Sappho review – the poet’s passions, from ancient Lesbos to spangly clubland
A mix of songs, dance, glitter and camp, this ancient-modern mashup is derailed by bland debates and a convoluted script
March 2024
Why do we do things that are bad for us? The ancient philosophers had an answer
Plato, Socrates and Aristotle wrestled with the concept of akrasia –whether it’s possible to act against what you know to be good
June 2022
Cancelling Socrates review – Howard Brenton interrogates democracy in a rich play of ideas
Fine acting and lively dialogue save this philosophical play from feeling static as it applies Athenian ideals to modern dilemmas
May 2022
Cancelling Socrates: how the great philosopher sealed his fate with comedy
Playwright Howard Brenton asks why ancient Athens turned on its famous citizen, and how such an uncompromising free-thinker might fare in our own ‘age of rage’
December 2019
Guardian Sport Network
The ethics of walking in cricket: from Socrates to Nietzsche
To walk or not to walk, that is the question. What would Aristotle, Plato and Kant have done had they felt a nick?
May 2019
Socrates in Love by Armand D'Angour review – the making of a philosopher
Book of the day
The Right Life by Remo H Largo review – don't try to advance beyond your talents
September 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 books about teaching
As another school year begins, here is some of the most instructive reading about this toughest of subjects — from Plato to Shakespeare and beyond
August 2016
Ancient Worlds: An Epic History of East and West review – enthralling
Michael Scott’s novel approach to an overview of world affairs from 500BC to AD300 reaps rich rewards
February 2016
Atheism has ancient roots and is not ‘modern invention’, claims new text
Cambridge academic’s new book disputes that atheism is a ‘modern invention’ and sets out evidence that ‘disbelief in the supernatural is as old as the hills’
January 2016
The Guardian view on knowledge in an information age: take it to heart
Editorial: In the era of the smartphone, London cabbies are going to keep committing every last alley to memory. It might seem pointless, but we gain insight as well as information by exercising the memory
September 2014
Jonathan Jones on art
The new Socrates? Artist Tino Sehgal sets up talking shop in Athens agora
Tino Sehgal’s latest interactive artwork in Athens pays tribute to the masters of philosophy – hopefully without the same deadly end result, writes Jonathan Jones
January 2014
Written off
Letters: It brings to mind the cautionary parable of Socrates in the Phaedrus (274), where he makes the same point about writing
November 2012
How to believe
Evil, part 4: the social dimension
Clare Carlisle
Clare Carlisle: How to believe: Does contemporary society give rise to conditions more conducive to evil than in the past?
July 2012
Theatre takes Socrates's teachings on tour of crisis-hit Greece
Socrates is as relevant as ever, 2,400 years after his death, say creators of one-man performance of The Apology
May 2012
So, you think reason guides your politics? Think again
Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins: I thought I could see tribal bigotry at 100 paces and fell it with a Socratic blow, but I was deluding myself – and so are you
The Big Ideas
Why every government should keep an empty seat for a philosopher king
Mark Kingwell
Mark Kingwell: The Big Ideas: Plato was right: the ideal society needs truth-seekers as rulers – but with a twist
Notes and queries
Notes & Queries: Are snooker players more skilful than pool players?
Plus: Austerity philosophy – Popper or Socrates? Life-cycle of a tree; Formula One on the M1
