121. CONFIDENCE MAN - What Exactly Do The Conservative Party Have Confidence In?

June 10, 2022 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Elections, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“According to last week's confidence vote, the majority of Conservative members of Parliament have confidence in the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. 211 out of 359 MPs, or 59%. But what does this actually tell us? And why do we care about their levels of confidence? Should confidence have anything to do with governing in a democracy? And, if it does, ought the question of confidence be put to the demos - the whole population - rather than merely the MPs of the current ruling party, many of whom are frontbenchers dependent on the very Prime Minister whose confidence is in question for their current political and financial success?“

120. TALKING ABOUT MY CONSTITUTION - Why Conversation Is More Important Than Codification

June 06, 2022 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, Communication, Culture, History, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“The very act of codifying into a constitution the core principles of how your society is to be run is to commit future generations to values that they may not actually hold. It is a normative act, wherein one generation is imposing a set of values in stone on the basis that they believe future generations ought to hold such values. But while human beings remain autonomous agents capable of choosing many different values such an imposition has no guarantee of sticking unless the values are, in fact, actually held by the citizens for whom they are endorsed. This means constitutions are either attempting the impossible and trying to force people into valuing something they don’t value, or they are redundant, as they simply articulate values already held.“

107. MUST BORIS GO? - On Empty Symbolism

January 24, 2022 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, COVID19, Elections, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment

“Boris being forced to resign might make me feel momentarily happy, but fundamentally it does nothing to address the actual wrongdoing or make things better. It is symbolic, but the symbolism is largely empty.“

104. DOWN ON DOWNING STREET - Refocusing The Ethical Inquiry Away From Christmas Parties

December 13, 2021 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Christmas, COVID19, Culture, Elections, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“Because if this government falls - and it should - it should be for their far more egregious moral wrongs than this purely selfish complaint: how come they got to have a party last year when we couldn’t have one ourselves?“

90. FREEDOM DAY - An Anarchist Account

July 12, 2021 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, COVID19, Economics, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“Given that we do not yet live in an anarchy, and on July 19th we will still be living in the same exploitative capitalist system which limits so many of our options and choices, the end of these particular laws does not mean we are being given radical new freedom by our government. The only thing being given the green light here is capitalism, to resume its exploitation as usual at the continued expense of our wellbeing.“

47. A LIFE WITHOUT SANCTIONS - Thinking About Consequences And Their Lack In An Age Without Punishment

June 01, 2020 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, COVID19, Culture, Death, Education, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, School

“Sanctions, punishments, threats…these may bring some short term sense of comfort that justice is being done, but true justice comes when we no longer need such threats to ensure good behaviour. When the logic of the genuine consequences of an action is enough to make people make better choices. When police aren’t racists and politicians aren’t liars because the obvious wrongness of being a racist or a liar, and its logical consequence in the death and suffering of innocent people, is sufficient to not want to be racist or lie. “

45b. THE COVID-SECURE CLASSROOM IS A CLASSROOM UNFIT FOR PURPOSE - Further analysis in light of the DfE announcement

May 12, 2020 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Education, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, School, Work

“To re-open schools before it is safe to do so is to mistake the purpose of schools and ignore how fundamentally transformed a “Covid-secure” school will be from the schools we knew before. With no obvious benefit for returning to the socially distanced classroom before it is safe to do so, we must, as both teaching professionals and as a wider society, ask the question of what we are trying to achieve with the push to reopen our schools? “

45a. THERE IS NO ARGUMENT FOR RE-OPENING UK SCHOOLS YET - To Warrant Change, Something Significant Needs To Have Changed

May 11, 2020 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Data, Economics, Education, Epistemology, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Work

“When the stakes are this high (life and death) we need to be able to separate nostalgia and sentiment for what is sensible and what is necessary. “

39. ANARCHISM AND COVID-19 - Does the need for government intervention undermine the anarchist argument?

March 30, 2020 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Anarchism

“Supporting the lockdown does not, therefore, undermine the anarchist argument, but, to the contrary, makes it even clearer how dangerous, infantilising, and corrupting such state-systems can be. “

37. ELEMENTARY LOGIC - Why UK Schools Must Close Now

March 17, 2020 by DaN McKee in Education, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, School, Work, COVID19

“In the name of public health, but also sense and logic, we must close all UK schools now.”

23. THE NOT-SO GREAT DEBATE - On The Need For Intellectual Self-Defence In An Age of Stupid

November 25, 2019 by DaN McKee in Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Epistemology

“There is a truth out there, beneath the soundbites and clickbait. There are actual facts about what our politicians have done and what they are planning to do and it is our duty as citizens, whoever we are voting for, to make sure our vote is as fully informed as is possible. A television debate will never give us that. They are nothing more than a PR stunt. Another stop on the campaign trail. A mechanism for repeating buzzwords and talking points. To treat them as anything more than that is to abdicate our democratic responsibilities and leave ourselves open for manipulation and propaganda.”