Review: How to Live, A Life of Montaigne - Sarah Bakewell Like many people, I occasionally flirt with philosophy, but usually find it too abstract and inaccessible - unless of course it is set in the context of a life well-lived (or perhaps not so well!), when the personal story of the philosopher helps his teachings come alive. For this reasons, I enjoyed reading the books of Alain de Botton such as his Consolations of Philosophy, which manages to ext... Submitted: on 4th Mar 2010 Tags: · The · When · Alain de Botton · Reading · Review · Story · UnlessReview: Hector and the Search for Happiness - François Lelord My last review was a book about the Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, whose "Essays", written in the 16th century, have become classics of philosophy. We all know that the French have far more interest in philosophy than other nations, (just look at the lengthy Wikipedia list of French philosphers), and it no surprise to discover that French bookshops have many titles on their shelves from the ultra-s... Submitted: 4 days ago Tags: · shelves · The · Bookshops · Essays · Review · The · Titles · WrittenOMNIVORE: Looking to political philosophy What does a well-ordered society look like? Submitted: on 16th Dec 2009 Tags: · WhatOMNIVORE: Philosophers can do tricks Philosophy is a discipline best experienced in bite-sized pieces Submitted: 3 days ago Tags: Finishing Novels in Prison The China Daily has an article today criticizing corrupt Chinese officials for signing lucrative book deals in prison. They must not know that some of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and fiction were written in the slammer. Submitted: on 12th Jan 2010 Tags: · The · Book Deals · Fiction · Novels · Works · WrittenAfterthoughts: All That I Have by Castle Freeman In a Nutshell: Although All That I Have won’t win any prizes for being an all-out action-packed thrillfest any time soon, it stands out as being a very well written crime thriller which comes with delicious literary undertones and a delightful infusion of ‘small town’ philosophy. Very highly recommended! Well, All That I Have (Duckworth) Submitted: on 31st Jan 2010 Tags: · Castle · Crime · Crime Thriller · Delicious · Literary · WrittenWhat is wilderness and what is it doing in poetry? -- Sina Queyras “Wilderness. So overwritten it should probably be granted a reprieve from definition, maybe even a lengthy sabbatical from speech.” So the poet Don McKay writes in The Muskwa Assemblage. McKay is one of a handful of Canadian poets known for their intense connection with both philosophy and nature, or the land, or the thinking and Submitted: on 2nd Feb 2010 Tags: · The · What · Poet · Poetry · Poets · The LandThe Book of Atheist Spirtuality, By André Comte-Sponville This work by a former professor at the Sorbonne disproves the view that French philosophy is impossibly opaque. Compte-Sponville deftly demolishes three classical arguments that God must exist. Typical is his squashing of the ontological argument (a perfect being must have the quality of existence): "How could a definition possibly prove an existence?" Submitted: on 18th Dec 2009 Tags: · The · PerfectStephen Toulmin obituary Philosopher who was a founding father of argumentation theory Though Stephen Toulmin, who has died aged 87, was initially famous as one of the leading proponents of the "good reasons" approach in ethics, and went on to write about reasoning, science, philosophy of science and the history of ideas, he was ultimately better known in the US field of communication, and in computer science, than in phi... Submitted: on 10th Jan 2010 Tags: · Science · The · Died · Famous · History · Obituary · The · WriteMind your language | David Marsh The style guide editor on … taking the heat out of the climate change debate Scepticism, according to Diderot, is "the first step on the road to philosophy". For the American educational reformer John Dewey, scepticism was "the mark and even the pose of the educated mind". The OED defines a sceptic as "a seeker of the truth; an inquirer who has not yet arrived at definite conclusions". Now ... Submitted: on 1st Mar 2010 Tags: · The · American · Editor · Educational · Mark · mind · On the Road · Taking the Heat
