Essential Knowledge

Articles by authors in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series. Written by leading thinkers, the series offers accessible, concise books on subjects that range from the cultural and the historical to the scientific and the technical.

Latest Articles

Philosophy	Why the Classical Argument Against Free Will Is a Failure Despite bold philosophical and scientific claims, there’s still no good reason to doubt the existence of free will. Mark Balaguer \| Jan 27, 2022
Culture	School Choice: A User Guide Education researcher and author David Garcia discusses the complex landscape and historical roots of schooling in the United States. The Editors \| Jan 13, 2022
Culture	A Crisis of Vision: Can Art Shake Humanity From Its Global Stupor? How visual culture can be mobilized to address the most altering event in the story of humanity. Alexis L. Boylan \| Sep 8, 2021
Science & Tech	Alien Dreams: The Surprisingly Long History of Speculation About Extraterrestrials The idea that other worlds might be home to alien beings has been part of our thought for as long as we have been looking skyward. Wade Roush \| Aug 3, 2021
Science & Tech	A Century of Science Fiction That Changed How We Think About the Environment Even before the idea of climate change took hold, sci-fi began to think of the planet as something that preceded our species and could conceivably continue without us. Sherryl Vint \| Jul 20, 2021
Media	Tackling Hate Speech: In Conversation With Caitlin Ring Carlson A communications and media law expert discusses her research and suggests ways to limit the spread of hate speech. Zoë Kopp-Weber \| Mar 29, 2021
Media	How To Handle Post-Truth Now That Trump Is Gone Let's give liars the obscurity they deserve. Lee McIntyre \| Jan 26, 2021
Science & Tech	How Cognitive Bias Can Explain Post-Truth Our built-in biases help explain our post-truth era, when “alternative facts” replace actual facts, and feelings have more weight than evidence. Lee McIntyre \| Jan 21, 2021
Economics	The Baleful Consequences of Corruption Corrupt practices harshly cut across classes and castes, disturb institutions, destroy communities, and infect the very structure of people’s lives. Robert I. Rotberg \| Oct 16, 2020
Culture	What Irony Is Not A handy guide to distinguishing the notoriously slippery concept from its distant cousins coincidence, satire, parody, and paradox. Roger Kreuz \| Aug 6, 2020