Thinking Beyond The Curriculum
Read More“The entire UK political system operates, arguably, on a mission to intentionally create a permissive environment for the perpetual violence of the state, for its intolerance of disorder and dissent, and for its hatred of alternatives.“
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.
Read More“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.“
There’s been a lovely write-up HERE about what we’re trying to achieve with the anarchism and punk book project that I’d love you to check out - and remember, there’s still time to chip in for the crowdfunding to help keep costs down, pay translators, etc… https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-anarchism-and-punk-book-project
Read More“unlike the politician, doomed to blind allegiance to whatever colour team they are playing for, on whatever side of the aisle, the philosopher has loyalty only to the truth. If you can show me my argument is wrong, I am not only willing to change my mind, logic dictates that I have to.”
Read More“Unfortunately for the world, though helpful to my book, far from illustrating the necessity of government, Covid-19 has served only to support the thesis defended within the pages of Authentic Democracy, proving even further how our current, flawed, political arrangements continue to fail us.“
Hard to believe it’s the “holidays” yet again - mainly because most of us will be spending this week very much like we’ve spent the previous five weeks: at home - but it is. As always we will be taking a break to recharge our batteries this week and suggest you do too. And, as always, I invite you to get in touch and WRITE US AN ARTICLE if you have the time.
We’ll be back JUNE 1ST (because unlike a primary school, a blog is guaranteed “Covid-secure” and we can make such bold statements without risking anyone’s safety), but I suggest if you’re looking for your weekly PU fix you take the week to see how thinking beyond the exam specs here in Philosophy Unleashed has given us the intellectual freedom to explore things which may seem unimportant at the time, but have actually been very prescient to the current Covid crisis, long before we even knew it was a thing.
For example…back in June of 2019 when we were thinking about how “the science” or “the data” does not always give us “the facts” and can be used for political or managerial spin to justify anything; or in July of 2019, when we praised the idea of “waste” and denounced the short-term thinking of “efficiency” (imagine how many fewer might have died in the UK this year had we “wasted” money on PPE and ventilators rather than making the NHS “efficient”? Though that counter-factual itself would be disputed by our November of 2019 student guest post about the futility of historical “what ifs” ); the February of 2020 post where I unwittingly laid out the ethical basis for pandemic lockdowns, or the November post which might go some small way to explaining the reticence of people to demand a universal basic income during this time where, clearly, working for a living has become a potentially deadly proposition; or the second ever Philosophy Unleashed post which may explain why so many teachers and students feel strange this May without there being a proper send-off for their leaving students.
There’s a lot of good stuff there in the archives, and I hope there will be many more great posts to come - especially from you, our readers. I know there’s a bunch of Philosophy students out there reading this who will have some really interesting things to say - now is the time to say it.
Also, of course, if you want to read something longer, my book Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism exists in both physical and ebook form, available direct from the publisher or from Amazon. Having finally seen a physical copy of the thing I can tell you, as well as being a good read, aesthetically it’s a beauty!
See you June 1st!
My new book - Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism - is out now as an e-book on Amazon and out in paperback from May 11th. Pre-order now from the publisher, Tippermuir Books, or from Amazon.
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