Bob Harrison questions his identity. Hello, you, this is me – and that’s him. But what are you? And what am I? And what is he? Three questions, and in each case the answer is philosophically interesting. The interest turns on the further question: “What is a person?” John Locke offers a suggestion: “what person […]
A Question of Identity Read More »
Craig Ross on whether freedom is all it’s been made up to be. Some believe that humans have free will; others that each of our actions and choices is caused by prior events. Compatibilism is the theory that we can be both caused and free. It is advocated by many modern philosophers, including the prolific
We live in the era of the global free market. Or do we? And now that the Cold War is over, why are the arms manufacturers still looking so prosperous? Political theorist Noam Chomsky thinks he knows why, as Mike Fuller explains. Here’s one widely accepted version of how things stand in the world today,
Chomsky on Global Myths and Realities Read More »
Jack Fox-Williams outlines the basics of how history works for Hegel. One of Hegel’s most interesting but misunderstood areas of enquiry concerns history, particularly his so-called ‘dialectical’ approach to understanding the development of human society. This article aims to provide a brief but useful outline of Hegel’s historical theory, and demonstrate its relevance to the
Hegel’s Understanding of History Read More »
Norman Bacrac lets his brain do all the thinking. “Conscious will is a symptom, not a cause; its roots… are invisible to it… material”George Santayana, The Realm of Matter (1930) “A disgrace… more awful than dualism” (Ted Honderich, Philosopher – A Kind of Life, 2001, pp.247, 278); “a dreaded relic” (Daniel C. Dennett, Brainchildren, 1998,
Epiphenomenalism Explained Read More »
Academician Abdusalam A. Guseinov on pacificism and the perspective of the infinite beginning. The idea of nonviolence entered into the cycle of Russian ethics on the wave of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. It struck a chord among society at large. Since that period, the attitude to pacifist ideas has changed considerably. This attitude can now be
Tolstoy’s Theory of Nonviolence Read More »
Kelvin McQueen asks whether minds could directly influence physical reality. It is widely acknowledged that there is a problem of explaining how subjective, conscious experience could arise out of physical matter. The focus is generally on the matter-to-consciousness direction. But there is an equally puzzling problem going in the other direction. What causal effects does
Does Consciousness Cause Quantum Collapse? Read More »
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
The Horror of Relations Read More »
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
By Any Means Necessary? Read More »
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
What Philosophy Does To Philosophers Read More »