What’s the meaning of life?
This is the wrong question to ask. It’s like asking “what’s the meaning of water?” So there’s no meaning to life, because life can’t have a meaning. But you can live a meaningful life. What meaning you give your life is not only up to you, it’s what you have to live with.

What’s the best philosophy for life?
The best philosophy for life is your own philosophy for life. Take inspiration from others, but make your own way for yourself, don’t mindlessly follow a pack.

Should I have children?
For me, this is the ultimate…

Writing is the art of making meaning. It has the power to seduce people, to bewitch them to the ideas of the writer.

When I read Machiavelli’s The Prince for the first time, I was struck by how far removed the book is from its reputation.

What I thought was going to be a manual of manipulation and deceit was in fact a strikingly honest book about the state of politics as it was in Renaissance-era Italy.

The book takes on a double purpose, working on practical and transcendent levels — an amoral manual of power, but also an exhortation…

Work is a game that adults play. But it’s a game most of us have no choice but to play. It’s wise, then, to learn the rules of the game so we can win, because the stakes of the game are high.

To protect yourself and provide for your family, and to see your ambitions realized in the workplace, it is essential to be as canny as a fox and as ferocious as a lioness. Everybody around you is a potential rival, but also a paving stone on the path to success.

· I. How an Executive Should Acquire Respect…

This idea changed everything for me.

It’s so simple.

But first, let’s examine the problem. The problem is truth.

Our relationship to “the truth” is complicated.

The truth is argued about a lot. It’s the high ground people claim when they disagree over practically any matter.

But how do we humans access truth? Truth needs a criterion — a yardstick, a gauge, a standard. To know the truth is to know reality. We access reality through its impressions on our senses and the faculties that process the data of our senses. Light waves enter our retina, or soundwaves enter our…

“A lot of guys really supported that whole concept that if they don’t speak English and they have darker skin, they’re not as human as us, so we can do what we want.”

Specialist Josh Middleton, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Four-month tour in Baghdad and Mosul beginning December 2004*

“I guess while I was there, the general attitude was, ‘A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi… You know, so what?’ […] when they get home, in dealing with veteran issues and meeting other veterans, it seems like the guilt really takes place, takes root, then.”

Specialist Jeff Englehart…

When I published my first post on Medium I never dreamed that I would one day have 30,000 followers.

I have so much gratitude for everybody who has read my stories and especially those who have engaged with me through the hundreds of comments and emails I have received. Humbly, I say: thank you.

I’ve written over a hundred posts since 2018 covering a breadth of topics from ancient philosophy to pop art. In this time writing, reading and researching I’ve come by big ideas that have transformed my outlook on life. …

In London’s exclusive enclave of Hampstead, a leafy sprawl of detached houses with U-shaped driveways and neat front gardens, you’ll find luxury cars like Range Rovers, Teslas and the occasional Porsche dotted around, but also more modest vehicles like Minis and Volkswagen Golfs.

Walk just a mile or so further, among the social housing projects of historically poor Harlesden and you’ll be surprised (or unsurprised) to find gleaming high-spec specimens of BMWs, Mercedes and Audis in the shadows of high-rise blocks of compact apartments.

This is no scientific audit, but it would be fairly accurate to guess that there are…

Most people live by belief. They believe in a moral order that is handed down to them. Some things are right, some things are wrong. Don’t ask why.

The four ideas to live by in the following text are not beliefs. They are ideas that are built on first principles, not beliefs. A first principle is a self-evident or observed fact, such as: “all things are made of matter”, or “you cannot know anything for certain”.

In short, ideas built on first principles are built on reason.

When we ask, “how should I live?” We can take beliefs to be…