The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley
Simon May comes face to face with mortality
Ideas
The Roads to Modernity: the British, French and American Enlightenments by Gertrude Himmelfarb
Stephen Howe asks why Gordon Brown is endorsing Neocon history
Thinkers: Face to face
Heidegger’s former disciple Emmanuel Levinas, a victim of Nazism, pioneered a humanism for the 21st century argues Roger Davidson
Writing on the wall
Henri Lefebvre, the theoretician of the Paris uprising of 1968, saw that society’s most profound truths were etched on everyday life, discovers Daniel Miller
Thinker: Simone de Beauvoir
The feminist icon was dedicated to freedom for all humanity, says Toril Moi
Happy birthday humanism
For two centuries one word has symbolised the battle against extremism, says Bill Cooke
Spongers
Why shouldn’t people have to earn the right to be housed? Julian Baggini gets back to basics
Craft works: Laurie Taylor interviews Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett tells Laurie Taylor why he believes in patience, practicality and a job well done
Tea and empathy
The human imagination, says Martin Rowson, allows us to make the world in the image of ourselves
Villages of Vision: A Study of Strange Utopias by Gillian Darley
Ken Worpole visits utopian villages with Gillian Darley