Areo - Psychology

7 min

Psychology

Are We Too Irrational for Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance?

The veil of ignorance, proposed in John Rawls’ 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, is a key concept in the liberal pursuit of a just society. Rawls suggests that, when…

View Post

View Post

4 min

Virtual Reality Will Spark a Twenty-First Century Decadent Movement

On 20 February, 2019, Jak Wilmot put on a VR headset and didn’t take it off for an entire week. He ate, slept, worked and played in VR, and even…

View Post

View Post

19 min

Psychology

Why We Join Cults

At the start of April, we were shocked to discover the details of the NXIVM cult—an organisation which “brainwashed and blackmailed women into being sex slaves.” The female members of…

View Post

View Post

7 min

The Personal and the Political: Reconciling Right and Left Perspectives

I’d like to propose two theses which, together, identify the basic failings of the Left and Right in today’s political landscape: the Left proposes political solutions to what are essentially…

View Post

View Post

8 min

No, Secular Humanism is Not a Religion

I was recently surprised to read in Quillette an essay which argues that secular humanism is a religion. Although a number of thoughtful arguments for and against the similarity of secular…

View Post

View Post

19 min

Attention Requires Intention

Two and a half years ago, I made the social media purge. The decision took some time to build up to, and the act itself was difficult. I spent two…

View Post

View Post

12 min

Psychology

Die Loser: Why We Are Killing Ourselves More, and What’s the Cure?

We are killing ourselves more than we used to. According to both the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UK Department of Health, suicides rates have doubled…

View Post

View Post

8 min

Psychology

The Fine Old Art of Bullshitting

There’s a sucker born every minute.― P.T. Barnum “Did you know that there is a benevolent, powerful, unwavering universal energy just waiting to open itself up to you?” This is just…

View Post

View Post

8 min

Psychology

Since it became part of the zeitgeist of nineteenth-century Europe, nihilism has been blamed for virtually every atrocity committed by an unsound individual. This “philosophy of nothing” concludes that our…

View Post

View Post

6 min

Psychology

Identifying As or Identifying With? Transgender Identity

We appear to be at an impasse: a strongly vocal sector of the trans lobby insists that one is simply the gender one identifies as being, while an ever louder…

View Post

View Post

7 min

“Donald Trump Is Like an Old Friend”: Parasocial Relationships and Politics

Walking down a New York City street while still in my teens, I spotted a television film critic I admired walking in the opposite direction. I said, “Hello, Gene.” He…

View Post

View Post

7 min

Psychology

Bureaucracy as Secular Spirituality

The Origins of Bureaucratic Spirituality: Administration, Religion and Writing Bureaucracy evokes and depends on secular spirituality, as it gives us a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. It…

View Post

View Post

4 min

Transhumanism and the Death of Human Exceptionalism

Every few decades, a new ism comes along that many people see as a threat to the bedrock principles of Western civilization. Communism was one of the big ones, and…

View Post

View Post

18 min

Virtue Signal or Piety Display? The Search for Cognitive Identity and the Attack on Social Bargaining

The accusation of virtue signaling has become a standard rhetorical device in recent years. There are at least three major problems with this. First, there is not a lot of…

View Post

View Post

8 min

Psychology

Resisting the Transcendental Temptation

Throughout history, suffering and death have always followed when people have succumbed to the transcendental temptation. Today, it may be luring us to the brink of disaster yet again.

View Post

View Post

6 min

Psychology

Five Lessons from the Trial of Socrates

In 399 BCE, Socrates was on trial on two charges—impiety and corrupting youth. With nearly 2,500 years of hindsight, his self-defense serves as a goldmine of lessons to be learned.…

View Post

View Post

8 min

Psychology

Living with the Grim Reaper Can Make You Happier

Posted on February 28, 2019March 14, 2019
One comment
byAlex LoPrinzi

Death is everywhere. Trees die. Cows die. We die. Even inanimate objects like batteries and projects die. Abstract concepts like dreams and aspirations can die, too. But these latter deaths…

View Post

Psychology

The Philosophy of Slavoj Zizek

Are We Too Irrational for Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance?

Virtual Reality Will Spark a Twenty-First Century Decadent Movement

Why We Join Cults

The Personal and the Political: Reconciling Right and Left Perspectives

No, Secular Humanism is Not a Religion

The Fine Old Art of Bullshitting

The Moral Case for Nihilism

Identifying As or Identifying With? Transgender Identity

“Donald Trump Is Like an Old Friend”: Parasocial Relationships and Politics

Bureaucracy as Secular Spirituality

Transhumanism and the Death of Human Exceptionalism

Resisting the Transcendental Temptation

Five Lessons from the Trial of Socrates

Living with the Grim Reaper Can Make You Happier

New to Areo

Join the Discussion

Read by Category

Read from our Vault