General Articles

At the Festival of Philosophy

Over the last 150 years the commanding heights of philosophy have been captured by paid, university-based academics. A feature of this shift has been the growth of conferences – hundreds take place each year, tiny ones and vast ones, some devoted to narrow topics such as the Early Wittgenstein and others covering the whole range of human thought. Opinions are divided about conferences, with some seeing them as a substitute for actually doing philosophy and others regarding them as essential to the exchange of ideas which can spark genuinely creative work. Here we present two very different views of two very different conferences.
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

Survival of the Fittest

Does ‘survival of the fittest’ simply mean ‘survival of those best able to survive’? If so, is the theory of evolution just an empty statement of the obvious? Fred Leavitt unravels a logical challenge to Darwinism.
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

The Singer Revolution

Ethicist and animal rights advocate Peter Singer has faced public outrage over his views on infanticide and euthanasia. Richard Taylor explains why he regards Singer as the most important thinker of the present generation.
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

What’s New in… African Philosophy

African thinkers are confronting their continent’s vast problems and grappling with the nature of their own intellectual and cultural heritage. Safro Kwame casts a critical eye over the scene and describes the philosophers and their work.
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

Willard V. Quine

by Rob Stainton
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

Needs & Wants

Peg Tittle wonders if she can be happy alone without feeling guilty about it.
[Issue 28: August/September 2000]

E.O. Wilson on the Foundations of Ethics

Can gene-culture evolution, rather than philosophy, answer our deepest ethical questions? Torin Alter on moral values and the appliance of science.
[Issue 27: June/July 2000]

Round Table Debate: Science versus Philosophy?

Given the success of science, do we really need philosophy? Four distinguished scientists and philosophers and about 170 members of the public gathered in a London bookstore to hammer out the issues. This robust and good-humoured Round Table was the second in the series held by Philosophy Now and Philosophy For All to examine how philosophy relates to other ways of seeing the world.
[Issue 27: June/July 2000]

When it Comes to the Crunch

Trevor Emmott probes David Hume’s unreasonable view of cause and effect.
[Issue 27: June/July 2000]

Whatever Happened to Happiness?

Adam Potkay says there was always much more to happiness than just feelin’ good. He argues that we should once again recognise that the good life is the happy life.
[Issue 27: June/July 2000]

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