Published on
30 April 2020
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Social Commentary, Understanding Science
There is the most extraordinary thing in the air at present whereby we simultaneously seek to understand the brain as a computer, and the computer as a brain. Though no one actually seeks directly to equate the two items in question the very attempt seems self-defeating, since the metaphor by which we try to deepen […]
Published on
10 December 2018
A current exhibition at Tate Britain brings together major works from across the career of Edward Burne-Jones. The exhibition includes stained glass, tapestries, sketches and some of his widely-admired paintings. Firmly in the tradition of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Burne-Jones sought inspiration from medieval and classical ideals and forms. In this project, Burne-Jones was committed to […]
Published on
2 June 2011
Posted in Philosophy, Understanding Science
Can evolution explain human behaviour? This question has recurred among commentators since the publication of the book Supercooperators: Evolution, Altruism and Human Behaviour or, Why We Need Each Other to Succeed by the Harvard professor, Michael Nowak. The basic idea, as he explains here, is that ‘to succeed in life, you need to work together […]
Published on
23 May 2011
Posted in Education, Moral Philosophy, Understanding Science
Historian David Starkey has opined in a speech to a Headmasters’ Conference that the moribund state of British education is our ‘greatest national crisis’. The ‘missing ingredient’, he argued, ‘is simply what we call discipline’, which is all too often substituted by an ‘indulgence of individual misbehaviour’. But why this indulgence? Could it be because […]
Published on
13 December 2010
Posted in Freedom, Philosophy, Understanding Science
SERIES ON HUMAN FREEDOM: PART TWO The second blog in our series on human freedom examines the claim that we cannot be free, because our higher faculties of knowing and willing are determined by our brain states. Many scientists today operate not only with a healthy methodological naturalism, but with an overtly philosophical naturalism. That […]
Published on
29 September 2010
Posted in Philosophy, Religion, Understanding Science
Doddering old academics in philosophy departments all over the world may very well be preparing to pack the contents of their offices into cardboard boxes now that Professor Stephen Hawking has told us, in his latest book, that ‘philosophy is dead’. Yet such nonsensical arguments as those offered by Hawking highlight why we are so […]
Published on
7 May 2010
Posted in Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Political Economy, Understanding Science
We occasionally link to articles on our website we think might be of interest to our readers. The three most recent ones are: Morality, Rationality, and Natural Law — Robert P. George This article seeks to identify the rational basis of our moral norms, such as prohibiting murder, rape, torture, etc. To this end, it […]
Published on
28 April 2010
Posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Education, Liberty, Philosophy, Religion, Understanding Science
Science Versus Religion? The Insights and Oversights of the ‘New Atheists’ — Brad S. Gregory The assertion of the ‘New Atheists’ that the natural sciences somehow oppose all religious truth claims about the natural world is false. These atheists mistakenly treat all religion as one. In fact, some teachings are far superior to other blatantly […]