Category Archives: Philosophy

philosophy for life by rupert read, and bamford quaker community

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

philosophy for life: a series of essays by the green quaker norwich-based (uea) philosopher, chained together skilfully by editor m.a. lavery, this book is a serious, witty, and unashamedly intellectual attempt to take dame philosophie from her ivory tower and put … Continue reading →

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wittgenstein’s poker & patience (after sebald)

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

wittgenstein’s poker a meeting of the moral sciences club in king’s college cambridge in 1946, where, allegedly, wittgenstein brandished a poker threateningly at karl popper: not much material for a book, you might think – but not so, dear reader, … Continue reading →

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Protagoras

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

In Plato Protagoras seems to be a pompous but likeable old chap who’s dined out on his cleverness for many years. In both Protagoras and Theaetetus he seems to focus on advising young men, both those in power and those … Continue reading →

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“The Liturgies of Quakerism” by Ben Pink Dandelion

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Perhaps the dullest of book titles. Ever. Especially when received as a Christmas present (one I had asked for…). And I didn’t read it all, as the middle chapters seemed very similar to Pink Dandelion’s more recent and general history … Continue reading →

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Plato’s Protagoras

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

The main trigger to reread this came from my colleague’s teaching it as an A2 Greek text. Expecting Socrates to expose Protagoras as a shallow and mercenary “sophist”, he and his class couldn’t understand how Socrates’ arguments seemed just as … Continue reading →

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Ray Monk: “Wittgenstein”

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

There’s not much left for me now to “get” Wittgenstein beyond, er, reading and thinking about his actual philosophical writings. Monk’s reassuring biography comprehensively tells the/a story of his life, and famously-well weaves in the outlines of the philosophy as … Continue reading →

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Gary L. Francione: “An Introduction to Animal Rights”

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

A powerfully argued, technical and persuasive book: if you think it’s OK to eat animals and wear their skins then best not to read it. Francione’s argument is in two stages. First he reiterates Bentham’s view that animals suffer, so … Continue reading →

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Karen Armstrong: “Compassion”

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Another book I read so long ago I can’t really remember the details. Hey ho. I read this as part of a discussion group with the Quakers – a chapter a week. Armstrong’s impressive – a muscular thinker and speaker … Continue reading →

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Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

[what follows is, even more than usual for this blog, an amateur reaction from dipping ignorant toes into vast oceans] Visionary, poetic, extreme: Nietzsche and Blake provide book-ends to Romanticism. Both seek to up-end conventional morality, Blake because it represents … Continue reading →

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“Re-thinking History” by Keith Jenkins

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

This is a short book bought on impulse at the wonderful bookshop in Wemyss Bay station, the ferry port for Bute, on the south side of the Clyde estuary down Glasgow. I think at the time I’d just read Richard Evans’ In … Continue reading →

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