Philosophy Now Forum

This is an interesting post with some ideas worth discussing. I think the death sentence is wrong because anyone who is willing to commit a heinous crime is not rational. Do you mean that no one 'in their right mind' would kill? What about someone who reasons that the only way for them to protect ei...

I argue that mercy is a necessary ethical constant in human affairs Do you? I can't seem to find an attempt to actually argue this in your post! That being said, I think it's a point worth discussing. First of all, how are we to understand 'mercy' (more as an activity than as a concept, although th...

To what extent should philosophical activity be willing to be 'polite' (or, perhaps, 'tactful')? If we claim that it is often necessary to go 'behind' everyday language in order to investigate and clarify many of the ideas we tend to hold as sacred then what happens when we find ourselves, in this p...

To what extent should the internet be 'free'? By this, I don't mean 'free of charge' but rather unrestricted as far as illegal activity is concerned. Should an individual be actively prevented from accessing sites which host or facilitate the acquisition of copyrighted content or is this tantamount ...

With my apologies for (possibly) appearing patronising, I have never really seen this argument as anything more than a warm-up or introductory corridor into a clearer manner of critical activity. This was put much better by Kant (many years ago!), but put simply there is enough weight behind either ...

One of the arguments in support of voting is that democracy is not a scaffold in which we live our lives but rather the combined effort of those who participate; as such, we vote in order to allow ourselves to continue to make the choice as to whether or not to do so in the future. Another argument ...

Any chance of opening this article up to non-subscribers?

Don't be concerned if, when you're coming to a text or thinker for the first time, you mainly want to read about them (rather than read the primary texts). It's a great way to approach a subject and there'll usually be suggested reading at the end which is crucial for a wider understanding.

Hi TJ - given that you're mainly into Epistemology, Logic and Language, here's a little list of some books that might interest you (and there's not much point giving a talk about something that you don't find interesting, right?). You might already be aware of some of them but I'll add them all the ...

your point at the outset was it's a mistake to dismiss Heidegger simply because we consider him to have 'nothing much worth saying'. Here's what I wrote at the outset: Perhaps it's that you don't understand it. It is quite a cliche to reject something on the basis that it doesn't make sense to us w...

Postmodern thought, alongside Phenomenology (to which it owes a tremedous debt, often left unacknowledged) and Logical Positivism are all both continuations and critiques of the 'Enlightenment project'. One of the most important ideas, initially framed by Kant, was that Enlightenment should never 'e...

I've dismissed the article due to it's having, in my opinion, nothing much worth saying. I quite admire the style as style. My point from the outset was precisely that it is a mistake to dismiss something simply because we consider it to have 'nothing much worth saying'. It seems that I was right t...

Hi Mick it's about seeing Heidegger's ideas in the comics of Zippy the Pinhead. I'll concede to you that you weren't talking about Heidegger directly (although I still maintain that it was reasonable for me to think that you were, as your quote appeared in the form of a tagline and not a quote and y...

Hi Mick. Sorry I didn't address your question. You wrote: I used to admire people who wrote like this, seeming to see deeper into stuff than I could. Now I've come to believe the apparent depth is merely artifice Given that the article linked to at the beginning of the thread was about Heidegger and...

LOL You're bragging, ala. I guess you can't help it, but why not be honest and admit it? You're making assumptions and dismissing that which you haven't comprehended. Admit that first. While we're here, if you're really finding Heidegger difficult why not try Dreyfus' guide to Being and Time (here'...