It's great knowing what you want and going after it. But sometimes, perhaps more often than we care to admit, it is a too-good-to-be-true sort of story. I don't mean it just in the sense that it can be very difficult or even impossible to get what you want. There is a more surreptitious side … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Tangled Business of Desire
What Is Philosophy – Part 2
Last week, I introduced a series of posts exploring the question ‘what is philosophy’. It follows a recently published academic article of the same title by philosopher Kuzin Vasily*. In case you missed it, I recommend you start with part one before continuing with this post (it will make more sense that way). Here, in … Continue reading What Is Philosophy – Part 2
Spreading the Word: Thinking When Reading and Listening
Have you noticed a difference in your thought process when reading and listening? Recent research suggests there is indeed a difference. We tend to think more intuitively, more automatically when we listen to something and more deliberately and analytically when we read something. While it is not entirely clear why this is so, one possible … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Thinking When Reading and Listening
What Is Philosophy – Part 1
Many of us think we know what philosophy or art is. At least until we are asked to explain them. A universal, clear definition eludes us. That does not mean we should stop reflecting on it. On the contrary, it makes things more interesting! Earlier this year, one more contribution to the debate arrived in … Continue reading What Is Philosophy – Part 1
Spreading the Word: East-West Narrative
The idea that there are inherent differences in how people think between the Western and Eastern cultures is widespread and popular. However, as recent research in cross-cultural psychology clearly shows, it is also a sweeping oversimplification. In the words of one of the researchers, "We are much more diverse – but, at the same time, … Continue reading Spreading the Word: East-West Narrative
Postmodernism in a Quote
While modernism was based on idealism and reason, postmodernism was born of scepticism and a suspicion of reason. It challenged the notion that there are universal certainties or truths. Postmodern art drew on philosophy of the mid to late twentieth century, and advocated that individual experience and interpretation of our experience was more concrete than … Continue reading Postmodernism in a Quote
Phenomenology and Bracketing the Familiar
Edmund Husserl (1859 - 1938), the main founder of phenomenology, emphasised the importance of the first step that a phenomenological philosopher must take to investigate the interrelation of the world and us as experiencing subjects. He called that first step epoché - suspending or placing into brackets. What should we bracket? Our natural attitude - the familiar, pre-theoretical, uncritical … Continue reading Phenomenology and Bracketing the Familiar
Dispatch From Scotland: Ideas as Legacy
While travelling through Scotland, I found several inspiring and thought-provoking ideas that met me on the walls of museums or the very pavement of the streets I walked. Why not? Our environment can be as mind-broadening as the literature we read. Here are two ideas that both centre around legacy. Printed on a wall of … Continue reading Dispatch From Scotland: Ideas as Legacy
Spreading the Word: Living in a Body
Can a walk be a dangerous thing? What can our bodies do? What do they do? These and other questions come up in the discussion between philosopher Judith Butler and writer, artist and activist Sunaura Taylor as they take a stroll through San Francisco, captured in a short video. In the case of this particular … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Living in a Body
A Quote About Truth and Its Seekers
An inspiring quote about truth and how to seek it
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