Issues
Issue 58: November/December 2006
EDITORIAL
Witt & Wisdom
by Rick Lewis
NEWS
News: November/December 2006
Philosopher court-martialled • Confucian reigns in China • Darwin evolves online • Philosophy under the hammer — News reports by Sue Roberts in London and John Ruddy in New York
WITTGENSTEIN
Don’t Panic! It’s the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Mathias Brochhausen envisages Wittgenstein Hitchhiking around the Galaxy.
Pictures and Nonsense
Mark Jago looks at Wittgenstein’s first theory of language, in the Tractatus. One of the conclusions of this theory is that the theory in the Tractatus is nonsense…
Rules, Language & Reality
George Wrisley considers how some of Wittgenstein’s later ideas on language relate to reality.
The Private Language Argument
Richard Floyd explains a notorious example of Wittgenstein’s public thought.
The Wittgenstein Archive
Bob Plant and Peter Baumann relate some lesser-known anecdotes about the great man and his acolytes.
Tractatus 7.1: Translation and Silence
Peter Caws considers how much is lost in translation.
Wittgenstein: A Wonderful Life
Tim Madigan on logic, language and mysticism in the life of one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.
ARTICLES
A Brilliant Masterpiece
To be or not to be brilliant? Miriam Abbott on the ontological argument for God’s existence.
How Good Do We Have To Be?
With so many serious problems in the world, Jean Kazez asks whether there’s any excuse to buy ourselves new toys, or even take up more worthy pastimes like playing the violin. Her reflections take in Paul Farmer, Peter Singer, Susan Wolf and Nietzsche.
The Death of Postmodernism And Beyond
Alan Kirby says postmodernism is dead and buried. In its place comes a new paradigm of authority and knowledge formed under the pressure of new technologies and contemporary social forces.
CROSSWORD
Crossword
Our twelfth lovingly linked labyrinthine labour of lexical legerdemain by Deiradiotes.
INTERVIEWS
Peter Hacker
Peter Hacker is the leading Wittgenstein scholar at Oxford. Li Hong asked him about Wittgenstein and analytic philosophy.
LETTERS
Letters
Soulful Articulations • Music, Food of Thought • A Wealth of Experience? • Dasein, Oder Nicht Dasein? • ‘Heaven UnChristian’ Shock • Imadaldin Interpretation Issues • Slack Anarchist • Evolving Ethics • Mortal Words • Give Rand a Hand
COLUMNS
Dear Socrates Epicurus
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. This issue he calls in the hippes [cavalry, man].
Philosophical Astronomy
by Joel Marks
What is a Thought Experiment, Anyhow?
Our philosophical science correspondent Massimo Pigliucci asks.
REVIEWS
I am Not a Man I am Dynamite: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Anarchist Tradition
Brian Morris deplores John Moore and friends’ views on Nietzsche and anarchism.
Michael Oakeshott On Religion, Aesthetics, And Politics by Elizabeth Campbell Corey
Robert Cheeks finds Elizabeth Campbell Corey’s analysis of Oakeshott’s philosophy to be all present and correct.
9/11 and World Trade Center
Thomas Wartenberg sees two films about 9-11 and muses that sometimes more than courage is called for.
FICTION
Bill’s Philosophy Songs
Bill Welton rewrites some familiar songs to give them philosophy appeal – including some carols for Christmas.
Making Up My Mind
Martin Lunghi gets into some strange tendencies with language.