Vincent Lotz asks who should have the decisive power over someone’s cells after their death: their family, or the medical community? HeLa cells are an immortal line of human cervical cancer cells used in medical research. They are called ‘HeLa’ cells from their initial host’s name, Henrietta Lacks. Lacks was an African American woman with […]
Marco Kaisth asks, could radical genetic engineering create ethical factory farms? Pigs are exceptionally intelligent animals. They’re able to solve odor quizzes, recognize themselves in mirrors, and even play rudimentary video games. One Cambridge University Professor, Dr Donald Bloom, has even claimed that pigs “have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so
Eating Stupid Pigs Read More »
Keith Tidman overhears a prophetic dialogue about the pluses and minuses of genetically engineering children. Sally: I’ve decided to have a baby! I’m sure that won’t surprise you, Pat. But the real news is, I have no intention of rolling the dice over the health and characteristics of my baby. The old-fashioned way was to
Are Designer Babies Our Future? Read More »
by Ololade Olakanmi and Laura Purdy Organ transplantation saves thousands of lives every year, and is arguably one of the most significant medical innovations of the past century. At present however, the worldwide demand for organs far outstrips supply. For instance, in 2004, the United Network for Organ Sharing (United States) found that over 100,000
Xenotransplantation: For and Against Read More »
Landon D.C. Elkind explains why Russell believed logic can set thought free. Using Bertrand Russell’s remarks on something as a foil, I shall try to explain why he thought studying logic and philosophy is valuable. As almost any Russellian knows, Russell abhorred teaching Aristotelian logic, also called traditional logic. To take two quotes: “If you
Bertrand Russell on Something1 Read More »
Trevor Pateman makes the case for the prosecution. Sara Baume’s A Line Made By Walking (2017) is an impressive piece of recent autobiographical fiction. In it, the narrator repeatedly sets herself the task of identifying a work of art – usually a work of conceptual art – which relates to whatever topic she’s currently thinking
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Justin Kaushall considers Adorno’s argument that radical art radically changes consciousness. At a time when populist movements are on the march throughout the world, why should we pay attention to art? Isn’t it self-indulgent to concern oneself with art, music, or literature when the foundations of society and of the international order are being shaken?
Can Art Fight Fascism? Read More »
Peter Benson watches this ‘art movement’ with raised eyebrows. Conceptual art is art where the artistic aspect is considered to reside in the concept alone, not in any of its sensory qualities (if it has any). For many years now conceptual art has formed the dominant strand of contemporary art – at least according to
From Conceptual Art to Social Art Read More »
Peter Benson on why digital photos aren’t reliable records of anything. André Bazin (1918-58) was the greatest film critic of his generation. As Editor of the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma he encouraged young writers such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer, who would later become film-makers themselves, creating the French New Wave of
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Peter Royle shows no vexation over Sartre’s crustacean fixation. Crabs? What have crabs to do with philosophy? It is well known that at a certain stage in his life Jean-Paul Sartre felt himself to be persecuted by lobsters, crayfish and other crustaceans, including crabs; and that crustaceans, especially crabs, figure prominently in his literature. But