Philosophy

Philosophy articles provide deep reflection and analysis on public life, values, ethics, morals, human nature, and the philosophical foundations of liberty, freedom, and society — challenging technocratic trends, institutional failures, and threats to authentic humanity.

We examine critical themes such as AI and totalitarianism, Neuralink-style control, post-pandemic moral recovery, church closures, enlightenment critiques, sovereignty vs. state power, arrogance in governance, and pathways to reclaim personal dignity, truth, and human-centered philosophy.

All philosophy articles from Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages to support global readers, foster international dialogue on ethics and liberty, and promote thoughtful reform worldwide.

They Want Us to Hate Each Other

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Human beings are tribal by nature. We instinctively divide the world into an “us” and a “them”. It’s a mental shortcut. It relieves us of any responsibility to engage in deeper discernment. It protects us from risk. If we just stick with our own people, — or so the argument goes, — then we will be safe.

They Want Us to Hate Each Other Continue Reading

The School of Friendship

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

What passes today for ideological convictions, in our supposedly terminally divided country, are nothing of the sort, but rather labels to which many quickly and lightly affix themselves precisely because they haven’t really thought deeply about what they believe and why, but don’t want to be seen as being out of step, or of not having really done their homework. 

The School of Friendship Continue Reading

What Happened to the Idea of Progress?

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Like people, paradigms get tired, mostly because the humans that work within them, as Kuhn suggested, increasingly lose touch with the problems that originally elicited in them the intense and sacrifice-laden drive to create urgently desired new things. But humans aren’t always very good at recognizing when they have begun going through the motions. This is especially so with those in the thrall of a purely linear vision of time in which the perennial reality of intellectual and spiritual regression is afforded no legitimate space. 

What Happened to the Idea of Progress? Continue Reading

The Selfish Collective

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

A truly prosocial approach would not shut out all other goals and insist on one way forward. It would take into account the different priorities and viewpoints of various factions or individuals, approach them with respect, and ask how to best facilitate some sort of harmony among their needs. Instead of prescribing behavior onto others it would advocate for dialogue and open debate, and it would celebrate differences of opinion. 

The Selfish Collective Continue Reading

Osterism Won’t Prevent March 2020 From Happening Again

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Oster’s implicit claim that next-to-nothing was known about SARS-CoV-2 – and therefore all the pointless, unethical, and illegal things people were forced to do are understandable – isn’t the pathway to healing, because it’s dishonest. Inexplicably, she denies that, from the get-go, we knew Covid’s stratified risks and the harms of coerced interventions.

Osterism Won’t Prevent March 2020 From Happening Again Continue Reading

Science Misconceived: How the Covid Epoch Wrecked Understanding

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The pandemic along with the slogan, “Trust the science” has altered the desired perspective from one of healthy skepticism to blind acceptance. Such non-critical acceptance of any data, let alone research occurring at “the speed of science,” should give pause. Science moves forward when objections are made and hypotheses are fine-tuned, not when agreement ensues simply because an authority has decreed it so. 

Science Misconceived: How the Covid Epoch Wrecked Understanding Continue Reading

Remember Those Who Cannot Speak

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Remember this: every article you read on this site represents the views of thousands of learned and concerned people who are not in a position to speak. Every author here has taken risks and knows the stakes of the debate in which we find ourselves at the center. There is a silent group out there of highly intelligent people who are deeply grateful to all our supporters for making this opportunity to speak truth to power possible. 

Remember Those Who Cannot Speak Continue Reading

Why has the Church Not Spoken Out?

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

In this more recent attack, truly, who would have ever dreamed that the very medical establishment we all depended on and trusted in for caring for us, for healing us would be transformed at the “speed of science” into one of the most efficient means of subjecting entire nations under a medical dictatorship and subjugating the global population through medicine? Honestly, who had ever thought this could happen?

Why has the Church Not Spoken Out? Continue Reading

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word 

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Karma is already turning on the whole gang of coercive totalitarians here and abroad. While the virus is invisible, the people who dreamed up and enforced lockdowns and mandates who wrecked the country are highly visible. They have names and careers, and they are right to be very worried about their futures. First step: apologize.

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word  Continue Reading

Colbert, Fauci, and the Externalization of Mental Illness

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Life is hard. Everyone I know bears some burden or other. Most do so with equanimity and dignity, and without victimizing others. It’s been deeply wrong—and extremely selfish—for Colbert, Fauci and their groupies to have externalized their mental unwellness on hundreds of millions of others by insisting on society-wide, lastingly destructive Coronavirus interventions.

Colbert, Fauci, and the Externalization of Mental Illness Continue Reading

Join 30,000+ Independent Readers: Get the FREE Brownstone Journal Newsletter