''Aeon'' is a digital magazine of

idea In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of bei ...

s, philosophy and culture. Publishing new articles every weekday, Aeon describes itself as a publication which "asks the biggest questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provided by world-leading authorities on science, philosophy and society." The magazine is published by Aeon Media Group, which has offices in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

History

''Aeon'' was founded in

in September 2012 by Paul and Brigid Hains, an Australian couple. It now has offices in London,

and

. On 1 July 2016, ''Aeon'' became a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

with the

Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the regulatory authority for charities and not-for-profit organisations within Australia. The Commission was established in December 2012 as part of the ''Australian Charities ...

, in the categories of advancing culture and advancing education. Aeon also registered its affiliate, Aeon America, as a 501(c)(3) charity in the US, in the education category. In April 2020 Aeon launched a sister site, ''Psyche'' magazine, named for the Psyche concept in

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

, which publishes ideas, guides and videos on psychology,

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

and

the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

Format

''Aeon''s content consists of long-form, in-depth essays and short

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

under the banner of Aeon Video. ''Aeon'' also used to publish Aeon Ideas, which consisted of short-form articles. These are now published on the new publication, Psyche.

''Aeon'' Video

''Aeon'' Video's program is composed of curated selections, short documentaries that are exclusive to ''Aeon'', and original series produced by ''Aeon''. The most notable of these is the ''In Sight'' series, which features interviews and discussions with leading philosophers, scientists, thinkers and writers. Several of ''Aeon''s exclusives have been chosen as

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

Staff Picks, including Dramatic and Mild, American Renaissance, Grandpa and Me and a Helicopter to Heaven, Cutting Loose, Glas, and World Fair.

Contributors

Contributors have included Peter Adamson,

Alain Badiou Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Fouc ...

Julian Baggini Julian Baggini (; born 1968) is a philosopher, journalist and the author of over 20 books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of ''The Philosophers' Magazine'' and has written for numerous international newspapers ...

, Philip Bal, Shahidha Bari,

Sven Birkerts Sven Birkerts (born 21 September 1951) is an American essayist and literary critic. He is best known for his book ''The Gutenberg Elegies'' (1994), which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other te ...

Armand D'Angour Armand D'Angour (born 23 November 1958) is a British classical scholar and classical musician, Professor of Classics at Oxford University and Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Jesus College, Oxford. His research embraces a wide range of areas acros ...

, David Deutsch,

Vincent T. DeVita Vincent Theodore DeVita Jr. (born March 7, 1935) is the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine at Yale Cancer Center, and a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. He directed the Yale Cancer Center from 1993 to 2003. He has been pre ...

, Frans de Waal,

Vincenzo Di Nicola Vincenzo Di Nicola is an Italian-Canadian psychologist, psychiatrist and family therapist, and philosopher of mind. Di Nicola is a tenured Full Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry & Addiction Medicine at the University of Montreal, where he fo ...

, David Dobbs,

Tim Footman Tim Footman (born 1968) is an English author, journalist and editor. He was educated at Churcher's College, Appleby College in Canada, the University of Exeter, and Birkbeck University. He is the author of a number of books about popular music, ...

, Allen Frances, Karl J Friston, Jessa Gamble,

Michael Graziano Michael Steven Anthony Graziano (born May 22, 1967) is an American scientist and novelist who is currently a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University.Toby Green Toby Green is a British historian who is a Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture at King's College London. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in African studies at the University of Birmingham. He is Chair of the ...

, Pekka Hämäläinen,

Sabine Hossenfelder Sabine Hossenfelder (born 1976) is a German theoretical physicist, author, musician and YouTuber. She is currently employed as a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. She is the author of ''Lost in Math: How Beauty L ...

A.L. Kennedy Alison Louise Kennedy (born 22 October 1965) is a Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and is known for her dark tone and her blending of realism and fantasy. She contributes columns ...

, Marek Kohn, Olivia Laing, Janna Levin,

Tim Lott Tim Lott (born 23 January 1956) is a British author. He worked as a music journalist and ran a magazine publishing business, launching '' Flexipop'' magazine in 1980 with ex-''Record Mirror'' journalist Barry Cain. Early life and education In ...

Mahmood Mamdani Mahmood Mamdani, FBA (born 23 April 1946) is an Indian-born Ugandan academic, author, and political commentator. He currently serves as the Chancellor of Kampala International University, Uganda. He was the director of the Makerere Institute o ...

Francis T. McAndrew Francis T. "Frank" McAndrew (b. January 27, 1953 – Augsburg, Germany) is an American social psychologist and the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. At Knox, he founded the environmental studies pr ...

, George Musser, Alondra Nelson,

Wendy Orent Wendy Orent is an American anthropologist and science writer with a focus on pandemics, biological weapons, and the evolution of infectious diseases. She is a freelance science writer whose work has appeared in "The Washington Post", "Aeon", "Unda ...

David Papineau David Papineau (; born 1947) is a British academic philosopher, born in Como, Italy. He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London and the City University of New York Graduate Center, and previously taught for several ...

, Ruth Padel, Massimo Pigliucci,

Steven Poole Steven Poole (born 1972) is a British author and journalist. He particularly concerns himself with the abuse of language and has written two books on the subject: ''Unspeak'' (2006) and ''Who Touched Base In My Thought Shower?'' (2013). Biograph ...

John Quiggin John Quiggin (born 29 March 1956) is an Australian economist, a professor at the University of Queensland. He was formerly an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow and a member of the board of the Climate Change Aut ...

Emma Rothschild Emma Georgina Rothschild (born 16 May 1948) is a British economic historian, a professor of history at Harvard University. She is director of the Joint Centre for History and Economics at Harvard, and an honorary Professor of History and Economi ...

Claudio Saunt Claudio Saunt (born 1967) is a professor, author, and historian of early America, the U.S. South, and Native American studies."Claudio Saunt." ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors''. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. Retrieved vie ''Gale In Co ...

, Anil Seth,

Dava Sobel Dava Sobel (born June 15, 1947) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include ''Longitude'', about English clockmaker John Harrison, and '' Galileo's Daughter'', about Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste, and ...

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 ...

, Eric Schwitzgebel,

Camilla Townsend Camilla Townsend (born January 29, 1965) is an American historian and professor of history at Rutgers University. She specializes in the early history of Native Americans in the United States, as well as in the history of Latin America. Her 2019 ...

Nigel Warburton Nigel Warburton (; born 1962) is a British philosopher. He is best known as a populariser of philosophy, having written a number of books in the genre, but he has also written academic works in aesthetics and applied ethics. Education Warburton r ...

, Margaret Wertheim, E.O. Wilson, and

Ed Yong Edmund Soon-Weng Yong (born 17 December 1981) is a British-American science journalist. He is a staff member at '' The Atlantic'', which he joined in 2015. In 2021 he received a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series on the COVI ...

Critical reception

Editorial director Brigid Hains won the Australasian Association of Philosophy's Media Professionals' Award in 2018. Margaret Wertheim's essay "How to play mathematics" is featured in the anthology ''Best Writing on Mathematics 2018'', published by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

. Rebecca Boyle's essay "The end of night" was featured in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...

'' The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015'', under the title "The Health Effects of a World without Darkness". Jessa Gamble's essay "The end of sleep?" was named the best feature of 2013 by the

Association of British Science Writers The Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) is the UK society for science writers, science journalists and science communicators. Founded in 1947, the ABSW exists to help those who write about science and technology, and to improve the sta ...

. In 2013, Hamish McKenzie of ''

Pando Daily PandoDaily, or simply Pando, was a web publication offering technology news, analysis, and commentary, with a focus on Silicon Valley and startup companies. History PandoDaily was started by former TechCrunch writer Sarah Lacy on January 16, 2 ...

'' named Aeon the 'best example of a magazine built for the age of mobile'. Many Aeon essays have been featured in the

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

Top Science Longreads: Ross Andersen's essay " The vanishing groves" was featured in 2012, and his essay
Omens
was featured in 2013; Lee Billings�
essay
"Drive-thru astronomy" was featured in 2013; and Veronique Greenwood's essay
Cows might fly
was also featured in 2013.

Partnerships

Aeon has had partnerships with several organisations and publications, including the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Centre for the Study of Existential Risk The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) is a research centre at the University of Cambridge, intended to study possible extinction-level threats posed by present or future technology. The co-founders of the centre are Huw Price (Be ...

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publ ...

and

HowTheLightGetsIn Festival HowTheLightGetsIn Festival is a philosophy and music festival, hosted by the Institute of Art and Ideas. It aims "to get philosophy out of the academy and into people's lives" by bringing together philosophers, writers, academics, comedians and ...

. It has an audio partnership with the audio app
Curio

Creative Commons republication

The now-discontinued Ideas articles are available for republication under a

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

license. These pieces have been syndicated by online media outlets such as ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' and the BBC.

References

External links

''Aeon'' website
{{italic title Cultural magazines published in the United Kingdom English-language magazines Magazines published in London Magazines established in 2012 Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Online magazines published in the United States