Often when we think about philosophy, we think about big ideas, complicated theories and untamable beards. While browsing the 900 pages of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, who hasn’t thought they could do with, well, less? Less of it for a start—and perhaps less of philosophy generally. Yet since the classical times, philosophy has been fundamentally concerned with getting at the essential truths to the messy questions of life, the universe and basically everything. For all the long words This story is from Kinfolk Issue Sixteen Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 45 The Whole Story The power of cradle-to-grave novels. Arts & Culture Issue 43 Amia Srinivasan Amia Srinivasan on the philosophy of sex. Arts & Culture Issue 43 Signal Boost How status anxiety drives culture. Arts & Culture Issue 41 Mixed Emoji Is a picture worth a thousand words? Arts & Culture Issue 38 Social Work Hettie O’Brien considers the cost of never logging off. Arts & Culture Issue 38 Memes of Communication A conversation about digital folklore.