// Latest Posts

Philosophy and the Living Wage

A report by accountants KPMG this week claimed that one fifth of the UK’s workers are paid less than is required for a basic standard of living. The current hourly ‘living wage’ is calculated to be £8.30 in London, and £7.20 in the rest of the UK. The current minimum wage throughout the UK is …

Mitt Romney and Gender Inequality

The internet is abuzz with discussion of Romney’s comment, in the VP debate, about having a ‘whole binders full of women’; the internet memes are running amok. What is it about this comment that has prompted such levels of mockery? Romney’s remark came in the context of his explanation, alongside his debating partner President Obama’s, …

Looking for a bad painting

We arrived late at the Church of San Michele near Rapello, Northern Italy. The kindly tourist board person had arranged for us to see a little known van Dyke crucifixion there, painted, it is said, while he was in hiding there after trouble in Genova. We eventually located the caretaker, who opened up, and the …

The bravery of burglars

On Tuesday 4th September a Teesside Crown Court judge said: ‘It takes a huge amount of courage…for somebody to burgle somebody’s house. I wouldn’t have the nerve.’ On Thursday 6th, David Cameron responded, saying:  ‘I am very clear that burglary is not bravery. Burglary is cowardice. Burglary is a hateful crime‘ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-19503922). So, is burglary courageous …

Art and Science: the same thing?

“People with an interest in narrative tend to have a squiffy view of reality”. So says Ian McEwan, or rather, so says his character Professor Beard, the overweight Nobel Prize winner, intellectual has-been and compulsive womaniser of Solar.  But for all Beard’s faults, there is something in his distrust of narrative imperialism, the tendency to …

The mind in sculpture

The Gagosian Gallery, just round the corner from King’s Cross Station, is a wonderful place, and not only because they let you into their shows for nothing. Currently they are showing late work by Henry Moore, an artist of whom I am not at all fond—his bland reassurances of humanity cut no ice with me. Well, very …

Sporting success and injustice

Those following team GB’s performance at the Olympics will have much to be pleased with this week. But even whilst celebrating, silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead had her mind on matters of justice, remarking on the sexism that she’s confronted in her cycling career. Typically – as with many sports –  women cyclists earns less money, …

David Gauke and cash in hand: why do we care?

UK Treasury minister David Gauke hit the headlines this week when he claimed that paying tradespeople in cash with the hope of a discount is morally wrong. The comment comes in the context, of course, of heightened attention more generally to issues of tax avoidance. The comedian Jimmy Carr recently was the subject of much …

From maths education to philosophy: what’s the story?

A report on this morning’s news claims that Britain does badly in the maths education stakes. Nothing new here really–we’ve been told how bad we are at maths education seemingly for decades now; the point today seems to be that lots of people doing engineering–and masses doing biology–have little maths in their schooling. In part …

Stephen Hawking is Wrong: Philosophy is Alive and Well

What use is philosophy, given the phenomenal success of modern science? According to many contemporary scientists, the answer is: no use at all. Most famous of the current anti-philosophy scientists is Stephen Hawking, who recently proclaimed that ‘philosophy is dead’.  The influential physicist and author Lawrence Krauss talks about ‘moronic philosophers’ (including Columbia University philosophy …