“Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argumentative the better. This is why discussion around the table is so essential. This is why philosophy must be argumentative.”

Rebecca is a novelist and philosopher. She graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, receiving the Montague Prize for Excellence in Philosophy. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy by Princeton University. The recipient of numerous awards for both her fiction and scholarship, including Guggenheim and Radcliffe fellowships; in 1996 she...

“What stress really does, though, is deplete willpower, which diminishes your ability to control those emotions.”

Roy F. Baumeister is one of the world’s most prolific and influential psychologists. He has published well over 500 scientific articles and over 30 books. He is currently Eppes Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, plus holding distinguished visiting professorships at King Abdulaziz University (Saudi...

“Teachers, parents, and policymakers have the same goal, a quality education for everyone.”

Wojcicki is one of the best journalists in the USA, graduated from UC Berkeley with M.A. in Educational Technology from San Jose State University. She has been a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at MediaX at Stanford, and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Creative Commons. She has been involved...

“An in-demand spokesman on slowness.”
-The Wall Street Journal.

Carl Honoré is a bestselling author, thinker and speaker. His first book, In Praise of Slow, chronicles the global trend toward putting on the brakes in everything from work to food to parenting. The Financial Times said it is “to the Slow Movement what Das Kapital is to communism.” His...

“One of 100 Most Influential People.”
- Time.

Amy Chua is John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Her newest book is titled Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother became a The New York Times bestseller, as well as a bestseller in the U.K., Germany, Israel, Korea, Poland, China, and Taiwan. Another outstandig book...

“The natural inclination in all humans is to posit a force, a spirit, outside of us. That tendency toward superstitious magical thinking is just built into our nature.”

Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an Adjunct Professor at...