Philosophy Now | a magazine of ideas
From the archive. Dear Socrates Having traveled from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First Century A.D., Socrates has eagerly signed on as a Philosophy Now columnist so that he may continue to carry out his divinely-inspired dialogic mission. The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber We descend from the divine to the human as Peter Stone reasons about ...
What is Freedom? | Issue 143 | Philosophy Now
Let’s look at this question through three lenses: ethical, metaphysical, and political. Ethically, according to Epicurus, freedom is not ‘fulfilling all desires’, but instead, being free from vain, unnecessary, or addictive desires. The addict is enslaved even when he obtains his drug; but the virtuous person is free because she doesn’t even desire the drug.
Why is Freedom So Important To Us? | Issue 164 | Philosophy Now
Articles Why is Freedom So Important To Us? John Shand explains why free will is basic to humanity.. Much has been written about whether or not we have free will. That is not my topic here, but it has a connection to it, in that I want to ask why so much has been written on the matter. Whether we are free or not seems very important to us.
Philosophers Exploring The Good Life | Issue 162 | Philosophy Now
The Search for Meaning Philosophers Exploring The Good Life Jim Mepham quests with philosophers to discover what makes a life good.. I have attended a number of funerals recently and it has got me thinking. Imagine after you’ve died, your loved ones are sitting around, reminiscing about your life.
What Is Truth? | Issue 86 | Philosophy Now
I would like to say that truth exists outside of us, for all to see. Unfortunately, humans can be stubborn, and so the actual pinning down of what a truth is is more complicated. Society plays host to two types of truths; subjective truth and objective truth.
What Is Life? | Issue 101 | Philosophy Now
The following answers to this fundamental question each win a random book. Life is the aspect of existence that processes, acts, reacts, evaluates, and evolves through growth (reproduction and metabolism). The crucial difference between life and non-life …
What is Art? and/or What is Beauty? | Issue 108 - Philosophy Now
Works of art may elicit a sense of wonder or cynicism, hope or despair, adoration or spite; the work of art may be direct or complex, subtle or explicit, intelligible or obscure; and the subjects and approaches to the creation of art are bounded only by the imagination of the artist.
What is a Person? | Issue 149 | Philosophy Now
The question of what a person is, isn’t exclusive to philosophy. Consequently, there are many answers. In a physiological and biological context, a person is a human with certain essential physiological and biological characteristics.
The Six Core Virtues | Issue 156 | Philosophy Now
The Art of Living The Six Core Virtues Massimo Pigliucci finds six ethical ideals shared by all cultures.. The notion of virtue was central to much ancient discourse in ethics, most obviously in the ‘virtue ethics’ tradition we usually associate with Greco-Roman philosophies such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, Aristotelianism and Skepticism.
What Makes A Philosopher? | Issue 128 | Philosophy Now
Knowing Nothing. Some definitions or approaches to philosophy and philosophers aren’t entirely persuasive. Bikrama Bahuguna argues that “if philosophy is search of truth, a philosopher is one who is perpetually busy with the search of truth” (Layman’s Introduction to Philosophy and Life, 2009, p.123).Linking philosophy and truth is a common approach; but I …