Tag: philosophy
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The Ghost in Every Machine
There is an essay I have wanted to write for years. The trouble is that the topic keeps expanding. It begins with the old philosophical idea of the “Ghost in the Machine”, Gilbert Ryle’s phrase for the imagined little self living inside the mind, pulling the levers and making decisions. The tiny homunculus sitting in…
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Dynamic Stability: A Political Theory of Homeostasis
Introduction Political philosophy often searches for the ideal society or final political settlement. Whether in utopian socialism, liberal “end of history” narratives, or projects of national restoration, there is frequently an implied assumption that history is moving towards a final condition of stability. Yet neither history nor human experience suggests such an endpoint exists. A…
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The Ball Is In God’s Court
In my previous post, I described a conclusion that took many years to reach. The metaphysical ladder I had spent so long climbing does not top out in a personal deity. Natural theology, philosophy and mysticism may lead to an ultimate reality. They may lead to the Ground of Being, the Absolute, the One or…
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The Ladder Doesn’t Reach God
For much of my adult life, I assumed that philosophy and theology ultimately pointed in the same direction. As my confidence in evangelical Christianity declined, I did what many intellectually inclined believers do: I went looking for firmer foundations. I was never persuaded by reductive materialism. Consciousness seemed too strange, existence too mysterious, and the…
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The Identity Cake
British identity is a cake long in the making. One of the oddities of contemporary Britain is that everyone seems happy to acknowledge the existence of Welsh identity, Scottish identity or Irish identity, but many become noticeably uncomfortable once the same discussion turns to the English. My own starting point is fairly straightforward. I think…
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Extraordinary Demands Require Extraordinary Justifications
Who Can Ask Free Citizens to Fight? As discussion grows about rearmament, military preparedness and the possibility of future conflict, an awkward question confronts Britain. Who can legitimately demand extraordinary sacrifice from free citizens? For generations Britain relied upon assumptions that no longer seem secure. Citizens broadly trusted Parliament, accepted unwritten constitutional conventions, and believed…
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Towards a Stakeholder Republic: Some Thoughts on Government as Mandate Rather Than Sovereignty
This is a work in progress and intended for discussion rather than as a finished constitutional proposal. Modern democracies often speak of “popular sovereignty”, yet in practice sovereignty is usually exercised through institutions such as parliaments, governments, courts and bureaucracies. Over time, these institutions can come to be viewed not merely as instruments of the…
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Oops Persephone – A Divine Comedy. E book and Paperback out now on Amazon.co.uk
Contrary to what saints and mystics have claimed down the ages, it is never a good thing to become interesting to the Gods. Trouble is brewing in the courts of Olympus. Two powerful goddesses have become intrigued by the love life of a beautiful mortal man. Meanwhile, bored and cantankerous in the absence of his…
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The One, the Many, and the Absence of Gods
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,…
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The State, the Nation, and Stewardship
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…
