116. NOTHING IS REAL AND YET EVERYTHING IS REAL - On Constructing A Better Reality

April 25, 2022 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Epistemology, Existentialism, Meaning, Mind, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Perception

“Consider: it cannot both be true that advertising has no influence on our thinking and that people spend over £23bn a year on advertising. At worst, people are spending their twenty three billion pounds to influence us in a range of ways we are barely aware of. At best, the only advertising that has ever worked is the advertising for advertising itself which has convinced so many people to spend billions on a product which is utterly useless. Which means advertising does still work.“

107. MUST BORIS GO? - On Empty Symbolism

January 24, 2022 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, COVID19, Elections, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment

“Boris being forced to resign might make me feel momentarily happy, but fundamentally it does nothing to address the actual wrongdoing or make things better. It is symbolic, but the symbolism is largely empty.“

106. WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS - On Our Failure To Communicate

January 17, 2022 by DaN McKee in Education, Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Communication

“Often we hear people say something that they didn’t think they said at all. They might accuse us of not listening, or being ignorant of certain things, but the fact remains that if you say X and I hear Y, then you did not communicate X to me, you communicated - whether intentionally or not - Y.“

103. SAYING NO TO WHAT IS DONE - On The Tyranny of Appealing to Decorum

December 06, 2021 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Education, Logic, Meaning, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School

“But recently I have been thinking about a pet peeve of mine. Possibly the most frustrating appeal to authority of them all. I shall call it the appeal to decorum…“

96. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE INDIVIDUAL: On The Incoherency of Individualism

October 04, 2021 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Obligation, Politics

“A student asked if we could imagine a world where Boris Johnson announced a shortage of petrol (or toilet roll, or dried pasta - name whatever limited resource you like) and, instead of immediately triggering panic buying, the announcement is greeted by a wave of collective reason. I will only buy the limited good if I really need it now, understanding that others may need this now limited resource more than I do. Perhaps usually I fill up my car whenever it hits the final quarter of a tank? Now I know there is not enough fuel to go around maybe I’ll wait until I’m closer to empty? That sort of thing…“

94. TWENTY YEARS LATER: What Is The Purpose of Remembering 9/11?

September 20, 2021 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Education, Meaning, Militarisation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, War

“It is not said enough that on September 11th, 2001, a significant number of people around the world witnessed on live television the death of nearly three thousand people. Seeing one person die would be considered a trauma. Something requiring years of therapy. Something from which we might never recover. Who knows how many of the terrible events of the last twenty years are the result of a traumatised humanity who never got the professional help they needed to come to terms with what they saw when those towers fell?“

93. PUNK FETISH - The Unpunk Dismissal of Digital Downloads

September 13, 2021 by DaN McKee in Culture, Economics, Environment, Identity, Meaning, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Pop Culture, Punk, Technology

“punk’s rebellious spirit - punk’s philosophy - is one of questioning norms and facilitating creative expression of new modes of thought and alternative ways of living. Which brings me to my concern - punk, or at least punks of my generation or older, seem to have gotten stuck on a knee-jerk fetishisation of physical music which is blinding them to some of the merits of modern technology and digital expression.“

84. NO TRUE ARGUMENT - How A Basic Fallacy Stops Criticism And Prevents Peace

May 24, 2021 by DaN McKee in Identity, Ethics, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Racism, War, Logic

“That this well documented fallacy remains so effective and so frequently used is one of the frustrating reminders that knowledge of philosophy, and of the mechanics of arguments, is not necessarily a path to happiness or contentedness. Often, it simply means being fully aware that an argument is faulty, but seeing it work to convince people regardless.“

82. IS ALL REALITY VIRTUAL? - Reflecting On My Lack Of Concern About VR

May 10, 2021 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Technology

“there are many philosophical anti-realists who accept the non-existence or possible non-existence of widely believed concepts or experiences and yet advocate living as if they are real nevertheless, for a wide range of reasons.“

80. WHAT IS YOUR WAY OF THE NINJA? - A Student Uses Naruto To Overcome Existentialist Ennui

April 19, 2021 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Identity, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, Student Writing

“what Naruto teaches us is that the ideas others have of you or the person you’re meant to be is not inscribed within us at birth but something we grow into through a process of learning and discovering one’s own purpose“

73. OF NESTS AND PALIMPSEST - Am I Really Making An Aesthetic Choice?

February 08, 2021 by DaN McKee in Environment, Identity, Meaning, Mindfulness, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Work

“I have always loved chaotic collage and my childhood bedroom walls quickly became an ever-evolving palimpsest of posters, pictures, postcards, photos, and things I’d cut out of newspapers or magazines, their content adapting over the years alongside my tastes but generally maintaining the same ragged aesthetic; an aesthetic initially limited to a single cork noticeboard on a nicely painted wall but eventually sprawling out and taking over everything until, at one mad point, I was even hanging posters upside down on my ceiling, occasionally waking startled in the night as they lost their battle with gravity and came crashing down on my face.“

63. THE VALUE OF PATIENCE - Responses to Waiting

November 09, 2020 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, COVID19, Elections, Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Time

“It has been a week of waiting.“

62. THE HORROR - Is It Rational To Enjoy Scaring Ourselves?

November 02, 2020 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Epistemology, Meaning, Movies, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Pop Culture

“as I curl up with another scary story and find myself predictably sleepless later on, trembling at familiar creaks made new, and far more sinister, by the unsettling images now in my head, I wonder: with horror so real and ever-possible why do we indulge in the self-harm of scaring ourselves intentionally, at Halloween or any other time?“

56. TIME ENOUGH AT LAST: Success and Failure During Lockdown

September 14, 2020 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Meaning, Mental Health, Obligation, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Time, Work

“Before the lockdown came, we had borrowed three books from the local library. As I started the car engine to drive to work on Tuesday morning, one of the three books still remains unopened.”

42. LIFE DURING LOCKE-DOWN - Do We Remain Free While Trapped Inside?

April 27, 2020 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Free, Meaning, Movies, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Work

“I feel strangely trapped in my own home, and yet my life this last month looks little different to the life I lived before lockdown.”

41. TO CLAP OR TO CRY FOR CARERS? - On The Importance of Being Able To Hold Two Ideas In Our Heads At Once

April 24, 2020 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, COVID19, Charity, Culture, Economics, Ethics, Meaning, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“By clapping, was I supporting the myth, the propaganda, and the lies which have put so many unnecessarily in harm’s way during this crisis? From the unprotected nurse to their dying patient, infected because they couldn’t stay home for fear of losing their job - each a victim not of Covid-19, but of our political system?”

32. THE UNIVERSE AND NIHILISM - What We Can Learn from Space

February 10, 2020 by DaN McKee in Meaning, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Student Writing

“You may be wondering why I just induced so many existential crises in you to cause three heart failures, a panic attack and an aneurysm, and you’ll be thankful to know that it wasn’t for my own amusement. It’s because this article isn’t really about space, it’s about the question. The question that we all ask but are too afraid to truly think about because we already know the answer. The question that, while it may lay dormant, bubbles to the surface whenever we gaze up at the stars peppered in the abyss:
Why? Why bother?”

22. THE VALUE OF FREE - Why Are We So Distrustful of Getting Something For Nothing?

November 18, 2019 by DaN McKee in Education, Ethics, Meaning, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, School, Student Writing, Free, Gifts, Economics, Improv

“Imagine giving a friend a brand new MacBook for their birthday. It is highly likely they will assume the computer is somehow broken, secondhand, or stolen before they would simply accept that you have spent that much money on them and expect nothing in return. Because when something that good is given away for free, for no reason, it makes no sense in a world where everything has a price and where we have been socialised into a worldview that says money has ultimate value and should be collected, even hoarded, as much as possible. To give something of value away for free is the action of a crazy person. Sensible citizens only part with something of value if it will bring them something of more value in return. At least, that is the story we have been conditioned to tell ourselves.”

20. COULD THE PAST HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT? - A Student Grapples With The Futility of Historical Counterfactuals

November 04, 2019 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy Unleashed, Student Writing, Time, History

“If we cannot change the past itself then why do we concern ourselves with the ‘what ifs’? Perhaps we may want to conceive that the grass would have been greener in the present if the past had been different...”

16. THE CHINESE ROOM THEORY OF LEARNING - Can We Avoid An Educational Imitation Game?

September 30, 2019 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work, Education, Qualia, Mind

“I think of the Chinese Room often as a teacher, especially around exam season, and wonder how much our obsession with testing has led to a Chinese Room approach to learning?”