Thinking Beyond The Curriculum
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“
Read More“since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the US has gone from perceived leader of the free world and centre of cooperation to a nation which continues to pull out of global organisations which ensure global security, health and sustainability, hence damaging the capability of all nations to respond to aggressive nations, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic“
Read More“I hope after a year of Philosophy Unleashed existing people have figured out that these little quotes are NOT the full article and that they have to click the title to read the whole piece…”
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”
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!
Read More“This is the fundamental foundation of capitalism. It is not the ‘freedom’ of the (not so free) free market or the liberality you get from a government or the ethical right to keep what is yours – it is the simplicity in caring for oneself. “
Read More“Currently we know little about the virus, but we have not denied the science. We accept that it is a major issue that needs to be tackled. In comparison we know a lot about the effect of climate change. However, we do not treat climate change with the same sense of urgency than the virus. “
Read More“the world has changed. And here are the questions arising to me as it does…”
Read More“Ecological anti-natalism is the position that procreation leads to more destruction of our planet and therefore more suffering so it is morally bad, therefore we should abstain from it. I shall argue why we should take this view into account.”
Read More“You may be wondering why I just induced so many existential crises in you to cause three heart failures, a panic attack and an aneurysm, and you’ll be thankful to know that it wasn’t for my own amusement. It’s because this article isn’t really about space, it’s about the question. The question that we all ask but are too afraid to truly think about because we already know the answer. The question that, while it may lay dormant, bubbles to the surface whenever we gaze up at the stars peppered in the abyss:
Why? Why bother?”
Read More“If we cannot change the past itself then why do we concern ourselves with the ‘what ifs’? Perhaps we may want to conceive that the grass would have been greener in the present if the past had been different...”
WARNING - THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE
Read More“If I don't even owe it to myself to stay alive what can I really owe myself? “
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?”