2nd Letter to Jeremy Quin

This is the text of another email I have sent to my MP, Jeremy Quin: Parliament is at an impasse and cannot raise a majority for *any* course of action. In such a circumstance there is only one legitimate route our representatives can take: ask the people to choose their preferred option. If people vote to remain we can revoke Article 50, and we can start working on the damage done to this country by this wholly unnecessary...

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Letter to Jeremy Quin

This is the text of an email I have sent to my MP, Jeremy Quin: Dear Mr Quin I am writing to urge you to vote against Prime Minister May's proposed Withdrawal Agreement. I voted Remain in the referendum, but accepted the result. People voted Leave for many reasons, but perhaps the most fundamental one was to reclaim the sovereignty we had given up to the EU.  But I had not fully appreciated all the difficulties that...

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Certainty and doubt: Descartes Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 4, Knowledge by Cristina Chimisso. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most exam questions...

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Metaethical Theories

Theists occasionally claim that atheists pragmatically 'believe' in God, because they act morally, or attribute praise and blame, which acts implicitly accept the existence of God. Behind this is the idea that an objective morality can only be grounded in God. Here's William Lane Craig: ...if God exists, then the objectivity of moral...

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Darkening Preconceptions

This is a comment on the reaction to a book, rather than the book itself. Catherine Nixey has written a new book called The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, about the transition from the ancient Roman world to a Christian world. She studied classics at Cambridge, but is now a journalist. It's clear that...

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Brexit and Xenophobia

Professor Tendayi Achiume, the UN special rapporteur on racism, has said: The environment leading up to the [Brexit] referendum, the environment during the referendum, and the environment after the referendum has made racial and ethnic minorities more vulnerable to racial discrimination and intolerance... ..and: Many with whom...

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Success on Faith School Cap

Back in December 2016 I participated in the letter writing campaign to prevent the abolition of the 50% cap on selection for faith schools. This is what I wrote to my MP: Dear Jeremy Quin MP, I am writing to you as a constituent to ask you to oppose the plans to allow new and existing religious free schools to discriminate against all...

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Miracles and Revelation Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 2, Acts of God by Timothy Chappell. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most exam questions...

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Aristotle at the Seaside

© http://www.visitthepast.co.uk/blackpool-tower-from-north-pier In 1868 the South Jetty in Blackpool was opened in an attempt to keep the hoi-polloi away from the genteel North Pier; it was “the first major commitment of resources to pleasing this more plebeian public” (quoted in Chant, 2008, p.156).  This charming sentiment...

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The Non-existent Agenda?

Peter Harrison recently wrote a negative review of Yves Gingras's new book, Science and Religion, An Impossible Dialogue. Yves Gingras has responded to Harrison, and Harrison has responded to Gingras's response: Gingras makes some good points, but perhaps wants to have his cake and eat it by suggesting that he is primarily conducting...

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