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The Philosophers’

Magazine

21 Parkhurst Road London, N22 8JQ United Kingdom Tel: 020 8889 7041 Fax: 0870 125 3783 editor@philosophers.co.uk www.philosophers.co.uk

Philosophers’ The

Magazine issue sixteen • autumn 2001

Editor Julian Baggini

Editor, New Media

Jeremy Stangroom

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

Perring

Events Directory Co-ordinator

Mitch Hodge

Subscriptions UK: 01442 879097 North America: 1-800 444 2419 ext.1

See page 10 for full details contents

News and Features 6 NEWS HOUND Academics and religious schools under fire, Oak felled and more

COVER STORY: SILICON SOCETY

9 MEDIA WATCH Philosophy and philosophers in the mass media

Contributors Christopher Budd, Roger Caldwell, Peter Cave, Joseph Chandler, David Cooper, Steve Deery, Jonathan Derbyshire, Simon Eassom, Luciano Floridi, Wendy Grossman, Azzedine Haddour, Mitch Hodge, Christina Howells, Mathew Iredale, Roy A Jackson, Sue Johnson, Tim LeBon, Lisa Kemmerer, Lyn May, Mary Midgley, Niccolo Milanese, Christopher Norris, Lewis Owens, Christian Perring, Matthew Ray, David Snelling, Ursula Tidd, Roger Trigg, Alex Voorhoeve, Karen J Warren, William Wilcox

Illustrations Felix Bennett (cover), Shaun Williams

Graphics Jerry Bird, Pipo de Bressana

With Thanks to Jonathan Derbyshire, Susannah Gill, Lori Fells, Steve Palmquist, Bernard Stangroom, Pam Swope, Jonathan Webber

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 TOP OF THE FORMS Joseph Chandler The top ten philosophy classics revealed

LucianoFloridi,p18 Conferencebriefing,p31

13 THE HISTORY MAN Julian Baggini An interview with journalist turned historian of philosophy, Anthony Gottlieb Essays 15 PHILOSOPHY MATTERS Roger Trigg Why a scientistic society needs metaphysics

18 THE INFOSPHERE Luciano Floridi Do we need a new information ethics to bridge the digital divide?

20 IN PRAISE OF PUTNAM Christopher Norris What we can learn from the open-minded nature of Putnam’s progress Discussion 23 OPEN DEBATE: WICKEDNESS Mary Midgley Midgley responds to three objections to her essay sent in by TPM readers

27 DISCOURSE: RUSSELL’S POLITICS Jonathan Derbyshire Nicholas Griffin and Alan Ryan debate Russell’s controversial political years

29 INTERVIEW: TOM SCANLON Alex Voorhoeve Scanlon explains why his moral philosophy is “Kant on the cheap”

All views expressed in The Philosophers’ Magazine represent those of the authors of each article and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or publishers.

ThePhilosophers’Magazine/Autumn 2001

ISSN 1354-814X onference Briefing 31 PHILOSOPHY AND TECHNOLOGY Christian Perring and William Wilcox Dispatches from an international gathering in Aberdeen

Primers Short articles on the basics

52 SNAPSHOTS PLATO Roy A Jackson ALASDAIR MACINTYRE Matthew Ray 54 EXPLAINING ETHICS Simon Eassom Part four of the series introducing moral philosophy The Philosophers’ Review 56 New publications including A COMMON HUMANITY Raimond Gaita Peter Cave NEW ESSAYS ON THE A PRIORI Eds. Boghossian and Peacocke Steve Deery

Aberdeen ahoy, p31

contents

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FORUM EXISTENTIALISM Beyond the black polo neck clichés. Full details on page 34

Introduction Jonathan Webber What is Existentialism? David Cooper Problems of the Unconscious David Snelling Simone de Beauvoir Ursula Tidd Postcolonialism Azzedine Haddour Too Serious Sartre? Jonathan Webber The Ethics of Aesthetics Christina Howells

THREE CHALLENGES TO ETHICS James Sterba Karen J Warren Regulars 10 MITCH’S DIRECTORY & DIARY Now with organisational as well as events listings

22 OUT & ABOUT Tim Le Bon What on earth is philosophy for management?

51 SCI-PHI Mathew Iredale Mat’s mind ponders the mysteries of matter

61 BIBLIOPHILE Adding some metaphysics to your home library

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

64 PHILOSOPHY@THE. INTERNET Mitch Hodge Essential philosophy sites from the world wide web

PLUS

10 SUBSCRIBE

26 READER OFFER

67 TPMSHOP

64 LETTERS Corrections, comments, praise and protestations: your feedback to TPMarticles

66 THE SKEPTIC Wendy Grossman Genetic engineering: for or against? and other dumb questions

ThePhilosophers’Magazine/Autumn 2001