Scientist, mathematician, traveller, soldier, and spy – Rene Descartes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes) has been called the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’. Born in 1596 into an era still dominated by the medieval world view, he was one of the chief actors in the riveting intellectual drama that ushered in the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinarily significant […]
Descartes by Bernard Williams Read More »
Have you ever wondered whether your ethical life is all it should be? Have you wondered upon what foundation it should be built? Julia Annas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Annas and http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jannas/) offers her own account of, and defence of, a theoretical approach known as ‘Virtue Ethics‘ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics). Intelligent Virtue (2011) presents a distinctive new account of virtue and happiness as central
Intelligent Virtue by Julia Annas Read More »
Have you enjoyed a laugh over Christmas and the New Year? Did you ever wonder why no other animal seems to have a chuckle? By contrast, humour is a universal feature of human life. It has been discovered in every known human culture, and thinkers have discussed it for over two thousand years. Why do we have
Humour: A Very Short Introduction by Noel Carroll Read More »
Evil is not the most comfortable subject to consider. Apart from its inherently unsettling nature, a short effort at reflection quickly reveals some serious problems in trying to conceptualise the phenomenon. In the literature there are two main contentions. 1) Evil is a deficiency of goodness. In the human moral sphere it is the failure to act well. Sins
On Evil by Adam Morton Read More »
Here we are at the shortest day 2014. As the year ends the plaintive cries are familiar -‘Where has the time gone? Just whizzed by. Been busier than ever, what with paying the mortgage, full time job, social whirl, taxi service for the kids, the tyranny of the smartphone, the superfluity of entertainment options. Better that
The Universe by John Brockman Read More »
Kazuo Ishiguro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Ishiguro and http://www.faber.co.uk/author/kazuo-ishiguro/) is one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received four Man Booker Prize nominations, and winning the 1989 award for his novel The Remains of the Day. The summary of Never Let Me Go is as follows. As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro Read More »
The Poisonwood Bible (1998) (recently voted Britain’s favourite readers group book), by Barbara Kingsolver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kingsolver and http://www.kingsolver.com/), is a novel about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from the U.S. state of Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River. (The nearest town, an impossibly long journey away,
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Read More »
Neuroscience and discussions about the brain and consciousness are powering ahead at a fomidable pace. It’s hard to keep up without being involved full time in the research. Here, though, is a book from 2014 which will take you to the cutting edge. Stanislas Dehaene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislas_Dehaene and http://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-stanislas-dehaene/#|m=#course|) describes the pioneering work his lab and the labs
Consciousness and the Brain by Stanislas Dahaene Read More »
Sarah Waters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Waters and http://www.sarahwaters.com/) is a Welsh born novelist best known for her first novel, Tipping the Velvet (1998). In 2002, this novel was adapted into a three-part television series of the same name for BBC 2. If Victorian lesbian cunnilingus holds any appeal for you, the novel and DVD (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tipping-Velvet-Complete-BBC-DVD/dp/B00007DL9J/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1418862038&sr=1-1&keywords=tipping+the+velvet) would make for a fine Christmas gift. Novels that
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters Read More »
