We often hear that the academic Humanities and social sciences are in crisis—underfunded, out of touch with the job market, hamstrung by political correctness and moral relativism. So why study philosophy? And could a good dose of scientific method help to solve the problem—if indeed there is one?

The Panopticon and the native American Potlatch ceremony are the yin and yang of social media gift economics, driving and sustaining the frenzy of exchange made possible by our new 'social era'—an age of constant, multi-channel, real time sharing. • Paul Krugman doesn’t tweet. The economist and New York Times columnist has over one million...

Is it morally permissible to impose strong patent protections where doing so prices important new medicines out of the reach of many poor people? This week on The Philosopher's Zone, Thomas Pogge, professor of philosophy at Yale University, talks about the morality of the global trade in medicine.