187. SHOUT OUT TO CHILDLESS CAT PEOPLE - Why I Still Don't Want Kids

September 09, 2024 by DaN McKee in Culture, Elections, Environment, Ethics, Free, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

"In the wake of this summer’s comments from Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, J.D. Vance, about ‘childless cat ladies’ (and as a US citizen who is registered to vote in November and will be voting for Kamala Harris…who actually does have step-children) I thought it might be worth reviewing the sound reasons for my own decision not to have children and defending the decision of others who have done likewise..."

186. TO LOVE AND HATE PHILOSOPHY - What is really needed to think deeply?

September 02, 2024 by DaN McKee in Education, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, School, Teaching

"Philosophy is all about fine distinctions, and it is a fundamental error to conflate philosophy itself itself with its professional cousin. There is no logical reason the philosophy produced by a primary school student cannot reach conclusions just as profound and perception-changing as the philosophy produced by a professional academic."

185. THE TONE OF OUR OPPRESSION - On Why This Anarchist Votes

July 03, 2024 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Elections, Ethics, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“It is because I am an anarchist, that I will still be voting within a system I don’t believe in for whatever limited, but vital, changes I can bring within that system, to make life better for those it oppresses the most…“

184. NOT CONVINCED BY POLITICAL ARGUMENT - On the UK General Election 2024

June 20, 2024 by DaN McKee in Authentic Democracy, Communication, Elections, Identity, Logic, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“We are changed in our political views when new ideas or arguments confront us in our every-day, non-political, life. Often these ‘arguments’ are experiential rather than logical: something seen, heard, witnessed or experienced first hand which have no formal logical structure but imprint some deep shift in values nevertheless. We change our minds because we are changed. Not because we are convinced by arguments.“

Association of Philosophy Teachers Annual Conference 2024: REPORT

June 15, 2024 by DaN McKee in Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

Yesterday (June 14th) was a great day for teachers of Philosophy in secondary schools. Not only did SOAS release their Decolonising the Philosophy Curriculum Toolkit, but it was the 2nd annual conference of the Association of Philosophy Teachers (APT)…

183. I WATCHED EUROVISION - Does That Make Me a Bad Person?

May 12, 2024 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Ethics, LGBTQ, Justice, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Punishment, Television, War

“As a self-identified punk since my teenage years, I am very used to feeling shame about watching the Eurovision Song Contest each year, and even hiding the fact from people who know me…“

182. MUCH TOO QUIET ON SET - Stepping on Eggshells as we All Work Under Capitalism

April 21, 2024 by DaN McKee in Anarchism, Culture, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, Work, Wrestling

“This is not just Hollywood stuff. This is not just the entertainment business. This is all work under capitalism.“

181. EXTREME LANGUAGE - Governmental Warning

March 24, 2024 by DaN McKee in Academic Freedom, Anarchism, Authentic Democracy, Black Lives Matter, Book, Censorship, Communication, Free Speech, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“The entire UK political system operates, arguably, on a mission to intentionally create a permissive environment for the perpetual violence of the state, for its intolerance of disorder and dissent, and for its hatred of alternatives.“

180. WHAT PHILOSOPHY COULD BE - Breaking The Norms That Don't Have To Be Norms

March 04, 2024 by DaN McKee in Academic Freedom, Communication, Culture, Education, Logic, Meaning, Philosophy, Perception, Philosophy Unleashed, School

“Philosophy is difficult. But it is only as difficult as we choose to make it. Rigorous thinking does not have to be alienating. It does not have to speak a secretive and opaque language different from the way non-philosophers speak. That is a choice, not a necessity. Nor too should academic specialisation and disciplinary complexity be mistaken as necessary components of philosophy. Navel-gazing is still just navel-gazing, even when it props up an entire job market. So too is self-interested gatekeeping intended to preserve a questionable system rather than make it accessible to the masses.“

179. INFERRING THE END - Doom-Spiral or Fallacy?

February 26, 2024 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Economics, Meaning, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed

“We had seen the signs that things weren’t going well. That the wheels were falling off a bit. And we had made the inference - this place was going out of business. And the inference was right.“

178. FREE PALESTINE - On Anti-Semitism

February 19, 2024 by DaN McKee in Identity, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Racism, Politics, War

“As a Jew, I want to live in a world without anti-Semitism. I also want to live in a world with a free Palestine. These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, or in tension with each other. And we need to ask questions of motivation from those repeatedly peddling the myth that they are.”

177. REACHING ROCK BOTTOM - Why England Needs to Sober Up

February 05, 2024 by DaN McKee in Culture, Identity, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics

“I guess what I am really doing is posing the following thought experiment: do you think a sober society would have sat by and done nothing for twenty-four years as their country failed to meet even the most basic standards of functioning anymore? And does the fact that England is not a sober society give us some explanation as to why the English have seemingly done exactly that?“

176. BURN IT DOWN - Why Elitist Institutions Can Never Be Inclusive

January 29, 2024 by DaN McKee in Culture, EDI, Education, Ethics, Gender, LGBTQ, Obligation, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Racism, School, Teaching

“those who cling on to the old ways things were need more than an appeal to their personally liking the old standards to maintain them. They need to explain why keeping the bias, and the inequality and lack of inclusion those biased standards cause, is more important to them than making things better.“

175. SUING MADONNA - The Ethics of Honouring Stage Times

January 22, 2024 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Economics, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture

“is Madonna’s late start really “unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive”? In philosophical terms: are such late start times, different from those advertised, genuinely immoral?“

174. THE TRAITORS AND EPISTEMOLOGY - Why We're All Floundering In The Dark About Knowledge

January 15, 2024 by DaN McKee in Epistemology, Media, Philosophy Unleashed, Philosophy, Pop Culture

“It is epistemically wild to watch how fellow human beings construct seemingly viable theories of knowledge out of the flimsiest of observations and inferences.“

172. INFLUENCERS - Why Violent Video Games Must Make Us More Violent

December 03, 2023 by DaN McKee in Culture, Death, Education, Environment, Ethics, Meaning, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Media, Teaching, Wrestling

“When you speak to a classroom of teenagers about the possibility that playing violent video games might make them violent, you can immediately see the smirks and ready yourself for their knee-jerk defensiveness. After all, they are the smirks and defensiveness you, yourself, have given in response to the same suggestion your whole life…“

171. RISHI SUNAK'S ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT - Rwanda and the Greatest Fallacy of Which We Can Conceive

November 27, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Economics, Elections, Immigration, Logic, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Truth

“Sunak’s latest descriptive wish of a ‘safe’ Rwanda is just another modern day Gaunilo’s island: a stark example of the demonstrable failings of the ontological argument’s logic and, perhaps, of the UK Prime Minister’s troubling commitment to perpetuating damaging linguistic fantasies instead of solving actual problems in the real world.”

170. ON HEELS - Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?

November 20, 2023 by DaN McKee in Elections, Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, Pop Culture, Wrestling

“When things are so awful everywhere all the time, they lose their impact as being awful. Exploiting children to bring us cheap consumer goods is no longer an outrage, it’s just good business. Taking a home away from someone is just what happens. Another bomb is dropped on Gaza, we hit another year in the Russian invasion of Ukraine - this is just life for those people. We glaze over. We don’t think too much about it. We share some more funny memes and watch videos of people injuring themselves online.“

169. REMEMBRANCE - Why Never Forgetting Keeps Us Forgetting

November 13, 2023 by DaN McKee in Death, History, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Politics, War

“Asking for a cease-fire and ending a bloody conflict is the very definition of honouring those who died in the futility of war. Seeking peace instead of violence is the only worthwhile message of “never forget” when we remember those who needlessly lost their lives in wars or else we are forgetting.“

168. IT'S NOT JUST THE KIDS, IT'S US - Why It's Important for Teachers to Look in the Mirror

November 06, 2023 by DaN McKee in Communication, Culture, Education, Philosophy, Philosophy Unleashed, Pop Culture, School, Technology, Teaching

“in a world where there is a very real epistemological threat coming from falling down online rabbit-holes into algorithm-guided conspiracies, we teachers are spending a lot of our own free-time guided by those very same dangerous algorithms as we hunt and click for hours looking for the perfect clips for our students. We then normalise this behaviour to our students“