×
Issues
Issue 30

Buy this issue PDF PDF

Issue 30: December 2000 / January 2001

EDITORIAL

A Matter of Life & Death

by Rick Lewis

NEWS

News: December 2000 / January 2001

Charles Hartshorne dies • Dutch legalise euthanasia • Amnesty protests about death row toy • Mayor says “come round for some philosophy!”

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

The American Death Penalty

Is George W. Bush a serial killer? Terri Murray attacks the death penalty with the help of two prisoners executed by the state – Socrates and Jesus.

The Injustice of Punitive Justice

We take their money, their freedom, sometimes their lives, but opinions differ over exactly what we are trying to achieve, how we should go about it and what justifies it anyway. Jane Forsey on the punishment of criminals.

ARTICLES

Leibniz and the Leaves: Beyond Identity

Angels, humans, the leaves on a tree; is each one unique or just an example of its kind? Peter Pesic explains why Leibniz thought even leaves are individuals.

Might You Not Have Been You?

J.J.C. Smart on cricket and counterfactuals.

Necessary Illusions

Roger Caldwell on nature’s little white lies.

Neo’s Choice: Truth versus Happiness in Fear and Trembling

by Joel McCrum

Philosophy & Disability: an overview

Anita Silvers describes a booming area of philosophical enquiry and explains how considering the perspectives of the disabled can help philosophy in general.

The Many Worlds of David Deutsch

Why do some physicists now believe that there are many parallel universes very like our own? And if there are, how will this help us build faster computers?

The Mark of Zombie

These days philosophers of mind talk a lot about zombies, to illustrate ideas about the nature of consciousness. Edward Ingram thinks they are all crazy.

The Sound of Action

In the latest in our series of personal views of philosophy, Lisa Kemmerer describes how thinking changes lives…

You Won’t Know the Difference So You Can’t Make the Choice

says Robin Beck

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

INTERVIEWS

David Deutsch

David Deutsch is a distinguished quantum physicist and a member of the Centre for Quantum Computation at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University. He has received the Paul Dirac Prize and Medal from the Institute of Physics for ‘outstanding contributions to theoretical physics’. He recently talked with Filiz Peach about his work and hopes.

LETTERS

Letters

No Disproof Possible • Truth, Justice & the Amercan Way • Nietzsche: Delusion & Confusion • The Singing Revolutionaries

COLUMNS

Dear Socrates

Having returned from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First 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.

Apt Apologies

by Joel Marks

REVIEWS

Truth and Progress by Richard Rorty

Is truth about the way the world is, or is it about what is convenient for society? Les Reid takes a look at a modern pragmatist and asks: Who’s Afraid of Richard Rorty?

Time Code

In another intrepid exploration of the possibilities of the silver screen, our very own movie maestro Thomas Wartenberg takes notes on an experimental new film called Time Code.

FICTION

The Big Question

Can the great philosophers of the past help us to answer the questions that really matter to us? A short story by Mark Noonan.

This site uses cookies to recognize users and allow us to analyse site usage. By continuing to browse the site with cookies enabled in your browser, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy. X