102. NICK FLETCHER IS A ROLE MODEL OF STUPIDITY - Using Philosophy To Show Exactly Why This MP Is An Idiot
Read More“Fletcher was certainly sexist. But his sexism extends to the logic of his argument too. It’s easy to show how…“
97. BLACK HISTORY MONTH - On Tackling My Continuing Blind Spots
Read More“As it is Black History Month here in the UK I thought it would be worth remembering the most influential black philosopher in my own life so far - the young, black, A-level student of mine from about six years ago who asked me a simple question to which I had an embarrassingly limited answer: “are there any black philosophers?”“
95. TRANS ATHLETES ARE ATHLETES: Exposing Transphobia In Our Discussions About Sport
Read More“The first thing I did was point out that this was quite a strange question to ask, and that we had to be careful that it wasn't coming from a place of prejudice or discrimination…“
93. PUNK FETISH - The Unpunk Dismissal of Digital Downloads
Read More“punk’s rebellious spirit - punk’s philosophy - is one of questioning norms and facilitating creative expression of new modes of thought and alternative ways of living. Which brings me to my concern - punk, or at least punks of my generation or older, seem to have gotten stuck on a knee-jerk fetishisation of physical music which is blinding them to some of the merits of modern technology and digital expression.“
84. NO TRUE ARGUMENT - How A Basic Fallacy Stops Criticism And Prevents Peace
Read More“That this well documented fallacy remains so effective and so frequently used is one of the frustrating reminders that knowledge of philosophy, and of the mechanics of arguments, is not necessarily a path to happiness or contentedness. Often, it simply means being fully aware that an argument is faulty, but seeing it work to convince people regardless.“
80. WHAT IS YOUR WAY OF THE NINJA? - A Student Uses Naruto To Overcome Existentialist Ennui
Read More“what Naruto teaches us is that the ideas others have of you or the person you’re meant to be is not inscribed within us at birth but something we grow into through a process of learning and discovering one’s own purpose“
77. TIME TO EVOLVE ON GENDER - Why We Can't Ethically Support An Exclusionary Binary
Read More“If you suggested that women should be barred from having the same rights as men because of their reproductive organs you would be laughed at or face a lawsuit for discrimination. We have overcome these old ways of thinking with technological, intellectual and emotional advances which have rendered the old narratives obsolete. Yet for some reason the myth of gender norms seems harder for people to shake despite the obvious failings of the binary male/female model.“
73. OF NESTS AND PALIMPSEST - Am I Really Making An Aesthetic Choice?
Read More“I have always loved chaotic collage and my childhood bedroom walls quickly became an ever-evolving palimpsest of posters, pictures, postcards, photos, and things I’d cut out of newspapers or magazines, their content adapting over the years alongside my tastes but generally maintaining the same ragged aesthetic; an aesthetic initially limited to a single cork noticeboard on a nicely painted wall but eventually sprawling out and taking over everything until, at one mad point, I was even hanging posters upside down on my ceiling, occasionally waking startled in the night as they lost their battle with gravity and came crashing down on my face.“
68. ABUSIVE THEOLOGY - Why LGBTQ+ Students Deserve Better From RE
Read More“As a teacher of RE, and head of RE at my school, that we RE teachers are supposed to give oxygen to such ignorant and discriminatory views in our classrooms – and treat their prejudice and hurt as something that is to be respected – is something I find an outrage.“
51. SNAPSHOTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE - Why It Is Not Enough To Just Not Be Racist
Read More“it is not enough to just not be racist (or sexist, or homophobic, or transphobic) in a world which has racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia built in to its very fabric. We have to do more.”
50. THE PROBLEM WITH CIS-NORMATIVITY TO A NON-PASSING TRANS WOMAN - A Student Asks Us To Confront The Consequences Of Cis-Normative Thinking
Read More“Cis-normative thinking therefore has disastrous consequences when it perpetuates the idea of passing being a requirement for those who aren’t cisgender“
48. WHY THIS UPRISING IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WAS A MATTER OF WHEN, NOT IF - A Student Questions The Limits of Peaceful Protest
Read More“The reason we are seeing such outrage, and even riots, in the U.S.A today is due to the level of systematic oppression that black people have faced across the world for much of the last millennium”
28. WHO ARE THESE CHARACTERS? - Questioning Using Teachers to Teach Our Children “Character”.
Read More“are those of us in society who chose to be teachers within the current education system actually demonstrating good enough character to be suitable character “role models” for the next generation?”
27. A PHILOSOPHY OF NEW YEARS - Why We Should Embrace The January Illusion
Read More“sometimes we might fail in our resolutions by January 2nd, or at least by February 1st, but it is not the resolution which is important but the time to reflect and think about our lives.”
18. APPEARANCE VS REALITY - A Student Questions How Well We Can Ever Truly "Know" Anybody...and What We Can Do, If Anything, To Protect Ourselves From Getting Hurt.
Read More“Philosophy has long had a tradition of asking questions about the difference of appearance versus reality and today I want to talk about how people appear to you compared to how they really may be inside.”
12. ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A "TRAITOR" - A Student Struggles With Forced Obligation To A Country
Read More“I didn’t actually have a choice as to whether I wanted to accept these benefits or not. Some of these benefits, such as free healthcare, I agreed to as a baby before I had even developed long-term memory because if didn’t, I literally would’ve died. So I only really “chose” the United Kingdom in the same way someone with a gun pointed at them “chooses” to hand over their wallet. In other words, it isn’t really a choice. And if I didn’t choose to obey these rules, who can really call me a traitor?”
7. YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME? - Re-evaluating Representation & Identity Politics
Read More“If each of our experiences of the world are isolated within a personal island of subjective qualia, then no two people can know for sure whether they experience the world in the same way. What this means for identity politics, is that the underlying notion that Muslims can talk about Islamophobia, the LGBT community about homophobia, non-white ethnic groups about racism, and women about sexism (etc.) with an authority that is lacking from a “non-member” of each group falls apart. Every woman will experience living as a woman in a patriarchal world uniquely; every person who has been discriminated against because of their race, sexuality or religion has felt that hurt without peer.”
6. IDENTITY CRISIS - On Immigration and Belonging
Read More“It is only in the last few years that I began to realise how much I had been affected by being the child of an immigrant. Growing up, because my skin was white, the idea that I was a second-generation immigrant didn’t even cross my mind, although the fact of my status acted constantly in the shadows without my recognition, and I remained completely aware of my non-British heritage even in my ignorance of living its consequences. “