Philosopher's Beard

LATEST ARTICLES ( 143 )

• Utilitarianism and the Treatment of Animals

  Utilitarians like Jeremy Bentham and, more recently, Peter Singer have led the way in arguing that the suffering of non-human animals should be considered as... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Between 'Just Is' and 'Is Just'

  Dogmatism is where people say, It just is like that. Homosexuality just is wrong. Islam just is incompatible with liberal democracy. Don't question me. Don't as... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• MOOCs: A Conflict of Interest

  Academics are fighting back against Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), the new and massively disruptive trend in higher education (e.g. this open letter to... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• The Only Good Arguments for Monarchy Are Republican Ones

  The arguments I hear from people who claim to be monarchists all have something in common: they are all republican in form and substance. Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Britain's Sudden and Bizarre Resentment of Migration

  All three of Britain's major political parties are joining the loony xenophobic fringe against migration. I can't really condemn them for that since the... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Gay Marriage: the Right to Be the Same is Not the Right to Be Different

  The success of the campaign to legalise gay-marriage across many western countries is quite momentous. It is astonishing to see how fast political and popular... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Has Just Watching Porn Become Passé?

  I recently came across a fascinating statistical analysis of the US porn industry by Jon Millard, Deep Inside: A Study of 10,000 Porn Stars and their Careers. I... Read more

  Posted on 21 February 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• The Philosopher as Anarchist

  We say that the dangerous criminal is the educated criminal. We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Further Arguments for Republicanism: Pity

  Hilary Mantel on Royal Bodies in The London Review of Books:I used to think that the interesting issue was whether we should have a monarchy or not. But now I... Read more

  Posted on 18 February 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Drone Strike Equality

  The recent leaking of an Obama administration memo on the legal justification for killing Americans abroad has apparently caused some consternation. Jameel... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Construing the 2nd Amendment

  A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2013 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Mass Killings Are Not a Good Argument for Gun Control

  It must be rather obvious, if not intuitive, that if one analyses the gun control issue in public health terms, as liberals generally do, then freak events... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Is Corporate Tax Avoidance Really a Matter for Consumers to Address

  A strange phenomenon has appeared in Britain: MPs have appealed to the British public to persuade tax dodging corporations such as Starbucks, Amazon and Google... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• After Leveson: Freedom of the Press is Not the Same as Freedom of Speech

  The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press has finally concluded. It recommends a 'voluntary' press association with... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Justice Vs Truth at the International Criminal Court

  The International Criminal Court, and the one-off tribunals it is intended to replace, face a tension if not a conflict between the aims of truth and justice. Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Golden Dawn May Be the Last Straw for Greece

  Greece has been at the forefront of the Eurozone's sovereign debt crisis for some time. Its efforts to get assistance from central EU institutions like the... Read more

  Posted on 26 November 2012 DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Why Are the Republicans So Bad at Politics?

  Obviously the Republican party is quite tactically astute. They chose the most nationally appealing candidate they had available (from an admittedly narrow... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• Pratfall: The Latest Bond Film Lacks Both Imagination and Style

  Skyfall begins with a great chase sequence and fulfils or exceeds expected levels of mayhem. But that's about all that can be said for it.The bad guy is a... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2012 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• What Does It Take to Be a Good Economist?

  The study of economics does not seem to require any specialized gifts of an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2012 BUSINESS, DEBATE, ECONOMICS, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY

• The Irrelevance of the Left: Gaddafi

  A recent conversation with some British Lefty friends, after a conference on dialectical materialism of all things, seemed to reveal something about the state o... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY