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So, 21st Century Enlightenment, is it?
In the UK, Matthew Taylor of the Royal Society of Artists has come up with a brand new big idea, which is being touted as a call for calling for a "21st-century Enlightenment". This was my response to an article by Madeleine Bunting (guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 June 2010 21.00 BST), Comment is free - Hail the 21st-century Enlightenment - Ideas don't come much bigger. We need to live very differently, argues a bold new text. And that calls for nothing less than a revolution of the mind.
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Israel: State of Jews or Jewish State?
I asked you to clarify what you perceive as the difference between a term which is now currently in common usage ie "Jewish state" and a term which I rarely if ever hear used namely " a state of the Jews" but can guess as to what it probably means.
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The Eagleton has landed .. splat!
WORK IN PROGRESS
My responses to:
God, Dawkins and tragic humanism: In a new book, Terry Eagleton argues that liberal humanism woefully underestimates the horrors of which humans are capable.
By: Mark Vernon
Published: guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 June 2009 11.00 BST
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/11/humanism-eagleton-dawkins-christianity-atheism
Or consider Christianity. Christians in history have undoubtedly perpetrated many crimes. But their most fearsome judge is the very individual they claim to follow, the man who blessed peacemakers, tended lepers and loved enemies.
Well, if you follow the Christian narrative, then yes. However, if Christianity were a criminal offence - and I am not suggesting for one minute that it should be a...
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Revisiting The Euston Manifesto
The Euston Manfesto. I never really wanted to comment on The Euston Manifesto, not wanting to legitimise a document that I considered a pretty duff manifesto.
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Heidegger and the Nazis
Heidegger's fascism, his indisputable and overwhelming support of the Nazis, was linked inextricably to his philosophy. Heidegger turned to National Socialism precisely because of his philosophy, not in spite of it.