Philosophy Bites Daily

Consciousness and the Brain

Antonio Damasio gives an evolutionary account of 'a state of mind in which there is knowledge of one's own existence and of the existence of surroundings'. But is that enough? Read more...

Robert Nozick on why so many intellectuals oppose capitalism

Robert Nozick explains how intellectuals' resentment builds up and finds expression. It all starts at school. Read more...

Was Montaigne Happy?

Through a combination of attention to detail and the practice of ataraxia Montaigne seems to have achieved eudaimonia. Read more...

Immorality Leads to Unbelief - allegedly

A Christian apologist turns his attention to that immoral bunch, the atheists. What a shower. But I'm with Thomas Nagel not wanting God to exist. Read more...

The Belief Instinct

So God is a scratch on our psychological lens. How irritating. Read more...

Cultural Pluralism

Bhikhu Parekh suggests that reason is culturally embedded. Read more...

Kwame Anthony Appiah on Stamping Out Evil

Footbinding, dueling, and the Atlantic slave trade have more or less died out. Why is this? Read more...

Donor Baby or Saviour Sibling?

In France a child who will help his sister live has been born. His birth has sparked a heated ethical debate. Read more...

Artificial Intelligence Aims to Win Jeopardy

Forget beating grandmasters at chess - that's been done. Now it's time for the big A.I. test: computer versus human at Jeopardy. Ray Kurzweil has backed the computer. Read more...

Hobbes for Today

Thomas Hobbes is rarely cited or extolled by present day politicians, perhaps because he was at the authoritarian end of the spectrum. Is there anything in Leviathan for today's world? Read more...

What are Children For?

Amy Chua, the 'tiger mother' has got people thinking, but was John Stuart Mill's father a 'tiger father'? Read more...

Squashed Hedgehog

Simon Blackburn leaves Ronald Dworkin's new book, Justice for Hedgehogs, curled up in a ball and probably a bit prickly. Read more...

On Clarity about Morality

Peter Beattie sorts out what is clear and what is obscure in Massimo Pigliucci's account of Sam Harris's recent book about morality. Read more...

Michael Sandel on Justice: Moral Side of Murder

Bernard Williams on René Descartes (Great Philosophers Series)

Logic Lane - Oxford Philosophy Viewed in 1972

Alain de Botton on the Nanny State

Alain de Botton suggests that a bit of nannying is OK, and that it might be good for us. Read more...

A.C. Grayling Debunks John Gray (again)

Anthony Grayling's and John Gray's books probably nestle side by side in the bookshop. But they're authors aren't so cosily ensconced. Read more...

Spinoza

Clare Carlisle introduces Spinoza, 'the noblest and most lovable of all great philosophers' according to Bertrand Russell. Read more...

Timothy Williamson on Anti-Exceptionalism

How can we think about how things might have been or could be? Timothy Williamson thinks about possibility. Read more...