The Politics of Division

Is the new populist style of politics emerging on both sides of the Atlantic a cause or a symptom of the increasing sense of division in society? Surveying the “Hillary for PA” Twitter feed last week as I have been known to do (well, on at least one previous occasion), I found an interesting exchange… Continue reading The Politics of Division

A Paean to Serendipity

One of the fascinations of languages are that on occasions they throw up words that are so connected with the spirit of the culture that they defy both translation and even definition. ‘Serendipity’ is a word imbued with something peculiarly English, which is largely untranslatable and indefinable. It is as if the meaning were conveyed… Continue reading A Paean to Serendipity

Self-transcendence and the multiplicity of value-worlds in the evolution of modernity

Abstract The dizzying rate of change today is bringing a focus on fundamental values that is bypassing the traditional concerns of epistemology within philosophy and the historical and political issue of the religious/secular divide. This focus points to an emerging view of social evolution driven by a transcendent view of individual identity. The nature of… Continue reading Self-transcendence and the multiplicity of value-worlds in the evolution of modernity

What is the point of the Left? A dispassionate assessment of its virtues and vices

After the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1990s there was a brief window in which it was predicted that the forces of democracy and the free market had triumphed and leftist and socialist parties would thereafter only wither away. The view from the present is of a very… Continue reading What is the point of the Left? A dispassionate assessment of its virtues and vices

Three Cheers for the EU ‘Single Market’ (but Not Four)

Now that the dust kicked up in the hubbub preceding and succeeding the Brexit referendum result is beginning to settle, the real options facing the UK (and indeed the EU itself) are becoming visible as battle lines are drawn for the playing out of the Article 50 process. Or perhaps the lines were always clearly delineated,… Continue reading Three Cheers for the EU ‘Single Market’ (but Not Four)

Postscript to the Referendum: the Continuing Case for Reform of the EU

Amid the celebrations, dejection, hopes, foreboding, possibilities, instability, treachery, transformation and general uncertainty that has followed the outcome of the EU referendum, one thing has been generally overlooked, which is unsurprising as it hardly featured in either the campaign to leave or to remain: the desperate need for fundamental reform of Europe’s political institutions. This… Continue reading Postscript to the Referendum: the Continuing Case for Reform of the EU

The Moral Basis of the European Project?

Colin Turfus asks if the European Union is or can ever be faithful to its own founding principles. The Two Pillars For over half a century now a project has been under way to transform European society from what it was at the mid-point of the 20th century, a disparate collection of peoples possessed of… Continue reading The Moral Basis of the European Project?

The Fragility of History: Historical Truth between Interpretation and Iconoclasm

It would not surely be too outrageous to claim that history is nothing but the artefacts of the past. The actors of the past have disappeared from history; of their thoughts, dreams, loves and lives nothing remains but whatever is recorded in their bones, their books, pictures and possessions, which become the future texts of… Continue reading The Fragility of History: Historical Truth between Interpretation and Iconoclasm

Altruism and the Moral Matrix

What are the origins of altruistic behaviour in human society? One of the greatest debates in philosophy and the social sciences over the last few centuries has been the origins of altruistic behaviour in human beings. This issue can be approached from many perspectives, with the result that polarly opposed opinions not infrequently find themselves… Continue reading Altruism and the Moral Matrix