What’s behind a successful academic hoax?
The competitive nature of academia produces a tendency to group-think, which hoaxers exploit.
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Agora
Agora is the New Statesman’s philosophy column: a space for academics to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues from a philosophical point of view.
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Agora
Does the rise of the Metaverse mean the decline of cities?
Neighbourhoods depend on people looking out for each other, but the growth of virtual worlds threatens to undermine public oversight…
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Why is it so difficult to face grim realities?
Taking painful truths to heart often requires imagining the unimaginable.
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Why the right to bodily integrity entails the right to abortion
No one is entitled to make use of another person’s body, even when another life depends on it.
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Can you really do more than what duty requires?
Accepting low moral standards that we can easily exceed has caused a great deal of suffering throughout history.
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Why public policy shouldn’t be guided by master numbers
GDP, the Wellby and other indicators may tell us something about societal well-being, but they aren't substitutes for political decision-making.
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Why Stoicism isn’t just about you
It is often seen as an individualistic philosophy but its techniques are really about pursuing the common good.
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Is this the best of all possible worlds?
Leibniz’s claim that God created the optimal world fails to explain the intractable problem of human suffering.
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