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
The Case Against Conceptual Art Read More »
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
The Ontology of Photography: From Analogue To Digital Read More »
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
Matthew Gindin thinks that the Stoics have useful advice for us right now. The Stoic philosophers, who flourished in the Graeco-Roman world between the third century BCE and the fourth century CE, were profoundly interested in the natural world, and considered science essential knowledge for a philosopher. It’s likely that a Stoic time traveller, transported
A Stoic Response To The Climate Crisis Read More »
Andy Owen explains what Aristotle was tolkien about. “Without friends no one would want to live, even if they had all other worldly things.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII In my early twenties a close friend committed suicide. He was a beautiful soul and I will always question myself as to what, as his friend,
Fellowship For Aristotle & Tolkien Read More »