The Four Quadrants: A Map of All Knowledge
Ken Wilber's map of knowledge and the human experience
Ken Wilber’s model of the Four Quadrants is the centrepiece of the Integral philosophy and it is one of the most useful tools you’ll ever come across for conceptualising the different dimensions of the human [...]
Humanity Isn’t Cancerous; We’re Bacterial
And why what makes us special is our only hope for survival
“Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell.” —Edward Abbey The view that humanity is a cancer or a parasite on the planet is a sentiment that is becoming [...]
Trust Yourself: Emerson’s Self-Reliance
The Buddha of the West's greatest essay
Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance was one of the first pieces of philosophy I ever read. And it was one of those fortuitous encounters that shaped my life in many ways. I first read it as a [...]
The Myth of the Individual: ‘I’ is a Plural
Jung, Nietzsche and the population of the underworld
Why is it that, so often, when we commit to being the best version of ourselves, we succumb to embodying a cliché, a person seemingly far from who we think we should be. For example, [...]
Jordan Peterson’s Shadow
And why he was wrongThe Postmodern Neo-Marxism Conspiracy Theory
Postmodern Neo-Marxism. It’s one of the terms Jordan Peterson is most famous for. It’s a term that galvanises the ire of his fanbase and sends the anti-Peterson crowd into a veritable apoplexy. It is impossible [...]
Why Baudrillard Hated the Matrix
And why he was wrong
“The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the matrix that the matrix would have been able to produce.” These were the infamous words that Jean Baudrillard used to break his silence on The [...]
What is Metamodernism?
The era that follows postmodernity
“Let’s just say it: it’s over” Linda Hutcheon, The Politics of Postmodernity Metamodernism might be the most important idea you encounter this year. In a world that is growing increasingly fractured and complex, Metamodernism is [...]
Modernism vs. Postmodernism
Our Two Warring Worldviews
“Postmodernity definitely presents itself as Antimodernity.” This statement describes an emotional current of our times which has penetrated all spheres of intellectual life. It has placed on the agenda theories of post-enlightenment, postmodernity, even of [...]
What is Structuralism? | Continental Philosophy
Lévi-Strauss, Barthes and Piaget
Structuralism was a school of philosophy that was at the forefront of the Continental philosophical tradition for a few short years in the 1960s. This time at the cutting edge, although brief, was critical; it [...]
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Do We Live in a Simulation? | Jean Baudrillard
The meaning of simulation from Baudrillard's Simulation and Simulacra
Are we all living in a simulation? If you were to ask the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard this question, his answer would be a resounding yes. Although what he means by simulation and what you [...]
What is a Paradigm? | Thomas Kuhn
The meaning of paradigm from Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas Kuhn's work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is one of the most referenced academic works in history and one of the most influential and controversial books of the 20th century. Its release in 1962 [...]
What is Phenomenology?
The Philosophy of Husserl and Heidegger
Phenomenology is a school of philosophy that originated in the late 19th century and early 20th century with the writing of the German philosopher Edmund Husserl. It was a radical new development in philosophy. What [...]
“God is Dead” — What Nietzsche Really Meant
Not a statement of atheism but a warning of nihilism
“God is dead,” surely Nietzsche’s notorious soundbite (in a portfolio of notorious soundbites). It’s a statement that has saturated society as a cultural watershed moment. But the true meaning and power of Nietzsche’s dynamite phrase [...]
Semiotics of Spirituality
What Zen Masters Know that We Don’t
In last week’s article, we looked at Ferdinand de Saussure’s pioneering work on the structure of languages — a field which he called Semiology but is nowadays more commonly known as Semiotics. As we explored [...]
What is Semiotics?
Ferdinand de Saussre's Linguistic Revolution
Semiotics is one of the cornerstones of so-called Continental Philosophy. No tradition other than Phenomenology had more influence on shaping the landscape of this tradition in the 20th century. Semiotics is the study of signs [...]