December

THOUGHT: The World has recently descended into a fragile state.  ‘The World’ here means the human world, the procedures, institutions, methods, customs, civilities etc. which allow seven billion of us to “get along together”, after a fashion, on this planet...


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02/02/2026

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 77

Today the state of philosophy in the intellectual discussionsphere is in decline in both width and weight… and quite pathetic in quality. Where have the “Big Beasts” of philosophy gone? There seem to be no successors with the reputation, discipline or standing which were achieved by Wittgenstein, Ayer, Popper or […]
02/01/2026

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 76

The Exceptionally Deep Dilemma which faces humankind today is that adulation about mathematic modes and values (a quest to establish a math-topia of regimentation) is becoming more and more oppressive, but the number of people qualified and minded to criticise this oppresive creeping Holy Grail is almost nil. So we […]
02/12/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 75

The dilemma we face in philosophy today is that there are all sorts of contradictions arising from juxta-positions of individually well established concepts. The need to focus strongly (convergently) onto specifics —which are necessary to sustain the necessary digital mode of information— has left us with a multitude of mis-matches […]
03/11/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 74

I have recently received the current copy of Philosophy, but its “philosophy”  leaves much to be desired.  The articles in the journal take-on questions concerning whether A or B is “better”, where A and B are rather vaguely generalised aspirations. There is absolutely no suggestion that the answers (whatever they […]
01/10/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 73

What has gone wrong? What has gone wrong with the human race… that has landed us in a situation where WW3 might break-out at any moment, massacres are constantly happening around the world, in the Middle East , Ukraine and Sudan —-and the world’s leading democracy (the USA) is in […]
01/09/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 72

Prof. Daniele Moyal-Sharrock has published an article in the current issue (24,70,2025) of the journal Think in which she turns back to revisit Ludwig Wittgenstein’s historic contribution to philosophy. This is to be praised, but her pessimistic take on Wittgenstein’s philosophy  —which she tries to defend— can also be construed […]
01/08/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 71

Sir James Jeans postulated in the 1930s that <<God was a mathematician!>>.  A more commonly held view of the same general kind is that <<Physical reality is ultimately  mathematical!>>. Among ordinary intelligent people though such comments are now —nearly a hundred years later— less widely heard. But within the physics […]
01/07/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 70

‘Philosophy’ is the historic name for the widest mode of seriously practised rational discourse about the nature of the physical world, the meaning of mathematics, the conditions for tolerable social wellbeing, and comfortable relationships between people (ethics). But today all these discourses are wilting badly, even visibly disintegrating, because of […]
02/06/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 69

Present the morale of the UK is in a dangerous, parlous place.  There is a ranging epidemic of online fraud,  the justice system is, in effect, broken, shoplifting is being virtually ignored, and gut faith in the capability of fairminded democratic ruling governance is on the floor.  Education, which ought […]
01/05/2025

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 68

Philosophy in Academia is currently in a dismal, forlorn state. Its methodology has become narrowly scholastic, and there are virtually no big fascinating ideas which are circulating, or enthusing a “school” of academic ideologues, or at least none which count as ‘philosophy’ by the best historic standards. Some topics which […]
02/12/2019

Philosophy for Renewing Reason – 2

THOUGHT: We need to turn 2020 into the 20-20 Vision Year, to reverse the tacit, potentially suicidal, switch away from thinking and reasoning which occurred in the 20th century and which has left us facing seven+ existential crises.  In this instalment we look both at the crises and the Kernels […]