Cognitive Science

The Three Laws of Robotics

Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics began as a literary device but grew into one of the most influential ideas in science fiction and AI ethics. This essay explores their origins, how they shaped his stories, their relevance to real-world robotics, and the deeper philosophical questions they raise about safety, freedom, and the rights of future intelligent beings.

Iris Murdoch: Moral Vision, Human Complexity, and the Work of Attention

Iris Murdoch: Moral Vision, Human Complexity, and the Work of Attention

Iris Murdoch was a novelist and philosopher who explored morality through the inner life, emphasising attention, imagination and the struggle against ego. Her work unites fiction and ethics, revealing how we become good not through sudden decisions but through how we see others and the world.

Simone Weil: A Life of Attention, Affliction, and Radical Moral Seriousness

Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic, and social activist whose life embodied radical intellectual and moral commitment. Known for her powerful reflections on suffering, attention, labour, and the need for spiritual humility, she remains one of the most compelling and challenging thinkers of the twentieth century. This article explores Weil’s life, key ideas, and enduring influence.

Helen Beebee a question of causation

Helen Beebee: Rethinking Causation and the Laws of Nature

Sally Haslanger is a leading contemporary philosopher whose work on social construction, identity, and power reshapes how we understand gender, race, and social reality. Combining analytic precision with a commitment to social justice, she offers a rigorous framework for analysing, and improving, the structures that shape human life.

Do not adjust your screen.

Ernst Mach and the Science of Perception

Ernst Mach (1838–1916) was a physicist and philosopher whose studies on sound, motion, and perception reshaped science. His ideas on sensory experience and the relativity of motion influenced Einstein and modern psychology, reminding us that reality is inseparable from how we perceive it.