Stuart Greenstreet chooses to tell us how to become authentically existentialist. It took almost a century of thought before existentialism came to fruition as a popular movement – almost a craze – in post-war France in the nineteen-forties and fifties. This was the time of its greatest influence, not only on philosophy but also on …
Stuart Greenstreet on the abysmal failure of theories about crime and punishment. Prison doesn’t work. Theories about the punishment of lawbreakers fail in practice because they disregard the real conditions of people’s lives. The apparatus of criminal justice exists to secure a society in which everyone is free to do pretty well as they wish …
Terri Murray argues that ijtihad and critical debate are essential in a liberal, multicultural society. Pluralist multiculturalism and identity politics appear to be creating a crisis of liberal values. Or perhaps I’m just the last person to realise that liberal values went out of fashion over a decade ago. Back then I was too busy …
Darrin Belousek considers different ethical perspectives on drugs in sport. As a life-long fan and a former school player of baseball, my view on performance-enhancing drugs is not neutral: I think they are a scourge on the sport. As a philosopher who teaches ethics to university students preparing for professional careers, I also think performance-enhancing …
Professional Baseball & Performance-Enhancing Drugs Read More »
If you eat meat, are you personally to blame for the evils of factory farming? Richard Corry considers the consequences. Bob is a good and thoughtful person. He is concerned with the welfare of others, he gives to charity, and he takes an interest in local politics. Bob also enjoys a good steak. One day, …
Nigel Warburton gives a brief introduction to this classic text. Existentialism and Humanism is probably the most widely read of all Sartre’s philosophical writings, and it is certainly one of his more accessible pieces; yet surprisingly little has been written about it. One explanation for this may be that Sartre himself came to regret the …
A student’s guide to Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism and Humanism Read More »
Innes Crellin attacks the “Anglo-Saxon” approach to moral philosophy. Those who seek some meaning in the concept of ‘morality’ find it confused and distorted. What it means seems to vary from one authority to another. In the media and in popular usage, the word has assumed a rhetorical flavour that has disguised any real meaning …
Cheap (under £10) and readable books on ethics. Moral Philosophy by D.D. Raphael. OUP £7.99 A genuine introduction to moral philosophy assuming no previous knowledge and taking you through all the main theories of the subject in straightforward language. Weak on Continental ethics. Utilitarianism: For and Against by J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams. CUP £9.95 …
Peter Lloyd savages the “continental” approach to moral philosophy. “ I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken” Oliver Cromwell, 1650 One of the threats to world peace is from people who share Professor Innes Crellin’s view of the nature of moral values (“The anachronism of morality”, Philosophy …
by Peter Lloyd and Innes Crellin Professor Crellin (Philosophy Now No.15) is right to say “… authenticity, and not moral judgment, … reveals to us the full horror of an Auschwitz … Moral philosophy or religious dogma is no substitute for this.” Nevertheless… (a) ‘Authenticity’ is not enough. It cannot handle moral dilemmas because it …