Jonathan Beever explores the light and dark sides of interconnectedness. As a result of the explosive growth of ecological thinking, the idea of interdependence is all around us. Fundamental to the idea is the view that, in some way, ‘we’re all connected’ – to each other, to other organisms, and to our environments, both analog …
Jean-Paul Sartre at 100 By Any Means Necessary? Ian Birchall on a moral problem for Sartre. When Jean-Paul Sartre published Being and Nothingness in 1943, his conclusion promised a sequel. This was perhaps not the most enticing prospect for a reader who had just finished ploughing through 700 impenetrable pages. But in fact the book …
Rohan Somji looks at the consequences of thinking for three antique thinkers. A philosopher is someone who sees deep questions where others find things straightforward. This I call ‘problematising’, or, as Plato called it, ‘the search for essence’. In any case, it instills a sense of mystery, awe and wonder. Now, there are numerous ways …
The Nobel Prize in physics this year has been awarded “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”. To understand what this means, and why this work is important, we need to understand how these experiments settled a long-running debate among physicists. And a key player in that debate …
How philosophy turned into physics – and reality turned into information Read More »
Socrates was notoriously annoying. He was likened to a gadfly buzzing around while one is trying to sleep. The Oracle of Delphi declared him the wisest of all human beings. His life and death would go on to shape the history of Western thought. And yet he proclaimed to know nothing. The genius of Socrates …
Chris Wright ponders Plato’s masterplan. One of the purposes of Plato’s Republic is to put forth a conception of the ‘just state’. Plato describes how such a state would be organized, who would govern it, what sort of education the children would have, and so on. He goes into great detail, laying out ideas that may at times …
Wendell Wallach tells us what the basic problems are.If a train continues on its current course, it will kill a workcrew of five down the track. However, a signalman is standing by a switch that can redirect the train to another branch. Unfortunately, a lone worker will be killed if the train is switched to …
Ching-Hung Woo says freedom is compatible with choices being determined. We commonly think it obvious that a person facing multiple alternatives can choose any of them, and that the outcome is decided by free will at the moment of decision, rather than being already determined by earlier causes. All the events in the world, however, obey …
Are we free or are our actions determined by the laws of physics? And how much free will do we actually want? These questions have troubled philosophers for millennia – and there are still no perfect answers. But it turns out that a character from a children’s TV series can provide a clue. Thomas the Tank Engine, despite …
Do we have free will – and do we want it? Thomas the Tank Engine offers clues Read More »
Stuart Hannabuss journeys into the human condition with Søren Kierkegaard. We tend to think of faith as a matter of personal choice. It is very much up to you, we say, wishing to give other people the space to live their lives their way. We might think of ourselves all on a journey through life, growing …