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Continue reading →: Year 2
Another academic year with the Open University. This year I am taking Exploring Philosophy, at undergraduate level. My first task was to think about a study timetable and calculate how many hours I have available in the average working week. Organisational skills will be important, not just for my studies,…
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Continue reading →: Camus and the absurdity of art
“Art allows the mind to detach from the self and expand to understand the connection between the one seeking solace from an internal battle and others. In “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Albert Camus states that artistic expression is the ultimate form of joy. He defines all creators as absurd, since…
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Continue reading →: Collective responsibility
The Open University has various forums under different subject headings. The Philosophy forum has some lively debates prompted by OU staff. The current topic for discussion is collective responsibility and guilt. The example given was the French Rugby Union authority(FFR) that collaborated with the Vichy government to ban the playing…
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Continue reading →: Mr Speaker
David Irvine was a good speaker. As the political face of the UVF he spoke reasonably about the conflict in Northern Ireland. He was influenced by Gusty Spence who had formulated a tit for tat killing strategy targeting any Catholics in reprisal for IRA killings. Spence had seen that the…
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Continue reading →: The man who swallowed a dictionary
This is the title of a play on at the Lyric theatre Belfast about David Irvine, a respected local politician. His journey from active UVF paramilitary to Progressive Unionist Party politician is well told in this performance by Paul Garrett. The set is well designed allowing Paul Garrett to move…
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Continue reading →: Rugby – expect the unexpected
The Rugby World Cup has got off to a great start with the host nation putting the All Blacks to the sword and England kicking their way to victory over the Pumas. Red cards will be issued to try and protect players from head injuries. England’s Tom Curry collided head…
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Continue reading →: Being in the world
Heidegger had an interesting concept about being. As distinct from those who saw being as essentially concerned with consciousness, Heidegger saw humans as part of the world inextricably. His expression Dasein describes that experience of being fully part of the world. After his ‘turn’ Heidegger coined the term Gelassenheit a…
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Continue reading →: Drawing a line
The Conservative government in the UK would like to draw a line under investigations into criminal activity in Northern Ireland at some random date in the past. Despite the opposition of all political parties in the North and the government in the South, Westminster has forced a bill through that…
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Continue reading →: Angst or angoise
I am enjoying Sarah Bakewell’s book At the Existentialist Café. It gives a history of modern philosophers like Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir and Heidegger. At the heart of French Existentialist thinking was the idea of freedom. “To realise the extent of my freedom is to be plunged into a state of…
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Continue reading →: Task driven
This is one of those expressions favoured by corporate types in interviews along with team player, good communicator and purveyor of bullshit. But maybe there is some foundation of truth in the idea that we are all task driven. We set our own goals and try to stay focused in…
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