Making History Alive
“Above all, by slow degrees the thoughts of our forefathers, their common thoughts about common things, will have become thinkable once more.” - F. W. Maitland (1850-1906)
Making History Alive is an ongoing public philosophy initiative that brings the history of philosophy into dialogue with contemporary issues in science, technology, and society. Its aim is to make philosophy’s past a living resource for understanding the present, through short essays, interviews, collaborations, and multimedia features that show how classic ideas continue to shape our intellectual and moral world.
Have a question about life, ethics, or society? Ask a Philosopher! turns your question into a miniature dialogue with the great minds of the past. It’s simple: choose a theme—from ethics and politics to art or technology—pick a philosopher whose perspective you’d like to hear, and then share your question. Selected questions will receive individual responses that connect your curiosity with the insights of thinkers from Plato to Kant to Confucius. The goal is not to close a question, but to open new ways of seeing through the eyes of those who first taught us to wonder.
Your conversation starts here
“The Moral Sense Revisited: From Hume to Neuroscience”
Before anyone spoke of brain scans or mirror neurons, David Hume had a radical thought: morality begins in feeling. We don’t discover right and wrong by reasoning from rules, but by sensing the happiness or suffering of others and responding with sympathy. Three centuries later, neuroscience is catching up. Our moral life may indeed arise from the circuitry of emotion. Hume’s insight reminds us that ethics is not cold logic; it’s what happens when a thinking creature learns to feel.
“Locke and the Ethics of Data Ownership”
When John Locke wrote that we own what we “mix our labor with”, he was thinking of farming land, not training algorithms. Yet his idea still echoes in the digital age. Every click, post, and search leaves a trace of ourselves. But if our data carries our effort, does it also carry our right to ownership? Revisiting Locke’s theory of property invites us to ask what it means to possess something made from our own lives, and whether selfhood has become the most valuable—or indeed the most vulnerable—form of capital.
History of Philosophy
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps : Peter Adamson’s monumental podcast and website narrating the story of philosophy “without skipping anyone,” from the Presocratics to contemporary thinkers, in a lively and approachable style.
- The Partially Examined Life : A conversational podcast where former philosophy students revisit great thinkers and texts from Plato to Kierkegaard to Nietzsche with humor, insight, and accessibility.
- In Our Time: Philosophy (BBC Radio 4) : Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss key figures and moments in the history of philosophy, making complex ideas vivid through dialogue and historical storytelling.
General Philosophy
- Philosophy Now : An accessible magazine that explores philosophical ideas in everyday life, featuring articles, interviews, and thought experiments for a broad audience.
- Aeon : A digital magazine publishing beautifully written essays on philosophy, science, and culture, often connecting classic ideas to contemporary ethical and social questions.
- The Point Magazine : A Chicago-based magazine of philosophical writing that bridges ideas and public life, featuring essays, symposiums, and dialogues that connect the history of thought to contemporary experience.
- Philosophy Bites : A long-running podcast by Nigel Warburton and David Edmonds featuring short, lively interviews with leading philosophers on big questions.