Hearth and Heart Magazine

Author: Philip Anderson

  • The One, the Many, and the Absence of Gods

    The One, the Many, and the Absence of Gods

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    People sometimes ask about my spiritual beliefs and I struggle to answer concisely. My views are not conventionally religious, yet neither are they atheistic in the straightforward sense. I find myself somewhere between mysticism, pantheism, symbolism, and philosophy. What makes the question difficult is that there are at least three different levels involved: metaphysics, experience,…

  • The State, the Nation, and Stewardship

    The State, the Nation, and Stewardship

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    by

    Philip Anderson
    in

    Much political discussion becomes confused because it treats the state and the nation as the same thing. They are not. The state is an institution. Its legitimacy comes from the functions it performs. It exists to protect life, liberty and the conditions necessary for human flourishing. It maintains order, administers justice, secures borders and provides…

  • On Nationalism

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    Nationalism has acquired a bad reputation. To some people it means xenophobia, ethnic exclusivity or hostility to outsiders. To others it means little more than patriotism. Neither understanding is quite correct. George Orwell drew a useful distinction between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is love of one’s country and way of life. Nationalism, by contrast, becomes…

  • A Theory of Limited Foreign Policy

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    Philip Anderson
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    Introduction In my earlier essay I argued that government is not sovereign but a delegated authority. Its legitimacy derives from a limited number of functions that require collective action, including security, dispute resolution, basic infrastructure, and certain public goods supported by broad consensus. The same principles must apply to foreign policy. The mere existence of…

  • A Theory of Limited, Delegated Government

    A Theory of Limited, Delegated Government

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    First Principles 1. The individual is the primary moral unit Moral duties arise first from concrete relationships: Government does not create these duties. They exist prior to government. 2. Individuals owe one another non-aggression and toleration People should not: Because individuals have different values, beliefs and interests, peaceful coexistence requires mutual toleration rather than ideological…

  • Future Past

    Future Past

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    My daughter received her GCSE results today. She did remarkably well. Better than her old man ever did, in fact. Watching her consider her next steps, and all the possibilities that seem to stretch out before a sixteen-year-old, I found myself thinking back to my own youth. Like many people of that age, I was…

  • Reflection on AI Use in Writing, Part 2: exaggerated language vs the old geezer in the pub

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    In my last post, I admitted that AI has occasionally helped me climb onto an imaginary soapbox and voice my ideas in a manner suggesting I’d discovered the answer to life’s great mysteries. The good news is that this pomposity isn’t entirely my fault, but partly a result of how the core engine of an…

  • Reflections on using AI in writing, Part One or When AI makes you sound like you’re standing on a soapbox.

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    Perfect spelling, but… I’m a fan of AI. I use it regularly, and I think it’s one of the most useful tools to arrive in years. It helps me overcome writer’s block, tidy up awkward sentences, challenge my thinking, and occasionally rescue me from my own terrible punctuation. But there is something I’ve noticed. Sometimes…

  • Being Considered in Itself: A Formal Ontological Sketch

    Being Considered in Itself: A Formal Ontological Sketch

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    Preface This post presents a formal metaphysical paper developed over several months of reflective work. Although my background is in Religious Studies and writing rather than academic philosophy, I have attempted to articulate a clear and rigorous ontological structure beginning from the simplest possible insight: that Being must present itself in order to be intelligible.…

  • Coming Soon: The Far Oak — My New Fantasy Novel.

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    Philip Anderson
    in

    The life of a small forest community is thrown into turmoil when a strange new disease begins to spread, stirring fear, suspicion, and painful divisions. Yet fragments of ancient legend speak of the Old Ones — mysterious, seemingly magical beings, both like and unlike their kin — who may hold the secret to a cure.…