The Locomotive Act 1865 (also known as Red Flag Act) required at least one person to precede on foot any self-propelled vehicle at a distance of not less than 60 yards, and that person had to at all times display a red flag and warn pedestrians and horse drawn carriages of their approach and assistContinue reading “Why do we have speed limits, and why do we have speed cameras?”
Category Archives: philosophy
When is liberty worth fighting a revolution for?
Should individual rights take precedence over the collective good? What were the views of English philosophers Hobbes and Locke?
What was Rousseau and Hobbes’ view of the ‘state of nature’?
Did Rousseau undermine Hobbes’ views on absolute rule? Hobbes famously surmised that in the state of nature – life was ‘nasty, brutish, and short’, but was he right?
Does the written word surpass oral account?
The history of the print revolution What was the impact on the production of both written texts and music? In 1440 Johannes Gutenberg invented the modern printing press – things have never been the same since.
What makes a good democracy?
We should love democracy whether or not it gives us all we wish for. Democracy started out in Athens around 600BC. It was pretty crude. “In Athenian democracy, every citizen was required to participate or suffer punishment. This practice stands in stark contrast to modern democratic governments in which citizens can choose whether or notContinue reading “What makes a good democracy?”
Is religion always synonymous with belief in the supernatural?
Did Comte’s religion of “Positivism” break this link? Thoughts on whether belief or faith can be exclusive of a deity.
Buddhism and the philosophy of compassion
A comparison of the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Shantideva What do we understand by the term “compassion” and how does it differ from sympathy and pity?
Existentialist Philosophy
How did Sartre and Beauvoir explain the philosophy of existentialism? Did Simone de Beauvoir improve on Sartre’s views? What did these two giants of exististentialism agree on, and what did they not?
The Philosophy of Karl Marx
What was Marx’s problem with capitalism? Is greater state control of the economy the solutuon to a post Covid recession? Karl Marx wrote extensively about the evils of capitalism – are these criticisms releveant today?
Philosophy Essay – Of Liberty and Law
Why do we have speed limits, and why do we have speed cameras? Can we choose which laws we follow, and if everybody breaks the law does that make it alright? An essay on the pandemic and covid rules.
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