Philosophy

Pacific Standard spoke with a philosopher who's trying to code ethical algorithms into autonomous vehicles.

• By Jack Denton

A new book by one of America's foremost philosophers recommends talk therapy to a troubled nation that probably needs something stronger.

• By Paul W. Gleason

New research finds no relationship between ethical behavior and belief—or disbelief—in free will.

• By Tom Jacobs

The most disturbing insight into the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal has little to do with either Facebook or Cambridge Analytica.

• By Jared Keller

While investor Bill Miller's recent $75 million university endowment for philosophy astonished Americans, Ireland has gone one step further: introducing the subject to high school students.

• By Lynn Freehill-Maye

Can methodological questioning cause someone to doubt their most deeply held beliefs?

• By Jonathan Rydberg

A philosopher expounds on the film's deep questions about knowledge and genetically engineered life, and offers some clues as to its ambiguous ending.

• By Katie Kilkenny

The controversial German philosopher is enjoying renewed pop culture significance. We talked with director Ada Ushpiz to find out why.

• By Katie Kilkenny

How verbal gambles drive you to say strange things, and why it's easy to tell whether someone actually misspoke or not.

• By Rick Paulas

Two philosophical, complementary arguments that prove young Americans deserve the franchise.

• By Noah Berlatsky

What runaway trolleys tell us about driverless cars.

• By Rick Paulas

We canvassed the world of the social and behavioral sciences, looking for rising stars whose careers promise to make a lasting mark. We'll be profiling the top 30 throughout the month of April.

• By Avital Andrews

We canvassed the world of the social and behavioral sciences, looking for rising stars whose careers promise to make a lasting mark. We'll be profiling the top 30 throughout the month of April.

• By Avital Andrews

Previous neuroscience research has suggested yes, but a new study finds an unexpected window for it in the static of your brain.

• By Paul Bisceglio

Kind of.

• By Kyle Chayka

For the month of April we're profiling the individuals who made our inaugural list of the 30 top thinkers under 30, the young men and women we predict will have a serious impact on the social, political, and economic issues we cover every day here at Pacific Standard.

• By Avital Andrews

Full-time, tenure-track professorships in the humanities are famously scarce. But that's not a reason to avoid an advanced degree. Even if you don't end up in academia, odds are you'll have a job—and you'll love it.

• By Stephen J. Mexal

Patterns. Boom.

• By Ryan O'Hanlon

Enlightened economists are starting to recognize that their models must describe a world that is imperfect, unpredictable, and unstable.

• By Anatole Kaletsky