The Case for Tourism

When ambling abroad justifies itself.

By Ross Douthat

Agnes Callard: What We Believe About Skepticism

Only other people can force us to doubt the beliefs we hold dear. Descartes’s philosophical journey shows us why.

By Agnes Callard

Why the Humanities Are Indeed Worth Teaching

Readers respond to a guest essay by a philosophy professor about difficulties defending the humanities.

Status Games, Polyamory and the Merits of Meritocracy

Can meritocracy ever be ethical? The philosopher Agnes Callard thinks so.

By ‘The Ezra Klein Show’

How Should You Be? Try Taking Suggestions.

More than offering prescriptions, suggestions — good or bad — about how we should live broaden our worldview and put us in touch with our desires.

By Shayla Love

What Economics and Hamlet Have in Common

Like many philosophers before them, modern economists tend to believe that virtue can be learned.

By Peter Coy

If I Get Canceled, Let Them Eat Me Alive

I want friends whose minds are not tethered to mine in bonds of allegiance but spin freely of their own accord.

By Agnes Callard

In ‘Airplane Mode,’ Not All Travelers Head in the Same Direction

Shahnaz Habib’s “irreverent history” takes a lively and sometimes ruthless look at who gets to go where and what gets papered over in their accounts.

By Alexandra Jacobs