Julia Kristeva:
Julia Kristeva is a philosopher and psychoanalyst whose work explores language, identity, and the unconscious, introducing influential ideas such as abjection and the semiotic dimension of meaning.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics, rooted in the works of Aristotle, emphasizes the development of virtuous character traits as the key to ethical decision-making. It focuses on personal virtues like honesty, courage, and compassion.
Patricia Churchland: Neuroscience and Philosophy
Patricia Churchland is a pioneering neurophilosopher whose work connects philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and morality, arguing that understanding the brain is essential to understanding ourselves.
Angela Davis: Prison breaking philosophy
Angela Davis is a philosopher and activist whose work explores race, feminism, capitalism, and prison abolition, arguing for collective liberation and a radical rethinking of justice.
Nancy Fraser; Justice, Feminism, and Democratic Participation
Nancy Fraser is a leading political philosopher whose work explores social justice through the lenses of redistribution, recognition, and democratic participation, offering a powerful critique of capitalism, feminism, and identity politics in the modern world.
Luce Irigaray: Rethinking Identity, Language, and the Space Between People
Luce Irigaray is a Belgian-born philosopher and feminist theorist whose work examines how language, culture, and philosophy construct gender. Her writing challenges the idea that the masculine is the default form of human experience, arguing instead for a world where difference between genders is recognised without hierarchy.
Cressida J. Heyes: The Self as a Project and a Battleground
Cressida J. Heyes argues that identity is shaped through social forces, personal discipline, and systems of power. Her work on the self, gender, and transformation challenges the idea of identity as something inner and fixed, and instead explores how we are continually trained to become ourselves.
Philippa Foot: Virtue, Reason and the Moral Life
Philippa Foot was a leading twentieth-century philosopher who revived virtue ethics and challenged prevailing views about moral judgement. Best known for the trolley problem and her theory of “natural goodness,” she argued that virtues are grounded in human nature and essential to human flourishing. Her work continues to shape contemporary debates in ethics, character, and moral psychology.
Gorgias: The Master of Words
Gorgias of Leontini (c. 485–380 BCE) was a master of rhetoric whose dazzling speeches could sway audiences and reshape perceptions. Famous for his radical scepticism and his defence of Helen of Troy, Gorgias revealed the sheer power of language to persuade, inspire, and even deceive.
Protagoras: Man as the Measure of All Things
Protagoras, one of ancient Greece’s most famous Sophists, boldly declared that “man is the measure of all things.” Unlike Plato or Aristotle, who sought universal truths, Protagoras argued that truth and morality depend on human perception. His agnostic stance on the gods and his reputation as a master of rhetoric made him both influential and controversial in democratic Athens. Seen by critics as dangerously relativistic, and by supporters as a practical guide to civic life, his ideas continue to resonate today in debates about cultural relativism, human rights, and the shifting nature of truth.
Virtue Ethics
Learn about virtue ethics, focusing on developing virtues like courage and compassion for a more ethical life. Promotes human flourishing and encourages moral excellence for a just society.