Philosophy Bites Daily

Michael Dummett (1925 - 2011)

nigel warburton — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:06:47 +0000

Michael Dummett, analytic philosopher and campaigner against racism, died 27.12.11. Adrian Moore's perceptive obituary captures the man and his philosophy. Read more...

Nietzsche in America

nigel warburton — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:57:49 +0000

A new book explores the reception and creative interpretation of Nietzsche's works in America. What emerges is a domesticated and more benign version of the philosopher. Read more...

Brian Leiter interviewed on Nietzsche, Freud, Marx, Occupy and more

nigel warburton — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:55:47 +0000

'In the Nietzschean view, our conscious life is largely superficial, largely epiphenomenal'... Brian Leiter, author of the Leiter Reports weblog and an expert on Nietzsche, ranges widely in this long interview. Read more...

Could David Hume have known about Buddhism?

nigel warburton — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:58:52 +0000

Many people have noticed the similiarity between David Hume's view of the self and Buddhist teaching, but Alison Gopnik suggests that Hume could well have discussed Buddhism with a Jesuit who was an expert on Tibetan Buddhism while he was in La Flèche. Read more...

Richard Rorty on the importance of poetry

nigel warburton — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:18:21 +0000

The philosopher Richard Rorty found greater consolation in poetry than in philosophy when approaching death. Read more...

Simon Schama likens Hitchens dying to Hume

nigel warburton — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:13:59 +0000

Christopher Hitchens approached his own death with much the spirit that David Hume did his, according to Simon Schama. Read more...

Quentin Skinner on Meaning, Method. Machiavelli etc.

nigel warburton — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:13:35 +0000

Quentin Skinner discusses his ideas about interpretation, meaning, understanding Machiavelli, Hobbes, freedom, and more in a wide-ranging 2-part interview. Read more...

David Hume: pragmatist and pyromaniac

nigel warburton — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:33:03 +0000

Simon Blackburn sees David Hume as a pragmatist, the forerunner of William James, John Dewey, and even to some extent Richard Rorty in this wide-ranging article for the New York Times column 'The Stone'. Read more...

Spinoza's 'book forged in hell'

nigel warburton — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:38:11 +0000

Baruch Spinoza's posthumous Theological Political Treatise was only published posthumously and became known as 'a book forged in hell' because of the challenge it presented to religious orthodoxies. Read more...

Christopher Hitchens on Nietzsche

nigel warburton — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:06:02 +0000

Christopher Hitchens, who is in the late stage of a terminal illness, questions Nietzsche's aphorism 'What does not destroy me makes me stronger' with characteristic wit and poignancy. Read more...

Martha Nussbaum on Education

nigel warburton — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:43:20 +0000

Martha Nussbaum explains the value of an education in the Humanities and why it cannot be value-free. Read more...

Who was Socrates?

nigel warburton — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:52:12 +0000

Did Socrates' anti-democratic teaching hand out knives to madmen like Alcibiades and Critias? Should Socrates have taken more responsibility for the effect of his words? Read more...

From Dictatorship to Democracy

nigel warburton — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:36:58 +0000

Gene Sharp's little book on non-violent resistance and revolution, which has debts to both Machiavelli and Gandhi, is beautifully written. You can download it as a PDF here. Read more...

Simon Blackburn

nigel warburton — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:25:01 +0000

Simon Blackburn talks freely about Cambridge, Oxford, his philosophical development, the philosophers he has known, and his own work, in this longish interview (with transcript). Cambridge a bit of a mad house, Oxford a bit smarmy. Read more...

Adam Smith on Wall Street bonuses

nigel warburton — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:01:02 +0000

What would Adam Smith say about extravagant rewards on Wall Street? Vanity keeps the wheels of capitalism turning, and increased goods don't do much for us. Read more...

The Turing Test

nigel warburton — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:51:51 +0000

So will computers pass the Turing Test? And if they do, will we start celebrating different bits of our humanity? Read more...

The Cost of Free Speech

nigel warburton — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:19:02 +0000

Free speech is OK, but it gets tricky when you think about hate speech and some forms of pornography. What should we do? Read more...

The Singularity - is it near?

nigel warburton — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:02:54 +0000

Ray Kurzweil thinks that we are on track for uploading minds in the lifetimes of some people now living. Read more...

Spinoza on Miracles

nigel warburton — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:59:46 +0000

Spinoza thought that miracles reveal human ignorance. Read more...

Postgraduate Philosophy in the UK

nigel warburton — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:56:27 +0000

Postgraduate Philosophy courses in the UK: how much do they cost? Read more...