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Daniel Clement Dennett the 71 year old American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, evolutionary biology and cognitive science has published an extract from his new book in The Guardian titled ‘Daniel Dennett's seven tools for thinking’, revealing some of the lessons life has taught him. “1 USE YOUR MISTAKES - We have all heard the forlorn refrain: "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!" This phrase has come to stand for the rueful reflection of an idiot, a sign of stupidity, but in fact we should appreciate it as a pillar of wisdom… 2 RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT - Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticising the views of an opponent? If there are obvious contradictions in the opponent's case, then you should point them out, forcefully. If there are somewhat hidden contradictions, you should carefully expose them to view – and then dump on them… 3 THE "SURELY" KLAXON - When you're reading or skimming argumentative essays, especially by philosophers, here is a quick trick that may save you much time and effort, especially in this age of simple searching by computer: look for "surely" in the document and check each occurrence. Not always, not even most of the time, but often the word "surely" is as good as a blinking light locating a weak point in the argument… 4 ANSWER RHETORICAL QUESTIONS - Just as you should keep a sharp eye out for "surely", you should develop a sensitivity for rhetorical questions in any argument or polemic. Why? Because, like the use of "surely", they represent an author's eagerness to take a short cut… 5 EMPLOY OCCAM'S RAZOR -  The idea is straightforward: don't concoct a complicated, extravagant theory if you've got a simpler one (containing fewer ingredients, fewer entities) that handles the phenomenon just as well... 6 DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON RUBBISH - Sturgeon's law is usually expressed thus: 90% of everything is crap. So 90% of experiments in molecular biology, 90% of poetry, 90% of philosophy books, 90% of peer-reviewed articles in mathematics – and so forth – is crap... 7 BEWARE OF DEEPITIES - A deepity …is a proposition that seems both important and true – and profound – but that achieves this effect by being ambiguous. On one reading, it is manifestly false, but it would be earth-shaking if it were true; on the other reading, it is true but trivial…”  Inspired by Daniel Dennett, The Guardian ow.ly/lMAiz Image source David Orban ow.ly/lMAe3 Revealing lessons life has taught him (June 27 2013)

 

Daniel Clement Dennett the 71 year old American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, evolutionary biology and cognitive science has published an extract from his new book in The Guardian titled ‘Daniel Dennett’s seven tools for thinking’, revealing some of the lessons life has taught him. “1 USE YOUR MISTAKES – We have all heard the forlorn refrain: “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!” This phrase has come to stand for the rueful reflection of an idiot, a sign of stupidity, but in fact we should appreciate it as a pillar of wisdom… 2 RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT – Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticising the views of an opponent? If there are obvious contradictions in the opponent’s case, then you should point them out, forcefully. If there are somewhat hidden contradictions, you should carefully expose them to view – and then dump on them… 3 THE “SURELY” KLAXON – When you’re reading or skimming argumentative essays, especially by philosophers, here is a quick trick that may save you much time and effort, especially in this age of simple searching by computer: look for “surely” in the document and check each occurrence. Not always, not even most of the time, but often the word “surely” is as good as a blinking light locating a weak point in the argument… 4 ANSWER RHETORICAL QUESTIONS – Just as you should keep a sharp eye out for “surely”, you should develop a sensitivity for rhetorical questions in any argument or polemic. Why? Because, like the use of “surely”, they represent an author’s eagerness to take a short cut… 5 EMPLOY OCCAM’S RAZOR –  The idea is straightforward: don’t concoct a complicated, extravagant theory if you’ve got a simpler one (containing fewer ingredients, fewer entities) that handles the phenomenon just as well… 6 DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON RUBBISH – Sturgeon’s law is usually expressed thus: 90% of everything is crap. So 90% of experiments in molecular biology, 90% of poetry, 90% of philosophy books, 90% of peer-reviewed articles in mathematics – and so forth – is crap… 7 BEWARE OF DEEPITIES – A deepity …is a proposition that seems both important and true – and profound – but that achieves this effect by being ambiguous. On one reading, it is manifestly false, but it would be earth-shaking if it were true; on the other reading, it is true but trivial…”

 

Inspired by Daniel Dennett, The Guardian ow.ly/lMAiz Image source David Orban ow.ly/lMAe3

Sam Harris the 46 year old American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and the co-founder and CEO of Project Reason has published an article on his web site titled ‘Response to Controversy’ in which he states “A few of the subjects I explore in my work have inspired an unusual amount of controversy. Some of this results from real differences of opinion or honest confusion, but much of it is due to the fact that certain of my detractors deliberately misrepresent my views. The purpose of this article is to address the most consequential of these distortions. A general point about the mechanics of defamation: It is impossible to effectively defend oneself against unethical critics. If nothing else, the law of entropy is on their side, because it will always be easier to make a mess than to clean it up. It is, for instance, easier to call a person a “racist,” a “bigot,” a “misogynist,” etc. than it is for one’s target to prove that he isn’t any of these things. In fact, the very act of defending himself against such accusations quickly becomes debasing. Whether or not the original charges can be made to stick, the victim immediately seems thin-skinned and overly concerned about his reputation. And, rebutted or not, the original charges will be repeated in blogs and comment threads, and many readers will assume that where there’s smoke, there must be fire.  Such defamation is made all the easier if one writes and speaks on extremely controversial topics and with a philosopher’s penchant for describing the corner cases—the ticking time bomb, the perfect weapon, the magic wand, the mind-reading machine, etc.—in search of conceptual clarity. It literally becomes child’s play to find quotations that make the author look morally suspect, even depraved.”  Inspired by Sam Harris ow.ly/k4j2H Image source Twitter ow.ly/k4iUP Easier to make a mess than to clean it up (May 4 2013)

 

Sam Harris the 46 year old American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and the co-founder and CEO of Project Reason has published an article on his web site titled ‘Response to Controversy’ in which he states “A few of the subjects I explore in my work have inspired an unusual amount of controversy. Some of this results from real differences of opinion or honest confusion, but much of it is due to the fact that certain of my detractors deliberately misrepresent my views. The purpose of this article is to address the most consequential of these distortions. A general point about the mechanics of defamation: It is impossible to effectively defend oneself against unethical critics. If nothing else, the law of entropy is on their side, because it will always be easier to make a mess than to clean it up. It is, for instance, easier to call a person a “racist,” a “bigot,” a “misogynist,” etc. than it is for one’s target to prove that he isn’t any of these things. In fact, the very act of defending himself against such accusations quickly becomes debasing. Whether or not the original charges can be made to stick, the victim immediately seems thin-skinned and overly concerned about his reputation. And, rebutted or not, the original charges will be repeated in blogs and comment threads, and many readers will assume that where there’s smoke, there must be fire.  Such defamation is made all the easier if one writes and speaks on extremely controversial topics and with a philosopher’s penchant for describing the corner cases—the ticking time bomb, the perfect weapon, the magic wand, the mind-reading machine, etc.—in search of conceptual clarity. It literally becomes child’s play to find quotations that make the author look morally suspect, even depraved.”

 

Inspired by Sam Harris ow.ly/k4j2H Image source Twitter ow.ly/k4iUP

Alain de Botton the 43 year old Swiss British writer, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur who discusses various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life, claims to have launched the first Athiest Church in the UK, in the wake of a comedian led launch on an Atheist church in Canonbury. In an article published by Tom Marshall in the Islington Gazette titled ‘Nation’s first atheist church launches in Canonbury’, Marshall states “A Sunday gathering billed as the nation’s first-ever “atheist church” got off to a flying start this week – despite irking one the UK’s most famous non-believers who says he did it first. There was standing room only as some 200 people descended on the first congregation of the Sunday Assembly, cramming into an ex-church in St Paul’s Road, Canonbury. But writer and philosopher Alain de Botton, who is known as one of the most forthright atheists in the UK and last year published a book titled Religion for Atheists, told the Gazette that his organisation beat them to the punch. Mr de Botton, whose School of Life centre in Bloomsbury hosts Sunday gatherings of atheists, said: “We want to wish the comedians all the very best on their venture, while modestly adding that we have been ploughing this furrow for many years and they shouldn’t therefore claim the idea as their own …We wouldn’t want to start a schism so early on in the movement.” …Attendees enjoyed uplifting talks, readings, music and some time for quiet reflection, as founders and stand-up comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans led proceedings. Mr Jones said: “We’re huge fans of Alain’s and would love to get him down to talk, if he wants to … So many people turned up and were getting really excited, it was just overwhelming. It seems people just loved the idea and it far surpassed our hopes.”   Inspired by Tom Marshall, Islington Gazette ow.ly/gKBwH Image source Facebook ow.ly/gKBvZ A schism so early on in the movement (January 20 2013)

Alain de Botton the 43 year old Swiss British writer, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur who discusses various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy’s relevance to everyday life, claims to have launched the first Athiest Church in the UK, in the wake of a comedian led launch on an Atheist church in Canonbury. In an article published by Tom Marshall in the Islington Gazette titled ‘Nation’s first atheist church launches in Canonbury’, Marshall states “A Sunday gathering billed as the nation’s first-ever “atheist church” got off to a flying start this week – despite irking one the UK’s most famous non-believers who says he did it first. There was standing room only as some 200 people descended on the first congregation of the Sunday Assembly, cramming into an ex-church in St Paul’s Road, Canonbury. But writer and philosopher Alain de Botton, who is known as one of the most forthright atheists in the UK and last year published a book titled Religion for Atheists, told the Gazette that his organisation beat them to the punch. Mr de Botton, whose School of Life centre in Bloomsbury hosts Sunday gatherings of atheists, said: “We want to wish the comedians all the very best on their venture, while modestly adding that we have been ploughing this furrow for many years and they shouldn’t therefore claim the idea as their own …We wouldn’t want to start a schism so early on in the movement.” …Attendees enjoyed uplifting talks, readings, music and some time for quiet reflection, as founders and stand-up comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans led proceedings. Mr Jones said: “We’re huge fans of Alain’s and would love to get him down to talk, if he wants to … So many people turned up and were getting really excited, it was just overwhelming. It seems people just loved the idea and it far surpassed our hopes.”

 

Inspired by Tom Marshall, Islington Gazette ow.ly/gKBwH Image source Facebook ow.ly/gKBvZ

Benoit Georges the French journalist and head of Innovations and Skills department with Les Echos has published an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘Do Smart Phones Make Us Dumber? Asking The Internet's Intelligence Questions’. Georges states “Italian linguist Raffaele Simone and French philosopher Jean-Michel Besnier deliver very different views on the matter. According to Simone, modern men and women are “caught in the Web,” absorbed in the “media sphere”, which he describes as an “environment in which online electronic media play a fundamental role,” and create, “from nothing, trends, needs and new pressures.” …Written knowledge allows thoughts to be structured and more complex than oral communications. It is based on a specific form of intelligence Simone called “sequential” – meaning the way we assimilate new information, one after the other. The Web and videos, on the other hand, favor a “simultaneous” form of intelligence – we are capable of taking in different types of information at the same time but without “being able to put them in order as a logical succession, with hierarchy.” …Jean-Michel Besnier’s … asks a simple question: “How does the cultured species that we are, born from the Age of Enlightenment and having witnessed totalitarianism, let itself become a slave to its machines?” The situations in which we delegate our responsibility to objects or programs are multiplying: Search engines algorithms decide which websites best match our needs; the so called “service” robots that are supposed to take better care than us of the elderly or autistic children; the GPS navigators without which we are completely lost… Besnier believes this dehumanization existed long before computers. According to him, the industrial revolution – that transformed men into operators of machines that were more powerful than them – was already part of this movement.”   Inspired by Benoit Georges, Worldcrunch ow.ly/gH0mm Image source Twitter ow.ly/gH0kW Do smart phones make us dumber? (January 16 2013)

Benoit Georges the French journalist and head of Innovations and Skills department with Les Echos has published an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘Do Smart Phones Make Us Dumber? Asking The Internet’s Intelligence Questions’. Georges states “Italian linguist Raffaele Simone and French philosopher Jean-Michel Besnier deliver very different views on the matter. According to Simone, modern men and women are “caught in the Web,” absorbed in the “media sphere”, which he describes as an “environment in which online electronic media play a fundamental role,” and create, “from nothing, trends, needs and new pressures.” …Written knowledge allows thoughts to be structured and more complex than oral communications. It is based on a specific form of intelligence Simone called “sequential” – meaning the way we assimilate new information, one after the other. The Web and videos, on the other hand, favor a “simultaneous” form of intelligence – we are capable of taking in different types of information at the same time but without “being able to put them in order as a logical succession, with hierarchy.” …Jean-Michel Besnier’s … asks a simple question: “How does the cultured species that we are, born from the Age of Enlightenment and having witnessed totalitarianism, let itself become a slave to its machines?” The situations in which we delegate our responsibility to objects or programs are multiplying: Search engines algorithms decide which websites best match our needs; the so called “service” robots that are supposed to take better care than us of the elderly or autistic children; the GPS navigators without which we are completely lost… Besnier believes this dehumanization existed long before computers. According to him, the industrial revolution – that transformed men into operators of machines that were more powerful than them – was already part of this movement.”

 

Inspired by Benoit Georges, Worldcrunch ow.ly/gH0mm Image source Twitter ow.ly/gH0kW

Renata Salecl the 49 year old Slovenian philosopher, sociologist and legal theorist has discussed the challenge of choice confronting the Occupy movement with Nikolas Kozloff in reference to her book ‘The Tyranny of Choice’. Salecl states “I realised that the ideology of choice is a perfect pacifying mechanism for post-industrial capitalism in that it encourages this inward turn. People have the illusion that they can make it and are masters of their own destiny, and thus they feel guilty about disadvantages and experience anxiety and a constant feeling of inadequacy. In society, we have observed a shift from the notion of mere consumer choice to the idea of choosing oneself… Given the American ideology that anyone can make it and it’s all up to us, then you’d have to say that on a certain level Occupy was a surprise. I’ve always been perplexed how people who don’t have health insurance would still be against universal health insurance. In essence, what they’re doing is following the idea of choice, even though this winds up being very detrimental to their own well-being. It’s clear that something shifted in people’s perceptions with the Occupy movement…”

 

Inspired by Nikolas Kozloff http://ow.ly/9E7p6 image source Finance.si http://ow.ly/9E8ql

Kwame Anthony Appiah the 57 year old Ghanaian born UK-American philosopher and cultural theorist has been awarded the National Humanities Award by Barack Obama, for advocating a school of thought he describes as ‘cosmopolitanism’. Appiah’s cosmopolitanism is an idea and way of being, the way we view ourselves in the world at large. Appiah describes the concept as, “A tradition of thought that tries to develop the metaphor of the idea that we are all citizens of the world.” The cosmopolitanist philosophical tradition has its beginnings with German philosophers such as Hegel through to Du Bois and others, Appiah defines his conception of cosmopolitanism as “universality plus difference”. Appiah states that different cultures are respected “not because cultures matter in themselves, but because people matter, and culture matters to people.” According to Appiah’s take on this ideology, cultural differences are to be respected in so far as they are not harmful to people and in no way conflict with our universal concern for every human’s life and well-being. Appiah argues there are two ideas that “intertwine in the notion of cosmopolitanism”. The first is the idea that we have obligations to others that are bigger than just sharing citizenship. The second idea is that we should never take for granted the value of life, and we become informed of the practices and beliefs of others.

 

Inspired by Aljazeera http://ow.ly/9mb7r image source David Shankbone http://ow.ly/9mbfd

Alain de Botton the 42 year old Swiss philosopher and television presenter in the UK who established a new educational enterprise in London called “The School of Life”, has released an article in the Guardian referencing the recent saying that “museums of art are our new churches”. de Botton implies that “…in a secularising world, art has replaced religion as a touchstone of our reverence and devotion.” And if so, “It’s an intriguing idea, part of the broader ambition that culture should replace scripture, but in practice art museums often abdicate much of their potential to function as new churches (places of consolation, meaning, sanctuary, redemption) through the way they handle the collections entrusted to them… The challenge is to rewrite the agendas for our art museums so that collections can begin to serve the needs of psychology as effectively as, for centuries, they served those of theology… Only then would museums be able to claim that they had properly fulfilled the excellent but as yet elusive ambition of in part becoming substitutes for churches in a rapidly secularising society.

 

Inspired by Alain de Botton http://ow.ly/8JloO image source VeracityVoice http://ow.ly/8Jlxr

Peter Albert David Singer the 65 year old Australian philosopher and professor of Bioethics specializing in applied ethics has released an article on Aljazeera applauding the ending of battery cages in Europe for the keeping of fowls. Singer likened the achievement to the Arab Spring, stating “The end of the battery cage in Europe is a less dramatic development than the Arab Spring, but, like that popular uprising, it began with a small group of thoughtful and committed people… In the early 1970s, when the modern animal liberation movement began, no major organisation was campaigning against the battery cage… It took a concerted effort… to stir the RSPCA from its complacency towards the battery cage and other forms of intensive animal rearing… hens kept in cages so small… hens could never walk around freely, or lay eggs in a nest… Many people applauded our youthful idealism, but told us that we had no hope of ever changing a major industry. They were wrong… On the first day of 2012, keeping hens in such cages became illegal.”

Inspired by Peter Singer http://ow.ly/8JkSu image source Joel Travis Sage http://ow.ly/8JkVW

Avram Noam Chomsky the 83 year old US philosopher renowned for his critiques of US foreign policy has an article re-published on Aljazeera in which he discusses the US military buildup to confront the Iranian foreign policy crisis confronting the US. “The Obama administration has been rapidly expanding US offensive capacity in the African island of Diego Garcia … nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines with Tomahawk missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads. Each submarine is reported to have the striking power of a typical carrier battle group … the substantial military equipment Obama has dispatched includes 387 “bunker busters” used for blasting hardened underground structures … On taking office, Obama immediately accelerated the plans, and they are to be deployed several years ahead of schedule, aiming specifically at Iran… The increasing threats of military action against Iran are of course in violation of the UN Charter … call to all states to resolve disputes related to nuclear issues peacefully … which bans the use or threat of force.”

 

Inspired by Norm Chomsky http://ow.ly/89XaE image source Duncan Rawlinson http://ow.ly/89XeT

Bernard-Henri Lévy the 63 year old French intellectual and philosopher, known simply as BHL and one of the leaders of the 1976 “Nouveaux Philosophes” (New Philosophers) movement, has reached the best seller list with a collaborative book titled “Public Enemies”. The best seller is a publication of letters exchanged with Michel Houellebecq since 2008, where the two speak of their personal lives, reputations, religion, sex and politics. In a review of the book George Walden writes “Much of the fun of these letters stems from their almost satirically contrasting characters: Lévy, the well-born playboy of the western mind and pocket Apollo, versus Houellebecq, the drunken, ill-favoured, lower-middle-class grouch. As Lévy parades his learning and sleek bare chest dandiacally across the world (his letters are mostly written from hotels), Houellebecq sits at home with his dog, sluicing and smoking to heroically self-harming excess.”

 

Inspired by George Walden http://ow.ly/7Vooh image source headweb http://ow.ly/7Votw

Jürgen Habermas the 82 year old German Sociologist and Philosopher renowned for his theory on the concept of ‘communicative rationality and the public sphere’, has been the subject of an article published on Die Welt by Eckhard Fuhr. Fuhr refers to Habermas as a realist. “He shows that much has already been accomplished towards achieving a ‘transnational democracy, in Europe, even if the Lisbon Treaty is a pact among states, not a constitution … Habermas uses this double perspective like 3-D glasses to take a look into Europe’s future, even as he reaches back to explore the history of democracy … an attempt to set the ground for a new European narrative that frees the continent from its 20th century experiences of war and destruction by transcending them – and looks ahead to a time when lasting peace is a “cosmopolitan right” (Kant).”

 

Inspired by Eckhard Fuhr http://ow.ly/7G8qy image source Wolfram Huke http://ow.ly/7G8pc

Vandana Shiva the 59 year old Indian philosopher and activist, believes the 99% as represented by the Occupy Movement have nothing to lose but their disposability and dispensability. In an article published by Aljazeera, Shiva states “Freedom in our times has been sold as “free market democracy”. “Free markets” mean freedom for corporations to exploit whom and what they want, where they want, how they want. It means the end of freedom for people and nature everywhere. “Free market democracy” is in fact an oxymoron which has deluded us into believing that deregulation of corporations means freedom for us … The new movements understand this. And that is why they are indignant and are occupying the political and economic spaces to create a living democracy with people and the earth at the centre instead of corporations and greed.”

 

Inspired by Vandana Shiva http://ow.ly/7A30w image source http://ow.ly/7A3lI

Matthew Chapman the UK journalist and descendent of Charles Darwin has participated in a debate with the motion being ‘The world would be better off without religion’. Chapman was partnered by philosopher A.C. Grayling for the argument in support of the motion, while Rabbi David Wolpe and Dinesh D’Souza argued against the motion. Elizabeth Weingarten described for a Slate article, the question put by Chapman in his opening statement, stating “Chapman said … is not whether religion does good in the world. “Of course it can and it has,” he conceded. “The question is: Can we come up with something better that does not depend on dangerous and childish faith and thousands of competing gods? Can we persuade people that it’s possible to live a good, peaceful and happy life guided only by human conscience and modern knowledge?”

 

Inspired by Elizabeth Weingarten http://ow.ly/7zk86 image source prettyawfulgiraffes http://ow.ly/7zkmE

Slavoj Žižek the 62 year old Slovenian philosopher and critical theorist has expressed concern for the future of western democratic capitalist societies. In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman, Žižek analyses the contemporary mini revolutions taking place with the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the dissention in Europe with austerity issues. Žižek who is internationally recognized for his critical examination of both capitalism and socialism, states the “system [global financial and political] has lost its self-evidence, its automatic legitimacy, and now the field is open … What I’m afraid of is with this capitalism with Asian values, we get a capitalism much more efficient and dynamic than our western capitalism. But I don’t share the hope of my liberal friends – give them ten years, [and there will be] another Tiananmen Square demonstration – no, the marriage between capitalism and democracy is over.”

 

Inspired by Tom Ackerman http://ow.ly/7dfoJ image source Andy Miah http://ow.ly/7dfQO

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