone interested in ideas. Published since 1991, it was the winner of the 2016 Bertrand Russell Society Award. Please look around! You can read four articles free per month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site
Happiness
The Necessary Ache
Tara Daneshmand on regret and the courage to choose.
Happiness
Hedonic Treadmills in the Vale of Tears
Michael Gracey looks at how philosophers have pursued happiness.
The Good Life Paradox
Matthew Hammerton points out that a meaningful life and a life that goes well for you might not be the same thing.
Deconstructing Happiness
Abdullah Rayhan breaks down ‘happiness’ with Boethius, Kierkegaard & Montaigne.
Ancient Indian Wisdom for a Restless Age
Jahnvi Borgohain looks at a variety of approaches to happiness.
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Regulars
Editorial: Happy Thoughts
by Rick Lewis
News: December 2025 / January 2026
Plato translation unveiled • Prison TV drama takes philosophical turn • UNESCO creates ethics code for neurotech — News reports by Anja Steinbauer, Olivia Gill and Martin Cohen
Articles
Peter Singer
The controversial Australian philosopher defends the right to choose to die on utilitarian grounds. Matt Qvortrup recently asked him about it.
The Philosophy of William Blake
Mark Vernon looks at the imaginative thinking of an imaginative artist.
The Philosophy of Race
Sailee Khurjekar argues that race is culturally constructed.
Evolution or Progress?
Adam Neiblum asks what the difference is, and why it matters.
What Women?
Marcia Yudkin remembers almost choking at Cornell.
What are the Proper Limits of Free Speech?
Each answer below receives a random book. Apologies to the entrants not included.
Columns
Philosophy Shorts: Philosophers on Walking
by Matt Qvortrup
Philosophical Haiku: Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
by Terence Green
Islamic Philosophers: On Tyranny
AmirAli Maleki looks at tyranny from an Islamic perspective.
The Art of Living: Marcus Aurelius’s Ten Commandments
Massimo Pigliucci studies the Stoic Emperor’s to-do list.
Reviews
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Friendship
Elaine Coburn dips into different understandings of friendship.
Civic Solitude by Robert Talisse
John B. Min ponders temporarily stepping away from people for the sake of political understanding.
Wish You Were Here
Ian Rizzo listens out for a philosophy of absence.
Medicine Wheel for the Planet by Jennifer Grenz
Lucy Weir takes a wheel of healing for an intellectual spin.
Fiction
Bilbo Theorizes About Wellbeing
Eric Comerford overhears Bilbo and Gandalf discussing happiness.
