164. CHALLENGING UNIFORM - The Unwarranted Assumption Behind What Children Wear at School

October 02, 2023 by DaN McKee in Education, Identity, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work

“We realised that there was a big, and unjustifiable, leap that has been made to get from the starting assumption of needing a uniform to the end conclusion that children need to be dressing up everyday like businesspeople from a bygone age. That even if you wanted to justify the idea of enforcing a uniform, you needed to go a long way further from that to justify the bizarre uniforms most schools actually make their poor students wear.“

163. THE CLIMATE CRISIS CRISIS - Why The UK Government Is Failing Us

September 25, 2023 by DaN McKee in Environment, Elections, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“This week’s Philosophy Unleashed presents a very simple argument…“

162. PRACTICAL ETHICS - When Do Economies Become Unethical?

September 17, 2023 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Economics, Death, Education, Ethics, Justice, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment, School

“I am interested in the question of whether the practical compromises economies necessarily demand on our actions are, in fact, immoral, and whether such immorality makes these economies not only unfit for purpose, but unfit to such a capacity that we actually have a moral duty to replace them?“

161. THE GREAT CONSPIRACY - On Philosophy Classes and Dangerous Thought

September 11, 2023 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Communication, Culture, Education, Epistemology, Ethics, Meaning, Mental Health, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Perception, Politics, School, Technology

“conspiracy thinking - the initial pathway that leads to conspiracy answers - trades on many of the motivating assumptions of philosophy as an activity: a desire to get to some underlying hidden truth beyond the superficial understanding of everyday life.“

160. EPISTEMIC INEQUALITY - Why Should We Care About Inequalities in Knowledge?

June 28, 2023 by DaN McKee in Academic Freedom, Communication, Education, Epistemology, History, Justice, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Racism, School

“This week I’m doing something a little different on Philosophy Unleashed and releasing a lecture I gave last week to Year 12 students at a Sixth Form interdisciplinary conference on the theme of inequality…“

159. TAKING STUDENT SILLINESS SERIOUSLY - Lightning McQueen and the Importance of Battling Deepities

June 24, 2023 by DaN McKee in Culture, Economics, Education, Logic, Movies, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School

“Like garbage washing up on the shore of a polluted sea, the Philosophy classroom is often where a lot of these deepities come to rest as students, impressed by their apparent wisdom, share them with the one person they think will be equally impressed: their Philosophy teacher. Often those students are soon disappointed, even angry, when that teacher is not impressed at all and, instead, pops the bubble of the illusion and exposes its emptiness.“

158. SOCRATES WEPT - On Resisting The Unexamined Life

June 19, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Education, Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Truth

“I had some interesting conversations with students this week about first principles. How, once you unpack the thing you are talking about you might realise that you no longer believe what you thought you did, or might even be having a different conversation entirely…“

157. I WON'T MISS SIR - On Naming Our Teachers

June 11, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Education, Gender, Identity, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work

“Any time we approach an area of education with an attitude of it being too difficult or even impossible for someone to do something, we make it so through a process of self-fulfilling-prophecy.“

156. USE YOUR ILLUSION - Magicians and Reality

June 05, 2023 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Truth

“I used to think it was the clowns who were the real heroes - speaking truth to power about the absurdity of power and mocking those in authority with satire and parody. But nowadays I think it might be the magicians.“

ANARCHIST ATHEIST PUNK ROCK TEACHER

June 01, 2023 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Book, Education, History, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work, Wrestling

Is the memoir of DaN McKee's twelve years as a conflicted Philosophy and Religious Studies teacher out June 16th on Earth Island Books!

It not only contains some highlights from the last four years of Philosophy Unleashed, but shows how anarchist philosophy, atheism and a background in DIY punk rock has influenced and shaped DaN's approach to the classroom, as well as his approach to life.

As the blurb says: "'Anarchist Atheist Punk Rock Teacher' is more than just a memoir of some teacher you've never met. It is philosophy of education, of anarchism, of authenticity, and of life. Throw in some personal history, the deaths of both of his parents to deal with on top of juggling all the professional absurdities that come with the job (not to mention having to teach through a global pandemic), and you have all the earmarks of a biographical classic."

If you want to pre-order it directly from the publisher, do so here. If you want to pre-order it from Amazon, do so here. It's available in both paperback and as an eBook.

155. THE IMPERMANENCE OF VALUE - Fluctuating Perspectives on Worth

May 22, 2023 by DaN McKee in Economics, Epistemology, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“Philosophers might ask: if value changes all the time, is there really such a thing as value at all? If we can’t pin it down - define it - then is it really anything? Is there anything eternally valuable and undeniably valuable to all? But even in philosophy value fluctuates based on who is doing the valuing. To some thinkers that question is important. Personally, I see no value at all in finding an answer to that question and would rather set my mind to other things.“

154. DISRUPTION - Its Importance and its Impotence

May 15, 2023 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Communication, Education, Free Speech, Free, Justice, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, School, Punishment

“I’ve been thinking a lot about protest and rebellion the last week….“

153. PHILOSOPHY AND THE CORONATION - Questions Raised By The Crowning Of A New King

May 08, 2023 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Censorship, Culture, Free Speech, History, Identity, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“The coronation of a new King is an undoubtedly historic moment, but it raises a lot of philosophical questions…“

152. INSPIRED PHILOSOPHY - Where Do Ideas Come From?

April 24, 2023 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Obligation, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“When I sat down to write this post I was uninspired, yet now I have no doubt that I will, yet again, meet my self-imposed deadline and have a new Philosophy Unleashed post completed exactly when it is needed. Inspiration was there all along. I just had to find it. But what is inspiration?“

151. INSTITUTIONALLY AFRAID - On The Importance Of Acknowledging Institutional Prejudice

March 27, 2023 by DaN McKee in EDI, Education, Gender, Justice, LGBTQ, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment, Racism, School

“When we refuse, as Rowley has, to acknowledge the institutional nature - the structural nature - of the racism (and misogyny and homophobia) that permeates an organisation we are refusing to fully grasp the nature of the problem, or fully see what such prejudice looks and feels like for those who experience it.“

150. YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN - Gary Lineker and The Myth of Impartiality

March 20, 2023 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Communication, Culture, Education, Epistemology, Ethics, Free Speech, Immigration, Meaning, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Racism, School, Social Media, Sport, Television, Truth

“To not comment on the state of the world today is never to be impartial. It is to implicitly state a preference - a partiality - for maintaining things exactly as they are, inflammatory immigration policies and all.“

149. THE LIMBO OF TRUST - Hume, Descartes, Induction, Trust, and a Broken Boiler

March 13, 2023 by DaN McKee in Data, Epistemology, Mindfulness, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Punishment, Truth

“Can trust, once lost, ever be restored?“

148. THINKING ABOUT WORLD BOOK DAY - How Reading Is More Than The The Fetishisation of Books

March 06, 2023 by DaN McKee in Book, Censorship, Communication, Culture, Education, Free Speech, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School, Social Media

“Instead of asking what we are reading on World Book Day, we ought to raise the level of questioning: what are we reading and how is it changing us? What is it making us think? What questions are the book raising? Even if the answer is, to all these questions, not a lot (I am unchanged, not thinking about anything, and asking no questions), to ask them makes us perhaps realise that some books are like junk food while others are more nutritious.“

147. NOT ALL GOBSTOPPERS ARE EVERLASTING - Why I'm OK With Changing The Words of Roald Dahl

February 27, 2023 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Communication, Culture, Free Speech, Gender, Identity, History, LGBTQ, Meaning, Media, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, Racism

“Don’t let the illusion of sole authorship fool you. Published writing has always been edited by many and influenced by audiences. If you want to read the unblemished, pure and unfiltered draft straight from the author’s mind and onto the page, read something self-published (like this blog…although I do tend to do a few drafts). Anything else you read, assume there have been drafts, edits, alterations, corrections, and the input of many. The author, often, is a group of authors. Dahl is no different.“

146. THEY/THEM - Why We Need To Be Gender-Neutral About God

February 13, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Gender, Identity, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Religion

“of course God - a being defined in terms of transcendence - would not be confined to one single point on a spectrum or one limited half of a binary. The very terms of transcendence that makes God God would necessitate God being beyond either a gender binary or the limits of a single gender. The omnipotent God responsible for creating both men and women in their own image, logic would suggest, must possess an image inclusive of both male and female (and everything in between).“