Philosophy

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The phrase "elephant in the room" wasn't always about awkward topics. Here's how the idiom evolved over the past two centuries.

The Chinese philosopher and sage had a lot of wise things to say. But many of the quotes you've seen online were actually said by someone else. Can you tell them apart?

The proverb that empowers rude shoppers has been going strong for over a century. Who’s to blame?

There’s more to this spooky pseudo-science than simply turning lead into gold.

“What is the meaning of life?” is simultaneously one of the oldest questions in philosophy and a relatively new concept. Here’s what Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Albert Camus had to say on the matter.

It’s succinct enough to fit on a bumper sticker. But what did ‘knowledge is power’ originally mean?

When the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, both 'pursuit' and 'happiness' had secondary definitions that change the meaning of the iconic quote.

Dive into the philosophical questions that prompted René Descartes to come up with his famous phrase, “I think therefore I am.”

The period of scientific, artistic, and political revolutions isn’t known as the “Age of Reason” for nothing.

Historians were struck by the tantalizing possibility that this library might contain missing works of some of history’s greatest writers—works thought to have been lost forever.

Her best-known work, 'The Second Sex,' set off a feminist bombshell that continues to shape today’s debates

Martin Luther King Jr.'s approach to resisting injustice came straight from the playbook of 19th-century writer Henry David Thoreau.

'A Glitch in the Matrix,' the new documentary from Rodney Ascher ('Room 237') takes its cue from Philip K. Dick to explore just how real the "reality" we live in is.

Empathy’s definition originally described the relationship between humans and objects. Now, it’s much less straightforward.

These reading quotes from Albert Einstein, Theodore Roosevelt, and more might help you choose your next great read.

Jeremy Bentham’s auto-icon, consisting of a wax head and a foam body built around his actual skeleton, has been moved to a new location in its London home.

Kant’s moral imperative dictates that you must kick back with a carton of frozen yogurt and read this article.

Are black holes the heaviest object in the universe? What causes that tingling feeling when you slip and almost fall? And why do we have so many shower thoughts, anyway? Experts weigh in.

In the nearly 30 years since the release of 'Groundhog Day,' fans have spent plenty of time and precious web bandwidth attempting to decode the alleged layers that exist just below the surface.