philopapers

Abdelkader Aoudjit thinks about postmodern political thinking. Enlightenment thinkers were optimistic. They thought that the application of the scientific method to all aspects of life would not only liberate humanity from bondage to nature, but also inaugurate a new era of happiness, justice and emancipation. Jean Antoine de Condorcet declared, “one day, the sun will …

Political Philosophy After Metaphysics: Habermas & Lyotard Read More »

Know the name, can’t quite recall what he thought? John-Francis Phipps explains the surprising ideas of the philosopher of vitalism. Bergson’s name is not usually included on shortlists of the philosophical greats, so it’s quite easy to miss him. I first came across him many years ago, when I read Bertrand Russell’s History of Western …

Henri Bergson and the Perception of Time Read More »

Christophe Bruchansky asks if we’re living in a global themepark. Walt Disney World opened in Florida in 1971. It was the second theme park built by Disney, the first being Disneyland in California in 1955. Disney World is not one theme park, but a group of four theme parks, two water parks, and many hotels, …

The Heterotopia of Disney World Read More »

Massimo Pigliucci recounts the history of the theories of evolution, and asks whether evolutionary biology has ever shifted paradigms. Evolution is arguably one of the most profound and controversial ideas ever to hit a human mind. On the Origin of Species flew off the bookshelves when it was published 150 years ago, and it remains …

The Evolution of Evolutionary Theory Read More »

Jeanne Warren on a philosopher of personality. I have to confess to spending the last twenty years mystified by what philosophers mean by consciousness. There seems to be a mismatch between my categories of thought and theirs. Mary Midgley’s recent article (‘Souls, Minds, Bodies & Planets’ in Philosophy Now Issue 47) has thrown some light …

Macmurray and Consciousness Read More »

John Shelton Lawrence asks analyser of comics and the former editor of the Spider-Man range of titles what makes a superhero, philosophically speaking. Many of us who grew up with comic books noticed those books growing with us. A literate observer of those transitions is Danny Fingeroth, who began his comics-centered life as youthful fan, …

Thinking Comics with Danny Fingeroth Read More »

In which Mary Midgley discusses the nature of consciousness and argues that the legacy of Descartes is disasterous for our view of ourselves and our planet. Whatever we decide about the relationship between mind and body, we need to be aware that our decision has a moral dimension. Descartes supposed himself to be abstracting from …

Souls, Minds, Bodies and Planets (part 2) Read More »

John Lent explores three dimensions of philosophy in 2D comics. The interrelatedness of comic art to philosophy is both long-lived and far-ranging. The three areas I’ll survey are: philosophies about life embedded within comics; depictions of formalized philosophies in comics; and theorists’ and cartoonists’ philosophies about the comics profession. Gems of philosophy have permeated comics …

Comics and Philosophy Read More »

A five-minute guide to the debate by Rick Lewis. Modern philosophy of mind began with René Descartes (1596-1650) who argued that we each consist of two different entities: a material body subject to all the laws of physics and an immaterial mind, which isn’t. This theory is therefore known as Cartesian Dualism. He said that …

A Ridiculously Brief Overview of Consciousness Read More »

Vincent di Norcia applies his mental powers to Darwin’s moral theory. “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers… from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have… evolved.” Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, p.470. “Moral concepts are embodied in and partially constitutive of forms of …

Darwin On Moral Intelligence Read More »