Tag: Critique

Word of the Week: Foundationalism

First published on my legacy blog Principia Politica, based on an exam essay awarded full marks in the Cambridge Philosophy Pre-U (A Level equivalent) in 2018, ultimately contributing to highest mark in the world for the Philosophy & Theology Pre-U that year (losing only one mark in an essay on free will). Are there secure … Continue reading Word of the Week: Foundationalism →

From technique to artistry: The theory of music in ‘Whiplash’

Tropes of ‘music theory’ are as oft trotted out as are their counterparts in the department of ‘practice makes perfect’. But in the philosophy of Mozart’s time, Immanuel Kant already bridged these polar opposites of musical weather reports: the faculty of judgement, specifically concerned with aesthetic concepts of beauty and the sublime, bridged between abstract … Continue reading From technique to artistry: The theory of music in ‘Whiplash’ →

The revolution will be unified: Why humans and AI should fuse to form a universal mind

What scientific advance, big or small, would you like to see above all else in your lifetime, and why does it matter to you? (Nature essay competition, 2019) Word count: 1,000 (excluding header, footer, title, sub-titles, word count, and references) In 1651, after a long and brutal civil war, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes called for … Continue reading The revolution will be unified: Why humans and AI should fuse to form a universal mind →

What is distinctive about international politics? The question raised by the Bennett Institute’s report on public opinion on China, Russia, and America

A World Divided: Russia, China and the West. So goes the title of the Bennet Institute’s latest report on international politics, after a notable report on the decline of public trust in democracy in domestic political institutions (Global Satisfaction with Democracy, 2020). I would like to compare and contrast these reports and their shared implications … Continue reading What is distinctive about international politics? The question raised by the Bennett Institute’s report on public opinion on China, Russia, and America →

Midnights by Taylor Swift 3am Bonus Tracks: That’s More Like It, But It’s Still A Little Empty (Is It?)

Dropping the Kanye/Travis-infused basslines of the first 13 songs of Midnights, Taylor Swift pivots to her signature songwriting of catchy choruses and lyrical verses with moderate instrumentation and light production on ‘The Great War’. The production and lyrical foci of the first half of the album are melded into a musical medley in this last … Continue reading Midnights by Taylor Swift 3am Bonus Tracks: That’s More Like It, But It’s Still A Little Empty (Is It?) →

The racism of antiracism: Is the University of Cambridge’s ‘Legacies of Enslavement’ Report a totalitarian subversion of history for the purposes of reproducing slavery in contemporary capitalism?

The Advisory Group on Legacies of Enslavement final report is one of the strangest things I have ever read. It opens with the call to 'eschew [...] the creation of set narratives', but proceeds to unfurl just such a narrative. The preceding sentences note: 'We know from preceding and present examples that history is too … Continue reading The racism of antiracism: Is the University of Cambridge’s ‘Legacies of Enslavement’ Report a totalitarian subversion of history for the purposes of reproducing slavery in contemporary capitalism? →