Philosophy Now
''Philosophy Now'' is a bimonthly philosophy magazine sold from news-stands and book stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada; it is also available on digital devices, and online. It aims to appeal to the wider public, as well as to students and philosophy teachers. It was established in 1991 and was the first general philosophy magazine. History ''Philosophy Now'' was established in May 1991 as a quarterly magazine by Rick Lewis. The first issue included an article on free will by then atheist philosopher Antony Flew, who remained an occasional contributor for many years. The magazine was initially published in Lewis' home town of Ipswich (England). Peter Rickman soon became one of the most regular contributors. In 1997, a group of American philosophers including Raymond Pfeiffer and Charles Echelbarger lobbied the American Philosophical Association to start a similar magazine in the United States. The then APA executive director Eric Hoffman arranged ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philosophy Now Festival
The Philosophy Now Festival is a large philosophy festival held every two years in central London. The Festival is hosted and organised by the newsstand magazine ''Philosophy Now'', which aims to take philosophy to the widest possible audience. The Festival is open to the general public, at little or no cost. The first Philosophy Now Festival was held in 2011. It was held partly to mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of ''Philosophy Now'' magazine. Since then the Philosophy Now Festival has become a regular biannual event. The second ''Philosophy Now'' Festival was held in 2013, the third in 2015, the fourth in January 2018 and the fifth in January 2020. Each festival is a one-day event involving contributions from more than a dozen philosophy organisations including Philosophy For All and the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Venue The Festival is held at Conway Hall, a large art deco building in Bloomsbury in central London. The Festival uses the entire building, and there ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rick Lewis (journalist)
Rick Lewis is the founder and editor of ''Philosophy Now'' and thereby one of the main initiators of the popular philosophy movement in the English-speaking world. Work Lewis launched ''Philosophy Now'' in 1991, the first ever philosophy magazine worldwide. This new initiative facilitated a wave of popular philosophy activities in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere, which has since strengthened, and to the present owes much of its impetus to Lewis' work. A few years after launching the magazine, Lewis succeeded in having it accepted by the UK news trade, making it the first philosophy title to appear on ordinary news stands. In the mid-1990s, France and other countries saw a wave of philosophy cafés, informal philosophy meetings held in cafes. The first of these were created by Marc Sautet in Paris, and by the late 1990s they numbered in the hundreds. In 1998 Lewis and his ''Philosophy Now'' colleague Bryn R. Williams were among the first to import this innovatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conway Hall
The Conway Hall Ethical Society, formerly the South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world and is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kingdom. It now advocates secular humanism and is a member of Humanists International. History The Society's origins trace back to 1787, as a nonconformist congregation, led by Elhanan Winchester, rebelling against the doctrine of eternal damnation. The congregation, known as the Philadelphians or Universalists, secured their first home at Parliament Court Chapel on the eastern edge of London on 14 February 1793. William Johnson Fox became minister of the congregation in 1817. By 1821 Fox's congregation had decided to build a new place of worship, and issued a call for "subscriptions for a new Unitarian chapel, South Place, Finsbury". Subscribers (donors) included businessman and patron of the arts Elhanan Bicknell. In 1824 the congregation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Newton's Flaming Laser Sword
Michael D. Alder is an Australian mathematician, formerly an assistant professor at the University of Western Australia. Alder is known for his popular writing, such as sardonic articles about the lack of basic arithmetic skills in young adults. Career Alder received a B.Sc. in physics from Imperial College, then a PhD in algebraic topology from the University of Liverpool, and an M. Eng. Sc. from the University of Western Australia. He was an assistant professor at the University of Western Australia until 2011. Newton's flaming laser sword Newton's flaming laser sword (also known as Alder's razor) is a philosophical razor devised by Alder and discussed in an essay in the May/June 2004 issue of ''Philosophy Now''. Also available as The principle, which addresses the differing views of scientists and philosophers on epistemology and knowledge, was summarized by Alder as follows: In its weakest form it says that we should not dispute propositions unless they can be shown by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been described as a gonzo journalist, becoming a '' faux-naïf'' character in his stories. He produces informal but sceptical investigations of controversial fringe politics and science. He has published nine books and his work has appeared in publications such as ''The Guardian'', '' City Life'' and '' Time Out''. He has made several BBC Television documentary films and two documentary series for Channel 4. Early life Ronson was born in Cardiff on 10 May 1967. He attended Cardiff High School and later worked for CBC Radio in Cardiff before moving to London to study for a media degree at the Polytechnic of Central London.Nathan BevanWho is Jon Ronson? WalesOnline.co.uk, retrieved 13 June 2011. Career Writing Ronson's first book, ''Clubbed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angela Phillips
Angela Phillips is a British journalist and academic, who is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work in journalism spans more than four decades, initially as a photojournalist before moving into print, writing for feminist and alternative publications as well as the mainstream national press, notably for ''The Guardian'', and featuring on television, radio and the Internet. Since the 1990s, Phillips has taught journalism and journalism studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has been active in journalism research. At Goldsmiths, she established the MA Journalism, MA Digital Journalism and set up the joint honours BA Journalism in conjunction with the Department of Computing. She was a founding member of the Media Reform Coalition. Career Having trained in photography, Phillips began her career as a photojournalist for the alternative press in the 1970s. She worked with the feminist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Sapolsky
Robert Morris Sapolsky (born April 6, 1957) is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. He is a professor of biology, and professor of neurology and neurological sciences and, by courtesy, neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya. Early life and education Sapolsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrants from the Soviet Union. His father, Thomas Sapolsky, was an architect who renovated the restaurants Lüchow's and Lundy's. Robert was raised an Orthodox Jew and spent his time reading about and imagining living with silverback gorillas. By age 12, he was writing fan letters to primatologists. He attended John Dewey High School and, by that time, was reading textbooks on the subject and teaching himself Swahili. Sapolsky describes himself as an atheist. He said in his acceptance speech for the Emperor Has No Clothes Award, "I was raised in an Orthodox household, and I was raised devoutly rel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Randi
James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. 271/ref> He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87. Although often referred to as a "debunker", Randi said he disliked the term's connotations and preferred to describe himself as an "investigator". He wrote about paranormal phenomena, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', famously expo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, utilitarian perspective. He is known in particular for his book '' Animal Liberation'' (1975), in which he argues in favour of veganism, and his essay " Famine, Affluence, and Morality", in which he argues in favour of donating to help the global poor. For most of his career, he was a preference utilitarian, but he stated in ''The Point of View of the Universe'' (2014), coauthored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, that he had become a hedonistic utilitarian. On two occasions, Singer served as chair of the philosophy department at Monash University, where he founded its Centre for Human Bioethics. In 1996 he stood unsuccessfully as a Greens candidate for the Australian Senate. In 2004 Singer was recognised as the Australian Humanist of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ben Goldacre
Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford. He is a founder of the AllTrials campaign and OpenTrials to require open science practices in clinical trials. Goldacre is known in particular for his ''Bad Science'' column in ''The Guardian'', which he wrote between 2003 and 2011, and is the author of four books: '' Bad Science'' (2008), a critique of irrationality and certain forms of alternative medicine; '' Bad Pharma'' (2012), an examination of the pharmaceutical industry, its publishing and marketing practices, and its relationship with the medical profession; ''I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That'', a collection of his journalism; and ''Statins'', about evidence-based medicine. Goldacre frequently delivers free talks about bad science; he describes himself ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cressida Cowell
Cressida Cowell FRSL (born 15 April 1966) is a British children's author, popularly known for the book series, ''How to Train Your Dragon (novel series), How to Train Your Dragon'', which has subsequently become an How to Train Your Dragon (franchise), award-winning franchise as adapted for the screen by DreamWorks Animation. As of 2015, the series has sold more than seven million copies around the world. In addition to her other publications, Cowell works with illustrator Neal Layton in the ongoing series of That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, Emily Brown stories. The first in the series, ''That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown'', won a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Nestlé Children’s Book Award. Personal life The Hon. Cressida Cowell was born on 15 April 1966 in London. She is the daughter of Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham. Her uncle, by marriage, is U.S Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer. As a child, Cowell states she "grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |