We need some new truth about an old issue.

Most people suffer needlessly from a complete misconception about what life balance is.

I was asked not long ago to give a talk on life and work balance. I've been serving business groups as a philosopher and public speaker for...

We need to understand more deeply and appreciate more fully the heroic path that's available to us in our work and lives, day to day.

The American clothier Brooks Brothers just sent its customers a remarkable email in which jazz great Wynton Marsalis was interviewed about his work and...

Sometimes, simple things can have amazing results.

The best instigators of creative innovation have understood a simple, fundamental principle. Bring together a group of well disposed, talented, diverse and yet, in some ways, like-minded people -- between two and twenty, ideally -- put them in an environment where they can...

I've been watching too much reality TV. Well, maybe you have too. And I just had a dream the other night that, as a public philosopher, I was hosting a new show. Then, I realized that if it was a hit, I could have a huge new empire of reality...

Contrary to widespread opinion, it's not actually possible to insult, offend, demean or disparage a great prophet, religion, nation or individual.

Of course, public events of late seem to soundly demonstrate the opposite. The well-publicized outbreak of demonstrations and violence in so many countries in recent days that has been...

If Aristotle ran Goldman Sachs, what sort of press do you think the company would be getting these days? How would employees, past and present, describe their culture?

Many people have told me recently that the most unsettling thing about the world right now is the amount and degree of uncertainty we all face in so many ways. A thick fog surrounds us and keeps us from having any clear view of what's next.

Politics has become its...

"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...