Professional Philosophy is over 3000 years old, but amateur Philosophy is as old as time. I fell in love with the subject at high school and soon headed out to University to dedicate myself to studying it in depth. That is a decision I have never regretted as my University years were a time of great learning and exploring the hundreds of books on this subject. I coined the following quote about the meaning of Philosophy:
Philosophy is not about having all the answers, it is about having a better understanding of the questions.
Analysis, rational thought and that ability to step back and ask “why?”. These are all skills the modern world is in dire need of. It is where we often find that we do things and really we don’t even know why we do them. It is here that we discuss and debate, here that ideas are thrown in the crucible and melted down to core concepts, steeled and ready to be beaten into the new.
Goodbye Mum
So much of human suffering and pain shares a common cause. We all feel it, but; may not consciously recognise it working upon us. It is something we are all subjected to and cannot [...]
The Alam Clock Lesson
Early in my leadership career, I had a junior member of staff who was late to work. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, for are we not all occasionally late into the office? Most [...]
The Purpose of Travel – Now Published!
We often take arriving at the destination to be the purpose of travel. Taken in this way the journey itself is not the point, rather it is the serious business of transporting our bodies from [...]
Dealing with and De-escalating Conflict when Switched On
I have written before about violent conflict and the story of a crime, a true crime, and its martial consequences. In that instance the consequences for those who attempted to mug a kung fu expert [...]
Chan Buddhism, Daoism and Zen – Journey through the East
Writing an article about Zen is almost a contradiction in terms. That is unless I simply leave the rest of it blank... Just a finger, pointing to the moon… But, I don't want to do that! [...]
The Hidden Context in some Great Movies
I love the cinema and movies. I also make films myself. What stared as a simple passion for the action and adventure in films has become a life long urge [...]
On the nature of art, a definition
"Art is that human endeavour which illuminates the contiguous nature of reality. Momentarily breaking us free from our illusion that the Universe has a dual nature." Writes Basho. Find out why...
Physics versus Philosophy, can these two not get along?
It just has always been my position that Philosophy and Science are not in competition to uncover the secret of reality, and that the attempts by Physicists to paint this dichotomy was self-destructive and not worthy of their time. It is almost as if they are leaving their old enemy of "Religion" alone and picking on a group they don’t think will fight back.
Inside the behavior of the UK looters, why do they make such bad choices?
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 [...]
The Running Man : My Gym Routine
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 [...]
Announcing: buddhabooks.co.uk is now open
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 [...]
Stephen Hawking – “The Grand Design” book review by Basho
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 [...]
A Sudden Dawn: Book Review
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 [...]
What is Daoism/Taoism?
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 [...]
What is consciousness? Is it the “self”? Is it “me”? Basho argues no!
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 [...]
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ : Book Review
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 [...]
The Harsh Judge
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 [...]
Is the Insanity Defence Itself Insane?
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 [...]
Killing for Pleasure?
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 [...]
Philosophy Bites? (Killing in War)
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 [...]
Nick Griffin on Question Time, a liberal view
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 [...]
Life Stories 1 : I had a hamster
My hamster teaches me a valuable life lesson about taking brave and small creatures for granted
Freewill
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 [...]
The Salmon of Doubt
Gday all Has anyone else read “The Salmon of Doubt” penned by the late great Douglas Adams? One section in a whole host of sections mentioning religion is the part where he mentions the idea [...]
A War Letter
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 [...]
V for vendetta; the ethics of terror
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 [...]
God’s Debris?
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 [...]
What does it mean to be a man in the modern world?
What does it mean to be a man in the modern world? How do men feel and why do men play violent sports?
E Prime, truth and Plato
A collection of posts regarding E Prime and my part in the discussions (I am Basho)
Truth and knowing
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 [...]
The nature of truth
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 [...]