Philosophy Now | a magazine of ideas
WEBthe bi-monthly magazine for everyone interested in ideas. Published since 1991, it was the winner of the 2016 Bertrand Russell Society Award. Please look around! You can read four articles free per month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site. SUBSCRIBE NOW.
How Can I Know Right From Wrong? | Issue 123 - Philosophy Now
WEBRight is what helps achieve some conscious or unconscious goal, be it reproduction, social cohesion, long life, prosperity, or conquest. Wrong is what obstructs the goal, and evil is interpreted as doing so intentionally. Values may be incompatible, one negating another with traumatic results.
An Essay on Nothing | Issue 136 | Philosophy Now
WEBOnly because there is a world filled with Being can we imagine a dull and empty one. Nothingness arises from Somethingness, then: without being to compare it to, nothingness has no existence. Once again, pure nothingness has shown itself to be negation. A world where there is nothing is just an empty shell, you might reply; but the shell itself ...
What Is The Nature Of Reality? | Issue 61 | Philosophy Now
WEBSimon Maltman, Bangor. Definition 1. A reality consists of the interactions of a particular thing with what ‘becomes’ for that thing. Definition 2. Reality (with a capital R) consists of all realities. Definition 3. The nature of a reality, or of Reality, is a description or explanation of that reality, or of Reality.
What Is Philosophy and How Do We Do It?
WEBThinking is our mind’s way of processing the reality around us. It exists in our minds and stays there. By contrast, philosophy is the sharing of knowledge, of wisdom. Both philosophy and thinking imply action, but it’s the context which makes the difference. Thinking is a process we all go through on a day-by-day basis.
What is a Person? | Issue 149 | Philosophy Now
WEBAccording to the law, a person is anyone or anything that can initiate and be subject to legal proceedings. By this conception, any adult, corporation, or institution is a person, but a minor is not a person, a foetus is not a person, and a humanoid robot like Hansen Robotics’ ‘Sophia’ is not a person.
Kant’s Theory of Human Dignity | Issue 150 | Philosophy Now
WEBKant’s most famous formulation of dignity is cited at the beginning of this article: human dignity is a status which places the life of human beings above all price. As a rhetorical statement, this is about as good as Kant gets, and it remains a deeply moving formulation. However, by itself this formulation tells us little about Kant’s ...
What Is Truth? | Issue 86 | Philosophy Now
WEBThat is the wonder of consciousness. Truth is the single currency of the sovereign mind, the knowing subject, and the best thinking – in philosophy, science, art – discriminates between the objective and subjective sides of the coin, and appreciates both the unity of reality and the diversity of experience. Jon Wainwright, London.
Hobbes on Good and Evil | Issue 54 | Philosophy Now
WEBFor Hobbes the words ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are synonyms of ‘desired’ and ‘hated’. If we dislike something we call it evil, but this is based on our beliefs about the consequences of the thing for us. Evil is not in the thing itself. Similarly things that we label good are either pleasant, or are means to something else thought to be ...
What is Art? and/or What is Beauty? | Issue 108 - Philosophy Now
WEBBeauty is rather a measure of affect, a measure of emotion. In the context of art, beauty is the gauge of successful communication between participants – the conveyance of a concept between the artist and the perceiver. Beautiful art is successful in portraying the artist’s most profound intended emotions, the desired concepts, whether they ...