Articles

In this interview with Jonathan Glover, which first appeared in the Summer 2001 issue, the British ethics professor addresses the human proclivity for cruelty.

A rallying cry for more than 200 years, “We the People” still resonates as nations seek the freedom they equate with democracy. But what is freedom?

David Hulme speaks to Tony P. Hall, former congressman and member of the diplomatic corps who has focused much of his attention on the world's hungry.

Conspicuous consumption is often used to describe spending on goods and services by individuals or households that wish to display their wealth or income.

The modern penal system in many nations has been a failed experiment in rehabilitation. Are reformation and reconciliation possible for prisoners?

In addressing the problem of access and excess, it is timely to consider the wisdom found in Judeo-Christian literature and in the works of a few alternative thinkers.

In the wake of the 2007–09 financial crisis, a number of economists and commentators have written books to try to establish why the crisis happened.

One Israeli and one Palestinian are showing how human experience can be transcended—to the benefit of not only themselves but their world.

A masterpiece is something that’s done with extraordinary skill, and a review of John Robert Wooden’s life journey suggests that this maxim was indeed a daily focus.

Deceptions, hoaxes and urban legends abound, mainly because so many people are so easily taken in by them. Here’s how you can avoid being one of them.

Here are some ways that we human beings deceive ourselves and each other, along with a few suggested remedies.

Why the long fascination with superheroes? Does it indicate a deep-seated hope people have that someone will save them from the current peril or crisis?

Before deciding how we give for humanitarian relief, and to whom we give, we need to be as sure as we can that we are giving wisely and effectively.

What makes poor people poor? What can they do about their poverty? Paul Polak started International Development Enterprises to answer these questions.

In a 2007 poll, 58 percent of children said they would choose happiness over wealth. But what does it take to make people happy? 

Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations and the first black African to hold the position, served from 1997 to 2006. 

The idea that global peace can be achieved through world government has a long history. But how realistic is this hope?

The European “process model” of governing carries two troublesome risks.  The first is a moral dilemma. The second is its vulnerability to tyranny.

The European “process model” of governing carries two troublesome risks. The first is a moral dilemma: where does a secular society look when setting moral boundaries?