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Posts by Jonathan

Education and Pornography

Should teachers discuss pornography as part of a child’s sex education? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20042508.) Those in the ‘yes’ camp argue that pornography perpetuates unrealistic norms and children need to know this. Those in the ‘no’ camp think that such inappropriate material has no place in schools. The philosopher is in a unique position to strengthen the ‘yes’ …

Can a rat teach a rat with only its mind?

Sometimes scientific news stories amaze me. Here is one: scientists have connected the brains of lab rats, allowing one to communicate directly to another via cables. One rat knew which lever to push for a reward because it was attached to another rat who knew. Scientists made the tentative conclusion that one of the brains …

Freedom of Religious Expression

Freedom of religious expression is once again in the news. The European court of Human Rights has this week delivered a mix bag of verdicts concerning the action of Christians in the UK ranging from the wearing of a cross at work, a marriage counselor sacked after saying he might object to giving sex therapy …

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Video Games: Are They Art?

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has recently admitted a number of video games, ranging from arcade classics like Pac-man to rather more esoteric titles such as flOw, into their hallowed halls. Predictably, this move has been met with a flurry of voices asking the ubiquitous question ‘but is it art?’ Jonathan Jones, …

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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 …

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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, …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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