"Der Mensch ist, was er ißt."
Pop Translation: "You are what you eat."
- Ludwig A. Feuerbach

To a southerner, heaven is walking into a famous barbeque restaurant, breathing in all the amazing aromas coming from multiple outdoor wood-fired meat smokers, and then, after ordering a big plate...

We're in a sense continuing our discussions of philosophy and beverages that bring a buzz. We've covered the bitter and frothy brews, coffee and beer. Now it's time to look at the buzz itself when it goes bad, and too far. Today, after a nice, long summer vacation, I'm talking...

Today I'm continuing a conversation with Lou Marinoff, Professor and Chair of Philosophy at The City College of New York, and founding President of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He's also the internationally bestselling author of Plato Not Prozac, among other books, and an advisor to world leaders.

Tom:...

Today I'm talking with Lou Marinoff, Professor and Chair of Philosophy at The City College of New York, and founding President of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He's the internationally bestselling author of Plato Not Prozac, among other books. Lou has also worked with global think-tanks such as...

I want to talk today to parents who've recently attended a child's high school, upper school, or prep school graduation and are just a couple of months from taking or sending that child off to college. You may have heard a graduation talk on that grand day directed to your...

Beer and philosophy are often found together. In a previous interview, we looked at the relationship between coffee and philosophy. But there are two kinds of brew associated with deep thought. Poet A.E. Houseman wrote, "Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does...

Today I want to address directly a group of readers across the nation who are caught up in a most difficult moment of choice. But what I want to say speaks to all the toughest decisions we ever make.

Most people think the month of April starts with the silly...

Last night, in a discussion group I attended, there was a moment when we were talking about gladness, joy and other deeply positive emotions. A lady spoke up with a wistful touch of frustration, saying that every time she ever felt anything like joy, someone or something would snatch it...

Why does so much philosophy take place in bars and coffeehouses? What's the relationship between drinking and thinking?

Today, I'm talking to Scott F. Parker and Michael W. Austin, two philosophers seriously tweaked by java. Scott's a regular contributor to Rain Taxi Review of Books, and his writing has...

Egypt: Many years ago, on a beautiful morning.

The day had come for the old man and the boy to leave the oasis where they had begun to talk of important things, and return to their travel across the desert.

The next day had come and gone as well....

Egypt, many years ago. Day Two.

There was a nice light wind stirring the trees of the desert oasis in the mid-morning sun. The old camel driver was gathering his supplies, packing up food and storing water for the days to come. The young boy ran up to him. "Uncle,...

(Egypt: Many years ago.)

The old camel driver leaned back on the brightly colored blankets rolled up behind him and stacked against the base of a tree. He took a straw from his mouth, turned to the young boy with him, and said, "There is something I need to tell...

Assaf Peretz has provided a great place online for people to have deep conversations about things that matter. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematical logic at UC Berkeley, for which he received the prestigious Clay Liftoff Fellowship. Then, confounding everyone who assumes a mathematical logician can't be a fun, social...

Last week, I wrote a Foreword for a friend's new book entitled The Freak Factor. It's a great look at the incredible, outrageous, freakishly wonderful possibility of focusing on being exactly who you are - rather than on what others around you may want you to be -...

Where are you now, and where do you need to go? Do you have a map of how to get there?

I've long described philosophy as cartography for the soul, a sort of map making for the human journey.

There is an amazing poem by Czech immunologist and poet...

How would Harry Potter run a major American company? Would he have any good suggestions about how you should run your life? After all, the most loved wizard of all time famously stood up to the most dangerous challenges of his day and prevailed magnificently. He must know something the...

What lifts you up during difficult times? Is there something in your life that can reliably center you? And even more, do you have anything readily available to you that gives you joy?

On Thanksgiving Day, London-based journalist Theunis Bates profiled a remarkable woman. His article begins:

LONDON...

The church that's my current spiritual home is putting together a short devotional booklet for the upcoming season. And, yes, in case you're wondering, some philosophers do have spiritual lives and spiritual homes. If you have any doubts about this, let me recommend my old book, God and...

Our thoughts are too small. And as a result, our actions are too small. Most of us have our typical thoughts, imaginations, and decisions produced and constrained in unnecessary ways by our past and present circumstances. We lower our heads and take only little steps. We are meant to fly...

Is your life an ordeal or a joy? Is it a battle or a dance?

Do you sometimes think of your daily existence in this world as a form of imprisonment, or is it more like being at a really amazing party?

Are you more often in a state...