Tabla de contenidos para August - September 2023 en Philosophy Now

Welcome to this issue, which has a theme of metaphysics. But what exactly is metaphysics? I was once asked this question during a job interview, and mumbled that it was about trying to discover the underlying nature of the universe as opposed to surface appearances. This, luckily, is broadly correct. One of the central aspects of philosophy since ancient times, metaphysics includes explorations into the nature of reality; the search for some single underlying substance explaining the very diverse world (thanks, Presocratics); the nature of time; the nature of singularity and plurality; the nature of personal identity; the reality (or otherwise) of mathematics; the reality (or otherwise) of moral values; the reality (or otherwise) of a God or gods; whether the world we see is all an illusion, and much…

In Kantian thought, the world is like a stageWhere objects and space, time, cause and effect engageBut what lies beyond the veil, what is truly real?This is the question that Kant sought to reveal He said that noumena – things-in-themselves – existAnd our senses and reason cannot them resistFor our mind imposes form on the raw data receivedAnd thus the world we know is but a web we've weaved So truth and reality are not the sameFor what we know of the world, is but a fleeting flameAnd the limits of reason, in this endless danceAre marked by antinomies that give us no chance But this does not mean, that all is in vainFor morality, ethics, and reason remainIn the Categorical Imperative, a guiding lightThat shines within us and leads…

At least sometimes we ought to do what is in our own best interest. However, ethical egoism makes the radical claim that our only duty is to do what is in our own best interest. In other words, we ought to be selfish! Ethical egoism doesn’t say that we ought to avoid all actions that help others. It says that what makes these actions right, when they are right, is that they are to our benefit. So, if I should help someone else, this is only because doing so would be good for me; and if I should refrain from harming someone, again, that is only because doing so is to my benefit. So, for example, if I find a dropped wallet, then if I am an ethical egoist, I…

Augustine was a saint. Not, mind you, merely because the Catholic Church bestowed the epithet upon him (which they did), but because he was, well, a good guy mostly. Thus it is reported that the Bishop of Hippo (as he was) “used the church chest to emancipate slaves oppressed in bad households” (Augustine, Henry Chadwick, p.110, 2001). And who could not be moved by the sensitive tenderness of his almost poetic prose in his Epistolae (Letters)? Few write more compassionately about how we “move towards God not by walking but by loving.” Being in the company of uneducated people, he even had the humility to continue that “moral character is assessed not by what we know but by what we love” (Epistolae p.155). In this light, it is not difficult…

Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in interest in Stoicism. Founded by Zeno of Citium around the third century BC, Stoicism is one of the many great schools of Hellenistic thought, and it is still relevant for several reasons. The root word for the school comes from the Greek stoa, referring to the porch that Zeno gave his lectures on in Athens marketplace. This is no accident: Zeno wanted his tenets to be useful for everyone. Stoicism is not a philosophy well suited to the college or the academy, since it does not emphasise abstract thinking or setting up hypothetical scenarios and models. Rather it is the ordinary person’s philosophy, the philosophy of traders, athletes, soldiers, and blue collar workers. For the Stoic, philosophy is pragmatic;…

The Philosophy of Modern Song BOB DYLAN’S THE Philosophy of Modern Song (2022) eponymously declares itself to be philosophical, but it is not clear if or how it is a philosophical work. The Guardian’s review talked of it being ‘‘a high-flown and slightly misleading title’’, while the description of the review in Esquire doesn’t mince words: ‘‘Bob Dylan isn’t done lying to us just yet – The Philosophy of Modern Song as a title is almost entirely untrue.’’ Certainly, the title of the book is never explained within its pages, and remains as enigmatic as Dylan’s songs and identity. The truth is that the book is not easy to categorise. It goes hither and thither in discussing over sixty modern songs, offering seemingly rambling anecdotes and one or two sharp…

The media we consume can be a means to vicariously experience emotions through fictional characters. The anger and hostility we so often bottle up in our daily lives can rear their ugly heads without consequence as we watch fictional characters enacting violence and hatred upon one another. This is part of the surface level draw of films, books and TV series centered around the mafia. It can be deeply cathartic to watch people so far from our social expectations engage with each other according to their own very different rules. Real mafia figures such as John Gotti and Al Capone gained near-heroic status not simply because they organised what people viewed as benefits to the community, but also because those who did behave within societal constraints wished at some level…

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Tears seeped through the onion’s flaky skin as it sat in misery before Herr Heidegger. “I just cannot seem to find myself!” the wretched root cried out. “What is it you wish to find?” Heidegger gently asked. “The purpose of life!” whispered the vegetable. “And where have you been looking?” “Well, I’ve been peeling back the layers over the years…” “And?” “Layer after layer…” “I see…” “…After layer. After layer!” “And?” “And I found…” “Yes?” “I found…” “Say it!” The onion was in desolation on the couch, overcome at last by the deep sobs which shook his peeling bulb, a picture of ontic-centered misery: “Nothing! I found nothing!” he declared. “Herr Onion,” Heidegger replied. “You have discovered an incredible truth!” “What do you mean?” “You ARE nothing – that is…

John Best John Best is a cognitive scientist and professor emeritus from Eastern Illinois University, USA. His research program at EIU dealt with the factors underlying the ability to do conditional reasoning. His current book project examines the relationship between empirical findings regarding people’s concept of humanity and the moral theory of Immanuel Kant. Christopher Devlin Brown Christopher Devlin Brown is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy department at Xiamen University. His main research interests are philosophy of mind and related areas of metaphysics, on the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the physical world. In his spare time he plays guitar and tours with his noise band 'dog'. Helena Moradi Helena Moradi, a multilingual Swedish legal scholar specializing in law and philosophy, is a postdoctoral fellow at Emory…

In his book Animal Liberation (1975), Peter Singer argues that the vast majority of animal experiments cannot be justified because they offer little new knowledge at a high cost of animal suffering. Singer also claims that such knowledge can be obtained by other means, without killing animals. By contrast, Carl Cohen offers a defense of animal experimentation. In his article, ‘The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research’ (available online), he argues that we have a strong obligation to carry out animal experiments in order to alleviate human suffering and extend human life. Here I will summarize both arguments, underscore potential weaknesses, and ultimately conclude that Singer’s position is more plausible than Cohen’s. As a utilitarian, Singer grounds morality in the consequences of actions. Furthermore, he believes that…

FACED WITH THE DIRE plight of modern culture, what are we postmodern humans to do? Well, before attempting to chart a course forward, it might be a good idea to back up and show how postmodernism put us in the fix we’re in. Postmodernism is a response to modernism. Modernism was a development of the ideals of the Enlightenment, which suggested that advances in human affairs were achievable through the use of reason, which established a secure foundation for authentic human knowledge. Modernists believed the possession of that knowledge would enable genuine social progress, and ultimately, the perfectibility of humanity. The clearest manifestations of this ideal were seen in the scientific and mathematical discoveries sprung from that well of tidy orderliness that was the Newtonian physical world. Modernism perhaps reached…

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• Harry Frankfurt, philosopher, has died • So has Milan Kundera, novelist and thinker • Violent attack on philosophy class Stabbing in Philosophy Class In June a philosophy class session at the University of Waterloo in Canada came to a shocking and violent end. A former student of the university entered towards the end of the Philosophy 202: Gender Issues class, taught by assistant professor Katy Fulfer, and asked her if it was a Psychology class. On being told the title of the class he smiled and pulled two knives from his rucksack, then stabbed Fulfer and two of her students. All three were hospitalized and their injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening. Another student apparently threw a chair at the attacker, who was later arrested and charged.…

“Have a good look”, the magician says: “Can you confirm that this is a perfectly ordinary hat?” For you, this is no fun at all. You awkwardly turn it over a few times and self-consciously agree that it seems fine. Something is bound to be amiss – but what? You have no idea what sort of abnormality to guard against. In this setting, it is unclear what counts as an ‘ordinary’ hat, so you might object that it is senseless to confirm that it is one. ‘Ordinary’ has its meaning fixed by relevant contrasts; there is no single property which the word denotes in all settings. Back in 1962, in Sense and Sensibilia, J. L. Austin complained that philosophers often put us in a similar predicament. They might draw our…

One of the most influential accounts of time in the West is the one produced by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). It is my intention here to explore Kant’s concept of time, especially the way it is bound up with language. This does not mean that I will reduce the problem of time to a mere matter of language, but I do want to demonstrate that language plays a crucial role in respect to time. To do this I will look at Kant’s 1781 blockbuster The Critique of Pure Reason and in particular at the section entitled ‘The Transcendental Aesthetic’. Although Kant doesn’t spend many words on time, reducing the argument to a footnote at the end of the chapter, the argument is very close to the one he employs with regard…

You don’t find it by chance under a cushion,or in the shed beside some bicycle clips.You can’t reveal itby subtracting all the somethings one by one,or by shrinking them smaller and smaller,or dissecting them into nano-sized chunksand then some,or by turning down the volume to its lowest,by blocking out the light;by slicing, syphoning off, peeling away, scraping,sliver by tiny sliver.None of that works.We’ve not seen it, heard it, touched it.But there between plus and minus,between the debit and the creditwe recognise it:somehow we know nothing. © OLIVER LEECH 2023 Oliver Leech explores philosophy, poetry, art and calligraphy. See his website: oliverleechwork.com…

The Greek word τέχνη, ‘techne’, which is usually translated as ‘art’, ‘craftsmanship’, ‘knowledge’, or ‘skill’, is generally used to designate the creation of something. In ancient philosophy, however, techne was not just perceived as an activity, but above all as a kind of knowledge. For Plato, who was the first to elaborate on this concept in writing, techne and episteme, art and knowledge, were closely related. Also for Aristotle, techne was a kind of knowledge that goes with a certain form of creative activity. According to him, the goal for the individual craftsman is to achieve as perfect an imitation of nature as possible – although he was well aware of the impossibility of creating exact copies. Techne in this classic sense – and this cannot be emphasized enough when…

Imagine you’re looking through a pair of binoculars at a park. At one end of the park you see a young person scribbling some obscene graffiti, while at the other end you recognize a serial killer from the news who seems to be creeping up on a fresh victim. Urgently, you grab a phone and call the police. First, you tell them about the youth who is scribbling graffiti, including their physical description, their location, and other information relevant to catching them. You make sure to be as thorough as possible, then ask the police to read their notes back to you to guarantee that they have correctly transcribed every detail. After all of this information has been properly checked, you then tell them that there is also a serial…

THE POSTMODERN CONDITION, published in 1979, was commissioned by the Council of Universities of the Provincial Government of Quebec. It is a report on the state of knowledge, particularly scientific knowledge, in the contemporary world, by the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard (1924-98). In this book, Lyotard considers knowledge, including its ubiquity. His concern here is prescient, given computerisation’s pervasive influence on our lives in the half century since his report. Knowledge in philosophy is concerned centrally with metaphysics and epistemology: ‘What can we know?’ and ‘How do we know?’ respectively. The empirical sciences emerge from such questions. Now, with information plentiful and readily available, ‘knowledge’ is to many people merely what they think they know. This is not always reliable. Lyotard also sees knowledge becoming weaponised for what Nietzsche called…

The question can be thought of in at least two different ways: (1) How will humans die out?, or (2) How will the characteristics that make us human cease to exist? Humanity ends not only if there are no more people, but also if the traits that define us as ‘humans’ disappear. Humans have brought about the extinction of innumerable species, and most of this has been inadvertent, a byproduct of our success, or if you prefer, our carelessness. So it seems reasonable to suggest that if humanity ends, the cause will be humans themselves. We can handle almost anything else. The biologist Edward O. Wilson noted that we’re endowed with a Paleolithic brain but godlike technology. That’s a scary combination, and it means one can point to nuclear war,…