Must we get to the bottom of things?
Simply accepting that there are no ultimate grounds for anything looks like a cop-out. Surely, we must have some good reason to trust the firmness of the ground on which we stand, intellectually?
ReadTag: Ethics
The Laughing Philosopher
VIDEO – THE LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER. Does comedy hold the key to truth and morality? Julian Baggini, Katy Brand, John Ó Maoilearca.[…]
ReadThe few and the many
When asking whether inequality is unfair, we have perhaps too often made the mistake of asking whether it is unfair in and of itself. A better question is to ask whether the inequality we see is the inevitable result of a fair economic and political system. The answer to that appears to be no. But even if it were, we have more good reasons than ever to see rising inequality as representing a grave threat to our health and to the legitimacy of capitalist democracies.
ReadDo we need metaphors?
The whole point about metaphors is that some are much better than others. It makes sense to say the world shook when the Berlin Wall fell, not that it danced, slept or cooked. Nietzsche said concepts were “merely the residue of a metaphor” but there is nothing mere about it. Believing words to be metaphorical did not prevent him from choosing his very carefully indeed. We should do the same.
ReadDoes an apology matter?
The refusal to apologise can look like a denial that anything was wrong in the first place and that no lessons have been learnt. The point is not to confess the continued presence of the sin or even to take the blame for it.
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