PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

Humanism

What is humanism? Humanist tend to be anti religious points of view but what are they for? Is humanism a clearly defined 'ism'? The first great humanist was the Ancient Greek, Protagoras who famously said 'Man is a measure of all things' but is this true? Is the world dependent on human intelligence, human measurement?

PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

Radical Scepticism

The first radical sceptic, Pyrrho, would not believe anything that came to him via his senses. His friend had to make sure constantly that he did not walk into walls or over cliff edges! This raises questions about the relationship between what we know and what there is, between our awareness of reality and reality itself. Is there any place for this kind of understanding in the contemporary world?

PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

Can God become a man?

Genesis tells us that we are made in the image of God. What are the characteristics of God to which we can aspire? The concept of God draws attention to limitations of what we know. The Incarnation is a mystical concept, an aesthetic experience rather than an event that we can intellectually understand so what is its significance to humankind?

PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

What is the just society?

What is the place of happiness, individual freedom or fairness in our concept of the just society? Are these notions always compatible with each other? Plato thought that the just society was one that was ruled by the wise. Certainly we might want wise rulers but who judges wisdom among political leaders?

PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

What is the relationship between speech and the written word?

The interesting philosophical question is what happens to our ideas when we write them down? What is the relation between the writer and her audience? If the writer means one thing but the audience interprets the writing to mean something else, who is right? Socrates argued that, in writing, one had to use a 'one fit for all' way of communicating. Is this true?

PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS

What is emotional intelligence?

Plato associated emotion with the passions and appetites which he saw as counterproductive to intelligent understanding. Aristotle claimed that emotional intelligence was a case of having the 'right emotion' in relation to the 'right object' and the 'right degree'. This definition is not the one that the relatively recent crop of writers has agreed. How might emotional intelligence give us a survival advantage?