Welcome to PHILOSOPHY UNLEASHED

September 09, 2030 by DaN McKee

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Philosophy Unleashed is about breaking free from the limits of syllabi and exam boards and allowing students and teachers to cast a philosophical eye on issues that interest them beyond the topics of an exam paper. If you want to write for Philosophy Unleashed click HERE.

All views expressed on the blog are those of the author of each post, and are not a reflection of, or affiliated with, any institution to which they may belong. In some cases, being philosophical inquiries, they may not even be the views of the author, but rather a “devil’s advocate” position they are trying on for size and kicking about, ultimately to reject. Consider this place an intellectual gymnasium where we “work out” our thoughts. And enjoy!

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October Half Term 2026

October 19, 2026 by DaN McKee

It’s half term where I work for the next two weeks, so no new PU today. I’ll be back Monday November 2nd. Until then: breathe. Look around at the autumn leaves. Take a walk and enjoy the crisp chill in the air that tells us winter is coming. Read. Not just past PU posts (although the archives are full of treasures), but actual books. Some ghost stories for Halloween, perhaps? Or something harrowing, but true, about the state of the world we’re living in (Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s End Times Fascism is currently chilling me to my bones far more than any of the various horror novels I’ve been reading for spooky season!)

Maybe some poetry? Not just my own. I’ve been enjoying the work of newly crowned Birmingham poet laureate, Bradley Taylor. And for Black History Month over the last two weeks of term I’ve been exploring the philosophy we could find in the poetry of Birmingham anarchist and personal hero, Benjamin Zephaniah, with my students. (I had planned on writing a PU about it and likely still will, because Black History shouldn’t just be sequestered to October).

Anyway — enjoy the break and see you in November.

PU #256 - BUT WHAT IS IT FOR? - On The Purpose Of Doing Things

October 12, 2026 by DaN McKee in Artificial Intelligence, Education, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Sport, Punishment

“Why do we do anything that we do? What is its purpose? What are we actually trying to achieve? The less we ask ourselves these questions about the things that we do, the more we hollow out the world into an empty pantomime of vacuous appearances, void of substance, meaning, and sense.“

PU #255 — DIGGING DIGGER — Offering Some Much Needed Love for This Misunderstood Movie

October 08, 2026 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Environment, History, Meaning, Media, Militarisation, Movies, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture

“Digger is a great movie. Not a popular opinion but, I think, the right one.”

No post this week

October 05, 2026 by DaN McKee

Sorry folks — a busy few weeks got the better of me and the choice was either write a PU or enjoy a rare few hours of relaxation. I took the latter. But will be back next week…

PU #254 - UNRESOLVED - Why We’re Still Struggling With Collective Trauma

September 28, 2026 by DaN McKee in Artificial Intelligence, Culture, COVID19, Death, Environment, History, Mental Health, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Social Media

“It remains my conviction that life in 2026 can only be properly explained as the psychological consequence of multiple generations now suffering deep and unresolved traumas from a range of violent global shocks that we have utterly failed to create the appropriate structures for us to process healthily..“

PU #253 - THE IMPACT OF JASON ARDAY - Re-Thinking Academia

September 21, 2026 by DaN McKee in Academic Freedom, Book, Death, EDI, Education, Ethics, Mental Health, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Racism, Suicide

“Reading Jason Arday’s memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, this week has been tough…“

PU #252 - WHEN IS INFORMATION NOT POWER? - On Knowing Less To Stay Sane

September 14, 2026 by DaN McKee in Death, Data, Epistemology, Ethics, Identity, Mental Health, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“if somebody had the information about when you would die, and what you would die of, would you want it?“

PU #251 - WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS - Inaction and Foreseen Consequences

September 07, 2026 by DaN McKee in Artificial Intelligence, Communication, Culture, Education, Environment, Nature, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“What began a few years ago as a gnawing discomfort I had about how quickly people were outsourcing their thinking and creativity to generative Large Language Models (LLMs) now feels like being one of the few people who noticed a pattern of minor symptoms (coughs and rashes) appearing in the years before a deadly plague wiped out a whole civilisation.“

PU #250 - WATCHING ENGLAND - (And yes, I purposefully avoided writing something about America's Semiquincentennial despite the perfect timing of our own 250th post because it's too damn depressing.)

July 06, 2026 by DaN McKee in Culture, Education, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School, Sport, Work

“Earlier in the week, England manager Thomas Tuchel provided clear guidance: “Write an excuse for school and let them watch. There’s so much school to go to but the World Cup is every four years. Let them watch.””

PU #249 - DON'T HATE THE HEAT, HATE CAPITALISM - Thinking Clearly in a Heatwave

June 29, 2026 by DaN McKee in Environment, Economics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“I guess we should talk about the heat. Mainly because it was all consuming, and the idea there was anything else to think about this week melted out of me somewhere around Thursday night as I lay in bed in a pool of sweat for the third night in a row, cursing capitalism….“

Association of Philosophy Teachers Annual Conference 2026 - REPORT

June 20, 2026 by DaN McKee in Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Teaching

“The heat in London today was sweltering, so it is a testament to the speakers’ quality that we all seemed happy to spend the day in a stuffy, windowless, studio room with no air conditioning down in the basement of UCL’s Institute of Education to hear them…“

In Memory of Dermot O’Keeffe (1958 - 2026)

June 18, 2026 by DaN McKee

“In 1998, I left my uninspiring secondary school for Sixth Form College so I could study Philosophy. That’s when I first met Dermot O’Keeffe, the teacher who changed my life…“

PU #248 - STREAM(ING NOSE) OF CONSCIOUSNESS - Dispatches From My Sick-Bed

June 15, 2026 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Teaching, Work

“on some level the decision to call in sick to work is a philosophical one.“

PU #247 - WOULD YOU RATHER? - On the Value of Silly

June 08, 2026 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Education, Logic, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School, Social Media, Teaching

“instead of answering it, I asked a different question: why do we think dumb “would you rather” questions like this are worth answering?“

PU#246 - SO I EAT FISH NOW - On Unbecoming a Vegetarian

June 01, 2026 by DaN McKee in Animal Rights, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Vegetarianism

“Tentatively, I scooped the sardines from the tin and crushed them onto the toast… “

May Half Term 2026

May 25, 2026 by DaN McKee

As always, PU takes a break when schools take a break, so no new post this week.

If you’ve exhausted our archives and still want something interesting to read, there’s always this poem I wrote yesterday and posted to the other place: https://danmckeeisapoet.substack.com/p/forever-a-shaker

Enjoy!

PU #245 - DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF - At Odds With Behavioural Wisdom in Schools

May 18, 2026 by DaN McKee in Education, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Teaching

“We should only enforce rules we can all justify on the basis of their necessity for learning. Anything that goes beyond that minimalist remit should be jettisoned.“

PU#244 - REFORMING OUR BROKEN MINDS: On Acknowledging Our Influences

May 11, 2026 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Culture, Elections, Immigration, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Racism, Social Media

“I have long argued that a key problem with modern humanity is our unwillingness to acknowledge how deeply influenced we are by television and other media. Despite living in a world where we know billions are spent every year on marketing and advertising because of its known and repeatedly demonstrated efficacy on driving consumer behaviours, we still like to believe that our decisions are freely made.“

MAY DAY BANK HOLIDAY 2026

May 04, 2026 by DaN McKee

As is tradition here at Philosophy Unleashed there is no new post on the May Day bank holiday to remind us that May Day bank holiday is meant to be for celebrating worker’s rights, including the right to weekends, time off, and bank holidays. Feel free to check out the archives or just do nothing today instead of reading a new PU, and I’ll be back next week.