Philosophy

There was a time when John Stuart Mill subscribed to associationism, believing that all our ideas come from outside our selves and assuming that it was external circumstances alone that shaped our characters. So Mill sought to improve the lives of people by seeking to change external circumstances through radical societal reforms. But “the black [...]

Atheist Malcolm Knox takes issue with fellow atheists who campaign against children be subjected to religious indoctrination. He argues that religion is fundamental to a child’s development. He himself is married to a Catholic and has children baptised in the Catholic Church. He gives the following reasons as to why, as an atheist, he supports [...]

Montaigne once said, “If man were wise, he would gauge the true worth of anything by its usefulness and appropriateness to his life.” He asked: What good did their great erudition do for Varro and Aristotle? Did it free them from human ills? Did it relieve them of misfortunes such as befall a common porter? [...]

In a Letter to a Christian Nation New Atheist Sam Harris comments: If we ever do transcend our religious bewilderment, we will look back upon this period in human history with horror and amazement. How could it have been possible for people to believe such things in the twenty-first century? How could it be that [...]

This is my attempt to summarise the key elements of Epicurus’ philosophy, without critique. There are, however, obvious aspects of his philosophy which call for such a critique, e.g. his over-reliance on empiricism (inadequate epistemology), his deism, his life-after-death-denying materialism and concept of self-achieved pleasure rather than of a blessedness that comes from God alone. [...]

In our last study of Habermas’ thought we concluded with Habermas’ movement from the paradigm of consciousness to the paradigm of language and his emphasis on communicative action: that the human species maintains itself through the socially coordinated activities of its members and this coordination is established through communication. Indeed, fundamental to Habermas’ thought is [...]

The January/February 2011 issue of Philosophy Now is entitled The Death of Morality? In the editorial Joel Marks, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of New Haven and a Bioethics Center Scholar at Yale University observes: So if the meaning of moral relativism is that there is no absolute morality, then, in effect, there [...]

This is my summary of MacIntyre’s postcript to this classic work in which he seeks to respond to some of the criticisms his account of the virtues evoked. Postscript to the Second Edition of After Virtue Posted February 26, 2011 www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au

This is my summary of the final chapter, Chapter 18, of MacIntyre’s classic work After Virtue. MacIntyre Chapter 18 Posted February 22, 2011 www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au

This is my summary of Chapter 17 of MacIntyre’s classic work After Virtue. MacIntyre Chapter 17 Posted February 19, 2010 www.facetofaceintercultural.com.au