Issue 54: February/March 2006

EDITORIAL

News: February/March 2006

Philosophy TV Pioneer Dies • Confucius Rehabilitated • Limbo to be Abolished • Work on Causality Wins Lakatos Prize — News reports by Sue Roberts in London and John Ruddy in New York

PHILOSOPHY IN RUSSIA

“What is to be Done?”

Anna Arutunyan on the lack of agency in contemporary Russia.

An American in Moscow

Tim Madigan reports from the 4th Russian Congress of Philosophy.

Knowledge & Wisdom in the Globalizing World

In his opening address to the Russian Philosophy Congress, Victor Sadovnichiy spoke of sagacity and sophiology.

Models of Moral Activity

Alexander Razin considers why people act morally (when they do).

Modern Communication, Culture & Philosophy

Vladimir Mironov on semiotics and postmodernism in a shrinking world.

Sociological Reflections on Contemporary Moscow

Tim Delaney shares some observations from his trip to Moscow for the 4th Congress of Philosophy.

The Fourth Russian Philosophy Congress

So what are the problems that interest Russian thinkers today? Anna Kostikova and Elena Kosilova answer this question with a roundup of the topics discussed at the biggest gathering of Russian philosophers in history.

Tolstoy’s Theory of Nonviolence

Academician Abdusalam A. Guseinov on pacificism and the perspective of the infinite beginning.

ARTICLES

Bad News for Fibophiles

Miriam Abbott says the Fibonacci series tells us nothing about the natural world.

Ethics in Government

Richard Baron tries to be good in government.

Hobbes on Good and Evil

Craig Ross on how a philosopher with few illusions made a mistake.

How To Be Conscious: Mind & Matter Revisited

What exactly is consciousness? Roger Caldwell looks at the current ideas of three leading figures in philosophy of mind, as revealed in their latest books.

CROSSWORD

Crossword

Our eighth crossword concocted by the cryptic and always ingenious Deiradiotes.

INTERVIEWS

Lesley Chamberlain

Lesley Chamberlain is the author of Motherland, a book about the history of Russian philosophy from the 19th century onwards, and has another book on the subject coming out soon. Rick Lewis asked her about her books and about Russia’s philosophical past.

LETTERS

Letters

Sartre Wars • Sceptical Inquiries • Don’t Believe This Letter • Secular Arguments • Miracle, Probability and Law • Race and Science • Missing Virtues • Load of Balls • B*llsh*t! • Let’s Get Physical

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.

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