Liberalism is facing a crisis. But it’s not what Vladimir Putin thinks
With the decline of the left, only populism seems to offer a sense of social solidarity
Couze Venn obituary
Other lives: Pioneer of cultural, post-colonial and social theory
‘A rose with a thousand petals’ … what makes an aphorism – and is this a golden age?
Forget haikus, epigrams, proverbs, maxims, adages and riddles. If you’re needing a sliver of wisdom, try an aphorism. There are certainly plenty around …
Yuval Noah Harari: the myth of freedom
Governments and corporations will soon know you better than you know yourself. Belief in the idea of freedom has become dangerous
Miriam Griffin obituary
Oxford classical scholar and expert on Seneca who offered new insights into the torrid world of Roman imperial politics
JS Mill scribbles reveal he was far from a chilly Victorian intellectual
Project to digitise and publish his marginalia online will allow scholars to see his cutting remarks on Ralph Waldo Emerson
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray review – is every atheist an inverted believer?
An impressively erudite work, ranging from St Augustine to Joseph Conrad, embraces an atheism that finds enough mystery in the material world
British philosopher Onora O’Neill wins $1m Berggruen prize
Cambridge emeritus professor is praised for combining ‘rigour with timely prescriptions for what we really need to do’
The wrong sort of voter? There’s no such thing, AC Grayling
Loose canon: Grayling revives a fear of the mob that’s as old as Plato. Brexit convinced our elite that ordinary people were not intelligent enough to know what’s best for them
How we feel about Freud: Susie Orbach and Frederick Crews debate his legacy
Crews, an academic, thinks psychoanalysis is an unscientific jumble of ideas, while psychoanalyst Orbach would prefer not to throw the baby out with the patriarchal bias
Charlie Gard’s parents show the strength of human love
Loose canon: When it comes to morality, the passion of love must carry greater weight than the calculations of reason
Putting off the important things? It’s not for the reasons you think
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do now, especially if you’re holding back in the hope of doing it properly
Derek Parfit obituary
Philosopher whose books inspired his academic peers all over the world
A life in quotes: John Berger
The late prize-winning author and art critic was perceptive on, among other things, the male gaze and the subjectivity of art
Derren Brown: ‘You’re only sad if you tell yourself you’re sad’
After the breakup of a long relationship, the magician found himself pondering how to be happy – and he’s found that it’s simply a trick of the mind