Jeff Mason and Plato debate the world of Forms.
issue 2
Mill – On Utilitarianism: a review
Mike Targett discovers a book on Mill which strikes “a good balance in being accessible and informative whilst offering some substantial philosophical views”.
Ryle’s Concept of Mind
One of the most influential books of the twentieth-century in the philosophy of mind is Gilbert Ryle’s “The Concept of Mind” (1949, London: Hutcheson (all references are to this edition). Guy Douglas and Stewart Saunders introduce the text here.
Demystifying Consciousness: an interview with Ned Block
Ned Block is one of the foremost philosophers of mind. In this interview with Neil Manson, Block explains some of the intriguing, sometimes difficult, ideas which characterise his original approach to the subject. His views represent a challenge to those familiar, and unfamiliar, with philosophical problems of consciousness.
Casuistry
Peter Holmes argues that it’s time to defend the much-maligned Casuistry against the centuries old criticisms that still exert a grip today.
Conference Briefing: Plato on Human Happiness
An audience of 100 A level teachers and their students attending a one-day conference was treated to a fascinating tour through the thought of Plato and Aristotle by Jeff Mason and Claude Pearson, of Middlesex University. The theme was “human happiness”, but the talks ranged far wider than the title suggests.
Thinking With Your Feet
Is there any more to Philosophy Football than a clever marketing gimmick? In the first of his new series, Unlikely Philosophy – Philosophical Ideas in Disguise, Simon Walter argues that “the beautiful game” has its philosophical lessons to teach.
Vita Brevis: a review
Zhou Li-Yang finds Jostein Gaarder’s latest is not up to the standard of his previous.
Mind is All Around Us: Consciousness, a Panpsychist’s View
Professor Timothy Sprigge is one of Britain’s foremost proponents of panpsychism, the view that consciousness is a feature of all reality and not just of animal minds. In this article in our forum on consciousness, he outlines what consciousness is, and considers some alternative positions and makes the case for panpsychism.
Russell’s Paradox
Francis Moorcroft considers Russell’s Paradox.
Making Choices: a review
Frederic Schick’plays games.
Philosophy of Mind: the next stage
A unique joint philosophy and psychology research project on consciousness and self-consciousness has just started up, and includes top academics from the universities of Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge and University College London. The seven-year project is interdisciplinary (philosophy and psychology) and inter-institutional (Warwick, UCL, Oxford). It is based at, and directed from, the Philosophy Department in Warwick, where its core members are located. The main focus of work are weekly seminars, one-day workshops and yearly conferences on specific problems, interdisciplinary work on which is essential for making progress in understanding consciousness and self consciousness. These are held in Warwick, London and Oxford, rotating on a termly basis. Topics addressed during the first year of the project, in seminars and one-day workshops include: Time, Memory and Self Consciousness; First-person Access to one’s Own States and Pathologies of Self Knowledge; Spatial and Temporal Perspective Taking and its Relation to Self Consciousness; Joint Attention and Self Awareness; Attention and Consciousness; Visual Awareness and Action.
Here, project director Naomi Eilan explains the rationale behind the project and what it sets out to achieve.