The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
Feminism, like all isms, brooks no dissent. For this reason, Louise Perry’s argument against the sexual revolution, brought about and cheered largely by the feminist movement from the 60s, requires a...
View ArticleA Conflict of Visions
In my line of work, I attend (often, forced to) a lot of panel discussions, workshops and conferences. Most of these have a set pattern. It’s usually around a global issue or something that affects at...
View ArticleDiogenes the Cynic
During the Peloponnesian War, the strategy adopted by Pericles was to barricade the city of Athens and the route to the port of Piraeus behind walls. The belief was that while the Spartans would ravage...
View ArticleButterfly connections
Lepidopterology. What a beautiful word. In case you don't know, it refers to the study of butterflies. Earlier today, I chanced upon the philosopher Nigel Warburton’s piece on the aesthetic case for...
View ArticleParfit
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russell Russel’s quote is something that I often think about each time I spend time reading stuff that I barely understand and more importantly that...
View ArticleOn Simone Weil
In the early years of my career in development, one of the raging debates was about the glory and ethical principle of working in the ‘field’ against joining organizations that paid lip service to...
View ArticleSpinoza’s God
The most dramatic moment in the history of philosophy must be Socrates being forced to drink hemlock. If one is asked to pick another moment that could rank high on drama, my submission would be...
View ArticleOn Henri Bergson
At the height of his fame, Henri Bergson, was not just France’s leading philosopher but also arguably the most popular public intellectual of his age. His lectures were jam-packed and the audience cut...
View ArticleEliot’s Middlemarch and ChatGPT
The Kindle is great to read huge tomes. The ‘minutes remaining’ indicator for each chapter provides a reference point for the time needed to finish a book. Nothing like it to make slow and steady...
View ArticleAgnes Callard and the Socratic Life
Socrates was known for engaging people in conversation and, through a series of probing follow-up questions, exposing flaws in their reasoning. Using what is now called Socratic questioning, he...
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