Series: Why It Matters

It might seem as if globalisation is making the whole world speak English. But spend time in any major city and you are likely to encounter a cornucopia of languages. Even monolingual people have different ways of speaking to their bosses or teachers, their intimate friends or their pets. And if you live in India or Nigeria, you might use...

You are remarkable: You experience a vast range of thoughts and feelings, including falling in love, remembering last Tuesday, and contemplating the meaning of life. And you can carry out all sorts of astonishing behaviours, such as sauntering down the street, singing in falsetto, and riding a unicycle. Psychologists study every aspect of how you think, feel, and behave. Psychology...

History lies beneath our feet and in the landscapes around us. In contrast to the history that comes from studying texts, archaeology is the study of history through objects, monuments, and other traces of past lives: history that extends beyond the earliest writings into the deep past, revealing the varied pathways that led to the present, and the challenges—often similar...

Despite the criticisms that have been levelled at news organisations in recent years and the many difficulties they face, journalism matters. It matters, argues Schudson, because it orients people daily in the complex and changing worlds in which they live. It matters because it offers a fact-centred, documented approach to pertinent public issues. It matters because it keeps watch on...

Graham Ward argues that the study of theology and religion, as a single academic discipline, plays a vital role in helping us to understand politics, world affairs, and the nature of humanity itself. Religion can be used to justify inhumane actions, but it also feeds dreams, inspires hopes, and shapes aspirations. By invoking a sense of wonder about the natural...

History lies beneath our feet and in the landscapes around us. In contrast to the history that comes from studying texts, archaeology is the study of history through objects, monuments, and other traces of past lives: history that extends beyond the earliest writings into the deep past, revealing the varied pathways that led to the present, and the challenges –...

Ever since humans sketched primitive maps in the dirt, the quest to understand our surroundings has been fundamental to our survival. Studying geography revealed that the earth was round, showed our ancestors where to plant crops, and helped them appreciate the diversity of the planet. Today, the world is changing at an unprecedented pace, as a result of rising sea...

We justify our actions in the present through our understanding of the past. But we live in a time when politicians lie brazenly about historical facts and meddle with the content of history books, while media differ wildly in their reporting of the same event. Frequently, new discoveries force us to re-evaluate everything we thought we knew about the past....

‘Facts alone are wanted in life,’ exclaims Mr Gradgrind at the beginning of Dickens’ Hard Times. Literature is not about facts alone, and – despite two and a half thousand years of arguments – no one can agree on what it is, or how to study it. But, argues Robert Eaglestone, it is precisely the open-ended nature of literature that...

We constantly disagree with each other on issues of fundamental importance. Does God exist? Should the latest scientific findings be trusted? Are there innate psychological differences between men and women? In four lively chapters, Beebee and Rush explain philosophy’s role in addressing such questions. They consider what it means to be human, how we should engage in public debate, philosophy’s...

Humanity is at a crossroads. We face mounting inequality, escalating political violence, warring fundamentalisms and an environmental crisis of planetary proportions. How can we fashion a world that has room for everyone, for generations to come? What are the possibilities, in such a world, of collective human life? These are urgent questions, and no discipline is better placed to address...