121. CONFIDENCE MAN - What Exactly Do The Conservative Party Have Confidence In?

June 10, 2022 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Elections, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“According to last week's confidence vote, the majority of Conservative members of Parliament have confidence in the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. 211 out of 359 MPs, or 59%. But what does this actually tell us? And why do we care about their levels of confidence? Should confidence have anything to do with governing in a democracy? And, if it does, ought the question of confidence be put to the demos - the whole population - rather than merely the MPs of the current ruling party, many of whom are frontbenchers dependent on the very Prime Minister whose confidence is in question for their current political and financial success?“

120. TALKING ABOUT MY CONSTITUTION - Why Conversation Is More Important Than Codification

June 06, 2022 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, Communication, Culture, History, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“The very act of codifying into a constitution the core principles of how your society is to be run is to commit future generations to values that they may not actually hold. It is a normative act, wherein one generation is imposing a set of values in stone on the basis that they believe future generations ought to hold such values. But while human beings remain autonomous agents capable of choosing many different values such an imposition has no guarantee of sticking unless the values are, in fact, actually held by the citizens for whom they are endorsed. This means constitutions are either attempting the impossible and trying to force people into valuing something they don’t value, or they are redundant, as they simply articulate values already held.“

ANNOUNCEMENT: Philosophy Gets Schooled Podcast

May 24, 2022 by DaN McKee in Philosophy, School

Check out this excellent new Philosophy A-level podcast from Simon Kirchin - Philosophy Gets Schooled (and check out his other excellent philosophy podcast, Philosophy Take on the News if you have time too!).

Philosophy Unleashed’s DaN McKee is talking about utilitarianism on this episode.

119. DECOLONISING DECOLONISATION - Why Diversifying Reading Lists Isn’t Enough

May 23, 2022 by DaN McKee in History, Education, Culture, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, School, Black Lives Matter, Racism, Politics

“I found myself asking the obvious next question: is our own British colonialism taught openly and honestly in British schools?”

118. SHOWING OUR TRUE SELVES - What Does It Tell Us When We Tidy Our House?

May 16, 2022 by DaN McKee in Culture, Obligation, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“If we all are running around like headless chickens to make things look nice whenever someone visits then that must mean that none of us actually live our lives in the way that we present to others that we do.“

117. ROE VS WADE VS PHILOSOPHY - Abortion and the Illusion of Law

May 09, 2022 by DaN McKee in Communication, Education, Ethics, Free, Gender, Justice, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment, School

“one of the founding principles of Philosophy Unleashed is that it is a place to go “beyond the curriculum” and discuss things not covered by GCSE and A-level courses in Philosophy. Abortion ethics, as every student knows, is central to any current examination specification in either Religious Studies or Philosophy, and most undergraduate courses in Ethics will also cover it. So I will be careful here not to simply rehash the standard arguments most people will have already covered.“

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.“

115. IS THIS A POST ABOUT WILL SMITH SLAPPING CHRIS ROCK? - Independent Media, Established Media and Power

April 04, 2022 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, Media

“A few weeks ago someone suggested on Twitter that I write my next post about the relationship between the established media and power. “Is independent journalism a counter to the established media or just a rival for its central position?“

114. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY - Remembering All of the Dead

March 28, 2022 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Culture, Death, Ethics, Free Speech, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy

“Must death really silence critique?“

113. SIMULATED HORROR - Is It OK To Spend Your Free Time Plotting Imaginary Violence?

March 21, 2022 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Ethics, Free, Mental Health, Militarisation, Music, Movies, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Technology, War

“A student asked me my thoughts on children playing violent video games. My first response was to ask him why he thought it mattered that the players were children. Why not adults playing violent video games too?“

112. KILLING THE AUTHENTIC SELF - Why Is It So Hard To Be Yourself At Work?

March 14, 2022 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Culture, Education, Free, Gender, Identity, Justice, LGBTQ, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Racism, School, Work, EDI

“It’s time that schools became more diverse, and their staff, at least in the short-term, a little less comfortable.“

111. THE FOG OF WAR - Student Questions Arising From The Situation In Ukraine

March 07, 2022 by DaN McKee in Charity, Ethics, Free Speech, Militarisation, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Politics, School, War

“This week, understandably, I have been asked a lot of questions about the ongoing situation in Ukraine.“

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…“