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The Philosophers’

Magazine

98 Mulgrave Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 6LZ

United Kingdom Tel: 020 8643 1504 Fax: 0870 125 3783 editor@philosophers.co.uk www.philosophers.co.uk

Editor Julian Baggini

Editor, New Media

Jeremy Stangroom

Contributing Editors Susan Dwyer, Simon Eassom, Peter Fosl, Michael LaBossiere, Jeff Mason, Christian Perring

Reviews Editor Jonathan Derbyshire

Subscriptions UK: 01442 879097 North America: 1 800 444 2419

See page 8 for full details

Philosophers’ The

Magazine issue seventeen • winter 2002

contents ews and Features 6 NEWS HOUND The two million dollar man and David Lewis’ death

23 DISCOURSE: THE NEW MILLENNIUM Jonathan Derbyshire Anthony O’Hear and A C Grayling debate the role of philosophy

9 MEDIA WATCH Philosophy and philosophers in the mass media

Contributors Bat-Ami Bar On, Joseph Chandler, David Conway, Steve Deery, Jonathan Derbyshire, Simon Eassom, Nick Fotion, Wendy Grossman, Margaret Gullan-Whur, Robert Halliday, Alan Haworth, Mitch Hodge, Jennifer Hornsby, Mathew Iredale, Sue Johnson, Micahel C LaBossiere, Tim LeBon, José López, Jeff Mason, Lyn May, James McCarney, William Morgan, Richard Norman, Anthony O’Hear, Jordan Peterson, Gary Potter, Jonathan Rée, Stella Stanford, Jonathan Walmsley

Illustrations Felix Bennett (cover), Shaun Williams

Graphics Jerry Bird

With Thanks to Susannah Gill, Lori Fells, Bernard Stangroom, Pam Swope

Distribution by (UK) Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN Tel: 020 8986 4854 (North America) Ingram Periodicals Inc., 1240 Heil Quaker Blvd., La Vergne, TN 37086-7000 Tel: (615) 793 5522 (North America) Ubiquity Distributors Inc., 607 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 Tel: (718) 875 5491

Printed by Warwick Printing, Theatre Street, Warwick

Contributors Notes Prospective contributors should contact the editor for further information or to submit ideas. Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts.

© 2001, The Philosophers’ Magazine

11 WITTGENSTEIN’S MUSIC Jonathan Derbyshire How the Tractatus was set to music

13 STAYING ALIVE Julian Baggini The results of an online philosophical experiment Essays 15 AFTER POSTMODERNISM José López and Gary Potter The critical realist alternative 17 EMPIRICAL ETHICS Robert Halliday Basing morality on facts about human flourishing Discussion 19 OPEN DEBATE: EXTINCTION Michael C LaBossiere LaBossiere responds to three objections to his essay sent in by TPMreaders

All views expressed in ThePhilosophers’ Magazinerepresent those of the authors of each article and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers.

ThePhilosophers’Magazine/Winter 2002

ISSN 1354-814X

Postmodernencounters,p15

Primers Short articles on the basics

26 SNAPSHOTS SARTRE Jeremy Stangroom DAVID LEWIS Michael C LaBossiere

28 EXPLAINING ETHICS Simon Eassom Part five of the series introducing moral philosophy examines the work of Thomas Hobbes

Conference Briefing 31 THE STANDING CONFERENCE Lyn May UK academic philosophers hold their annual business meeting he Philosophers’ Review 54 An extended selection of new publications RADICAL ENLIGHTENMENT Jonathan I Israel Jonathan Walmsley

THE DREAM OF REASON Anthony Gottlieb Jeff Mason

THE MEANING OF THINGS A C Grayling Nicholas Fearn

ZENO AND THE TORTOISE Nicholas Fearn Michael LaBossiere

KANT: A BIOGRAPHY Manfred Keuhn Margaret Gullan-Whur

ROBERT NOZICK A R Lacey Alan Haworth

PLATO AND THE HERO Angela Hobbs Stella Stanford Regulars 10 THE DIRECTORY The essential listings

O’Hear ahoy, p23 & p37

contents

/5

COVER STORY: FORUM AFTER 11 SEPTEMBER

Philosophy responds. Full details on page 34

Roundtable David Conway, Jennifer Hornsby, Anthony O’Hear, Jonathan Rée Leter to the President Jordan Peterson Just War Theory Nick Fotion War and Crime Richard Norman Terorism and Politics Bat-Ami Bar On Patriotism William Morgan A Hegelian View James McCarney

30 OUT & ABOUT Tim Le Bon Philosophy for children

25 SCI-PHI Matthew Iredale Was Darwin a Philosopher?

61 BIBLIOPHILE Philosophy of mind for your home library

62 BERTRAND@S BREAK Pondweed, Stamp, quizes plus the concise or cryptic crossword

53 PHILOSOPHY@THE.INTERNET Mitch Hodge Philosophy on the world wide web

64 LETTERS Corrections, comments, praise and protestations

66 THE SKEPTIC Wendy Grossman Why I can’t keep my mouth shut

PLUS

10 SUBSCRIBE

33 READER OFFER

67 TPMSHOP

NewTPMbook!SeeTPM Shopp67andofferp33

ThePhilosophers’Magazine/Winter 2002