A philosophy of the classroom
What is the true purpose of an education? There is no one answer—and that’s the point
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Tag: Ethics
The astonishing mind of Derek Parfit
Parfit often said, “If my arguments don’t succeed, my life has been wasted.” Fortunately he was wrong. He ultimately failed, but more brilliantly than almost all the rest of us could ever succeed.
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Manners matter
To refuse politeness is to refuse to take your place in society, to throw grit into the wheels of social interaction. Like littering and petty shoplifting, what is harmless when done rarely by a few would be harmful if done regularly by the many.
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What does it mean to be human?
In Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope, Sarah Bakewell reflects on 700 years of humanist thought, perusing the work of various writers, thinkers, scientists and artists who have spent time trying to understand what it means to be truly human. She tells the story of humanism, explaining why it has continued to flourish for so many years in spite of opposition from other groups.
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