Deceptions, hoaxes and urban legends abound, mainly because so many people are so easily taken in by them. Here’s how you can avoid being one of them.

Here are some ways that we human beings deceive ourselves and each other, along with a few suggested remedies.

In pioneering the philosophy called positivism, August Comte had a profound effect on the most noted philosophers of the 20^th century.

Nicolaus Copernicus wanted to correct the science of astronomy, even though that might invite the wrath of the most powerful intellectual elite.

Will the next few years see the development of a truly intelligent computer? Will our own tools become our masters?

Millions of people the world over believe they will go to heaven when they die. But is there a utopian existence outside of the human imagination?

What are we to make of the human longing for utopia?

Machiavelli’s Il Principe features at times stark, emotionless evaluations and prescribes actions that grant little or no feeling of a leader toward his subjects.

Unlike many in politics, George Washington was not motivated primarily by power. He knew what it meant to be trounced, and how to make the best of it.

David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, and leading neoskeptic, was a highly controversial figure in 18^th-century Britain.

Marx believed that the rules of culture and government in general are formulated primarily to suppress the poorer classes and should be forcibly abandoned.

Sigmund Freud’s message is largely responsible for the unwillingness of so many today to see themselves as accountable for their actions and personal problems.

Albert Einstein is perhaps the most famous scientist of the 20^th century, best known for the Special and General Theories of Relativity.

Surprisingly, Charles Darwin may never have intended his idea of natural selection to replace God or religion.

Some have given their lives for it while others have tried to burn it to extinction. By any standard this is no ordinary book.

Those who have known the Scriptures have come to rely on them—to trust the Bible. Why?