On Derek Parfit
TODAY – BBC RADIO 4. Talking about Derek Parfit, who died on New Year’s Day. Listen again for a limited[…]
ReadAuthor: Julian Baggini
When Derek Parfit published, it mattered
For Derek Parfit, getting it right was more important than getting it out, to the frustration of publishers and editors but to the long-term benefit of readers and scholars. When he published, it mattered, and so as a philosopher, he is one of the few of his generation who unquestionably mattered.
ReadThought for food
The idea of philosophizing about food still strikes many as pretentious and absurd, despite a recent growth in the literature. It embarrasses practical, empirical Anglo-Saxons, who would rather leave such musings to our more phenomenological and literary-minded Continental cousins. Nicola Perullo is one such cousin, but now that his Taste as Experiencehas been translated into English, it is perhaps time to reconsider our cultural suspicion of combining intellect and ingestion…
ReadGifts and God
A curious modern ritual of the festive season is to lament the excess and commercialisation of Christmas while simultaneously partaking in it. Perhaps it is not only at family gatherings that Christmas has a tendency to bring to a head simmering tensions. It also seems to be a time when the dissonance between our simultaneous loving and loathing of capitalism becomes almost unbearable.
ReadA Feast For The Senses
Stockings infused with oranges and tangerines, the lingering gunpowder mist of pulled-crackers; the intense herbiness of sage and rosemary stuffing; the slightly sickly sweet paper scent of a box of chocolates, heady brandy-soaked spiced pudding. We take the nostalgic, warming power of these experiences for granted. But what is it about food that makes it so emotionally potent?
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