- EASTER BREAK 2020 -

Normally I use the holidays to remind you all that this blog is only operational during term-time, and that we will be back MONDAY APRIL 20TH with more exciting Philosophy Unleashed. However, in these unprecedented times of school closures and Covid-19…

…I’m still going to say that. Because maintaining our own mental health and wellbeing at this time is as important as ever - and I need a holiday after two weeks of intense learning on the job how to be an online teacher!

That said - thank you to those of you who submitted articles in the first fortnight of home learning - I look forward to publishing some in the weeks to come after Easter, beginning April 20th. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to do while practicing social distancing or locked in quarantine, please write us an article! Send it in via the WRITE FOR PHILOSOPHY UNLEASHED section. See you April 20th!

35. OUGHT WE FEAR A 'CANCEL CULTURE'? - Disentangling Fear From Fact

“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.”

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34. DID I SLEEP OR NOT? - An Insomniac's Epistemological Struggle

“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.”

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- 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!

31. GET WELL SOON - What Our Ethic of Personal Illness May Tell Us About Our Wider Hopes to be Ethical People

“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… “

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29. THE VALUE AND LIMITS OF DEMANDING SILENCE - On Remembering Power’s Roots and Reasons in the Classroom

“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.”

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27. A PHILOSOPHY OF NEW YEARS - Why We Should Embrace The January Illusion

“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.”

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- 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

“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? “

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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

“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.“ 

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24. BREAKING THE CODE OF POLITICAL SILENCE - On Why Teachers Ought To Share Their Political Beliefs With Their Students

“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.”

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