The central essays in this issue take up ancient questions and alarmingly new ones. Yitzhak Melamed casts an eye over the ancient concept of eternity and asks, what kinds of things have a future? Iddo Landau explores mistakes we make when thinking about the meaning of life. Rik Peels takes us back to Socrates’ fascination with ignorance. And Elizabeth Scarbrough breathes new life into questions of beauty by thinking about ruins.
Alongside all that, we have what look like really problems for philosophers, posed by new things in the world. J Adam Carter and Neil McDonnell explore new (and difficult) questions raised by advancements in technology that are making virtual reality a reality. Kelly C. Smith takes on the philosophical challenges that have arisen thanks to new discoveries in astrobiology. We begin with a new question, for me anyway, posed by Thomas Nadelhoffer: is there such a thing as feminist self-defence?
