The Thinker

Commentators argue that in the wake of the pandemic, mainstream neoclassical economic theory and policy lost credibility as inflation surged back, driven by cascading macroeconomic shocks. With conventional economists struggling to explain or contain the price spike, attention has turned to heterodox thinkers offering alternative frameworks for understanding the post-Covid economy.

Italian writer and television journalist Corrado Augias is drawing attention with a reflection on Machiavelli, arguing that the Florentine thinker's lessons remain relevant when politics loses sight of justice. The piece, circulating among Italian-speaking audiences, links Machiavelli's ideas to current political behaviour, prompting discussion about whether modern politicians forget ethical duties in pursuit of power.

A passage from Peter Kropotkin's essay "Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal" is being shared widely. In it, the Russian anarchist thinker argues that if children were taught where everyday goods come from — the bread they eat, the houses they live in, the books they study — society could easily handle the work of producing them. Readers are discussing the quote's argument for combining education with an understanding of labor.

Book and philosophy readers are sharing a line from Heraclitus's Fragments: "Without the sun, what day? What night?" The quote is being passed around in reading communities, prompting reflection on the ancient Greek thinker's meditations on nature, time and opposites. The chatter sits within ongoing enthusiasm for the pre-Socratic philosophers among online book circles.

Tyler Cowen has asked readers of Marginal Revolution to suggest questions for Tom Griffiths, the Princeton cognitive scientist known for work on human decision-making and co-author of 'Algorithms to Live By'. Readers are posting their questions in the comments ahead of an upcoming interview, in line with Cowen's usual practice of crowdsourcing prompts before conversations with prominent thinkers.

The New York Times reports that Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah spent months consulting religious scholars and thinkers from many faith traditions on how to give the Claude AI assistant a moral character. The scholars described the conversations about instilling ethics into artificial intelligence as striking and unexpected. The reporting has drawn attention to how leading AI companies are turning to religion and philosophy to guide chatbot behavior.

The author of "The Other Half", published on Substack under the name A Thinker In Nature, is promoting an essay that connects three questions: what the printing press enabled, what Descartes overlooked, and why humanity still cannot control its greenhouse gas emissions. The piece argues these questions share a resolution, framing climate inaction in terms of long-term intellectual history rather than policy or technology alone.

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, the French philosopher born on this day in 1714, is being remembered for his work on psychology and the philosophy of the mind. A leading Enlightenment thinker, Condillac is known for his theory that all knowledge derives from sensory experience, an idea that influenced later empiricist thought.

Participants in the German photo challenge #FotoVorschlag are posting images on the theme 'Warten auf Godot' (Waiting for Godot). One contributor shared a picture of Rodin's The Thinker set among autumn trees, noting it was a repost with a slightly different edit. The challenge invites playful takes each week on a suggested photographic theme.

A line from Heraclitus's Fragments — 'From the strain of binding opposites comes harmony' — is being shared and discussed by readers of ancient Greek philosophy. The pre-Socratic thinker's idea that harmony emerges from tension between opposites continues to resonate with modern audiences interested in classical thought.

A prominent Christian scholar known for work on artificial intelligence and human flourishing is scheduled to visit Whitworth University, a Christian institution in Spokane, Washington. The event signals growing interest among faith communities in how AI shapes human life and ethics. Further details about the speaker and the event program have not been provided.

A new theatre review in the Financial Times covers James Graham's play The Standard of Living, which pays tribute to the economist John Maynard Keynes. The piece assesses how Graham dramatises Keynes's ideas about economics and the good life, and how the production brings the celebrated British thinker's legacy to the stage for contemporary audiences.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has launched Wonkathon 2026, posing a central question about education policy: what rules should govern the use of digital technology in schools, and which authorities—federal, state, or local—should set them. The education think tank is inviting policy thinkers to weigh in on how devices, apps, and digital learning tools should be regulated in classrooms.

A translation of one of Heraclitus's most famous fragments — 'the river where you set your foot just now is gone' — is being shared and quoted among readers of philosophy and classical texts. The line, from the ancient Greek thinker's surviving fragments, expresses his doctrine that everything is in constant flux: the same waters never flow twice. It continues to resonate as one of the most quoted images in Western philosophy.