It Might not be Important

Introduction Aesthetics is the philosophical evaluation of art and the theory of beauty and opposite phenomena namely the ugly, the grotesque, the comical and the ironic. It comes from the Greek word aisthesis, meaning sensual perception. For decades, the discussion of art and of beauty in Western philosophy were considered as two very distinct matters. All …

Living with Machines

All have interacted with a computer. This kind of interaction, however, can barely be called conversations. One no more converses with computers than a teacher in a classroom converses with students, but when working on the Internet using personal computer as an intermediary, things are fairly better. Searching for kitchen utensils, inspecting their contents through …

The Coexistence of the Past and the Present

The poet Charles Baudelaire characterised the modern world as “the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent”, meaning times were changing and the feeling they were changing was faster than ever before. “Transitory, fugitive element” of modernity, as he described, was “the shock of time” in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Actually, it was even closer to terror: “For …

Master of Time

An interesting challenge to conventional notions of behaviour has recently been brought to the attention of our friend. The following story features a character whom from now on we shall only call Dan, who began to realise that the restrictions imposed by the twenty-four-hour day were no longer to her liking. Here is the story …

Boundaries Expansion

Metaphysics is the attempt to understand how existence works by examining the building blocks of reality, the distinctions between mental and physical entities, and the fundamental questions of being and reality. Metaphysics is not, however, merely an arcane branch of philosophy albeit human beings use metaphysical assumptions to navigate the world. Assumptions about what exists …

It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect

Are our lives worth living? Are humans live worth living? If the answer is positive, the follow-up question then: Is life worth living unconditionally, or are there conditions attached? The philosophical debate about these questions has a long history, going back to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Much of what the ancients had to say about …

The Garden

People were invited to stay in this place, including women and slaves. They were staying in, as people called it, the Garden, to discuss about life, as well as to live a simple and self-sufficient life in the company of friends and fellows. They were guided by a thirty-five-year-old man who was living on the …

Stories as Therapy

Ancient Greek philosophy is filled with beautiful and interesting discussions of the soul. From the tripartite soul of Plato and Aristotle, to the intellectualism of the Stoics, ancient philosophers were fascinated by the foundations of human motivation and behaviour, and aimed to understand the structure of the mind. Reference to these thinkers has always been …

Let’s Admit it

“It doesn’t make sense, therefore it’s not possible,” is one of the sayings we usually hear in a debate. Another similar saying is, “That’s impossible, it couldn’t have happened that way.” The person who says it might think that s/he has hit the nail right on the head and claims the victory over the opponent. …

Clearing the False Dichotomy

Many people understand that facts are often presented as the opposite of opinions, meaning that all of the statements or claims must either express facts or express opinions, but not both. This fact-opinion dichotomy is false. This is like saying that all fruit must be either be bananas, or be available at my local market. …