Category Archives: Philosophy

The limits of personal responsibility: Auschwitz and Hiroshima

Posted on May 23, 2019 by odeboyz

Although subordinates in the military are expected to obey orders, they remain beneath the law. Obeying orders is a personal responsibility, which entails deciding whether they’re lawful or not. Unlawful orders should be challenged or disobeyed. Many Nazis were executed … Continue reading →

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The meaning of prejudice

Posted on May 16, 2019 by odeboyz

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” J K Galbraith, economist and all round genius Chris

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Karl Marx’s favourite painting

Posted on March 14, 2019 by odeboyz

They are presenting a petition of protest to the city fathers of Düsseldorf in an opulent council chamber. Through a large window, an orator can be seen in the square outside addressing a raging crowd. Marx loved this painting for … Continue reading →

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Satire was murdered in Missouri

Posted on February 28, 2019 by odeboyz
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Negotiated death sentences for heinous criminals in Britain 2019

Posted on January 3, 2019 by odeboyz

Expressing surprise at the few votes required for an acquittal, Socrates joked that he be punished with free meals at the Prytaneum (the city’s sacred hearth), an honour usually held for a benefactor of Athens, and for the victorious athletes … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Prison reform | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Alexey Stakhanov: the most famous coal miner in history

Posted on November 29, 2018 by odeboyz

  Stalin introduced a whirlwind of industrialisation in a series of Five Year Plans beginning in 1928. These plans centralised control of every part of industrial production. Every mine had productivity targets which had to be met or exceeded. This … Continue reading →

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Eat your heart out Sartre: Los Angeles is existentialism made concrete

Posted on October 11, 2018 by odeboyz

Los Angeles is where you confront the objective fact that you mean nothing… You don’t matter… In Los Angeles you can be standing next to another human being but you may as well be standing next to a geological formation. … Continue reading →

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Two idiots talk about hurricanes

Posted on October 4, 2018 by odeboyz

First Idiot: Donald Trump, President of the United States Ray H.   Second Idiot: a gay hating Texan fundamentalist “Just last week the state of Texas failed to pass a bill patterned after the North Carolina bathroom bill that would … Continue reading →

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G E Moore on Wittgenstein

Posted on September 20, 2018 by odeboyz

When Wittgenstein submitted the Tractatus as his doctoral dissertation, G. E. Moore is reputed to have sent in an examiner’s report including the words, “It is my personal opinion that Mr. Wittgenstein’s thesis is a work of genius; but, be … Continue reading →

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John Kenneth Galbraith’s Wealth and Poverty (1963)

Posted on August 2, 2018 by odeboyz

“The modern conservative… not even especially modern… is engaged… in one of man’s oldest, best financed, most applauded, and, on the whole, least successful exercises in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness….Social Security … Continue reading →

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