Berlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin) was a colossus of a thinker bestriding the twentieth century. His unique intellectual contribution was the concept of value-pluralism. Allow the mellifluous tones of John Gray to give you a tour round Berlin’s mind, and in particular his ideas about agonistic liberalism. 240 pages in Princeton University Press paperback edition. ISBN 978-0691157429
Isaiah Berlin by John Gray Read More »
Why do people persist in superstitious convictions long after science has shown them to be ill-founded? Robert L. Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Park) has some ideas. He covers here in 2008, among other topics, parapsychology, homeopathy, acupuncture, souls, ‘intelligent design’, the power of prayer, reincarnation and astral projections. Park’s previous debunk ‘Voodoo Science’ (2000, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voodoo-Science-Road-Foolishness-Fraud/dp/0198507453/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1375693564&sr=1-1) is also well worth a read. 240
Superstition by Robert L. Park Read More »
Our very own David Hume is revered by many professional philosophers as the greatest of their number ever to write in English. His work is almost endlessly rich and stimulating to deep thought. The result is that there has sprung up a vast industry of publication on every single nuance that can be discerned from
Reading Hume by Peter Millican Read More »
In this classic in the philosophy of history, Karl Popper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper) attacks those who believe in the ‘iron laws’ of history. In other words that there is some kind of fixed destiny or inevitability about how things must work out. For example, the ascendancy of the ‘pure blooded’ races (Fascism). Or the victory of the
The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper Read More »
Have you ever wondered what could possibly be meant by the epigrams ‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world‘, or ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent’. These are just two of a large number of utterances (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) from celebrated Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (Ludwig Wittgenstein (Stanford Encyclopedia of
Insight and Illusion by Peter Hacker Read More »
We normally take it for granted that other people will live on after we ourselves have died. Even if we do not believe in a personal afterlife in which we survive our own deaths, we assume that there will be a ‘collective afterlife’ in which humanity survives long after we are gone. Samuel Scheffler (http://as.nyu.edu/faculty/samuel-scheffler.html) maintains
Death and the Afterlife by Samuel Scheffler Read More »
Our subjective experience of time is that the future advances towards us into the present moment and then recedes into the past. It is a kind of ‘flow’, ‘the river of time’. Many thinkers are troubled, though, by questions about the relation between past, present and future. Is time travel possible? If so could you
Real Time II by David Mellor Read More »
This is the best short introduction to Humanism I’ve read. Part of the ‘Thinking in Action’ series from Routledge, it is systematic, clear and cool headed. People often ask me ‘What is Humanism?’ The short answer is ‘An ethical life without superstition’ Richard Norman (Professor of Philosophy at Kent, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Norman) covers all the main points
On Humanism by Richard Norman Read More »
Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Protagoras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagoras) declares in the dialogue of the same name by Plato that ‘Man is the Measure of all Things’. If there is an objective reality ‘out there’ how can we know it except through our human point of view? David E. Cooper, (Professor of Philosophy at Durham, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Cooper) takes up this challenge.
The Measure of Things by David E. Cooper Read More »
