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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

‘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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

We currently have an incumbent in the White House who has somehow managed to bedazzle a body of hand-picked officials and thereby acquired an astonishing degree of “apparent authority”. His word is now being fully accepted in the US governmental network as “actionable” and “legitimate”. A charmed circle of Yes-men […]

It is March 2025 and the Royal Institute of Philosophy is about to celebrate its 100 years of existence  … with a reception in the Middle Temple. This can be a prompt… to look at the state of philosophy at the present time. Philosophy is obviously the most general area […]

There are some potentially dangerous trends at present which include treating AI as a prime source of sound advice… which could —if left unchecked— potentially do a lot of damage. Those who have their ears to the ground say that 75% of sixth-form essays written in UK private schools are […]