Welcome to PHILOSOPHY UNLEASHED

Philosophy Unleashed is about breaking free from the limits of syllabi and exam boards and allowing students and teachers to cast a philosophical eye on issues that interest them beyond the topics of an exam paper. If you want to write for Philosophy Unleashed click HERE.

All views expressed on the blog are those of the author of each post, and are not a reflection of, or affiliated with, any institution to which they may belong. In some cases, being philosophical inquiries, they may not even be the views of the author, but rather a “devil’s advocate” position they are trying on for size and kicking about, ultimately to reject. Consider this place an intellectual gymnasium where we “work out” our thoughts. And enjoy!

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Association of Philosophy Teachers Annual Conference 2025: REPORT

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“The third annual conference of the Association of Philosophy Teachers (APT) took place on a beautiful June day at the equally beautiful St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow last Friday…“

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216. HAS WORLD WAR III STARTED? - On Defining Conflict

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“My students, raised on Remembrance Sundays and Lest We Forgets, are therefore asking me “do you think there’s going to be another world war?”

And I want to assure them that there won’t be, but my initial gut response is to ask instead how sure they are that we’re not already having one?“

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215. IT’S OK TO END THINGS - On Saying No Under Capitalism

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““I’d prefer not to” - the catchphrase of Melville’s scrivener, Bartleby, is a slogan of privilege. And yet it shouldn’t be. “It’s ok to end things”. And yet for many under capitalism, ending some things are impossible.”

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214. I'M GOING FOR A WALK - Connecting and Disconnecting from Nature

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“We take these walks through nature, I think, on some deep level, to remind ourselves that the majority of our lives are illusions. That nothing is permanent and eventually the march of nature will stomp right through our assured lies that we are someone separate from it; somehow protected. We check in with the world as it really is, to both maintain the illusion for little while longer once we get home, and to ready ourselves for what is inevitable: when the illusion necessarily ends.“

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213. IS GOOD CONTEXTUAL WHEN IT COMES TO ART? - Aesthetics and Geography

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“This conclusion doesn’t intend to demean our ideas of what we find good or bad in art. Rather it intends to expand our definition. Recognise that the thing we have written off before might only be written off because it was the wrong time or place to receive it. That everything can be given a second chance, or a third, or even a fourth if you are open to seeing what it is that others seem to appreciate but which you cannot, yet, seem to access.“

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212. A WASTE OF TIME? - How Ought We Spend Our Days?

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“the older I get, the more I am coming to realise that everything we do could be perceived as both a potential waste of time, or as precisely what time is there for: to fill it. The assumption that there is an objective “ought” about what we should do with our days is the mistake. “

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211. TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS - Why the UK Supreme Court Got It Wrong

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“Despite the court’s lip-service assurance that this judgement does not suddenly make it ok to discriminate against transgender people in the UK, in practice it absolutely does in ways that are both predictable and disgraceful.“

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210. HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND? - Radical Intentions Within the Seemingly Mundane

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“I have long been inspired by the teaching philosophies of bell hooks, and a core element to her ideas about both teaching to transgress and teaching community, is to “genuinely value everyone’s presence” in the classroom. to “have interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognising one another’s presence.““

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208. WHY #PHILOSOPHYMATTERS IN THE CLASSROOM - Reports from the Field

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“#PhilosophyMatters to students because it’s a unique space in the school curriculum where they’re taught to take everything they think they know and see if this received wisdom can stand up to philosophical scrutiny. Including the wisdom they receive in the philosophy classroom itself.  In a world where we are increasingly bombarded with truth-claims, and information and misinformation is coming at us without any distinction between the two, when students have the tools to be able to analyse claims for their validity, it’s a vital intellectual self-defence that we should want all young people to have.  And that is why #PhilosophyMatters.“

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207. #PHILOSOPHYMATTERS - Doesn't it?

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“Part of my answer of why #PhilosophyMatters to students is that Philosophy is a unique space on the school curriculum where students are able to take received wisdom - including the wisdom they learn in the Philosophy classroom - and see if it stands up to philosophical scrutiny. So I thought it would be worth doing exactly that with the claim that #PhilosophyMatters and asking - does it?“

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206. THE IDIOTS ARE TAKING OVER - Is Culture Getting More Stupid?

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“We teachers are complicit in any increased “dumbness” our culture is showing because we are often the ones dumbing things down for the next generation.“

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205. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: A Philosophy for Life

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“This month marks the 50th anniversary of long-running (fifty years!) American sketch comedy TV show, Saturday Night Live. To celebrate, I thought it worth taking a look at the philosophical life lessons its fifty year success story can teach us.“

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204. START THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE - Time to Name Trump For What He Is

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“humanity routinely ignores the evidence of their eyes to make the common, everyday, standard oppressions and violences that are going on to people other than themselves ‘inconceivable’“

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203. IN THE DARK - Medicine, Epistemology and Economics

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“I wonder if the economics of medicine are too-often overlooked, even in countries with a decent free public healthcare system. I wonder how many people have lived or died because of investigations presenting as questions of epistemology - how can we possibly know what is going on in this body? - which are actually questions of finance - can we justify the expenditure it would take to find out?“

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