Category Archives: Philosophy

“The Life of Pie”

Posted on 15 May 2013 by

In my house, The Life of Pie is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, as Thomas Hobbes would have put it. Well, this was definitely better than the film which had no pie in it at all.

Posted in Books, Films, Food, Philosophy, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

You want more Surveillance? You can have it.

Posted on 2 May 2013 by

I just read this: A new CNN/Time … Poll indicates four in ten Americans say they are willing to give up some civil liberties to fight terrorism. Only 38% favor expanding government monitoring of e-mail and cell phones. While this … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Polls, Terrorism, USA | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Is there an Alternative to Liberalism?

Posted on 8 December 2012 by

The final project of the second year (of three) of my MA in Philosophy was supposed to give an answer to the question “Is there a serious alternative to liberalism as a political theory?” Here is what I wrote: I. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Did you notice the Irony? (# 2)

Posted on 10 November 2012 by

Recently, on a blog I sometimes visit although I disagree with its content more often than not, the question was posed if the USA are becoming “fascist” or if they would have become fascist under a President Romney. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, History, Philosophy, Politics, USA | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Ethical Dilemmas on Election Day

Posted on 6 November 2012 by

For election day, I would like you to imagine the following scenarios and tell me in the comments how you would decide and for what reasons. Scenario 1: Imagine you are a strong supporter of Barack Obama. You are 100% … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , | 17 Comments

Punishment and Liberalism

Posted on 23 July 2012 by

The following essay was part of the second year of my MA in Philisophy and set out to examine which problems criminal punishment poses for liberalism, especially in view of John Rawls‘ theory of punishment in “A Theory of Justice”. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Law, Philosophy | Tagged , | 5 Comments

John Rawls: “A Theory of Justice” versus his later works

Posted on 23 July 2012 by

This essay was part of the second year of my MA in Philosophy and concentrated on the work of one philosopher exclusively: John Rawls. If you haven’t read any of his work, I would advise against reading this essay. There will … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

I will take you seriously when you learn how to pronounce foreign names

Posted on 7 July 2012 by

Because I go on a lot of long walks at all times of the day, I regularly download podcasts to provide me with stimulating intellectual company during these walks – as nobody seems to wish to join me in person. I listen … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Language, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

What do you want to do with Philosophy?

Posted on 7 June 2012 by

In the year 1995 Question: What do you study?  Me: Law. Reaction: Wow! In the year 2012 Question: What do you study?  Me: Philosophy. Reaction: ??? When I studied law more than a decade ago, some of my high school … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Life, Philosophy | 9 Comments

Time Management: “No thanks!”

Posted on 7 June 2012 by

Time management. To-do lists. Multi-tasking. 24/7 availability. Many of you are desperately trying out a lot of different methods to squeeze more productive time out of your days or weeks, to get more done and to become more efficient. Forget … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Philosophy, Time | Tagged , | 8 Comments