Author Archives: admin

Room at the inn

There’s an example by the philosopher Michael Slote used to illustrate an issue with consequentialism. A family has broken down outside a hotel. There are empty rooms available, and so the manager kindly offers them a meal and a cabin … Continue reading

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“On a supposed right to tell the truth”: Support for freedom of speech does not mean we all have to provide space on the internet for everyone else to have their say

There is a fundamental misunderstanding around concerning freedom of speech. It is this: the apparently common view that freedom of speech requires individuals to provide space in the comments section of their websites for the obnoxious, boring, inconsistent, rude, tedious, … Continue reading

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Personal Genome Project UK email disaster: If you can’t guarantee privacy, at least try to ensure trust

It’s not often that you can write on a topic in ethics whilst rolling around laughing, so I shall take this rare opportunity to make a few comments on the ludicrous breach of privacy that occurred last night when the … Continue reading

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Subjectivism in Metaphilosophy: towards a definition

Subjectivism in metaphilosophy, at least in the form dominant in the early part of the 21st century, is view that the value and correctness of a view in philosophy consists entirely in its acceptance by an elite oligarchy of top-rated … Continue reading

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Clarity and fairness in harassment policy and practice

Oxford University is currently considering revisions to its ‘Statute XII’. This was introduced in 1988 when tenure of academics was scrapped, and deals with the employment conditions of many (but not all) of the academics working in the university (staff … Continue reading

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For my friend and colleague, Susan Helen Hogben

I was lucky to meet Susan in 2003 through our research work at Cardiff University. Susan had originally studied English at Portmouth Poly. After graduating, she worked in London at Spittalfield’s Market before moving to Cardiff to take a Masters … Continue reading

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Heaven save me from the hypocrisy of humanist funerals

The first humanist funeral I attended was bad enough. A funeral is not a philosophy lecture. Yet the humanist who oversaw the service saw fit to give what I came to realise is the almost obligatory advertisement for humanism, by … Continue reading

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“Why the prurient interest in media reports of other people’s deaths?” – perhaps they’re read John Donne, silly

Each time a celebrity dies, someone, somewhere, probably a Guardian writer, possibly even two Guardian writers, and for all I know, many other journalists or so-called journalists, will write a piece about ‘what on earth are all those plebs doing … Continue reading

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Shock new findings from Ancient Greece: electronic recording of thought traces

The world of archeology, neuroscience and philosophy are astir with the shock discovery in Athens that, by combining modern techniques of sound recording, echolocation, neuroscience, and educatedguessworkism, the original Platonic dialogues have been reconstructed in a form that actually displays … Continue reading

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The economy of career progression

The relative lack of progression of women through the career ranks is explained by many different factors. One of them is surely women’s relative economic power. This is twofold: firstly, the bare fact that women’s salaries are still less than … Continue reading

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The Incompetent Shall Inherit the Earth. And here’s how they do it.

  To understand this, you just need to understand two basic principles of human psychology: behavioural conditioning, and cognitive dissonance. Everybody knows that if you want to get a dog, or a human, to learn some trick, you give them … Continue reading

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“Very Intelligent Woman, Marilyn Monroe”

‘Very intelligent woman, Marilyn Monroe.’ Thank you, Dad, for saying this. I remembered this remark the other day as I watched ‘How to Marry a Millionaire’. I say ‘thanks’ to my father because this is the only comment I can … Continue reading

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“They just have to die”. Really, Oprah?

“There are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die,” said Oprah Winfrey recently. They just have to die? Really, Oprah? You … Continue reading

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Why I Hate Freecycle

It’s meant to give you a warm glow of contentment to feel that you are getting rid of your excess stuff in a socially and ecologically beneficial way. It’s supposed to be a way of connecting to people in your … Continue reading

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The shock of the old

Helen Beebee asks ‘where did all the women go’ in philosophy and says that it’s a hard question to which we don’t yet have all the answers (right); and that this lack of answers is not surprising given that ‘until … Continue reading

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Evidence of the prevalence of sexual harassment in philosophy departments and the paradox of disconfirmation

Jennifer Saul is increasingly well-known for her recent work on gender issues in philosophy, including her work on implicit bias as an explanation of gender imbalances in the discipline, and in particular for her blog ‘What it’s like to be … Continue reading

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Protecting females against harm transmitted to them by males – a multi-layered story

In June 2010, my then twelve-year-old daughter returned from school with leaflets about the new HPV vaccination. I read these with alacrity and concern. My interest was not simply that of a concerned parent, but as an academic working in … Continue reading

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Euthanasia recipient makes impassioned plea to doctors to ‘just help me to live’

   A strange thing happened last night. After watching an episode of ‘Afterlife’ on a DVD my sister lent me, my daughter and I light-heartedly sat down at a Ouija board. How soon were we to be startled to have … Continue reading

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Worries about academic freedom

The London School of Economics is attempting today (April 14)  to get the BBC to pull a Panorama programme filmed under cover by a BBC reporter while a group of its students were in North Korea. The BBC is disputing … Continue reading

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Poaching from the Ivory Towers

  Some of the many legacies of Margaret Thatcher are alive and well within UK higher education. The pressure to show that we feckless academics are actually doing something worth doing, by insisting that we measure everything we do and … Continue reading

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In a class of their own

I sat in a class that discussed feminism and social class this week and nearly lost my cool at assumptions about the idea that we were all somehow middle class. Is there any use at all for such a label? … Continue reading

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Who does Banksy think he is?

Am I the only person in Britain who thinks Banksy’s works are repetitive, mediocre, and pretty trivial? I doubt even if it’s one person doing it – following a pretty simple formula, you could produce Banksy type ‘art works’ ad … Continue reading

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“Faster, stronger, ruder”

There is a series of footpaths through the farmland behind my house which are public rights of way. You have a right to walk down them. You can’t cycle, or drive a car. They are used by people walking into … Continue reading

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No harm in it

It looks like I am starting the new year how I plan to carry on. Irritated. Dr Brooke Magnanti is number two on my list of people whose face I’d like to slap, were it legal to do so. I … Continue reading

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Ask not for whom the bell tolls

As I write, people in Connecticut are anxiously awaiting confirmation from the police of the identities of those who have died in the massacre at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School yesterday. But as one woman interviewed on the news said, … Continue reading

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Use existing laws to avoid regulations that will hamper press freedom

The freedom of the press is in danger. But this freedom is not at the moment absolute. There are limits on what the press can publish. These include personal medical details, which are protected by law and by professional ethics … Continue reading

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Jimmy Savile abuse and the culture behind it

The Jimmy Savile scandal exposes, as is well understood, not just the behaviour of individuals, but the behaviour of other individuals who either turned a blind eye or actively assisted; as well as the general culture of particular organisations, and … Continue reading

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Philosophy

Thought for today about the nature of philosophy: Stating the obvious, but backwards and in high heels    

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Groundhog day, with a difference

A report went round the philosophy faculty at Oxford University recently about the status and experience of women in philosophy. As  a result, a group of keen, right minded philosophers, post-grad students and staff, almost half of them men, met … Continue reading

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Vice work if you can get it

A recent report claims that more and more university students are turning to prostitution and other work in the sex industry to fund their studies, including A level students. This has been a standard “option” for student work at universities … Continue reading

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