Letter Archives

11 min

Possible Conversations

Letter is a public platform for one-on-one letter exchanges. We have recently completed an Impossible Conversations competition, in which the judges—Heather Heying, Russ Roberts, John Wood jr. and our own…

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6 min

A Letter from Helen and Iona

Dear Readers, This is a very stressful and, indeed, frightening time. In addition to the fear that we or someone we love could become horribly ill or even die and…

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4 min

Civility Without Squeamishness: Making Impossible Conversations Possible

One of us is a proud member of the Left. The other rejects the Left. One of us writes sympathetically of Jordan Peterson’s critique of postmodern neo-Marxism. The other does…

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10 min

Impossible Conversations: An Invitation

The illusion of unity isn’t worth having.—Christopher Hitchens Note: We’re currently holding an Impossible Conversations competition at Letter. This article will explain why and give examples of conversations that epitomise…

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6 min

Unlearning Race: A Letter Exchange with Thomas Chatterton Williams

“[On Gethen] one is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience.”—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness “I am aware—and from time…

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12 min

How to Write a Letter

“Appearances are against me. Don’t believe them. I have written you in intention fifty letters.” —Charles Dickens, letter to Lady Blessington, 1844 There are no hard and fast rules for…

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16 min

The Humane Art: Why We Should All Read and Write Letters

Scarcely any species of composition deserves more to be cultivated than the epistolary style—Samuel Johnson, 1751 Such [letters] as are written from wise men are of all the words of…

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21 min

A Wrong Against Boys: An Impossible Conversation about Circumcision

Inspired by a public conversation between a rabbi and a medical ethicist, in this article, I will take a strong stance against the practice of routine neonatal circumcision in the…

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14 min

Impossible Conversations

A review of Peter Boghossian and James A. Lindsay’s Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide (2019) and announcing the Letter Wiki Impossible Conversations Competition James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian’s new…

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18 min

Can We Make Ourselves Believe? A Letter Exchange

Peter Boghossian is an assistant professor of philosophy at Portland State University. He is the author of A Manual for Creating Atheists (2013) and, with James Lindsay, of the forthcoming…

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13 min

Fascism and How to Fight It

Gretchen Mullen is an award-winning journalist and the author of the blog Skeptic Review. Michael Isaacson has a PhD in economics. He is the cofounder of the Antifa group, Smash…

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13 min

Free Will and Sam Harris’ Puppet Analogy: A Reply to Iona Italia

I’ve been exchanging letters with Jon Rosen about free will and determinism on the platform Letter. A few days ago, I was happy to read Iona Italia’s thoughtful article about…

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15 min

On Free Will: A Letter Exchange

Benjamin Burgis teaches philosophy at Rutgers University in New Jersey and is a sci fi author. His new book, Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left has been reviewed…

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10 min

Memory and Identity: A Letter Exchange with Gurwinder Bhogal

My interest in the freelance writer and fellow Areo contributor Gurwinder Bhogal was originally piqued by his tweets: a series of gnomic utterances about the slippery nature of identity and…

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6 min

Let’s Change the Nature of Public Discussion: An Introduction to Letter

Many people are nostalgic for the days when letter writing was commonplace. When they describe these longings, they usually cite the physical aspects of the experience: the movements of the…

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14 min

Human Cultural Evolution: A Letter Exchange

In a recent exchange of letters, hosted on the platform Letter.wiki, Massimo Pigliucci and David Sloan Wilson explored the question of whether multi-level selection theory, a school of evolutionary biology,…

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Letter

Possible Conversations

A Letter from Helen and Iona

Civility Without Squeamishness: Making Impossible Conversations Possible

Impossible Conversations: An Invitation

Unlearning Race: A Letter Exchange with Thomas Chatterton Williams

How to Write a Letter

The Humane Art: Why We Should All Read and Write Letters

A Wrong Against Boys: An Impossible Conversation about Circumcision

Impossible Conversations

Can We Make Ourselves Believe? A Letter Exchange

Fascism and How to Fight It

Free Will and Sam Harris’ Puppet Analogy: A Reply to Iona Italia

On Free Will: A Letter Exchange

Memory and Identity: A Letter Exchange with Gurwinder Bhogal

Let’s Change the Nature of Public Discussion: An Introduction to Letter

Human Cultural Evolution: A Letter Exchange

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