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"On Housecraft": Emma Wilkins reviews "Home Work: Essays on Love & Housekeeping" by Helen Hayward (Keywords: Housework; Domestic Labour; Family; Feminism; Gender Roles)
In Home Work: Essays on Love & Housekeeping, Helen Hayward questions society’s dismissal of domestic work as trivial. Once determined to avoid her mother’s domestic life, she eventually chose to take on more household duties by choice, showing that “home work” can be deeply meaningful and should be valued, even if it's often overlooked. This review by Emma Wilkins asks why we are so intent on elevating jobs based on income and title, and dismissing work done for our families.
Emma Wilkins
11 min read


"Bergson and Intuitive Knowledge" by Alan Shepherd (Keywords: Intuition, Time, Truth, Memory, Metaphysics)
Alan Shepherd examines Bergson’s view of intuition as a key to metaphysical knowledge. Unlike Kant, Bergson believes we can directly access reality through our experience of time, or “duration.” Intuition expands through memory, evolution, and mystical insight, revealing a creative, loving force behind life. More than intellect, it offers deep, spiritual truths and reclaims metaphysics as a meaningful, ethical, and experiential pursuit.
Alan Shepherd
13 min read


"Peter Singer and Fifty Years of Animal Liberation" by Daan Stoop (Keywords: Suffering; Animal Welfare; Veganism; Factory Farming; Food Ethics)
In 1975, Australian philosopher Peter Singer asked a deceptively simple question of animals: ‘Can they suffer?’ The implications launched a revolution in our thinking about animal rights and food ethics. But has animal suffering diminished in the fifty years since?
Daan Stoop
13 min read


"When Liberation Becomes Subjugation: The Moral Paradox of Regime Change in Iran" by Hossein Dabbagh & Patrick Hassan (keywords: Iran; Regime Change; Anti-Imperialism; Islamic Republic; Legitimacy)
This essay critiques the moral and strategic failure of foreign-imposed regime change in Iran, arguing that such interventions paradoxically reinforce the Islamic Republic's legitimacy rooted in anti-imperialism. Drawing on post-colonial theory and historical precedent, Dabbagh and Hassan call for “solidaristic non-imperialism”: supporting grassroots Iranian movements without replicating imperialist dynamics that undermine authentic agency and indigenous democratic change.
Hossein Dabbagh & Patrick Hassan
10 min read


"What was Marx’s Concept of Ideology?" by Sandro Brito Rojas (Keywords: Inversion; Alienation; Capitalism; False Consciousness; Revolution)
Sandro Brito Rojas argues that, for Marx, ideology is a false consciousness that obscures the true nature of social relations, particularly the alienation caused by the division between mental and material labor. Rojas highlights that Marx’s critique of ideology is not just intellectual but calls for revolutionary action. Ideology is a consequence of social contradictions, not their root cause. To overcome ideological distortions, a material transformation of society is neces
Sandro Brito Rojas
11 min read


"It Takes All Kinds: On Friendship" by John Lysaker (Keywords: Companionship; Recognition; Personal Growth; Differences; Life Friendships)
John Lysaker explores the many forms and values of friendship. He explores friendship as a lived interaction and examines the various goods it provides, such as recognition, growth, and care. Rather than ranking friendships, Lysaker argues for their diversity, showing how even imperfect or partial bonds enrich our lives and help shape who we become. He concludes, "Friendships prove better when they multiply and differentiate and so check our limits and metabolise our varied p
John Lysaker
16 min read


"Rituals of Disappearance" by Roddy Brett (Keywords: Disappeared Bodies; Genocide; State Terrorism; Erasure; Rituals)
Roddy Brett explores the haunting legacy of enforced disappearance as a tool of political violence, particularly in Latin America. He examines the psychological and societal impacts on the families of the disappeared, delving into their daily rituals of hope and despair. By analyzing the intersection of state terror, genocide, and the denial of bodies, he calls for a deeper understanding of the human dimensions of disappearance and a more critical engagement with this crime a
Roddy Brett
7 min read


"Violence and Disappearance: Knowing and Seeing" By Terrell Carver (Keywords: Disappeared; Absence; Memory; Bodies; State Terrorism)
In this evocative essay, Terrell Carver explores the disturbing power of political violence, memory, and absence. He examines how violence typically communicates through visibility and how disappearance as a strategy upends that logic. Focusing on Argentina’s “disappeared” and the symbolic resonance of everyday memorials like the baldosas por la memoria, Carver asks: How can we know and relate to the violence we haven't seen? How do we remember what was meant to be erased?
Terrell Carver
8 min read


"The Abolitionism-Reformism Spectrum": A Conversation with Jason Warr (Keywords: Punishment; Incarceration; Suffering; Social Control; Epistemic Injustice)
The debate between prison reformists and prison abolitionists is raw and heavily politicised. This increases the risk of each side in the debate speaking past each other or criticising straw man versions of their opponents’ arguments. In this conversation with Andy West, criminologist Jason Warr offers an even-handed assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of both positions, along with some reflections on the morality of punishment.
Jason Warr
13 min read


"What’s Wrong with Anthropocentrism?" by Christopher Belshaw (Keywords: Value; Nature; Moral Status; Sentience; Agency)
Is it wrong to value humans above all else? In this provocative essay, Christopher Belshaw explores the limits of anthropocentrism, weighing our moral duties to other creatures and the natural world. He argues that while extreme human-centered thinking is flawed, our unique moral agency brings special responsibilities. We shouldn’t dominate nature, but nor should we deny our moral role as custodians. He presents a nuanced defense of human significance without giving into supe
Christopher Belshaw
7 min read


"Critical Race Theory, Science and Pseudoscience": A Conversation with Victor Ray and Sam Hoadley-Brill (Keywords: Racism; Ignorance; Propaganda; Conspiracy Theories; Pseudoscience)
Critical race theory (CRT) is based on the premises of pervasive racial inequality and a social constructionist (i.e. anti-essentialist) conception of race. It challenges the idea that the superficially colorblind nature of the law means the law is race-neutral. Amongst other things, critics of CRT have argued that it is an anti-scientific research program. But are these claims correct? To what extent have these pseudoscientific claims played a role in fomenting the backlash
Victor Ray and Sam Hoadley-Brill
10 min read


"Trust, Expertise and Hostile Epistemology": A Conversation with C. Thi Nguyen (Keywords: Science; Pseudoscience; Vulnerability; Transparency; Metrics)
Much of the current misinformation crisis seems to derive from misplaced trust. In this conversation, C. Thi Nguyen discusses his idea of “hostile epistemology”, which examines how environmental factors exploit our cognitive vulnerabilities. As finite beings with limited cognitive resources, we constantly reason in a rush due to overwhelming information, leaving gaps that can be exploited. Given this, how can individuals with limited understanding determine which group to tru
C. Thi Nguyen
12 min read
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