Life laid waste
The exiled Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski died in Oxford in July, at the age of 81. Jonathan Rée examines the legacy of a disillusioned socialist humanist
Ideas
God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam
Nina Power on a good Dark Ages argument made for the wrong reasons
Liberty, the Left and Lolita
Jonathan Rée assesses the legacy of Isaiah Berlin, a man so clever he could understand his own writing
Truth, hope and light
The language of morality has been hijacked by the Right and the religious, argues Susan Neiman. It’s about time those who value reason took it back
Probably? Not!
Atheists shouldn’t be afraid to be certain, says Michael Neumann
The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? by Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank
Nina Power tires of Slavoj Žižek and his monstrous essays
Shadow boxing
Cultural relativism and Western chauvinism share one basic principle, claims Kenan Malik: a loss of faith in universal values
Freedom’s foghorn
Happy Birthday Tom Paine: Jan 29. Here's something we prepared earlier...Roger Davidson marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of Tom Paine, an inspirational ego
The art of phwoar
Free websites like Pornhub mean that explicit sex films are only a click away. But are they any good? Michael Bywater offers a classical critique
Why Socrates Died by Robin Waterfield
Jenny Bunker never quite learns what really killed Socrates