The next president should be selected by lottery. It could be you
Unthinkable: In an era when crooks and despots cling to power at all costs, Ireland could model a different type of democracy by picking a president at random
Unthinkable
Unthinkable coumns by Joe Humphreys
Read the headlines and wonder if everyone is on Ozempic and has ADHD? It’s all a bit overwhelming
Unthinkable: If you’re feeling overwhelmed and longing for real meaning, Viktor Frankl may be able to help. And if not, Albert Camus might have the answer
We like to romanticise Ireland’s past, but too much remembering could be bad for us
Unthinkable: To create a shared future on this island, and internationally, we must move beyond uncritically celebrating the actions of any particular tribe
The Gaelic philosopher who wrote ‘one of the most influential books of our time’
Self-help books spoon-feed us ‘lessons for life’. But are we inspired to ask better questions?
Maybe we shouldn’t be quite so smug about Trump’s tariffs
Unthinkable: Moral superiority in Ireland over ‘populist’ uprisings in the US and UK ignores how we’ve become slaves to global capital
Forget hope. Be a hopeful pessimist instead
Unthinkable: Hope is not a strategy when it comes to tackling urgent challenges like climate change
How to avoid road rage and cyclist superiority
Unthinkable: We should think more about the consequences of actions and less about perceived character flaws in others
Why Donald Trump is stupid to accept Qatar’s gift of a luxury jet
Unthinkable: Socrates said immorality is the result of ignorance - Trump is proof of that
I tried an ancient cure for procrastination for a month. It was grim
Unthinkable: Various philosophers advocate ‘attaining a deep awareness of death’s possibility at any moment’
Was Bono morally wrong to accept a US medal of freedom? It’s not that simple
Unthinkable: There may be lessons from Northern Ireland in responding to the horrors of the Middle East
Don’t dismiss Peig Sayers. Her stoic folk wisdom has plenty to offer today
Unthinkable: Ireland has been transformed economically, but the sense that everything could go pear-shaped overnight remains
Could there be good reason to believe in life after death?
Unthinkable: Philosopher David Berman claims to have unearthed ‘evidence’ for believing in an afterlife
The ‘death drive’ exists in all of us
Unthinkable: Psychoanalysis suggests each one of us has a ‘death drive’, calling us to self-destruction
The 80/20 rule of dating is nonsense. So why do so many people believe it?
Unthinkable: As technology advances, the risk of drawing over-simplistic conclusions from statistics will grow
Garron Noone shows it’s hard to find the words to talk about immigration
TikTok star Garron Noone has proved his own thesis correct – it’s impossible to say anything ‘useful’ on social media
Grind schools create an injustice at the heart of Ireland’s education system
Unthinkable: How fair are the State exams if some students can buy an advantage in the form of specialised tuition?
Three things we give up when we turn away from Catholicism
Unthinkable: Asking whether we have lost something from our lapsed Catholicism is not about rushing back to the past. It’s about facing the future with greater self-awareness
The Enlightenment gave rise to a habit of worshipping ‘great men’, but they never had to worry about dying in childbirth
Unthinkable: Donald Trump is on a crusade to unwind the ‘woke’ agenda, but that does not mean the question of inclusivity is solved
A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing. Be more like a hedgehog
Unthinkable: Three steps for decluttering your mind
Women are overwhelmed because these are overwhelming times
You don’t need to be a feminist to take issue with the stranglehold of the wellness industry
JD Vance is right about this: Liberals and conservatives do not love the same way
Unthinkable: Ireland should talk more about Jesus – and I say that as an atheist
No one is asking Meta to act as God - just not to pollute the public space with lies
Unthinkable: Meta’s stance on fact-checking resembles a philosophical position known as ‘epistemological anarchy’
Squid Game or Sweden? The choice Ireland faces as Donald Trump takes office
Unthinkable: Irish economic policy was once framed as ‘Boston or Berlin’ – our options today are much starker
When it comes to clutter are you more like Michael D Higgins or minimalist Marie Kondo?
Unthinkable: Preserving only that which is joyful is philosophically problematic
Smartphones are an easy scapegoat for a more profound unhappiness
Children are led to believe ‘that their worth is tied to proving that they are exceptional’
Lessons in philosophy from Sally Rooney’s latest novel that can help us make sense of the world
Unthinkable: The ideas of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein on language and reality surface in Intermezzo, and the relationship between the two philosophers mirrors that of Rooney’s two principal characters, brothers Peter and Ivan
‘On the ninth day of Christmas, Nietzsche said with glee: sever links with your family’
Unthinkable: For the seasan that’s in it, we’ve gone for a philosophical Christmas carol
Find your ‘inner mystic’: Is this the answer to modern melancholy?
Unthinkable: English philosopher and author Simon Critchley suggests we can learn to enjoy ‘idiot glee’ from medieval Christianity
This column is not for cynics: In praise of political innocence
Unthinkable: Was the general election a victory for ‘grown ups’ or a defeat for idealism?
‘It’s cool’ isn’t a good reason for scientists to develop harmful technologies
Unthinkable: Regulating generative AI is important in its own right, but it’s also a dummy run for the existential threat of artificial general intelligence. This will go beyond mimicking human intelligence to conquering it
A philosophical guide to voting: Three big issues to think about
Unthinkable: In the case of voting, the critical question is not the “mom litmus test” but the “child, or future citizen, litmus test”
We are united by common urges: Freedom. Justice. The need to go to the toilet
Unthinkable: Looking for the meaning of life? You may be sitting on the answer
Enoch Burke is someone I’d like to hug
Unthinkable: Ahead of International Men’s Day, it’s clear many young men are not in a happy place
This could be a crazy week. Here’s one way to stay sane
The best way to stay sane this week is, as Marcus Aurelius recommended, to extend more generosity to other people’s crazy
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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