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    Philosophy posts

    Revisiting my old university economics textbook – how did I ever fall for this nonsense?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 08-Sep-2016 | 8

    I haven’t opened my old university economics textbook (Economics, by David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch) since the 1980s, so I was curious to see how I would respond to what I was taught 30 years ago. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 15: what next?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 24-Aug-2016 | 0

    This is the final article in this series. Over the past 15 weeks I’ve tried to highlight the times in history where philosophy has helped, along with technology and events, to change the direction in which we’re moving. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 14: the rise and fall of postmodernism

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 16-Aug-2016 | 0

    By the 1980s, a new way of thinking began to be applied to academic philosophy with almost a religious fervour that caused quite a bit of acrimony within academia, but which has now faded. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 13: continental vs. analytic philosophy

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 10-Aug-2016 | 0

    Twentieth century philosophy split very roughly into ‘analytic’ (mainly in the English-speaking world) and ‘continental’ (mainly in mainland Europe), and was influenced heavily by contributions to the way we think about ourselves and the rest of existence from two non-philosophers: Freud and Einstein. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 12: socialism, utopianism and anarchism

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 02-Aug-2016 | 3

    Karl Marx (1818-1883) is possibly the most studied philosopher in history. He said that the point of philosophy is not to understand the world, but to change it – and change it he did, with an idea, although he never saw the effects of his idea after its interpretation and implementation by others after his… Continue reading A brief history of philosophy, part 12: socialism, utopianism and anarchism Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 11: the splintering of philosophy

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 27-Jul-2016 | 0

    Hegel represented the end of huge, speculative, metaphysical systems. After Hegel, philosophy started to splinter into many ideas vying for dominance – none of which could be said to represent the growing tip, only the branches.  Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 10: Romanticism, utilitarianism and the dialectic

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 19-Jul-2016 | 0

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), sometimes called the father of Romanticism, is often attributed with the phrase ‘noble savage’, although he never actually said it. What it implies is some golden age when humans lived in a ‘state of nature’ – in harmony with ecology and with each other. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 9: Enlightenment

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 12-Jul-2016 | 0

    The Enlightenment was a time of great political as well as philosophical change. Much was written about how society should be organised. Locke’s vision of a society that protects and promotes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was cemented in the US Declaration of Independence, and the culmination of the Enlightenment – the French… Continue reading A brief history of philosophy, part 9: Enlightenment Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 8: empiricism vs. rationalism

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 06-Jul-2016 | 0

    The 17th century saw the beginnings of one of the most important epistemological debates in the history of philosophy, that ran well into the 18th – between empiricists and rationalists. Read more

    Moving forward without the EU: clouds & silver linings

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 04-Jul-2016 | 2

    I think we all have stories about mad conversations we’ve had about Brexit since the referendum (or is it just me?). I was called a racist, for example, for suggesting that the UK is nowhere near the top of the league of ‘most xenophobic countries’, and I’ve been amazed by the vitriol this has stirred… Continue reading Moving forward without the EU: clouds & silver linings Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 7: the re-birth of philosophy

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 29-Jun-2016 | 2

    Philosophy is for doing, not for studying – I know, sorry. But the way that we think nowadays didn’t just fall from the sky – it’s not ‘common sense’ and it hasn’t always been the same. We’re not born with a worldview – it’s something that we develop from what’s gone before. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 6: Reformation and Scientific Revolution

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 24-Jun-2016 | 0

    What happened next was a revolution that rocked the Church and turned our view of the universe on its head – a scientific revolution that hinged on the work of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 5: roots of Renaissance

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 14-Jun-2016 | 2

    By reconciling the two giants of ancient philosophy with Christianity, Augustine and Aquinas, although culpable in the torture and murder of many thousands of innocent people, were world-changers who allowed us to eventually start to break away from myth again Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 4: Aquinas reconciles Christianity with Aristotle

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 08-Jun-2016 | 0

    Last week we saw how Augustine reconciled Plato with Christianity; but Aristotle, with his logic and his empiricism, was difficult to reconcile with a book that already claimed to have all the answers, and so that didn’t happen until 900 years later. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 3: Augustine reconciles Christianity with Plato

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 31-May-2016 | 0

    Augustine (354-430) was a bridge between the classical world and the medieval, Christian world. He reconciled Christianity with Plato, and his immaterial world of forms – a much easier task than reconciling Aristotle, with his scientific outlook and emphasis on reason. Read more

    A brief history of philosophy, part 2: Socrates, Plato & Aristotle

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 26-May-2016 | 0

    After the natural philosophers, the main focus of philosophy was changed by Socrates – probably the most famous philosopher of them all. His position was that you begin to become a philosopher when you admit that you know nothing. Read more

    How many of us could give a rough overview of the history of philosophy? Part 1: Thales to Socrates

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 20-May-2016 | 0

    It may seem like a strange question from an environmental organisation. But the way that we think nowadays didn’t just fall from the sky – it’s not ‘common sense’ and it hasn’t always been the same. We’re not born with a worldview – it’s something that we develop from what’s gone before. Read more

    Re-thinking liberalisation – to counter corporate takeover

    Linda Kaucher of Stop TTIP | 12-May-2016 | 1

    ‘Liberalisation’ – sounds like a good thing, right – like ‘freedom’? It’s rarely named or explained, but underpins the trade agenda and ‘globalisation’. It allows corporations to become mega-transnationals. Read more

    The 6 main approaches to changing the world; which one do you subscribe to?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 23-Apr-2016 | 2

    We received an email recently with these sentences: ‘This idea of those evil corporations is mistaken because we are all involved in society and economy. There is no us and them we are all part of it and need to take responsibility for that.’ Read more

    Stephen Hawking says that we should prioritise space travel and that ‘philosophy is dead’; cleverness and wisdom are very different

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 19-Apr-2016 | 6

    There’s clever and there’s clever. There’s clever like a computer or a calculator, and then there’s clever as in wise. The first kind of cleverness is the technical type, that can work out how to build nuclear weapons, or to genetically modify food crops, or to cut through the branch that we’re sitting on Read more

    There’s a crash coming – a slap from Mother Nature. This isn’t pessimistic; it’s realistic.

    The human impact on nature and on each other is accelerating and needs systemic change to reverse.

    We’re not advocating poverty, or a hair-shirt existence. We advocate changes that will mean better lives for almost everyone.

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