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The Stone

The Stone is an opinion series in The New York Times, moderated by Simon Critchley, that features the writings of contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless — art, war, ethics, gender, popular culture and more. The series started with an article by Critchley, What is a Philosopher? in May 2010. The series ran for six months. After a hiatus, on May 21, 2011 The New York Times brought back The Stone, due to its widespread popularity and it has been running ever since. In 'The Stone Returns,' Critchley discussed the aims of the column and the role of philosophy in contemporary culture. The Stone Reader (Liveright, 2015) collects 133 of The Stone's most influential pieces. 

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Latest articles by Critchley on The Stone include a piece on Brexistential dread on the eve of the 2016 U.S. presidential election (which also appeared here in Spanish), 'There Is No Theory of Everything,' and 'Abandon (nearly) All Hope' to which Francis Levy responded with a short article, Answered Prayers, in the Huffington Post. On January 11, 2016, Critchley wrote a piece for The Stone on the occasion of David Bowie's death called "Nothing Remains: David Bowie's Vision of Love."


Critchley has also contributed the following pieces: When Socrates met Phaedrus: Eros in Philosophy; Let Be: An Answer to Hamlet’s Question, a collaboration with Jamieson Webster that traces the logic of action in Shakespeare's Hamlet; Euro Blind, a discussion of Sophocles and the so-called “tragedy" of the European debt crisis; The Freedom of Faith: A Christian Sermon in the Stone, which is a kind of sermon on the notion of faith and Dostoevsky's well known Grand Inquisitor scene in The Brothers Karamazov concerning "faith, freedom, happiness and the diabolic satisfaction of our desires"; a three-part essay on Philip K. Dick, Sci-Fi Philosopher; The Dangers of Certainty: A Lesson From Auschwitz, which was featured on BBC's "Today's Must Read" and reviewed by Michael Roth in the Huffington Post; Beyond the Sea; How to Make It in the Afterlife; and Coin of Praise.

 

Critchley's article titled Why I Love Mormonism received widespread attention, attracting many sundry reactions from the Mormon community. Several articles were written in response including, Is God Infinite? Are We?, Mormonism: The Last Acceptable Predjudice, Philosophy Professor: 'Why I Love Mormonism', A Public Conversation about Mormonism, Time to Take Interest in Mormonism and Mormon Media Observer: Papers post robust defense of Latter-day Saints. 

 

The Gospel According to ‘Me,’ co-authored with Jamieson Webster, which was published in the Stone and reposted on An Eclectic Existence with a response by Rocky Roberts. Many other responses followed including the following:

 

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