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Showing posts from August, 2020

Philosophy and Covid

(I was asked to write something brief on this so here it is...)   What has philosophy got to do with Covid? Here are some obvious answers.   Philosophy involves taking a step back and questioning what we ordinarily take for granted. This can be a disturbing experience.   In our day-to-day lives we live in a small bubble of concerns - whether or not to see friends, what to have for dinner, whether to buy a new car, where to go on holiday this year. Philosophy encourages us to massively expand the range of questions we are asking. We may find ourselves considering why there is anything at all , perhaps. Or whether what we take to be reality might be an illusion. Or whether robots could think and feel. Or whether there's life beyond death. Or what makes things morally right or wrong.   As Wittgenstein points out, pressing philosophical questions can cause a sense of intellectual vertigo. I thought I knew had an immaterial soul (or that I am an entirely material being). I assume