Philosophy Now Forum

I'm waiting for issue 70. The last issue left me wanting.

Hi philofra

We're waiting too!

The latest news is that the mags have made it from the printers to the distribution depot, and that the mailing house have started sending out copies to subscribers. However, I haven't seen a copy myself yet!

Hope you like Issue 70 when it arrives. The theme of the issue is Utopias.

Great!

Thank you Rick.

Got my issue today, hope everyone else is getting theres

I'm off to go get started on this exciting issue on 'Utopias'

I understand the print edition of issue 70 is out. Where is the Internet edition????

These things take time.

I just got my print addition of issue 70 and feel better for it. I find it much more interesting than the last one.

philofra wrote:I understand the print edition of issue 70 is out. Where is the Internet edition????

Sorry for the delay. Bora has put the internet edition of Issue 70 online now.

http://philosophynow.org/

Glad you like the new issue!

Great!

Great cover also!

Hi

Daniel Dennett's Autobiography Part 3 - excellent.
I have still to read the rest of the freebie articles but just had to stop and say Thanks for this.

I had not realised that there was a series, and so excitedly looked up Parts 1 and 2.

Pt 1 - again absolutely inspiring. But why, on earth, can I not access Pt 2 ?
Why is this not born to be FREE, as the others ?

Anyways, loved this bit in Pt3 :

'Religious allegiance has ramifications too important to be out of bounds to rational inquiry.

There is no polite way of saying “Excuse me, but have you ever considered the possibility that you’ve devoted your life to a fantasy, and blinded yourself to the moral dubiety of your allegiance to a institution that does more harm than good? ” [ my bolds ]

But we need to ask people this question in as many different ways as it takes to capture people’s attention.'

****

Last night I listened to an Open University CD, part of the AA308- Thought and Experience course. On Consciousness, David Chalmers and Daniel Dennett both put their side of the argument.

Both sound most convincing, I was nodding happily away at both of them. I find myself wondering where, if at all, they could come together...

mhoraine wrote:Last night I listened to an Open University CD, part of the AA308- Thought and Experience course. On Consciousness, David Chalmers and Daniel Dennett both put their side of the argument.

Both sound most convincing, I was nodding happily away at both of them. I find myself wondering where, if at all, they could come together...

"To be sure, we still have philosophical congresses. The philosophers meet but, unfortunately, not the philosophies. The philosophies lack the unity of a mental space in which they might exist for and act on one another."

(Edmund Husserl, Cartesian Meditations, Introductin, section 2, translated by Dorion Cairns.)

Hi !

"To be sure, we still have philosophical congresses....''

Is this what is known as 'banging heads together' ?

"To be sure, we still have philosophical congresses. The philosophers meet but, unfortunately, not the philosophies. The philosophies lack the unity of a mental space in which they might exist for and act on one another."

That quote is imposing something on philosophers they are not. They are not policy makers or unifiers as the quote above suggests they should be. Academic philosophers are not equipped to come together, to be politicians or policy makers. Nor should they try.

In issue 70, PN asked the question, "Who is the best Philosopher?" A William J. Grant chose Heraclitus because he understood the flux of the world. Grant wrote that "The true philosopher sees the world as something to be explained [like its flux], but is aware also that we cannot give that sought-after final explanation."

The idea that Grant's assessment conveys is that philosophers shouldn't try to meet with their philosophies, but raise questions and possibilities, and even conflict in their ideas. Their job, then, is done. Then, it is up to the practitioners to take over and mold the philosophies, if possible, into something workable and useful.

This fits nicely with the research draft project thingy and is one of my main solution books Thomas More Utopia so this issue should be interesting. (brain is in Utopia at the present moment)

bangs philosphers heads together and expands brains a little bit Congress stylee.