159. TAKING STUDENT SILLINESS SERIOUSLY - Lightning McQueen and the Importance of Battling Deepities

June 24, 2023 by DaN McKee in Culture, Economics, Education, Logic, Movies, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School

“Like garbage washing up on the shore of a polluted sea, the Philosophy classroom is often where a lot of these deepities come to rest as students, impressed by their apparent wisdom, share them with the one person they think will be equally impressed: their Philosophy teacher. Often those students are soon disappointed, even angry, when that teacher is not impressed at all and, instead, pops the bubble of the illusion and exposes its emptiness.“

158. SOCRATES WEPT - On Resisting The Unexamined Life

June 19, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Education, Epistemology, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Truth

“I had some interesting conversations with students this week about first principles. How, once you unpack the thing you are talking about you might realise that you no longer believe what you thought you did, or might even be having a different conversation entirely…“

157. I WON'T MISS SIR - On Naming Our Teachers

June 11, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Education, Gender, Identity, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work

“Any time we approach an area of education with an attitude of it being too difficult or even impossible for someone to do something, we make it so through a process of self-fulfilling-prophecy.“

156. USE YOUR ILLUSION - Magicians and Reality

June 05, 2023 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Truth

“I used to think it was the clowns who were the real heroes - speaking truth to power about the absurdity of power and mocking those in authority with satire and parody. But nowadays I think it might be the magicians.“

ANARCHIST ATHEIST PUNK ROCK TEACHER

June 01, 2023 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Book, Education, History, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Work, Wrestling

Is the memoir of DaN McKee's twelve years as a conflicted Philosophy and Religious Studies teacher out June 16th on Earth Island Books!

It not only contains some highlights from the last four years of Philosophy Unleashed, but shows how anarchist philosophy, atheism and a background in DIY punk rock has influenced and shaped DaN's approach to the classroom, as well as his approach to life.

As the blurb says: "'Anarchist Atheist Punk Rock Teacher' is more than just a memoir of some teacher you've never met. It is philosophy of education, of anarchism, of authenticity, and of life. Throw in some personal history, the deaths of both of his parents to deal with on top of juggling all the professional absurdities that come with the job (not to mention having to teach through a global pandemic), and you have all the earmarks of a biographical classic."

If you want to pre-order it directly from the publisher, do so here. If you want to pre-order it from Amazon, do so here. It's available in both paperback and as an eBook.

155. THE IMPERMANENCE OF VALUE - Fluctuating Perspectives on Worth

May 22, 2023 by DaN McKee in Economics, Epistemology, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“Philosophers might ask: if value changes all the time, is there really such a thing as value at all? If we can’t pin it down - define it - then is it really anything? Is there anything eternally valuable and undeniably valuable to all? But even in philosophy value fluctuates based on who is doing the valuing. To some thinkers that question is important. Personally, I see no value at all in finding an answer to that question and would rather set my mind to other things.“

154. DISRUPTION - Its Importance and its Impotence

May 15, 2023 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Communication, Education, Free Speech, Free, Justice, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, School, Punishment

“I’ve been thinking a lot about protest and rebellion the last week….“

153. PHILOSOPHY AND THE CORONATION - Questions Raised By The Crowning Of A New King

May 08, 2023 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Censorship, Culture, Free Speech, History, Identity, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“The coronation of a new King is an undoubtedly historic moment, but it raises a lot of philosophical questions…“

152. INSPIRED PHILOSOPHY - Where Do Ideas Come From?

April 24, 2023 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Meaning, Obligation, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“When I sat down to write this post I was uninspired, yet now I have no doubt that I will, yet again, meet my self-imposed deadline and have a new Philosophy Unleashed post completed exactly when it is needed. Inspiration was there all along. I just had to find it. But what is inspiration?“

151. INSTITUTIONALLY AFRAID - On The Importance Of Acknowledging Institutional Prejudice

March 27, 2023 by DaN McKee in EDI, Education, Gender, Justice, LGBTQ, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Punishment, Racism, School

“When we refuse, as Rowley has, to acknowledge the institutional nature - the structural nature - of the racism (and misogyny and homophobia) that permeates an organisation we are refusing to fully grasp the nature of the problem, or fully see what such prejudice looks and feels like for those who experience it.“

150. YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN - Gary Lineker and The Myth of Impartiality

March 20, 2023 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Communication, Culture, Education, Epistemology, Ethics, Free Speech, Immigration, Meaning, Media, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Racism, School, Social Media, Sport, Television, Truth

“To not comment on the state of the world today is never to be impartial. It is to implicitly state a preference - a partiality - for maintaining things exactly as they are, inflammatory immigration policies and all.“

149. THE LIMBO OF TRUST - Hume, Descartes, Induction, Trust, and a Broken Boiler

March 13, 2023 by DaN McKee in Data, Epistemology, Mindfulness, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Punishment, Truth

“Can trust, once lost, ever be restored?“

148. THINKING ABOUT WORLD BOOK DAY - How Reading Is More Than The The Fetishisation of Books

March 06, 2023 by DaN McKee in Book, Censorship, Communication, Culture, Education, Free Speech, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School, Social Media

“Instead of asking what we are reading on World Book Day, we ought to raise the level of questioning: what are we reading and how is it changing us? What is it making us think? What questions are the book raising? Even if the answer is, to all these questions, not a lot (I am unchanged, not thinking about anything, and asking no questions), to ask them makes us perhaps realise that some books are like junk food while others are more nutritious.“

147. NOT ALL GOBSTOPPERS ARE EVERLASTING - Why I'm OK With Changing The Words of Roald Dahl

February 27, 2023 by DaN McKee in Censorship, Communication, Culture, Free Speech, Gender, Identity, History, LGBTQ, Meaning, Media, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, Racism

“Don’t let the illusion of sole authorship fool you. Published writing has always been edited by many and influenced by audiences. If you want to read the unblemished, pure and unfiltered draft straight from the author’s mind and onto the page, read something self-published (like this blog…although I do tend to do a few drafts). Anything else you read, assume there have been drafts, edits, alterations, corrections, and the input of many. The author, often, is a group of authors. Dahl is no different.“

146. THEY/THEM - Why We Need To Be Gender-Neutral About God

February 13, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Gender, Identity, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Religion

“of course God - a being defined in terms of transcendence - would not be confined to one single point on a spectrum or one limited half of a binary. The very terms of transcendence that makes God God would necessitate God being beyond either a gender binary or the limits of a single gender. The omnipotent God responsible for creating both men and women in their own image, logic would suggest, must possess an image inclusive of both male and female (and everything in between).“

145. IT'S NICE TO HAVE OPTIONS - Existentialism and UCAS.

February 06, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Education, Existentialism, Epistemology, Ethics, Free, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School

“Deciding not to bore the student with Donald Rumsfeld’s treatise on known knowns and known unknowns, I instead decided to offer guidance from the existentialists. That is to say: no real guidance at all. What my student was facing, I suggested, was a living example of the sort of anxiety and despair existentialist philosophers suggested comes from our absolute freedom.“

144. CHALLENGING PERCEPTIONS - Why Top Tier Football Clubs Continue To Do Women's Football A Disservice

January 30, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Education, Ethics, Gender, Identity, Meaning, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, Sport

“Why complain about this in a philosophy blog? Because a perpetual area of philosophical inquiry concerns perception versus reality, and sometimes this coming apart of perception from reality (or reality from perception) often leads to questions in ethics too. I believe this problem - of the women’s teams of football clubs not sharing the same home ground as their male counterparts - touches on both.“

143. ARTIFICIALLY PRODUCED - Is using ChatGPT To Do Your Work Cheating?

January 23, 2023 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Communication, Education, Ethics, Epistemology, Mind, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Student Writing, Technology, Artificial Intelligence

“The following essay for Philosophy Unleashed was produced by AI. ChatGPT to be precise. I asked it to attempt to write a Philosophy Unleashed post on the topic of the ethics of using ChatGPT to cheat in school work, and do it in the style of me as author. I will present the essay to you first, then show you how it came to be. As you read, ask yourself the question: if I hadn’t told you it was artificially generated, would you know that a human being didn’t write this? And if you know my work specifically, would you know that I hadn’t written it?“

142. THE INEVITABILITY OF FANTASY - Leaning Into Storytelling In Lieu of Truth

January 16, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Epistemology, Existentialism, Perception, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Truth

“The more depressed you are the more accurately you see the world.“

141. THE VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA - Does It Have Any?

January 09, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Ethics, Media, Mental Health, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Technology, Social Media

“I was struck by the idea that social media gives us a living example of what emotivism really would be like sufficient enough to demonstrate why Ayer is wrong about normal moral discourse. Places like Twitter or Facebook really are just expressing ‘boo’ or ‘hurrah’ about certain issues and moral discourse is rendered meaningless there.“