110. THERE IS NO JUST WAR - There Is Just...War

February 28, 2022 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, Economics, Ethics, Justice, Militarisation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, War, Punishment

“It is the concept of nations that lies at the root of the problem of war. It is the global economic systems of manipulated scarcity, inequality and hoarding that motivates taking by violence what can’t be gained legitimately. When we ignore the underlying motivations of invasion and speak only of the good and the bad, we sweep under the rug the tricky truth that we are all culpable for maintaining a global political system that nurtures the conditions for war far more than it inculcates the conditions for peace.“

109. QUITTING MY JOB - The Thought Behind Making A Change

February 14, 2022 by DaN McKee in Education, Ethics, Free, Mental Health, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work

“I told my form on Friday that this would be my last year at the school. I hadn’t been keeping it a secret, but there also hadn’t really been a relevant opportunity to bring it up.“

108. THOUGHT POLICE - Why Thoughts Might Matter As Much As Deeds

February 07, 2022 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Ethics, Free Speech, Free, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Racism

“Imagine the police-force where you live offer you the choice of one of two officers to be your local law enforcement from now on:
1) An officer who holds prejudiced thoughts against people like you (taken to mean whatever characteristic you want it to that identifies you specifically - i.e. ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, hair colour, accent - whatever).
2) An officer who holds no prejudice against people like you.
Both officers have taken a pledge not to discriminate against certain groups of people and have received training to support this pledge. There will be sanctions in place if such discrimination happens and Officer #1 is fully aware that their prejudiced thoughts would not be condoned if turned into discriminatory action.
Which officer would you choose?“

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.“

105. MY SPIDEY-SENSE WAS TINGLING - Have We Forgotten How To Deal With Conflict in Civil Society?

January 10, 2022 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Culture, Movies, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture

“sometimes living together means compromise and not doing exactly what you want.“

104. DOWN ON DOWNING STREET - Refocusing The Ethical Inquiry Away From Christmas Parties

December 13, 2021 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Christmas, COVID19, Culture, Elections, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“Because if this government falls - and it should - it should be for their far more egregious moral wrongs than this purely selfish complaint: how come they got to have a party last year when we couldn’t have one ourselves?“

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…“

102. NICK FLETCHER IS A ROLE MODEL OF STUPIDITY - Using Philosophy To Show Exactly Why This MP Is An Idiot

November 29, 2021 by DaN McKee in Gender, Identity, Logic, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture

“Fletcher was certainly sexist. But his sexism extends to the logic of his argument too. It’s easy to show how…“

101. TEACH MORE PHILOSOPHY IN SCHOOLS - Why Philosophy Deserves Distinct Curriculum Space

November 22, 2021 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Education, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, School, Work

“Not all study of Philosophy ends in revolution. But it could. Certainly the careful and methodological scrutiny of our ideas and concepts - shining a probing light on the underlying arguments which uphold them - and learning how to question the fundamentals of logic make it harder for the manipulations of rhetoric and emotive reasoning to deceive us and might therefore lead to outrage if such deceptions are exposed in the Philosophy classroom. But this ought to be welcomed if one of the end goals of our education system is a student’s ability to be an informed citizen of a cooperative democracy. One might therefore see Philosophy’s diminished, corrupted, place on the school curriculum as evidence that producing such capable citizenry is not, therefore, one of the actual aims of this current education system.“

100. UNVACCINATED NEED NOT APPLY - Ethics, Healthcare Jobs and Mandatory Vaccination

November 15, 2021 by DaN McKee in COVID19, Ethics, Free, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Work

“The anarchist in me naturally balks at any enforcement of mandatory rules from on high. But the ethicist in me can see the moral reasons why those people either looking after the most at risk of dying from Covid-19, or most likely to come into intimate contact with large numbers of members of the public, specifically for health-related reasons, should want to do what they can to protect both themselves and others.“

99. DUNE BUGGED ME - On Being Bored of War

November 08, 2021 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Militarisation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, War

“We have been primed to be ready for war. We have been conditioned to expect it imminently. We have been told that a time will come when we have to pick a side and that we may not even be able to trust our closest friends. We have been fed the ideological norms of conflict escalation and had massacre and genocide normalised. All in the name of entertainment. To assume such repeated and sustained messaging will have no impact is to ignore the evidence of all other successful marketing strategies.“

98. INTERPRETING THE RESULTS - What Do Votes Ever Really Tell Us?

October 18, 2021 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Data, Elections, Epistemology, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“the arguments for democracy are independent from the mechanics of voting and, too frequently, true, authentic, democracy is impeded by those unfit mechanics, not aided by it“

97. BLACK HISTORY MONTH - On Tackling My Continuing Blind Spots

October 11, 2021 by DaN McKee in Black Lives Matter, Education, Identity, LGBTQ, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Racism

“As it is Black History Month here in the UK I thought it would be worth remembering the most influential black philosopher in my own life so far - the young, black, A-level student of mine from about six years ago who asked me a simple question to which I had an embarrassingly limited answer: “are there any black philosophers?”“

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…“

95. TRANS ATHLETES ARE ATHLETES: Exposing Transphobia In Our Discussions About Sport

September 27, 2021 by DaN McKee in Culture, Gender, Identity, LGBTQ, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, Sport, School

“The first thing I did was point out that this was quite a strange question to ask, and that we had to be careful that it wasn't coming from a place of prejudice or discrimination…“

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.“

92. WORKING ON HOLIDAY: Am I Really About To Defend Dominic Raab?

September 06, 2021 by DaN McKee in Culture, Economics, Ethics, Free, Mental Health, Obligation, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, War, Work

“the issue I would like to consider as we return for the 2021/22 academic year is, surprisingly, given my usual vocal opposition to all things Tory, whether Dominic Raab actually did anything wrong by staying on holiday while Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. Or, more broadly, whether holiday should mean holiday - a total cessation of work - even when your work brings with it important responsibilities.“

90. FREEDOM DAY - An Anarchist Account

July 12, 2021 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, COVID19, Economics, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“Given that we do not yet live in an anarchy, and on July 19th we will still be living in the same exploitative capitalist system which limits so many of our options and choices, the end of these particular laws does not mean we are being given radical new freedom by our government. The only thing being given the green light here is capitalism, to resume its exploitation as usual at the continued expense of our wellbeing.“