Category: Philosophy
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Play, stories, the brain’s plasticity, Obama’s Prison State and the ‘swine’ influenza ‘pandemic’
Quite a mouthful, that heading… and considering I also wanted to include something on synæsthesia, I’ve rather narrowed somewhat my ‘focus’! Swine flu pandemic Let’s begin with the last of these first: the flu ‘pandemic’ and the reaction to it by officialdom. I accept that when the first outbreak of this new influenza virus began…
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NAPLAN – or the demise of pedagogical principles
As you may be aware, next week is when Australian schools are under obligation to provide standardised tests to students in classes (or years) 3, 5, 7 and 9 who have not been withdrawn from participation by their parents (or by their school in very special circumstances in which this is permitted). For those who…
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Oft fear of an evil drives us to another worse
Those words, penned in 1674 by Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (Canto I, l.64) in his L’Art Poetique, has unfortunately so many resonances in today’s socio-political climate. At one level, this can be seen on a common basis as one boards flights: the fear of some flight incident is driving society to measures reminiscent of fascism – and…
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Ethics
[from LiveJournal] Seems that the more I read, the more it seems that there is a lack of understanding as to what ethics is. Many seem to base ethical views on deontological statements, or on emotivism, or on socially or psychologically determined dispositions. One of the papers I will need to prepare – perhaps as…