PhilosophTay

One thing about Drake songs is that they always seem to feature a lot of numbers. Like, a lot. And it’s not just titles either. The hook to ‘ 100 ’ is literally just a sum: 8+92=100. And the square root of 69 is the lyric everyone remembers from ‘ What’s My Name? ’ These aren’t just passing references to math-concepts. The man is laying out entire equations in his songs, repeatedly. Is Drake really this passionate about maths? It’s enough to raise suspicions. Margaret Hamilton stands next to a stack of verses she wrote for Views . I reckon you could create a GCSE Maths paper made up entirely of Drake references. For instance: If Drake is 25 years old and is sitting on $25 million, invested in a mutual fund with an annual return of 2%, how much money will Drake be sitting on by the time he turns 40? Forget that for the moment though. Instead listen carefully around the 1:33 mark. Was that a YOLO ? ************************* As ...

It’s February 2015 and Kanye’s back on the radar after a long hiatus. Gone is the abrasive, industrial sound of Yeezus. Instead he’s making pretty little ditties with the help of Paul McCartney: first Only One and then FourFive Seconds with Rihanna. Album-hype is building. No hints on the name yet but we’ve been told it’s “80% done” and that it’s gonna be “cookout music.” Naturally, we’re expecting more of the same from his BRITs performance. It’ll push the boundaries – sure – but it’ll be gentle, wholesome even. These people were listening to a weepy Sam Smith ballad before this! They were watching Ed Sheeran hum and slap his guitar! These poor people are sitting  cabaret-style!  And in comes Kanye with that distorted bass and those flamethrowers. Even Taylor Swift is left wide-eyed and slack-jawed. ************************* Far from being a modern aberration, getting money has been a concern since time immemorial. Even philosophe...

One thing that makes philosophers unique among academics is just how often, and how fervently, they defend the importance of the subject. Almost every university has a ‘Why study philosophy?’ page, selling the subject to potential undergrads. Very few universities, as far as I’m aware, have a ‘Why study biology?’ page. The first question seems to require answering in a way that the second doesn’t. So whenever some celebrity-scientist questions the point of philosophy, you get one-hundred furious responses from philosophers arguing for the importance and even  urgency  of tackling philosophical problems. Philosophical reflection, they tell us, is vital. "As far as I’m concerned philosophy is the most important subject of all because other subjects get their importance by how they relate to the larger issues. And that’s what philosophy is about – the larger issues." – John Searle, New Philosopher "When someone asks 'what’s the use of philosophy...