36. COVID-19 AND PHILOSOPHY: Thinking Clearly In Times of Uncertainty
Read More“Doing the right thing only becomes hard when we have constructed a world which puts embedded obstacles in the way of doing so.”
35. OUGHT WE FEAR A 'CANCEL CULTURE'? - Disentangling Fear From Fact
Read More“The conservative narrative is the dominant cultural assumption of our daily news reporting and the framework within which even liberal media organisations must operate for their stories to make sense to audiences inducted into the norms of that predominant discourse. That this discourse - manufactured and disseminated by a whole industry of conservative think tanks, publishers, and strategists who have worked explicitly and intentionally to make it the dominant discourse since at least the 1970s - is also the view of the ruling political parties within the two specific countries - the UK and America - where worry has arisen about the silencing of conservatives, should be reason alone to be suspicious of the claim that such views are being censored.”
34. DID I SLEEP OR NOT? - An Insomniac's Epistemological Struggle
Read More“When we are, and when we are not, conscious seems to be a fairly fundamental piece of self-knowledge every human being should have access to. The more I worry about my insomnia, however, the more I realise how little about our own unconsciousness we actually know.”
33. NO TO CHILDREN, YES TO THE PLANET - Should We Subscribe To Ecological Anti-Natalist Views?
Read More“Ecological anti-natalism is the position that procreation leads to more destruction of our planet and therefore more suffering so it is morally bad, therefore we should abstain from it. I shall argue why we should take this view into account.”
- FEBRUARY HALF TERM -
It’s half-term at the school where I work and so we’re taking the next week off to enjoy some time away from the (philosopher’s) grindstone (the lesser known first draft of JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book). This blog is only operational during term-time, but we will be back next week with more exciting Philosophy Unleashed. If you’re on a break yourself - please write us an article! Send it in via the WRITE FOR PHILOSOPHY UNLEASHED section. See you February 23rd!
32. THE UNIVERSE AND NIHILISM - What We Can Learn from Space
Read More“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?”
31. GET WELL SOON - What Our Ethic of Personal Illness May Tell Us About Our Wider Hopes to be Ethical People
Read More“Possibly our lack of ethical concern about the spreading of diseases, speaks to our larger ethical deficit when it comes to sacrificing our own immediate pleasures for the greater good of others: the clothing that we want despite the potential bad treatment of workers who made them; the holiday that we want despite the environmental impact of our journey; the social media we enjoy despite the potential epistemic breakdown it is causing for many of our civilisation-sustaining institutions… “
30. REBEL VEGETARIAN - Why It May Be Morally Right For Ethical Vegetarians and Vegans to Eat Burger King and KFC's Plant-Based Products Despite Their Non-Veggie Cooking Methods
Read More“the recent story of Burger King’s “Rebel Whopper” has brought to the forefront of my mind the strange diversity of motivation which make people choose to cut out meat and/or dairy from their diets, and the resulting consequences, and potential for error, within ethical thinking.”
29. THE VALUE AND LIMITS OF DEMANDING SILENCE - On Remembering Power’s Roots and Reasons in the Classroom
Read More“often neither students or teachers remember the justificatory roots for the powers, privileges and obligations which interplay within the classroom, and that this lack of awareness may well be the source of much student/teacher conflict at school.”
28. WHO ARE THESE CHARACTERS? - Questioning Using Teachers to Teach Our Children “Character”.
Read More“are those of us in society who chose to be teachers within the current education system actually demonstrating good enough character to be suitable character “role models” for the next generation?”
27. A PHILOSOPHY OF NEW YEARS - Why We Should Embrace The January Illusion
Read More“sometimes we might fail in our resolutions by January 2nd, or at least by February 1st, but it is not the resolution which is important but the time to reflect and think about our lives.”
- Christmas Break 2019 -
Just a reminder to anyone looking for a new post this week - the blog is only operational during term time so we’re taking the next two weeks off to enjoy the Christmas break and bring peace on earth and goodwill to all during this particularly bleak, post-election season. If you’re on a break yourself - please write us an article! Send it in via the WRITE FOR PHILOSOPHY UNLEASHED section. See you January 6th!
26. OUGHT WE BE PAYING MORE FOR MUSIC? - How A Charity Single Opened My Eyes to Exploitation
Read More“while I currently can listen to all the music in the world that I want to, wherever I am, on any device, through streaming services such as Spotify, the moral philosopher in me begins to ask should I? By not properly compensating the artists I listen to with renumeration for the work they’ve done and the joy it brings me, am I not absolutely complicit in their exploitation? “
25. AN ATHEIST THAT FEARS HELL IS STILL AN ATHEIST - A Student Writes on Why He Can Still Be Scared of Something He No Longer Believes In
Read More“As an atheist I have not practiced religion for a few years, however, just because I went from belief in God to a dis-belief in God does not mean that all the religious beliefs I held are overruled straight away, or in a simplistic and straightforward manner. This fear of hell stays with you forever.“
24. BREAKING THE CODE OF POLITICAL SILENCE - On Why Teachers Ought To Share Their Political Beliefs With Their Students
Read More“A teacher therefore has a duty to model democratic engagement to their students. A teacher not discussing an upcoming election or not having an opinion on the current political situation sends a negative message to their students that political engagement is not important.”
23. THE NOT-SO GREAT DEBATE - On The Need For Intellectual Self-Defence In An Age of Stupid
Read More“There is a truth out there, beneath the soundbites and clickbait. There are actual facts about what our politicians have done and what they are planning to do and it is our duty as citizens, whoever we are voting for, to make sure our vote is as fully informed as is possible. A television debate will never give us that. They are nothing more than a PR stunt. Another stop on the campaign trail. A mechanism for repeating buzzwords and talking points. To treat them as anything more than that is to abdicate our democratic responsibilities and leave ourselves open for manipulation and propaganda.”
22. THE VALUE OF FREE - Why Are We So Distrustful of Getting Something For Nothing?
Read More“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.”
21. WHAT MUST WE REMEMBER? - On The Worth of Remembrance Day
Read More“as long as we have had Remembrance Day and worn our red poppies, we have continued to have wars. If we truly want to honour those whose lives were lost saving the lives of others we ought to put every effort we can into ensuring the sorts of wars which cost them their lives are never fought again.”
20. COULD THE PAST HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT? - A Student Grapples With The Futility of Historical Counterfactuals
Read More“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...”
- Half Term -
Just a reminder to anyone looking for a new post this week - the blog is only operational during term time so we’re taking the week off this week to enjoy Half Term and provide Halloween with the deep religious observance it requires. If you’re on half term yourself - please write us an article! Send it in via the contribute section. See you next Monday!