Controversial US philosopher who sought to understand and explain the science of the mind Daniel Dennett, who has died aged 82, was a controversial philosopher whose writing on consciousness, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and evolutionary psychology helped shift Anglo-American philosophy from its focus on language and concepts towards a coalition with science. His naturalistic account of consciousness, purged as far as possible of first-person agency and qualitative experience, has been popular outside academia and hotly opposed by many within it ..read more

Nick Bostrom’s Future of Humanity Institute closed this week in what Swedish-born philosopher says was ‘death by bureaucracy’ Oxford University this week shut down an academic institute run by one of Elon Musk’s favorite philosophers. The Future of Humanity Institute, dedicated to the long-termism movement and other Silicon Valley-endorsed ideas such as effective altruism, closed this week after 19 years of operation. Musk had donated £1m to the FIH in 2015 through a sister organization to research the threat of artificial intelligence. He had also boosted the ideas of its leader for nearly a ..read more

Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy at the New School, condemned killings in Gaza carried out by the Israeli military A leading Jewish American philosopher has been disinvited from taking up a prestigious professorship at the University of Cologne after signing a letter expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the killings in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces. Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research in New York, said she had been cancelled by the university, which has withdrawn its invitation to the Albertus Magnus Professorship ..read more

Readers respond to Alex Blasdel’s long read on the studies of brain activity immediately after death Alex Blasdel’s long read contains some fascinating facts and speculations (The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense, 2 April). However, it is odd to suggest that there are only three approaches to understanding so-called near-death experiences – physicalist, parapsychological and spiritualist. While the field of near-death studies is indeed full of “kooks and grifters”, many serious scientists and rational thinkers in this and other fields, who are ..read more

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts Is it possible to think about nothing? Surely our consciousness is always whirring away. Paul Lambert, Southampton Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com ..read more

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts Is it possible to think about nothing? Surely our consciousness is always whirring away. Paul Lambert, Southampton Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday ..read more

Early risers know only too well the smug satisfaction of getting up and getting going. But what if you’re more of an owl than a lark? Here’s how to change your body clock and seize the day I can’t actually remember when I first started thinking of myself as a “morning person”. When I was in my 20s, the only time I saw a sunrise was if I stayed up all night – I had a series of jobs that let me stroll from bed to work in about 15 minutes. If I ever did overtime it was until one or two in the morning, trying to string together words on a combination of tea, beer and deadline adrenaline. Fast forw ..read more

Dancing on Marx’s graveMulti-faith peace marchMen’s underwearScallop or scollop?Baffle over waffle Benny Green once said: “Four years after Tennyson died, Alfred Austin succeeded him as poet laureate. A better idea would have been to dig up Tennyson.” The trustees of Highgate cemetery should watch out (£25,000 for a burial plot next to Karl Marx? The philosopher would turn in his grave, 17 January). In view of the misappropriation and perversion of his ideas for practically the whole of the 20th century by assorted Leninists, Trotskyites, Maoists and obscurantist philosophers, we might feel th ..read more

Horizon developer and the Post Office are latest in a long line of corporate behemoths whose snappy slogans have fallen short The idea that every business needs a messianic mission statement took hold in the 1970s, to “humanise” faceless global corporations. The management guru Peter Drucker was a prime mover of the idea. A good mission statement, Drucker said, should be “short enough to fit on a T-shirt”. Its message should be “broad, even eternal” and “every board member, volunteer, and staff person should be able to see the mission and say, ‘Yes. This is something I want to be remembered fo ..read more

With war in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, and an authoritarian drift in global politics, the season’s message of optimism is much needed In her traditional Christmas message this week, the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, turned to a much-loved work by the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. In “Hope” Is the Thing With Feathers, Dickinson imagines hope as a small bird that “perches in the soul”, never ceasing to sing and sounding sweetest in the eye of life’s storms. As Dame Sarah says, the metaphor is a beautiful one that can both console and inspire. Christian tradition has long ..read more