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 …
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 …
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 »
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 …
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 …
Ethics (or moral philosophy) is crucially important because it is devoted to answering questions like these: “What is best?”“What is the good life?”“How should I live?”“How should I behave towards other people?”“What is the purpose of life?” These are questions about what makes things valuable; they were the questions which drew me to philosophy in …
Rick’s handy tear-out’n’keep guide to the main positions in moral philosophy. For two millennia the West has been dominated by Christianity, and the ethical systems associated with it have shaped (and been shaped by?) our commonsense ideas of what is right and wrong. Christian ethics derives from the ideas of the Old Testament and of …
Vance Morgan on how to build a moral environment of your very own. Being a living organism is hard work. Any organism, from the simplest to the most complex, must navigate a physical environment of dizzying intricacy in order to survive, an environment whose elements gain and lose importance depending on the organism. A crab, …
Bob Harrison talks about Moral Realists and the Boo/Hurrah party, and explains what David Hume overlooked. “What that fellow did was morally unacceptable. It was wrong. In fact, it was disgusting; downright revolting.” You could say all of these things about the same act, and they could all refer, quite properly, to the same thing. …