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Attend to What Matters: Introduction
‘If I attend properly I will have no choices and this is the ultimate condition to be aimed at.’ (Iris Murdoch) I believe this to be true; and if it is true, then it is very important. Possibly few ideas in philosophy are more important, since in this idea you will find the ultimate aim and purpose of philosophy, and in that something that points to the finest way that a human being can live.
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One Year On, Part Three: The Hypocrisy of the Ironic Philosopher
This website is nothing but words and I am all talk. And this from someone who says that ethics is best shown by conduct and not by words; that philosophy ought to be shown and said, in such a way that the inner meaning and outward appearance are as one. But what do I show, here, except the continuation of so many ironic contradictions?
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One Year On, Part Two: Philosophy Applied to Public Debates
I’ve lost a measure of faith in the idea that philosophy can be ‘applied’ to the various debates of our times. In most cases, most people wouldn’t understand the arguments because they lack the requisite ‘preparation’; and so if you have a cause to fight for then that would be better served by appeal to other means of persuasion, such as one celebrity endorsement.
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One Year On, Part One: Philosophy as Therapy
This website is one year old. One year on, I think and feel very differently about things: this shows it’s done its work.
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The Allegory of Martial Arts, Bad Fortune, and the Sceptic
Philosophy is routinely dismissed as good-for-nothing: an old and out-dated discipline that serves no useful purpose. It is not alone.
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A Strange Play
I saw a strange play the other day. I’m still not sure what to make of it. It didn’t make much sense to me, but maybe it can make some sense to you? In the first act, a player strutted onto the stage in full costume, wearing a grotesque and elaborate mask. He said ‘I […]
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Esoteric Protreptics
1. Society will support whatever it values. Society does not support philosophy. Evidently, society does not value philosophy. Philosophers should put all their efforts into demonstrating the value of what they do. 2. The value of philosophy can only be seen by those who understand it. Few people understand philosophy. Consequently, few people can see […]
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Palinode to the Rion
I recently wrote a satirical piece about popular philosophy. I was happy enough with it to put it online, because I think what it shows is interesting, but beyond that the net effect was to leave me thinking I probably won’t do this kind of thing anymore. As I recently seem to have discovered, I am currently writing to discover why I write, and what I seem to have discovered here is that, whilst I’m happy enough to write things that show something important about philosophy, I have no interest in writing anything combative, critical, or ‘snotty’. […]
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Cog Ergo Sum: A Very Short but Timeless Story About How a Man Makes Something of Himself
He began life as all life begins: free and completely dependent. He was taken care of by people who cared for him until he came to consciousness and realised that he could take care of himself. He started to learn how to take care of himself. When he showed how he could take care of […]
An experiment with philosophy as a way of life
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