Kile Jones explains the differences between these ways of thinking. Shakespeare never met Wittgenstein, Russell, or Ryle, and one wonders what a conversation between them would have been like. “What’s in a name, you ask?” Wittgenstein might answer “A riddle of symbols.” Russell might respond “An explanation of concepts,” and Ryle might retort “Many unneeded …
Russell Berg has fifteen criteria for scientificness and he knows how to use them. The ‘scientific method’ is a group of methods and procedures. But since Thomas Kuhn argued in the 1960s that the concept of ‘falsification’ formulated by Karl Popper is insufficient on its own to determine the scientificness of an idea, there has …
At the end of the 20th century humankind has developed a new understanding of its interrelatedness in all aspects of life. The economic basis of international integration is the world market. The socio-political aspects of the consolidation process involve the expansion of democracy everywhere in the world. Democracy is becoming a prerequisite for the implementation …
Edward Ingram explains the West’s debt to the Islamic philosophers. Europe in the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire was not a happy place to be – at least for scholars. For the most part, the aristocracy, including kings, were illiterate and, to all intents and purposes, innumerate – applied mathematics in the …
Mary Midgley questions the superficial allure of endless life. “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things all fall away in the …
Onora O’Neill argues for the value of philosophical research. In his 11th thesis on Feuerbach, Marx wrote, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” (Theses on Feuerbach, 1845.) Although it may not be a fair accusation, his acid comment sits in the recesses of memory, …
Gerald Jones examines one of the most famous lectures in the history of philosophy. “If I choose to kill Brisseau, I am defining myself as a murderer… By choosing my action, I choose it for all mankind. But what happens if everyone in the world behaved like me and came here and shot Brisseau? What …
Martin Kusch and Alexander Reutlinger discuss the ways science is criticised. Martin Kusch: In many political debates today, one can observe a curious phenomenon: while scientific knowledge seems crucially relevant for dealing with a large-scale problem, important political players go out their way to downplay and attack that very knowledge, and the science behind it. …
Anja Steinbauer on who can make fun of what, when and how. “I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose,” muses Woody Allen. And he is right: Laughter is something to be grateful for. Why? Well, mainly because there isn’t all that much of it around: Gelotology, the study of …
Colin Brookes gains ethical understanding from a profound aesthetic experience. The film and stage adaptations of Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse have won international acclaim. One way of understanding the overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience reactions – especially to the play’s puppetry – is to reflect on the aesthetics, and then on the underlying ethics, involved. In …