PhilosophTay

It’s customary to begin discussions of Kant with a quick run-down of his eccentricities. He was a solemn man – near puritanical in fact – and devoted to his work. He never travelled further than ten miles from his home town of Königsberg and stuck to his daily routine with military-like precision. Whatever the weather, he never missed his afternoon walk, which he took at exactly the same time each day. His neighbours in Königsberg set their watches by the time Kant set his foot out of the door. These are great anecdotes. They make concrete the life of a man whose philosophy is forbiddingly abstract, so it’s a shame that none of them are true.   Apparently not as stern as he looks. Kant was a determined man but not a solemn one. In fact, he was criticised by his colleagues at university for throwing too many parties. He spent much of his life in Königsberg but not all of it. He spent a few years working as a tutor in Judtschen (about 15 miles away) and a few y...

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...

Let me describe to you my dream piece of philosophy. It’s not too long. Ideally fewer than three pages, though up to five is okay as long as every word is necessary. The title is something I read quickly, then read again more slowly. It makes me say ‘What’s all this about then?’ under my breath. The piece itself is technical but not tedious. The implications are wide but the focus is tight. There’s a nice juicy example. It’s got a sense of danger to it and an element of suspense. It reads almost like a detective story. By the time it’s over the point of the example is obvious, but the implications are spelt out anyway. This is done with a kind of quiet swagger, detectable only through a few italicised words. And it’s a slam dunk . There are no possible ifs and no possible buts, no assumptions undefended or questions unanswered. It’s not so much a line in the sand as a crack in the earth. You can’t ignore it or undermine it. Your only choice, should you encoun...

Philosophers talk a big game when it comes to questioning things. They tell us that philosophy is a place where nothing is settled and everything is up for grabs. They like to think of themselves as the stubborn child all-grown-up, still asking ‘Why? Why? Why?’, long after the parents have thrown in the towel. The cardinal sin is the assumption unexamined, the question unasked. So they keep asking and asking, spurred on by the hope that one day they’ll uncover the truth. Truth has been the goal ever since the beginning. “‘Then who are the true philosophers?’, he asked. ‘Those whose passion is to see the truth.’”  – Plato,  The Republic “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”  – Henry David Thoreau,  Walden “To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.”  – John Locke, Letter to Anthony Collins  “Plato is my friend, Aris...