Unthinkable | The Irish Times

A group of Chinese Shaolin Buddhist monks on a visit to Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

How to find your inner Zen Buddhist

Unthinkable: ‘A love of mystery is deeply embedded in the Irish psyche,’ says the author of a new translation of eastern wisdom stories

‘Sometimes we make better choices by taking the long view, and seeing all parts of time as equally real.’ Photograph: Reuters/Brian Snyder

Living in the now: It’s not as simple as you’d think

Science suggests the present has ‘no particular significance’ above the past or the future?

“Being able to identify yourself as part of nature without being laughed at... [is] a huge shift.” Photograph: AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

In despair over climate change? Try ‘active hope’

Unthinkable: Less focus on outcomes can help to counter pessimism

Even when relaxing, people feel an urge to read something ‘improving’ or useful. Photograph: Noel Hendrickson/Thinkstock/Getty

Are humans losing the ability to be idle?

Unthinkable: A new book on dossing and daydreaming seeks to challenge our traditional work ethic

Children prepare for a nativity play: “Religion is filled with fantastical superheroes and stories.” Photograph: Frank Miller

Is religion better than atheism as a coping mechanism?

Unthinkable: Secular philosophies ‘lack the melodrama of religion’, says Stephen Asma

Muslim praying in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Islam has ‘given rise to remarkably free societies as well as depressingly intolerant ones’. Photograph: AP/Muhammed Muheisen

What can the West learn from the rest?

Unthinkable: Borrowing foreign ideas can expand our thinking, says Julian Baggini

‘My position is to recommend that people consider parenting a child with Down syndrome, if given the opportunity’. Photograph: iStock

Is economics corrupting our idea of human worth?

Unthinkable: Pro-choice author Chris Kaposy warns of ‘elimination of people with Down syndrome’

Angry bird: social media incentivises conflict over constructive dialogue. Photograph: Reuters

Is it time to cut back on criticism?

Unthinkable: An ‘arms race’ of critique is hindering social progress, argues sociologist Tom Boland

America’s failure to repent the use of the atomic bomb contributed to “the ending of the western Christian civilisation”, says Desmond Fennell. Photograph: US Defense Department/Reuters

What will replace ‘western civilisation’?

Unthinkable: We’re at a point in history ‘between two civilisations’, argues Desmond Fennell

Pilgrims waiting in Phoenix Park, Dublin for the visit of Pope Francis. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

A ‘third way’ of looking at religion

Unthinkable: Two dead philosophers could provide the key to a more mature debate on faith

Irish Yong Philosopher Award winner Luke Rickard (16) with President Michael D. Higgins. Photograph: UCD Colleges of Social Sciences and Law

Meet Ireland’s young philosopher of the year

Unthinkable: The Irish Young Philosopher Awards hopes to become as big as the Young Scientist exhibition

‘There is a paradox in war: Why do individuals sacrifice themselves for their groups?’ Photgraph: Reuters/Joe Raedle

Is fighting in our genes? A biological theory of warfare

Unthinkable: ‘Humans fight to achieve status and belonging,’ says former soldier Mike Martin

Rhetorical rivals Edmund Burke and Mary Wollstonecraft. Photographs: Getty Images

Was Ireland’s most prominent philosopher ‘too womanly’?

Unthinkable: The Irish statesman Edmund Burke was a victim of reverse sexism

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg at a US Senate hearing in April. The distribution of fake news could be combated by sanctioning social media platforms. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

How do we create the right ‘environment’ for public debate?

Unthinkable: Knowledge is an ‘epistemic good’ to which everyone should have access

“Children who commit crimes should be treated more leniently because they are denied the vote.” Photograph: E+/Getty Images

Would lowering voting age justify being tougher on under 18s?

Unthinkable: Children who commit crimes deserve leniency only because they can’t vote, US academic argues

A Karl Marx figure with a “zero euro” bank note which has been produced in his home city of Trier, Germany, as part of bicentenary celebrations. Photograph: Harald Tittel/AFP/Getty Images

Karl Marx at 200: What did he get right?

Unthinkable: ‘Freedom was Marx’s central concern,’ says philosopher Peter Singer

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva: All rights depend upon the existence of an assembly of people to affirm them. Photograph: Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

Is there a right to life? (You mightn’t like the answer)

Unthinkable: There’s ‘a systematic ambiguity’ at the heart of human rights, TCD professor John Dillon says

A screen grab from the website of consent app Legal Fling which proclaims to create a ‘live contract’ for sexual activity.

Sex in the digital age: Are consent apps the answer?

Unthinkable: Technological ‘solutions’ to sexual assault could create new problems

Germany’s Joyce: The Goethe monument in Frankfurt. Photograph: AP Photo/Heribert Proepper

Why Goethe matters: The case for ‘a new schooling of attention’

Unthinkable: Germany’s giant of literature had a view of science that still appeals to many

Part of an illustration by Prof Tom Koch mapping the presence of long-lived smokers across the US to give the impression of a correlation between long-life and tobacco use. Illustration: Tom Koch

The myth of morally neutral statistics

Unthinkable: The way we collect data and present it is tied up with our values

Why do ‘gap couples’, like Donald and Melania Trump, attract negative commentary? Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Everything you wanted to know about ageing (but were afraid to ask)

Unthinkable: A philosopher and a lawyer have teamed up to try to answer older people’s deepest questions

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