The Philosopher

1935 article by John McMurray for the Philosopher.

Reason in Action (1935) From The Philosopher, Volume LXXXVIII No. 1 Special History Issue, originally printed in The Philosopher, Volume 12, 1935. REASO...

"Why is it (will) so necessary in our thinking about human conduct? What is its function? The answer is, I think, that it serves the purpose of enabling us to pass from a static conception of human nature to the consideration of human beings in action." www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2000/01/reas...

Ecology Expanded (2021) From   The Philosopher,  Volume CIX No. 1 2021 Aldo Leopold was an advocate of the need to maintain wolves and other large carnivores in f...

"Understanding that ecology isn't limited to physical Earth ecology, we can love and respect the internal structuring of a life as well the universal complex of values, interrelations and wholes" Andrew Porter argues we should widen our definition of ecology www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2021/09/ecol...

1935 article by Moritz Schlick for the Philosopher.

Unanswerable Questions (1935) From The Philosopher, Volume. XIII, 1935 UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS By Moritz Schlick Professor of Philosophy in the University of Vien...

"What do we mean when we call a question important? Broadly speaking, when it is a question of principle; one that refers to a general feature of the world, not a detail; one that concerns the structure of the world, a valid law, not a single unique fact."
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2000/01/unan...

Fear and Loathing in the Land of the Free T rump supporters stand on a U.S. Capitol Police armored vehicle as others take over the steps of the Capitol. (with acknowledgements to Ken...

"Fear and Loathing in the Land of the Free" In the light of Trump's victory, David Comfort seems remarkably prescient. The Founders believed citizens must be well informed to participate in a true democracy to avoid the nation degenerating into ‘mobocracy’. www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2024/08/fear...

Confucianism and the Three Timeless Truths Part I From  The Philosopher,  Volume CX No. 2 Autumn 2022   A Ming period scroll depicting Confucius handing over an infant Gautama Buddha to an e...

“The Confucian worldview stands squarely against the ethos of liberalism. At a time when the surveillance state and the centralisation of power have weakened notions of liberty, equality and individual freedom, it privieges the notion of Intrinsic Order…“
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2022/10/from...

The Alchemy of Political Discourse: A Mix of Facts, Beliefs, Reality, and Uncertainty  The strange philosophical liaison of Martin Heidegger and his student Hanna Arendt mixed two very different worldview s  The Alchemy of Po...

“In 1620 Francis Bacon wrote: “The human understanding, having adopted an opinion, draws all things else to support and agree with it. And if there is a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side yet these it neglects and despises…”
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2023/03/the-...

REVIEW ARTCLE: Quantum Mechanics and the Rigor of Angles From  The Philosopher  CXI No. 1 Spring 2023 A young, fresh-faced Werner Heisenberg Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of R...

“The uncertainty principle, as it came to be known, showed with inescapable, mathematical precision that … full knowledge of the present moment wasn’t just hard to pin down; it was actually impossible.”
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2023/07/revi...

Self-Consciousness: the Battle between Science and Philosophy  Self-Consciousness: the Battle between Science and Philosophy By David Comfort T hinkers have debated many questions about the nature of m...

“Individual consciousness expresses itself in symbolic language. The Word. This is the mind camera’s film capturing sense or cerebral experience. So, the hub of the five senses, the head, becomes a micro movie theatre of past and projected future images…”
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2023/10/self...

REVIEW ARTICLE: Humor and Its Philosophical Keystones HUMOR AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL KEYSTONES By Keith Tidman Funny philosophers, as envisaged by Zolumio for ‘The Ah-Ha Moment’ H umor is one of th...

“Incongruity theory says jokes acquires their funniness by setting up an expectation and then winding up with a contrary, even absurd ending. Kant’s Critique of Judgment notes: “In everything that is to excite a lively laugh there must be something absurd.”
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2024/08/revi...

REVIEW ARTICLE: Israel–Palestine, Federation or Apartheid? From  The Philosopher  CXII No. 2 Autumn 2024 A section of wall dividing Jewish and Palestinian areas in the West Bank Deconstructing th...

“For fifty-six years millions of Palestinians have been living under a military regime, being deprived of civil, legal and political rights. Worse still, they live side by side with the colonisers in what is becoming ever more obviously an apartheid system…”
www.the-philosopher.co.uk/2024/09/revi...