Human Morality Humans have an elaborate moral system, but animals don’t. We have all sorts of moral rules and think about right and wrong constantly, but animals hardly give it a moment’s thought. We are the moral (naked) ape. This fact is commonly taken to show that we are superior to animals, morally superior. They […]
Categories of Intentionality It’s time to get serious about intentionality. I mean we need to develop a systematic taxonomy of it—a classificatory scheme. And we need to include the whole it, not just this or that type. We also need to clean up and systematize the terminology, because the word “intentionality” hinders comprehension: it has […]
Philosophers and Novelists Some professional novelists are amateur philosophers (too numerous to list). There are many philosophical novels. The same goes for poets, playwrights, and short story writers (also song writers). Fiction has room for philosophy. But there are very few professional philosophers who are amateur novelists (or professional ones). Philosophers seldom write fiction on […]
Ideal Languages Logic-minded philosophers have lamented the logical ineptitude of natural languages like English. They have recommended improvements based on formal systems. They have tried to approximate to an ideal language—one free of all logical defect. Others have decried these revisions and declared natural languages fine as they are; they have preferred descriptive philosophy of […]
Mysterian News I notice in today’s NY Times (May 10, 2026) that Ross Douthat mentions the word “mysterian” in his weekly column, expressing sympathy with the doctrine so named. He doesn’t say anything worth reading (as usual), but the article is indicative of the wider intellectual culture; the inset contains the words “The nature of […]
Natural Worlds Sir David Attenborough, great naturalist and celebrated TV presenter, an indisputable “national treasure”, likes to use the phrase “the natural world”.[1] I have no objection to this usage in its place (but see below), but I think the phrase deserves scrutiny (and he is not the only one who uses it). What does […]
How Many Earths? Let’s start with a couple of thought experiments.[1] Suppose there is a certain planet that has been around for a billion years; call it Janet. Not much has changed in it during this time and it has received no bombardments from abroad. Then one day it is subjected to an intense heat […]
A Philosophy of Nature It would be nice to give a general description of nature that brings out its essential attributes; not of this or that aspect or department of nature, but the whole thing.[1] What is the general form of the natural world? When people speak of nature in this vein, they mean the […]
المخاطبات- العدد 14- أفريل 2015 AL-MUKHATABAT ISSN 1737-6432 Numéro-Issue 14 Avril-April SOME IDEAS ON LOGIC Colin MCGINN (Auteur indépendant) (1) Inverted Logic Abstract. It is argued that classical logics are not the only genuinely logical systems. In addition to modal logic, deontic logic, epistemic logic, and other recognized systems, we must make room for a […]
Botanical Philosophy Botany is more philosophically interesting than we like to think. Gradually, animals have found their way onto the philosophical curriculum; now it is time for plants to take their rightful place. Plants are puzzling; they pose hard problems. There are botanical mysteries. Plants compose about 98% of the earth’s biomass; animals the remaining […]