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Continue reading →: Personal identity
My Open University course has started with an interesting discussion about the Self. Am I the same person I was as a child? What makes me that person over time? Locke thought that memory was essential to the linkage, but that memory did not have to be stored in one…
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Continue reading →: Wexford here we come
We have booked a bungalow in Wexford for a short break. My better half likes history and museums so we will be going to the National 1798 Rebellion Centre and the castle at Enniscorthy. I like to play the horses and there are a couple of race meetings on during…
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Continue reading →: Mortality is not for everyone
This year I have lost dear relatives and a long-term friend. This is not going to be a blog about my feelings of grief, because nobody wants to read that. We have all lost loved ones and have to deal with the grief in our own way and in our…
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Continue reading →: OMG there’s a cyclist on the road
It must be galling for motorists to discover that they have to share the road with a form of transport that does not pollute the atmosphere, occupies very little space on the highway, and moves at an annoyingly low speed (i.e. within the speed limits). My own experience as a…
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Continue reading →: Killing people is wrong
That statement looks pretty obvious at first reading, but are there any circumstances when killing is justified? War is the main cause of mass killings ,both civilian and combatants. The reasons to engage in warfare rather than try to sort things out diplomatically may be complex. Aggressors may want to…
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Continue reading →: Gun control
Japan has one of the strictest gun control regulations in the world. There were 177,719 licenced firearms in 2021. In 2022 four people died from shootings, two of the victims were part of an organised crime group. In the USA there were 37,038 gun related deaths (all causes) in 2019,…
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Continue reading →: Heidegger was not a sympathetic character
From what I have read in Sarah Bakewell’s excellent book, At the Existentialist Café, Martin Heidegger had few redeeming qualities when it came to his treatment of friends and colleagues. Having had romances with Jewish women at his university, including Hannah Arendt, he joined the Nazi Party and did little…
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Continue reading →: Humanity
Sarah Bakewell’s book is a rich source of interesting ideas put forward by people associated with existentialism. One such philosopher was Emmanuel Levinas who wrote Totality and Infinity in 1961. The foundation of his philosophy was Self with Other, based on Martin Buber’s I and Thou. 1923. Having survived the…
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Continue reading →: Pink meat
I bought a shoulder of lamb from my local butcher the other day. I put it in a hot oven for about 45 minutes, then turned the oven down low and cooked it wrapped in foil for another 3 to 4 hours. The joint was nicely seasoned with garlic and…
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Continue reading →: Us and them
The haves and the have-nots are locked in an economic disparity that has a new chapter in its history. ‘Quiet quitting’ has become a thing among exploited workers. If your employer is making unreasonable demands, such as longer hours for the same pay, you can reduce the effort you put…
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