Philosophy

The idea for this article came to me when I was listening to some Gorecki on my iPad while heading home on the train. I opened the writer and started jotting down my thoughts just as they occurred to me.   It just has always been my position that Philosophy and Science are not in [...]

The recent riots got me philosophically thinking and the following analysis is the results of those thoughts. Much of the behavioural science is from the book “Predictably Irrational”, which I highly recommend. I realised upon seeing the chaos on our streets that we were dealing with many different groups of people with different agendas. The [...]

Following on from last weeks’ EDC post, here is the list of what I take to the Gym. Notes: As the great Eddie Izzard said, I have “techno joy!”. This means I tend to take a high-tech approach to motivation and tracking. It prevents me from cheating myself and the program. I also post everything [...]

Dear all, Announcing the opening of a new Basho website! www.buddhabooks.co.uk I have been writing reviews of books on this site for something like 5 years, also I have – as I am sure you know – a passion for Eastern Philosophy. Finally I can bring them all together! Buddha Books is an editorial review website [...]

I’m an avid reader of New Scientist magazine. In fact I get it every week. The headline will usually be about something “quantum” or allude to some current or near “breakthrough”. Of course real breakthroughs are hardly on a weekly schedule. I know this, but still I buy into it. It is a classic marketing [...]

The story of a simple Buddhist priest travelling from India to China in the 5th Century doesn’t sound like something that would make for an interesting novel, but the after effects of this solitary man’s journey still reverberate today. In all parts of the far east, the name Bodhidharma is still very well known. In Japan, for [...]

Before we start I should add a caveat to this article: I am a philosopher and a Daoist.  As such, I suppose, I am open to accusations of bias and a lack of objectivity. This is unavoidable. However, if one wants to know about racing horses, one does not talk to just those who gamble [...]

You are in possession of the one of the universe’s most mysterious objects. Your personal copy of this object differs in function only slightly from all the other similar objects in our solar system. It is the part of you that feels pleasure and yet it is also the part of you that knows pain. [...]

The first line of Philip Pullman’s novel reads: This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how they were born, how they lived and how one of them died. Despite the use of the definite ‘the’ in the first line of Philip Pullman’s new novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel [...]

For most martial artists, being mugged in broad daylight is an unlikely occurrence. Fit, aware and confident looking people do not make inviting targets. However, in modern society criminals are more brazen than ever and how we react to such violence is the measure of us. We need to stay on the correct side of [...]

As with my first article expounding my political thoughts, philosophical views and religious methods, a reader has kindly taken the time to compose a question and view point long enough to require 3000 words to answer! The question is this: alexander hiboux. Further to your post of the 7th, and having taken some time to [...]

This post is a break from the normal schedule. It is a corollary to the “Philosophy Bites?” post a few days ago. I am going to try an answer one of the questions raised by readers of that post, in this case my old sparring partner Tom; who posted the following in the comments: So, [...]

I regularly listen to the podcast Philosophy Bites presented by Nigel Warburton. In each episode, a new and interesting topic is raised with a guest philosopher (someone always of note) who has about ten minutes to present their view. I have not written about it before, but this is not because it has not stirred [...]

Last night, Question Time: the BBC’s ‘political debate’ show, invited the leader of the BNP onto the panel. This caused a lot of furore in the papers and calls for the government to refuse to appear or send in a ‘bug gun’ to shoot the BNP down. The result was that veteran politician Jack Straw [...]

My hamster teaches me a valuable life lesson...

My answer to this question posted on Yedda, lebenlechzer Do we have a freewill? Do you think mankind has a freewill? Is everything predefined or do we have the chance to control our life and this world?What if we have a freewill? What makes it a freewill? Isn’t everything based on physics and chemical reactions? [...]

 My darling wife, I cry a bitter tear at being parted from you during this awful conflict.  It is terrible, not only because all war is terrible, but also because I have no peace of mind and no time to myself. Whenever I think of you my attention is suddenly drawn painfully away by the [...]

Last night I finally got to see the new Wachowski brothers’ film; V for Vendetta. This film raises several interesting ethical dilemmas that reflect our own world in 2006. The two main themes brought to the fore are around the relationships between people and states. I found myself moved by the challenges raised by these [...]

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has written a philosophical book available free on the internet: God’s Debris. You can download it from HERE Synopsis Imagine that you meet a very old man who—you eventually realize—knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life—quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, [...]

Putting an argument forwards for our sport.

A collection of posts regarding E Prime and my part in the discussions (I am Basho)

Truth and knowing. “What is truth?” — Pontius Pilate, the Gospel of John. Truth is easy to explain but rather harder to understand. why? Because in its explanation we are trying to form a true statement about what it is to form a true statement. This leads to confusion, and unfortunately to the rejection of [...]

What is the nature of truth? This is a question often asked of Philosophers, Scientists and Religious Leaders. All that is true is communication. Communication of one person’s mental state to another person. Say I have a rock 0 And I add another rock 00 What is it that tells you that there are two [...]